Articles - Page 50 - Skydiveforum.com

Leadership change at Aerodyne

Newarc AS announces the following changes to Aerodyne Research effective 12 May, 2008. Bill Legard has been appointed President and CEO of Aerodyne Research, manufacturer of the Icon container system, Smart reserve, and an array of cutting edge main canopies.
Mr Legard has extensive management experience in Fortune 500 companies, leading business units with sales from $20 to $250 million. He holds a BA in Economics, and an MBA in Finance, both from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Bill has also been an active skydiver and competitor for many years, with regional and national medals and several world records in freefall relative work.
Under Mr Legard's leadership, the Aerodyne group will continue to bring innovative products and services to forefront of the parachute industry. Aerodyne is committed to continue to grow its business globally.
Mr. Edward Anderson, who had served as President and CEO, has announced his resignation. He will be working with Mr Legard to assure a smooth transition of leadership and to ensure that our customers, distributors, and suppliers continue to receive quality support and service.
Ole Petter Hjelle, Chairman of Newarc AS.
(Dr. Hjelle is chairman of the Norwegian holding company that owns Aerodyne Research, and captain of the Norwegian 4-way team Arcteryx.)

By admin, in Gear, May 20, 2008

Atair's EXO-Wing, the World's Smallest Human-Piloted Jet

Atair Aerospace (Atair) was chosen by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art to display two of its real-world innovations alongside high-profile superhero collections from Hollywood and the fashion industry. The Met exhibit includes Atair's EXO-WingTM, the world's smallest human-piloted jet airplane.
Brooklyn, N.Y. May 14, 2008 -- Atair Aerospace (Atair) was chosen by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art to display two of its real-world innovations alongside high-profile superhero collections from Hollywood and the fashion industry. The Met exhibit includes Atair's EXO-Wing™, the world's smallest human-piloted jet airplane. Exoskeletons for increasing human capabilities were once the subject of fictional comic book writers; now it has become real technology to enable human flight. This futuristic aircraft is constructed from advanced aerospace composite materials. The twin micro-turbine-powered EXO-WingTM is so small and lightweight that a human wears it like a backpack.
The Met is also displaying Atair's AeroSuitTM, an engineered bat-like flexible wing suit constructed with advanced composite textiles. This high-technology garment allows a skydiver to glide to a target miles away from the drop point. The arms and legs of this garment include inflating webbed panels that form the elements of a wing which dramatically improves the aerodynamics of a skydiver, providing a safe and extraordinary flight experience. Both innovations are made from a new generation of composite textiles pioneered by Atair which are engineered to perform under extreme conditions.
"I am a born and bred New Yorker and the Metropolitan Museum is one of the city's greatest assets," said Dan Preston, the CTO and Founder of Atair. "I am honored to be included in this exhibition and I am fascinated at seeing a parallel between fictional superheroes and the real technology we are developing." Although Atair has developed similar advanced products for its military clients, it declined to comment when asked for further details on its government projects.
The exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art features approximately 70 ensembles including movie costumes, avant-garde haute couture, and high performance sportswear to reveal how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for the ability to transform the human body. The exhibition will run from May 7 through September 1, 2008.
Headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., Atair Aerospace (Atair) is a high-technology prime defense contractor dedicated to modernizing military and government logistics by creatively solving complex aerospace and engineering problems that integrate the state-of-the-art in parachute designs, and guidance, navigation and control (GN&C;) systems. Atair's inventive products include the Onyx™ precision-guided parachute system, the Long Endurance Autonomous Powered ParagliderTM (LEAPPTM) UAV, the CircinusTM GPS-Integrated Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), the Heli-ChuteTM, and 3DZTM Composite Parachute Technology. Atair's pioneering spirit and creative approach to research and development has resulted in contracts with the U.S. Army, DARPA, NASA, NRL, NSW, the Government of Israel, and many large defense contractors.
For more information, contact Rick Zaccari at or visit the Atair Aerospace website at www.atairaerospace.com.
Note: Atair's claim to having the "World's Smallest Human-Piloted Jet" may be questioned by the people at Birdman. Check out our article about the "First jet powered Birdman flight" ~ Ed

