raveninca

Yes, very true. Although I have to personally admit never once feeling any Velcro resistance. (Adrenaline, perhaps? ) Also, my rig (Infinity) peels from the top or bottom, so it's very easy to pull. IDK that about the pull force test. Thanks. Your statement I put in boldface is absolutely correct. . That's one reason why I emphasize hooking the thumb thru the D-ring instead of grabbing it with the finger tips. The first time I needed a repack on my rig after getting into the sport I decided it would be great practice to go through my EP on the ground and actually pull the handles. I went through my EP the way I always did in the practice vests (we didn't have a hanging harness for training but using vests). I felt the reserve fire off my back and then I realized that my hand had slipped off the cutaway handle right before I pulled the reserve handle! I was shocked and realized that had that been an actual in air emergency I would probably of been fucked. What I failed to realize was how important it is to peel the velcro before pulling that handle and to watch it closely to make sure that it is cleared. When I got my first rig here off of Dropzone.com I had sent it to Sunpath to have the harness replaced with a new one sized for me. Since it was a new harness the velcro was also brand new and nothing like what I had practiced with. It was a real eye opener for me and now I always pull those handles on the ground come repack time. So I would add to your list that when it is time to get a repack, then put on your rig like you normally would and go through your EP. Make sure that everything works as advertised, you might just catch either an issue with your gear or with your own procedures that might need fixing.

We tried to get one in two weekends ago but it didn't happen due to low cloud cover. We went through the clouds at 2k and then came back down to just under the clouds, we hung out at that alt for a few min to see if we could find a break but it didn't happen, in that time though my VisoII rezero'd itself so yes it can happen. The other thing you need to think about is that by the time you jump from the balloon your most likely going to be over a different spot on the ground from when you took off and depending on the geography that could be a pretty big difference in what your alt thinks AGL is.

I put over 300 jumps on a sabre 1 170 loaded at 1.25, it was my first canopy. I now jump a sabre 2 150 and I have to say that I really do miss the openings on my Sabre 1. It never slammed me, not once and 95% of the time it opened on heading and within 800ft. Can't really say the same for the Sabre 2, its a softer opening for sure and takes a little more altitude but I find that it always wants to go one way or the other depending on which end cell is more collapsed than the other. But I would never go back now that's for sure! To the OP, like it was said, give yourself lots of runway and fly that thing till it won't fly any more, if you think the toggles are all the way down then go further, curl your wrists at the very very end if you have to.

At our dz it involves hoping that someone got a good line on where it went into the woods and usually followed by many hours walking through the woods. As of yet there is no tracking solution but I know people are working on it.

This was my first boogie when I started in 2011 and I only had about 28 jumps at the time. It was such an awesome time and I learned quite a bit. We couldn't attend the next year and I can honestly say it was one of the most depressing Christmas's I can remember. We went back again last year and had another amazing time and now it is our new Christmas tradition, Christmas in zhills. The only thing I will warn you of is to keep your head on a swivel at all times under canopy. There is usually a lot of visiting jumpers and more importantly visiting students and not everyone "gets" the landing pattern.

Chris called me at my shop last Friday to apologize for missing his last promised completion date. The reason this time was that my suit was completed but something got mixed up with the waist measurement and the suit was too tight and had to be redone. Chris promised to ship out one of his demo suits so that I have something to jump with till my suit is done. He was also willing to make me a pair of swoop shorts to make up for my experience so far. I told him that was not necessary at all, all I wanted was the suit that I ordered to show up at my door and nothing more. Since he called on a Friday afternoon, we were swamped with work and customers needing their vehicles back for the weekend so I didn't get much time to talk. I didn't get a new date on when my suit would be completed but I did get a tracking number in an email the next day with what I am assuming is a loaner, demo suit, hope it fits. I emailed Chris again yesterday asking about when my suit would be done and when to be expecting it but I haven't received a response yet. On one hand it's great that Chris is sending me a loaner suit in the mean time but on the other hand I still don't have an eta on when MY suit will be completed and shipped out, hopefully this loaner suit fits and my suit doesn't take very much longer. From this last correspondence it looks like Chris is trying to improve things but I will wait and see.

