skybytch

I knew we should have kept one of the bottles of One Barrel that Monkeyboy gave to us to give to Shaun... 25 3/4 hours until our roadtrip begins!

Good stuff, Dave. Another "trick" is to spend some time with the overhead picture of the landing area and adjoining areas. Run a few scenarios through your head (What would I do if I opened here and couldn't make it back? Which fields are good alternates and which should I avoid?). You can do the same thing while under canopy on any skydive. If I realized right now that I'm not making it back, where could I safely land? Preplan alternate landing areas and the patterns you'll use for them and off landings become much less stressful.

The tunnel is an excellent tool if you can get there. If not (and until then), don't beat yourself up. It takes some of us longer for our bodies to figure out what we want them to do in freefall. You've had, what, maybe two minutes total time flying by yourself so far? Think of it like when you were a kid figuring out how to ride a bike without training wheels (which is really what AFF instructors are during your first few categories). Did you just get on the bike and go? Or did it take some time to get your balance? You'll get it. Relax and breathe. Think about keeping whatever spot on the horizon you've chosen right in front of you instead of thinking about turning or stopping a turn. And don't forget to have fun. Skydiving is supposed to be fun - even when we don't do as "good" on a jump as we wanted to.

Does the sailplane community have an association that is tasked with self-policing their sport, like USPA is supposed to do for skydiving? If they don't, then the FAA is who regulates them, thus it makes sense that there is an FAA mandated minimum age for flying a sailplane and there isn't one for skydiving. The FAA leaves a lot of the "details" of regulating skydiving to USPA - the whole "self-regulating" or "self-policing" thing. If USPA doesn't address issues that need addressing, eventually the FAA will do it for us.

Is there a flag flying over the gated community? Cuz I don't think the making and bringing of a flag was just a suggestion...

You...? Try not to read between the lines so much. I don't care if anybody thinks what I say here is credible or not. I (and those who know me) know that it is. The dropzone.com forums are not the only place available for me to speak on this particular subject, nor is this the only place I intend to speak on this particular subject. For bitching about things here doesn't get things done, and it's way past time for something to get done.

USPA members who are "big names" sell canopies loaded well over 1.1 to people with 100 jumps. Because it puts dollars in their pockets. There are more than two documented incidents EVERY YEAR involving the people who buy those parachutes. But we don't need any rules about what size or type main canopy that someone with 10 jumps can buy.... (Yes, I am beating my favorite dead horse.)

Who said I've given up?

Any parallels that might exist between firefighter's gear and novice skydiver's main canopies are left as an exercise for the student.

The story. Sorry, didn't realize that pointing out a news story and making a few sarcastic remarks about it is considered to be trolling.

The fire department in a major city near me got a call the other day. Another report of a gas leak. When the firemen got there, they made sure the power and gas were off. Within a few minutes of doing that, the house blew up. Four firefighters were injured. It has since come out that they were not wearing gloves or masks. Had they been wearing them, they probably wouldn't have been injured as badly as they were. As of right now, there is no department policy regarding what they are supposed to wear when responding to a gas leak. So the chief is going to put a policy in place, and many other fire departments without SOP's for gas leaks will be doing the same. This is a knee jerk reaction to one incident. It will cost taxpayer money to develop, institute and police. Firefighters are smart people; they can figure out what they do or do not need to wear on a call. They are also adults who are aware of the risks they are taking. Why do they need to be treated like children who don't want to wear a sweater when it's cold outside? I mean geez. Hundreds and hundreds of times they've responded to gas leaks and nothing bad happened.

Because I prefer not to put a bunch of personal information out there on a public website. Because I'd prefer not to be contacted by lawyers for the family of the injured/deceased or random reporters about something I've posted here. And because I've been around here long enough that those who matter already know how many jumps I have and what kind of canopies I fly and what ratings I hold and what I used to do for a living... and because I don't really care if anybody thinks what I say is credible or not anymore.

Can they also complete the canopy related objectives for all categories in the same two jumps? There's more to "passing" AFF than what happens in freefall.

Welcome to the joys of beating your head against brick walls.

Quote You'll learn. They're so cute when they're puppies...

I hear ya. Damn jumpers wanting to get on loads are constantly getting in the way of my view of young guys without shirts walking by.

