CanuckInUSA

One more thing to add to the currency disussion is what will someone do if/when they become uncurrent. Will they jump the x-braced canopy and say, I'll be careful or will they hookup another canopy while they become current again. I own more than one canopy, so I'm not to worried if I do become uncurrent. I'll just hook up one of my bigger canopies. But if someone is only going to have one canopy and they become uncurrent, then they are an accident waiting to happen. To Rhino, x-braced canopies are a lot of fun. But shit happens really fast under them. Make sure you know what you're getting into. Do you want to jump a x-braced canopy because you've maxed out your Crossfire2, you know you'll be current and you want to experience x-braced flight? Or are you just looking to cut corners (for whatever reason) because someone has said x-braced canopies are the way to go. I don't want to judge you (I've never seen you fly). These canopies are a lot of fun, but shit happens fast on them and there is a reason why low-timers or uncurrent jumpers shouldn't be using them. Make sure you're swooping for the right reasons. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Flying is ultra cool. I just got back from my 3rd flight in the last five days after a 2+ year layoff while I ... well as you can tell from my profile ... jumped my ass off. I logged 1.9 hours as PIC and made 12 touch n' go landings in the process and it cost me just under $200. For the same $200 I could have made 10 skydives and taken up the entire day instead of my 1.9 hours (plus the time to pre-flight ... bla ... bla ... bla ... bla). So I still think that skydiving is more affordable and I love flying my Velocity 103 high-performance swooping machine more than I like flying Cessnas (don't be mistaken, flying is way cool and I can share my flying experiences with friends). Shit 2 hours is nothing (granted my current commute to my local DZ is only 35-40 minutes). But I have been known to travel 10+ hours from metro Denver to Twin Falls Idaho to jump from the Perrine Bridge (a site to make legal BASE jumps from). So your 2 hours isn't that bad you know. But I'm not going to judge you. Skydiving is not CURRENTLY in your heart and that's okay. Skydiving is NOT for everyone and like I said in an earlier post, you're still in the air. I'm not sure how current I will stay with my flying this summer, but one of my goals is to get my tail-wheel endorsement in August once a friend who's a CFI and has his own Citaria gets back into town because a tail-wheel endorsement will open up a shit load of cool and slightly more affordable aircraft for me to fly in the future. Once again, good luck with your flying dreams and you can always get back into skydiving in the future. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I witnessed something I thought I'd never see. An entire Otter load today landed the same direction. It was tight at times from the folks still in the air, but they all followed the pattern and landed safely. Of course soon afterwards, people resorted to their bad habits of landing whatever direction they could instead of flying a pattern. The big sky theory usually saves us. But some aren't always so lucky. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Have fun with your flying adventures dude. You're still in the air.

Yes I think I'm very current as a skydiver (I've made about 40 or so jumps in the last week) and now I can add 3.6 hours to my pilot log book from yesterday and today. Plus I want to get up in the air sometime next week to make sure I don't get too rusty with my landings, but I also have a swoop comp to train for as well. Shit my savings are going to get depleated this summer. Very cool ... what sort of airplane do they own? I wish I had my own airplane as well (so that I could fly it anywhere I wanted to). But you can't always get what you want. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

After a two week delay waiting for my original flight instructor to become available, I got my Bi-annual Flight Review signed off today. So I'm good to go. Good to get behind the controls of an airplane as a solo pilot-in-command private VFR pilot and kill myself (and my passengers) without taking a flight instructor with me. Hmmm ... where should I fly now ... I only have access to rental airplanes, so I can't get too elaborate. I wish flying was cheaper. PS: Just kidding about the kill myself part. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

