freakflyer9999

Skydive Dallas has some very strict safety guidelines that they follow as it relates to their gear. Of course that is certainly the best approach. I didn't mean to infer that they wouldn't allow heavier jumpers and apologize for inferring that. This enforcement of their safety policies combined with their distance caused me to look elsewhere. Their lack of gear safe gear for my weight (which they explained at time) was their only issue. I ended up borrowing a MT-1XX rig from a Skydive Dallas jumper. This jumper routinely jumps the gear at Skydive Dallas and I know of no reason they would have refused me the same opportunity. I now have my own gear and I'm sure that Skydive Dallas would be able to accomodate me.

Thanks. Very good advice. I was already planning on trading in the Falcon for a Sabre2 or something similar next summer. I bought the Falcon just to be able to get back into the air. I will concentrate on my formation flying skills during the next 30-50 jumps and then have someone I trust asses me in the air to determine whether they think I need more practice or not. Thanks

[replyQuite possibly. Undoubtedly the original poster figured on more support than this, given some of the similar threads in the Incidents and S&T fora. Quote Undoubtedly the original poster figured that his response of leaving it with the DZO was enough, but thought that he would confirm that decision with others. Others have confirmed and supported the answer. A few seem to think that even involving the DZO was going to far. The DZO didn't seem to think so. Enough is enough. This thread has obviously gone beyond anything productive and should just be locked.

Thanks Paul. I have already read most of the excellent articles on your site.

What flying skills do you think are required to start shooting video? I've got a little over 200 jumps and 4 previous cutaways, but I've been out of the sport for a while. What should I take into consideration before I start jumping video? I was thinking 30-50 jumps before I even put the video helmet on and then only with a couple of other highly experienced jumpers as my subjects for 20-30 jumps. Then move to videoing either larger groups or less experienced jumpers that I feel comfortable with. I bought a used Pro-Tec based video helmet. The screws with nylon nuts appeared to be snag hazards since they have slight gaps between the nut and the helmet. I've already bought new screws and cap nuts to replace.

Does anyone know any details about the Boogie coming up at Caddo Mills in north Texas? When? Registration?

I too am a pilot. I understand weight & balance and safety. I'm not asking to compromise safety or the pilot's certificate. I'm not asking to be paid for the things I do around the DZ. I guess all I'm really wanting is to be treated with a little respect and not treated like just another piece of meat to be hauled to 10,000 feet. The DZO receives the financial reward or loss of the DZ. It is his business, but to be quite honest, I've never heard of another Cessna DZ charging similar fees and I can't imagine that this DZO who has owned his first DZ for less than a year knows more than the hundreds of DZO's before him. Mike, I do appreciate your concern for my situation. I will resolve the situation myself, with my pocketbook and my feet. I've already found a new DZ home. Skydive Cowtown is opening this next weekend northwest of Ft. Worth. Scott Moore, the Skydive Cowtown DZO, has already welcomed me to his new DZ. He has promised that I won't be treated the same as at the previous DZ. I've known Scott for almost 10 years and I have known him to always care about other jumpers and the sport in general. Just this weekend since he had helped me put together my new rig, he called the DZ just to find out how my jump went, how it opened, etc.

Yea, it is a 2 Cessna DZ and I could be eliminating a 4th jumper. But if I bump and the other jumper goes then it is still going with only 3 jumpers, unless there is actually two other jumpers to take my place. Of course there are also the days that there are only 2 other jumpers at the DZ and without me there wouldn't be a load at all. Yesterday, when the DZO told me this. Manifest had just sent up a load of 3 non-fat jumpers and then didn't have a load of experienced jumpers other than my load until after I had landed and was packing. So it's not like the DZ is so busy and so organized that they don't have empty slots. I've done some weight and balance numbers with a generic 182 (not the DZ's) and it would appear that it is possible for me to jump with a pilot and 3 other jumpers. It is close and might require a little effort to make sure that we don't have full fuel and 3 other big boys, but it is possible.

