outdoort

Thanks for the link gowlerk. Yea ur prob certainly right that the fuel is just part of the whole jump cost, not necessarily the reason why they are expensive… never looked into halo jumps before now, but def will be something ill do eventually in my skydive career. Looks like there a few hundred dollars to make a halo jump from west Tn. Skydiving… maybe one day. I was thinking 300-500 or so, but i guess i was kinda low on my estimate.

So ur learning how to freefall in the air. It can take some jumps before u learn this tequniqe, so dont worry too much you will get better. my biggest suggestion is to find ur nearest wind tunnel and drive there and spend 10-15 min in the tunnel. This will cost u a little under $200 if u tell them ur a skidiver. The value of doing this will be great. Even if one is far, just make the drive. other than that, just stick ur dick into the ground lol while in freefall. This “arch” is from the hips and u need to push the hips toward the ground.

Okay so you guys will be using this plane at west Tn. S.D. As your main jump plane? And offering halo jumps along with that? when will it be ready to fly jumpers? curious how much a halo jump would cost…even tho its fast to altitude i imagine the fuel consumption would be along the same lines as other aircraft offering halo jumps? sounds like a awesome plane and possibly ill need to drive down sometime from Pa. congrads on the acquisition.

You paid for the whole license course... so keep going, the jumps are paid for. Even if you never progressed enough to get ur licence, you still had fun making jumps. So go back and make another jump. The first 3 jumps for me i was pretty nervous. It got much better 4th jump on and also because i got 10min in the tunnel. highly suggest driving to your nearest tunnel for 10 min of coaching in there.

I wouldn't think that it would degrade the material. Maybe break down some ridgidity to the nylon. IDK time will tell. Soak the whole rig in a warm/hot bin of water and a ton of dawn dishwashing soap and massage the rig with your hands while in there. Dawn cuts grease pretty well. You may need to attempt this a few times.

Its def. tough deciding on a helmet without trying them on. Someone may have maybe a couple different brands that are narrowed down, then prob two different sizes within each brand that you would want ot try on... I settled on the cookie g4 before seeing any in person because I knew I wanted a impact rated helmet. Bonehead isnt impact rated from what I read on their site. Someone from Florida I met told me that the cookie g4 is the only impact rated helmet on the market at the moment. When I was down in florida I tried on a medium and a large cookie g4, and the large was the size I went with even tho. I was sized in the middle of the medium range according to their chart. Its a really awesome helmet that is well built and I highly recommend the g4 to anyone.

You need to tell us the date of manufacture of the reserve and main canopies, plus the AAD? Also jump numbers on the main? I'm a very new licensed jumper, but considering I've been looking the used marked a lot lately because of that, I feel I could give a opinion. Assuming the AAD was removed, or expired. if the canopies are from the 2009 era as the same as the rig, and have only 45 jumps on the main, just a few reserve repacks. I'm kinda thinking 4000 or more.

Real good posts so far. Thanks. I wanted to mention that I emailed Mars with the question of "lets say the m2's battery doesn't last the 15.5 years that it should? Will it be replaced free?" The response was short, and in slight broken English, but essentially the response was that they would replace the battery free of charge if it was found after inspection that was the reason the unit would not power on any longer. Honestly tho, in any of these devices, in 10 plus years if you need a battery change, its possible the batteries in these devices are no longer manufactured, unless its a real common battery they are using in them. No clue what type of battery is in any of them. Again, what sold me on the Cypress wasn't only the track record, but the fact their website hypes their product up with multiple high quality photos of the manufacturing process and how their "attention to detail" is impeccable etc. They really try their best to show and tell the quality of the manufacturing / quality control.

Well thought Id mention I just placed my order for a cypres multi mode. Excited to get this in my rig and start jumping this spring!

Piisfish What parameters are you talking about specifically? I'm pretty sure Mars m2 and the cypres both have the same expert settings of 78 mph. Not sure about fire altitude, but you can change any of these aad's fire altitude in increments of like 20'.

