darkwing

I have seen this notion come up before. It strikes me as odd that people assume being a great performer makes someone a great coach. I'm not saying that the two are mutually exclusive, but if you look at great coaches in EVERY OTHER SPORT IN THE WORLD, relatively few of them were themselves great performers. The skill set for being a coach has almost nothing in common with being a great performer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that some jumpers with terrific competition credentials aren't terrific coaches, but I see way too strong a tendency to equate performance and coaching abilities. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

In 1974 I was in a 10-way at 1,800 feet. It was at a competition, and we were out of working time anyway, but we soooo wanted the 10th guy to get in... -- Jeff My Skydiving History

This is a recurring thread, but I'll chip in again. I owned a Z1, but now have about 500 jumps on a bonehead havok. I like it a lot, mostly because it is glasses-friendly. If I didn't wear glasses I'd buy a FreeZR. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I used to do an "Immelman" in a 2-way cat by doing a half a front loop followed by half a barrel roll. Never tried it with more than two people though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

OK, I'm a physicist, and one thing is pretty certain here. From straight flight, the tension in all four risers adds up to the suspended weight. Lighter load results in less tension. If that isn't true I have to give all of my degrees back. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

absolutely, positively do not get on the plane again until you are confident you can pull a reserve, as established by several realistic ground pulls on some sort of training rig. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Looks like the King Air we had at Blue Sky Adventures, in St. george, SC up until last weekend (when we put out something close to 100 tandems). Enjoy! It never let me down. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Nope. He was too drunk to notice. That illustrates one reason I don't drink. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'd love one too. A year or so ago I tried to locate the books, wanting to buy. I did find someone close enough to the author who said that they were trying to get another publication run, but never heard after that. pdf's would be great. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

a few years ago in Boise we put out a test drop dummy with a reserve that had been packed and sealed for 50 years (yes, fifity!) It worked fine. Silk canopy, cotton harness/container--low speed deployment though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I don't understand what you are describing, but it sounds like something I'd rather not encounter. Maybe a diagram would help poor, spatial-imagination-impaired me. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

At least one time a C-182 landed with someone hung up on the step by their bootie. I saw it on Real TV. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

First, I don't know you, or anything about this particular situation, and I'm not being hostile, but you threw this out into a public forum... I have done a lot of organizing, at many dz's for many years. At most dz's the situation you describe is not a problem. Although it is something that low-timers often think of or worry about. It usually is articulated in a somewhat less angry way though. Your anger seems a bit out of line for not getting on a 12-way, but I wasn't there. I would very much like to hear from others who were there. There may be reasons you didn't get on the load other than the ones you state/imply. They may have had a nice 12-way organized, and didn't want to make it 13. On another note, once again, strictly from an outsider's perspective, you SOUND exactly like someone whose flying skills are well short of their perception of them. By the way, very, very often I take low time jumpers (under 100 jumps) on my loads, because the sport needs me to do it, and it is my pleasure to do so. I sometimes say no to people of any experience level, or any skill level simply because the dive has what I want then. If, for whatever reason you don't get on a load, then put one together yourself. That's how I started. Anyway, come on down to my DZ and I'll put you on loads, unless they are my 10-way team practice, then you can't go, even if you have 9 gold medals from the world championships. If you are a dickhead, I might get tired of you though. Also, it may be that the guy you are talking about IS a dickhead, in which case, you need to realize some things. 1) there are dickheads in the world. 2) you can still organize your own loads. 3) ultimately, people will rather jump with you than with him. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I was there, and my memory may be muddled, but it clearly tells me no injuries other than to Murphy, who jumped out before the plane stopped sliding. Does anyone else have memories that match mine? I am well aware that memories are not immune to change, but now I'm very curious about this specific event. Were you there airtwardo? -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Did you go to a real doctor? I wouldn't listen to anyone here, especially me, unless it was just advice to listen to someone else who is actually relevant. In the meantime, watch skydiving videos. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Sopme guys like me who have big heads cannot comfortably put the protrack inside the helmet. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

How about a little more info, so someone can actually find this dive? -- Jeff My Skydiving History

welcome to the club. For most jumpers the anxiety peak is several jumps into the training program. I agree that your 3-week rotation contributes also. One of the reasons we skydive initially is to show ourselves that our intellect (or at least conscious thought) can overrule our visceral feelings. Now is the time when you get to prove that you can. Having said that, I would never cajole or browbeat anyone into jumping if they really didn't want to jump. Maybe you should go to the DZ and talk with your instructor. That is free. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

My first pie (1000) was shaving cream, mustard, and pickles. Since then I make sure anyone I pie gets something actually edible. I pied one of my teammates with a fresh, home-made, still warm (not hot) peach pie. Another teammate did his 2000th at Lake Wales last Christmas (and closed in the wrong slot...). When we pied him I offered some pies to the whuffo kids who were standing there with their parents. The kids were REALLY impressed that they go to pie an adult. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It is the same problem. For record purposes the definition is whatever a lot of people will agree with. Strictly speaking, one person releasing and redocking on a formation is sequential. Nobody would listen to someones claim of a 5-point 100-way that was done using that criterion though. Unless there is wide-spread agreement, there will be no "official" records, which kind of by definition exist only because a lot of people agree to the details. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I've never heard of that stuff either. I was a jumper in Idaho in the 70's and we just pied them however we could, when they got 1000 jumps (or a multiple). More recently, here in SC they pie more liberally, but I've not heard of the sitting, kneeling, etc. here either. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

yes, get them repaired. Velcroless toggles aren't immune from premature releases either. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'll do it. How hard can it be? I've seen it done lots of times. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It wasn't that they turned a Strato Flyer into a reserve, it was an intentional way to get lots of jumps on it before they sold it as a reserve. You guys are being way to hard on one of the single most important and productive developers of ram air technology ever. Old technology almost always seems silly when viewed several generations later. Well go ahead and invent something yourself then. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I don't know if my DZ would ban him or not, but I hope they would. I would be very upset to have a jumper put my DZ out of business. The only case I have first hand knowledge of I was very disappointed in the jumper that sued. He was banned by many DZs also. I though the banning was justified, and certainly a prudent business move given the lawsuit. -- Jeff My Skydiving History