xijonix

At 6'5 I'm shocked that you can fit into even an 18" MLW. For reference, I'm 6'2" and use a 21" MLW. It dependent on the length of your torso. Some people are all legs and no torso, some are all torso and no legs. I imagine that the 16" is going to feel very tight on you and impede your ability to properly tighten your leg straps.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Could you explain?

Although I mostly agree with your statement I have seen too many times a jumper ready to jump that failed to notice a mistake that albeit should have been caught well in advance.

We had a record number of students get licensed last year and seeing as this will be their first safety day I want to stress and test the importance of gear checks. I plan on piecing together some of the old gear I have lying around into a rig with every rigging mistake I can think of. I'd like some ideas as to what I can do to test some of the more uncommon yet important errors that can be uncovered during a gear check. The rig will be on a mannequin in a "ready to jump" state. Any additional ideas are appreciated.

John, I absolutely agree with you on that; if there is a condition that is affecting your decision of disabling a safety feature on the ground than that should be evidence enough that you shouldn't be making the jump at all. I suppose my question is geared more toward those scenarios that were not expected or foreseeable such as a severe increase in surface winds once already under canopy or malfunctions where, altitude permitting, it would be beneficial to disconnect the RSL. We had a jumper who during a sunset high pull ended up spinning on his back with line twists. When he cut away, one of the lines snagged on the container but was easily managed because he did not jump with an RSL and thus he didn't have a reserve out to get entangled with the hung main. Very similar to what we saw here. https://jointheteem.com/sky/friday-freakout/friday-freakout-skydiver-survives-terrifying-double-parachute-malfunction/ It's scenarios like that which make me question whether under certain conditions it would be better to disconnect prior to a cutaway.

We had a lot of students come through AFF this summer as well as an influx of low time jumpers calling our DZ home which has caused lots of questions to circle around. The most common of them has been when it would be appropriate to disconnect their RSL. Aside from camera flying and CREW, in what circumstances or low-speed mals should someone be disconnecting their RSL?

It's time that I purchase the next canopy in my progression but I want some insight into what canopies I should be looking to demo. I've currently been jumping a SA2 150 for the last 300+ jumps. My landings have all been 90 degree front turns or double fronts to 90 depending on conditions. I'm looking for more speed and performance out of my landings but not looking to get into anything competitively. I do 150-200 jumps per year mostly video and 4 way RW. I'm looking to demo the following: SA2 135: Higher wingloading but same model as current KA 135: Higher performance with long recovery arc but I've heard bad things about the 135 specifically. CF 129: Very similar to the SA2 but a slightly shorter wingload. ST 135: Shorter arc than the rest but it's worth a ride. With all that to consider, I weigh a solid 205 so I'm pushing 230 with gear which puts me at a 1.7 WL on these canopies. What should I be looking for in these canopies at this wingloading to maximize their performance?

$60

I load my Sabre2 at 1.65 and end cell closures are a regular occurrence for me on almost every jump.

That's only like 5% wear.

I have a friend in motoracing that introduced me to the Fly360 that he uses on his bike. It looks like a great idea that could also have minimal snag hazards but have any of you seen this thing in action? I'm mostly skeptical of the video quality being too poor for effective use but want to hear from you guys and gals. https://360fly.com/

The same photo is on the cover of the new IRM and the description says, "At skydive Elsinore in California, Joe Montreal and Claire Sobba observe student Thomas Hinson deploying during his first AFF skydive."

My thoughts exactly. I raised this question because I just purchased a complete set up from a local jumper who was even larger than myself and I found it odd that his reserve was a Micro Raven 135-M. I'm not comfortable with that so I want the largest reserve that can fit into a TJNK.5 AND has a high enough MSW. Doing some research has shown that not only are the options quite limited for anyone over 200lbs, but that many people are ignoring the MSW of their reserves; Perhaps a topic I should bring up during safety day. The issue seems to be that as times have changed and main canopy designs have advanced, many reserves cannot handle the same wingloading. Whether they should or not is a completely different issue in itself but I think the reserve options available for this specific group of jumpers is dangerously limited and causes many jumpers to get whatever reserve fits and be done with it.

To piggyback off of your explanation of the different TSOs, the C-23d classification would explain why a Micro Raven 135-M (label attached) lists various maximum weights at different sea levels as well as an overall max?

I'm shopping around for a new reserve and it looks like only PD and Aerodyne make reserves that are recommended or even TSOd for higher weights. Obviously they're the industry leaders but are the only reserves for someone 200lbs+ PDRs, Optimums, and Smarts?