Normal sporting parachutes are required to open in less than 300ft. Mains usually open in the 300-1000ft range. (Anything less quickly becomes painful, anything more is waste of altitude.) Rossy's canopies are probably tandems due to the extra wing weight, so they'll open in about twice the the distance.
They are not that fragile - they last for 1500-2500 jumps. You'll have to change linesets every 400-800 jump though. Most fabric in skydiving gear is made of nylon, including the canopy. The cost of a small canopy is almost the same as a big one - the labor in creating it is the expensive part - not the materials.
Smaller chutes have lower tolerances during manufacture as well, making things more expensive.
Look at http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p1282.asp (big student canopies), compared to the much smaller http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p863.asp - which ones is the more expensive? The number behind the canopy in the price table indicates the size in square feet. (I jump a Velocity 96 BTW.)
Also, the harness is just as expensive as the main canopy, then there's the reserve as well.
Touching down in the ocean would also add salt water to the equation. That kills skydiving equipment in many, many ways. Fresh water is no good either, but nowhere near as bad.
That clip is IMO the best BASE clips in existence. It's two VKB guys from Trondheim, Norway and Loic ("Flying Man" from youtube video) from France. Espen Fadenes (VKB) is doing the most insane lowflying ever recorded there.
Bullshit. I've never talked to a Norwegian guy who had much against swedes, nor vice versa (there are of course exceptions to every rule, but I've never actually talked to one myself). We joke about the other country's stupidity all the time, but if you thought those jokes were rooted in real hate or anything like it, you really need to reconsider. Norwegians and Swedes are a relatively homogenous group and culture. All vikings, you know.;)
(Just kidding. Actually, ALL swedes are dumb as hell, their ugly princesses believe in funny angles and the men cant pee further than a meter. Really. I hate those guys.)
Well this is all fine and good, but the article makes it sound like something we've never seen before. It's not like the image quality is way better than anything we've seen before (analog film), but now it's digital.
Pretty dumb if you know youre jumping into hail when exiting the plane. If however, there have been no sign of hail on the ground (or on the way up) prior to the jump, the first time you know about it is when you hit the clouds with the hail.Unpleasant surprise.
Try skydiving trough a cloud. The do indeed look fluffy and soft from an airplane, but when you fall trough them at 200-280kmh, it feels quite different.. All those small droplets hitting your bare skin feels like hundreds or thousands of small nails, and larger drops can be be painful trough thin clothing as well.. Not to mention hail within clouds. Hail is really, really painful. Skydivers really don't like hail. At all.
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Normal sporting parachutes are required to open in less than 300ft. Mains usually open in the 300-1000ft range. (Anything less quickly becomes painful, anything more is waste of altitude.) Rossy's canopies are probably tandems due to the extra wing weight, so they'll open in about twice the the distance.
They are not that fragile - they last for 1500-2500 jumps. You'll have to change linesets every 400-800 jump though. Most fabric in skydiving gear is made of nylon, including the canopy. The cost of a small canopy is almost the same as a big one - the labor in creating it is the expensive part - not the materials. Smaller chutes have lower tolerances during manufacture as well, making things more expensive. Look at http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p1282.asp (big student canopies), compared to the much smaller http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p863.asp - which ones is the more expensive? The number behind the canopy in the price table indicates the size in square feet. (I jump a Velocity 96 BTW.) Also, the harness is just as expensive as the main canopy, then there's the reserve as well. Touching down in the ocean would also add salt water to the equation. That kills skydiving equipment in many, many ways. Fresh water is no good either, but nowhere near as bad.
You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Do a web search for skydiving or something.
Wooooosh. Woooosh indeed.
That clip is IMO the best BASE clips in existence. It's two VKB guys from Trondheim, Norway and Loic ("Flying Man" from youtube video) from France. Espen Fadenes (VKB) is doing the most insane lowflying ever recorded there.
Bullshit. I've never talked to a Norwegian guy who had much against swedes, nor vice versa (there are of course exceptions to every rule, but I've never actually talked to one myself). We joke about the other country's stupidity all the time, but if you thought those jokes were rooted in real hate or anything like it, you really need to reconsider. Norwegians and Swedes are a relatively homogenous group and culture. All vikings, you know. ;)
(Just kidding. Actually, ALL swedes are dumb as hell, their ugly princesses believe in funny angles and the men cant pee further than a meter. Really. I hate those guys.)
Well this is all fine and good, but the article makes it sound like something we've never seen before.
It's not like the image quality is way better than anything we've seen before (analog film), but now it's digital.
Pretty dumb if you know youre jumping into hail when exiting the plane. If however, there have been no sign of hail on the ground (or on the way up) prior to the jump, the first time you know about it is when you hit the clouds with the hail.Unpleasant surprise.
Try skydiving trough a cloud. The do indeed look fluffy and soft from an airplane, but when you fall trough them at 200-280kmh, it feels quite different.. All those small droplets hitting your bare skin feels like hundreds or thousands of small nails, and larger drops can be be painful trough thin clothing as well..
Not to mention hail within clouds. Hail is really, really painful. Skydivers really don't like hail. At all.