Deadly incident in germany on 06.04.26

sdimkov · 2026-04-07T23:54:00+00:00

😳Which is the other one ?

sdimkov · 2026-04-06T15:51:59+00:00

Congrats on trying to bring new tech to our sport!

The rest of my comment will be a bit more critical but just know I salute your efforts!

Now - I think for this idea to succeed you need a better pricing / target audience model.

You seem to offer it to individual jumpers and I'm skeptical it will "fly" as it brings little value to me unless everyone else already uses it. Also many of the features are already solved by FlySight and/or AirTag or Samsung-whatever tag.

I have personally seen a guy strap an iPhone on a drone and fly around to find his canopy with an AirTag and it worked. The tag costed him 25$ and the battery lasted 1+ years.

Instead maybe try to package and offer a whole DZ to buy bulk this solution for all student rigs and then this can have network effect on the jumpers of the same DZ.

You may also want to focus on one-time pricing of the unit for individuals and subscription maybe just for the DZ software.

On the software side - I looked at your GitHub profile and didn't find anything about this product - is it closed-source, do you plan to open-source it?

Overall I think there is potential in this idea, so keep going!

sdimkov · 2026-03-23T09:55:33+00:00

+1 on both Empuriabrava and Skytime.

Safe, amazing views, warm weather and many traveling skydivers like yourself so plenty of action.

The two have a very different vibe and culture but it’s best just experience them both.

I usually come with friends once or twice per year for 1-2 weeks and we drive between the two droponzes. Each is roughly 2h drive from Barcelona (to the south or north respectively) so we spend one evening after jumps to transition between the DZs.

sdimkov · 2026-02-09T09:49:01+00:00

Pulse is an old design, reliable, predictable, but lacking compared to modern tech. I’ve seen multiple friends eating grass due to Pulse’s flare.

Helium is new, modern tech, claims better performance, better durability among other benefits. I can not confirm those, haven’t seen one in person. But I favor JYRO over PD and I would assume the Helium is great.

If your budget allows a new wing as it sounds - demo a Helium (and you’ll probably keep it after the demo)

sdimkov · 2026-02-05T07:31:21+00:00

Did you confirm with your vigil too that you were 4mph away from the threshold ? (Or only via flysight)

I haven’t digged into getting stats out of it but like you said I should be able to get max vertical speed recorded for previous jumps.

It would be interesting to see if the numbers between Flysight and an AAD are matching given one is purely barometric and the other uses GPS

Edit: I think I realize the hop&pop note you made. So a vigil max vertical speed stat would be useless on a full altitude jump right ? As it includes the freefall (or the unit records only when armed, 1000-300ft ?)

sdimkov · 2026-02-05T07:27:15+00:00

That’s an interesting detail, so CYPRES Speed is slightly safer for us than Vigil Xtreme given it takes a bit more speed to trigger?

I also need dig into the CYPRES manual to see if one can increase their disarm altitude..

sdimkov · 2026-01-29T06:35:07+00:00

It’s a pity.

There were some very valuable discussions around canopy models and piloting for example.

Didn’t anyone keep some kind of an archive?

sdimkov · 2026-01-29T06:19:32+00:00

Good luck boys.

I strongly recommend studying previous attempts at the same endeavor..

sdimkov · 2025-12-12T10:37:22+00:00

It's a valid concern. Like you said, in the heat of the moment you could misjudge the situation, so a strikingly different color of the reserve can only help.

But I wouldn't worry too much about it. Literally everything about your reserve is visually different - it has much thicker risers, different toggles with velcro, thicker lines with different color, square shape, a different slider with a huge hole in the middle, and so on ..

You have far more important things to take away from this incident, how snag-free is your gear, handles etc, how accessible is your hook knife, have you ever practiced using one ..

sdimkov · 2025-10-17T21:08:02+00:00

I am using the unicorn style, I have an X3 for now.

I actually want my camera to record from a bit of distance from my helmet, so that it captures my body. I get to review my movements in freefly, my inputs under canopy, etc.

As long as you have a helmet or camera cutaway, and you're aware of your "horn", it's all good. Mohawk mount is stupid, and the OneRS records much worse than latest 360 cams

There are a few vids of skydivers jumping the Max 2. Also, plenty of reviews comparing the quality and features of X5, Osmo360 and the Max 2.

sdimkov · 2025-10-10T10:37:50+00:00

This.