By admin, in Gear, May 19, 2008

Strong Saves Small Irish Dropzone

Imagine as a Dropzone Operator waking up at 7:30am on a sunny summer morning to discover that the dropzone has been broken into by thieves in the middle of the night and that all your student equipment is gone!
On the morning of June 1st, 2007 Skydive Ireland received a serious blow when all of our student equipment was stolen in the middle of the night by thieves leaving us grounded and unable to take our customers skydiving. All of our Solo Student rigs and all of our Tandem equipment was gone just like that without trace leaving us completely disabled with very little options. I mean let's face it, in our industry the option of taking a trip to the local adventure store to replace your stolen parachute equipment just simply does not exist. Irish winters are really long and here we are having just arrived at the peak season of summer with the sun shining and an empty gear room with no manufacturers nearby and no friendly dropzone to offer assistance in our time of need, it is well and truly at that point you say to yourself…. We're F**ked!
This is the type of scenario you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy and this disaster threatened the DZ's very existence since we were a new DZ and only a few months old at the time. We tried to remain composed and think of a clear plan of action to recover from this situation with our first instinct to go on the search for our brand new equipment that was lifted in the wee twilight hours of a summer's morning. The police were dispatched but the real truth of the matter was that the equipment was gone and our worst fear was that this was a specifically targeted job since no other valuable equipment was stolen. Whoever did it knew what they were coming for. There were mixed feeling as we found it difficult to believe another Skydiver could possibly be behind this hit. We figured if it was regular thieves that they would have found more value in expensive wide screen televisions and other similar types of equipment that would sell very easily on the street. With only two skydiving centers in Ireland who were these people planning on selling stolen student parachute equipment to?
Having come to terms with the mornings events and dealing with the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach I knew that we had to figure a solution fast and turned to the Skydiving Industry for support. What I suppose was the standard thing to do I did and that was to call the manufactures of the brand new equipment and surely they would be willing to use their resources to rescue us. The Tandem rigs we had were Paratec Next Tandem since we are based in Europe I figured it best to deal more locally for my Tandem gear. So calls were made to Paratec and the situation explained and the consequences of what would happen to us were easily understood. In naive hope I never thought that there would be an issue of support but I was greatly disappointed beyond words to be told by Paratec that there is no equipment they could dispatch to us to assist their customer and fellow skydivers recover this emergency and that they cannot part with their one and only Tandem Demo rig. I wasn't impressed.
A cold chill rand down my back with the shocking realization that we were now isolated from other Tandem Equipment Manufacturers who were now all based several thousand miles away and now in the month of June the parachute manufacturing industry was in peak demand with typical 12-14 week delivery schedules. I hurried to dropzone.com in desperate search of some used Tandem Equipment in the classifieds but there was nothing there that was suitable or easily accessible. The other dilemma of course was that all of my Tandem Instructors were rated under the Vector Tandem program so we didn't exactly have the option of just going with any Tandem rig that was available. I'm sure you can start to appreciate the nightmare situation we were now facing and running out of options.
It was time to revert back to the manufacturers and try to plead for their understanding to help them understand how serious this situation had escalated. I mean seriously, does it get much worse than this?
I made the best move as a dropzone owner that I have done to date. I picked up the phone and called Strong Enterprises based in Orlando Florida. I was greeted by a very friendly Sales Manager named John Makoski who immediately begin to work a plan to dispatch replacement equipment without delay to get us back in the air. I mean this guy dropped everything he was doing and put Skydive Ireland on his highest priority and he just couldn't believe that something like this happened to us. It was due to his concerned response to our situation and seeing lighting speed response to getting this situation under control that I was finally able to regroup and feel the weight of a thousand elephants lift right off my shoulders. Here was a manufacturer who I had never bought a single piece of equipment from or never benefitted their business in any way begin to treat my small company like I was their biggest client.