The latest promised completion date has come and gone for me again. I am now 18 weeks in (10 weeks over the original quoted delivery date) with from what I can tell no end in sight. At this point I think I will be lucky to get my new suit before the Christmas boogie. I am just going to start posting my correspondence with this company in this thread, since your blog seems to have gotten you results maybe this will help.

That's awesome that you have had a good experience. One of the reasons I ordered from Chris in Florida was based on your opinion of the suits and the customer service, we were actually talking about it while he was fixing your suit in the bunker and that really sold me. Unfortunately my experience has not been the same as yours, not even close. I am at least getting emails and updates from them now and have been promised that my suit will be ready between April 16th and April 30th (two months past the original quoted time). I am hoping that I have a tracking number by the end of the month. I too hope to be able to write a positive review about my new suit and how much I love it, but I am still waiting patently . There is also 3 others in addition to me from my home DZ (your new home DZ for a few years) who are in the same boat, ordered at Christmas and are still waiting. Hopefully all 4 of us will get our suits in time for our opening weekend in a few weeks and we all become happy customers. As of right now though it's all in Chris's hands to make that happen.

Wow, I had heard rumors about the summer fest things but your blog is an eye opener. I, like many others I assume are in the same boat as you. I have been trying to get a hold of them for over a month now with no success at all, the best I got was a response from Chris saying he would check things out on Monday when he gets to the office and he doesn't know why he is not getting emails but will find out. That's it! That's all the info I have on my order after 5 emails and only one response. After reading your blog yesterday (March 20th) I decided to send a message to the facebook page and I actually got a response. I was told that he had talked to Chris who was out of town right now but that Chris would call me later on that evening. Of course no call came but I did get an email from him at 4 this morning asking what he could help me with? So back to square one with these guys, no answers, no updates, nothing. It has now been 12 weeks, 4 past the quoted delivery date and I can't get any answers, at least you have gotten emails with excuses, I have gotten nothing! I can barely get a reply back at all and when I do it's "I will check it out" or "what can I help you with"? I wanted to add my name to this thread so that anyone thinking of ordering a custom suit from them know what to expect. Chris was very helpful in Florida and showed us a great product. He was very friendly and easy to talk to and appeared to have things under control. His sales ability is top notch, and he was very confident in his product and company. I hope that he cares enough to fix these issues with customer service because if he can't then it doesn't matter how good his product is, people would rather pay more and get great service than the other way around.

I've met lots of them. All of Canada and many US DZ's set 50 jumps (or a B License) as their requirement for a camera which is perfectly reasonable. The overwhelming majority of jumpers who choose to wear them at this point do so with no incident at all. It's sad that there are people who, just because a very small minority of jumpers have had incidents (that may be) related to cameras, think they should restrict everyone else who hasn't had a problem. I don't believe in punishing the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, specially when the innocent vastly outnumber the guilty. Sorry but your wrong as far as Canada goes...here is a direct quote from our technically recommendations "Parachutists, possessing at least a C CoP, and being competent in the freefall discipline in which they wish to participate as a videographer, should seek advice from experienced freefall videographers regarding the type of equipment to be used in order that they may safely engage in this activity. At least one functioning audible altimeter must be used, and an Automatic Activation Device should also be used." For a C license in Canada you need at least 200 jumps among many other things. Please don't spread false information to other Canadian jumpers. I understand that it is just a recommendation just like in the US but that is the official stance of the CSPA. I can tell you that at our dz 200 jumps in the min before strapping on a camera. I am at 141 right now and I haven't even thought of putting my gopro on. I started skiing with it last year and it is definitely a distraction. I have been skiing since I was a little kid (37 now) and love playing in the woods, glades skiing. I found last year that I was picking the tightest lines, skimming shoulders on trees just to get the "shot" Luckily I didn't get hurt but I came close a few times and it was all because of the camera, without it I wouldn't of been pushing so hard or taking chances just because I knew it would look cool on video.

