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Heya all, Dropzone .com has been sold. This site has been part of my life for 27 years, so it was obviously not an easy decision. A huge thank you to every one of you (especially those relentless mods!) who supported Dropzone.com and myself during the years. Things change. The friendships I made here will outlast the tech forever, and for that i'm grateful. It's been real. Safe swoops Sangiro

Working on it.

"It's bad form to go in without all your handles pulled."

They did a great job for $700 euros. Could you explain what $700 euros is? But i agree the there is way too much money spent on football american and world.

Certainly more bigots are aware that it's a good pejorative. It's the new "communist." I, for one, am happy that those horrible racists/DEI hires/idiots like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk, Billie Jean King, Thurgood Marshall and John Lewis have been spreading their poison across the US.

That's right. Hiding names on resumes is a disgraceful woke policy. How am I supposed to find the white men if I cannot see their names?

I don't know how you find the time to keep track of all that. I just skim them because it's just getting too granular.

As someone hit from behind and knocked into line twists with collapsed end cells at 100' agl by a guy spiraling through the pattern at Z Hills (to get on the next load), and then managing to land without breaking anything, I was charmed when TK presented me with a Z-Hills carabiner watch as a thank you for not contributing to the DZ's accident data. The photo taken from the ground even made it into USPA's Safety Day ad the following year.

I think that is unfortunate. I would hope that you'd be happier about your success. Indeed.

Wolfriverjoe has that exactly right. That is an old, old phrase that originated in skydiving waayyy back, and is for just such an occasion. ----------------- I could not disagree with you more. This guy didn't space altitude, pull low, or do something stupid to put himself in a corner. He had a double mal and fought it and pulled it out in the nick of time. He should absolutely be happy about that, and it should be talked and thought about, both to try to prevent such problems in the future, and especially to solidify for himself and others to never give up. Congrats to the dude and good on his buddy (the OP) for wanting to recognize the successful effort!

I posted this on FB a few weeks ago. I had a very special day on Saturday July 6th. I spent the day at Skydive Perris with friends. We were there to JUMP THE JET!! Perris has had a McDonnel Douglas DC9 since about 2006. I last made a jump from it in 2007. It was a very good experience and I cried that it sat at Perris mostly unused and un-jumped since then. FYI, info in the 3 paragraphs below have not been fact-checked, they are just my understanding of the situation. Over the past several years the owners of the DZ, Ben, Diane, Melanie and Pat Conatser spent nearly a million dollars (or more) to; extend the runway, update the avionics and sort other details. The biggest sticking point in flying the plane and jumpers was finding pilots that are both rated in type and current (there are not many DC9s still flying). Perris was able to find a qualified crew based in Miami who fly for a South American airline. Bottom line, the Conatsers spent vast amounts of money and sweat equity to bring the DC9 back on-line for jumping, very likely with no chance of ever getting full payback for their efforts. This may not technically meet the definition of altruism, but it’s close enough for me and I am very grateful for their efforts. Blah Blah Blah, on to the jump. A typical ride to altitude in a skydiving plane is a cramped, sweaty affair. About 20 of us are either packed in a$$hole to belly button or side to side on unpadded benches. Climbing to 13000 feet AGL takes 18 – 20 minutes as we spiral up while listening to the turbine powered propellers claw us to altitude. Its quite nice when the door finally opens and we exit the plane into the 100 MPH propblast from the side of the fuselage. The jet? So much different. Seventy of us sit in nicely padded airline seats that are far superior to current airline seating with the evil minimum pitch that packs people into “economy plus”. Even with a backpack on there is plenty of leg room as we sit belted in place. The energy / fear / excitement in the jet is palpable. Nearly everyone is making their first jet jump and even those with thousands of jumps are back to the excitement of student status jumps. Takeoff and climb to altitude are quiet. Just like you experience when you fly on Southwest. The air conditioning works and the ride up is comfy. But, it is a VERY SHORT ride to altitude. From takeoff roll to jump run takes 6 -7 minutes! The greenlight goes on and we start down the aisle to the “door”. Remember, this is a DC9, very similar to a Boeing 727 (the airplane that DB Cooper chose to hijack since it has a ramp under the tail and facilitated his jump with hundreds of thousand of $$). We get to the ramp (no steps) and launch into the sky ocean. I back looped out and had a great view of the jet flying away and other jumpers flying out. At that point it was just another skydive, though one where due to the exit speed and dawdling jumpers ahead of me in line, I opened a long way from the DZ, but that’s another story. What else stands out? The “flight attendants” giving the safety briefing (FDA mandated). The flight crew who gave up their holiday with family and friends to come to Perris. All the work that the Perris staff did to make the jumps and Boogie a success. Talking to Ben and Diane Conatser and just seeing / feeling their joy at making this happen. Yes, I’m looking forward to doing this again without waiting another 17 years. BSBD

I jumped it 7/7. It was absolutely awesome. Surprised how easy it was to exit head down and turn 180 to watch people pouring out. I really thought it would have been a lot faster but I didn't even start to lose altitude for almost a quarter mile flying backwards watching the plane. It was fast enough.