Within a few hours John had gotten approval from Mr. Ted Strong who everybody knows is the owner of Strong Enterprises and was authorized to immediately dispatch 6 Dual Hawk Tandem Systems from their large inventory of stock and make the arrangements to get them to Ireland without delay. I couldn't believe it! This was incredible and I just couldn't express how grateful I was to be picked up in the hand of this Parachute Manufacturing Giant and begin to feel that everything was going to be alright.
Then suddenly I had an anti climax when I realized that none of my Tandem Instructors were certified to use the Dual Hawk Tandem. With this piercing feeling in my brain another whole began to bore deep when I thought to myself that perhaps this company might take advantage of me and demand a higher than normal sale price since I didn't have any other choice and finally I began to wonder how am I going to afford 6 new Tandem Systems in light of our break in and something I haven't mentioned yet was that our stolen equipment was not even insured. This is not good.
So now I am wondering how this is going to pan out and that I still have to get 6 Tandem Rigs each weighing about 65 lbs to Ireland as fast as possible and at a price I could afford and then find someone who could just fire up a Dual Hawk Instructors Course to get us rated to use the equipment. This is when Mr. Tom Noonan, Strong's Tandem Course Director was introduced to me and in a friendly and supportive voice over the phone said that he had taken the initiative and booked flights direct to Ireland and will personally deliver the equipment and spend the time here to qualify all of my Instructors on the Dual Hawk Tandem and that they will provide the new equipment to me at a hugely discounted price and that they will allow a few months for me to be able to pay for the vast majority of it all!
If any of you reading this has ever experienced an immense rush of extreme and unquantifiable feeling of gratitude, relief followed by a dash of excitement and an overflow of amazement at this level of concern and support it was actually quite hard to digest and realize that these guys were willing to do all of this for me. What an incredible level of customer focused service. This is mind blowing stuff and every Dropzone Operator should be seriously paying attention to this. I can honestly say that this is something I have never heard of another manufacturer do in this type of situation in my 13 years of Skydiving. Lets be honest and say that this was a huge risk for Strong in that what if I went bust because of this situation and was not in a position to repay them for their equipment and I had it in Ireland. But they weren't one bit concerned about this and only cared about getting my little DZ back up and running and the deal Tom made with me was that I would have to buy him a few pints of the black stuff in an authentic Irish pub. That was an easy deal to agree I can tell ya!
It wasn't long before I was at Shannon Airport shaking hands with the man who flew through the night across the broad Atlantic loaded with Parachute Equipment for delivery and to provide immediate expert training and certification on the Dual Hawks to get us back in the action. This was now all starting to feel very surreal. With his surname being Noonan and being from Boston it was evident Tom was from Irish descent and had always looked forward to visiting his ancestors home. As we sat in a typical Irish Country style pub with symbols of the old Irish culture and harder times of the past it was about 7:30am it was time to start cashing in on our deal. So I ordered a few pints of the black stuff and Tom, Darren and myself toasted to a new chapter and to recovering Skydive Ireland and feasted on a full Irish Breakfast till we were as fat as cows.
Now beginning to show signs of a long night spent travelling and with a fully loaded belly and a nice few pints of Guinness we headed back to my house so Tom could refresh and get some sleep. Darren and I unloaded the car and all our new gear was in black gear bags and it felt really good holding Dual Hawk Tandem Parachute Systems in my arms and feeling like everything is getting back on track. I don't think I will ever be able to explain the feeling accurately enough so I won't even try or I'll end up just babbling. So with Tom now out for the count I was anxious to try on our brand new Dual Hawks so we pulled out two of them and immediately begin to start dissecting the rig to discover it's features and to see how it feels. As a certified parachute rigger for more the n10 years I immediately begin to admire the workmanship of this parachute system and to examine its components which at first glance had me realize this was not just another Tandem System. With features such as the dual loop main canopy closure to prevent a nasty horse-shoe and the anti-line dump line stows. Even the fine detail of the position of the RSL to deal with a possible riser breakage to avoid a premature reserve deployment. I really liked the feature of the Master 400 sqft Reserve canopy which is comforting to know this canopy is thoroughly designed to meet the most demanding Tandem nightmare. One of the really exciting things about it was that they were all equipped with the brand new development from Strong which is the superb all ZP material SET 366 Main Tandem Canopy configured with Single Brake setup. I was not getting really buzzed about flying this new toy.
