hokierower

I like Sam Adams, just saying... No 206

Gonna be lucky to hit 40 tomorrow, but I haven't jumped in almost 3 weeks and I get to try a 206 for the first time!

Definitely. Love SDR and I listen to new episodes on my commute to work.

Modifications are Master Rigger tasks. If Mirage has an approved procedure, any competent MR could do it. I took a quick look at Mirage's site, and didn't find anything on it (although it may be there and I missed it). Depending on how involved it is, I'd be most comfortable having the guys that built the thing in the first place be the ones doing the work. YMMV

My new (to me) container is an older Mirage and doesn't have an RSL. Can a master (or senior?) rigger make modifications to the container and "add" an RSL? Or is that something that only the manufacturer can do?

I lived in San Antonio and started skydiving at San Marcos. It's a good DZ with nice facilities. They've got an Otter for most weekends and a Caravan for the slower weekdays. The staff is very professional and very experienced and they have a good number of fun-jumpers. There are some very good free-flyers and it looks like a growing number of belly-flyers. I've never jumped at Temple, so I can't compare the two.

Haven't had one that "scared" me, but the downsize from a Spectre 190 to a Spectre 170 was interesting because of the extra speed on landing. My first jump yesterday on my new Sabre2 135 from a 150 was just as interesting because of how much noticeably faster it was flying in full flight. Haven't had an "OH SHIT!" moment on a new canopy yet.

Great video! I just finished up 2 hours at SVCO and managed to get head down. Next trip sometime next year is transitions and cleaning up back, sit, & head down. I'm at 4.5hrs total. Great instructors!

Wow. Checking the handle when I first put the rig on (among other times) is so ingrained that I even do it when I put a backpack on. The "check of threes" is a very, very strong habit for me. Ditto. When I put on the rig, before I get on the plane, after lift-off, getting ready before the door goes up, and usually right before I get in the door.

Carolinafest - May 28 to June 2

Did an hour between jumps 5 & 6 and it helped make the rest of my AFF progression easier. I knew I was going to be stable once I was in the air so the main concern was exit, EPs, pulling, & canopy flight. Did another 90min at 60 jumps to learn back and sit. Helped a lot with both of those. Doing another 90min, possibly 2 hours, in Dec. to work on sit and start learning head down. Personally I prefer to learn in the tunnel as the boundaries give me a true appreciation of how the smallest movement can affect your flying.

Only thing that i can think of would be a series of lights arranged in a circle that would be controlled by a small weather station. The lights would light up towards whatever direction the wind was coming from and the velocity of the wind would control how quickly they light up. Throw in some sort of a daily calibration test. You'd have to go with some pretty powerful LEDs to make it visible though. The devil would be in the code because to be viable you'll have to write the program so that it takes the average speed for the past minute or five minutes, etc, so you don't have any issues during light and variable days.

Made a jump last Halloween with stuffed up sinuses. NEVER AGAIN! My hearing and head wasn't right for another couple of days. The commercial flight home was horrible.

I have a Sabre2 150 at 1.45 and when practicing up high after about the first 180 degrees of a turn the harness input takes over and it will stay in a nice dive with very little riser input.

That's why I got LASIK...now I don't need either! Still gotta wait another 2 weeks for them to get settled in.

I did AFF at San Marcos and was there until August last year when I had to move (had just over 50 jumps at that point). I went back last year for their Halloween carnival and I'm going back this year. They have a great group of jumpers, VERY good instructors, and a nice feel overall. If you can wait, I can't say enough great things about the DZ, and would highly recommend it. Even better is the Austin tunnel going in right now that's opening up this winter!

Use the search function. There's a spreadsheet on here showing the estimated costs per airframe.

Seriously? First off dude, the subject of this thread that YOU created is "So I want to swoop...". Secondly, you ask in the OP for things to occupy for the next 100 or so jumps. Dave gave a FULL and COMPLETE list of things for you to look into and several posters applauded him and thanked him for it (I missed out...thanks Dave, awesome list). You responded to one of those responses by literally flipping everyone the bird and telling us that "experience needed" is bullshit and that advanced manuevers don't require experience. And you think that Dave, Dave, Fast, & DocPop are the assholes? Take a fucking chillpill and look in the mirror. Personally, I'm sitting at about 230 jumps right now. I jump a Sabre2 150. I jumped from full altitude for the first time in two months last weekend. Before that I was only doing low passes because I feel it's selfish to try and work on HP manuvers when there's a sky full of people. I've been to two multiple day coaching courses this year alone, the first in March with Greg Windmiller and the second in July with Jessica Edgeington & Flight-1. The course with Greg literally blew my mind. I learned things that I would never have picked up on using trial and error and I bet he literally saved me a hundred jumps of "figuring it out". Jessica watched me for two (TWO) HP landings and gave me pointers which I'm still working on. She told me to bump up my IP by 20' because my canopy was recovering low. It looked fine to me as I was coming in, but I don't have the EXPERIENCE to properly judge it. I tried it her way the next time and I got a better and CLEANER swoop because I was letting my canopy naturally recover. In my canopy progression, at the moment the turn isn't even my main concern at this point. Trying to nail down a solid pattern and being able to adjust it based upon wind conditions is hard as shit. Adjusting my turn to base due to a crosswind or stretching/shrinking my downwind because of a tailwind/headwind are more difficult than you can imagine because they are something that requires EXPERIENCE to build a proper sight picture. I know my IP and try to hit it religously, but if something doesn't feel right, I abort. I can perform my 90, get a righteous swoop, and feel awesome as soon as I hit the ground, but I instantly start critiquing myself because of the crappy pattern I may have flown. Listen, you don't know what you don't know, but we've all been in that position. Take the list Dave gave you, and work on it. I'm in construction management and know how important a strong foundation is when building something down the road.

I was under the impression that Velos were less forgiving and that the Katana was a stepping stone to a Velo. If the Velo is a better wing, but takes the same degree of skill to fly - why doesn't everyone jump a Velo? Cuz the Ka works better with lower WL. Its a great stepping stone, but once you jump the Velo the Katana goes up for sale! I know that PD generally doesn't say that their canopies work best at a certain WL'ing like NZAerosports does, but do Katana's have recommended WL'ings based off of other people experience?

I don't know the numbers, but coming off a SA2 to a KA, the difference was striking when I popped the brakes. I did a high pull with a stiletto loaded at 1.7/8 and I was amazed at how quickly my SA2 at 1.45 sank out on the stiletto.

Kind of off topic, but does anyone know what the pitch/glide angle is on the Sabre2? I heard that the Katana & Velo were both 14 degrees and was just wondering what neighborhood the SA resided in.

Haven't seen this brought up, and if it has I apologize for repeating it, but do those of you with more than 10 years in the sport remember your first H&P after doing all of AFF from 13k? I sure as shit do (it was only 200 jumps ago) and I was scared shitless. There I am, poised in the door looking at the earth which is a whole lot closer than it has been and I've got this 5 second requirement making me more and more nervous. All of the calm and composed exits I've done previously were erased. Practice and repetition can be done til both instructor and student are blue in the face, but when the rubber hits the road the student can forget everything because the earth is now really close! I know you like to pose questions vs. give answers obelixtim, but you've got to keep in mind that the first H&P can me a major mind-f*&k for a lot of people. I went through 13 levels prior to mine, never repeated a level or had a bad debrief and my H&P was terrible. I pitched inside 5 seconds, but I wasn't a picture of stability when I did.

I'm a little late to this but I have a Wings W14. I've had 3 canopies in it: Spectre 190 - Very Tight Fit Spectre 170 - Snug Fit Sabre2 150 - Fits Well

Spectre 170/190? On the long side for snivel, soft & on-heading openings, pretty flat glide in full-flight, nice strong flare? I've flown both and they were really awesome canopies.

My trusty old Wings has been a good rig to me over the last decade. The manufacture has always had prompt and good customer service, to the point that I've finally realized that they know what they're talking when discussing their containers. If they said it won't fit, then it probably won't fit, they're not out to get you, even if you don't want to believe them. My main tray was sized for a 170. It fit a 170 very tightly and I've been able to make a few downsizes with it, but it will not and will never fit a 190 with out causing serious damage. Actually, I don't think I could make it fit at all and I've packed a parachute or two over the years. Mine is the same way. I emailed Sunrise and they said that my W14 was built for a 190. My Spectre 190 fit very tight, the SP-170 was snug, and the Sabre2 150 in it now is comfortable. It's an awesome container and I'll end up keeping it as a backup when I decided to get a new one.