If I have a Mirage that was built in 1985, should I pack it according to the manual that came with it, or according to the newest Mirage manual? They are completely different animals as far as packing the reserve is concerned, and yet they are built under the same TSO. Point being, if I'm using the most current manual for a particular harness/container system brand, it may not contain correct instructions/diagrams for the one I am currently packing.

The information that has been shared already in this thread was one of my reasons for posting. This is an area that desperately needs clarification - especially if interpreting things the wrong way could cost someone their ticket.

Same way they did it in the Netherlands.

Rumor has it that a rigger was recently threatened with an FAR violation by the FAA. This rigger packed a Softie pilot emergency rig that was over 20 years old. A 20 year service life was imposed on new Softies last year. This is so noted in the new owners manual. But there was no attempt made to contact riggers to let them know that this change was retroactive to all Softies regardless of DOM, nor was an AD issued stating the same thing, which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the service life applies only to gear built after last year. Regardless of how you feel about packing gear over 20 years old, what really sucks here is that the rumor has it that it was a rigger (and a dealer of Softies, strangely enough) who contacted the FAA and caused them to contact the other rigger and threaten him with the loss of his ticket. That's pretty screwed up, imho.

I disagree. If you haven't watched a friend fly away in a helicopter or visited a friend in the hospital or been to a friend's funeral because you decided to skydive, then you don't know any better yet - because you have yet to have the actual risks shoved in front of your face. As long as the choices you make only pose a risk of hurting you, you're right. But skydiving isn't a completely solo activity. You share the air and the landing area with other people. When your choices put me and everyone else on the dropzone at risk - which someone with 100 or 200 or 300 jumps flying a higher wingloadings does - your right to make them stops. See, it ain't all about you. It's about us.

I dunno, I thought it was a halfway decent analogy. Someone with 50 or 100 jumps is a lot like a child - curious, always learning, willing to take risks because they don't have a basis for evaluating those risks yet. We shouldn't be allowing those with 100 jumps to buy and fly whatever they want for the same reasons that we don't give children the keys to cars. You are correct. I am suggesting it because it is easy. Easy to implement and easy to enforce. Brian Germain has already done the work - his wingloading chart would be a fine standard and easy to put into place. Enforcement would also be easy - want to buy a 1.8 loaded Crossfire? Show me your D license. Want to fly a 1.8 loaded Crossfire? Show me your D license - it would only take a jump or two for people to realize you lied about what was in your container if you tried to "sneak by". Those who insisted upon education instead of regulation back in 2003 have had seven years to put their talk into action. We still don't see basic canopy survival skill courses at even half the dz's out there, even though there's a complete canopy control course outline and a canopy skills proficiency card in the SIM and hundreds of rated instructors out there who could teach the course and sign off the items on the card. There is still not a safety culture that makes it cool to take basic skills classes and fly canopies that that are appropriate for your ability, like how it's cool to jump with a helmet and an AAD today (both of which were the epitome of not cool when I started jumping). I know I'm never going to convince you, John, but it sure is good practice trying.

Think of it this way. Until you have some experience, you're the skydiving equivalent of a child. Would you give a 10 year old the keys to a Ferrari? Probably not. He might hurt himself, someone else and the car. How about when he's 16? Well, the law says he can drive it, so you just might. We don't want 100 jump wonders on highly loaded canopies for the same reason we don't want 10 year olds driving Ferraris. But by the time you have 500 jumps or so, you've hopefully developed some knowledge of and respect for the increased risks and learned the skills needed to handle the increased speed - both when things are perfect and when things are going to shit. You have every right to make decisions and take risks that might hurt you. You don't have a right to make decisions and take risks that might hurt ME - and your lack of experience combined with a faster parachute and a seconds inattention could very well do that. Not to mention the rest of the dz, who'll get to watch as we're carted or flown away...

They are both great dz's with excellent student programs and excellent instructors. Which is closer to where you live?

You forgot the congressional interest in AAD's earlier this year that was brought about by a fatality several years ago... But you might have to know someone who knows someone in the gear manufacturing industry to have heard about that one. And all those ramp checks dz's have been getting all over the US? That's the FAA, folks, and it's a direct result of the NTSB inquiry last year. We ARE on their radar. If we don't regulate us, they will - and we don't get to decide if we are regulating ourselves well enough once they've decided that federal oversight is needed - nor will we get much if any input into what regulations are enacted for us.