Adriandavies

For a long time you will find different circumstances stopping you from jumping. If it isn't the wind it may be lack of suitable rental gear, if it isn't rental gear it may be lack of coaches, if not coaches then maybe there'll be too many tandems. Seriously though once you have your licence and access to gear you will find yourself doing a lot more jumping.

...so which one will be best...? Brand new site using proven technology, big catchment area for leisure business, good profile amongst the skydiving community, but costing £3m and as yet has no confimed building date. Or a much older site which although already built needs adapting, but which doesn't require big money investment. Will it come down to cost or long term viability?

It goes to show that even in controlled airpsace you can still have problems. I also guess it has to be controlled tightly because it is a small and over crowded little island.

If you like warm beer and expensive jump tickets Langar in the UK has one twice a year for boogies....I think Sibson also gets one in as well.

The only people who fly regularly at my DZ are from the DZ, and although I don't know what the exact status of the airspace I think in practice it is shut to other users unless they are booked in. That however doesn't stop people over flying it by mistake. If the DZO get their registration details a complaint is filed.

£3.00 at Langar in the UK for solos. Most of the tamdem masters pack their own so I don't know what the rate is for them.

Gus, I think skydiving movies has been down for the past week.

In the UK there is a BBC TV programme called Tomorrow's World which is about science and inventions. A couple of years ago they did a feature about adrenalin sports which featured base jumpers. Basically they did similar research to you using heart monitors, and I think found similar results. Bare in mind that these were experienced jumpers but the results still showed big spikes in heart beat just as they jumped.

I know there are other threads with jokes in them, but has anyone got any new ones, or even good old ones which just need to be re told?

Wushidaoist...are your serious? Judging by the conscripts the Iranian army turns into cannon fodder I doubt if many could shoot straight enough to hit anything under canopy.

Jeeze, my original post was a little tongue in cheek, but I now realise that it could have had very serious consequences. As it is I have a bit of a stiff neck but I'm OK and my rig is OK. Thanks for all the comments.

It normally opens slowly and smoothly. I have had one or two hard ones but I am sure they were down to my pack job rather than body position. I'm always willing to listen and learn more so have you got any tips for slow openings?

I went jumping at the weekend after I hadn't jumped for a month. After I arrived I had a niggling feeling that last time I packed I hadn't pulled the slider out before rolling the tail. I mentioned this to some mates and basically the consensus was 'it will still open so jump it!' I jumped, I pulled, I went oh f**k as my nuts almost started their own freefall independant of me. So there you go...I hadn't pulled the slider out and now know that it does have a huge effect on slowing down the opening. Next time I have a niggling feeling that I may not have done something I'm going to re pack before I jump. BTW it is a Sabre 150.

I don't know about 7 cutaways but Dean at my DZ in England (Lanagar) used to jump a rig which he could do double cutaways on. These were normally planned and were something the dz controller/commentator was in on...except for the first time Dean did it but didn't tell anyone. He jumped and cutaway once as planned meaning that the commentator could whip the crowd up to a frenzy whilst describing the ensuing mal. Then Dean cut away again, which cut the commentator off in mid sentence and probably left him with brown pants as well! This was back in the 60's or early seventies.

Judging from USPA and BPA membership numbers growth seems to have stopped as far as full members and therefore regular jumpers is concerned. Maybe the author was referring to tandems, as this is one area which still seems to be growing like mad. ------------------------------------------------------

First I am not a rigger but I have seen my regular rigger tighten my pop top in about 3 seconds flat. Second I have found it to be a little vulnerable when clambering about in the back of some planes such as a Caravan. I caught the cover of the pop top on the roof. This didn't damage the rig in any way aat all but it could have resulted in the fabric cover going AWOL. Apart from that I am very happy with my rig, a TSE Classic by the way.

