change

[nathaniel 0]

hi let me start off by saying I'm a complete noob slowly (but surely) making my way through aff, so please ignore stupidty as appropriate
anyway i work with computers day and night and i started wondering-- how much has skydiving changed in the last 20 years?
i just bought an alti, analog, and the planes people jump out of were designed decades ago. about all i can see (shutters on) that is new is instant replay digital video
i think i like skydiving because it is analog
nathaniel

[narcimund 0]

Fascinating question. It's been on my mind lately too.
I started skydiving in 1984 at a small DZ in Oregon that no longer exists. I jumped fairly regularly for several years, then stopped when I got distracted other things. I just started again last year, so there's been a great big gap in between. I was interested to see what had changed while I was gone.
Let's see... equipment is much more sophisticated of course. There was no such thing as a Cypres. There were AADs, but at least at my DZ they were frowned upon as sissy training wheels. Everyone was scared of them too. They had a nasty habit of opening at the wrong time.
Parachutes were less exciting by a long shot. ZeroP fabric was rare. Canopies were bigger then. (I jumped a 200 and most people I knew did too.) Very few people did swoops and the few who attempted the dreaded hook turn got hurt just like they do now.
Wingsuits were unheard of. Everyone KNEW that a wingsuit or anything like it would kill you. They'd killed nearly everyone who had every tried them and we were all past that.
Round mains were rare 20 years ago, except for students. I had about 35 round jumps until I bought my 200 foot square "Unit". Almost everyone had round reserves. Wrist altimeters were a new thing. Everyone wore theirs on a triangular pillow on their chest strap. Fancy helmets didn't exist. Frap hats and Protecs were it.
No tandem. No freefly. AFF was just getting started.
Accuracy was still a real sport. So was freestyle. All judging was done from the ground with a spotting scope. There was no GPS so sometimes if the clouds were heavy we'd get spotting instructions by radio from the DZ owner on the ground. He could tell from the sound if we were overhead. Well, sometimes he could tell...
Spotting mattered. In fact. If you had a reserve ride (under a round) you REALLY cared if the spot were good. We would throw wind drift indicators to judge the exact wind from 3000 to the ground so we could pick the exact exit point. The goal was that you'd drift onto the target.
We jumped the same planes, did the same 4-way belly fly RW, drank beer afterwards, told lame jokes. The only thing I see different about the culture now is that it's a bit more flamboyant and fashionable. There's maybe more excitement about the equipment and less about the thrill of just being there. New digital cameras and elliptical parachutes and wild fabric jumpsuits maybe mean more these days than the gear we had then mattered to us. But only a little bit... everyone still showed off their new toys.
One thing I remember fondly is jumping with Roch Charmet. At the time he was the world record holder for most jumps. I think he had 15,000 more or less. He was a crotchety old Frech fellow with a mission. He jumped hard every day. Jump jump jump. Always from 2,000' because it was cheaper and didn't take as long. He could get more jumps in that way. As I remember, he was the only person licenced to open at 1,500'. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough even for him and he died at my DZ (I think in 1986.)
Skydiving is still analog, even if some people get digi-happy with their toys. I think it will always be that way.

[drenaline 0]

http://ParachuteHistory.com
I think its the best resource for parachute history.
"Life is full of danger, so why be afraid?"
drenaline