moonglo

For those of you who missed it at Flock-N-Dock 1, here it is again! BTW, I'm still jumping this pc 400 jumps later with no more problems or cutaways... Technical info: RWS 32" zp 9' bridle, lightweight monkeyfist (built around pingpong ball), less than 10 jumps at time of mal, lazy throw in a GTi

I understand completely. I'm sure he had many friends who would love to help put something together. If such a jump does happen I'll unhook my wings for a bit to join in or help out as needed. You are so very right about that!

Would you be willing to help organize a jump for Hutch at Skyfest? I know a lot of people would love to join you on a jump for him.

Yep. He lost his battle with cancer.

Just got word that he tracked off at 4am this morning. Blue skies Hutch, Woof!

Hey now, our marriage is more important than going to Flock-n-Dock 3. It's the week long honeymoon in Cancun that's more important than this event!

I'm with you...at 6' tall and 35-36" inseam I have to special order pants from expensive places. But I love meeting people when I'm sitting down and watching their face as I stand up!

you only need to reach your risers to adjust heading after opening after you avoid whatever youre avoiding take a sec to unsnap.. side note- ive been able to reach me risers during inflation on almost every suit ive ever flown... I didn't mean to imply that not reaching my toggles is a problem, but that it's normal and you don't need to. In my Vampire the best I can do is reach the big rings and that's enough to get me out of the occasional line twisties before unzipping. (I'm a bit shy about unzipping without a landable canopy after having had to cut away once unzipped- freefall's not fun when you can't control your armwings.)

I've put over 100 first flight students in Prodigies, and less than 10 in Classics and GTi's in the last 2 years (mostly due to fit). I've seen many a pull with the leg wing fully open in all types of suits, but I've never seen the front flip or even someone completely head down at pull time. Maybe my next student will be kind enough to entertain me that way. The one piece suits do seem to be easier for the first timers to fly well but require a lot more ground time to demonstrate the hook up and operation. The Prodigies are less restricting and easier to hook up, and freefliers don't have to remove their butt bungie. The prodigies seem to have a lot less gear fear associated with them among those that have not yet flown. I never found the Prodigies to be at all difficult to fly, just a bit more tiring on the shoulders, but I had more than 100 wingsuit jumps before I tried one. BB- I can't reach my toggles (standard RWS risers) in a Prodigy without unsnapping either, and I have tried in too small, properly fitting, and too big suits! I've not had a problem re-gripping my wings in any suit that had long enough sleeves for me. Maybe try it in front of a fan (or propblast) on the ground where you can see where it's going when you let go?

We'll be honeymooning in Cancun that week, but I might stop by on Sunday.

Self taught and sent a bunch of friends off to do solo first flights in my suit before I had the jump #s to get my rating. My first flight class has changed very little from what I taught then.

I got a used Classic, got online to figure out how to hook it up and jumped! I wouldn't recommend this method, but I lived

315, but I only waited that long cuz I didn't have access to a suit that fit before then! On a side note I had a guy with "more than 500 but only 281 logged" jumps and rental gear ask me about a first flight last weekend. Found out soon enough he had done 500+ jumps pre-1977 and 4 recently! I think it is more important to be current and comfortable with how his "new" gear works and have good in-air awareness than jump numbers, and I told him to look me up when he had made at least 100 jumps on his own modern gear!!

I've known a few jumpers who quit jumping wingsuits after their first wingsuit cutaway (mostly due to jumping inappropriate canopies with their wingsuits), but never heard of anyone quitting jumping after a cutaway.

Studies have shown that listening to music while driving slows your reaction times as if you'd had a drink or 2, so it can impair your abilities even if you're not actively listening/grooving/whatever. (sorry, don't have the study handy right now) I agree it wouldn't be a big deal on the airplane, and if there's an aircraft emergency you'll probably notice your buddies gearing up in a hurry. But I don't think it's a good idea for freefall or canopy flight for any experience level if it could distract you, make it difficult to communicate, or slow your reaction times.

After looking at your canopy color choices as posted on page one I would advise against the center 3 cells of your canopy being a dark color. My main has the center 3 cells navy blue and every time I cut it away it lands in a wad navy side up and is very hard to find. Something to think about if you don't jump in the middle of nowhere. I didn't read the rest of the thread yet, so my apologies if you've changed your color scheme since.

Are you 6' tall? If so I think you should sell it!

Great, now I have to chose between Flock-n-Dock 3 or my wedding!!

Congrats to Nick, Theresa, J, and Rich on some very nice first flights! The boogie turnout was smaller than past years but we had a blast and I know we got at least 1 new flocker hooked enough to buy his own suit!! Thanks to Todd and Kathy and the Aggieland staff for putting on a great event, and to J and Stan and Sunpath/Javelin for supplying demo gear for the new birds to use instead of their hp canopies!

Did Morpheus Tech take care of that for them in the US? 'Cos if it was shipped to Slovenia and back and repaired in one week then that would have been really impressive! Hahaha, yeah, I meant Morpheus Tech

I called PF to see if they could repair my wingtip grippers within a few weeks, in time for a boogie where I'd be organizing. I overnighted my V-1 and they had it repaired and back to me that same week!

Classic 1 from early production with lots of jumps on it (unknown by original owner, 40-ish of mine, 30+ by Hippydiver, 30+ by Luminous, and a few demos by others) is still in very good condition, except for some small line burns on the right arm wing from dumping my reserve on my back. I also have a custom GTi from 2004 with 200+ jumps on it that has seen better days, and is a bit tight on me now. It has patches where the leg was damaged jumping smoke, the leg zippers have been replaced (one side once and the other side 3 times!), there's a snag in the armwing stitching, and the lining/coating has mostly peeled out of the entire inside of the body. I doubt I could sell that suit without major repairs, but I intend to keep it for more smoke demos. The legwing is in amazingly good shape for the bad landings I did in it, a few with stuck leg zippers! My PF suits have held up way better- my 2005 Prodigy demos have between 20 and 40 jumps on each and are still like new, except for the one with the yellow patches from the guy that landed downwind on the taxi way (who immediately bought me a case of green bottles and offered to pay for the repairs or suit if need be

PJ was a great friend to me years ago when I was a shy 100 jump wonder and new to Crosskeys. He helped me through one of my scariest skydiving moments shortly after I moved there- pulling my reserve on the ground before a repack and having nothing come out! He showed me what the previous rigger did wrong, how it should be, and took the time to teach me a lot about my reserve and made me confident enough to trust it after that. My first reserve ride happened about a year later and was packed by him. My condolences to his family and friends, he will be greatly missed.

I've never had a problem with Sprint in Houston or anywhere in the country, it even works at SDH! Can't say much for their prices tho...