Grogs

You're talking about the mythological Icarus who built flying wings, but flew too high and died when the wings melted? I'd think you can get some drawings of it on some websites about greek mythology. My only tattoo is of a guy swooping a canopy with my canopy colors. It looks something like this: http://personal.picusnet.com/grogs/canopy.jpg Although the tattoo artist actually did a much better job with it than my drawing since he put in lots of nice shading and such.

Hehe. How can you forget him? I know Sangiro cancelled his DZ.com account at least once, so he became wazzzzup instead of wassssup. He probably IP blocked him after that so that's why he dropped off the face of the earth.

It's probably not a problem. It seems most larger canopies, and especially student canopies are set up so they can't be stalled if you overflare. It's a bit of a protective mechanism to keep you from bow-tieing the canopy when you land and dropping yourself hard. The only real problem is if the brake lines are too long and you're not getting enough flare out of it. I'd check it out by wrapping the steering lines around your hands once and then burying the toggles to see if it'll stall there. If it still won't stall, take 2 wraps and try again, and keep repeating with more and more wraps if necessary. Once you've found out how many wraps it takes before the canopy stalls, talk to your rigger about it and he can advise you on whether your steering lines need to be lengthened or not.

Hehe. I know FFF likes pies.

Well... you don't actually even have to be sick believe it or not. Just tell them your car is broken down. It's hard for them to argue about it since there's no way you can make it to work without a car, plus you've got an automatic alibi if they call your house while you're out skydiving (at the mechanic). You just have to make sure you don't hurt yourself skydiving because that sort of blows your cover.

I'll second, or third, or whatever the notion of the braked turn. It can really save you if you get in a tight spot. If the people on the ground were concerned, it was probably a bit low although without seeing it myself I can't say for sure. They usually have a better perspective than you do under the canopy. In any case, I'm glad you're ok and as long as you've learned a bit from this something positive has occured. By the way, this is a bit of a coincidence, but since Riggerrob mentioned this I'll bring it up. I just finished the USPA Coach Course this weekend, and one of our 'homework' assignments was to find out how much altitude we lost on a 180 degree toggle turn. On my Silhouette 170 loaded at 1.1:1 I lost around 250 feet.

I think it's a good thing you're being prepared Jason. If, for example, you end up with a bad spot, you'll have quite a bit more knowledge about how to do your off-field landing than a typical first-jump student with 4 hours of training. Also, in my experience, there were some things that slipped through the cracks in my own training (grabbing the rear risers when the canopy opened for example) that I picked up along the way by talking to other jumpers, reading web sites, watching videos, etc. The first jump course is pretty vague because it has to be. The average adult can only retain 7 learning points per session, so you want them to get points like 'If you have a big ball of crap over you head when you open, pull this handle and then this handle' rather than how to spot an aircraft (can you tell I just got my BIC?

Oops, missed this one: I'm sure there are pilots out there who can't use a GPS, although I haven't encountered it personally. I did hear a story about a load of jumpers who almost got out over downtown Norfolk because the green light came on and it wasn't exactly conditions the FAA would approve of. Fortunately, there was a hole in the 'industrial haze' and someone had the common sense to look down before he jumped out. It turned out the pilot was at his 2nd waypoint, and thought he was at his 3rd (the airport). As for Frank and the GPS, I guess I would be more accurate saying he's an expert at picking the spot. Most idiots can program a point into the GPS and fly to it, but you still have to figure out the correct ground track and release point to program into it.

We have a regular door (at least it's the same as the door at Cross Keys and Louisa, so I assume it's regular), but we've got a bar on top that runs about 2 feet in front and in back of the door, so the superfront and super rear are actually completely to the side of the door with just a toe in the very corner of the door and the other 3 are able to get into the door frame area by turning towards the front of the airplane. It's possible, but definitely tight as hell. As for the jump-run, the reason it was scaring me was because we hadn't started moving towards the back of the airplane or climbing out the door and the stall horn was already going off. When the 8-way lined up in the door, I was pushing back towards the instrument panel and pulling the other 5 jumpers not in the group as far forward as they could go. It probably wasn't as bad as it seemed, but we had just had safety day the weekend before and they had talked about how nasty a stall could be on a jump plane, so it was still fesh in my mind.

Hehe. We have some CRW guys that play this sort of stuff. Sometimes, when they've made a 'normal' skydive, they'll look around for the nearest canopy and then fly over to them and stick an endcell in the person's face. It's particularly entertaining to watch on the ground if the person on the receiving end has never had this happen before. They usually see the canopy coming up behind them and thinking they're about to have a collision they start S-turning all over the sky trying to get away.

