CanuckInUSA

One wonders how many of the Eloy coaches and instructors would hang around if everything above a 90 was banned. But we know that 180s are just as deadly as the 270s (if not more). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

If Eloy was serious about the issue, then no turns over 90s would be allowed. To allow someone to setup flying towards the landing traffic before initiating their 180s just goes to show what a "knee jerk" reaction we have here. Don't be surprised if/when the collisions go up instead of down. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It used to be one of my favorite places to visit. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Bryan Burke ... that's who. PS: I have a lot of respect for Mr Burke, but I am rather disappointed that he seems to think that hop n' pop jumpers are not worth much merit. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Is doing a 270 in traffic dangerous? Yes ... it's rolling the dice ... Is doing a 180 in traffic dangerous? Yes ... it's rolling the dice ... How about a 90 in traffic? Yes ... once again it's rolling the dice ... How about skydiving in traffic? Yes it's dangerous ... to jump out of an airplane is rolling the dice ... Are all canopy collisions swooper related? No ... you know better than that ... Does one need to do a 270 (or more) to be considered a swooper? No ... a swooper is anyone who induces speed for their landings. If SDA was really serious about this issue they would ban all turns over 90. But my problem isn't banning the big turns. I'm okay with banning these turns at DZs with traffic. My issues have to do with the stated opinion that hop n' pops are not economically viable and a knee jerk reaction we're seeing related to them. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

This is a rather sad day for the responsible swoopers of the world. Not because turns over 180 have been banned on regular loads at Skydive Arizona. No I can live with that rule as I’ve felt for a while now that going big on a regular load was just rolling the dice. No this is a rather sad day for swooping because Skydive Arizona has stated that to them low passes are not economically viable for their business. So one must now wonder how close minded DZ managements will be when it comes to people showing up interested in doing hop n’ pops because they want to be responsible swoopers and do their thing in clean airspace. How many more DZs will feel the same way about low passes like the management of Skydive Arizona feels? Boy it sure is nice to know that the responsible swoopers of this world who like to practice their discipline in controlled environments are to now the scape goats for all of skydiving’s problems. What is Eloy going to do when people doing 180s flying directly at people come straight in on the landing pattern start conflicting with each other, or worse start colliding with each other? If they really meant they were serious about this issue, they would have banned all turns over 90s. But all you anti-swoopers have just signed the swooping death card if/when you support this notion that low passes are not economically viable so we’re not going to be doing them anymore attitude. Truly a sad day for the world’s responsible swooping community … PS: I’ve just changed my profile which once read under Home DZ as “Wishing it was Eloy” to “A homeless hop n' pop swooper”. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

This is a rather sad day for the swoopers of the world. Not because turns over 180 have been banned on regular loads at Skydive Arizona. No I can live with that rule as I’ve felt for a while now that going big on a regular load was just rolling the dice. No this is a rather sad day for swooping because Skydive Arizona has stated that to them low passes are not economically viable for their business. So one must now wonder how close minded DZ managements will be when it comes to people showing up interested in doing hop n’ pops because they want to be responsible swoopers and do their thing in clean airspace. How many more DZs will feel the same way about low passes like the management of Skydive Arizona feels? Boy it sure is nice to know that the responsible swoopers of this world who like to practice their discipline in controlled environments are to now the scape goats for all of skydiving’s problems. What is Eloy going to do when people doing 180s flying directly at people come straight in on the landing pattern start conflicting with each other, or worse start colliding with each other? If they really meant they were serious about this issue, they would have banned all turns over 90s. But all you anti-swoopers have just signed the swooping death card if/when you support this notion that low passes are not economically viable so we’re not going to be doing them anymore attitude. Truly a sad day for the world’s responsible swooping community … PS: I’ve just changed my profile which once read under Home DZ as “Wishing it was Eloy” to “A homeless hop n' pop swooper”. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Don't forget that the wing will stall at a higher airspeed when you're landing with your rears versus toggles - and it will stall at an even higher airspeed than this if you happen to be in a turn while on your rears. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Been there ... done that ... it's not fun. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

The distance record is currently 678 feet. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hmmm ... okay whatever you say. Try telling that to the family members of these British service men with a straight face. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

