Boomerdog

Doc, My apologies to you and all if I misled you and anyone else by the questions posed to me post jump. They were by no means critical and posed to me by my principal instructor who is also the DZO and who is all-stars in my book. What was ironic was that he had a cutaway the day before. While I'm licensed now, I still seek him out for feedback and he's nothing but encouraging. What I told him that having been through a canopy course (where riser flight was discussed and had to be demonstrated) having read the SIM on canopy control several times and practiced riser turns during AFF training, I was confident of landing the canopy and I took him step by step through the my thinking during the emergency. After which, he was OK with it. A good de-brief after a successful recovery form a malfunction burns into the old noodle for future reference. Blue Skies

Two weeks. Groin was very sore after a hard opening, a snapped right brake line, landing on rear risers and a rather hot PLF. Some additional bruises from the hot PLF but that was all. Immediate "pharmaceutical therapy" was four beers and my wife drove home!

"Noob" input here. To cut away or not cut away!? That became more than a rhetorical question on jump# 50 and yes...I did provide my obligatory case of beer for #50 and happy to do so! For now, my secondary alarm in my Pro-Track is set at 4,200' AGL and I initiate pull sequence. I'm under full canopy between 3,400 - 3,000 feet. OK on to the story and the personal observations. It was a hard opening and I did not jump for another two weeks due to bruising in the groin. This one REALLY rang my bell. Instinctively, I began to think that something else might be wrong...YUP! The right brake line had snapped and looked like a small portion of spaghetti minus the sauce and I was the meatball. First thing I did was look at my altimeter...3,300'...OK I thought, I've got 800' to assess. Cutaway? Maybe. The main canopy in spite of the sheared brake line was square and stable but not optimally steerable. My groin was sore so cutting away getting into the minimum proper arch to pull the reserve was questionable. The only way to steer was with the rear risers and the first few inputs with the risers told me this was doable but I was going to get quite a workout from it. Approximately 15 seconds had elapsed and I was still above 2,500'. My thinking at the time was this, "If there was going to be a further malfunction, it would have happened by now." So I decided to stay with the main and land it. The LZ was reachable and under normal conditions I would be setting up the landing to the LZ but the LZ is next to some hills where tricky cross winds come into play. Decision...land into a fallow cornfield AWAY from the LZ as the cornfield is the nearest and all things considered the safest place to land. Next set up for PLF, chances are I'm going to land hot so think fundamentals, keep it simple, keep your head, and nothing fancy...just GET DOWN in one piece and expect a few more bruises. It was't over yet. While heading to the cornfield, the wind decided for more drama as it pushed me in the direction of a barn...yuck. By this time, I'm getting tired but I mustered enough energy to pull up the risers one more time to minimize descent rate and cleared the barn roof by about 50'. Whew...OK, land ho! PLF coming up...and coming up quick...very quick. PLF executed, hot landing as predicted, a few more bruises but no bones broken. Everybody at the DZ is now running like the dickens to get to me. I immediately raised my hand with a thumbs up to signal I was OK and then I just laid in the dirt LMAO thinking "Mr. Toad and his wild ride have nothing on this one!" Immediate feedback was mixed. Why did I not cut it away? At the time, I could not coherently answer that question. A week later, the master AFF-I, master rigger...master skydiving everything for that matter who knows me well came up to me and said I had done the right thing. OK lessons learned and lessons applied. 1). Having the living $#!t scared out of you after a hard opening is not fun...but ya have to get your noodle back in the game quick even when you're hurting. 2). The decisions are yours and yours alone...for in skydiving, no one can help you when you get right down to it. 3). Altitude-Assess-Altitude-Asses but don't take too much time. 4). The canopy currently "out" versus the reserve canopy "in." In my case, it was in the balance a flyable canopy. NOT the "best cards I was dealt" but cards I could play. 5). Accept the fact that you are in an emergency, the "normal" flight plan you envision has just gone to $#!T. Pick your alternate landing point and stay with it. 6). Stay "ahead of the curve." Where you "are at" in the present is irrelevant. You've made that waypoint and are OK, think about the next two landing approach points ahead of you and once there, the next two and then the next two until you are on the ground. 7). Newly licensed jumpers (like me) should get into a canopy course ASAP as well as read the SIM on canopy control. The ability to know how and exploit the use of rear risers in an emergency is imperative. Very glad I took the canopy course! 8). PLF...knowing how to do a PLF is not trivial especially when you're coming in hot. A PLF properly executed may mean the difference between walking away, injury, or even yes..."buying it." 9.) EP's...ad infinitum ad nauseum. Read em, drill em' dirt dive them in your mind until they become automatic second nature. 10.) Aviate, Navigate, Communicate all in that order. Don't try to yell at people on the ground that you're in an emergency if you have other pressing issues in the aviate and navigate areas. You're just going to have to let them guess and worry until you get on the ground. The issue for you is to get your @$$ on the ground as safe as possible. 11). Beer! Four beers, wife drove home! 'nuff said...it's time to pack up and head to the DZ.

