tikl68

Im with tred. The 55 min. in the tunnel @approx. 245 bucks for 15 min @55 mins. and a tandem @ 200 hundo, is lil over a grand. That would have done your level 1-4. Get creative. Talk to the DZO/DZM. Before I was experienced enough to be an organizer(LO slot is comped) I would train tandems on a busy saturday and get 5 jumps on my books and turn around and jump on sunday, or I would ride the tractor with a hedge hog attachment and plow the weeds/grass in the landing area and get jumps that way. Ask the DZO/DZM if you can harness up tandems for a discounted price, or wash the plane at the end of the day for a discount, see where I am going with this. How bad do you want it, if you are legit. And Dio has a valid point too.

+10 on the "WTF not all of us" and I usually use the frog but have also developed my own, I do the lean. Hand on the top of the tank, feet far away from base, and point down. As you start the release process it starts to bend a little so you can slowly walk your feet towards the base. Oh ya ,I am 47, with no end insight.

I have jumped at and or worked for 3 big west coast DZS including the one this guy is shitting on. They do random drug tests and do not condone that type of behavior. If you reek in the morning like brewery you get the day off. I also have friends that work at the DZ and dont know of any instructors that partake.They are pretty professional there. As far as your statement about drugs being rampant in skydiving,imo, you are wrong. I have done my share of smoking the ganja in my younger days and it is in all aspects of life and sports and you would be surprised to find out that more successful/business owners,athletes, partake and still function and remain successful and productive than you think. I dont condone that shit either on the clock, but if you are responsible what you do on your time is your business, just keep it on YOUR time. There are plenty of people who can smoke a joint and still be more under control/functional(but still should not jump even fun jumpers) than somebody who has had 3-4 glasses of wine. The smoker does not stagger, and there are coordination differences between the two,they affect people in a different way.

So I talk to the old man today and he says the 182 had a step on the wheel strut, and the 180(eight zero charlie) had bigger tires on it to handle the rough dirt runway and students would reach out with their left foot first then grab the wing strut and pull them selves out. So dad is not much of an internet/computer guy so I cant get him to tell these stories but he has no problem retelling them to me. I was at the dz for most of these but being a young kid my memory of the details is not accurate from my POV. So I will try to keep them as accurate as I can from the recent reiteration. Circa 1975ish at Otay some people where trying to get certified or recertified for either a license or to keep a rating and back then water training meant you did a controlled water jump, no heated pool at local instructors house. So the old man was the JM for a load of people making intentional water landing. The city would not let them land in Otay lakes so they went a couple miles east of the DZ to a smaller lake. About an hour before the jump Mike Dominiky, not sure on the spelling of the last name,anyway, he was a single leg amputee at the knee, walks up and ask my dad if he can get on the water jump to tr-certify, and my dad says no prob, where is your flotation device? Mike says I dont have one do you have one I can barrow? My dad says no I lent them all out to the other people on the load. He tells Mike, get a flotation device and come see me. So little later every one is gearing up and loading the plane, and Mike comes running up all geared up and ready to get on the plane. My dad asks him"Mike where is your flotation device?" and Mike sits down in the door way of the plane as the pilot starts up the plane and starts to unscrew his prosthesis and takes it off and hands it to my dad, asking him to hold it. My dad says "are you taking this off cuz you dont want to get it wet?" and Mike says "no" and puts it under his arm and says " this is my flotation device" My dad cant believe this and says" a coast guard approved one".Mike says" this one is better, its nature approved, its wood".Apparently he made the jump some how. Nick D and or his girl friend at the time, Karen, were in the water in a boat as the recovery crew. Again circa 78ish one weekend a guy showed up at the DZ in Otay and was thinking about taking the FJC s/l and was asking about the price. It was about 75 bucks. Apparently that was a little to expensive for him so he said no thanks. Then he notices a sign that advertises observer rides for 10 bucks. So he signs the waiver and gets an old seat pack type emergency rig and up he goes. I think my dad said it was a beech 18. So a couple of small RW groups go and my dad is by the door checking the spot for his group, when all of a sudden some guy shoves my dad out of the way and does his best 10 way speed star exit and goes ass over tea kettle. So my dad and every one still on the plane crowd the door to see how this movie will play out as they all realize who just left the plan, yep the observer decided how hard can this be, I got this. After a couple of somersaults he manages to deploy the T-10 and it some how comes out with out a hitch. By the time he walks in from landing pretty far away, dad and his group are standing around the packing tables and watch this guy walk in with his arms full of this T-10. One of the instructors on the DZ (dad cant remember his name) walks up and punches the guy right in the chops and lays him out. When he gets up he walks over to drop of the equipment where he got it from, and here comes old man MacDonald(DZO) and asks him"what the hell are you doing?" and before he can finish answering, old man MacDonald gives him round two, pow down and out again. He tells him get off my property and dont ever come back.

