bluewaterstream

I already put in an order a few weeks ago for a new collapsible pc and bridle, so I just need to wait until I receive them. My questions were more in reference to avoiding this situation with my new pc & bridle setup. I like the idea that has been suggested about using PD Slinks, so I think I'll talk to my rigger about this option when I receive my new pc. Can you even buy Slinks individually? When I replaced the rapide links on my risers, the Slinks came in a package of four. I think that may be due to the camera angle. The grommet looks OK to me, but I'll definitely have my rigger take a look at it too.

While packing my main the other night I noticed that the nut of the rapide link located inside of the deployment bag has gradually been shredding away at the bridle. (** See pics **) I don't think that it reached through to the kill line yet, but I'm not 100% sure. Nevertheless, with the bridle looking the way it does it definitely didn't seem air worthy to me, so I decided not to jump this weekend. So, how common is this? Can something other than a rapide link be used inside of the d-bag? Or maybe a little tape around the nut of the rapide link to cover up the sharp edges would do the trick, preventing the edges of the nut from scraping against the bridle during deployment.

Not true man, try and be a real leader and encourage good {{{ VIBES }}} all by yourself. You may actually then encourage other people to do the same. Before you know it, you'll have a bunch people encouraging good vibes individually, which may in turn change the entire vibe of Mile-Hi for the better. Bitching, complaining, & pointing the finger does not encourage good vibes, it kills them. If you hang out with a new jumper/visitor/etc. you are setting the "overall vibe" for the DZ through that person's eyes. Therefore, one person CAN change the overall vibe of a DZ on a certain level. Don't let other people determine the vibe of the DZ, be pro-active and help take control. Good for you, try harder! We all should try harder. No one is perfect and there is always room for improvement. Either give up and leave, deal with it, or try harder to help make a change and encourage others to do the same. I'd recommend the 3rd choice. Kill them with kindness. Asshole's are everywhere, not just at Mile-Hi. They do have the right to be assholes if they want to. You can't control other people's behavior. Either try and be cool with them or just simply ignore them. I haven't been jumping at Mile-Hi for very long, but I can totally see both sides of the story here. We have positive people and negative people. That's the yin & yang of life - it's brings balance. If things are out of balance right now, once again, work harder to bring that balance back to Mile-Hi. I have less than 40 jumps, I just recently graduated AFF and earned my A-license, and at times I have felt like somewhat of an Mile-Hi outcast - but hell, that's part of paying your dues. I've come across people at Mile-Hi that are totally good people and others that are dicks. Once again, you see this everywhere, not just at Mile-Hi. Bond with the cool people and ignore the dicks. Simple as that. Lastly, some of these people that you think are assholes may end up actually being cool. Maybe you're misreading some of them. Maybe they're misreading you. First impressions are often wrong. I think that we all are, at times, guilty of judging people to soon. Don't give up and continue being pro-active.

No doubt, we totally got hooked up. I'm so glad that Stacey had a camera and that the balloon guy was cool enough to let her tag along. Anyway, here's my jump: Exits/colorado_balloon_jumps.wmv

On Sunday, May 2nd, my alarm obnoxiously begin's screaming in my ear at 5am and it's time get ready for my first balloon ride/jump which was scheduled for 6am. I closed my eyes for what was supposed to be just a few more seconds of rest and when I reopened them it was now 5:30! Shit! I jump out of bed, quickly throw some clothes on, grab my gear, hop in the car, and haul ass to the dropzone. I arrived about 10 minutes before 6:00, perfect. So, then the balloon guys show up, assemble the balloon, and before you know it, me and 4 other jumpers are gently being lifting off the ground by an enormous balloon full of hot air. Absolutely amazing, the ride up was breathtaking. The winds were extremely mild when we lifted off, so we basically ascended strait up until we reached about 4 grand. This was great for us, because now we all felt like we had a very good chance of landing at our dropzone. However, by the time we reached 5 grand, we had drifted off southeast and now had little chance of making it back. So, now it's go time. The first jumper goes, and now the reality of what we're doing hits like a Bruce Lee kick to the head. Oddly enough, I wasn't nervous at all. Then three more of my new balloon comrades go. By the time I was up, the balloon had fallen down to 3,200 AGL. Screw that, I wasn't jumping out until we at least brought that balloon back up to 4 grand. So, the pilot brought me back up to about 4,200. By now, I drifted off pretty far away from everyone else and knew that I was probably going to land by myself somewhere. No worries, I saw a few farms below me that I could easily land on, so I hopped up on the rail of the balloon and jumped into the open air. The first 10 - 15 seconds where amazing! Due to the fact that it was so extremely quiet and that my body obviously wasn't falling that fast for the first few seconds, I felt as if I was almost levitating. I felt totally stable as soon as my feet left the balloon, which I think also contributed to that feeling of levitation. I imagine this is why people get into BASE jumping, to experience this feeling. Once I hit terminal velocity it felt just like another skydive. I pitched at 3,500 and was under canopy by about 2,700. I knew exactly where I was landing by about 2 grand and made a nice landing in the middle of an open field. We have video of the jump, so hopefully we'll get that online soon. I'll try to post it tonight. Keep an eye on this My up and coming 666 Devil jump thread too, it looks like Steve is going to post this jump too.

Thanks Mary...

Man, you guys are getting me all psyched up with these videos and pictures! I'm on the list to jump this Sunday. I can't wait! Be sure to send me some good {{{ VIBES }}} for my first balloon jump...

Sweet. How did you receive this notice? Via email? If so, how do I get on that email list?

So, I've heard a few different things regarding the requirements for balloon jumps and I'm not sure how accurate either of them are. Hopefully this first one is true. Someone once told me that all you need is your A-License if you do a balloon jump from 5,000 ft AGL. If that's true, are there any Colorado jumpers here that can recommend a local balloon pilot that will go up that high? However, recently I've heard that you need at least a B-License and that most balloon jumps are done from about 3,500 ft AGL. If this is true, I guess I need to get my water training over with, make a few more jumps, and get my B. Any recommendations on where to go to take care of my water training requirement as quickly as possible? ~ John

"Pilot chute "under/over" problems. The pilot chute may fall over the leading edge of the canopy and re-inflate underneath, usually causing a turn in the distorted canopy. Attempt to stall the canopy slightly so that it backs up, possibly allowing the pilot chute to come back up and over the front of the parachute. If the canopy cannot be controlled with toggles, break away and pull your reserve ripcord." - Dropzone.com In my opinion, another advantage of a collapsible PC is that it decreases the chances of having a nasty PC "under/over" malfunction. Since a collapsible PC can't re-inflate and create as much drag as a normal PC, I wouldn't think that it would be as likely to cause a situation that would require a cut away. I've never heard anyone else ever say this, so please correct me if I'm wrong. Sometimes I like to believe my own lies and this may be one of those times.

Just a quick update. My trip out to California was great and I didn't encounter any problems carrying my rig onto the plane. The only question I got at Sacramento was, you guessed it, why would I jump out of a perfectly good airplane? I haven't been jumping very long, but I am already growing a little tired of wuffos asking this stupid question. Oh well, I usually make the best of it and give them a funny wise ass answer that usually makes them laugh. I only made one jump at Skydance, but it was a good one. This was my first time jumping at a new DZ and was an extremely cool experience. Looking down during freefall and seeing an entirely different landscape beneath me was pretty sweet. ~ John

It doesn't look like the ACE Pure Silicone Lubricant is available any longer. I went to ACE Hardware.com and all I could find was DuPont® Performance Pure Silicone Lubricant. This should be fine, right?

I'm not stressed in the least, I just want to be prepared. You're from Colorado, right? You should know that we don't get stressed out here.

Speaking of helmets, I have a Protec with a ProDytter attached to it and I plan on carrying that onto the plane too - do you think the ProDytter will freak them out?

I plan on making a few jumps at Skydance in Davis, CA on March 19th and/or 20th. After reading about all of the crap some of you have been through at various airports, I'm beginning to question whether or not it's even worth bringing my own rig(w/ an AAD) for just 3 or 4 jumps. I would check it in as a carry-on and bring all of the necessary paper work from the TSA, USPA, Airline & AAD docs. What do you think? Just in case, does anyone know what kind of rental rigs Skydance has and how much they charge for them? ~ John

yes Approximately how much would a rigger charge to replace both of the lower brake lines?

By opposite side, I'm assuming that you mean the left/right side of the riser? Therefore, if the brake line is heading up the right side of the riser from the locking ring, then the excess would be stowed on the left side of the riser beside the toggle. I think I'm understanding you correctly, but just want to make sure.

Would you all agree that this is a safe method of stowing excess brakeline? Do any of you currently stow your brakes this way? Ever hear of anyone having a negative experience with this method. Any advantages or disadvantages?

Congrats! I think I may have actually been on the plane with you on your 99th or 100th, I was doing a Hop & Pop. Anyway, good job! Kalyne, sorry I didn't recognize you when you said hi to me on the trailer. I think if you said that you were aka: "RkyMtnHigh" that would have made a big difference. Oh well, I'll recognize next time for sure... ~ John

I just received my Protec & Dytter and I'm planning on mounting the Dytter to the outside of the Protec. Should I be concerned with having the Dytter on the outside of the helmet, is this somewhat of a safety hazard? I know that it's not even close to being on the same level as flying a camera but I suppose a line still could get caught up on the Dytter. Is this a valid concern or am I just over analyzing? Any thoughts?

Good deal and it sounds like you responded efficiently and appropriately. I had a similar experience a few months ago. Anyway, I posted my experience here and received this good advice from darkwing: "I caution you (and others) that if you had your hand on the cutaway handle, please inspect the cables through the 3-ring immediately (under canopy) to make sure you didn't partially pull them. And make sure the handle is fixed to the velcro. -- JW"

Oh man, you ladies are killing me over here. It's sounds like I got some bad advice and missed out on a good deal. Crap! Oh well, live and learn...

Maybe they don't like you. Just kidding! That's a bit strange. Maybe you kick ass and I suck. Who knows.

Well damn, that last rig that I mentioned had a 210 Silhouette. Almost everyone that I spoke with at my DZ said that this was not a good canopy for a beginner to have on their first rig. Not because of the size but because of its flight characteristics. So, I found two more rigs for sale and these are what they have for mains: Foil 282 & Triathlon 190. Any thoughts? Which do you think would be better for me? I'm leaning more torwards the Triathlon, but I'm wondering if this too is a canopy that shouldn't be in the hands of someone that only has 15 jumps under his belt. I will ask everyone again at my DZ, but wanted to see what some of you thought. ~ John note: I jumped a 260 last weekend and didn't notice that much of a difference. However, it seemed to have a better flare than the 290 when landing and stood it up with no problem. Also, riser turns were a little bit easier.

Yeah, no doubt. The reserve is a 210 as well...