diverdriver

Here is a pic I took of the pond although it doesn't show the whole dock or all the trees that are around it. Yes, he had at least 1,500 jumps. That many jumps does not mean they have the skill and proficiency to try to swoop this pond.

Slink2, I would not try to press your risers together to get the slider down. You are jumping a 7 cell canopy and this is usually normal. Slow opeings....slider half waydown. After you have cleared any line twists....release the toggles. Let the canopy fly and if the slider does not come down then I would "pump" the toggles. Pull down from a full flight position to an almost full flared postion and hold. Any end cell closure and slider half way up should clear. If it moves bit but does not completely clear then repeat the action. Do the cotrolability check. Left turn, right turn, flare....check altitude. Can I control this? Yes? Then keep it. No? Then check altitude and if you are above hard deck you might try again. If you feel no further progress can be made and you can't land it. Chop. Does that give you a little more specific info you need? You jump at SDC I think? I'll be there on Saturday if you want to ask me more question about it. Chris Schindler DiverDriver packing on the red mats in the Team Funnel area.

Hey now that's a thought. mmmm.....

Wildblue, I agree with everything you said. Actually, we do have a hanging harness now that we can spin people around in. I can't say that we feel it's "finished". There are plans on modifying it. Remember, Bill Booth worked for I think 10 years on modifying his Tandem system to get rid of the out of sequence deployment of drogue and main. He finally finished it and put it out when it was ready called the Sigma. But....that is being worked on too. The hanging/spinning harness is being worked on. Chris

No less than two people I know told Ron NOT to swoop the pond on that day. What do you want us to do? Tackle him as he walks to the plane? You all are rich. You whine about regulation and not having people tell you what to do with your personal lives. Yet, when something like this happens you want to blame Roger because "I don't know SDC to have a strong sober voice saying "you probably don't want to be doing that..." ". That's a crock! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS! Make up your mind. You want freedom or you want regulation? Chris Schindler

Bill,,,,I might be able to arange a ride from ORD out to SDC and then maybe something from there to Rantoul on that Saturday. Let me know if something else doesn't work out. Chris

Sounds like you did the correct thing. If the pilot was not excited but did want you to get out then that's what sounds like happened. The engine was running. And it wasn't on fire. Where was the leak coming from? The cap on top of the wing? Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

EeeeewWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thus concludes our Political Science 101 class for today. That's just the way our laws are set up now. Not that it couldn't change later. Just pointing out how the law is now. Chris

There is no state in the US that a parent can sign away the rights of their child. So until he's 18 (even being from Israel) he can't sign a legal waiver anywhere in the US. The DZ is just accepting the risk if something happens to him. Chris

Here's the deal. Omri was told that it was 18 and over at SDC only. He came anyway and got his paperwork through. He made a jump. That night he was over heard bragging that he jumped at SDC and wasn't 18. A staff member overheard that and told maifest. So he ratted himself out. SDCs policy is to only let 18 year olds jump. That is the only age of consent. Anyone under the age of 18 CAN NOT sign a waiver. A parent CAN NOT sign away the rights of their child. So, that waiver that any parent has signed for their under 18 year old child is WORTHLESS. You are opening yourself up to a great amount of liability. But....everyone has to make their own decsion. Chris

From the Chicago Tribue: Here July 15, 2002 OTTAWA, Ill. -- A 33-year-old Indiana man was killed in a skydiving accident here, the sixth skydiver to die in just over a year while jumping with Skydive Chicago. Ron Passmore Jr. of Butler, Ind., was killed Sunday when he apparently tried to land in a pond but struck the water too hard, LaSalle County Coroner Jody Bernard said. Several people pulled Passmore from the water, and he was taken to Ottawa Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The accident happened at about 4:15 p.m. near Ottawa, which is about 70 miles southwest of Chicago. Skydive Chicago is one of the nation's largest skydiving operations with about 75,000 jumps a year. Passmore was the sixth person to die while jumping with the outfit since July 9, 2001. The U.S. Parachute Association says there are about 30 skydiving deaths per year in the United States. Americans make more than 3 million jumps a year, meaning the risk of death is about 1 in 110,000. Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune

Tom, I knew the jumper and I wasn't offended. Thank you for your concern. It's sad that we are again reminded that the sky is not the limit. The ground is. I did enjoy reading your post. Chris

Yesterday, Sunday, a jumper was killed trying to swoop the pond at SDC. I was not there so all the info I have is second hand and I want to talk to more people before I comment more. I will say this.....NOT EVERYONE HAS THE ABILITY TO MAKE HIGH PERFORMANCE LANDINGS. EVEN FEWER SHOULD BE ATTEMPTING TO POND SWOOP! I was told this jumper was not known for doing high performance landings in the main landing area so why this jumper decided to "learn" (aparently) while pond swooping is a mystery. Also, before anyone starts going off on the "training at SDC". This jumper did not "train" at SDC. The jumper came from another DZ with over 1,000 jumps. My condolences to the jumper's friends and family. I will post a name at the appropriate time. It's not even 24 hours later so I'm not sure the family has all been notified. Chris Schindler

To a point. I kind of like flushing toilets and a place to wash my hands. Port-a-jons just don't do it for me anymore. Not that I'm opposed to them. But when that's all you have year after year then it gets old. Course all that ranks behind well maintained aircraft and well trained pilots for me. You could have the Taj Mahal and I'll walk away if I think your aircraft ops suck. Chris