Our regular pilot is AWESOME. He gets the plane to altitude in a hurry, and he's an expert with the GPS, so the spot is always right on. I still check the spot myself, but if it's anywhere close, I'm going, because he's right a lot more than I am. We do have other pilots out from time to time when Frank's not available though. I remember one guy we had... It took nearly twice as long to get to altitude, then when we turned in and started the jump run, I could feel the plane shaking and the stall buzzer going off, and that was before anyone had even started climbing out. We had an 8-way going out first, which meant 5 people on the outside of the King Air, so I was cramming as far towards the front of the plane as possible and muttering 'power dude, power' under my breath. Fortunately, the plane didn't stall, but that was by far the most nervous I've ever been on a jump run, with the possible exception of my first jump.

Well, I am far, far from qualified to answer this question, but I would say the first and most important thing you would need would be a great deal of knowledge about skydiving, and most importantly, the internal mechanics/politics/etc of running a DZ. The best way to get this is by actually working/living at a DZ for a few years and get an appreciation of how the internal mechanics work, and the things a DZO/DZM goes through on a daily basis - things like how much to pay JM's/pilots/riggers/etc, aircraft maintenance, dealing with the FAA/airport authorities, and a million other things. Probably the best and easiest way to live on a dropzone for a beginner is to become a packer. It requires no special skills, other than just the ability to pack chutes. True, it'll take you a while to get good enough for that, but it's by far easier and quicker than becoming a rigger/JM/pilot/etc, and pretty much any experienced jumper can help you get started at it. It's not *exactly* making a living skydiving, but you can definitely make enough to support your habit at a busy dropzone and probably have enough left over to afford food, beer, and those fun things and as you progress in the sport you can move on to other things like being a jumpmaster, and eventually if you decide to, a DZO.

It's not really as bad as it seems at first glance... I would probably call it more boneheaded than stupid to be honest (I was a bit liquored up when I wrote the original post), mainly referring to the fact that I grabbed the wrong rig, not riding it down. I did consider riding the plane down, but I decided not to for the following reasons: -It was a Javelin J-2, which really can't hold anything smaller than a 135 main safely, which I was confident I could fly -It had a Tempo 150 reserve, which I KNEW I could fly if I had to. The reserve was in date and packed by a rigger who's already saved my life once, and who I'd let pack any chute I jumped -The weather conditions were great for demoing a canopy - moderate, steady winds -I had several experienced jumpers on the plane including some AFF-I's who are very safety conscious who told me they thought I'd be ok - just be careful and do a nice straight in approach In any case, it was a personal decision. If it were someone else, and they decided to ride the plane down, I would certainly have respected that decision. Skydiving is all about risk and how much you're willing to accept. Some people will do CRW, some won't; Some people will do head-down, some won't. In any case, I didn't want to start a debate about whether I should/shouldn't have jumped. I just thought it was a pretty funny (and just a bit scary) story. The aftermath is, I loved the 135, it was a blast to jump, and I'll probably end up buying something in that range next, but it'll be a while. Also, everybody on the dropzone adds 'Do you have the right rig on?' to their gear checks, at which point they look over at me and start laughing or making some snide remark - the bastards. In any case, I'm sure within a few years or so they'll have forgotten all about it. Blue Ones, Grogs

Hehe. This is true. We had a guy once who went through the first jump course, got all the training, went up in the airplane, and then refused to jump. When he got down, he demanded his money back since he hadn't actually done the skydive and the DZO explained to him that the skydive was free, but his $279 had paid for the classroom instruction, plane ride, instructors, etc. The guy got pissed off, demanding that there had to be something that could be refunded, so they gave him $5 since the rig didn't have to be repacked and sent him on his way.

I had a very interesting jump today. For those of you who have heard my 'Skydive Orange' story, this tops it. Just to lay down a little background info, I just got a beautiful new container/reserve/cypress to house my Silhouette 170 in, and it's an absolutely awesome looking rig. I got it Wednesday, took it to my rigger on Thursday, and he did a bang up job of repacking the reserve, switching the mains, adding velcroless toggles, removing the RSL, etc. and had it ready by Friday morning. Unfortunately, I was stuck inside a classroom taking a BIC/Coaches' course all day Friday and almost all day Saturday, so it's been tearing me up wanting to go jump my new rig. Anyway, enough background, here's what happened... We finally got out of the coaches' course today at around 8, just as the last load of the day was boarding. I sprinted over, grabbed my rig, helmet, and altimeter (didn't even have time to get in my jumpsuit) and ran towards the airplane, and managed to squeeze in. On the ride to altitude, I noticed I had a loop instead of a pillow for my cutaway. I knew my rigger had been asking me if I wanted one installed, and knowing the type of guy he is, I thought it was really nice of him to put it in with the repack. Anyway, we continued the ride up, and at some point just before jump run I was checking out my 3-rings, and I noticed the RSL. After staring at it dumbly, it hit me that the RSL for my new rig had been removed and was on the ground in my gear bag. Damn... I had grabbed somebody else's rig by mistake. I let out a string of profanities and told some of the other jumpers what had happened, and then we played the 'guess who's rig this is' game. At first they pointed to one of the cameramen and said it was his 2nd rig, at which point I nearly wet myself since I know he usually jumps double digit canopies. Fortunately, one of the other guys on the plane was wearing his 2nd rig, so that was ruled out. We couldn't figure it out, so I finally got someone to take a look at the reserve data card and was told it was a Javelin J-2 with a 150 reserve, so I figured it couldn't be TOO bad and jumped it. It turns out it was my friend's Viper 135 and after a wild, but uneventful ride I brought it in on a nice stand-up landing. I guess the moral of the story is check your gear before you put it on. After looking at both containers together, it's easy to see how I made the mistake. His was hanging one hook down from mine, both are black Javelins with grey trim, same harness size, same container size, both are fully articulated and stainless, so they look very similar. Anyway, now I owe a case of beer for being bone-headed and I'll still owe one the first time I jump my new rig (tomorrow, weather permitting) and possibly another if I'm able to somehow pass the air evaluation portion of the coaches' course tomorrow. Maybe I'll just take a keg in next weekend.

