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you mean i listed a rant, rave or ego in there? How come i cant find it? Its encoded in the jumps to wing loading ratio. From your register date it shows you haven't been around the site long. Let me just warn you, Low jump numbers + High Wing loading is pretty frowned on around here. I would guess that has a lot to do with this forum where people have to come on here and report that Jumper XYZ just brokekilled himself doing a 270 @ 300 jumps on a velocity 90 (Ok, thats an exageration but not really that far from the truth with some people around here) It comes down to people thinking they know what's up when really they have so little knowledge they can't possibly be accurately measuring their own performance. Now, I am not saying that is you... but that is what comes to mind when someone says 1.8 @ 2xx jumps. People around here read way more into what you say than the words on the surface. For what it's worth, even I think 1.8 @ 250 jumps is a lot and honestly I won't try and say I have been conservative in my canopy flying. ~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 is so much wrong with that picture. The cessna has no gear. If you look up the N number its listed as: N64587 is Assigned Assigned/Registered Aircraft Aircraft Description Serial Number 75-7900 Type Registration Individual Manufacturer Name BOEING Certificate Issue Date 06/28/2000 Model B75N1 Status Valid Type Aircraft Fixed Wing Single-Engine Type Engine Reciprocating Pending Number Change None Dealer No Date Change Authorized None Mode S Code 52075536 MFR Year 1943 Fractional Owner NO That is not a cessna... Odd. ~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

Thats what I was hearing ~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

man... You two are going to fit in perfect with the rest of the people around here. ~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

Perfect combination right there if you ask me!

Excited!? Us? haha of course... :) I need to find some feathers or something ~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

I had a great time jumping with them last year. I was waiting to hear if they were going to be there for sure this year. I had heard some rumors, but this seals the deal for me heading down there. One of the cleanest, highest point skydives I was ever on was last year at rantoul with a guy from my home DZ + Craig and Eliana. Was a lot of fun and left me with a sense of acomplishment. ~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

If you are talking about safety then you might be contradicting yourself. If you turn low on a canopy with a long recovery arc you might be injured already and not even be able to see it yet. A canopy with a short recovery arc will plane out faster (obv.) and it will be more forgiving of a low turn (if you can say that about any canopy) The only possible gain in the sense of what you seem to be talking about regarding jumping a canopy with a longer arc is being able to start a turn higher and have a broader range of control through a longer turn to adjust for being off at the start. I wouldn't call that safer, I would call it different. Short or Long there is only so much margin on the low side before you are just too low to pull it off. That said, I probally won't jump a stilletto because I would rather jump a Smaller saber or a Xfire or something more along that lines on my way to the Katana, etc. ~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

Its hot and sorta muggy here... I don't think most people will be sitting because of it though I do tend to pack in the air conditioned areas of the DZ when its that hot out... I just hope it doesn't rain this weekend. ~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

1.3 on a S2 170.... In progress. I am doing 180s these days. 95% of the jumps I have are on this canopy so I figured it would be a good start. I want to get something a little zippier but not till I am consistant at doing 270s on this one. That won't be till late this year or the begining of next. (Just based on how many jumps I am doing a month and how many I want to stay doing 180s for / figure it will take for me to understand them) Its not awesome but its fun for me. ~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

Them guys have a whole hell of a lot of RC skill too I would imagine. ~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

Heh yeah, I dont buy plastic framed sunglasses anymore. I break them all, I dont care what brand. That said, I wear Oakleys because of how clear they are. The might be a little scratch prone but if you take care of them (and most people aren't subjecting them to the kind of abuse that those in the military would be doing) they last long enough. ~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 DZ I jump at is pretty mixed. I have to say though, lots of people are starting to gravitate towards freeflying these days. I don't think its bad though. Also, yeah... don't lump all swoopers into the FF category. Lots of us RW/FF/Mix people do it too :) ~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

