atsaubrey 0 #1 July 9, 2003 does anyone know of "skydive palm springs" ??? im about 300lbs and wanted to skydive for ever and of course dont make the weight limits at any dz's. i talked to a guy who says he owns "skydive palm springs" but cant find any listings of one on the net. he says he will take me up under the right condtions and for about $500. does this sound fishy to anyone on here? The $500 doesnt bother me so much but not knowing anything about these guys does. thanks for any insight."GOT LEAD?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spidermonky 0 #2 July 9, 2003 This does sound fishy. The weight limits are made by the gear manufacturers. Charging more money does not change the fact that it is endangering your life as well as the tandem master. I believe some student gear is rated for around 300 lbs, so you might be able to go through AFF or make static line jumps. I'm not too sure about all of this so hopefully someone else will post here with more options for you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kris 0 #3 July 9, 2003 $500 sounds really fishy. There are few places that will be able to accomodate you at your size as 225-240 pounds is the usual cutoff. At 300 pounds, you're probably looking at modified tandem gear due to the size of reserve and main you will need.Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tombuch 0 #4 July 9, 2003 Quote he says he will take me up under the right condtions and for about $500. does this sound fishy to anyone on here? The $500 doesnt bother me so much but not knowing anything about these guys does. That sounds VERY fishy. The 500 dollar charge is excessive, and that should raise a red flag. Likewise, 300 pounds is super heavy for a tandem jump, so that should raise a red flag. Heavy people can make skydives, and 300 pounds is not completely unreasonable, but I think you might be better off making an Accelerated Freefall skydive using a modified tandem rig. The Relative Workshop has modified their rigs for this use, and I know the folks at Skydive Deland (386-738-3539) have worked with this mod a few times. Deland is north of Orlando and may be a good bet for you. The place you are speaking of may be a USPA affiliated drop zone called Palm Springs Skydiving Adventures. I don't know anything about the operation. In any event, you should call several drop zones in your area and ask questions. Learn all you can about each drop zone, then choose at least one to investigate in person. Visit your first choice before making a skydive and get a feel for the operation. Learning to Skydive is an expensive and potentially dangerous activity. You should approach the selection of a drop zone with caution, and as a well informed, proactive consumer. You can find a list of USPA affiliated drop zones at http://www.uspa.org/dz/index.htm I actually wrote a book for prospective students like you that is designed to provide answers to your questions about skydiving, and then help you develop great "consumer" questions to use when evaluating a drop zone. The book is called JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy and was published by McGraw-Hill this year. It is available at many drop zones, local bookstores, and on-line booksellers such as Amazon.com. The lilst price is just 14.95, but places like Amazon have it on sale at 30 percent off. There is another great book called "Parachuting, The Skydivers Handbook" by Poynter and Turoff. Asking questions and reading, then visiting drop zones is the best way to select a good operation. Keep at it... informed consumers rule! Blue Skies! Tom Buchanan Instructor (AFF, SL, IAD, Tandem) Author JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and EasyTom Buchanan Instructor Emeritus Comm Pilot MSEL,G Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
atsaubrey 0 #5 July 9, 2003 ok if my weight is reasonable....where might i find a dz in southern california that might let me try it? by the way the guy i was talking about said the gear is recommended up to 500lbs but is tested to 750lbs. with his weight and the gear involvrd we would be around the 525-540 lbs range and he says in the right condtions we should be ok. he also said he would want to do it at another dz near the coast due to cooler condtions. AGIAN I NEED TO TRY IT! please someone let me know if it might be possible.. i would really like to go AFF but he said not a wise decision because it would be difficult for the two instructors to keep up on the way down. this doesnt make a lot of sense to me because back in science class things drop at the same rate..right? wouldnt someone my size create more drag to slow me down?"GOT LEAD?" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tombuch 0 #6 July 9, 2003 Quoteok if my weight is reasonable....where might i find a dz in southern california that might let me try it? by the way the guy i was talking about said the gear is recommended up to 500lbs but is tested to 750lbs. with his weight and the gear involvrd we would be around the 525-540 lbs range and he says in the right condtions we should be ok. Tandem gear is certified to hold between 500 pounds and 650 pounds, depending on the specific manufacturer. Keep in mind that if you weigh 300 pounds and the rig weighs 50 pounds, and the instructor weighs 175 pounds, then you will be in the 525 pound total weight range. That instructor will be managing three times his own weight in freefall, and that can be a serious safety problem. )See pages 12-14 in JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy) Any operator that suggests you should overload tandem equipment beyond the manufacturer limits is very wrong, no matter what the actual test limit may have been. Freefall speed IS a factor of weight. Heavier people have a faster terminal velocity, so any AFF instructor will need to be able to fall at your speed. Most schools do have staff that can handle that. Be cautious, however, because most single person gear is only certified to 254 pounds, so the school may choose to put you under a modified tandem rig. The other thing to consider is how you are built. A 300 pound student who is in good condition is a better candidate for skydiving training than a 300 pound person who is out of shape. There should be a concern about how you frame is loaded, and how the weight is distributed. The drop zone with the best reputation in Southern California is Perris Valley Skydiving. Check the USPA drop zone link in my previous post, then call several DZ's in the area you are interested in. Also check out a drop zone in Elsinore. Avoid the guy in Florida who said he can exceed manufacture guidelines "IF" conditions are right, and you have 500 dollars. He really sounds sleezy. Tom Buchanan Instructor, AFF, SL, IAD, Tandem Author JUMP! Skydiving made Fun and EasyTom Buchanan Instructor Emeritus Comm Pilot MSEL,G Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingbunky 3 #7 July 9, 2003 aff instructors would be able to tell you for sure, but i understand that they can wear lead, wear slippery suits and/or adjust their body position to fall with almost anybody. if you can find gear that fits, they should be able to stay with you."Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart." MB4252 TDS699 killing threads since 2001 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vonSanta 0 #8 July 10, 2003 Just wanted to say I think it's great that you don't let your size stop you from pursuing skydiving. Hope you find a workable solution. :) Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GigaBuist 0 #9 July 11, 2003 Quotei would really like to go AFF but he said not a wise decision because it would be difficult for the two instructors to keep up on the way down. this doesnt make a lot of sense to me because back in science class things drop at the same rate..right? wouldnt someone my size create more drag to slow me down? I'm not qualified in any way, shape, or form to comment on the safety of your situation; however being a math/science/computer/physics nerd I can safely comment on this part! A 50 pound lead ball and a feather drop at the same rate when you look at how gravity works, but as soon as you throw in any sort of resistance (ie: wind) things go haywire. If you toss them out the window of a buidling that's situated in a perfect vaccum they hit the ground at the same time, but we don't live in a vaccum. I think, and this may be a physics urban legend, the discovery was made when two lead balls were tossed out the leanining Tower of Pisa. A big ball and a small ball fell and hit the ground at the same time because they're close enough in shape that the wind resistence was fairly equal on them. The Tower of Pisa is fairly short though, and TV (terminal velocity) won't be experienced in that time. Maybe it will with a lead ball, but certainly not with a human. If I've been reading things right lately it would take about 1880 feet to reach TV for the human body shape in an arched box-man position. Now, TV is reached when the force of resitance (the air around you) equals the force of gravity pulling you down. The force of gravity is directly proportional to your weight but the force of resistance due to air is proportianal to the surface area you "present' to the wind. Given that I tip the scales at a whopping 140lbs and you at 300lbs you would have to present roughly 2 times the surface area to fall at the same rate as me. A rounded belly or a very large chest while large in surface area don't count here. It's only a 2D world when air is concerned and falling along a 1D line. If you put a big spotlight on the two of us and looked at our shadows your's wouldn't be much bigger than mine! Well, unless you're about 11'6" tall and have a 12" "wingspan". If that's the case then yeah -- you'd fall as slow as I would, but if that's the case you've probably got a world record for the tallest human ever coming your way. Hope that clears up the physics side. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 102 #10 July 11, 2003 The drag due to air resistance is equal to the Coefficient of drag (a number between 0 and 1) times the frontal area (shadow as you put it). The coefficient of drag for an object very much depends on how the object is shaped along the direction of airflow. This is why a long streamlined shape has less air drag than a blunt object with the same frontal area.People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
