How do I make a skyball?

[Krishan 0]

Hey, anyone out there know how much to weight a tennis ball for freeflying speeds? Is there a published weight range somewhere? Also what's the best stuff to fill it with?
Reason I'm asking, is we are fortunate enough to have our landing area away from the airport and any population. Where we jump the only thing for it to hit should it not be retrieved at the end of the jump is tumbleweeds and dust. So this add's some real fun to our skydives.
We tried to guess the weight a few times and made one way to light for belly flying, it just floated right up and we lost that one. We did end up getting the weight right for belly flying speeds eventually, now its time for a freefly ball.

Any help would be most appreciated.
blues...

Dont f#%k up......

[ramon 0]

This merits a major discussion and I am at work.

Levin????

"Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.", Ambrose Bierce.

[Trent 0]

I'll try Ramon...

If your profile is right, then you really shouldn't have much to do with a freeflyball. A few things to consider:
- What happened when you lost that first ball? Where'd it go? How easily would it have been for that ball to find its way back to your DZ and take someone out? Or, since it was light and floated away, wouldn't it have been nice to see it punch through you or someone else's canopy after deploying?
- Do you have someone with a lot of ball experience to be the ballmaster? Someone who can consistently retrieve the ball at breakoff?

I know I left some out, but if you're "experimenting" with ball jumps... you probably should be doing it. Do a bunch of ball jumps with someone who knows what's up. Then you'll really know what to do.

I know a few pro's who don't even want to do ball jumps... they say it's just too much to worry about.

Be careful, be smart!

Oh, hello again!

[Levin 0]

Hey, anyone out there know how much to weight a tennis ball for freeflying speeds? Is there a published weight range somewhere? Also what's the best stuff to fill it with?
Reason I'm asking, is we are fortunate enough to have our landing area away from the airport and any population. Where we jump the only thing for it to hit should it not be retrieved at the end of the jump is tumbleweeds and dust. So this add's some real fun to our skydives.
We tried to guess the weight a few times and made one way to light for belly flying, it just floated right up and we lost that one. We did end up getting the weight right for belly flying speeds eventually, now its time for a freefly ball.

trent made some good points but he left a few out.

let's say in the event that you do not retrieve the ball and it kills somebody...

1.) i'm not sure about new mexico but in the great state of texas you will spend a decade or two in prison for involuntary manslaugther.
2.) the pilot would be in violation of FAR's and could loose his license and have to face a civil suit. (remember spaceballs are only legal if they do not impact the ground)
3.) the dzo could possibly face a civil suit and loose his business (the victem did not get a chance to sign a waiver)
4.) the FAA comes along and says no more spaceballs and you will have successfully screwed it up for everybody.

spaceballs are a training aid and not a toy. they are a huge responsibility and that responsibility should not be taken lightly. trent is correct in saying that your profile suggest that you do not have the skills to safely jump with a ball. i'm not trying to be rude but at 260 jumps i doubt you have the neccessary spotting skills to jump with a ball let alone the air skills neccessary for retrieving it. even the wording of your post suggest you are not ready to be jumping with spaceballs. i cannot think of anything more embarrising in freeflying than dropping a ball (even more so than corking). you have already admitted to dropping one. i hate to imply a jump number prequisite for anything, but for spaceballs you should wait until you have at least 600 freefly jumps with atleast half headdown before you go out with a ball and qualified ballmaster and at least 800 -1000+ freefly jumps before you start ball mastering yourself. there is a test out there that gives you the chance to demonstrate your abilities with a ball before you start jumping with one. unfortunately the test is flawed by geographical unavailibilty.

Levin
vSCR# 17
vSCS# 03
gRAT# 40

[Levin 0]

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- What happened when you lost that first ball? Where'd it go? How easily would it have been for that ball to find its way back to your DZ and take someone out? Or, since it was light and floated away, wouldn't it have been nice to see it punch through you or someone else's canopy after deploying?

- or how about the impact. in soft dirt it may head for china but on concrete it could injury or kill someone in a 50' radius (guessing).

here's a scary thought. 8 people flying and orbiting around an unwnown ball fixated on it and nothing else. theory is since not one of them has the skills to fly with and retrieve the ball then with eight of them, the odds will be eight times as likely that someone will accidentally grab it.

and i just noticed on their website that this dz is located on a municipal airport.
http://www.skydivenm.net/gallery.html

Levin
vSCS #03

[Trent 0]

You're right about a skyball impact on a hard surface would scatter the leadshot like shrapnel. In fact, I remember a story about a jumper who mistakenly packed a lead weight in their main tray. It fell out on deployment and landed near a road. Witnesses said that they thought a bomb had gone off. Something like that could be disastrous.