It was obvious that this rig was built for Tandem Skydiving from the ground up and was rugged to last the test if time. We now had a serious set of kit that made our stolen Tandem Systems look like plain old modified sports rigs. I couldn't get over the size of the Drogue and what I immediately liked was the simplicity of the main and reserve deployment sequences. On our other Tandem Systems there seemed to be a confusing amount of handles which offered a great risk of causing the Instructor confusion in a high stress situation. I had always thought the more handles the better because of more options but then thought that simple is better given the statistics that ALL Tandem Fatalities were due to Instructor error. I was now keen to complete the Strong Tandem Instructor Candidate Course which for us would be the cross over from another Tandem Rating so it meant less jumps to become certified on the Dual Hawk then if we were starting out as new Instructors.
Later that day when Tom arose from the dead we made a plan to get going the next day with the Course Material and waste no time in getting it completed. Throughout the course I found Tom Noonan to be an excellent Examiner to work with and what was most apparent was that not a single ounce of ego was present in his natural ability to make a person feel comfortable and help us understand the functions of the Dual Hawk and was patient with all of our questions and comparisons and scenarios with the what we had been used to jumping and now getting excited about jumping the Dual Hawk. I was anxious to feel what freefall will be like with the position of the Drogue attachment at the base of the Reserve Tray unlike the Vector 2 style system which gives a really nice position in freefall and makes for an excellent Student freefall position for the Video and Photos. I can honestly say from going as passenger that the Student Harness is the most comfortable out of all the harnesses which makes for some very happy customers. Tom did an excellent job at completing the course qualifying myself and my Instructors. He worked very hard and was very committed to his very high standard of safety and awareness and we all learned a lot of valuable skills and information from him. He is a true professional and loves what he does and I was glad that with his proud Irish heritage he was able to visit Ireland and Skydive at my DZ with beautiful views of lakes and mountains Tom became attached to the place and has since returned again to Ireland to spend time with us doing further training to qualify a Strong Tandem Examiner to make us more self sufficient.
Tom has become a great friend and I will always be grateful for what Strong Enterprises did for my dropzone. Without them we were well and truly hammered. I could spend a few paragraphs telling you what I thought about the other manufacturers lack of support in our time of need but it would just simple take aware from the value of this story but what I will advise from our experience is that when choosing your equipment especially when you're living depends on it is imperative you choose a manufacturer who can back you up when the shit hits the fan. I have only good things to say about the Dual Hawk and with almost a year of full time jumping the Dual Hawk and sweet soft opening of the new SET 366 and zero cutaways I can only say you will look long and hard for a Tandem System of this caliber. Once you see past the fluff of the other Tandem systems with other manufacturers competing to be the most inventive it stands to this day that the Dual Hawk is the most proven Tandem system in the world and was designed by a great man who was the true pioneer of Tandem Skydiving, Mr. Ted Strong.
Thank you all the Team at Strong Enterprises in Orlando Florida. You saved our bacon and have been a huge source of support and inspiration to my dropzone and you are to be applauded for your concern and the dropzone rescue operation you handles so professionally and I hope one day I can repay you.
I am glad to report that some of our stolen parachute equipment surfaced in Eastern Europe in the country of Lituania which we were able to retrieve. The gear had been in use at a Skydiving Center and when I discovered this I made contact with the Dropzone to inform them they were using stolen Parachute Equipment. Investigations are pending to source that carried out this terrible crime and to ensure they do not do it to another dropzone again.
Blue Skies,

David Byrnes

DZO - Skydive Ireland

www.skydiveireland.ie

By admin, in Gear, April 23, 2008

Top Gun flights now boarding at Skydive Airkix

By admin, in News, April 16, 2008

Banner Size and Format Examples

By admin, in Advertise, March 7, 2008

The Tonfly Camera Converter

Action sports camera helmets are more than just protective gear that hold a camera, they're tools of the sports trade and action videographer. Just any old helmet can be used to hold a camera, and many videographers do exactly that. For those that are a bit more serious about their action photography, a helmet designed specifically as a camera mount system is needed. Tonfly is the newest player in the camera helmet manufacturing world.
Hailing from Slovakia, this small manufacturer may be new, but they've researched the needs of the typical action sports videographer very well and offer a wide lineup of products. The staff at Tonfly are predominantly from Italy, and the design of the helmet is Italian.
In this review, we'll look at a Tonfly Converter (CC1), which I purchased specifically for the purpose of wingsuiting.
The Tonfly Converter is brilliant in its design, given how the camera mounts to the helmet, and we'll examine those features in a bit. First we'll dig into the very important features like the fit, design, and safety functions.
The helmet fits well. It's quite thin, and one of the lightest helmets in its class. It's also very sturdy in spite of the thinness of the helmet. The helmet slips on easily, and is snug all the way around for an average head-type. I have a ponytail, and this helmet doesn't lend itself well to my hair being tied up inside the helmet without the helmet being too tight. People with shorter hair won't have this problem, of course, and Tonfly do offer various sizes.
The Tonfly Camera Converter helmet is one of the most innovative designs available to action-POV camera operators today.
Light-weight, strong, form-fitting, and comfortable, this helmet offers the most peripheral eye-space of any helmet in its class.
Another favored aspect of this helmet that is easily overlooked, is how far back the side of the helmet is cut. The sides of the helmet allow for much greater side-to-side vision than most camera helmets do, and this is particularly an important feature when flying camera for tandems when others may be joining in. Freeflyers will enjoy the wide peripheral view as well. Ski goggles will fit well in this wide-view cut, as the sides of the helmet won't interfere with the larger goggle sizes.
Built in pockets can hold audible altimeters for the skydiving videographer. The audible pockets come pre-cut for the typical sized audibles. A small bit of gaffers tape will hold the audible altimeter in place until the foam lining is replaced with the audible device in the pocket.
The Tonfly Converter comes with the audible pocket already cut to fit most popular audibles. (Photo)
A cutaway system is critical for many action sports, particularly for skydivers. This allows the helmet to be immediately removed/cut free from the body in the event of an accident that involves some sort of entanglement. The Tonfly cutaway system is a bit different than most as it has the cutaway handle facing upwards, which feels very natural and ergonomically placed. Unlike other cutaway systems that use looped nylon to release the latch, the Tonfly system uses a metal button that is drilled out. On initial inspection, this was a concern, but the truth is that the cutaway system works and feels no different from any other cutaway system. The metal containment system may even last longer.
The Tonfly cutaway system is unique in placement and method, but works identically to any other cutaway system. (Photo 1, Photo 2)
What makes this helmet truly unique is the way in which the camera mounts are inserted. Entirely flush with the helmet, the receiver side of the mount is installed so that if there is no camera mounted, the helmet can be completely flat (Tonfly provides small inserts that stick out approximately .25, but are smooth and pose no snag hazard). With the camera box mounted to the side of the helmet, the camera box is flush to the helmet and poses no snag hazard. I ran a bit of Spectra line over the edge of the helmet and there was no sticking/locking point of the line due to this very tight connection.
The mate point for a still camera is identical, however the top of the helmet isn't as wide as a Canon Rebel XTi, so it is possible, although not likely, that a line could snag in the area where the top plate isn't as wide as the camera body.
Another aspect of the Converter Camera mount is the ability to rotate the camera box in small degrees to compensate for head position when freeflying, doing tandem camera, or RW work. Each of the base ring (male ring) has a series of small holes drilled to fit a pin in the insert link (female receiver side), that is spring-loaded. The spring is very tight, there should be no worry that the pin will release on its own.
Note the spring-loaded pin in the female/helmet side of the connection, and note the three drilled holes in the male insert. These holes allow for user-positioning of the camcorder or still camera mount. (Photo 1 , Photo 2)
The pin isn't entirely responsible for holding the base ring. there is a rotational cuff that holds tight when the male ring is inserted in the female receiver plate, and it requires a full 90 degree turn of the male ring to remove the camera box or stills mount from the system, assuring that even in the event of a pin/spring failure, the box or still mount would not separate from the helmet. The pin is released by pulling back on a small nylon loop found at the back of each of the camera mount plates.
Tonfly has responded to another potential snag point problem with remarkable simplicity. Many camera helmets have a possible snag point in the ladder/clip attachment at the chincup. This leads some videographers to cut the ladder strap short, which is no big deal, other than it sometimes affects the ease of attachment on some helmets. Tonfly have addressed this challenge by opening up the chincup, allowing for any excess from the ladder strap to be concealed inside the chincup.
Any excess from the ladder strap fits neatly inside the chincup. (Photo)
The Flaws:
The helmet isn't entirely perfect and some changes could be made on the part of Tonfly, or perhaps by users themselves. For example, some of the options Tonfly offers could be more readily identified as "important." For instance, most buyers should want the Carbon Look finish or at the very least, ask for a lacquer coat. From the model I received, it became immediately apparent that the finish will scratch quite easily, and all I was doing was mounting a Schumacher removable ringsight bracket. Drilling a hole for the HypEye Mini cable further demonstrated this.
Mounting the Schumacher articulating arm, I realized just how easy it is to scratch the flat finish. (Photo)
Another aspect of the helmet that users will want to be mindful of; until the helmet is worn in, a small amount of silicon lubricant will help with the mating of the insert ring to the receiver plate. On my helmet, I found that the pin release loop is a touch small for my large fingers. Using a pencil or pen inserted to the loop helped me get a better grip on it. I'm sure once the spring is more worn in, it won't be quite so difficult.
Small challenges aside, the Tonfly helmet is very well designed for skydiving and other action sports, offering a width of view and light weight that is very impressive. With prices ranging from around $500.00 USD to as high as $750.00 with all options, these helmets are investments rather than frivolous purchases. Until the dollar rises again, it'll be a while before they're competitive with helmets manufactured in the USA in terms of cost.
Congratulations to Tonfly for a very well designed, well-built helmet. This is one camera helmet model that any POV sports photographer should consider when choosing a helmet mounted camera system.

Check out the YouTube stream that shows how the Tonfly Camera Converter works. Built for:
Skydivers
Ski photographers
Kayaking
Rock Climbing
Chase bicycles
Mountain cyclists
BASE Jumping
Paragliding
Ground launching
Other hands-free sport photographer Rock on!

-douglas spotted eagle
For more reviews, video, audio, streaming and surround training visit VASST

Tonfy CC1 website

Write your own review of a TonFly helmet

By admin, in Gear, February 10, 2008

Skydiving Rings in New Year on a High Note as Safety and Popularity Soars

By admin, in News, January 15, 2008

Skydive Sibson re-launches as Skydive Airkix

Skydive Sibson re-launches as Skydive Airkix for the 2008 season and offers £15 jump tickets for regular jumpers.
It’s all change at Skydive Sibson, now known as Skydive Airkix. 2008 promises to be an amazing season at the UK’s oldest and most respected drop zone where over half a million successful skydives have been made since it started as the Peterborough Parachute Centre at Sibson Airfield.
Joining the Meacock family, who founded the club in 1971, are two new partners. David Turner has purchased 50% of the centre and will manage the business. Airkix plc becomes a 20% partner, and will introduce new systems and coaching programmes to the drop zone (DZ) utilising skills learned in one of the most successful vertical wind tunnels in the World.
There will be cross-benefits for Skydive Airkix jumpers and customers of the Airkix wind tunnel in Milton Keynes.
There are also other major changes happening at Skydive Airkix. Following a fire that burned down the clubhouse in 2006, a brand new, purpose-built bar, restaurant and clubroom is planned to be open in time for Easter this year as the new season kicks off.
To haul jumpers, Skydive Airkix has a completely overhauled 16 place, fast climbing, turbine-powered, LET 410 that is permanently based at the DZ. The aircraft, which comes with a complete set of spares, is owned by two of the Skydive Airkix partners.
Best of all is the new simple pricing scheme for experienced jumpers who can purchase a ‘high’ (max altitude) ticket for just £15, this is considerably cheaper than at other UK drop zones.
New coaching programmes will make Skydive Sibson the centre of excellence for freefly as some of the best flyers in the UK work seamlessly between the Airkix wind tunnel and the drop zone.
First time students wishing to learn to skydive will also find the Skydive Airkix programme quite unique through a specially designed AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) programme that utilises effective wind tunnel simulation and training. A normal AFF course of 8 jumps currently offers about 6 minutes of freefall time, a Skydive Airkix course will start at a minimum of 16 minutes and the gold programme over 60.
The centre will be offering low price tickets in unrestricted airspace up to 15,000ft, allowing jumpers to get more airtime in a shorter period for less money.
In a new move to the skydiving industry, Skydive Airkix will be the first DZ to offer jumpers the opportunity to Carbon Offset. By adding a voluntary £2 to each jump ticket, Skydive Airkix will pay into a recognised established offset programme.
The new clubhouse complex will feature a restaurant serving meals at all times of the day, a fully stocked bar and comfortable areas for jumpers and visitors.
In addition, free Wi-Fi will be available as well as bunkhouse accommodation, camping and shower facilities.
For further information visit: www.skydiveairkix.com

By admin, in News, January 14, 2008

NeoXs - The new audible altimeter by Parasport

By admin, in Gear, January 11, 2008

Skydiving and goose grinning

So, Saturday was my day to celebrate 68 years on the planet by checking off a very much delayed personal experience on my list: a tandem free-fall skydive! It began with checking www.skydivenm.net to view a number of their tandem jump videos. They looked like what I expected so I picked up the phone and scheduled a date some three weeks in the future. This Saturday, "jump morning" began with a short drive from Albuquerque to Sky Dive New Mexico's hangar at Belen's Alexander Airport up on the East mesa. Shortly after I arrive, I am in a 45 minute, very professional and meticulous ground training by Tandem Master, Rich Greenwood. This is followed by a period of waiting until it is my turn to go up. I pass this time very pleasurably watching others go through their suit-up and check-out, their pre-jump practice, get into the plane, go up, float down, and then watching over their shoulder as they review the videos of their jumps and receive their "First Jump" certificates. All the while, there is a group of six to eight individuals in the hangar meticulously repacking parachutes for next jumps. I'm beginning to get that meticulous is a good thing in skydiving.
Then…it's my turn!
Kelly Wilson, my Tandem Master jump partner, hand picks a professional jumpsuit for me to put on. Kelly has been doing tandem jumps for a bunch of years and the folks he's taken up before me today have all been giggling and beaming afterward and saying it's totally awesome and that I'll do just fine and love it. Kelly meticulously straps me into my jump harness, which is like a full parachute harness except for two important features: four really heavy-duty clips on the back…and …no parachute. Kelly wears the parachute. And just before we exit the plane, he will attach me super snuggly to his front with those four clips and tighten everything with final web strap adjustments. Kelly puts me through three complete practice cycles of exit, free-fall, rip-cord pull, and landing firmly reinforcing Rich's earlier training. Then Kelly, Ron, Jason and I all head for the awaiting Cessna. Ron Weagly is our videographer (I want a DVD record to remind myself and prove to my kids and grandkids I really did jump out of a perfectly good airplane), and Jason Korrel is our commercially rated pilot. Kelly and I do an exaggerated John Wayne walk for Ron's video. John Wayne walk - remember I'm old enough to have seen the movies.
We tuck ourselves into the cockpit and Don starts and revs the engine and we begin our rollout to the runway. After a somewhat noisy, twenty-minute, breathtakingly beautiful climb over the spectacular East mesa with the Rio Puerco River reflecting in the sunlight, we are 11,000 feet above the Belen Airport and the skydive landing zone. It's time for me to put on my goggles and jump headgear. Then in the not-any-too-big-for-four cockpit, I get on my knees facing forward so Kelly can hook me up and check everything out (meticulously). Next, Ron pops open the over-size right door letting a wave of really cool thin air to blast in. Ron steps out and hangs on to the wing strut with one hand and starts videoing Kelly and me as we begin "exiting the plane." I grasp a strap inside the open cabin door and slide my right foot from under my butt out into the wind and onto the large metal step. I follow that carefully with my left foot. A brief glance at the ground. A smile to the camera. Kelly reminds me to hook my thumbs under my harness shoulder straps and then says, "One. Two. ARCH!!!" and we "exit the plane" into a clear, cool, bright-blue New Mexico sky. I pull my head back and my feet up into as much arch as I can as Kelly deploys the drogue chute which will help stabilize and ever so slightly prolong our free-fall. Tap-tap on my shoulder and I unhook my thumbs and extend my arms and hands out in the free-fall "flying" position and check the altimeter strapped on my left wrist.
Free falling from 11,000 feet down to 6,000 feet is totally unlike anything I have ever imagined or experienced! It is almost indescribable. Afterwards I will remember it as like flying without a plane, just body-wise, like in a really great flying dream. Kelly gently rotates our position to face into the sun. Ron floats down right in front of us and gives me a thumbs up which I return with a wave and as much of a smile as I can muster into 120 MPH free-fall wind in my face. Earlier, I've seen the other videos and I want to be sure to smile and wave into Ron's camera so the kids will think that Dad's cool. Heck … so Dad will think that Dad is cool!
Too soon, it seems, the helmet beeper goes off in my right ear signaling we are falling through 6,000 feet. Kelly gives me a reminder tap on the shoulder and I reach down for the orange plastic ripcord handle on my right hip. Got it! Quick easy pull! Onethousandone, onethousandtwo, onethousandthree, and the canopy deploys with surprising gentleness --and everything goes mystically silent. I can stop looking into the camera and look around and see the entire Middle Rio Grand Valley and East mesa dangling beneath my feet. There just really aren't enough exclamation points to do this view and experience justice. The silence of hot air ballooning might come close, but we are 5,000 feet up, ever-so-gently falling, there is no burner noise, and we can steer! Ron, the videographer, has continued his free-fall so he can beat us down and set up to video our landing.
Kelly asks how I'm doing. I say I'm doing great, but I don't tell him I'm darned near crying because of the sheer beauty, the silence, the majesty of it all. He pulls down on the left riser and we pirouette counterclockwise - then the right riser into a clockwise pirouette - pure magic and beauty. I see Ron's canopy way below us now, lining up his landing. The e. e. Cummings poetry quote, "The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful," comes to mind. I look at my wrist altimeter and we are at 2,000 feet. At 1,500 feet Kelly says the folks on the ground in the landing zone can hear me if I holler loud - so I begin hollering and waving for the next couple of minutes just because it feels so good. Then we are at 800 feet and Kelly is heading us up into the wind, I pull my feet up for a butt-slide landing and the next thing I know -- I find myself comfortably seated on the ground in the landing zone -- Kelly has released the clips -- Ron is holding out his a hand to help me stand up, all the while videoing my very wide grin and asking me, "So, how was that for you?" It was great, stupendous, indescribable. Again, not enough exclamation points! He records some more banter and a high five exchange with Kelly, and we get into the Skydive New Mexico van for the 3-minute ride back to the hanger. Ron provides a quick preview of my video, and, hey! I look pretty good! (A little secret: smiling broadly, sticking your tongue out and waving at the camera in free fall looks way more cool than you can imagine.) Kelly and Rich and a couple of other skydivers congratulate me and then Kelly is handing me my very own personalized "Tandem First Jump Certificate."
Then it seems like it's all over too soon. We walk back to our car for the short drive back to Albuquerque and dinner and home. A wonderful mirage-like memory and vision of what I've just experienced keeps playing over and over in my head: Ron pops the door open, I look down on the mesa and the Rio Grande Valley, Kelly leans me out into our free-fall, we stabilize, Ron floats in front of us with his camera, I pull the rip-cord, we float ever-so-serenely down to a gentle butt-plop landing and I feel myself grinning like a goose (geese do grin, don't they?). For days later I notice I can still easily replay these wonderful scenes in my mind and, I am still grinning like a goose.
And that's how I did my first free-fall skydive. Life is good! Some day if you want to discover what your goose grin feels like, you can begin by going to www.skydivenm.net, checking out the neat tandem videos, and hooking up with Rich and Kelly at the Belen Airport … and you'll do just fine and love it!
Post script: The mailman just delivered Ron Weagly's DVD of my jump and I slapped it into my PC for viewing as quickly as I could. All I can say is (1) he made me look sooooo very good, and (2) I'm thinking about going again.
Copyright Tom Miles, 2007

Albuquerque, NM

By admin, in News, October 17, 2007

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