Geoff explained it right. I can crank a toggle turn as hard as I want to on my Silhouette (moderately loaded), and nothing much will happen, but if I do a toggle turn, release it, and then begin another hard toggle turn before I've completely recovered, the canopy will spin up on me. On a highly loaded elliptical, you can probably spin it up by just being uneven in the harness when you turn, but I haven't experienced that yet so I can't say.

*SIGH* Well, if you insist. The things I do for this sport!

Wow, go figure. A method that actually makes sense. Much easier than trying to remember USPA#165173, A-36653, C-31440, D-????? (coming up soon I hope) like we have here in the states.

Hey guys, I can understand why Skreamer, BenW, and Huffermoose (for the umm... higher wing-loadings) would be involved in this research, but why Emma? Is there something we should know? You might also want to investigate whether or not they have problems with the chest strap, umm... presenting problems with certain appendages their chest region. Very important knowledge for the future of the rig design. BTW, totally off topic, but how do they do the license numbers there in the UK? Do they just add your BPA number after the type of license, or are there really 100,000+ B license holders in the UK? (seems pretty unlikely with the bloody awful weather you have on that Isle)

BWAHAHAHAH! I'm sure many of the people on the forum (myself included) could blow away any streak you have going at the moment. As for the no skydiving streak, my longest was 5 weeks during AFF (about a year ago), but I've been truely blessed so far this year. My longest period no-skydiving streak for 2001 is 8 days.

Ick! I can say without a shadow of a doubt that's the hardest thing I've ever had to pack. Fortunately ours doesn't get used too much.

As I had it explained to me, you have to be under the *supervision* of a rigger, which in most cases means that he's somewhere on the dz. I don't know if that meets the actual letter of the law, but as a practical matter, it's just not always possible to have a rigger pack every chute, especially at a big DZ, so it's just an accepted thing. Generally, the rigger/S&TA will probably want to watch you pack a few to make sure you know what you're doing. Normally I ask the person who's dropping the chute off how they want it packed. I've learned the basics for the chutes I pack/see packed most often - roll the nose on Triathlons/Sabres/etc; Don't do anything to the nose on a Silhouette or a Safire, and those types of things. My general pack job if I'm not sure and the person who dropped the chute off doesn't have a preference is to just stuff the nose back into the center. If they come back complaining it opened too hard/sniveled, I adjust from there.

Not true Speedy, you have that option. There's just a good chance you'd fall into the 'no sex ever again' category. As for the relationship, try and stick it out, but I'd have to say the prognosis is poor. It takes a very secure man to know that his gf is spending all weekend hanging out with a bunch of wild crazy people who are all confident and brave enough to jump out of airplanes, and, perhaps even worse, if he comes out to the DZ a lot of the skygodZ will be looking down their nose at him, and even among the people who are nice to him, they won't have all that much to say because every other word that comes out of a skydiver's mouth is about jumping.

I wouldn't even dream of selling you on my drop zone because we don't burn cars on bonfires there (not too often anyway) but there are some pretty decent options in Virginia if you're interested. You could go to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, or UVA in Charlottesville and you'd be reasonably close to Skydive Orange (about 1-1 1/2 hours I think, although Charlottesville may be even closer). I've never been to Skydive Orange, but from everything I've heard it's out of control. It's also a hardcore freefly dropzone. On the other side of the state you've got ODU (affectionately known as Old Dummy Onion) which is about an hour from West Point. West Point is a pretty wild place too from what I've heard, but it's a hardcore RW dropzone instead of freefly. There are also some smaller universities that are a bit closer to West Point, such as CNU and maybe some others.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say... Congrats on your cutaway Harro. I'm glad you made it through ok.