riddler

It wasn't the slow wind that I thought was a big deal - it's easy enough to fly in if you've got enough surface area. It really was the suit and the burble of air that made it unrealistic. Way too easy to slide off the "edge" in the Vegas tunnel (although it DID help me learn to control my position ). And for belly flying, the big suit doesn't allow you to get a good mantis position - the extra surface area on your arms and legs really blow those parts of your body upwards. Now FF is a completely different area - I've never freeflown in any tunnel, so I can't testify which tunnels are good/bad for that. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not natural at all - they will push your arms and legs up and put "unnatural" strain on your shoulders and hip-flexors. There is undue force required to turn. I've never freeflown in the tunnel, so I can only comment about belly flying. My (probably worthless) opinion - since you have over 100 jumps, this tunnel probably won't help you improve your flying at all. It's fun to do, but the balloon suits and the burble of air pressure make the experience less than realistic. If you have less than 100 jumps in your discipline of choice, or are on AFF, it can really help with getting stable and basic center-point turns. I think it's a fine tunnel for students and jumpers just starting out in one area. So for you, go for entertainment - not to learn. Go to Skyventure to learn. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Wait - are we including tunnel time and travel expenses? Wish I could go back and change my vote Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's amazing how many people I talk to that feel the same way about where you and I jump. Well, I'll miss you! But I know you'll be around to boogies and who knows - maybe back in CO soon? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Or without it

So am I, mister hog-all-the-credit Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Borderline - I average about 110 on my belly, but I'm used to 120-130 when I'm flying with others. I have about 3 hours in the Vegas tunnel, and for one 6-minute ride I wore my slowest jumpsuit and it took pretty much everything I had just to stay airborne. I couldn't even turn because I would lose too much air and fall on the grate. But I don't have that much surface area either - 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. I went back to their balloon suits pretty quickly - I just wanted to try it once in my suit, and it was a little much for me. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've heard that some original passenger planes had square windows for aesthetic reasons, but then the manufacturers found out that they cause metal fatigue at the corners, and a few planes would mysteriously break up mid-flight and crash. Is this an older DC-3? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The numbers are based on their advertised rates. Hourly block time (peak): http://www.skyventureaz.com/pages/exp_rates.html: $750 Coaching Rates: From http://www.skyventureaz.com/pages/exp_coaches.html How much did you pay? Did you use a coach that was given to you, or was it a friend of yours? I've heard that friends are usually cheaper. Edit to fix clicky. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've been in the tunnels enough to know that a good coach is required for learning. If you really want to improve, you've got to have someone in there to show you what you're doing right and wrong and how to improve. Sadly, we no longer have our (amazing) coach in Orlando, so I'm always on the lookout for a new RW coach. But I'm pretty amazed at the going rates for tunnel coaches (prices advertised October 2005). Comparing standard block hours at the various Skyventure tunnels, vs. hourly rates with coaching, I come up with: Location | Block Hour | Coached Hour (per person, peak) | Coach Rate (per person) Eloy $750 $950 $200 / hour Perris $725 $1040 (1 flyer) $315 / hour $ 850 (4 flyers, 2 coaches) $250 / hour Orlando $700 Not Advertised ?? ($50 for 10,15,30 min) I'm sure the rates are a supply/demand thing. But do tunnel coaches really make $200-$300 per hour? Does the tunnel take a commission from coaching? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Safety devices like the Skyhook don't allow retarded people to jump, any more than do reserve canopies. Even the best and smartest jumpers in the world have bad days, make mistakes and sometimes even do reckless things intentionally. That doesn't make them stupid. Safety devices give good jumpers a second chance to hopefully improve both who they are and how they jump. They give thoughtless jumpers a reason to think and also improve. They give people who have been reckless in the past a reason not to be reckless in the future. Every person on this planet that is the best at something was once a miserable failure at that same thing. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yeah, I know who you are Bill I just thought your response was a good and thoughtful one (as usual), and I was backing you up. Then I started going off a bit on the end - but that was directed at RWS, not you. I guess discussion dynamics don't work as well over the internet. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not weird at all. When I teach scuba classes, I often separate couples. Usually they are OK to leave together, but I watch the dynamics - if one person is pushy, and the other one submissive, I separate them quick. It's not fun if you're trying to learn something and you've got a third person in there that knows how to push your buttons and interferes with your learning. And if you want her to stay in skydiving, then she needs to have positive experiences - especially at the beginning. Don't worry - you'll get to jump together once she's comfortable with jumping. Let her get a few dozen jumps, and let her ask to jump with you when she's comfortable with that. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Snopes Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Remember when Odwalla killed a few people, including some kids? They used to not pasturize the juice, and I guess some of their fruit was picked up off the ground after falling in cow shit - the bacteria ended up killing some people. After that, they started pasteurizing all the juice. I don't drink it anymore. Here is Denver, we have Jamba Juice (only a few), and they used to ALL squeeze their own OJ, but now less than half of them do. I don't go there anymore. You can still get it at juice bars, but seems to me that you should be able to get it at resteraunts too. Man, it's like everything else. How much do you want to spend? Seriously, I have a Cuisinart right now - $30 at Bed, Bath and Beyond - Cuisinart makes pretty good juicers and blenders - they are about as low-end as I would go. Anything less is going to break and get sticky stuff everywhere. Make sure you rinse in cold water (so you don't warp the plastic) immediately after juicing (I do it before I even let myself drink the juice). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If you don't think 1 in 6 skydivers not following through on EPs is significant, that's one thing. What I am saying is that if RWS thinks it's significant, then they should put more energy into getting the message through. Question is: do they think it's significant? Booth has already committed to making sure the ad changes, so I guess the answer is yes. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

