darkwing

It depends. ... that's about all anyone can say for sure. Sometimes nearly impossible, sometimes not hard at all. You can speculate all you want, but the only reliable test is to try it. There is too much variation in canopy and container volume, due to too many variables. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Hang around. It will change! -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I just use the paint-on stuff. Liquid seam sealers. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Check out this article for some useful tips http://www.dropzone.com/gear/articles/SomeTipsonBuyingYourFirs.shtml -- Jeff My Skydiving History

There are lots of good, reliable options out there for you. I echo the notion that buying used would be your best bet. Keep educating yourself, and save your money (but keep jumping while saving it--that's the hard part). Check out this article http://www.dropzone.com/gear/articles/SomeTipsonBuyingYourFirs.shtml -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I was ASO at the time. Sully went in on a Wednesday evening I think, in Athol, Idaho, at Hackney Field (not Henley Aerodrome). He was wearing a piggyback rig (I don't remember the brand). The apparent cause of his tragic demise appeared to be loss of awareness of altitude. Nothing more complicated than that. It was the fall of 1978. Here is a photo of our 20-way gang taken a week or so prior. http://www.cofc.edu/~wraggj/images/Idaho-XX.jpg Sully is still missed. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Regarding interference... I seriously doubt it. (Yes, I am a physicist). Do they work well? I don't know. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

both places will have load organizers. I strongly recommend you stick to small groups and make sure everyone is open and honest about their skill level. Trust me, you really don't want to be on a 20-way like some of the boogie 20-ways I've seen and been on. You can make some great friends, and some great dives if you get hooked up with a small group with a leader that knows how to organize for a varied skill set. It can get harsh at boogies, and you can get kicked out of groups if you mess up. A suitable group, with a good organizer can tolerate some mistakes and use them as learning experiences for everyone in the group. In my old age I have come to much prefer smaller groups at boogies. Easier to organize, easier to get some nice dives in where everyone gets to fly a lot on each jump. Do not hesitate to do 2 and 3 ways! Generally, at your experience level, I'd say stick with 5-ways and smaller, but I don't know you, and it is certainly possible that you could be on bigger stuff and everyone have a good time. The biggest danger I see at boogies is usually a quiet person that everyone assumes can perform in their assigned slot. Don't confuse a burning desire to do well with the skill to do well. Going out 10th in a 10-way speed star would probably be fun to anticipate, but it would likely be dangerous. YMMV. Enjoy!!! Be safe!!!! Be prepared to land out!! I have done so many times at Lake Wales and Z-Hills. Don't say "I think I can make it back" you must KNOW that you can land safely somewhere. Know the winds, know that swamp can look like nice solid ground from 1000 feet, -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The 4-way part of that meet went about the same. As I recall the last round of 4-way didn't get completed. I remember the meet management tiff. It all worked out. Bummer about the helicopters -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I would stick with USPA. They do much more than provide the insurance. I think people that hate USPA are errant and misguided on several counts. Run for office if you don't like it. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I forgot my goggles once a loooong time ago. More recently I forgot to put my visor down on my helmet. The latter is easier to rectify. As mentioned above, it is common, but not universal practice to keep a spare pair of goggles in the plane. The goggle-less jump wasn't too bad, as long as I squinted a lot I could pretty much manage to see. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Oddly enough, this old timer gets irritated when he hears youngsters at a major DZ in the southeast espouse the 45 degree rule, and have freeflyers routinely exit first. BTW John, I have adapted your presentation and used it at a couple of safety days. This was at a DZ that is not cited in my complaint above. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Top Secret. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

On the nekkid 10-way speed star jump I did at a competition many years ago, our rule was you could wear shoes and gloves and a helmet. We let one guy take a towel, because he had a bad leg, and had to land on his ass. So after he opened he took the towel from behind his rig and put it under his behind. Nobody on the ground knew we were clothes-less, until we landed. I'm sure the judges figured it out part way through the jump though. Lots of spectators were whuffos, and taking photos when we landed. Most of us just gathered our canopies in front of us walking back in. We were jumping round canopies too, so only some of us actually did a stand-up landing. We were taking off from an airport some miles away from where we were jumping in, and on the way to the airport is when we decided to go nekkid. We left our clothes with the van driver, and stood around the airport naked waiting for the pilot to come out to the twin beech. Of course, the airport gas truck had to come out first. the gas guys were impressed. Fortunately, the van driver didn't throw our clothes away on his drive back to the DZ. As I recall, this was at a meet in Alta, Utah, in about 1974. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

shop around with several DEALers, and see what kind of DEAL you can get from them. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Easy question -- Strong Starlite. A round canopy, looked a bit like a paracommander, but smaller, lighter, and opened like terminal impact on the ground. Put me in the hospital. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Purple asked me to post this on the Google Earth DZ project, so I'll put it here, and at the Google Earth DZ Place -- Jeff My Skydiving History

1973, Star, Idaho... http://www.cofc.edu/~wraggj/images/watermelon1a.jpg -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Interesting, because that isn't the location shown on their website, as linked from the DZ.com dropzone database. It shows a grass strip, at the coordinates I posted a couple of messages above. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I thought you meant Space Shuttle. No room for it on a grass strip. Where is the landing area in relation to the airport? Ditto the kmz. DZ seems to be here: 25.6089947N, 80.4758894W -- Jeff My Skydiving History

almost infinite variety. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

They all have their proponents. I prefer the Pilot. Demo and choose 1 of your liking. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Hey, I said an estimate. with your number, I'm still within 50%! -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It is astonishing. It raises several questions. I'm more than a little confused about what was going on. If you woke up in the door, then you werren't one of the two "stars" of the clip. The video guy obviously knew things were screwed up, but didn't do much. So is the poster the video guy? It seems to me to be a massively poorly planned and executed jump, but I would like to hear some details. This is a great wake up to the ignorant masses who think they are too tough to get hypoxic. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Damage to the main container due to too tight has happened many times. Especially to the grommets. -- Jeff My Skydiving History