Oh, hello again!

[ramon 0]

I only have 4 total jumps with a ball in my vicinity (so I learned to freefly with out one).
(1 Mike Swanson, 1 John Chisolm, 2 Levin). Levin's video took that bad shot of me pointing at his ball.

It's not somehting you just go and do, you have to be clear, focused, plan what you are going to do ahead of time and stick to it, and realize you may land off because you spot so far away (I hate landing off..ouch)

ramon

"Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.", Ambrose Bierce.

[rapper4mpi 0]

If you are truly interested. Contact someone at the Freefly Training Center. The coaches can be reched at www.freeflytrainingcenter.com
Although I would advise against it at this point, this is a good place tos tart so you can be safe. Jumping with Space balls is a lot of fun.
-Rap

[Levin 0]

yah! or just contact olav directly. you can find his contact information on olav1.com. i'm sure he'll help ya out.

levin
vSCS #03

[freeflir29 0]

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i'm sure he'll help ya out.

Just call 1-900-OLAV1 it's $199 per minute with the first 2 minutes free..... I jump with Spaceballs a lot....but thats only because I have Andre and John Pinyon here to be a ball master for me. I have 258 jumps at the moment and I'm pretty damn good on my head. I can also tell you I don't even come close to having BM skills. On most days...yeah...I could probably get it done....but it would be an 80/20% type thing....and that just isn't acceptable. We have never lost a ball at Skydive Atlanta and I'm sure we never will.

[ramon 0]

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I could probably get it done....but it would be an 80/20% type thing....and that just isn't acceptable. We have never lost a ball at Skydive Atlanta and I'm sure we never will.

famous last words. I hope you are right.

peace
ramon

"Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.", Ambrose Bierce.

[freeflir29 0]

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famous last words

Hey...I'm not saying I haven't tracked away thinking "Shit...I hope someone got ahold of that!!!" I'm just saying it has never happened so far.

[BikerBabe 0]

All good advice.

However, let me add some info to the mix.

Skydive New Mexico's hangar and loading area is located at a municipal airport in the middle of nowhere. However, since the airport is paranoid, we are not allowed to land there. Our landing area is about 5 miles south of the airport, and Krishan wasn't lying when he said there is NOTHING out there for a skyball to hit besides tumbleweeds and dust. Perhaps the random cow. We own 5 acres of land, and the nearest house (trailer) is several miles from the DZ.

As for the skyball...I agree with what's been said here. Perhaps it would be best to wait, especially since you're a friend, and I would hate to see friends at my home DZ getting hurt or worse.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[Jimbo 0]

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Our landing area is about 5 miles south of the airport, and Krishan wasn't lying when he said there is NOTHING out there for a skyball to hit besides tumbleweeds and dust. Perhaps the random cow. We own 5 acres of land, and the nearest house (trailer) is several miles from the DZ.

Uhm. What about other people? 5 acres isn't much land, a bad spot could put that skyball through someones roof.

I'm no expert, but that sounds like trouble to me.

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[Levin 0]

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Our landing area is about 5 miles south of the airport, and Krishan wasn't lying when he said there is NOTHING out there for a skyball to hit besides tumbleweeds and dust. Perhaps the random cow. We own 5 acres of land, and the nearest house (trailer) is several miles from the DZ.

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Uhm. What about other people? 5 acres isn't much land, a bad spot could put that skyball through someones roof.

I'm no expert, but that sounds like trouble to me.

and a dead cow can still get the faa involved

levin
vSCS#03

[Kirils 1]

There is a BIG safety issue here... I suckat freeflying
and wouldn't risk it without an expert with me.
Make a small slit in a tennis ball and fill it with 14-18 ounces of shot. You gotta play with the weight...
14 oz works for the belly fliers.
Tie a pullup cord on a big button and stick it in the ball. Squirt some expanding foam insulation into the ball to lock everything down. Be carefull and fly safe!!!

"Slow down! You are too young
to be moving that fast!"

Old Man Crawfish

[PhreeZone 20]

There is more to it then just add some weight and thats it...