Whohoo! Yup, ya need to go jack up a bank!

Been there and done all of that and I'm a "noob" as well. First, don't feel bad or ashamed. You're skydiving and not playing croquet, there's just a "slight" difference between the two sports. Jumping out airplanes is not I repeat not a natural act and OBTW there are no perfectly good airplanes for if there were, they would not break and never have to undergo maintenance but they are machines that do border on miraculous. I did all my jumps out of a Cessna 182. Hated that plane at the beginning, love it now and I mean that! When that door opened it felt like the "warden and the boys" had come to take me on my last walk. When I had to do my first spot, I was really jumping out of my skin. But with time, instruction and trust in my abilities, the confidence builds and I no longer fear the "door monster." I still have some yips but once out in free fall it all goes away and when I land, I'm ecstatic as though it were the first jump. Once you've learned how to spot, take a pace you and your instructor can agree to and spot as much as you can...the confidence will build. Now I love to spot. Good luck and take some comfort in the fact that you're not alone! Adversity is there to be conquered! Blue Skies.

We'd love to see you out at Blue Ridge. It's my home DZ and a great place to jump. We'd like to think we're a friendly crowd.

As you can see, I'm a new licensed jumper and memories of training are still fresh in my mind. Remember the four: Altitude Arch Legs Relax i certainly experienced a hefty amount of sensory overload in the first few jumps and I had similar anxieties about performing on each training jump. I'm afraid I can't help with the butterflies but I can provide some observations and conclusions based upon my jumps so far. I did a lot of over thinking as well. My instructors told me not to over think and I'll bet your instructors will tell you the same...keep it simple. I found relaxing to be the hardest and yet, when you are completely relaxed in free fall and let gravity and the wind be welcome "partners in the process," this where free fall takes on that inexplainable fun our land locked brothers and sisters will never understand. Be compassionate with yourself. If you have to repeat a jump, take it in stride. I had to repeat four jumps. Your instructors just want you to be safe, trained and confident once your licensed and on your own. Last thing...the training never stops...but it's fun!

Welcome and good luck in your training, you're going to love it. I got my "A" license last January so I am very very NEW even though I'm pushing 58. Popsjumper is right, you're a long ways from equipment. My wife and I just bought our rigs. The best thing you can do is listen to your instructors on gear (as well as everything else when it comes to skydiving). I have found in my short time in the sport that your instructors will be your best source. There's a lot of good stuff on these boards offered by the more experienced jumpers here and they provide some good data points to consider but like I said, your instructors should be for now your first source. Blue Skies!

Yup, that's about right. Your procedure is close to how I did it although I did not set the tube in hot water to thin the "goo." The solvent in Shoe Goo is either toluene or toluene based. Either way, it has a smell suggesting that working with this stuff in well ventilated areas is highly advisable. Best results is to let the soles cure for three days to let the polymer thoroughly cure per instructions that come with the product. Best of luck, enjoy your new suit.

Yup! Everything Messrs. Martin and Winland said plus a few more scoops! As soon as one jump weekend is over, I'm living for the next weekend. Everything in between is just "stuff." Once I walk through the hangar door on a weekend, I leave all that "stuff" behind.

IRS Commissioners serve a five year term to overlap into the next administration. Using the IRS to hassle and silence political opponents has been used since FDR was President to include Senators and Members of Congress from BOTH parties. Here's the bottom line, it stops and it stops now. I expect that there are conservatives and liberals posting in this forum. I don't have a problem with that whatsoever, our origins began with debate and debate continues to this day. No one should fear their government coming after them using the IRS. In the end, however, the blame lies in large with us. We wen't paying attention and we believed this stuff happens to someone else. We are now at a point where IRS intimidation via the imprimatur of our elected leaders has made its way to Main Street on a level too many of us never thought or imagined. The day "we the people" fear the government rather than the converse is a day we need to take serious pause. Eternal vigilance IS the price of freedom...vigilance on the powers that be outside AND inside.

I don't disagree with you but your proposals don't go far enough IMHO. How about a flat tax. I'll gladly give our favorite uncle 10% and the state I live in 3%. This can all be deducted from my salary. At the end of the year, fill out a simple form, report the numbers...it should not take even 15 minutes and mail the return in. The flatter the tax the better, then of course we're going to put H&R Block, CPA's and the rest of the usual suspects out of a job. New paradigms bring new situations.

The zoo's gorilla sat all day in the center of his cage depressed and puzzled. In one hand the gorilla held the Bible and in the other hand, Darwin's Origin of the Species. The gorilla could not determine whether he was his brother's keeper or his keeper's brother.

