Stomusky

Of course, it's going to depend on how well you maintain it. So, lets just say that it's in "good condition". But if I'm looking for an used canopy, how old is too old? 10yrs old? 20yrs old? And on those canopies, what is considered "good condition"? I guess more of the question is, "which areas on the canopy (& lines) wear out most that I need to keep in mind"?

Hello, As I am looking for my own gear, I noticed some people have larger Reserve compared to Main. But I also noticed some people have smaller Reserve compared to Main. I'm seeing that if you have 170 or larger main, you have a reserve that's smaller. If the main is 150, the reserve is 150. If the main is smaller than 150, I saw a trend that most would have larger reserve compared to main. Can I please ask if this is a reasonable understanding?

This is the most philosophical comment that I have ever heard about skydiving, but I can kinda relate myself to it....being one of them that breeze through most of sports in initial stage. I thought I was not afraid of heights, but I got a bit scared after 10 jumps. But overcome the fear, and I know now that I love & respect the sport very much. That's why I wanted to take time and purchase the right gear. Thank you for your tips. They're great help.

Hello, I know I should be asking my AFF instructor or rigger, but I'd like to ask this if there are any tips out there for my own knowledge. I have roughly 40 jumps and using 190 main (rental). And currently, I'm looking for one of my own. I'm 5'6" and 140lbs, so I'm thinking that I want 150 main to start. If I want to go from 190 to 150, I guess I need to experience some jumps on 170 too. So the question I have is, how many jumps would I need before starting to use 150? Thanks for paying attention. Appreciate for any comments.

Hi, I heard about this being discussed today at skydive San Diego so I'm joining the discussion. Yes, it was me who had the pleasure to experience the two out. I'm replying to BigSky because that's exactly what I did. Unstowed the front (main) canopy's brakes, and didn't touch the rear at all. Or I should say, I immediately unstowed the main brakes and I realized that I had two out. I only had 33 jumps, and being unexperienced, it took me a while (5sec or so) to figure out what happened....It got to me when I saw the reserve bag escaping from me. So, I kept my cool and decided not to touch the reserve brakes because two canopies opened very nicely and I figured I shouldn't do anything stupid. For a half of a second, I thought about cutting away the main, but then I didn't (because I didn't want to do anything stupid). I'm glad I didn't. As you can see from the pictures, the main was in front. So I decided to use the main toggles (which had already been unstowed) to stir. I figured that front canopy will catch wind faster, so I can stir better. And it allowed me to keep good control. As BigSky suggested, I made sure that I only make a very slow turns, and I changed my position 90 degrees to head towards the drop zone. After that, I didn't do anything but let the two canopies glide me down. That's all I did. I really don't know why the reserve deployed. All I did was deployed the main at 4000, and two just deployed simultaneously. Only speculation I have is that I was scrunching on the back of the small plane, and I changed my position with someone and my back was rubbing against the person.....but I don't think that will really pull the reserve pin out....so I don't know. Anyway, after that experience, it really made me want to study more about the sport. It also made me want to buy my own rig (oh, I didn't mention yet that I was using the rental). Today, I went to the same DZ again, and had a couple of nice fun jumps. I guess people into this sport are all crazy.