A single oz can be the difference between a nice fall rate and something that goes 200 mph. The tail length also has a big factor in the fall rate. Get an EXPERIENCED ball master to go through with you on how to first jump with their ball, then how to build your own. Also once you learn how... get training on how to ball master. There is a huge difference between jumping with a ball and being a ball master.

I would personally never jump a ball that has not been prejumped with an experienced ball master to ensure the fall rate is correct. I do have a ball, but I recieved it after it had been jumped already with success.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[mbohn53 0]

i make sky balls made to whatever apeed and whatever design you want.

[bch7773 0]

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Our landing area is about 5 miles south of the airport, and Krishan wasn't lying when he said there is NOTHING out there for a skyball to hit besides tumbleweeds and dust. Perhaps the random cow. We own 5 acres of land, and the nearest house (trailer) is several miles from the DZ.

Uhm. What about other people? 5 acres isn't much land, a bad spot could put that skyball through someones roof.

I'm no expert, but that sounds like trouble to me.

from what he said, the nearest house is several miles from the DZ. As long as they don't use the skyball on a day where the uppers are blowing towards the house, it should land just fine in a field.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[totalbodypilot 0]

phreeezonone has the best statement,...A single oz can be the difference between a nice fall rate and something that goes 200 mph. The tail length also has a big factor in the fall rate. Get an EXPERIENCED ball master to go through with you on how to first jump with their ball, then how to build your own. Also once you learn how... get training on how to ball master. There is a huge difference between jumping with a ball and being a ball master.
Spc. Colon Berry
3Bn/20Th Special Forces Group (ABN)

seek and destroy, clear and sweep, what ever you want to call it, its all fun in games in the game of war.

[jasonRose 0]

DO a search there is info in here on them. There is also more of the ass tearing that you are hearing in your post here. People seem to forget how they learned and think everyone else is just plan stuiped... Good luck

From what I have heard it is more dependent on the streamer length on the ball..

Some day I will have the best staff in the world!!!

[hookitt 1]

If you notice, this thread was started Aug 8, 2002. He’s probably made one by now

Nobody is plain stupid. Some things said in the threads you mention probably are though. It is a website where people with low jump numbers are smarter until they have high jump numbers. When I jumped a ball the first time, I already had the skills to do it. Most people don't.

If you personally were to take a ball out there, there's no way you could handle the task at 169 skydives (at time of writing) Perhaps if you have a 100 hours of tunnel time, you have an advantage but it's not likely.

There are instructions to build a skyball. Go for it, they're good instructions. However, if you jump it, and lose it over land you shouldn't be dropping things.. then you are stupid. I'm all for people flying with one if they want to but bring someone along that can positively, not only possibly, handle it.

I've jumped and ball mastered plenty of them. The last place I jumped with one had a wide open field to spot over. It's still scary to fly with. A skyball is basically cannonball. A person would be stupid if they didn't realize that.

Don't drop it, and if you do, it can't hit anything but open dirt, no cows, sheep, tool sheds, nothing.

Good luck!

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

[breadhead 0]

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A single oz can be the difference between a nice fall rate and something that goes 200 mph.

Hmm, not really. Terminal velocity is proportional to the square root of the mass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_velocity). 1 oz represents 4-5% of the total mass. Therefore, the fallrate will change only by 2%.

Add 1 oz to a ball that falls 160mph, and it will fall 163mph.

[totalbodypilot 0]

If you want to get that technical,...how about adding in other factors like air density, exit altitude,, ect...

The statement was and is: Jump With SOMEONE who is exspeiranced with a skyball, not a degree in physics......or better yet both. Jump with Jim ORiely,.. Just my 2 cents.

SPC Colon Berry
3Bn/20TH Special Forces Group (ABN)

colon.berry@us.army.mil

seek and destroy, clear and sweep, what ever you want to call it, its all fun in games in the game of war.

[breadhead 0]

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If you want to get that technical,...how about adding in other factors like air density, exit altitude,, ect...

Since these factors are the same for both the skydiver and the ball, there is no need to add them in. But, if you insist:
- Air density is covered in the Wiki link that was posted (see the "rho" in the formula).
- Exit altitude is covered by taking the air density at that altitude.

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The statement was and is: Jump With SOMEONE who is exspeiranced with a skyball

Oh, I never disagreed with that statement. I agree for 200%. I must have misunderstood the statement, I thought it said something about 1oz and 200mph.