Ok heres a real scary one. I only wish I wrote as well as twardo. Its 1982 and dad is doing a demo at El Toro air show at the military base. He was the part of the show that demonstrated the differences in fall rate(pre FF) and dad being 6' and 230 he has no problem falling like a greased safe full of nickles. So him and another guy who's name I cant recall at the moment, but apparently is light in the ass, so he is supposed to get out a imitate a star fish with one of those 80's balloon suits and my dad has on some coverall type jumpsuit(less drag,like he needed help) and gets into a mean delta. They pop smoke and exit together and the show starts. Now mind you my grand mother on my dads side has finally decide to watch her son skydive and do it at a huge demo. He has done many demo's including this one before, but MURPHY, you know the law maker has decided to attend this time. After about 20 seconds dad checks his altitude with his chest mount alti, 6000 ft, ok 2000 more and time to flare and deploy. When he checks his alti again, now it reads 3000 ft, (still in his delta track), OH shit. So he starts to pull out of the dive and as he does he watches his alti jump from 3000 to 1500'. So he dumps(when in doubt whip it out I think was the saying). Apparently he was in doubt. At his speed he broke several lines and before it finished becoming a ball of laundry, he was already going for plan B. He went out of sight behind a tall hangar in the distance and was still in freefall from our perspective. He said the reserve( a round) opened and oscillated one time to the side and he landed. He was just outside the military property, and some kid comes riding up on a dirt bike and says" that was kool mister" and he ask"which way to the base?" and the kid points and says" hop on I will give ya a ride". So down the RR tracks they go till he sees a hangar on the other side of this chain link fence with razor wire. As he pulls up he sees a fire truck and some fire men setting up a ladder. They are shocked to see him up right and still sucking wind. So he climbs over and hi tails it to the line up just in time with the MC, Roger Henry also the air wing commander at El Toro(and a skydiver) rolls with it and continues to introduce all the participants with out a hitch. What had happened with his alti was a low pressure burble that it was in that broke when he rolled out of the dive. Come to find out my grand mother past out in the stands and needed medical attention. He is one jump shy of having an A license under reserves, and 95% of those were on demo jumps. He used to say his canopy must have been crowd shy.

I will ask the old fart but I am pretty sure it was the 180. It was white and the only other plane I remember Jim MacDonald had(pre Muma) was the 182 and it was brown with a yellow stripe and had tricycle gear and a small a step half way down the wheel strut. My dad bought both of them in 1980 and started a small DZ in Ramona. Every time we fired up the 180 it would back fire one time then start, but would always start the grass on fire so I always had to watch the start up with a fire extinguisher and put the grass out.

That will work just fine.No it will not harm the BOC. Just make sure if it is going to sit for more than a week try to make sure the leg straps are sitting in a manner that they will not have a twist or fold in them that will take memory in a bad way/shape.

I will try and pick my dads memory as he has quite a few, but here is one I remember. Its 1979 and he is putting out a bunch of sl students from a c 180 tail dragger in Otay now Skydive San Diego. This guy was a 6'2" 240 lb hard charging, motivated Marine that did not quite fit on the strut/ under the wing very well. There was no step on the wheel strut so you just stood on the wheel while the pilot held the brakes. So the pilot gives a cut and the guy climbs out, and my dad yells, GOOOO! The guy doesnt budge. So dad Yells again, GGGOOOOOOO!!! and smacks him on the ass, again ,nothing. So now the pilot is loosing airspeed and starting to loose altitude and tells my dad, "Teague get this guy off my plane" and my dad tells the pilot "let go of the brakes". So the pilot releases the brakes and this guy goes into treadmill mode doing his best 6 million dollar man impersonation. Finally he cant hold on and lets go and promptly bounces his face and front of his open face old school motorcycle helmet off the wheel, which throws him in a back flip, so my dad short ropes him and the canopy deployed through his legs but worked itself out. I run over as usual to help to help gather up the gear and point him in the direction to go. I notice his helmet is cocked to one side with what was a black smudge on it. He thought that was the best thing ever. When he got to my dad he thought the jump went "BITCHIN". After my dad showed him his helmet it was apparent that the jump was not as "BITCHIN" as he thought.

Ya,Ya, what chuck said. Great idea John and valuable experience for a noob.

