IJskonijn

This will heavily depend on where someone is. In the Netherlands, accident insurance (for yourself) is included in the basic healthcare insurance everyone has. Third-party insurance (if you destroy farmer McNasty's stuff while crashing) is included in the membership of the association. Gear insurance can be bought, if you feel so inclined. I personally have extra accident insurance on my travel insurance, since not all insurers like the idea of us leaping out of aircraft. They seem to think it costs them money...

But we want to watch! top Agreed - the most entertaining thread in a ling time. Aww man! I just got the popcorn out of the microwave!

Rule of thumb for gloves: if you can operate a zipper with the gloves on, they provide enough dexterity for jumping. Do try to get something with some grip on the surface. Smooth nylon as the outer layer isn't good for securely grabbing a hackey or a handle. I use working gloves as the outer layer (with silk undergloves underneath that for warmth), which work wonders.

Keep it out of the UV light by storing it somewhere not in direct sunlight.

For european stuff, have a look at extremtextil.de I believe they have 3D spacer mesh as well.

Yeah, but that only works when the canopy is attached to risers and packed in a d-bag. For those cases when you need to lug around a canopy not yet on risers and/or without a bridle/dbag/pilot chute attached (or even better, one that's supposed to be freepacked), those PD bags are too small. Best to use a transparent plastic bag. Transparent because a clubmate of mine once had his canopy stored in a standard dark grey trash bag in anticipation of selling it. Until his wife took out the trash... I don't really know where to buy them, every option that I see sells them per box (100+).

Heh, then the rules are poorly written. Dutch regulations state that a functional, correctly set-up and during the jump readable altimeter is required, so shenanigans like that would be outside our rules. Que the discussion who needs to be able to read it, if you do RW and mount it on your ankle, your teammate should be able to read it ^_^.

Yup, pick a landing area when you still have options. But crabbing will never get you further upwind than flying straight upwind. On the other hand, tucking in your legs (reduced drag) and front riser input might, because you are adjusting the airspeed of your canopy in that case, as well as the downward speed.

I'd much prefer people look out after landing to see whether other jumpers are coming down, and whether they are on a collision course with you. Waste 30 seconds on every jump doing that, and it'll cost you just 10 days time over a jumping career of 30k jumps. Healing from one crash is likely to cost you at least double the time. And it's smart to occasionally check your steering lines for twists and untwist them, even if you stowed them immediately upon landing and know they haven't been rotated. I do it by default at the end of the day.

Erm... Huh?? For sailboats it works because they have more than just wind force acting on them, they are in water and the water also acts on the boat. When flying, if the headwind is stronger than your forward speed, everything upwind might as well be on the other end of the planet, i.e. totally unreachable. For example, let's take a 30kt headwind coming from due south. If I have an airspeed of 20kt and fly due south, my groundspeed is 10kt due north. If I fly at 45 degree angles (either southwest or southeast), I can break up my airspeed into two components: one 14,1kt due south, and one 14,1kt due east or west. Now, my groundspeed is a combination of 15,9kt due north and 14,1kt due east or west. I'm actually losing penetration into the wind by crabbing back and forth across the wind line.

Point 3 is just a packing error. Shit like that happens all the time. Until a proven perfect packing machine is invented, people will keep chopping because of packing errors. Point 1 and 2 are valid, but I'd say it's the combination that nailed you. When ground life is busy and exhausting, making a jump can be an awesome way to get rid of that stress. Just make sure you aren't rushed into it in that case. The other way around counts as well, it's fine to get rushed into a jump, but only if you are mentally not distracted by other stuff. One last thing: if you're the last jumper of the first group, it is perfectly acceptable to look out and say "f* this, I'll be the first jumper of the second group", and ask the pilot for a go-around. If the last jumpers of the second group don't like the spot, the pilot just has to do a third jumprun.

You survived, and it sounds you made enough good decisions to offset the bad decision of jumping in those winds. Plus you gained experience jumping in poor weather conditions, which is also worth quite a bit. Next jump, you'll be experienced enough to say No when the winds are that high. As for aiming for the edge rather than the middle: as a low-time jumper I had serious issues even hitting the middle, let alone picking an edge and landing there accurately. Impromptu accuracy landings is a skill that requires lots of practice, I don't expect a

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4849571 Here's the other thread. Yes, it's possible to fly such a flag, but there are plenty easier (and less risky methods). I cannot shake the impression that flying a flag from your D-lines is a distinctly American thing to do, in order to avoid all sorts of nasty reactions when some fabric in a particular colour pattern touches the ground... If you want pictures of a simpler system, PM me. I have one that attaches the bottom end to your foot, and the top end can be hooked into your lines after a regular clean deployment. Picture is in the other thread somewhere as well.

