IJskonijn

I've got a little flap on and over the bottom of my reserve flap (on a Vector 2 rig) that's precisely meant to prevent any lines from snagging on it during CRW. It works perfectly, and shouldn't be hard to install for your rigger.

Nice alternative to the after-work beer ^_^

You can pay by beer whenever we meet in person ^_^

It's one of the stupid aspects of skydiving (and aviation in general). Even though we do everything in metric here, skydiving related stuff is still imperial. And yeah, it somewhat works, although I won't be able to tell you the size of my canopy in square meters, nor my wingload in kg/m^2.

It's not that I haven't done PLFs because it's hard, I haven't done them because they weren't on my mental shortlist of get-out-of-shit-free tools. I know, it is a pretty poor excuse, and it actually cost me last weekend. I messed up a landing on Friday and sprained my thumb. Nothing very serious, but it was bad enough that I didn't feel comfortable jumping on Saturday and Sunday, while the weather was gorgeous and a good coach was available. I know better now, and I will definitely be weaving PLFs back into my safety routine. And while your suggestion to do a PLF on every jump, also the good ones, does sound reasonable, it is not taught at my DZ to the low-jump-number students. Other people may not be so lucky as I am, to learn with a minor injury and a lost weekend, both of which will be gone by next week.

PLF's aren't all that easy to DO when you're not used to doing them every landing. I've had the same problem, having normal landings stand-up, then messing one up and not doing a proper PLF because it's simply not on my mind. It's easy to say "do a PLF", but much harder to actually do it. It also isn't hammered in as much as the emergency procedures.

My most memorable jump was my fifth CRW jump. The previous four (all with the same instructor) were decent, but not good. Somehow, his advice for the fifth jump ("just take your time, and fly calmly") finally arrived in the right parts of my brain, and during the jump it all clicked into place (literally). It was awesome! Good second place is the first time I managed the lockup into a diamond. I'm currently trying to get my B-license on the CRW requirements.

If your work has a half-way decent IT infrastructure, they should have backups. At most, that'll mean ~24 hours of mail gone. Also, if your IT guru can fix it, buy him/her a beer and/or a cookie. We tech folk appreciate thankful users, as we already have more than enough unthankful ones...

We have C208s, no benches or anything, just a floor to sit on. And with a nearly-full tandem load (6-7 tandems) and a few guys going low, there really isn't room to put your passenger safely away from the door. So the only way is to hook the passenger up, and then close the door. The TM's at my DZ don't really mind, they're just slightly annoyed when that happens. Lucky for them, it isn't often, since there's quite often a video with at least one of the tandems.

The only time I've ever seen people being mildly annoyed was a load of tandems (without video) and low jumpers. Then, a tandem master has to close the door with his passenger attached and in front of him. It was fun to see the TM's race to board so they wouldn't be at the door on such loads ^_^

Also make sure it has front riser dive loops! Because doing a 270 turn before landing is the only way to properly fly that baby! SoFPiDaRF! (On a more serious note: Fly whatever you know you can fly safely. There's no harm in going for a larger canopy. Also try out different canopies and different sizes. Maybe you feel a 170 is way too fast for you, and want to go for a 190 or 210. Maybe even the 190 is too feisty. The only way to find out is to chat with your instructor and try it out.)

I've heard stories of people losing their audible by having it loose in their helmet, and losing it when it fell out of the helmet after taking it off on the ground (often the first thing on the to-do list, especially on a hot day). Better spend a few minutes and a 5-cent stow to ensure you DON'T lose your €220 toy that way. ^_^

My interpretation of the manual is that it should stick for 14 hours after the last time something happened, be it the setting of the offset or the making of a jump. They mention explicitly the offset doesn't stick when the unit is turned off, but they don't mention whether or not it sticks after a jump is made. But I don't have personal experience, since my home DZ has no altitude offset between runway and landing field. I'd suggest mailing L&B directly to ask them about it. Their customer support has a good reputation, so they should get back to you rather quickly.

Good luck!

According to the Optima II Manual, it retains any altitude offset for 14 hours after it is set or after the last jump. Last column of the first page, bottom half of the column. edit: typo fix

Take a rubber stow (the type you use to stow your lines) and mount it inside the ear of the pro-tec (on one of the horizontal bars) the same way you'd mount it on your d-bag (i.e. loop it around, and pull one end through the other tightly). The resulting rubber loop is of the right size to securely hold your Optima II, without making it extremely difficult to put in or pull out afterwards. Just be sure to mount it with the speaker facing inwards (display facing towards the outside of the helmet) and have the small hole for the speaker unobscured by the rubber. If you can't see that hole, move the Optima II down or up inside the rubber stow until it is free. I made that 'mistake' once and wondered if I hadn't forgotten it at all (couldn't hear it nearly as loud as normally). I've used this to mount my audible when I was still jumping with a fairwind helmet. It works equally well on Solo audibles, since they are the same size.

The only thing I don't do inside the plane is close my visor, but chin-strap etc are all tight. If I need to exit FAST, I can always slam down my visor FAST (and it's not like it's completely impossible in the first few seconds of freefall anyway).

As far as I know, only certain models of the Optima II have a port for a visual indicator. I have an Optima II, and the only thing on it is the white port, which is an air filter if I'm correct. Still, I like mine. The canopy alarms are (and have been) a great aid in learning to judge the altitudes of my landing pattern accurately. Given it's not-very-significantly increased price compared to the Solo II (€220 vs €185), the extra features are well worth it. The only disadvantage: L&B's manuals aren't very good, so it takes a bit of work before you understand it.

It does. I'm halfway through the second book (The Neutronium Alchemist) with the third one still to go. It's awesome, and huge (each book is ~1000-1200 pages). For something more pure sci-fi, the Commonwealth Saga (also by Peter Hamilton) is to be recommended. The first book is Pandora's Star, the second book is Judas Unchained.

We have one of those at my home DZ. I don't even bother taking off my helmet above 1000ft anymore.

We'd have open-minded, non-bigoted kids who care about other persons, rather than about whatever sexual preference other persons may have. I'd say it's a win.

I long ago gave up on trying to understand why our politicians are idiots. Problem is also that the entire situation is so complicated that very few people actually understand it. I don't, and I'm definitely not the dullest knife in the block... One thing I do think: We should take Iceland's example, and actually prosecute those who are responsible. Put the fear of court back in them.

On the point of trying to judge how much turbulence there is, the surroundings are important too. High trees cause a lot of turbulence, even if the wind is otherwise nice and clean. I had that problem a few weekends ago, where I had already drifted downwind of the DZ in strong winds (my own fault, and that on a canopy control course) and had to choose between landing on a good field left or a good field right. I picked right, and hit quite a bit of turbulence in the last 100ft. Only after landing did I realize the source, a bunch of high trees 50m upwind of my landing spot...

Physics and high-speed camera's are always a cool combination.

There's always a relevant