First off sorry to hear about your accident and hopefully you will make a full recover quickly. I will also heed your advise and immediately stop flying my wing if I feel something is out of whack with it. With that said your post actually makes me respect PD a great deal. It is great to see that they want this canopy off the market as they deem it unsafe (for whatever reason) and they are willing to work with you, or your DZO to get you on a different velo, even suggesting finding a used one using their connections. To me that is top notch customer service, going well above and beyond what they have to do and thinking of a jumpers safety over their bottom line. Sure you will have to pay for the used canopy but I'm sure it will be a lot less than buying a brand new one from them. As a business owner I know that PD doesn't have to do anything to help you out. You bought a used canopy from someone other than PD or a dealer that has problems and unfortunately that is on you. I know you said the original owner told you this and that but no offense to him/her but people lie all the time, especially when they are trying to sell something. I'm not saying that this person is out right lying about the history of the canopy but something happened to that canopy after it left the factory when it was originally built, that is pretty obvious. The email that you posted I will assume was meant to be keep private between PD and your DZO but I am glad that you posted it as it shows true concern from the manufacturer and a willingness to work with you to get you under another wing that is safe (well at least safe from a manufacturing point, I mean how safe can a velo 84 actually be lol ). This story along with the fact that they are restricting the new Peregrine to invite only, shows that they actually care about the people under their wings and not about maximizing profits. That goes along way in my books...unlike other manufacturers actually sponsoring low time jumpers, high hour tunnel rats to fly their high performance wings at 100-400 jumps, if you missed that story there is a fatality in the incidents section currently about it.

Why would they pick 30 jumps as experienced? I know myself I was still asking myself wft I was doing sitting in a plane about to jump out on jump 32. I only have 137 jumps now and I am just starting to feel relaxed and not as nervous on the ride to altitude. I would like to see the comparison between first time students and jumpers with 1000+ jumps.

The idea is to start with a canopy plan and then modify from that rather than the plan being to just make it up on the fly and see what happens. Yes, of course the plan will have to be adapted 9 times out of 10 when you're in the air but the point is to start from a well thought out plan that you can assess and modify for the next jump. Your scenarios about what if I am too high or too low are perfectly manageable by extending/shortening the legs of the pattern or flying in more or less brakes. There is always a need for using judgement, but being predictable is less likely to get you in trouble than making things up on the fly as well making you a more controlled, accurate canopy pilot. It would be good for you to sit in on a basic canopy course where this is all explained. In addition to that you don't have to fly a "boxed" pattern, everything doesn't have to be exactly 90 degree turns. You can either cut the corner early to your next leg or curve outward on a leg to put you over your pre-planned point at the right alt. It takes a lot of practice but after about 80 jumps since my Flight-1 coarse I am getting much better accuracy in most wind conditions. All that said I am still very much a rookie and I still haven't had an off dz landing so I can't really comment on how it would work in that situation but I would like to think that I have a pretty good idea (or plan) now of what my pattern looks like from 2000ft and below in relation to the ground so it "should" just be a matter of "seeing" that pattern over whatever area of ground I may be taking for that upcoming off landing...I hope that is how it will work anyway, only time will tell.

Normally when a fuel pump dies the car will spit and spudder till the last bit of fuel is out of the lines so I doubt it is that. If the car just shut off as if you turned the key off then it is probably a sensor or electrical. Did you notice the lights dimming, slow turn signals, or other strange things on the drive? If the alt is not providing enough of a charge to the battery then you will be able to drive the car for a bit before the voltage drops enough (usually around 10v) so that the computer shuts down, once this happens the car will turn off just as if you shut it off with the key. Also if a sensor such as the crank sensor were to go bad or a wire leading up to it broke, then the computer will not know when to fire the spark plugs hence shutting down the car as well. Both of those problems will cause the car to shut down as if you shut it off with the key. Like others have said you can check if there is fuel by pushing in on the shrader valve to see if there is pressure, you should also be able to hear the fuel pump kick in for 2 sec when you first turn the key to the run position but you will have to listen carefully but I really don't think that's your problem. You really need to get an OBD2 scanner and see if there are any codes present, and then watch the live data while trying to start to pin point the problem.

You left out this quote... I wonder what the studies would say if those guys actually had the proper data to conduct such studies.