This will lead to an increase in icing calls which doesn't speed up the game. It would be nice to see the NHL return to the type of hockey which was being played back in the 80s. Time will tell ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It sure is. I've been spend mucho-$$$ jumping and flying so far this summer, but I am having fun doing it. Of course when I look at my bank statement at the end of the summer I may not be so happy. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You were in a good skydiving weather state before you decided to leave it. We may not jump all 52 weeks of the year, but we do get to jump all 12 months. Contrary to what some people may think, the weather in Colorado is awesome. I got 5 jumps in today and I wasn't even trying hard. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

If there is no wind on a hot day, then yes your landings will be faster and you will have less flare than what you're used to. But looking at your profile I see that you're flying a sensible wing for your experience. So don't fret too much there bro. You should be fine and you'll have a blast jumping in Montana. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Ian I agree with some of the things you say, but I'm also in agreement with Ron. We ... the swoopers ... must be prepared to abort our swoop at any time and we really need to communicate with the other people on the load as well. One would like to think that hop n' pops are the way to go, but shit I've had low-timers hanging out above our entry gates on a hop n' pop even when they told me before we left the ground that they would not be near our swoop course (can you say poor canopy control). One would think that the logical answer would be for me to exit before these low-timers, but we seem to have a lot of people who like to pull low on their hop n' pops so for those people I like to let them go before me. Anyway I digress ... My two biggest fears at the DZ where I do most of my jumps is from the people who say that they will avoid our swoop course yet due to poor canopy control they still fly by it. Our course runs west to east but people can often been seen flying past the exit gates on the eastern side (shit they don't seem to realize that we can often out swoop the entire swoop course). My other fear is from the up and coming swooper. You know the guy/gal who wants to swoop, has okay skills, but is not ready to be running gates. These guys and gals need to do the very same thing that the rest of us swoopers do and that is to evaluate who's on the load, who's doing what sort of jump (RW, Freefly and AFF) and where will they and everyone else fit into the pattern. Sometimes it makes sense to try and be first down, sometimes it makes sense to be in the middle and sometimes it makes sense to try and be last. Everyone who swoops must be prepared to abort their swoop, but they also must be realistic of their skills, recognize if their canopy is ground hungry or not and sequence themselves into the pattern. Personally I'm getting tired of seeing people pull low only because they want to be first down and set the swooping pattern. That's just dangerous. I can't do that with my Velo because my Velo wants to kill me. So I given myself altitude to work with and sequence myself into the pattern. Let's be smart out there folks. Let's talk to each other before we leave the ground, stick to the plan and keep our eyes open. And if you're not a swooper, please avoid the high swooping traffic areas at all cost. Not only is my ass on the line, so is yours. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There are currently two airports operating parachute activities in Colorado. Longmont and Canon City, with Canon City currently having more than one DZ. Plus rumors exists that Brush is trying to open again. Mile-Hi Skydiving in Longmont is currently the largest DZ and they own their own King Air, Cessna 206 and they also own an Otter, but it's still being rebuilt. But Longmont has an Otter on lease for most weeks this summer from Eloy. I can't speak about the traffic in Canon City as I haven't been there in a couple of years, but Longmont is running 7 days a week right now and it has plenty of RW people, Freefliers, Swoopers, CReW and a few of us also fly wingsuits and unless Mother Nature decides to blow on our parade, we do turn lots of loads on a given weekday and for sure tons of loads on weekends. Longmont is not that far of a drive from Denver and exists in an urban environment (so no skyball) and Canon City is not that far away from Colorado Springs and Pueblo. If Brush does reopen, it's off in the eastern plains but because it is a remote location, you can do skyball there. Longmont is 5000 feet MSL and jump run is from 12.5k and I believe Canon City is ever so slightly higher but is pretty much the same. Brush is 4000 feet MSL so their jump run is from 13.5k As far as oxygen is concerned, yes our airplanes are equiped with it, but it rarely gets used. The King Air climbs so fast that we're really not up there for very long. I hope I've been some help here ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

