Fast

Mine used to do this every now and then. Most of the time it opened great, here and there it didn't. I think part of it is sloppy slider placement for sure. The problem has basically gone away now since I had it relined (and had snaps added to the slider). ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Hey, how about a Chicago tunnel in Philly? It could pull in people from all over the east coast. Or one in Brussels could attract the west Europeans too. Just think of the business you could attract putting the Chicago tunnel in Shanghai! Really. heh, for the love of god, someone needs to build a tunnel in this area. There are like a bajillion people in the chicago market. We have 5 turbine DZs (including one of the largest in the country) which pull the Northern IL / Southern Wisconsin market and a handful of cessna dropzones on top of it. The market is here, I am actually shocked it has taken this long. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

The DZs in Alberta are not large businesses. The person you call a receptionist is probably running manifest, scheduling tandems, organizing AFF jumps and instructors, and is might also be doing a few other things. Maybe that is the case but they still shouldn't advertise her number on their website then saying "for any questions call us" they should just get a person who deals with all the questions then. :( Some people keep dz office staff on the phone for 20-30 minutes then decide not to book. Some people call and want to go through the website page by page for an hour. Some people are quick and to the point. It sucks, but they have to prioritize. At my home DZ, a busy day can see 80 calls. That 1-2 people have to take while also checking customers in and all the other stuff. Too expensive to have much more than 1-2 people, they do what they can. Point I am making is that it's not indicative most of the time of the quality of the dropzone as a whole or it's instruction. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Real estate is much cheaper south of the city, and I-80, I-55 and I-57 serve IN, IA, MI as well as Chicago metro area. Gurnee just suits the cheeseheads. I'll take what I can get, though I really am hoping for something not much more than a 3 hour drive from milwaukee. I think you can locate something in a reasonable place in Illinois and meet that. Whatever though I guess, anything that doesn't involve a crazy plane ticket would be nice. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Worst case scenario you kill the balloon pilot. The balloon needs to be in a descent prior to exit to ensure there aren't problems with the sudden loss of weight. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Hey man, it's the internet - sarcasm on here goes over about as well as a bucket full of lead floats. It never ceases to amaze me what people are willing to say. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Sorry, some of us have to work to pay for skydives. I did tandems all weekend. I fully intend to work on this concept at some point - but I'm gone at a boogie all weekend and there are too many lunatics at boogies for this kind of thing. Next weekend I have to organize a wingsuit state record (and do tandems), maybe I'll get to it after that. Sheesh, sorry I couldn't drop everything to impress some dude on the internet with no patience (clearly haha). Anyways - what is your axe to grind here. The man been keeping you down or something? It looks like you're only doing 125 jumps a year which isn't exactly the type of super currency that I would recommend for people learning to swoop. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

There are substantial issues here all around. Depending on the sport to tandem gross income ratio, there can be problems with the IRS accepting a tax exempt status. (This is where that tax accountant helps). The club I am a part of is actually a for profit corporation that is run in a non-profit manner (ie. no one takes home the profit, it gets re-invested into stuff for the club to be nicer) because we have too much tandem income to qualify as tax-exempt. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

We taught a few people 3 years ago (a whole class of 4 that were deaf) using the same system. Hand signals with paddles from the ground. It's what they used to use for everyone back in the day before radios were small enough and dropzones could afford fancy electronics. You just need to be sure to study the map of the area very well. Good luck and have a lot of fun!!!!

Yeah for sure. I have made it a point to ask them some form of "Do you still want to skydive" after I have finished all of my in-plane instruction. This is generally just before the door gets opened but even after this point if the person says they don't want to go, I wouldn't take them. From a liability standpoint, personally as an instructor (and for our dropzone) I won't do much if any "talking into" it. I generally tell my students who are very scared a very simple thing that helps them remember that what they are doing is reasonable. "We're both going skydiving together and I want to do this again" or something along that lines. I also stick to fairly straight forward stuff when it comes time to exit the airplane. Direct commands that leave little to interpretation. "Slide down the bench" "Get into position" "Hand on your harness" the kind of stuff that doesn't leave them much room to think about what they are doing. I also have the added benefit of doing tandems primarily from a turbine, there is less time between when the door is opened and we are out of the plane, which seems to be generally when they start to panic. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Some DZ's have rules against it. Mostly cause it's typically going the other way, male instructor trying to sleep with impressionable girl students. Also, heh - reality check here. If you're a dude, in an AFF class, with almost no jumping experience and no time around the sport - you are gonna have to be exceptionally amazing as a person in personality, looks or both to get her attention. It's like 2:1 dudes to chicks (or worse) on a dropzone, she likely has more attention than she knows what to do with. That said, hey - you never know if you don't ask right?

I'm not a fan of what you guys are doing because it's gonna make a mess for the rest of us. "Those damn skydiving centers, they are full of people who just want to buck the system." I mean, I understand that being unjustly persecuted by the local government sucks, but full on "fuck you" on youtube is really really bad. Also, to put it in perspective, I wouldn't put it past the military to be mucking around in the personal life of your jumpers at this point. Looking for someone who might be a threat. That means digging into personal information, tracking your whereabouts, etc. Military bases and national security is one place you just want to stay as far away from as you can. Patriot act and all..... Mostly though - I think on the outside most of us support the fact that it sucks that you might lose your dropzone and know that there are ways to make it reasonable for you to stay there, but man - how can we support how you're going about things at this point. It's way too in your face "fuck you" to the government. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Yeah man I agree. I have seen by percentage so many people make mistakes and hurt themselves on night jumps compared to any other type of skydiving. (And I am talking what I have personally witnessed) I also agree that it depends some on the dropzone, at my place an off landing really isn't a big deal, we have plentiful outs in every direction. At a place like crosskeys or something, the whole subject gets changed, mostly cause the whole subject of wingsuiting and outs changes. I don't think that there is anything exceptional or advanced about holding onto the back of a wingsuiter. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Haven't read that on any, but may have overlooked it. I thought the photos were often/always the legal property of the video guy, not the DZ? It all depends on the setup. At my DZ, if you're getting paid to jump, the photo is property of the dropzone, if you're not getting paid to jump, it's yours. Our photo release on the waiver is for anyone who is staff, and they can use the photo for anything that they want. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

