conoro

Oh sorry - I see what you mean. The bridal attachment beside the hackey. Good point. And I will try other methods. Someone showed me a rather odd method (no folding as such, just grab hackey and attachment point, long loop the bridle inside and stuff it in). Worked really well if and only if the boc was tight.

I did ! Went from a PD-170 to a Silhouette 150. Um. OK, the 150 doesn't pack that much smaller. I believe the mouth of the boc kinda closes over the small gap between the pc and the hackey effectively causing bunching... Once the pc is beyond the mouth to any extent, it whips right out. Judy at Skydive city taught me to tamp down the bottom of the pack job before putting in the pc. Does make a big difference. Never had problems when she was packing! Thanks, Conor.

Never had an issue with the student rigs (as far as I know ) - maybe they have slacker bocs. IAD instructors I knew preferred the bridle to exit at the opposite end to the handle. Probably less likely to vomit bridle all over the plane while you're trying to get a student ready.

Hi all, A while ago I decided to hand my Javelin over to Sunpath to get some mods done (my bridle was waving at the cameraman in a sit!). They did some nice things with the riser tuck flaps and some other stuff, put a (rather large!) bridle cover on, but also replaced my existing BOC with a new one. I had about 300 jumps on the rig with no problems but since the mods I've had 3 hard pulls (last 100 jumps) including one almost impossible one that I only managed to extract from the jaws of the damn BOC due to excess altitude (took me 1500 ft, pulling at 2500). Anyone else seen this? I've been told "You're packing it wrong" - thumping the bottom of pack job before packing the PC helps but still - had no problems before this! Is some spandex less stretchy than others? The new stuff is pretty tight and ungiving... I also believe the mouth of the boc is clamping down hard between the PC and the hackey - I have less issues if I can see some material poking out from the BOC. I'll probably just rip this one off given that I'm scared of it now, just thought I'd ask... Conor. PS: I pack my pc long and narrow. If bridle is at left, I fold in half right to left, then in thirds from top/bottom, then in half again right to left. S-fold bridle in, and roll up; bridle exits at top where the hackey sack is. Fills the available length of the boc. Funnily enough, now that I'm waffling, I pack it differently for IAD students, with the bridle exiting at the bottom.

Weights do help me alright - it's far less of a struggle. But I've just downsized to a Silhouette 150 which makes adding 10 pounds of lead quite a bit more exciting. Last time I ran out of arm extension hauling on the brakes! My weight vest is configured like a belt - the lead shot bags run in lines around the bottom part of the vest with about 3 pounds or so sewn into the back. It's comfy enough sitting up in an Otter but not lying down in a Cessna. I feel like I should start into labour! Coaching and tunnel time would be great - I'll have to make some plans to visit Florida sometime. Maybe a new jumpsuit would help too if I can get proper measurements. Or spray silicone on the one I have. Grease me up woman . Thanks guys.

Yeah - the RW suit gives the control alright - without it I tend to have to work harder to move around. I wonder can you do RW on your back! Well, my initial attempts at RW were not great but video showed my knees were down which was useful. Hard to move forward when your knees are backsliding you. I also figured I was trying to arch by punching out my upper back - which just hurts your chest muscles and actually slows you down because your butt sticks upwards. Now, apparantly, I need to "fly the position" - I get into formation (eventually), heave a sigh of relief, relax, and , I'm outta there. Sigh. Time to do some back stretching exercises I think. I don't like wearing the weight vest much (especially in a Cessna - it sits on your stomach. After 20 mins I want to barf .

I posted this under the "New jumpsuit thread" but I don't think people were reading that one anymore . I have a jumpsuit "problem" I guess: I did some test jumps with and without my jumpsuit on. I'm really trying to fall faster but I normally float on everyone I jump with. Except women! It's very frustrating really. On one of my jumps earlier this year in AZ, one of the guys said "Dude, I thought you'd pulled you floated so hard...". Oh, I'm 140 pounds, 5'9 (yeah, yeah, eat more steak..) My protrack measurements for the jumps were revealing. Arching, head up, pelvis down, t-shirt, shorts - 120 (SAS). Which I was quite surprised I could do at all. Same thing but with my Tony suit (which I bought used - a Pit Special with comp grips and rather glaring colours but seems to be a tight enough fit - nylon front, spandex back/arms, no booties). I got 116/117 max (SAS again). Is this normal? I guess a jumpsuit will slow you down right? Thing is when I did a two way later on my speeds were 109-112. I'm doing something wrong here ...

