helment and decent rate

[kjundvr 0]

I have two questions. The first I think is a bit silly but hey I am a new-bee, but it has to do with helmets. I have a great fitting ski helmet and I wanted to find out if i could use it? I don’t know if there are any special considerations specific to skydiving in choosing a helmet. Then I also have a question regarding canopy decent rates. How can I get an idea about the decent rate of a canopy? I figure it has to do with weight and canopy size. Any thoughts?

[Fast 0]

Quote

I have two questions. The first I think is a bit silly but hey I am a new-bee, but it has to do with helmets. I have a great fitting ski helmet and I wanted to find out if i could use it? I don’t know if there are any special considerations specific to skydiving in choosing a helmet. Then I also have a question regarding canopy decent rates. How can I get an idea about the decent rate of a canopy? I figure it has to do with weight and canopy size. Any thoughts?

Considerations with helmets:

Weight (Lots of forces acting on you from exit to landing. Too heavy a helmet can cause neck problems.)
Snag points (Don't want lines or really anything to snag on the helmet. Can cause injury and/or death)
Range of motion (Need to be able to move your head around)
-This is important because you need visibility to see other people and objects in the air and your handles.
Will it stay on?
Can you put an audible in it if you get on later on?


I personally think there are a lot of good skydiving specific helmets and like to stick to them, but that doesn't mean its the only answer.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[hookitt 1]

Ski helmets are great. They are less expensive and are usually built to protect your melon a lot better than a standard skydiving helmet. I recommend using the helmet on your head rather than on an actual melon but that's a different subject.

If your helmet has a goggle attachment on the back of it, you may need to remove it to avoid the snag potential.

Another thing to consider is whether or not you wish to use a full face helmet.

Hope that helps.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Cloggy 1]

A Neptune is great for finding out your descent rate: to see what really happens when you do quarter, half, full brakes, floating on rears, how much height you loose in a turn etc. etc.

If you're not getting your own Neptune, try at least to borrow one for a few canopy control jumps.

One of my main reasons to get a Neptune: to get to know my new canopy better. Without instruments it's pretty difficult to judge the descent rate (IMO).
But don't get too focussed on instrument readings: even if you know your descent rate, you have to take other factors in to account to land on your target (e.g. wind speed, direction, gradient).

Bart

[riggerrob 643]

One of our tandem instructors has made hundreds of skydives with his old BOERI ski helmet. It provides better protection than most freefly helmets or my cheap-a$$ Pro-Tec.