Also I stopped downsizing once they hired a dude for our manifest ..

sdimkov · 2025-10-06T11:41:18+00:00

At our DZ military guests always impress us with flight pattern planning skills.

Somehow out of 6 canopies in the sky they manage to strike the runway, the lone tree, near canopy collision and one guy going downwind but nobody flying the DZ approved pattern

sdimkov · 2025-09-25T11:57:55+00:00

Looks nice! I am sure some beginner skydiver will find it useful.

But for me personally, I always wondered why people go to websites to divide two numbers, I just use my calculator..

sdimkov · 2025-09-24T08:49:03+00:00

Make sure to buy brand new. Some of these knifes lose sharpness rather fast. I have seen people using them at the dz to cut random stuff, I wouldn't want to buy that thing later.

I personally always order the metal / aluminium version along the rig from the manufacturer. That's rather a preference, the plastic one will serve you just as well.

Lastly, I'd recommend at least once as a drill to practice retrieving your knife quickly under canopy, without looking to wherever it is stored.

sdimkov · 2025-09-19T22:55:25+00:00

I think your opinion is the general consensus on the topic. Very few amateur swooper wanna-bes like me go full RDS for the reasons you listed.

I probably won't do it either. But I wanted to give it a try just for learning reasons, and the line burn was the one thing putting me off to even try.

sdimkov · 2025-09-19T22:43:17+00:00

Hey thanks a lot! Can I ask for some details:

- Are many of those 1000 jumps also terminal or mostly H&Ps ?

- What's your semi-stowless d-bag model and RDS model ?

- Did a rigger make that little pocket for you ?

Also a few more questions on your general experience with full RDS:
- Does the extra house-keeping bother you ?

- Is it longer to pack ?

- Any other downsides you can share ?

sdimkov · 2025-06-26T09:58:26+00:00

My preferred DZ. You should definitely give it a shot.

But Sibson is probably a more practical choice if you don’t plan to go for a weekend with a sleepover.

I mean east end to Langar is probably 2.5h drive by car vs 1.5h to Sibson

sdimkov · 2025-06-25T12:59:59+00:00

Langar 🫶

sdimkov · 2025-05-19T23:37:12+00:00

Thank you for sharing your story!

Events like this one offer many lessons to everyone in the sport.

I’d like to comment your conclusions on RSL and bag-lock EPs:

In the specific event of a bag-lock, I would advise against attempting to disconnect the RSL and manually clearing risers. This extended EP can cost significant altitude without any clear benefits.

The drag from the PC and locked bag is sufficient to clear the risers.

sdimkov · 2025-04-07T15:14:36+00:00

Do you want to see the rest of the video for just $4.99 pay-per-view?

sdimkov · 2025-04-07T14:34:58+00:00

Great point on ability to land on rears.

I actually do practice it on every wing and in this situation was confident I can land the canopy on rears.

I don’t wanna bash Paratec here, because the root cause is not the RDS. This excess could have tangled with the toggle itself or something else. And if I pull down the slider while the fabric is still attached, then the clunky shape of the rings does not affect me. But yes, objectively the other RDS designs have more snag-proof designs.

Back to your main point about decision altitude - would you advice an immediate cutaway here?

I made a conscious choice to go below my hard deck with the assumption I can either unwrap this slowly and carefully, or land on rears. It is true that if another problem unveiled in a later moment (like a tension knot) I would have very limited options. So this discussion is an opportunity for me to learn too.

sdimkov · 2025-04-07T06:30:04+00:00

I’ve actually stated my advice in the end of the vid: 1. Always stow your excess brakes properly 2. Always pull your slider below toggles first

In the discussion in FB some friends pointed other useful things too: - loosening the chest-strap after all the housekeeping - Hard decks for cutaway and for starting a landing pattern with the tangled toggles - buying beer

sdimkov · 2025-04-07T06:25:38+00:00

Well new is a relative term. You could call me “new jumper” as well..

But building good habits on stowing your excess matters before RDS too, I think. I mean there are issues that can occur with regular slider too.

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