My first ever skydive was from a small Cessna in Cairns, Australia but I have never jumped out of one since then. To be honest I think the experience has put me off. First they couldn't start the engine so we sat there sweltering in the heat, then we had to wait ages whilst other aircraft landed (the DZ used the Cairns international airport), including a flying school doing touch and go's. The flight to altitude took an age and despite it being Oz it got bloody cold on the way up. On run in another plane deposited a tandem in front of us meaning that we had to go around. All I saw was a blur moving very fast groundwards. When it was time to climb out I had difficulty getting my left foot over the trim on the edge of the door. By this time I was cold, stiff, nervous. The video is hilarious. I had to make two attempts to get my left foot over the trim, then it was like a game of twister to get my right foot between the JM's feet and onto the tyre, my hands on the strut, then my left foot around the video man's feet. The jump itself went well apart from me being as stiff as a plank (arch what arch?). Since then though I have had an unnatural aversion to small Cessnas, something which I will really have to get over next season.

If you want an extreme example of bad reporting look at all the rubbish which has been printed about Steven Hilder. I think there has been one good, accurate and none sensational article, one which used the correct terminology, compared to hundreds which weren't. Some articles for one paper were alledgedly written by an x SAS soldier and experienced skydiver but even these were littered with inaccuracies and sensational content, leading me to think that it was ghost written. At least the tv news mainly used the facts. Its a sad fact that a great deal of Joe Public is only interested in gossip, sleave and sensational reports and probably wouldn't read or watch reports which discriminate between fact and fiction.

There is a massive amount of churn ie the number of people starting and stopping the sport, so whilst lots of people take skydiving up an equally large number also drop out. I guess there are many reasons for this, cost, safety and whuffo peer pressure to name three, but I also wonder about the attitude of a minority of skydivers, dzo's, cci's etc who seem to be hell bent on keeping numbers down by being unfriendly and unwelcoming. If we could retain more even a small extra percentage of students we could start to grow the sport again.

Is Borders shutting for good? There was a brief mention in the December mag about it shutting due to residential development, but I wasn't sure if this meant that it was shutting for good or if there was enough room for skydiving to continue at a later date. If it is shutting for good that means we have lost 2 DZ's this year!

Yep. Lodi's Still like me a Caravan, or Otter better. Especialy in the hands of a new(er) pilot. Can't say I'd want to put 7 or 8 outside on a 99. Done it on a Caravan, and Otter. I guess it's all about what you like, and what you've gotten used to. I like the Door of an Otter better than Caravan, but when it comes to tandems, I like the benches in a Caravan FAR better than the benches in an Otter, or the (shudder) floor. The 99 out here has the same sort of benches as the Caravans at my old DZ. Benches...Caravan...Am I missing something here? The only Caravans I have jumped from don't have benches, just a nice floor littered with straps and restrainers which are a right pain after a 15 minute ride to altitude with another skydiver on your lap. As for my favourite plane I have got to say Otters, LET410 and Skyvans. Fast, roomy, nice doors and of course the tailgate on the Skyvan.

I've got the info about investing in the UK Skyventure through the founders club but I was wondering if anyone out there had any opinions about the investment such as its risk, growth potential, rate of return, dividend policy etc? All the info I have seen is contained in the prospectus and founders club application found on the website. [url]www.skyventure.co.uk

Just keep jumping all year round! I've jumped when its -35c at altitude but to be honest the only time I notice the cold is when under canopy with my hands on the toggles! I've also seen people have malfunctions as they could not deploy their main due to having cold hands, but if you prepare properly that should reduce the problem. At Langar we have a really good local rigger who puts togther excellent thermal jump suits. . Besides the countryside looks really beautiful and the clear blue skys you get on a good day are lovely to behold.

Just to expand a bit on the skydiving v rollercoasters debate how do you guys feel about bunjee jumping v skydiving? I am not interested in bunjee jumping (not risky enough?), but I skydive. I'm also a travel agent who sells packages which can include a tandem skydive or a bunjee. A good 60-70% of my customers are interested in tandems but refuse to go bunjee jumping.

Hi Maxim. Changing DZ's and equipment can be a problem. Sticking with one instructor all the way through a course is a really good idea. I ran out of good weather in Oz before finishing my AFF so I ended up at Skydive Portugal to finish my levels. The chief instructor there wanted me to jump with two instructors as if I was on a level 3 jump, but with one instructor just making sure that I went for the right (BOC) rip cord rather than going for the cutaway which was in the position where I would have found the rip cord back in Oz. I know that at the time jumping with two instructors was largely down to my inexperience, but their main concern was about my muscle particularly in a stress situation. In comparison changing from rip cord to pull out seems to be a much smaller step.