Yes. That's about it. The original conversation was a little more than a brief question. It lead me to believe that the jumper wasn't just an occasional drug user. I myself have used drugs in the past and it wasn't just occasionally either. When the DZO spoke to him about it, he did confirm that he was a drug user, though he did claim that it is only occasional. If he were just another jumper at the DZ, I wouldn't give a rat's ass what he did as long as he didn't kill me because of it. But this guy is going for a Tandem rating. Tandems are not just another skydive. They require that you be ready and able to react to emergency situations quickly and properly. Tandem masters are also directly responsible for the life of their passenger. I for one don't think that impairment by drugs or alchohol should be tolerated in this particular situation. Would you want to know that the Tandem Master who is jumping with your sister or your mom or your spouse or significant other was a drug user?

Yea, I've tried Skydive Dallas. They don't charge a "Fat Fee", but the DZ manager did hassle me about my weight enough that I chose to jump other places. When I was trying to get recurrent this summer after a long layoff, Skydive Dallas once again gave me a hassle about my weight and caused me to look elsewhere for a home DZ. With my own gear they might let me jump, but it is also 2+ hours away.

Because he knew that I was a pilot and had a Third Class Medical, a Tandem Rating Candidate, during a break in the Tandem course asked me whether or not they did drug testing as part of the Medical that is required to have a Tandem rating. My initial response was I don't remember but the FAA publishes their guidelines and procedures for everyone. Later that week after some soul searching I contacted the DZO and the Course Instructor. The DZO followed up with the individual and told me that his story was that he doesn't do drugs often, but does occasionally and was worried that a test might show positive for trace amounts even though he hadn't done anything recently. He also assured the DZO that he doesn't jump while impaired. What would you do? Leave it up to the DZO? Inform the FAA? or something in between. If his story is right and he really doesn't jump impaired then I feel comfortable leaving it in the DZO's hands. I'd really hate to see him bounce and cause the DZ major legal problems just because he smoked a joint 3 days ago, but that's the DZO's decision. On the other hand, I'd never be able to forgive myself if he bounced with an innocent tandem passenger while impaired and I thought that I could have done something to stop it.

Already found a new Home DZ. See my post in "Events and Places to Jump" about Skydive Cowtown. Jumping starts there next weekend

$12 PER JUMP!!!!!!

Skydive Cowtown is starting operations next weekend, Saturday September 18th. Scott and Laura Moore are the Dropzone owners. The DZ will be flying a C-182 with the usual mix of Tandems, Students and Experienced jumpers. And of course, the DZ will have that small dropzone feel. Scott and Laura plan to build a close-knit group of skydivers who share a love for the sport. They are already talking about cookouts and eating out together after a day of jumping. The DZ is located on Rhome Meadows Airport (T76), just north of Rhome, TX and just south of Decatur, 1/4 mile off of Hwy. 287. Contact Scott at 817-714-9971 for more info and directions. Or just show up next weekend and show Scott and Laura your support. I apologize for what some may call advertising, but I'm excited about this new DZ and just wanted to make sure that everyone knows about it. I don't have any financial ties to the DZ, but I know that Scott and Laura are great people and I know that they will have a great dropzone.

Eagle Flight Skydiving, in Granbury, TX, just started charging a $12 "FAT FEE" (my term ) for experienced jumpers who are overweight. BTW, I weigh 280 lbs. They don't have the policy fully documented, but they were able to determine that I was in fact too fat to jump without paying the fee. Of course I was told about this new fee just as I finished putting my gear on to get on the plane. Who else jumps at DZ's with similar fees? I've heard of this for whuffo's making first jumps or tandems, but have never heard of it for experienced USPA D-Licensed jumpers. In all fairness, the DZO did say that he would waive the fee if he didn't have another experienced jumper waiting to fill the fourth slot, had I not been on the load. I asked him if he currently had someone waiting and would I be charged the fee for this jump. He said he didn't know, that he wasn't running manifest. The next load (tandem) didn't even take off until after I landed and was in the hangar. The next experienced load did take off until a few mins after that, so apparently there weren't any jumpers ready to go up. Of course, when I went to pay, the fee was on my account. Also on my account was the credit from the previous weekend when I had volunteered to drive into town to buy the cookout supplies for the DZ and had paid out of my own pocket. He also didn't acknowledge that I had payed for the meal the week before voluntarily without asking for any money. Nor did he seem to remember that I had cooked both meals and supplied all of the beer on the most recent weekend because the DZO's private beer stash is off limits to all of the other jumpers. All of this to say that it's not like I'm someone who just shows up and takes without giving. I show up early and wait hours when the DZ is slow. Or even waited 10+ hours one day and was never put on a load because of the students, tandems and non-fat people. I've been an active part of this DZ even when I was unable to jump due to waiting months to get a rig put together that fit me properly. Today was my first jump on the rig that I had been working on for months. I had made a few recurrency jumps on borrowed gear, but I was very excited about finally getting to jump my own gear after a couple of months of hanging out and watching everyone else jump. Obviously, I'm quite ticked off, but I will get over it. Thought I would let folks know why. Before anyone chimes in about my weight. I know I'm overweight. I took off from skydiving after my best friend bounced and I've put on weight. When I first started skydiving in 1994 it motivated me to lose almost 100 lbs. I am working on it and have lost 25 lbs. in the last few months. I will lose weight, but it really chaps my ass to be treated this way by someone who I thought was my friend.

I've done it 3 or 4 times. Takes about 30 minutes.

I used to have a neighbor that had a three-legged dog that was missing a rear leg. He walked and ran pretty well and when he went to take a leak he hiked his remaining rear leg, stood on his front feet and whizzed.

Tailgates or Mullins King Air

I was sitting in the boarding area waiting on the plane with the rest of the load. We had already dirt dived and were just waiting. One of the girls on the dive with me was sitting next to me without her rig on, so I reached over, patted her on the back and said "Did you forget something?". She had gotten so involved in the dirt dive and everything else that she forgot to go back to the hangar to get her rig. It shook her up quite a bit that she was ready to get on the plane without her rig. We do get very complacent about this sport sometimes. The door opens and it seems natural to get out without giving it another thought. Unfortunately, complacency kills in this sport.

Go back and re-read my post. I stated clearly that I do not have the experience to do this. I am not contemplating attempting it myself. What I did suggest was that if someone with proper experience wished to try it, I would assist in planning and I even offered my own canopy as a beginning. As for the FAR violation, I don't believe that the Mr. Bill that was landed in Rantoul violated any FARS, but perhaps part of the planning process should include verifying that with the FAA. Planning includes all aspects of the jump. I'm also curious which DZ that you own. Of course as part of the planning, the DZO would be contacted. If you own the DZ then you will obviously have the right to say no.

There is plenty of discussion in another thread about what not to do and how stupid this is. The general consensus seems to be that stunts like this should be performed only by adequately experienced jumpers with significant amounts of planning. I don't feel that I have the experience, but I'm willing to help someone who does. Let's start planning. I have a Falcon 300. Who's up for the task??

I AM NOT A RIGGER. I have had riggers tell me that they could do this, either temporarily tacked in to try a new canopy or permanently for cheap skates who don't want to buy a new container. I've also had others tell me that they just stuffed the container with newspaper to demo a smaller canopy. The newspaper just drifts away and gives some wild critter something to read. Guess you could use bubble wrap or something else as well. KG

Try this http://www.paragear.com/frame.asp?menu=group%3d27%26level%3d1&main=templates/base_template.asp%3fgroup%3d27

I've never seen it done, but I'm told that you can have your rigger sew in a little padding to make the container smaller. Or just shove some newspaper in there every pack job. KG

RWS just made a whole new harness for me and got it to my door step in a little over a week. I would think that even if they had to make the freebag, they could get it to you fairly quickly. Unfortunately in my case, they made the harness the wrong size, so I had to ship it back to them. UPS says they will receive it today, so I'll just wait and see how long it takes them to rework it for me. KennyG.