Vlad

so, you had 68.6 stand up landings ? :-)

Does anyone know e-mail/phone# of Mike Ortiz ? Please, send it to my e-mail : [email protected] Thanks !!

Rhino : how do Diablo and Crossfire differ in the flight (except for differences in glide and swoop performance) ?

I'm not going to get a x-braced canopy, until I have ~1000 jumps, and until I can jump more regularly then I can now. A Crossfire, however, will be a good alternative to Diablo, since it has a better glide. And I'm not downsizing much - only one size down (from 150 to 129).

Crossfire2 would be too spendy, since there are no used ones on the market...

Thanks for reply ! I can get that exact canopy as a demo first. I'm planning to do several 12k hops-n-pops to play with it. What should I check in the air ? What would tell me that something isn't right ?

Hi all, Roy from Rigs-and-Things has almost talked me into getting a Crossfire. He is a kick-ass dealer, and I trust him. However, I would still like to get more than one opinion. Do you think that a Crossfire, with a MODIFIED line trim is now safe to fly in front risers ? I would like to hear something more than rumors , but opinions from Crossfire pilots and/or riggers. Sincerely, Vlad

How slow can a Crossfire loaded~ 1.5 fly above the ground without stalling ? How fast can it be stopped ? I used to fly a Diablo loaded slightly less than that. Now, I'm switching to a crossfire. I could land my Diablo really slow and stop it in an instant if I needed to. How will it be with a Crossfire ?

BadDog: Could this be me ? I think I bought an altimeter from somebody for my friend from St.Petersberg.. However, it was shipped to me no problemo... And I can't remember, whether that was on e-bay, or from the store. The transaction went smoothly, however.. I just do not know many skydivers here in Alaska, that are from Russia... I know a couple, but they are definitely not a fraud... Please, be careful, dealing with anybody international, especially from Russia. Nobody can blame me in being discriminative, because I'm Russian :-) Blue Skies !

FYI I e-mail this "Garry Green" in Russian. Guess what, he replied, confirming that he was trying to fraud me...

Lisa, It is very strange to see that a rich uncle, who is spending nearly a thousand dollars for his nephew to worry about import taxes....

Hello all ! Some of you may know that in past there was an accident with some skydivers from Moscow ordering skydiving equipment from US dealers, paying with fraud credit cards. That was a while ago. Now listen to my story. I was selling my DIablo 150 on e-bay. The current price on it was $500. Suddenly, I received an e-mail from somebody who called himself " Garry Green". He wrote: "Dear Sir, I would like to buy your canopy. Seeng that you accept paypal - I would like to pay via PayPal (I am Verified member). Could you send this item directly to my nephew (Russia)as a gift? He is experienced skydiver ("C" rated, around 200 jumps) I am ready to leave positive feedback to you and use Buy It Now option. thank you." Jeez, don't you want to have such a generous unkle ? I bet you do... This e-mail seemed suspicious to me. I told "Garry", that I was going to sell it to him for $900. He agreed, no arguing about the price. But then he asked me to insure the canopy for $90 only, because "Russia has very large customs". Seems strange for a guy who is willing to spend almost a grand for his nephew.. well, I agreed. Garry told me that he was going to pay immideatly, but I have not received a penny yet (3 days have passed). I think, however, that he tried to pay, but his fraud credit card numbers did not work this time, luckily for me. Well, the point is that you all should be careful when selling your equipment. Even if you receive the money through PayPal, wait for couple of days. If it was a fraud, PayPal will notify you quite quickly.. Blue Skies !

I think that some base equipment companies offer a climbing harness instead of a regular one as an option. I think it would be a nice idea

Can anybody compare Cobalt and Crossfire loaded ~ 1.4-1.5 Thanks

>>The current recommended beginning skill level is 500 jumps I talked to Jari recently. He is more flexible, than recommendations on his website. He told me he has taken up people with less than 100 jumps. I'm going to find a wingsuit instructor who will agree to teach me even that I have little less than 200 jumps. Jari gave me couple addresses. So, if you want information, call him, he is really nice

I have just received my Skyflyer wingsuit, yahoo !!! Is anyone here experienced flying wingsuits ? How much practice jumps should I make on the Classic/GTi to be ready for Skyflyer ? Also, we currently lack a jumpable plane here in Fairbanks, Alaska. So, I'll have to do my first (and second, and third) wingsuit jumps out of a trike. Any suggestions how to do that ? Blue skies ! Vlad

In contrast to what others have said, I like Z1Alpha. Just think of it as a frap hat, not as a hard helmet. It is very comfy - the most comfortable helmet I've tried. Its purpose is to qualify as a minimum for helmet requirement, to hold a dytter and maybe a cam. It won't save your hear from an impact.

Hello, We have several people on this forum, who are or have been in past in the production industry. Rob Warner, Dan and others : can you tell us how much it really costs to make a container and/or a canopy ? I want to know why the retail prices are enourmously high.

I fly a Dia150 loaded at ~1.3. I've flown Lots of tri's, an Omega, Sabre2 135, and Stiletto 150. I would say that only Stiletto is comparable with Diablo. none of the others does. Actually, Stilleto and Diablo seemed quite similar to me in their flight characteristics. They both turn very quick, both loose lots of alti in a turn, both need to be oversteered. The differences are in glide ratios and landings, where Stilletto definitely outperforms Diablo. But 9cell advantages sometimes become disadvantages. I once had to land in a tight place bounded by electric poles, a lake, and lots of planes. Diablo sinked right in ! I doubt that would be possible with Stilleto.

Sunrise Rigging (Wings) also do that

On my prodytter I noticed, that sometimes it beeps when I go in a hard toggle turn (I have a Diablo). Have anybody experienced that ? Is it normal ??

What I do not like about rigs : Vector3 - the riser covers are bent when you are wearing the rig, couple weekends ago my dad was renting vector from Square1, and the riser covers looked awful ! They were all bent so that closing them was hard, and they did not stay closed. Javelin : Main flap, which closes down. I've seen lots of javelins in freefall with open main flaps. Dolphin : Velcro !!! (Have not seen the new ones with velcroless riser covers). Infinity ; same as Javelin. Mirage : jumped it only once, did not noticed anything I did not like. Wings : same as Mirage, but cheaper, that's why I bought it ! Reflex/Racer/Eclipse/Vortex/etc. : lack info..

The reserve repack card pockets are on the back side of the body harness, close to the cutaway pillow and the reserve ripcord. Also I noticed pockets on the leg harness.

Sorry to break the news... Last Saturday a skydiver went in. Andrei, a programmer from Russia, married. He was making a tracking jump with his friend. That was a long spot. His friend made a decision to land in a safe place near the freeway. Andrei tried to make it back to the dz. He didn't make it , and hit a very steep hill. He died in hospital. BSBD !

Vlad Welcome to the forum, Rosa! Those numbers stand for the area of the canopy in square feet. Divide it by approx. 9, and you will get the metric measurements, even though nobody uses them (I wonder why ??). 9 cell canopy will give you a flatter glide (vertical distance travelled over horizontal). 9 cell will also swoop better near the ground. 7 cell is more stable in turbulence. It is easier to land in a tight area. Once I had to land my Diablo between several planes and powerlines - no problem, sunked it right in ! 1.2-1.4 wing loading is when the canopy is becoming zippy - fast turns with lots of altitude being eaten up, nice landings. It is very fun to fly (my wing loading is 1.3), and still is somewhat safe, even though it can (and will) kill you if you do something wrong... hope this helps ! Vlad