Yes. You said it is an apartment so im guessing no permanent mods to the walls, bummer. It is fairly simple to DIY. Go to a home improvement store/ hardware store and buy some PVC pipe and a some 90 degree fittings and maybe a couple of "T"s. Try to get PVC with an inside diameter about the size of a wooden broom handle. Glue four sections of pipe together(for the base to be placed on the floor) using the 90s in a rectangle shape, with the long sides(two of them) being approximately 36 inches, and the short lengths( also two) approximately 24 inches. Place a T fitting on each of the 36 inch lengths about 24 inches in with the T fitting inverted. Run a piece of pipe up from each T fitting( measure how long your rig is when it hangs including the leg straps) long enough to keep your rig off the floor. Run two short sections of pipe across that meet in the middle from each vertical pipe and join them with another T fitting with the leg of the T running horizontal out over your rectangle base on the longer side. In the two vertical pipes coming up from the "T"s of the base and in the three horizontal(two short and one medium length in "T" not on the ground) be sure to support them with wood handle/wood dowel inside the PVC. I have made three racks for multiple rigs out of steel for three different DZs. I have seen some one do the PVC method and it worked pretty good. You might have to be lil creative with the design but this should give you some ideas. My buddy/rigger used some schedule 80 metal pipe with threaded ends and some plumbing floor flanges with threads and mounted them on the wall and screwed the pipes into the flanges, and viola. Good luck

When you or said packer do get them out one thing you can do to PREVENT it from happening in the future(this is one of my pet peeves as a packer) is to stow your toggles right after you land. You dont have to set the brakes, but you can stow them, then walk in to the packing area.

True. One difference I can think of is the "one beer at lunch" guy is not staggering up to manifest smelling like a brewery, where the manifester can say go sleep it off and then come back.

Hi. All three DZ's are good. All three have on sight load organizers. I used to work/ organize at Elsinore and has been my home DZ for 13 years. Check Elsinores web site for calendar of events in the experience category and try to catch an excel camp which is free coaching on proper belly techniques in a structured environment for people who want to gain or hone their skills from jump 26 A license and up. They have a bunk house and showers or you can put up a tent. Perris also has load organizers and a shit load of lift capacity, usually not much of a long wait to jump. They have a restaurant/bar on the property, a pool, and a wind tunnel. I think they have a bunk house. At Elsinore people will come and talk to you, ask you if you want to jump or just where are you from. At Perris you will have to initiate and ask who is organizing today. There is Grayce, mark Brown, Daralyd, and Eric and a couple of more depending on the day. Skydive SD is a small community but fun. Pete is one of the organizers down there, luke short is another one, and they are really friendly. Again just ask at manifest who is the organizer for the day. When you talk to the organizers where ever you go dont be shy and tell them your jump num's, experience, and comfort level and they will accommodate you. Another good idea is to watch a load or two land to see what the traffic tendencies are and maybe do a hop n pop on the first jump to orientate your self. If you have a hard time finding a group that you feel comfortable with and dont want to do solos, send me a PM and I will be happy to come jump with you and show you some other parts of So Cal, or San Diego outside the DZ.

Hi William. Pseudo welcome. It is awesome that you are doing research, many people that talk to me about skydiving ask a lot of questions and I welcome them, knowledge is power, and having been in the sport for some time for fun and for work most people seem satisfied with my responses to their questions. Most tell me that they have done some research and I think it is awesome. Yes dust devils are quite the nemesis. They are a tough cookie to crack, that being said, the LEAST LIKELY time for them to occur is early morning, so try to be on load 1 or 2.There are many factors that can create the conditions for them. I have seen them in winter over grass. So the best you or anyone else can do is mitigate the risk as much as possible in many ways. Time of day to jump, time of year to jump, weather patterns, landscape,temperature, the canopy you fly, knowing when to stay on the ground( watching other canopies having squirrely landings). And even if you put all the cards in your favor, be prepared. Tandem canopies are big and semi docile, but mother nature can still have her way with you. Most people dont think about this but you are in far more danger of being hurt or worse on the highway, yet no one thinks twice about driving while multi tasking. While working at one of the busy So Cal DZ's it was my day to train the tandems.The next day(Sunday) I learned that two of the groups that were there on Saturday at different times of the day left the DZ at different times and different directions were both involved in accidents and had some one in their group die. Along time skydiver and videographer (8000 skydives) that jumped/videoed her husband, was hit on the side of the road while bicycling with her husband in a group and was killed. Hope to hear the story of how awesome your jump went in the future.

That seems like a good idea, but might be tough to execute. It comes down to this, HAVE SOME COMMON SINCE! But we all know that cant happen. Its a beer you cant wait 4 or 5 hours til the end of the day. Im ok with DZ's having zero tolerance, I dont want to get hit by a drunk driver on the hiway any more than I do in the sky, not to mention all the legal issues for the DZ/pilot.

It could get stuck in the guide ring(if pulled down far enough) and not return to full flight. Ever seen a collapsable slider? think of the barb that keeps it inert, same possible scenario. He might have also been referring to the state of his brake lines with the twists in them.

The only one I didnt know was who is snookie or what show was she on? 1776 by the way, as william wallace put it FREEDOM! But then again I enjoy History in general and find it interesting.

HOLY SHIT doesn't even come close to expressing my shock for that video. WOW!