Something about this work thing... and making cool T-Shirts for the bonanza just takes up all the time in a day.... No really, I hope to see a ton of people there... I really wish I was a better freeflyer than I am so I could get in on some of the shit hot jumps that I know will be going on. I expect to see some awesome swooping goin on in our backyard again. Oh and thanks freakydiver... Of all the places around here that I could have started skydiving, I am sure glad I started at Sky Knights. ~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

Haha I hope you mean scary... Some of the older video is awesome. Kyle and some friends were doing 3 way syncs all last weekend into our DZ backyard... fun stuff to watch. ~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

Good to hear :) ~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

Are you two the same person? It doesn't seem like it... I'm going to see her in about an hour. If you still have an issue bergen i can mention it to her. ~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

It was a lot of fun. It's really a shame that there isn't a tunnel that is closer to where I live. GO 3 way tie for intermediate...!!! ~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

jeese, ej. didnt take your for one to jump on a bandwagon. so are the entrance gates two skyscrapers? because im going to need gates that big in order not to vert. So are you telling me that we need to get 10 footers just so you do vert?? The gates in the pictures that I posted are 17' which is quite frankly "insane" and if you miss them you deserve any shit tanken for doing so... Even I hit em and I suck!

Yeah, thats one possible conclusion. Though it's not really something that I would support. People throw around so many rules these days like that is the fix to the problem. If that was a rule, then I am sure that at DZs across the country people would be breaking it all the time. It's not about having rules to me it's more about getting people to think more about what they are doing. Ya know, putting the 'common' back into the phrase common sense. There is almost always someone at the DZ during jumping operations that should know better and help out younger jumpers. Everyone seems in such a rush to make rules on this or that. Some of the topics that get talked about on here I do agree that we should have a few more rules, some I don't think that we should. This is the latter. Life is not always so cut and dry. There is so much to be said for the gray area in between. All I am saying is that a few night jumps in the right circumstances gives you an experience to draw on later if you find yourself hanging under canopy with a waning sun on the horizon. ~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

Thats pretty damn cool ~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

What about the old rainbow colored rigs and jumpsuits? I know a few gay jumpers... But like others have said skydiving is just like real life. There is a mix of different types of people in everything. yep Though the nature of any event, hobby, sport, or whatever often tends to mean there are more or less of one portion of society that is involved. I figure its a giant matrix of precentages and somewhere you find a row that describes us and includes the average number of this or that trait, race, social stratum, whatever that composes the cultural group "skydiver" Clearly we have more thrill seeking people in our group than exist in the rest of society, on a percentage basis of the two wholes. (or maybe not, im just guessing) ~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

This thread gets my stamp of comedic approval... PK you are in the dark here or something. I hope you're just playing a long with the joke.... Cause if you aren't it's not really ok to be laughing so hard at this thread. ~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

It's a nice thing about DZ.com - if the topic isn't interesting to keep going on it's own merit there's always someone willing to go nutty over semantics. Even here I've seen a variation of "I understand what you meant, but I don't think it should be WORDED that way" People get so hung up on some of the semantics that they forget to think about what really happens when you step away from the computer. Not everyone has been up in a plane at dusk, not everyone has a clue as to what its going to be like when they land, not everyone realizes how quick it can get dark. These are the people that this is mostly talking about. After you do that once or twice you know what to expect and then it isn't "accidental." Call it accidental or call it unplanned, doesn't make a big difference to me. It comes down to the fact that people will get out of the plane w/o the experiences and w/o the proper information for lots of really stupid reasons. Making people do a planned and informed night jump or 2 will save thier ass if they find themselves doing something else stupid later. Its the lack of good judgement when a person gets on the plane figuring that they are going to make it and they are sitting in a full otter at the door looking out going "damn its dark" and have 20 other people yelling at them to go because the green light is on that a planned, briefed, supervised night jump will help you with. Don't tell me your average "I want to be cool" 100 jump wonder isn't going to leap out that door. Well, at least to me, that seems to be the point that Ron is trying to make. For the record I have done ~10 night jumps and around the same in "dusk" jumps. Neither bother me that much, jumping at night is a whole lot of fun. ~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