Yah....but really.....no one else was on board....it was a ferry flight so not really for hire. I don't see any regulatory problems with this report. I'm not gonna guess if this pilot was flying any jumpers anywhere else or not. Chris

Here is the NTSB link to the preliminary report. It will be added to www.DiverDriver.com shortly. http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20020711X01094&key=1 That's 9 Accident reports so far. There are other incidents that do not have reports yet. Average year is 12 reports. It is July. Be careful out there. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Oh gosh....I'm not exactly sure......I'm gonna have to look at a calendar to figure it out. Sometime in May? Was there on a Saturday and Rick Horn was there doing an AFF cert course. Did a 12 way thingy that didn't go so well and then did a 3 way I think. Was nice visiting again. I came out there last year too. My parents live in Jeff City. Chris

And then.....unbeknownst to me....I did my 700th jump on the same dive. I hadn't really logged since Nationals at Eloy and got a printout of my account since then. Added in the two jumps I did at Sullivan, MO and yep.....700th on the same skydive. Of course, I had to go out and funnel the exit on it so oh well......humble pie tastes sweet! Chris

Many jumpers first demoed, then bought the Sabre2s after jumping and feeling an added flare power. They liked how it flew and they do appreciate PDs customer service. Yah....might be trendy, then again, they just might be buying a better product. I put as many jumps on the Saphire as the Sabre 2 (only a couple). I normally jump a Stilleto 107. I liked how the Sabre2 flew and flared over the Saphire. My opinion. Chris

Bill, TCAS and GPWS are very good examples of safety equipment on airliners that you aren't supposed to need because pilots don't make mistakes and they never get situationally unaware. But guess what....airline pilots do lose situational awareness. These are backups. Now.....we can fly with them "out of order". Pilots call them "MEL'd". It is not a grounding item to have TCAS or GPWS INOP. And in fact....I have jumped without an AAD on more than a couple hundred jumps. I have jumped without a Cypres since I first installed it on my rig. So to answer the original question of this thread "would you make a jump without a Cypres" is a "yes". And I imagine that there will be a time in the future where I'll make a jump without a Cypres again. But to make fun (not you personally), or call crazy someone who does not want to jump without an operating Cypres on their rig does not automatically make them an unsafe jumper worthy of public ridicule. You're right, if someone has an incorrect idea about what a Cypres does and does not do then that must be corrected. But to just right them off and tell them to stay on the ground is wrong. Did I not make a mistake with the atmospheric oxygen thread in Safety and Training? I had the right idea with the wrong supporting info. Should I be grounded because I messed up why the body gets hypoxic? Ok, getting off topic. I think this comes back to training (as you already agreed to). Information on how things (skydiving gear) work. Harness/container, cutaway handle and cable, reserve handle and cable, RSL, AADs, hook knives, audibles, altimeters. They all have limitations and correct operating principles. We must educate people on the why's including to the how's. Maybe that person who refused to jump without a functioning Cypres didn't fully understand what it did or did not do. Education may make the difference. Not ridicule for being a sissy or "incompetant". The jumper who left a plane in an emergency and hoped the Cypres would pull him is the same as the jumper who pulled the cutaway handle and nothing else thinking the RSL would deploy his reserve. Do we go out and rip on people who jump with RSLs? Tell them they are unsafe because they are relying on a safety device that could kill them in some situations? I don't think we do. So why is this debate going on with people who choose to only jump with an operational Cypres? Personally, I will still pressure people who don't jump with a Cypres to buy one and have it installed on their rig for all jumps. Chris

Wait...why is "brain-locking" not a good reason for having one? I'm sorry, there isn't a person on the face of the earth except maybe Chuck Yeager that doesn't brain lock at some point. Remember, Jan Davis brain locked on where her pilot chute was located. Why? Distraction. Distraction from the situation. We are ALL suceptible to this. We are human. I'm a trained airline pilot. I think I've proven that I'm all about safety and proper training and thinking through problems before they occur. But I also recognize that we are fallible human beings and that by adding a Cypres to my rig I have added a level of safety that was not there before. A Cypres can't land me. It can't make me flare. But just because it doesn't do EVERYTHING is no excuse to not have one. Well...Capwells cutaway canopies years ago. Why should anyone have changed their release mechanism to the three-ring release? They both released your main. You wouldn't jump a rig with Capewell's now would you (all people in general)? So why, if we have the technological advancement to do it, would you choose to not install a proven safety device? Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Just like packing a stilleto. I know many jumpers at SDC with new Sabre 2s and they love them. Dropped that Saphire like a hot rock. Then Sunday a highly experienced jumper from IN had a hard opening on his Sabre2. Never happened before this jump. Got riser slap so bad it cut his neck. He was very sore on his neck and he had immediate response from some very beautiful nurses and EMTs. He did not go to the hospital but seemed to be doing better. A good whiplash opening. I wondered if he had line dump. Or possibly a slider was still collapsed when packed. He specifically remembers uncocking the slider so I don't know. But rolling the nose is one thing I did not ask him if he did. I do know that we pack them nose open just like the book says and they open great. Chris

In all honesty, what would make it important for you Clay? Anything? Chris

People have gone in on sport rigs trying to still find the main handle. A well placed reserve handle did them no good. A functioning Cypres would have made a difference. Chris