PalmettoTiger

My heart goes out to her family and friends. Sudden deaths are the toughest to deal with. When I lost someone close to me, the thing I missed most was the chance to say goodbye. Agreed. This is probably a little insensitive given the context, but I wish that reports would say "the jumper was not able to deal with the malfunction in time." That's much more accurate, and doesn't imply a transfer of responsibility from the skydiver to the packer/rigger. It also doesn't incriminate people who get royally screwed, like the Kansas State student whose wingsuit covered his cutaway handle. Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

That reminds me of a book I bought recently. I think it should be sponsored by Holiday Inn Expresses worldwide - sold in the lobby, featured in the commercials, the whole deal! The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook Everything in there is actually pretty well researched, although after reading the section on "How to survive if your parachute fails to open," I have my doubts if it's really going to help me out. The advice (courtesy of Joe Jennings, BTW) is to signal to a fellow jumper who hasn't pulled yet (problem #1 - a good track will put you too far away to communicate), have them approach you (problem #2 - do you really want to come near me when I have a tangle of bridles and PCs behind me?), and then hook your arms through his/her MLW and hold onto your own chest strap as your new best friend deploys. But anyway, the book is thorough (they go on to talk about wingloading problems with your impromptu tandem, your landing options, and gear checks to prevent this in the first place). I assume that the rest of the advice is just as well researched (it all makes sense to me), and it's a pretty funny read. Might be a good gag gift for someone who winds up in freaky situations all the time. Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

Here ya go: http://www.princeton.edu/~dankorn/skydive/texel_4way.avi. (2.85 MB) Only for the next few days, since this puts me close to my account's disk quota. Enjoy!

If you make another poll, add a "pony tails and sweats" option. (I'm not saying that to antagonize Mac; I actually find that generally sexier than the other options.) Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

Dan, I'm sorry to hear that your headache/whatever is still keeping you on the ground. It must be serious - you've changed your sig! Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

Whew - glad everything turned out OK. Last summer, when I was converting a friend who restores Corvettes as a hobby, he mentioned that he was really glad the DZ flew a twin-engined turbine aircraft "knowing what I do about piston engines" (his words). It might have come out of scary circumstances, but that's the funniest thing I've seen here in a long time!! [Wayne's World] "I laughed until I hurled."[/Wayne's World] Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

If anyone tried to jump that thing, it wouldn't take very long to pack. Or deploy. But I have my doubts about how much it would slow you down.

I paid slightly more for an identical rig with a slightly larger F-111 main. I think you're getting a good deal for your money. As for whether it's right for you, that depends on your wing loading and whether your body + your gear is less than the reserve's MSW. Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

I took a whuffo ride in a Twin Otter, and didn't wear a chute. Neither did the pilot. Everyone who goes rightseating in our King Air has to wear one. I think the difference is the bulkhead separating the pilots from the "cabin" in the Otter. Someone alluded to that a while ago, but I'm too tired to go find that thread. It doesn't make much sense to me: is the bulkhead going to protect me in a crash? No. Will it prevent me from getting to the door? No. But I suppose it's something about the pilots being at least symbolically separated from the dangers of the jump operation aft of them. Disclaimer: Palmetto Tiger

Well, all this has to be taken with a grain of salt since I only have 12 jumps, I'm nearly uncurrent, and I'm completely out of money. That being said, my most immediate goal is to win Collegiate Nationals before I graduate. Since they don't have a freefly division (4-way, 2-way, style, and accuracy only), and since my rig isn't freefly-ready, I won't do much freeflying for the next few years. I love flying my canopy (even though I'm not good at it), so I'll definitely work on accuracy. There's also a lot of RW expertise available to me, so I might have a shot at achieving this goal via 4-way or 2-way. Beyond that, I don't know. I really love flying my canopy, so CRW and maybe some swooping...? Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

Heheh.. you must live in the Southwest or Midwest. If I took a walk to scout hazards, I'd need knee-highs and all I would see are trees.

