skybytch

Jump 4 for today has landed, men are going up now. Rumor has it they'll be doing another before sunset.

I had two different Spectre 170's in mine, one new and one well used. I wouldn't do it that way again, even with a well used one. It looked like crap when it was packed, I hated packing it and I had a few packers refuse to pack it for me. You'll be much happier if you order the container to fit what you intend to put in it now, not what you think you'll be downsizing to at some unknown point in the future.

For the same reasons that liberals are so frequently accused of being "socialists." Partly to change the subject, partly to play on our emotions by using words that have particularly charged meanings in our current culture.

I dunno, I chose the word fool partly because it's harsh. If we don't question what we are told, regardless of who is saying it or whether they are saying something that we think we agree or disagree with, we are fools. I'd like to think that the reason the arguments being made on both sides are so flawed is because those making them didn't pay attention in their college composition classes. That fits better into my Pollyanna fantasy world view than does the idea that these arguments are flawed on purpose - using whatever means necessary to play on the hopes and fears of the population (death, taxes, government interference, lack of medical care) and the core beliefs of the society (freedom, democracy, charity, the superiority of capitalism over communism) to sway those who can't or won't think for themselves. If only we could be presented candidates who are able to compromise, argue logically and show respect for those who don't share their opinions... Nah, wouldn't work, someone like that would never get elected.

I did. Critically. The definition of which includes doing at least a little bit of research into the organizations that those quoted are affiliated with so that I can identify possible biases behind their comments. Which I then posted so others can see that the comments quoted are not from unbiased sources. I liked that the bias of one of the original study authors was clearly identified in the article. It's just too bad that the author didn't do the same for other people that were quoted. The whole health care debate is a great exercise in critical reading. There are so many logical fallacies to be found in arguments from both "sides" and so much bias in every quote. I doubt that we will ever see a truly unbiased argument regarding health care in the US from either side, much less one that doesn't contain at least one logical fallacy. Which is pretty sad. We are easily fooled because we are fools...

"The Free Enterprise Fund is a non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization focusing on limited government and tax relief" http://fefund.org/page1.aspx "The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization, established in 1983. The NCPA's goal is to develop and promote private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector. Topics include reforms in health care, taxes, Social Security, welfare, criminal justice, education and environmental regulation." http://www.ncpa.org/about/ Not saying that the original study wasn't biased, but there's some definite bias in the direction of the status quo in the link you posted.

I felt like you until around 15 years in the sport. At that point I began to realize just how big a risk skydiving is. At almost 20 years in, I'm beginning to wonder if the reward is still worth the risk. Shit happens, and in skydiving it happens fast. I can do everything right and my gear can kill me. I can still accept that risk. I can do everything right and someone else's mistake/ego/ignorance/inattentiveness can kill me. That's the risk I'm beginning to have problems accepting.

I believe the plan is to land on the dz. Not sure how far he hopes to fly or how far from the dz he's going to leave the plane though.

They couldn't compete, so they got eliminated. Too bad some of them managed to breed first, though. The last thing we need is for the genetic material of those unable to compete to be passed on to another generation.

Economics. Altitude costs money; the more you get, the more it costs. For most jumpers the extra altitude isn't worth the extra cost on a regular basis. Big way RW groups routinely jump from 16-18k. They're on oxygen from about 10k until just prior to exit. Some dz's offer higher altitude jumps - Skydance in Davis, CA does 30k jumps (using bailout bottles) once or twice a year. They're supposed to be going to 34k this weekend; a guy is going to attempt to set a wingsuit record.

No need to check under the main flap either then.

Continually ignoring the point that was being made... Love it. One more time. How hard is it to open up your reserve flap before you put your rig on? Numerous good reasons to do so have been mentioned already. Can ANYONE give us ONE good reason (that doesn't involve the expending of extra time or effort) to NOT look under there before you put your rig on?

Do as I say, not as I do. That works just as good in skydiving as it does in parenting. Get on the plane ready to get out. Yeah it's hot - SIUCC and zip up that suit. Put the helmet on - it's not doing you any good on your chest strap. If it's not on your head or secured to your chest strap, you're putting everybody else on the load at risk. That's not a good example to be setting. Right. You have the experience to handle a higher wingloading and higher winds. But jump numbers don't change the fact that shit can happen to your gear without you knowing about it. Hypocrite? No. Complacent? Possibly. I don't expect you or anybody else to agree with me. But I am asking that, as an instructor and as someone that is looked up to by new jumpers, you consider "walking your talk" when it comes to the very basic safety stuff that we preach to our students. They look to us to see how things are done in the real world, and they are still watching when we're fun jumping and when they are no longer students.

What Gary said. If you plan to jump only at Lodi you don't need it. If you plan to jump at any other dz in NorCal, you will want to have a license; without it you may very well be stuck doing a solo or having to jump with a coach or instructor. Regardless of if you want/need the license, if you aren't already doing so make a point of doing one or two of the canopy related things on the card on each skydive. Shouldn't take too long to get them all done, and you'll learn a lot about your canopy by doing so.

