ZigZagMarquis

:LOL: You're not serious about that... are you?

Yep! Go with what your local DZO / Jumpmasters teach! As a comparison though... The way we used to teach it way way back when I was current as a Static Line Jumpmaster... was : - Poised Exit Position... - Up, Down... ARCH Thousand! - Two Thousand - Look Thousand... Ripcord on right hip in those days, remember... and look means look with just a small head/eye movement, not breaking your arch - Reach Thousand... Right hand/arm moves down to grasp ripcord, left hand/arm extends out in front for balance - PULL - Arch... 1... 2... 3...4... Check... Check... - If you're still in freefall, perform your emergency procedures... if you've got a main over your head, perform your Shape, Spin, Speed checks... if you have a main with something that can be fixed (i.e. line twists, collapsed end cells, slider halfway down) deal with it as you've been taught up until now... Perform your canopy control checks... if you get to your decision altitude without a good main, perform your emergency procedures. Yes, the canopy opening will be a bit slower since you're sub-terminal, but don't dwel on that, it wants to open! Have fun! Aside... We've done this thing at my local DZ from time to time we call "Night Iron Man"... starting at 1 hr past sunset, we start doing Night Clear-n-Pulls... you're allowed 1 rig, you have to pack for yourself... we use the Cessna... groups of 3 or 4 experienced jumpers per load... without rushing too fast that it would compromise safety and everyone gets a gear check before getting on the airplane, but we keep the pace moving at a good clip... you do 10 Clear-n-Pulls, usually from 3K... we've talked about going all night, but folks usually hit the wall around 1a.m. so we usually cut it off at 10 jumps in a row... yeah, yeah, I know, silly bored skydiver stuff, but its fun!

Q : What altitude are you pulling at? A : Sometime before impact! Everyone use at least one parachute on every skydive... otherwise the paperwork for the rest of us is a bitch.

Yeah, I've heard rumors of the new system where they've relocated the Reserve to a "wart" on the front of the rig... where you can "see it"!

So....do you dump at

I dunno... when I do the "beer math" I counted 3 "first's" comments in a97virago's orig post. That's 3 cases of beer and since he accumulated 3 cases of beer, he's assessed an additional penalty case, bringing the total to 4 cases of beer owed! ... but seriously, where's the beer? ... no really, where's the beer? ... okay, okay, just kiding, but which way to the beer? ... wait wait wait, I really mean it this time, beer... where? ... no no no, gimme gimme the beer. Really.... Congrats!!!

Bingo, we all jump out of perfectly good airplanes. ???? ... "perfectly good".... ppppptttttppppphhhhhhh!!!! Have you ever looked under the hood of some of the CRAP we get into??

Yes, most definitly Otter-do-able. I've seen 8-Way tubes pulled out of Otters on more then one occassion... two interlocked 4-Way tubes. I even saw a 9-Way tube launched from an Otter once. The afore mentioned 8-Way tube with a little gal tucked in (laying across) the center. That was freaky to watch go out the door. Tubes are definitly a good place for hard helmets and Cypress... and watch out for your handles... Pick your tube-u-lar friends well.

I didn't have a problem landing my Raven IIg on the one ride I've got on it... so far... but I'm loading it at about 0.87. Didn't feel like it was about to stall when I flared hard, feet and knees together, ready for a PLF... stood it up just fine... very little wind too.

Elsinore is great and I agree with the "family vibe" and its a little easier to "break in" at Elsinore then Perris, but Perris is cool too. There is also Cal City... a lot of military folk jump there too. http://www.skydivecaliforniacity.com/

Hey. Perris has to pay for that wind-tunnel and Dan BC somehow!

Back "in the day" when I first got into the sport, I used to leave my main along with my rig with the local DZ Loft/Store to have the main inspected along with the Reserve I&R; they used to inspect the main for an additional $5 and I have to believe that was an inspection sans a line trim check. Once I got more comfortable with things and learned more about gear and what to look for, I felt comfortable not leaving my main when I turned my rig in for a Reserve I&R and I just kept an eye on my own main (i.e. gave it a once over inspection myself from time to time). Now that I am myself a rigger, I don't think that turning in your Main for inspection with a Reserve I&R should be mandatory, but I'd do it for 5 bucks if soemone asked me to do it, but I'd also offer myself to show them what to look for when inspecting their own Main and if then in the future they wanted to do it themseleves and not give me their Main when I do a Reserve I&R for them... no sweat. Knowlege is power.