You and I both know that this is a load of crap, but feel free to keep trying to convince people on the interwebz of your uber skillz. I'm not trying to prove anything. See the other thread about swooping, I could care less who can swoop better or worse than me, I'm just here trying to have fun. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything there, it's just statements of fact. With a highly skilled pilot who is equally competent on both canopies, of course they are going to get more performance out of a velocity. No one is arguing that at all. (And that is the point I was making). Now, if you compare two different people, who are starting out as noobs, at 300 jumps both of them decide to learn swooping. One sticks with the saber2 he has been jumping and downsizes to a 120 and the other switches to a velocity, the guy who sticks with saber class canopy is likely to learn faster and in a much safer manner. If they both stick with the same canopy, eventually the guy on the velocity is gonna be out swooping him, if he lives that long w/o breaking himself, etc. It looks something like the attached image. FWIW, I don't have any jumps on a saber 2 120 either, I just picked that size cause it's the biggest velocity that they make. You said that you're just asking for video, then claim that I am on here acting Skygod and whatever, trying to prove my uber skills, but clearly you came to this thread with some kind of chip on your shoulder. I mean, I know - I'm an experienced skydiver, we really are just trying to keep everyone down all the time, so that's a lot to compete with. What can I say (/sarcasm/kidding/etc). Also, I don't actually "know that this is a load of crap" because I generally don't come on the internet to make stuff up, I actually believe in what I was writing. My wife owns a saber2 120 - I'll see if it fits in my rig. She doesn't swoop so I can't show you any of her hot swoop video. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Is that what the argument is? I thought it was, you learn faster on a canopy you can handle and that most people flying a normal canopy to learn can generally out swoop those who rush into a "swooper" canopy. That said, I likely can out swoop you on a saber 2 120, even if you were jumping a velocity 120. Mostly based on the fact that i have thousands (literally) more swoops than you. The whole argument is about skill and how fast you can increase that skill based on what you're jumping. Edit to add, I could consistently (read almost every time) hit 10 ft gates and go 200-300 feet with a saber 1 150. In many varying wind conditions. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Here's some good advice: Get your license before buying your equipment and work hand in hand with your instructors and the person who is going to be your rigger to pick something out that is appropriate for you. I promise you that they are going to be willing to help. And finally, be wary of any "good deal" in skydiving. 99% of the time, you get what you pay for in aviation related activities. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Pre-Registration ends at noon on friday. If you want to get the boogie shirt you have to be registered by then. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Tubular nylon webbing works well for making the weights cause you only have to sew the ends and it's perfectly round when it's filled up. Sew one end off, flip it inside out, fill with lead (in a baggie if you want) then sew the other end shut. Comes in consistent sizes. so all the weights feel the same. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Really.... Reaallllyyy....??...?..? You pick myyyyyy post to act like a jerk. I just don't get it, I mean I essentially came on here defending the fact that up-thread people were being unreasonable in their responses, that you were just a guy who wants to know where to go and what to learn on AND I gave you some helpful things to think about. Let me say this a little louder... to be GOOD at swooping you NEED LOTS OF FUCKING EXPERIENCE PERIOD. I didn't say you can't start learning till you have lots of experience, I said, don't expect to be very good at it at first, or very quickly, there aren't any shortcuts. I mean, you're disproving my whole argument that it pays to be nice to people on here and try and help. Shape up. Experience is a word used to describe what those of us have who managed to NOT DIE and not horribly mangle our bodies while having a whole lot of fun. You get that experience by doing. I generally tell people whatever I want to tell them, they can take it or leave it. That goes in person too if you ask anyone who knows me. In one sentence you say 'experience' doesn't mean anything, but then you "admire" my wisdom, (which coincidentally, comes from my experience) so which is it. Really frustrating man. Go re-read the constructive posts of this thread again, then go make skydives. Get a coach to teach you how to swoop. As for experienced people trying to "keep everyone else down" I am really getting sick of hearing that. Why on earth would I care how good you are or not. :boggle: I jump out of planes cause I like the feeling of flying, if you can out swoop me, go right ahead, wtf do I care. I don't even compete. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

Couple more things to think about. Riding the plane to altitude and doing a hop and pop from there is more flight time for less pack jobs and in most places, it's more efficient flight time to money. You're going to learn the most about how the parachute works if you have people to fly around with so find a friend that likes doing hop and pops (Wendy mentioned CRW, yeah... that stuff

Best bet is to call the tunnel and ask them their recommendations. Explain what you have going on and what you want to work on and they will sort it out best for you and them. The tunnel is cool, have fun!

How silly... bargain basement shopping for skydiving. Cool thing to know, if you want to do AFF, beloit isn't gonna help you out, they don't teach skydiving there, they just take tandems for a ride. I haven't been there personally, but a few people have mulled around the place to see what it's like so I know it exists. People need to stop giving these guys money None the less, go have fun make your skydive then find a "real" dropzone that cares about the sport to learn how to jump! ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

When on earth does it get quiet at manifest???? lol what a concept. Honestly, point your ass towards manifest / office / etc and get your jump on. ~D Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me. Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka