So I just came back from attending the 2013 National Capital Balloon Club Annual General Meeting, and I just got voted President of the club. Just call me Pres 😉 First order of business – a new website for the club. On it! Update March 3rd, 2013 – here’s the… Read More »President of the National Capital Balloon Club (NCBC)
In a word, no! If you’re asking the question, then the answer is obvious, you are not ready. That’s really not the answer you were looking for, is it? I’m not going to go into the WHY. It simply does not matter. (but it mostly has to do with broken… Read More »Am I ready to downsize my skydiving canopy?
There are a couple of things you can do to maximize your parachute’s performance once your main is deployed. The first thing is relatively easy: after deployment, loosen your chest strap. Be careful, though – some harness manufacturers do not put a “stop” on the end of the chest strap.… Read More »SLOX: a Better Slider-Locking Mechanism
Jumpers come to me for advice all the time – and one of the hardest questions to answer is the following: Should I get a Skyhook, and why? First, what is an RSL? A RSL is a reserve static line – a line attached from one of your departing malfunctioned… Read More »Should I get a Skyhook?
Why so many baglocks on Sigma tandems? As a student of parachute design and as a certified Rigger, I have learned that a staged deployment of the main canopy is the safest way to deploy a parachute. All sport rigs do it this way, but one Tandem system does not:… Read More »A problem with UPT’s Sigma Tandem Parachute System (and a solution)
This blog post is for my skydiver friends 😉 As a certified parachute rigger, I often get asked this question: “Which Automatic Activation Device should I buy? Cypres or Vigil?” Arguably, these two are the only real choices in today’s market. While both units have had some growing pains in their initial… Read More »Which AAD should I buy? Cypres or Vigil?
Last Friday I did a little Paramotor flight with a few of my Paramotor friends: Michel, Isabelle and Mariusz. It was a little chilly, but the scenery was amazing. We were flying over the east end of Orleans – to the east of Ottawa. We took off and flew to… Read More »Flying my Paramotor at Sunset, with a Full Moon…
If you’ve been here before, or you know me, you’ll eventually learn that I built my own Hot Air Balloon, from scratch… For a little background on that story – see my Hot Air Ballooning page. Over and above building the envelope, which a few people have done, I also… Read More »The world’s only flying Glass-Bottom Hot Air Balloon?
There used to be an “Ottawa Airshow”. I used to go. It was really cool. Then for some reason I’m unaware of, it was no more. Then these guys from Vintage Wings started restoring old aircraft and flying them out of the Gatineau Airport. That’s the airport where I jump.… Read More »Opening the “Wings Over Gatineau” Airshow
Here’s a recent video of me flying my new custom Ozone 20m paramotor wing. It was my second flight on this wing. I got it used, but it’s basically brand new with under 10 hours on it. Up in the air! Nice…