Yeah! I remember you old coghers giving me sh*t because my SCR number is in the 13 thousand range. Who are you calling an "old cogher"? Sparky YOU!

Yeah! I remember you old coghers giving me sh*t because my SCR number is in the 13 thousand range.

10 years jumping.... Lots of bumps and bruises and a few cuts and scrapes here and there. A couple of cracked ribs from a freefall collision. A broken / shattered right ankle... broken Tib & Fib, 8 screws and a plate to put back together... while being a dumbass on landing once. Touch wood... hope thats it from here on out.

Ain't that the truth. Mostly its just practice and persistence. The folks I see around the DZ that have trouble packing ZP are the ones that get frustrated and then let someone else do it for them... so, in the end, they never learn.

I've had mine checked now and again in a presure chamber used to run ckecks on FXCs and/or when Smity from Alti-2 is doing his road-show thing. Also, I tend to compare my altimeter to others on the plane on the ride up. If its within +/- 500 ft at the top and within +/- 100 to 200ish feet at breakoff altitude on the way up, I don't sweat it much. I tend to look at the things more on the ride up then in freefall and hardly never between breakoff and pull when in freefall, its all about separation and looking at the dirt at that point.

Tom, A very well written and informative article. Et all, Not to disagree with Tom, but... However, I'm not so sure I'd refer to this behavior as an "issue"; that would seem to imply this is a "problem". Rather it is THE WAY CYPRESS WORKS. If the one reads the owners manual, that should be understood, not a surprise.

I charge $50

Roger that!

Since it isn't required and takes serious $$$ to get testing and stuff done, do you think that it will actually happen? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. Oh, true enough / agree with you, it probably won't happen, but if you set aside the "face" part of the protection a full-face does for you (yes yes yes, before you flame me, that's THE BIG selling point), do you think one of those $300 dollar skydiving full-face helmets is really better then a Pro-Tech? ... i.e. Pro-Tech + Not in Style = 60 bucks where as Full-Face + In Style = 300 bucks. They get $300 bucks for them mostly because they're "in style" not because they're that much better then anything else... but that's just my opinion.

Anyone else remember when Hockey Helmets were the "in" thing? I too don't like the price they're getting for skydiving full-face helmets... I think its a bit much, that's why I still jump a Pro-Tech... yep, even after 2000+ jumps. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend a full-face motorcycle helmet for skydiving for the same reasons as most have pointed out here... weight and lack of downward visability. However, it would be nice if "they" came up with a full-face skydiving helmet that was lite weight and gave the same "Snell" rated protection as a motorcycle helmet.

1st one I owned was a PD190

Doh! See, there you go. Thats why I asked. Anyway, my personal prefernence in "I like the hip rings" but "I don't like the chest rings", but that's just me.

Why did I get my riggers ticket? Well, I've got a pet peave about experienced jumpers... several hundred jumps... that cannot hook-up or do a continuity check on a main. I've got a "natural curiosity" about gear and technical stuff. Not everyone needs to ba a rigger or a jumpmaster, but I feel that the more you learn about gear and jumpmastering and this sport the better off you are. I see folks making decissions when they're really uninformed. They decide on something because it is "in style" or the "hot new thing" or because some "skygod said so" rather then researching it themselves and making their own choice... if they make a choice that I may not make myself, but they do it after thinking it through for themselves that cool... where as it burns me when I hear someone saying something like, "blah blah blah are bad!"... I ask, well, why?... and you get a response that starts and ends with "so and so said so cause of this one particular situation." GRRRRR! In fact, when someone asks me a question on gear, I'll give them my opinion and then frequently say, "That's what I think, go ask some other people and think about it for yourself." I feel it makes me more flexible as a skydiver... as in I can deal with my own gear if I go someplace other then my home DZ where I knew all the riggers. Also... okay, I laid out a bunch of money to get my rigger's ticket, but also now I don't have to pay someone to repack my reserve now... and while I don't pack a bunch of reserves every week, I do repacks for other folks and pick up some pocket money a few times a month... weird thing is, I don't do it so much for the cash... I've always said if I had to pack for a living, I'd starve... I do it cause I enjoy it in some wierd way. Its a skill I wanted to learn and its fun learning now skills that catch your interest no matter what they are. I jump my rig, I pack my reserve, I jump my rig, I know where my molar strap is... I trust myself not to leave it in the pack-job... and I don't use clamps.