As a swooper it's my responsibility to keep my eyes open to avoid a collision. It's also everyone else's responsibility to avoid high traffic swooping areas. And two swoopers need to communicate with each other on the ground before they get airborne to know what the other guy plans on doing. Let's talk to each other out there folks and lets keep our eyes open and be ready to abort our swoops when required. BSBD to Ron and Sara. This is a sad day for swooping ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

How about same weights, same canopy, different piloting techniques. You have more skydives than I have, but most of my skydives have been geared towards high performance canopy control. If you want to be a swooper, then cool ... we need more female swoopers and you're a great candidate to get into it. But you need to start from scratch just as if you were a 100 jump wonder. If you're not already doing this, then you need to dedicate some jumps to pulling high and getting to know your canopy at your wing loading. Then progress to double front swoops, 90s, 180s and so forth. Also seek coaching from qualified canopy control coaches. Some people are better swoopers than others, but there are no short cuts to swooping. It takes hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jumps on each canopy (and/or landing technique) and I personally believe that currency is a huge factor as well. Good luck!!! Swooping rocks, but it's very unforgiving of the errors we all make. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Happy 229th Birthday America. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

No it's not. A bad non-habit forming thing to do is to not let up on risers until it's too late. Not always. It depends on the situation you find yourself in. When I find myself at my setup point higher than I'd like to be, I've had the best success in starting off with double fronts to lose the extra altitude. But I don't use this technique when my setup altitude is where I want it to be. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Happy (belated) Canada Day to my fellow Canadians. I would have responded to this thread sooner, but I was away all day. It's too bad only 4 people responded to this thread, I guess Canadians are just unliked and/or just ignored. But nevertheless, a pretty cool nation celebrated it's 138th birthday today. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It's okay ... Holly will show Nadine around. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

No they won't burn in hell because they are gay. But I surely will burn in hell for what I'm about to say. Christianity is a joke!!! But guess what? I don't believe in hell and I surely don't believe in your God because your God does NOT exist. A creator (call it God if you want may exist), but the Christian, Jewish, Islamic God are all man made created to control the masses (this crap about you will burn in hell unless you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior is laughable). I can't believe you people allow yourselves to be brainwashed. But you do. Go figure? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I looked at the picture a 2nd time now. I still don't see a harness with lines attached to it. However I do see a bathing suit which shouldn't be there. I want to see some naked swooping sky-chicks!!! Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I agree ... too bad GWB and his crownies don't see it this way. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There's a harness with lines attached to it in that picture? I didn't see those. I better go back and look again. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I still can't wait to see what the pros can do here at altitude. I'm pretty sure that going Dirt-Water-Dirt here on the new pond will be an incredible feat. Our swoops are faster here, but we have less lift. But we're only amateurs. Actually our top amateurs are pretty damn good, but nevertheless we're still amateurs. I can't wait to see what the pros can do. Oh and there is a slight inaccuracy as to the current status of the pond. It's NOT the DZ's fault, but when they say that the liner is CURRENTLY being installed, this is not true. Apparently the shipping company decided to poke a hole in the liner and this has set us back a couple of weeks. It shouldn't effect the event in September, but some of us locals were hoping to get wet sooner than that. BTW ... you going to be here in September Mr. Monkey man? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Was Nadine at the Eloy Holiday boogie two years ago? If she was then I remember meeting her and jumping with her there and she was a total sweatheart that's for sure. BSBD Nadine. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There has been a lot of bad things done over the years in the name of Islam. I can't argue that. But once again, I view Christianity and Islam in a similar view. They are both religions based on a book written by humans many many moons ago and while I've never read the Quran (and have no desire to), I don't agree with either religion. I still laugh that this makes me a liberal. I thought that it would make me something more on the line as agnostic. But call me a liberal if you please if it makes you feel better (you obviously don't like me and I couldn't care about that). You're just judging me as I'm sure you judge everyone else different from yourself. And that is the message from this thread. Try not to judge people who are different from yourself. It just leads to intolerance and hatred. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over