I'm less worried about the physical state of a 25-year old canopy that's stored properly than I am about the mental state of the jumper. In my understanding, such designs (and the F111-fabric) requires a different mentality regarding landings and a different flaring technique. Instructors nowadays are used to ZP canopies that land best when using a two-stage flare, and are thus best at teaching that technique. I'm worried the generic instructor doesn't have the mindset and skills anymore to teach landing such an old design properly, and that is what makes it dangerous. But then again, pretty much all reserves are built to the same design philosophy using F111 (or similar low-porosity fabric), and people keep landing those well enough to survive, even at higher wingloadings. And many downright horrendous landings can be saved by a properly executed landing roll. If the price of the canopy is good, and if OP can find an old fart instructor at his home DZ who's willing to coach him regarding landings, and if OP invests some serious time in perfecting his landing roll, I see no big reasons not to do it. (Seriously, a good landing roll is one of the most undervalued skills a skydiver can have. Nobody looks cool being carried into an ambulance.)

Washing the rig can be done, but as already mentioned, it's a lot of work. Washing the main canopy however is a very bad idea. From my understanding, canopy fabric is calendered (the fibres are ironed flat after weaving), and washing undoes that. This leads to a much more porous fabric, and a much reduced strength and performance of the canopy. Washing the canopy is almost always a cure that's much worse than the ill. Instead, careful inspection of the main canopy should be enough. Ensure there's no damage to the fabric and stitching, and ensure there are no foreign objects in it that might cause damage later on during packing. Such inspection is best done together with a rigger.

No one on an internet forum can seriously say that it's no biggie and no worries. If you have any concern regarding your health, go ask your doctor, not a bunch of internet weirdos. As for how to keep motivated after AFF, that's more interesting. Of course, there's the innate awesomeness of jumping out of an airplane. Next, there's all sorts of stuff to learn and do and achieve after AFF. Go ask for your A-license progression card (or whatever your local equivalent). Talk with an instructor/coach before each jump asking what excersizes you can best do this jump. Start learning to pack your parachute. Start learning canopy control (there's likely a course near you aimed for new jumpers with little/no canopy experience). The possibilities are near endless! Graduating AFF pretty much means you know just enough not to get yourself killed, and now the real fun can start! I'm still learning new things pretty much every jump, even after 800+ jumps.

Odd indeed. What's with defining the brake setting for the 150 differently than for the other sizes? And either I'm doing it wrong, or it doesn't follow the pattern. It seems to me that for the 120, the brake setting is 67mm longer than the A line (65 AB diff + 132 BC diff - 130 C-brake diff), the 150 is 130mm longer than the A line (straight up 130mm A-brake diff), and the 170 is 112mm longer than the A line (80+162-130). Although it seems that such a break in the pattern of linelenghts is also in the full flight settings. Am I reading the linetrim chart wrong, or is the 150 just the odd one out?

Renting for now while building experience, talking with people on your DZ about gear and testing different parachute types, and only then buying your own stuff, will be a much more efficient use of your money. And that's not even touching the issue of buying new vs buying second-hand. Nothing. None of those main canopies are canopies I would in general recommend to a generic student just fresh off AFF. In general I would recommend to such a student canopies the like of a Navigator or Solo, in a size suitable for their weight. In particular, I would recommend such a student to talk with their AFF instructor, and with their coaches. They know you and can tailor their advise to your level.

Why not use ordinary red/white barricade tape and a 32ft cord? Stake the cord in the middle, and use tentpegs to nail the tape to the ground wherever you can pull the cord tight. If you drive the tentpegs all the way into the ground, there's no chance of tripping over them during landing. Easy and very low-cost to install.

So close...

Ok, since I am no good with anything really technical and metal, I will rather search for a machine that already has a servo on it.

Sorry, but I'm not looking for solutions for my current machine, or adjustments to the other sewing machines away from factory specs. I'm looking for experiences with slow sewing using stock machines.

I'm searching for a sewing machine (my first serious one), and I've already looked through most topics on this forum about that. That resulted in a shortlist of the Singer 20u, Pfaff 138/238 as big machines for heavier work, or a Pfaff 260/262 for portability. My current p.o.s. is a singer 4432, which I suspect is designed by Lucifer himself. My major gripe with it is that it is uncontrollable at slow speeds. When I depress the paddle just not far enough, I can hear the motor whine, but not engange. Depress it a micrometer further, and it takes off at nearly full speed. Great fun when you need to do precisely three more stitches, and need both hands on the work to control it... So, for those machines I listed, what are your experiences with slow sewing (

Mine misses at least half my jumps even on the STU setting. I've had it on there since I bought it, and I've had entire boogies without a single jump being registered.

I currently have it set to STU, which is meant for detecting short exit delays (according to the manual). I'll have a shot at setting it at SLO, see if that works better.