While we're on the subject of fall rates I had a question - I did some test jumps with and without my jumpsuit on. I'm really trying to fall faster but I normally float on everyone I jump with. Except women! It's very frustrating really. On one of my jumps earlier this year in AZ, one of the guys said "Dude, I thought you'd pulled you floated so hard...". Oh, I'm 140 pounds, 5'9 (yeah, yeah, eat more steak..) My protrack measurements for the jumps were revealing. Arching, head up, pelvis down, t-shirt, shorts - 120 (SAS). Same thing but with my Tony suit (which is a used RW suit with comp grips and rather glaring colours but seems to be a tight enough fit - nylon front, spandex back/arms, no booties) - 116-118 max (SAS again). Is this normal? I guess a jumpsuit will slow you down right? Thing is when I did a two way later on my speeds were 109-112. I'm doing something wrong here ...

Good stuff. Go for it! And ignore all those that say negative things about the PD-170. It's a great canopy (a _Nine_ cell dterrick), very forgiving but good performance, and at 500 jumps it's only 1/3 way through its life (I guess). I've 150 jumps on it and almost all were stand up. Well, vertically orientated anyway. The few that weren't were doozies though - 1:1 is enough to break things and I'm just glad I took billvon's advice and learnt to flat turn low...! Anyway just wanted to add that I had problems as well with the smaller F-111s. I believe the ZP canopies can mask flare problems by levelling out aggressively but a high flare will still pound you in. A low flare you can get your legs up, flare faster and get away with it. I tried this on the PD-170 by the way. Doesn't work. Have video - it's uuuggly

It's on the top skin as well, which isn't a high load area. On my PD170 currently I have about a 1 inch gap where the thread pulled out altogether. Exactly the same place as yours so I'm not too worried (unless it gets bigger. Then I'll worry!)

IAD is very similar to static line. The instructor responsibilities are a bit different, as outlined in other replies to your post, but the training aspect is essentially the same. Personally I think IAD is perhaps safer, as the instructor can compensate for students doing inane things like diving between the strut and the wheel, rolling out etc. There's less likelyhood of getting hung up and the plane takes less of a beating. However, the instructor has to be damn sharp! There's a slightly increased risk of taking the tail off the plane apparantly - peeling the students fingers off the strut helps prevent this

I do this too but then my Protec has quite a bit of padding. The Protrack fits neatly into the ear cutout. I also put a small elasic around it lengthways in case it wants to slip around but you pretty much have to pry it out as it is. The elastic stops the plastic edges on the helmet scratching the protrack's face too. Just make sure you don't take off your helmet in the field and let the Protrack drop out or something! One day I'll buy an expensive helmet but I'll need to try some on first though. Next time I'm in AZ

Snug being the operative word. I tried a few pairs of goggles with contacts - any with vents that are too large cause trouble and I've had a contact flip out a few times. This is most disconcerting. I currently wear the cheap and cheerful Flexvision goggles with the friction grip on the strap. Which came undone twice in Arizona for the first time in 100 jumps. Maybe it's the dryness. I discovered I actually land quite well with one contact Yeah, and they _will_ fog up in the plane but hey, life is hard. I must try a full face helmet one of these days.

I agree. I opted to jump a PD-170 for that reason. Easier to pack (and it was challenging anyway as I learned to pro pack). I wasn't enthusistic about learning to pro pack on new ZP and I wanted to jump not to jump up and down . It fits fine in a container which came with a ZP-150 (Silhouette 150), a Jav J1. The PD-170 wasn't expensive either (used, less than 100 jumps). I'm sure you could get a container that will easily fit both.

Unfortunately the airlines have instilled fear and doubt in anyone that's flying now. Not of flying but of having everything you own pulled apart and pawed through by unknown hands. My experience flying to Phoenix was fine, but I was still anxious about my rig. I'd be far far happier if they could TSA the bags at check in. Air Canada's policy on carry on was that I could carry it on if I wished. However the airport itself had a different policy depending on who you talked to. Some officials said "no way", some said "huh?" and some said "ok". Given how annoying and heavy a rig is as carry on, I checked it. Flying down was fine (Ottawa - Toronto - PHX) but flying back was the issue. I put my rig in a heavy plastic bag (keeps water out - important if you are flying through Heathrow I can tell you), wrapped it in my winter sleeping bag, and checked it in a good hard shell suitcase (along with my hook knifes). I taped a printed notice on the inside of the case, along with the cypres card, explaining what was in the case and saying politely that tampering with the equipment would likely result in death (hopefully that would keep their paws off). If they had any problems here's my name, address, flights I was taking and the times I was taking them. They didn't touch it anyway. I guess Phoenix are used to rigs now. However they did cut the lock on my clothes case and I know why - my weight vest was in there. Bet that looked good on an xray!

I went through all this last year with my own rig. All set to buy a Wings and then I asked this experienced guy his opinion. He looks over at me and grunts "buy used". So I did. 1995 Javelin, good condition if a little sun faded. Love it. It's a great container. So it's a little older. Whatever. Got a beautiful second hand PD-170 in it. Will fit a zero-P 150. Perfect. It's safe and it's mine . And I didn't have to choose the colours. Hate doing that. I'm a guy, what do I know about color matching. Gimme another couple of hundred jumps and then I'll know what I want new. And I won't have wasted any money on a new container that fitted the canopy I'm jumping now, but won't fit the canopy I'll be jumping two years from now.

My ski jacket has a cuff but with a piece of velcro that you use to tighten or loosen the cuff. Best of both worlds really. Oh well - if my measurements are right and I can actually breath in this suit (as compared to my last suit where there was this corset effect happening) I'll be damn happy! Well, I can't but I know someone who can. Hmm. How much can I bribe my sister...

OK I see. I've noticed on my RW suit, the ends of the spandex arms, which I suppose you could call knit, are starting to fray and it's going to be tricky to patch it. I'll have to sew something on before it tears. I guess this would be the same problem on the freefly suit. As it's a two piece suit, I thought it would look nicer with the knit. But now that I look at some pictures, it doesn't look any different really. Oh. Both! I want to do some freestyle but I'm not buying a suit for it. Sweatshirt and sweatpants will do nicely - the point was that I don't have to make difficult decisions with $20 bucks at Walmart Thanks AggieDave.

Hi all, A quicky question on freefly jumpsuits. I'm ordering one from Firefly and they have an option for the wrist cuffs - knit or velcro. I can see advantages to both but velcro seems to be the most popular for some reason. Just wondering why? Does it hold your sleeve down better than knit, so it doesn't ride up your arm? I've jumped in a sweatshirt before and, aside from having it around my face (doh!, so that's what the drawstring on my shorts is for...) I didn't notice the arms riding up that much so I wouldn't have thought it would make too much difference. Velcro has this annoying habit of sticking to everything - straw, grass, your skin, your gloves. My first freestyle suit will be easier to choose - walmart, $20, as suggested by lewmonst

This makes a lot of sense. I've been in exactly your position, spotting from the door with a recent solo in that seat. With his back wedged against the pilot seat all you can see is the front. I'd eye him over but I'm not an instructor. I've checked others for obvious things, caught a helmet strap once, was terribly grateful to the nice guy who saw my helmet strap on one load, but that's it really... (I felt the karma - I saved a guys helmet and protrack, the karma saved mine ) Oh yeah, ernokaikkonen - I know what you mean on those rigs. The pin cover flap need to be between two of the closing flaps right?

Yeah, that was quite a depressing sight to see as I drove into the airport on Sunday morning. The other Twin Otter was just as good though really. I was happy just to be jumping from a turbine aircraft! The runway at Gananoque isn't the best though - all the ground there is very uneven, as my knees noticed when I slid in on them. Sliiiiiideeeee! Thump! Yelp! Can't have done much for the landing gear on the Frankenotter. Great boogie! Hope to see the Otter back soon. Oh yeah....I'd just like to say that the naked jump, a necessary end to a good boogie, went excellently, with the girl on the jump flashing the camera nicely as she front looped over the formation, taking it out. Good job . You can always tell a freeflier too - she was in a great sitfly as she went through the middle.

That makes sense - the rear risers being connected to a much larger area of the canopy than the steering lines alone. That's obvious enough but I hadn't thought about the stall point. The only time I practiced this manuevour was under a Manta on a day with some wind. Gave me a feel for it at least. Here's another thing to practice: There have been threads on braked/flat flared turns that I decided to follow and try out a few weeks ago. I'm convinced it was a good idea although people did wonder what the hell I was up to doing turns in mid flare... (Also, I discovered that practising flare turns forces you to fly the canopy all the way to the ground instead of doing passive one/two stage flares). Sunday afternoon... Downwind leg, I decide to skip the crosswind leg and instead I start an aggressive 180 degree toggle turn. I'm possibly at 100 ft (maybe more) flying a PD-170 at 1:1. Third of the way through I abort the turn, converting to a braked turn instead. Level out at 30 ft maybe. Land no problem short of where I meant to be. I got a brief talking to, but at least I got a "good job on the flat turn" bit thrown in. I _might_ have made it through the entire 180 otherwise, but I could have thumped it in fairly hard... Cancelling the turn altogether was not an option unless I wanted to land in the packing area. Just like to thank those that have posted information that, if we read it and act on it, becomes rather useful in situations where we wouldn't know what to do. Low turns are something you don't want to execute badly.

Hmmm. 1 out of 85. 1.17%. And that was with a guy (spit - he started it, that's my defence). Need more women at our DZ. Especially now I have my RW cert. On the other hand, Jessica gets an award for most sarcastic post ever

I had a heck of a time getting the door dive right. Eventually it just happened, when I least expected it. Actually if I remember correctly there was this girl ahead of me and I was looking at her... Ahem... What I was doing wrong was: Pushing off unevenly like indyz was doing (pushing so hard, one leg was extended even as the other was folded; I was rigid in the dive and I was bringing my legs so far back one knee was dropping. The best advice I can give is: get video and relax! Left foot on step, left hand on strut, right hand on rear of door, right foot on edge of door - you don't have to stick it right in the front corner of the door. (Maybe forget about the right foot, it's joined to the rest of you - it'll make it's own way out!) Find a ground reference about 45 degrees out to the horizon and look at it. Then relax, arch, arms out in an cross, head up (which is why the reference might help - keeps the head up) and go. Fold your legs in, but don't go nuts - as if you were doing a backslide from a box position. Don't shove off the step, just go from it like you'd go from a poised exit. The arm position is kind of like a morning stretch as you sit up in bed. If yawning would help, do that too! The main point is to relax and keep your head up. This is what I did anyway. The dive for me only came when I wasn't rigidly worried about getting the dive wrong and just went [:-)]. Bit of a waffly explaination but I hope it helps.

You too eh? It's more to do with ego than sex I imagine. They're always right, right? Yeah. Sure. Diplomacy doesn't always work. Kick em in the nuts (yes, they are always male). On the colours thing, I'll agree with PhreeZone on that one. I worried myself sick about colours, trying loads of different combinations of this and that and matching colours etc etc. Then I bought used. Worked out well - here's the colours on my PD-170 (had to struggle to remember, you don't spend the jump looking at your canopy. Is it square, flyable, end cells open? Yup. Next!): black, lemon, jade, 3xblkberry, jade, lemon, black. Others have told me they like the colours - mainly cause they can see them - they're not all earth or all sky tones.