1) Don't die or get seriously injured. 2) Skydive a lot, as often as you can get to the dz. Generally, those with more jumps are better skydivers than those with less jumps, and those that are very current are better in the air than those who are not. 3) Skydive within the limits of your ability and your equipment. 4) Learn everything you possibly can about skydiving and skydiving equipment. Never stop learning; there will always be something out there that you've never seen or done. 5) Go slow and enjoy the ride. You've got the rest of your life to take up freeflying and wingsuits and cameras and swooping. Get a solid base of basic skills under your belt before you begin to branch out and push your personal envelope. 6) Take a basic canopy skills course as soon as possible after AFF. 7) Size your first canopies (main and reserve) so that you are positive you can safely land either of them in the smallest possible area you can think of, at sunset. 8) Listen when people tell you that you may be trying to progress too fast. They aren't trying to hold you back. They just don't want to see you die. 9) Have fun!

Really? Would you expect your dzo to suspend a jumper who was way too drunk to drive at 3 am but wants to be on a load at 9 am? What's the difference? And for the record, I did state that I understood the reasoning behind me not being allowed to jump that evening. The anger was not over me not getting to jump, it was over the application of a double standard. If it's okay for anyone (much less an instructor with a student) to jump at 9 am when they were falling down drunk at 3 am (pretty likely they are still hung over if not still a bit drunk), then it should be okay for anyone to jump at 7 pm when they had two beers before 1 pm (pretty likely that they are just as sober as they were when they rolled out of bed). I had this discussion with my (very experienced AFFI/master rigger) s/o this morning. His gear is much the same as yours. He checks under his reserve flap every morning and when a student is directly observing him but other than that he trusts that nothing has changed. I'm absolutely confident that no one else uses his rig, that he takes good care of it and that the only time it touches the ground is when he sets it down to pack, but I still requested that he consider lifting that flap before every jump regardless of what kind of jump it is or how many times he's jumped that day. Not because I really think that anything is going to change under there, but because students and novices are watching and learning from what he does, even when they are on the other side of the packing area. Perhaps I'm excessively anal about gear checks, but I was taught that being excessively anal about skydiving gear is a good thing. I don't KNOW that some tandem passengers kid didn't mess with it while I was taking a leak. Hasn't happened yet, but is that a good reason to think that it never will? Sure would suck to find out the hard way that something under there HAD changed. Not doing a complete gear check because you "know" that nothing has changed is, to me, being complacent. I don't think that's the right message to be sending to our noobs. What's the downside to looking under the reserve flap before every jump? Time and effort. Being 100% sure isn't worth spending an extra 30-60 seconds looking at your gear before every jump? If seeing you checking under there before every skydive makes that guy with 20 jumps who still can't land standing up think that it's really important to do so and 50 jumps later - on his own rig - he finds a small rock in his cable housing, wouldn't you think that the extra 30-60 seconds it takes you to check under there was worthwhile? I sure would.

Well, since the manufacturer of my AAD says I don't have to recalibrate it or turn it off and on again before I make another jump at the same dz, all I have to do is turn it in the morning and look at the control unit to be sure it's still on before each jump. Not sure what that has to do with looking under the reserve flap though. Wouldn't you want to know that you somehow got a small rock stuck in the ripcord cable housing on your last jump? How can you tell if your RSL is still routed correctly without opening the flap? If your rig has the AAD control unit underneath the reserve flap, how can you check it to be sure it's still on? Those who expect to be listened to when preaching safety should practice it. Even if it seems silly to you to take an extra minute to look under that flap. That newbie standing over there watching you is learning about what "experienced" jumpers do from what you are doing. Not from what you told him to do.

Doesn't matter to me how long it takes. I do gear checks the same way, checking the same things, every time, regardless of how many times I've jumped that day. So it takes an extra minute to open and reclose the flap - I'd much rather be a minute late to the loading area than be wrong in thinking that everything was still okay under there. What really surprises and dismays me is that we now have two AFF instructors, both of whom talk a lot about safety to others on a regular basis, stating publicly that they don't bother to check their reserve pin more than once a day because it's not easy.

Puppy. Here's to at least 19 more!

You may be able to feel if its in all the way, but I doubt you can feel if the pin is bent or nicked, or if there is wear on the closing loop. Exactly. There is more to a pin check than being sure the pin is seated properly. Unless your rig never leaves your sight, you can't be 100% positive that something didn't happen to it since the last time you checked under that flap. Also, shouldn't we do what we teach our students to do? If part of a gear check for someone on Cat E is visually inspecting the reserve pin before every jump, instructors should do the same on our own gear. Every time, whether we are working with a student on that skydive or not. Have to assume that they're going to imitate what we DO, not what we tell them to do...

As a Sharks fan who knows nothing about players other than those that have been on the Sharks , I'm worried. I can see letting Cheech go, he hasn't performed up to expectations the past few seasons. But Michalek? And even worse, they let Grier go - he was the hardest working guy on the team! I'll be surprised if the Sharks even make round one this year.

Right. That's why the first number could be any number that meant something to you. Y'know, like the number of times you thought about boobies, or how many times you flashed the pilot for extra altitude. 2:0:0 Two more good people joined the big way in the sky. No jumps, thanks to the weather godz and my own stupidity. I never owe beer anymore.

I don't.

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