skybytch

It's top secret. I'd tell you but then I'd have to... well.. y'know...

A highlight of my life? That was the highlight of my life. Up until that hurricane thing anyway.

I jump at Davis but have been to Lodi and Byron, but other than that I agree 100%. For your first tandem I'd suggest going to the dz that is closest to you.

You're a swooper, aren't you?

Cuz I got more in the trunk. Biatch.

I'm stuck. I have to give a 6-9 minute persuasive speech for a class and I can't decide what topic to speak on. The topic must have nothing at all to do with skydiving (not cuz the teacher said so but cuz I think that'd be too easy). I'd prefer that it be non-serious, which is why I'm asking here. Although it does need to be "appropriate for a college classroom" which is why I probably shouldn't have asked here. But that's okay; if you suggest something that isn't appropriate I'll just assume you are a swooper. Help?

Maybe not a 270, but definitely more than a 90.

Spoon hell. Big stick stir deeper.

Bet it was a swooper's fault.

That's 122 sleeps... not days. Get it right! The only thing that's getting me through is knowing that it's only 115 days til the new Harry Potter comes out.

HB2U! I'll have a drink in your honor later.

Dude. You've got years of being green to go before your pimp fees are anywhere near paid off.

Good jump pilots get back more than money. Like bigway said, it's a lifestyle. For these people the benefits far outweigh the small size of the income. They're getting paid - however little - to do something they'd pay to do. Some of them get to fly airplanes that other pilots would love to get a chance to fly. It can be challenging flying. Some pilots get to fly to different dz's and boogies. They don't have to teach. They're building hours toward their future career. They get off on the energy of jumpers. Some become jumpers. Your argument washes better if you use the aviation industry in general as the "enemy" instead of skydivers or DZO's. All "building hours" type flying jobs pay squat. People looking at flying as a career expect to spend 6+ years making very little before they will start to make real money - and the whole time they are making very little many are paying back large amounts of debt.

Thanks. I didn't feel like studying this afternoon (evening, night, tomorrow) anyway... damn you.

My two cents... I love LP. The place, the people, the beer... what's not to love? But in the two years I've attended the boogie I've only done 3 jumps total. Why? Because landing there is scary. Limit people to 90 degree turns to final and it will still scare me. It's not the swoopers that scare me; from what I've seen watching loads land from up on the hill there aren't that many swoopers showing up anyway. It's the folks who don't fly any sort of pattern at all and the folks who chase the wind sock because they are afraid to land "crosswind" (like it really matters when the winds are blowing 1-2) that have kept me on the ground at LP. Instead of banning turns greater than 90 degrees, how about insisting that everybody fly a recognizable pattern?

Those who don't want to continue don't matter. The large majority of those who do want to continue CAN figure out a way to make it happen IF they feel that continuing is worth making the sacrifices they would have to make to do it. And before someone says it, yes, there are people out there who would like to continue but can't because they've already made choices in their lives that mean they can't make whatever financial and/or time sacrifice is needed to do it. But those people could very easily come back and learn to jump once they've raised the kids, paid down the mortgage, paid off the new car, finished school and gotten a real job... We could make skydiving training and gear much less expensive to get into. How? Stop telling new jumpers that they "must" have a freefly safe container and they "must" have a zp main and they "must" have a reserve that was built within the past ten years and that they "will" want/need to downsize their main in 50 jumps and that they "must" have a cool looking skydiving-specific helmet instead of a beat up $20 used Protec, etc. Encourage more dzo's to offer a static line program. Stop telling people that if they don't do 5 jumps a weekend, every weekend, that they are unsafe and shouldn't be jumping. I don't see the challenge in increasing the number of jumpers to be getting more people to do a first jump. The challenge is to retain those people who liked their first jump enough to figure out a way to come back for a second, third, etc. jump, and also to retain those people who get to the A license level or higher but quit because nobody will jump with them or even talk to them.

I agree 100%. I submit that we can separate landing areas for swoopers and non-swoopers but until every skydiver is educated the carnage will continue. The only way to be sure that every skydiver gets educated is to change the culture of skydiving so that it's cool to take a canopy control course. The fastest way to do that, imho, is to make it a requirement, not just for pre-A licensed jumpers, not just for swoopers, but for all of us.

Do it. If it turns out to be the wrong decision, you have plenty of time to do something else/go someplace else. The only things I really regret in life are the things I didn't do. Life is about experiencing things. Get out of your box and live. Especially now, before you've tied yourself down with a wife, kids, car payments and a mortgage.

You didn't learn that here, you learned that at LP.

I've learned that because I don't try to talk my whuffo friends into jumping, I don't care about the sport. I've learned that most people would rather make excuses why they can't do something than quit whining and go make it happen. I've learned that no matter how hard or often you try to explain why downsizing to a 1.3+ wingloading or flying a Crossfire/Stiletto/Katana/Diablo at 50 jumps is not the best idea, people aren't going to listen. I've learned that just because somebody has a piece of paper that says they should know something doesn't mean they actually know anything. I've learned that it's always the swooper's fault. edit to add - I've also learned that I can argue vociferously with someone on the internet during the week and still share a jump and/or a cold adult beverage with them on the weekend.

Brag on, John. Ya done good, and so has Logan. But you already knew that.

Some of us prefer to put our energy toward keeping those who have already made the decision to be skydivers in the sport instead of trying to talk people who have little or no desire to even try it into jumping. But thanks for insinuating that we don't care about the sport.

There are always ways to come up with the money if you want to do it bad enough. I was a single parent with an $8/hour job when I learned to skydive. I know plenty of people who have packed their way to an A license. Others sell their cool car and get something less expensive. Still others put the whole thing on credit cards or refinance their house. If someone wants to do something bad enough, they will find a way to make it happen. Trade the car for something less expensive. Instead of driving to work, ride a bike, walk or use public transportation and use what you save on gas to pay for a rig. Sell one or more of the other toys. Put it on a credit card. Refinance the house and pull out enough cash to buy gear. Become a packer. Let the kids pay their own way through college. Sell the nice furniture and replace it with cheaper used stuff. Get a second job. Pare down the budget to only the essentials (ie food and shelter). Choose to purchase older used gear; it may not be freefly safe or have a zp main but it will get you in the air. Build your rig one piece at a time, as you can afford to buy each item. There are ways to make it happen, but to do it you have to decide that it means enough to you to be worth sacrificing something else for.

But it's okay to be put in that position because some selfish individual who is not a swooper decides to spiral into the pattern? This is not an swooper vs non swooper issue, people! We are ALL part of the problem. The last incident in Eloy had NOTHING to do with swooping. Until you all get over the blame game we aren't going to get anywhere.