A few years ago, I posted a poll here on DZ.com. I asked, if your RSL/Skyhook/Whatever opens the canopy, would you bother pulling the reserve handle? Here are the results 17% of respondents answered no, they wouldn't bother pulling the reserve handle. Now, take what you will from the poll, but in my opinion if RWS thinks 100% of people should still pull the reserve handle, then they need to reinforce that with their literature, advertisements, public speeches and everything else they can think of. I'm really sorry if your marketing people want to charge you a gazillion dollars to do this - if you want, you can send me the proof, and I'll photoshop the asterisk and text in, and email it back to you. No charge Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm not really into cat sites, but the visual concept is pretty cool! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You still have friends that don't jump? I used to have those. Actually, I still have some, but I consider it foreign relations. It's just good for my ego, to make me feel like I'm not so one-dimensional. Well, I guess I still have SCUBA friends, but that's only because I work in that industry too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yep and yep. LeRoy was incredible!! http://www.bulldogairshows.com/ Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I like this idea. Except they would just call more often. I've lived in my current house for six years now, and I still get collections letters from people that lived here before me. Fuck it - I'm gonna sell my house and move to shake them off Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Dude - you spent like two minutes writing that up. Get back to work!! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://www.salinasairshow.com/ Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think it was D-something Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

We went to the air show in Salinas, CA this weekend, and it was amazing! The 25th annual, so I think they tried to outdo themselves a bit. Sure, there was skydiving - an American and Canadian flag demo, the Flying E's (3 elvii and one Marilyn Monroe? impersonater). But there were also vintage WW2 formation flyers, F-15s, two F-18 super hornets, and the Thunderbirds (Air Force demo team). Also some AMAZING acrobatic shows - I've never seem them "helicopter" like that. I've seen more than a few airshows before, but this had to be the best one. I've seen the Blue Angels, and I have to say that I think the Thunderbirds are better - they've got the formation flying perfected. Also, there were some neat flybys of an F-15 flying in formation with a P-51. Who else loves airshows? Edit - I forgot to add "Robosaurus", the machine that eats cars and a jet-car that goes 300 MPH down the runway (they had it race some WW2 planes). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD