freakflyer9999

When I started back in the sport last year, I was over 300 lbs. Since that time I've lost over 55 lbs and I'm continuing downwards. I found a cheap used Vector that would hold the canopies I wanted. I then took the rig to Relative Workshop and had them build me a fully adjustable harness. It sounds as though you aren't planning on losing weight, so you should probably have a fixed size harness made to fit you. It cost me $125 for the rig plus $500 for the adjustable harness. I believe that a fixed harness is a couple hundred $ less. I've never jumped an articulated harness, but from what I've seen I don't believe that it would do that much for us big guys. As I said though, I've never jumped one. As someone else has pointed out, get a large jumpsuit with lots of surface area. I've had the best luck with BodySport. They design the wing to give you the freefall rate that you specifiy. Tonysuit also makes a great bigboy suit.

Try a Chiropractor. I could barely walk when I went. It took about 10 treatments, but I've been relatively pain free for several years. I could probably use another adjustment or two now, but at one time I couldn't walk more than a few minutes without a cane.

Well, here's the forecast for North Texas. Saturday Cloudy. A slight chance of rain and thunderstorms then a chance of rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 50s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent. Saturday Night Cloudy with a 60 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms. Lows in the mid 40s. Sunday Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Highs in the lower 60s. Sunday Night Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 40s.

My wife discourages me from dating at the DZ, so I chose 1 is enough.

I personally prefer a wrist mount for my primary altimeter. I am currently jumping a chest mount converted to wrist mount. I sold all of my gear when I got of the sport a few years back and now I'm having to buy everything again, so I've been buying used. As I did previously I intend to jump with both a chest mount and wrist mount in addition to the audible altimeter that I jump with. As I stated above, I always used the wrist mount as my primary and kept the chest mount turned so that it was readable by those I was jumping with. It still served as a backup when needed and when tracking.

Evaluate the type of jumping you're doing, the people that you're jumping with, the aircraft you jump and your general health. What is the relative risk? I know one person who purchased a Cypres within 5 minutes of landing after having been kicked in the head and knocked unconscious for a few seconds. When I returned to the sport after a long layoff, I personally chose not to purchase an AAD until I had acquired all the rest of my gear. But I was making solo jumps from a Cessna. Being overweight and middle aged I did have some medical concerns, but I figured that the risk was minimal until I could purchase an AAD. Last week my rigger installed the used Cypres that I finally bought. I probably would not have bought it yet, but my wife asked me to and I happened to find a great deal on a used Cypres. It gives her some peace of mind.

Packing wears me out, so I make more jumps in a day when I pay a packer to at least after some of my jumps. Of course the DZ I'm at now doesn't have any paid packers, so I'm on my own, but my question: Is $5 or $6 still a reasonable rate for a pack job. That's what it has been the entire 11 years that I've been in the sport. Is it time to raise the price?

I've encountered a couple of DZs that wanted to see my logbook to verify currency, but I can't remember one ever giving me any shit about signatures. I've even been to one DZ that didn't want to see my USPA info, but only my logbook. Other than training flights, I don't have my pilot logbook signed by anyone but me. The FAA trusts that when I sign a page, I am personally attesting to the information on that page. I don't understand why the USPA seems to think that we can't attest to our own skydives.

Damn Good Airplane

Since its raining outside, I'm sitting here watching Gypsy Moths again. Does anyone know if the Howard DGA-15P from the movie is still flying? If so, is it still flying jumpers. FAA database shows it registered to a Howard Bohl in Temecula, Ca. I also found a NTSB report from the 80's. A parachute entangled with the elevator and caused substantial damage.

Would you care to explain? Are you saying don't tack in padding to take up the space or use newspaper for a one time thing?

I haven't been following this thread, but after this mornings weigh in I have to join in. In August of last year I had hit 305 lbs. This morning I was at 255 lbs. I've still got a long ways to go, but I've nailed my first 50 lbs. By Thanksgiving I'm hoping to be below 185, so I can enjoy myself a little during the holidays and reward myself with a new rig for Christmas.

Ok. My rigger just told me that it is designed to have snap on booties. I think I'll just roll them under with a large rubber band to hold them in place.

Check with your rigger. I've heard of but never actually seen rigs that have additional padding sewn in to make the container smaller. I have seen people use wadded up newspaper to make it possible to jump a smaller demo canopy in their existing rig. Of course the newspaper flys across the countryside.

It has the snap strap over the zipper that has two female snaps and there is one male snap on the other side of the zipper. Additionally, there are 3 or 4 other snaps around the bottom cuff. I don't have it in front fo me, but there were 1 or two female and 1 or 2 male snaps. The bottom is very large and comes real close to fitting over my entire shoe. I'll snap a pic this later and post.

I just bought a used Michigan RW suit. The bottom of the legs are quite large and have a zipper as well as several snaps. Who can tell me what all the snaps are for?

Contact John Storrie at Storrie Parachute Works. 940-484-2222 He's the one with the ad in Skydiving Mag about "Some guy in Texas sells things that go bang". I don't know whether John would do it, but if not, he might know someone who would.

I called Ralph last year and even though he had what I was looking for he refused to sell it to me. At the time I weighed over 300 lbs, so I was looking for a used student adjustable harness. Ralph had one, but due to its age (20 years) and my weight he said that he wouldn't sell it to me. He just didn't want to be responsible for putting someone my weight and potential freefall speed in a harness that old. Based partially on his recommendation, I later found a inexpensive used container (10 years) that I sent to Relative Workshop to have the harness replaced. Though I have contacted Ralph a number of times over the past 10 years, I haven't yet bought anything, but I would if he happened to have what I needed at the price I wanted to pay.

My dad was a pilot from the time I can remember and taught me just one thing about flying. I think that it applys to skydiving as well as to aircraft. Always know where you would land at every moment. Any time during a flight he could tell you exactly where he would land if something happened. He basically flew the entire trip from one potential landing area to the next.

The original site was supposed to be near Grapevine Mills Mall, but I can't find anything on it anymore. As for Texas supporting two tunnels, I don't think that the US can support as many tunnels as have been planned. I talked to Skyventure about putting a tunnel in around Dallas several years ago. Even went out to Orlando and visited with them and started putting together numbers. The numbers were tough when Orlando was the only other Skyventure. Now with so many scheduled across the country, I'm not sure that any location that isn't already a major skydive training mecca could make it. According to Skyventure at the time 75% of their volume was experienced skydivers. Their big money makers were the organized tunnel camps and team training camps that included tunnel time. At the time they were attracting jumpers from around the world, but of course now each tunnel will primarily draw just jumpers from their region. Obviously more jumpers will now have a tunnel within driving distance, but I don't believe that Texas can really support a tunnel without additional marketing expense to increase the whuffo traffic. Perris, Eloy and Orlando all have the ability to draw skydivers for their training camps, so a tunnel is another asset that will enhance that draw. Texas on the other hand, while there are some great skydivers here, there just isn't the competition training that occurs in AZ, CA or FL.

Yes, Skydive Cowtown is still accepting them. I've spoken to the DZO and his wife about the situation. I've pointed them to this thread and the other info referenced here and they have chosen to continue accepting them for now.

Everyone knows that Texas has the sweetest women!

On the memorial dive a week after my best friend's death, one year later on my second jump after his death and this past weekend on the 6th anniversary of his death. I've finally been able to return to the sport, but the memories are still difficult. Eternal Blue Skies.

A few years ago, I spent a week in the Orlando area on business. Every afternoon I went to a different DZ. My favorite was Umatilla, which is now closed. The friendliest was Lake Wales. ZHills and Titusville were both great. Deland and Sebatian were the only ones that didn't impress me as much, but they both are still good DZs.