Hey everyone. I'm about to buy a aad for my rig and I'm kinda stuck on making a decision on which of the major 3 brands... A lot of th threads ive read so far are outdated, and are not really valid any longer since most of the comments that made since at the time are no longer fact. For example. Post 2017 Cypress no longer requires maintenacne and lasts 15.5 years. Prices are different too. I'm pretty sure Cypress used to be 1500 or so from the threads I read from years ago. A new cypress is 1200. A vigil is 1200 too and is airworthy for a total of 20 years, but required a battery change at a min of 10 years. So possibly 1 or even two battery changes in a vigils lifetime. Mars m2 is even more proven now. Threads of the past may have not given them enough clout/acknowledgement that people could give them today... I think so at least. I haven't been able to find anything negative about the company or their aad's online within the last few years. Mars m2 is also the cheapest at 1000 dollars and lasts 15.5 years. From what Ive been reading, over the last few years seems like people may have drifted away from cypress and into the Vigil brand more than any other direction. But this may have been a movement because, the leader (cypress) had a lifespan pre 2017 a lot less than 20 years, and required maintenance schedule of something like every 4 years I think.... 15 and 20 years is a long time guys. Technology may change and we may have even better and more accurate/reliable aads on the market then. Or I may just be out of the sport by then and not care. So initial price point and the fact I want the best of the best AAD is more of my concern at this moment. They all seem to sorta have the same features and settings. So I'm kinda thinking Mars m2 and save $200, or go for the proven name in AAD's, and buy a Cypress? The video of the cypress cutting metal wire and how they have a ton of photos on their website of the manufacturing process etc. is sorta selling me on the cypress right now. They claim the single edge/angle cutter is better than the round cutter that I believe both vigil and mars use. Whats everyones opinion at this point... Does the choice really matter in this stage of the game, where all three manufacturers have years of proven reliable use? Also kinda skeptical that the batteries in the cypress and the mars will really last 15.5 years. And if they dont... Will the manufacture stand by the product if you have no clue what you did with the receipt years prior? Thanks.

Hey Tim I was gonna let you know I saw on skydive pa 's facebook that they are starting a aff course march 20th if you were interested.

Haha Yes Tim! My instructor said I now have a license to go make bad decisions now! lol Hopefully none made that get me hurt!

Holy shit. sorry about that.You guys gonna recover to jump this year? I hope so. Not sure where your drop zone is in wv, but I'll look it up and prob pay a visit this summer. I live in s.w. pa. Just got my A license!

Ya it is kinda disapointing to see this forum so in-active. I'm a new member as of just a few months ago so a lot of the searching of old threads I read on here are old as hell, and links and photos are burned.... sucks. Other hobbies im into have real active forums, so skydiving is just prob not that popular of a sport compared to other things. Forums are way better for sharing info than facebook. One think that isn't helping this forum is the censorship. Posts shouldn't be deleted in my opinion. And ya why does the forum go down for hours or a full day or so at a time? Bad management.... Regardless. Still like it here.

I have a similar rig to yours that was just loaned to me by a really nice guy I met in Fl. while down there getting my A license. Its a mirage g3 from 2003. The canopies are from the same year (guess he bought new canopies when he bought the rig) and he said that the sabre 2 main has about 300 jumps on it. So low jump numbers too, but its been used consistently thoughout the years. Gonna have my rigger inspect the whole thing when I have him do the repack here in the next month. I was wondering your same question too though, cuz I have heard/read the "old enough to vote, too old to jump" thing... So sounds great that age isn't too much of a concern here on our gear!

So what about a V353 holding a Full fitting reserve (OP 218) and a standard fitting main like a Pulse 230 or pilot 210? This is a combo I think I'm going to go with, and according to vectors canopy chart, they just say " don't put a main and a reserve in the same container that are both from the "full fitting" list. So I'm thinking choose either your main or reserve as a full fit and then the other canopy as a standard fit. Of course going with standard fit on both main and reserve seems like a logical choice too but to leave room to downsize means Id like to choose a full fitting main and a standard fitting reserve....

A couple weeks ago now I did 4 IAD jumps at skydive airtight in skyatook Ok. I highly reccomend this place! They were all so friendly and I had such a good time there! Instruction was great and I did very well with my first 4 jumps. A big factor here, is the static line/ IAD jumps are way cheaper than aff. Had I been doing aff, I would have only been able to do two jumps total that day. Currently trying to find a place within 9 hrs of pittsburgh that does IAD/static line with some warmer weather so I can continue on with my program. Its very hard to find anywere doing these programs unfortunately. I kinda feel like most places do aff because it makes the drop zone more money. Otherwise why not do IAD? No static line gear needed.

Bump. Anyone have additional input here on Icarus Nano vs Optimum Performance reserve?

By the way Coolbeans, thanks for the awesome post. Yea, I was going to order my infinity with both red pillow blocks for the cutaway and reserve. I was sort of thinking the low profile d ring, but seeing vids of it catching on things, or other jumpers in advertently grapping the d ring kinda sold me on the pillow blocks.