That was 99 percent operator error. There were only two that fired by falling down. The mechanism that was built into firearms to prevent them from discharging when dropped was for HAND GUNS, not riffles and shot guns, ever hear of a safety? Knowing how to hold a powerful hand gun so it does not smack you in the face, or a 12 gauge shot gun when you weigh 105 lbs so it does not knock you down, not pointing a gun at your buddy behind the firing line, when it malfunctions,or shooting a shot gun while drunk on an incline in speedos, yeah thats a PROPERLY MAINTAINED gun. If it is not taken care of kinda like your rig, yeah it may not always work the way you want it to but there are guidelines, like keep the firearm pointed down range until made safe and even then, dont point it at anything you are not willing to destroy. The ones that did discharge negligently were obviously not properly maintained. And looking down the barrel of any firearm that just malfunctioned is Darwin at work, he just missed by 3 inches,Darwin that is. reminds me of and old bumper sticker: Hey you, out of the gene pool.

AFF students have to perform a barrel roll , but that is not SUPPOSED to be for a prolonged exposure of the back side of the rig to the relative wind, but we all know not every one(students) executes a maneuver with the best of precision and can end up stuck on their back. But for students to purposely freefly in student gear should not be done. If he was doing a barrel roll it was not on a STUDENT rig but a sport rig and apparently was told not to do it. He did not complete the roll and got stuck on his back IMO, and even went slightly head down. Some one in one of the reports posted in this thread had mentioned the velcro was worn but was then posted it was old leg mount that had been converted to a throw out and the old velcro covered by the mate(hook exposed covered by latch or vice versa) so not a player. I brought the point about him being stuck on his back and lil head down cause in the video this is when you see the pilot chute go by him meaning his speed at deployment was pretty fast, fast enough to break lines, and again no velcro in that process. All that aside we all know a million and one things can go wrong but to not do a control check, but realize something is not right, and not execute proper ep's is ultimately on him. In watching the landing portion of the video look at the back ground in relation to the canopy travel, it does not appear to be turning. Man up and take responsibility for your actions or lack there of.He had repeatedly shown he was not going to follow the rules or guidelines or advise, and it was just a matter of time. Glad no one else was hurt.

Not directed at your post. I would think a pilot would be pretty busy trying to recover the aircraft, and PROBABLY not have time in the middle of a roll to reach over and drop the gear until after he had the roll stopped and had the nose pointed down and was gaining air speed. But you never know there are some badass pilots out there.

100 percent. But like most laws they are not enforced or are enforced very lightly. We see repeat DUI offenders with multiple DUI's still hold a license and or still drive and continue to DUI and eventually kill someone.Laws only work when enforced.The only things you should operate when you are drunk, the recliner, and the remote. I dont have a couple of beers and decide, hey lets go to the range and shoot my guns, and act like an idiot. If you apply or try to buy a firearm and you have a history of alcohol issues, then you should not be allowed to purchase a firearm.

Sure stumpy almost all of the guns are in the safe,except for the one we would carry on our person hence "CCW" during the day and when you get home it stays with you so, home invasion, ready. And yes guns are made today to not discharge when dropped, that is a true statement, however,having a CCW license you should know better than to... as posted by rhaig, "not have your dick out playing with it in public", and as you quoted the report in reply to my message, you conveniently left out the part where he was drunk and on Xanax. Not exactly being responsible even with out the firearm. Did he drive to the theater? That did not put any body in danger did it? Just like the story in the OP. The suspect was DRUNK, DUI is just as big a danger to the public as a firearm in said drunks hands.Again 3500 lb weapon, but if he had killed someone while DUI thats ok dont take away the car. The weapon it sounds like was also not being transported in a legal manner. most people will not stand and wait for a person to load a magazine with rounds then load the magazine into the firearm in order to be shot, so it sounds as if he was traveling with a loaded firearm in a vehicle while he was DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE.If he is licensed to CCW ok carry it loaded, but I doubt that includes being drunk in public or DUI.

Nice try but first off blaming some's one actions on " he was drunk"doesnt fly with most people, and if he feared attack from an angry mob why not pull the gun when they first approached? No he waited til they decided to call the cops because he was becoming belligerent and retrieved a gun then chose to shoot another human being. If any of the victims would have had a firearm the aggressor would likely been the one shot. If you cant handle your liquor and get so drunk thats how you act when people try to help their is a bigger problem than 2nd amendment. Like I said I am not going to be an easy/willing target for people who cant control their actions DRUNK or not.

The good samaritan loosing his life when just trying to help sucks. IF the victim, or any one else there, had been carrying a fire arm, the POS that he was trying to help may have thought twice about resorting to violence to solve his anger, but even if he still decided that was the way he wanted it to go, the victims might have had a fighting chance to defend themselves. Then after you defend your self and the police roll up cause you called them, when told to put the weapon down you comply,because you have done nothing wrong.