If you don't swoop, why are you jumping a canopy geared towards swooping? Your jump #s say you're qualified to be jumping it (of course jump #s indicate experience ... not skill). But it just doesn't make sense why you would be flying such a high performance highly loaded canopy if you're not actually using it for what it was designed to be used for. I jumped a highly loaded swooping canopy because swooping is my discipline of choice, I dedicate jumps towards it and I've decided to take my swooping progression to the various competitive swooping circuits. So why do you jump a highly loaded swooping canopy? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Here Chachi I'll fix it for you ... People doing stupid things under canopy is by far the major cause of the deaths and injuries in the sport today and if the people doing stupid things under canopy don't fix it soon the big guy at the faa will ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Us bears are starting to come out of our hibernation and yes we're hungry for some. I'm not sure what sort of skills I may have lost since my lasy jump, but I'm thinking I'll need to bring the Porche out and stretch her legs (that would be the Velo 103) before the Ferrari is uncovered (the JVX 87). Here's hoping I can bring my skills back to a competitive level before the two big comps in the summer. But it's also possible that my real competitive swooping days are done and I'll be nothing more than a has-been. Damn winter ... start driving more gas guzzling cars people ... Global Warming is good for Canada. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Grant ... know that I am not posting this to disagree and fight with you. But there is a brief moment in all big 270s (or greater) where certain portions of the traffic is not visible for a second or two and what looks like a clear swoop can close up real fast while we're blind for those few precious seconds. I'm tempted to track down the video footage from my helmet cam to show an extremely close call I had in Pitt Meadows BC last September. I still say the other jumper had no business landing in the dedicated high performance swoop lane and I was told by witnesses on the ground that he toggle whipped it just as I ended my turn and smoked in towards the entry gates (you know the part where we've completed the turn and are letting our canopies recover). But with all that said (thinking he did more wrong that I did), I am not innocent. I did see him before I started my turn and from that vantage point before my turn, it appeared that he would not be an issue (people need to see the video of where he was before I started the turn before they judge what I did). But the result was a close call near the ground and if his canopy is big in the video while using a wide angle lens on my helmet cam, you've got to know that we missed each other by or second or less (me going 70+ mph 30-50 feet off of the deck) If anyone reading this who was at Pitt during this boogie and witnessed this close call, don't be afraid to chime in on it. You may have had a better vantage point than I had. I just know that what looked like a safe swoop from 800 feet turned out to be one of my closest calls in this sport. I'd hate to see 270s (or greater) banned. But we swoopers (especially the one's learning the big turns) need to be more careful out there. We are rolling the dice when we swoop on regular loads. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

With more and more ... and yet even more jumpers getting into BASE, the increase in fatalities should not be unexpected (and I'm likely part of the "more" group who got into the sport back in '04). While not BASE specific (it was geared towards some swooping incidents), here is a post that was made by yours truly less than 3 months ago after some Eloy Holiday Boogie fatalities and part of the post speaks of my last "close" call. So who is next? You? Me? Probably someone else ... but rest assured someone is next. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You are ... until you take the appropriate life saving actions of throwing that PC (dealing with any possible mals) and flying a functional wing safely to the ground and get back to the packing area without incident. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It's not a case of memorizing canopies. It's a case of making a plan before you ever leave the ground. Look at who's on the load with you. Try to determine what sort of group they belong to, what sort of jump they are making and make a guess'timate as to their experience level (looking at their rig can give you an idea if they're jumping a large or small canopy). Then try to figure out where you will fit into the landing pattern before you even leave the ground. Then once under canopy, re-evaluate the situation and find a spot in the landing pattern and land. Be proactive and only use your reactionary skills as a backup. Remember you're not trying to memorize individual skydivers, you're just trying to figure out where you're likely logically to be related to the entire load base on the type of jump you make versus everyone else. Sometimes it makes sense to be first down, sometimes it makes sense to be last and all to often it just makes trying to find a slot in the middle. Finally, for those who insist on high performance landings, clear your airspace before you initiate your turn and for gods sakes have a backup plan if your swooping lane is not clear. I learned a semi-hard lesson a couple of years ago that there is more to life than just swooping (even though I still say that swooping rocks my world). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

If I am understanding this correctly, they didn't actually ban swooping. They just banned "270 and bigger" turns from regular full altitude freefall type loads. If people want to concentrate on their "going big" swooping skills, they can still go do it on hop n' pop loads (and hopefully high altitude hop n' pops). Shouldn't this be what we're doing anyway? Allowing 23 skydivers to just rip it all at the same time is rolling the dice. When we compete we don't all try and swoop the course at the same time. We sequence ourselves at predetermined intervals agreed upon before we even leave the airplane. Swooping is not dead at SDA, just controlled, as maybe it should be - at all DZs. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I would agree that credit cards are more secure than debit cards here in (we’re going to tax the shit out of you and give you little back in return) Canuckville. But the credit cards do have some big financial interest penalties if you don’t pay 100% of your balances every month and it is easy to lose track of your spending if you’re not disciplined. So I have my uses for all three: Credit Cards: used for large ticket items and some medium ticket purchases (like gasoline). Cash: for small to medium priced items. Debit: only used as a last resort when I don’t have the cash on hand and I don’t want to use the credit card for whatever reason. In summary, I don’t buy into this cashless society trend since here in (yes they are continuing to tax the shit out of you and giving you little in return) Canuckville, fraud crimes among the traditional mafia, the biker gangs and now the ever increasing Asian and Eastern European gangs is on the rise and they are targeting debit cards as a prime place to prey upon the lemmings. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Recently I've been paying with more cash. With the increasing occurrences of credit and debit card fraud and identity theft happening left, right and center here (including theft through the land title offices), I find myself wanting to reduce my electronic vunerability to these organized crime rings. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Sorry to hear about your brother Dave. Just as you are proud of his accomplishments, I’m sure he was proud of yours. Did he ever get to experience freefall (as in being a tandem passenger)? If yes then he knew why you took to the skies. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I have multiple canopies: - JVX 87 - Velocity 103 - Samurai 136 - Spectre 150 and can choose the right tool for the job at hand. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Not the ones in Canada. Here they're nothing more than socialist lemmings. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

80 meters is 262 feet. Jumpable but hardly huge ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over