Good point Pyke. If you really wanted crash protection (and as you said, nothing will help you in a bounce), a super-tough helmet is nearly useless - it will just transmit the force of the impact straight to your skull. You'd want something that will shatter, deform, whatever, because that energy won't get spent on your cranium. Now that I think about it, there was a thread a while ago about helmets used in NASCAR and the open-wheeled circuits..... Too lazy to go find it.

Ann, have you thought about a short ride (like 12 seconds from 4500 or so) for the first jump? If Flea decides he doesn't like skydiving, dealing with him squirming or protesting for 30 seconds may not be much fun, and might even cause you problems. Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

That's the problem. I'm not on any pain pills. Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

Time is the deciding factor here. Unless you're waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above your decision altitude, go for the reserve. I suspect that most of the time people encounter this mal, they do not have the time needed to get the knife, get a hand on the bridle, cut the bridle (more to cut, and stronger fabric), get stable, and pull the reserve. I do wonder if you should cutaway first though. I assume that pulling the reserve is going to dislodge the main, so in general do folks feel that you run a higher risk of entanglement if the main is cut away or still attached? (At my low experience, I'm sticking with the "if you've pulled one, pull all three" rule, until I have better air awareness.) Blues, squares, PTiger "Beer: the OTHER other white meat."

I had my most vivid skydiving dream ever last night. I even remembered every bit of exit, which never happens on my real-life jumps - I sorta shut my brain off and arch. It was a solo over the desert. Lots of loops and tracking, yet I can't even feel the wind. I have no helmet, no goggles, and just streetclothes for a jumpsuit. My altimeter has been replaced by my wristwatch, which luckily swirled and folded in on itself and slipped into altimeter form as I watched it. Briefly, as I try a frontloop, my hands are handcuffed to my chest strap, but as I go past headdown the handcuffs crumble away. At pull time I find myself looking up at a white parachute that's completely spread spanwise, but chordwise it's completely folded on itself. No sign of the slider. I reach up and pump the toggles and it spreads out and the slider pops into being just behind my head - which is odd because I've never stowed my slider ever and doubt I could do so on my current gear. I look around for traffic and realize I'm over a series of hills with narrow channels cut into them. Everyone else is carving down through the channels, so I spiral down and drop in with them. I'm carving and swooping and I'm so close that my canopy is above the canyon walls but my toes are skimming the dirt. My outer lines brush up and knock dirt off of the channel walls. I don't really know what I'm doing but I just follow everyone else and the reds and browns and tans are all blurring together, until we burst out into a massive crater and touch down gently on the only patch of grass in a 10-mile radius. I wish my fucking elbow would heal up so I can go jump!! Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

MIGHT?! Hah. Does anyone here doubt it? Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

I can imagine the scare the people on the ground would get if your chem-lights kept going! "Oh my god, he's still falling!! PULL!! PULL!!" Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

I second that. No one ever made headlines by playing it safe - but you know what kind of headlines get printed when skydiving is involved. Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

So Sis, for your record attempt (or not?), are you going to need a "ground crew" and a few different "rigs?" I wonder what kind of sponsorships you could arrange? There's a sex shop in Philly that might be interested... Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

Oh, I thought you were including gear. I figured you either made a math error or got a really sweet deal on the gear. Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

Try calling Sunpath; they'll probably know. Disclaimer: Palmetto Tiger

Uh, Jason, you might want to run through that math again.

By rough figuring, I have spent $3600 directly on skydiving since I started a year ago. This doesn't include gas money, lost wages from "sick days," lost future earnings from studying I blew off in favor of skydiving, etc. etc. . It does include my AFF program (I had 3 repeats, 1 due to brainlock and 2 due to long layoffs), subsequent jump tickets, my gear - all of which I bought used - and the cases of beer I owed. I don't have an A license yet, but expect to get it by the end of the summer for the cost of 8 more jump tixx and a few cases of beer. WORTH EVERY PENNY. Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*

If I haven't seen the plane get fueled in the last few jumps, I'll actually ask the pilot if we're gassed up. Because I ask nonchalantly, I get a smartass answer about skydivers and flatulence, but I figure if we're about to run out it would make the pilot think about it. Blues, Squares, PTiger *insert sub-100 character sig here*