dthames

If for nothing else they are good to remember "back when". I had no layoff but I started with a small student log book. I photo copied the pages and pasted them over the first few blank pages of my new/larger log book so I would not have to carry the old one around as I finsihed my student work. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Wow, what an offer! It is great to see someone willing to help that way. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Attached is one of the extended data Goggle Earth files KML files. You have to right click on the Freefall item in the tree on the left to turn on the Elevation Profile view/window. Alt shown in meters in this example. The white caption box is extended data for one point that can be viewed by clicking on the track an any point. The red arrow and the numbers with it move and change as you sweep across the Elevation Profile graph. [inline screencapture.jpg] Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

There are canopy control drills as part of your A license that you can be practicing up high on all of your student jumps. One series is specific to learning more about the feel of the flare. You might study that section in the SIM and talk to your coaches about getting those done. You need to get those done and signed off anyway. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Try this: http://www.hellis.me/Install.htm It's a Excel addin, and it will give you all the numbers you need I am excited to have been involved with some of the work that Hellis has been doing to massage the Flysight data. Look at page 4 and page 5 of this PDF. I don't know how helpful this will be to others, but at this point for me it is very helpful to review flight data. What you see, Hellis has not completely finished yet. But if you think this would be helpful, give some feedback please. http://pyrodan.privatedata.com/skydive/wingsuit/wing3-data-view.pdf Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Another Flysight story: I did a 22,000 foot jump and went out with 2 friends for a 3 way belly jump. We were put out by a jumpmaster about 2 seconds between groups because of the high speed of the aircraft. We broke off at 4,000, I started tracking and saw opening canopies closer than desired. I reported it to the jumpmaster later that day as feedback that I thought he might need. He asked me some questions and I just was not sure about some of the specifics that he had queried me on. Later I remembered I had my Flysight on for that jump. I got a ground track image from the viewer and emailed it to him with the answers. They are nice to have. And no, I don't sell them either. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I didn't read the details of these lower end devices but what you need (in Simon's example) is to record GPS data and have a record of the path that you followed. I think some smartphone apps might do that already. I will say that I have a Flysight and the tones that it can produce while you fly/fall can be a great help to learning/training. One of my first uses was to vary vertical freefall speeds as a student doing solo jumps. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Joe, get your Long Johns out and go for it tomorrow. The winds could easily go out of student limits. Early is normally better with the winds. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

It was fun and I am glad to have done it. But there was not anything super great about it. It did make her 100th special. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I was able to go with a friend on her 100th from 22,000 feet. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I don't discount what was said about the need to build the mental model for success. But I just don't see the process stopping there. Sorry, I am still stuck on the survival thing because of the talk of panic in the post. I have not seen (in my few months) anyone near panic because they could not make a dock on a student jump. But suppose that while the person is visualizing the perfect jump on the ride up and someone yells, Get out, get out, it's 1100 feet, pull your reserve, pull your reserve and then the person looks up and sees a mess overhead at 800 feet......Maybe some visualization of what to do next might have been good. How many people in the last 15 months cut away low and died. Why did they do that? Did "their surroundings cease to look like the mental model" that they had prepared for? (rhetorical ) Edited: If the idea is how to deal with people that are near panic with the thought of jumping at all, then I was off on a tangent and didn’t not intend to derail the thread. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I don't see how your situation is really any different than a new jumper buying their first rig. If it is a good deal and a good fit, I would get it. You never know what will be out there later. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

You lost me here. "People only panic when their surroundings cease to look like the mental model/map." So you build the student mental model of the perfect skydive. Then when it is not like they expect, expecting it to be as planned, they are then poised to panic because they are outside the model? I know that is not what you mean, but it sounds a bit like it. Plan for the worst and hope for the best would make a wider model to stay in. Won't it? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

You don't ever want to sweat in the cold but if you can keep your body a little on the too warm side, the blood flow will be better out to your hands and feet than if you were chilled. This keeps your hands warm, which helps with touchy feely things. Something like this works wonders too, as much of your heat loss is out your head. It helps too if you have an open face helmet. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Clothing/Mens-Casual-Clothing/Mens-Headwear/Mens-Cold-Weather-Headwear%7C/pc/104797080/c/104746680/sc/104448780/i/103920480/Under-Armour174-EVO-ColdGear174-Hood/1170174.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fclothing-mens-casual-clothing-mens-headwear-mens-cold-weather-headwear%2F_%2FN-1100894%3FWT.z_mc_id1%3D43000000077097478%26WT.srch%3D1%26WT.tsrc%3DPPC%26WT.mc_id%3Dgoogle%7Cmec_Headwear_Cold%2BWeather%7CUSA%26rid%3D20%26pcrid%3D14423012596%26gclid%3DCJz3ie_L1LUCFQdU4Aodg3IA2g Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I had to open my mouth. It was freezing cold and then wind and clouds came out of nowhere. By 10:30 I started feeling ill and decided to head home. Got home and the wife was also feeling sick so spent most of the weekend in bed. Eh, what can you do? We'll see what happens next weekend. If you are referring to 23 Feb 2013 at Skydive Dallas... you missed out! I was there. Yes, the weather was awful at ~1030... cold & low clouds. I retreated to my trailer for lunch and a hot cup of tea. Shortly after noon, the sky cleared, the sun warmed us up, and the wind was almost absent. We jumped like crazy until dark! You can't jump if you aren't at the DZ! Of course, jumping the wife is a perfectly reasonable alternative. I gave up and left just after noon for the long drive home. And yes, I was looking over my shoulder thinking, maybe I should turn around and go back. But I did get on that first load, zipping up 13,500 :) Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Like I say "Hit it hard, hit it fast." The other day we had a 12 way that had disintegrated to chaos by breakoff. A very petite woman jumper, Vskydiver's size, said she looked above herself, saw me overhead and thought "Uh-oh, traffic." She said then I hit my track and flew up and away, out of the picture. Nothing like a really good track to get yourself out of a hot spot.

Climbout and door considerations. You might recall our skydiving duck cartoon friend was injured by a door frame impact during an exit where the timing was messed up or confused. Her story about that primed me to be more careful in a similar situations. I was inside the plane with harness holds with exit went early. Thankfully I was somewhat alert to what was happening and started reacting by trying to get moving and also get free of the holds at the same time. Still I got a little bump on the door frame out of the deal. Maybe not in California but for those that have not been jumping all winter, exit counts may be a bit rusty and off. I am not highly experienced but just having some knowledge of that previous injury prepared me a bit to know there was danger there. How you react to a premature linked exit might be worth touching on. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

From the V, linked: We did those if the coach wanted to be sure to stay close. We would release after exit for some redock and level change type jumps. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

That is a snapshot of a Google Earth representation of a solo tracking dive presented from Flysight GPS data. I have attached the Goggle Earth file. You have to install Google Earth first, if you want to use the file. In the image the red line is the path on the last part of the dive where the glide ratio was best. While pretty good, certainly not "flat" in any way. (haha) Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I have been trying to study this carefully in my jumps. Actually doing tracking jumps to record data. I think that most would agree that in order to get significant horizontal speed, some amount of work has to be done and the force you can develop in that direction needs to be applied for a period of time. I have noticed that after I get moving good, I can ease up. That happens then is interesting. Because mass to drag vertically is pretty large, you slow back down in the vertical direction rather quickly. But because mass to drag in the direction horizontal direction (head on) is much higher, I appear to be maintaining that speed fairly well. So, at that point the glide ratio shoots up. I have not specifically tried to be big instead of tight. It seems hard to imaging good glide ratio numbers with my arms sticking out and going slow(er). Maybe I need to give that some time as well. Testing "inline" image [inline 90-deg.jpg] Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

If the underlined part is true, this would result in a better glide ratio. Correct? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

When most jumpers use the term "flat tracking" are they referring to tracking almost flat on your belly so that you have a very small glide ratio? Or are they thinking, if you track like a madman instead of like you are on a Sunday drive, then the track with the better glide ratio is actually flatter? In the second case the “flat” part of the term would mean the glide angle is less vertical than the slow easy track. So, which is the more common understanding of the term? I favor the second use even though the fall is still largely just down. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I got a fairly large Aerodyne Pilot and started jumping it about jump 22. Lots of flare and very forgiving in the size that I am in. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

DSE, I know how strong that mounting tape can be. I have been wondering about the plastic mounts and their strenght. I understand one might never know if they would break or not. But do you know of any specific testing that anyone has done on the plastic mounts? Thanks, Dan Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Technical degree in electronics. I like to program hardware (micro CPUs) Real job: business needs type work, for engineering data and engineering software at a large manufacturing company (35+ years same company, but not same job) Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”