pBASEtobe

That's way cool! Congrats on that one. I would love to see that video.

We interrupt this program to bring you… I cringe every time I see someone write out their e-mail address like this on a public forum. You’re bound to get lots of spam by doing this. I would suggest writing something like xxxx at utti dot org, or maybe just having someone PM you instead. Just a suggestion. And now back to your originally scheduled program…

Abyssinian's are cool looking cats!

Grr...I would pile into the van but they're going for the whole week. I can't take that much time off work. Hell I can't take ANY time off work. GJT it is I guess.

Does anyone have a still photo of that? That is just classic!

Uhh...what the hell is that?

Any ideas for bigger airports farther (or is it further...crap) away than Grand Junction. Would flying into something bigger be cheaper or is Grand Junction pretty big. For a ticket from LA to GJT they want ~$450. Maybe because it's Thanksgiving weekend. OUCH!! Edit to add: I looked it up. I was right the first time, it's farther.

Me too!

Tom , I'd like to see this done with the catcher going stowed. Still, way cool though!

The PD-190 was a 9-cell so I think it has the same aspect ratio as the Sabre 170, 2.5:1.

You think I didn't have this same problem when I jumped the PD-190 because it wasn't loaded as high?

There are many things that influence this flight. I think the only way to really tell if it was the canopy or conditions is to just jump it again. I think I'll be jumping it in 2 weeks. I'll post how it goes.

The first bit of buffeting I think I was on my front risers but very slightly. I started to slowly pull them down when it started, then I said to my self, forget that idea, and I let up on them. I think I only pulled a couple inches of fronts. It looks like I had just started a slight turn to the left when that happened. I actually felt quite comfortable in turns under the canopy. It felt stable then but straight flight felt the worst.

Part of it does look like that but why then was I still getting somuch commotion going on during straight flight? Also I did this exact jump with a PD 190 and had absolutely no problems what-so-ever. What are people's thought about me actually unloading the canopy during flight. I'm not so sure that's happenening, not enough to get slack in the lines. With that kind of decent rate and weight under the canopy leaning in the harness shouldn't slack or unload the lines enough to cause that. You think? Why when I fly my paraglider with the same harness, worse conditions, and a wing that is more suseptable to collapses I have no problems. This is very puzzling to me. I'm really looking forward to jumping this Sabre again to see if I get the same results.

Here it is.

That sucks! For some reason I've found chamber rides to be fun only when you don't NEED to be in them.

Can someone post some info about where to stay and where to fly into? I’m going this year but have never even been anywhere near there before so I know nothing of the area. Do most people stay in Moab or just outside of the city or what?

If I remember correctly there are 300-400 jumps on the canopy and around 100 on the line set.

Nothing for the opening but wouldn't it make a difference with the line length for flight? Masking tape but that's it. I do these jumps with a PG round throw out reserve so I do have a back-up. Not that I really trust it that much though. And I've been cutting away at around 750' AGL if not higher so I do have a bit of time. Edit to add: I do have that cool hook knife Kate Cooper gave me. I think I'll bring that along next time.

Yes, I was using the skydiving brake settings. That could account for the funky opening but what about the rest of the flight? I'm going to try it again but jump slider down (not off) with the brakes routed through the grommets and keeper rings and see how it goes.

Anybody have any experience with flying skydiving canopies with no slider and using the line-mod? I d-bagged a Sabre 170 from a paraglider yesterday and had an interesting ride to say the least. I loaded it slightly less than 1.1:1 and delployment was done at around 900' AGL / 2600' MSL. I had a bit of a strange opening. I got center cell inflation first then the outer cells and then the 3 center cells deflated, surged a bit and then inflated properly. This didn’t surprise me much because it’s a 9-cell and not meant for such slow airspeed deployments. What surprised me is that I flew it straight and had some major buffeting of the entire wing. I had an end cell have a little frontal collapse which re-inflated instantly but sent a wave/collapse from the nose to the tail. It also got worse when I started to pull front risers. I would just chock this all up to very turbulent conditions but the fact is it wasn’t turbulent. I d-bagged off a tandem paraglider and there were other PG’s in the air around as well. The paraglider I left from (now a tandem lightly loaded with only one person on it) landed without incident. No collapses and no trouble getting down. Also, some of the other paragliders in the air were having trouble staying up which means there weren’t many thermals and/or they weren’t very strong. I talked to some of the PG pilots afterwards and they said it wasn’t very punchy. I’m wondering if the problem was the fact that I was flying the canopy with no slider and the line-mod or maybe there are some trim problems with the canopy. I also checked for tension knots when I got down and didn’t see any. Anyone have any other ideas? I can attach some video of the flight later tonight so it’ll show the buffeting. edited for spelling

Hey, I do that even when BASE jumping...well I have been recently at least.

I'll chip in too! Hey now, finger off the trigger.

Funny...in a way that shot rings a bell for me. I remember that view, in a similar way, of the steel of the New River bridge just before I clipped it.