So Looks like I'm gonna be driving a car home from Los Angeles (to pittsburgh). Gonna stop somewhere to make a jump. Kinda thinking Skydive Kentucky, as that is where I think I'm going to get my A license. I will keep an eye out for the weather tho, so mid to end of January when I'll be making this drive, it might be better for me to just do a tandem or something in Arizona, Texas? idk Maybe a weekend of a few jumps. If anyone has suggestions or wants to meet up at a drop zone let me know. Will be anywhere from Jan 10th -23rd. Southern route L.A. to Arizona, to Dallas, and then working my way up to Pittsburgh from there. Worth stopping at rigging innovations in Arizona? Maybe to try some containers on and possibly see if I feel they are comfortable, idk.

yea fair enough. I'm going to take the advice here and get my a license first. Just wish we weren't in the beginning of winter lol. I have seriously thought about flying south for a couple weeks to a drop zone in Fl or something. If I could start taking this course next week I wouldn't be asking this question :) By the way was wondering where the term wuffo came from? Just a forum thing here or a skydiving term for non jumpers?

No where have I said or hinted at that. Obviously complete newb here. And Ive shown appreciation so far for the experienced opinions here. Dont get offended just because Im trying to squeeze people for more info. Thats kinda the goal of the forum here.And by the way you havn't given shit for info in this thread so far, except just criticizing me.

Thanks for someone new adding their thoughts! Totally respect all of your thoughts. Of course I'm not trying to argue, I'm probably going to listen to you guys. But after additional thought I really still don't get the problem here with this... A infinity i-56 will hold a pilot 230 in zpx. That is .95 wing loading for me. Based on the reading Ive done and seen posts from other indivduals here, that is very conservative for a guy 190lbs. ( I get that if your a really light weight person, your wing loading will be less generally as a beginner canopy needs to be a certain size to fly well for a beginner). Then, if i even want to downsize in the future, I can go to 210, and 190 sq. ft canopies (irrelevant to my situation, but the infinity canopy chart lists a 188 pilot as it will fit, and the guy from velocity said that those charts just show the largest canopies that will fit, and they dont list canopies that are smaller that will also fit. So presumably I can fit a Pilot170 inside too?) So start off .95 wingload on a 230 pilot zpx a few hundred jumps later end up (maybe not) on a 190 This chart from this website seems to agree: https://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf 200-300 jumps on a rental aint happening for me, Rental costs on that many jumps would end up purchasing this container and probably the canopy as well... So are what you guys telling me here, that I may graduate with my A license, and decide that I need a container that will hold a larger canopy than a 230 for at least the next 50 jumps or more? Keep in mind, If I walk away with the A license and need to rent gear for another 20 jumps or so before downsizing to that 230, I can do that before wearing my own rig... Or are you guys saying, I may walk away with my A license and be jumping a 190 and smaller right away? I'm going to say no, because that would violate the wing load chart, and I'm a conservative guy. I would probably plan on jumping that pilot 230 (or maybe 210) for the next 100-200 jumps. Like I said, this is just conversation, I'm not trying to dig the answer I want out of any of you lol, but I feel like people dont want to give suggestions on this kind of stuff because behind the computer screen, no one knows what kind of person I am... Am I athletic, do I participate in other sports, hand eye cordination, fear level, quick or slow learner, etc... But that is why I qualified my original post, assuming a guy like me would pick things say somewhere in the middle of fast vs slow learning (I'm willing to bet i obtain these skills faster than average). Thanks a bunch guys, looking forward to sticking around here and learing more and more. Kinda wish the forums were more active, but I guess that's probably because the sport isn't as large as some other hobbies/ topics of forums i belong to.

Got a call from velocity today. Basically he just said “no he wouldnt be comfortable sizing me and selling me a rig until after aff”. i can see not wanting someone to waist their money on a rig they grow out of too quickly, but aside from that idk why people arent comfortable recommending a rig that has a canopy sized 1:1 or less for a beginner. i thought the general consensus was to stay at 1:1 wing load as a beginner. Everything that ive read so far says exactly that! i feel like if i grow out of my rig then its not the biggest deal because id probably keep it and just buy another. I can see myself very often wanting to jump with a canopy thats safe and mellow (enjoying the views up in the sky). In a ideal world, yes id get my a license before buying gear but idk how things are gonna work out because i have been keeping an eye out for used gear too. I tend to have a hard time saving money as im self employed so hopefully i even have the cash at the time i may see something come up for sale... i guess at this point im gonna hold off buying new, and just keep an eye out for a appropriately sized container that will hold a 210-230 sized main and a similar size reserve...