And respectfully I state, feel free to enlighten me.

Well, when the Vulcans do decide to make contact with us, I'm sure they'll be interested in understanding our history and of course when the designated human explains I'm sure one Vulcan will reply, "Illogical but fascinating." I'm not going to attempt to allay your concerns or your fears that you believe are legitimate in this debate. Accordingly, I'll share mine here. When seconds count and your life hangs in the balance confronting an assailant, the cops are minutes away. So...I carry a gun with a permit. Why do I carry a gun? Simple...a cop is just too heavy. Here in Virginia (where I live) we have a pretty low violent crime rate simply because as a "shall issue" State of concealed carry permits, many Virginians have CCW permits and at any given time in any crowd of people no one knows who's packing and who's not and the dirtbags think twice. Yes there have been tragedies such as the VTech killings. I'm not going to say this massacre was an aberration. I will call it a monstrous tragedy and little can be said up or down will bring comfort to the surviving family members. In a free society, the sad fact we balance is that free will is also exercised by the evil and the violent much to our sorrow. Even in a disarmed society, NO ONE is going to prevent such sorrow and misery. There is also a question about vesting to the federal, state, and local governments, a monopoly on violence. I don't believe in the perfectibility of human beings and when human beings obtain power that is unchecked, they see opportunities to exert their influence we "the little people" have to endure. A healthy and rational mistrust of elected politicians is necessary and I want those elected politicians to keep in the back of their minds that if they get too far out of line, the guns will be pointed at them to cease and desist. We are a governed people; governed at our consent; NOT a ruled people. Deterence works. Finally, let's discuss an item of common ground...skydiving. I think all of us can agree to a large extent that the privilidges and fun we all enjoy as skydivers is balanced by a sense of individual and collective responsibility we all adhere to and establish in the community. I don't find the rules and guidelines excessive. I also get a sense in both observation and discussion that skydivers both collectively and individually don't like outsiders meddling with the sport. Give a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats an opening to impose additional regulations on us that in our learned and experienced opinion amounts to something more useless than cow patties, then watch the rebellion and the pushback ensue. Remember, that when there's no one left to come after, they'll be coming after you! Would you rather die standing up or live on your knees?

One case at my DZ. Best I can do!

OK all...get it out of your system and keep the airstrike coming until satisfied I've sustained sufficient shelling. i spoked too soon, I stand corrected. 1000 apologies are offered and I will flog myself with a big hot wet noodle tonight! I hope that is sufficient!

The DZO can exercise their perogative to make decisions with their privately owned property. I can make the decision not to jump there and spend my money at a DZ who wants my business and is not prone to such assinine behavior. As a veteran myself, I encourage all vets, active duty military, Reserve, and Guard with a USPA license to avoid this place.

"I haven't seen anyone's picture so widely used as an icon of evil since .... I'm gonna say it .... Hitler's!" Hey, you may be on to something!

On the other hand, it's been reported that some gun shops jhave posted his picture in the front of their store and under the picture" "Salesman of the Year!"

I sense some "tongue and cheek" in this. But I could be wrong. Enough of this, time to go jump.

Proof positive that recycling works.

Oooops! Your FSM may be no more. I had six friends over for dinner last night. Dinner was a big pot of spaghetti, hot French bread with butter and garlic, some Carlo Rossi Red. But I think the FSM paid the ultimate sacrifice...delicious!!! Take comfort, we all gave our thanks to the One who is the very essence of what it is "to be," the One who is.

Not gonna happen...I like to dance!

Well, do you have the money to buy a 20mm cannon, a fighter jet or perhaps a nuclear weapon. More than likely you don't and I don't have the money either. On the other hand would you like to have those weapons be used against your fellow countrymen? Something tells me you would not and neither would I. Except for nuclear weapons, military/paramilitary weapons have been used against US Citizens. Sometimes for good legitimate reasons and sometimes NOT so and in such cases, resulting investigations have called to question the moral authority of those in authority at the time, to govern. The Second Amendment exists to ensure the Government at all levels will never enjoy a monopoly on violence. The Second Amendment exists to keep our elected public servants in check so that they behave themselves in accordance with the Supreme Law of the Land, The US Constitution. We are a governed people NOT a ruled people. 300 million guns are in possession of 80 million Americans. There are a limited number of tanks, 20 mm cannons out there. Yes they can do a lot of damage but as Karl von Clausewitz aptly stated in his classic treatise, "On War," "Quantity has a quality all of its own!" We have a wonderful system of Government here but let's keep it that way and if you believe it can't happen here, then you are whistling past the graveyard of history. Don't let our Democracy devolve into two wolves and a pig voting on what to have for breakfast.