skydived19006

I've done a Wilga, most fun would have been doing a tandem form 10,000 out of a 105,000 sf balloon. Felt bad about leaving the pilot in that big thing all by himself and it was a little on the breezy side as well. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I guess I hit a nerve there! Get em! Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Good point! Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Ok, here are a bunch of unrelated bathroom thoughts. Why do we refer to it as a “bathroom” if there’s no bath, is this regional? Is it ok to talk to the person in the stall next door? I don’t think so. Is it different for women as their generally only doing #1 in public rest rooms, while if a man’s in a stall he’s generally having a “sit down”? There’s another string regarding phone etiquette and the rest room, so I'll skip that one. Dose it designate a new stage in a relationship when your spouse is comfortable enough to sit down and poop while you’re brushing your teeth? My wife would kill me if she knew I was saying this but she doesn’t read these threads. She claims that when she sat down it was only to pee, then had a change of mind. Is this common for women? I don’t think having a change of mind if very common for men as if their standing is would be a real problem. Why are Americans so opposed to the bidet, or some other sort of cleaning as opposed to whipping? Most will argue that “it’s clean enough with the paper”. I counter this argument with “name two areas of your body that if you had human excrement you would simply wipe it off with some paper and go about your day. I think it’s interesting how men and women view poop’n at work. I think that the general consensus among men is that it amounts to an additional break and that they would much rather spend that time while at work than on their own time away form work. Seems that women are hung up on it and would rather do their “heavy business” at home. Thoughts? Potty parity: At the DZ in Lyons there were two RRs (men and women), since the skydiver pop ululation was 80+% men we would use the women’s if the men’s was busy. I was doing just that one morning, and had an unusually pungent session. I opened the door to leave and found an attractive young female FJC student waiting on the rest room. Long-story-short, I amended my personal usage rule that very moment, and never again did #2 in the women’s side! I like the term “poop’n” because I think it’s funny. You don’t think so? Nest time you’re at the DZ, need to use the restroom, and it’s busy. Knock and ask “are you poop’n”, it’s funny. Thoughts, Comments? Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Nope, the 1970 movie staring George C. Scott, have you seen it? Spell check helps me to look smarter than I really am, but the homophones nail me quite often. Poor spellers of the world UNTIE! Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Ok, so you're a student and jump at ASC or what? Or maybe your name is Ben or Cary? Fill out your profile unless your easy, meaningless, sucky life is just to full to take the time, or you would have to lie anyway. Hope this isn't "flaming" just using your own adjectives. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I agree with what you’re saying to a point. I run a small Kansas DZ; we do between 200 and 300 tandems/FJC students a year. I have between 10 and 20 “regular” jumpers, and I would guess that less than 5 +/- of my regulars make 100+ jumps a year. The way I think about it is that the “regulars” allow me to break even +/-; the student traffic allows me to generate a profit. I for one would let someone else deal with running the business if I were making no profit. If I were running in the negative, I would be forced to sell out either to someone wanting to loose money in the skydiving business, or just dissolve the capital innovatory and the DZ would go away. A non skydiving friend of mine at a DZ party once asked me if the people there were my customers. I thought about it for just a bit, and told him that “these people are my friends, the students are my customers”. Obviously the upjumpers are customers, but they're friends first. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I did a search on this subject and found this thread. Now Vectran is supposed to basically not stretch at all, but in reality compared to Dacron and or Spectra how much does it really stretch. Also the big advantage of Vectran as I understand is that it doesn’t distort. How does Spectra compare to Dacron with regard to distortion? If bulk and drag are out of the equation is there an advantage to Spectra over Dacron? Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Right now "survey shows" 59% do flips, at least form "certain types of aircraft". Seems that the opposition is more vehement and vocal with their opinion. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Might take a score (two decades) for the patton to run out. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I do a diving exit form our 182, hook up facing the rear of the plane. In my experience if I try for a no flip exit this way you go head down and a bit over toward your back and generally unless the passenger is doing a good arch it will roll to one side then flip back face to earth. I simply prefer to let the flip that’s half way there go on over and stabilize it after we go all the way over. Worst case I always have it stable and drogue out by 1000 feet off the plane, and that is a very rare worst case scenario. Personally I don’t see it as a “safety issue”, but that’s my opinion, and if you opinion differs form mine that’s fine with me. Luckily for me I see eye to eye with the DZO 100% of the time, I am the DZO. If I worked for someone else, I’d do it their way, or hit the highway. I do not require this exit form others! One time I told my passenger that we were going to flip, but that she should arch as hard as she could. She was puzzled with that and questioned if we were going to flip if she should arch. I was a little surprised with her knowledge, and asked if she was a gymnast, “yes”. I figured that is she had a gymnasts since of orientation I’d let her decide if she wanted to do 2 or 3 flips, she said yes, I let her hold her knees on exit until I tapped and off we went (no video). If you argue that the first tandem passenger is generally disorientated, sensory overloaded, and that any flip is for the most part not even registered with them, I’d agree. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

That's the one I use! Very handy for scheduling all kinds of skydiving related stuff! You can also get "sunset" in different terms. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I also encourage all that have shared links with me to “complete the circle” and put up all or most of the links that you see on my page. There are differing opinions as to how affective this tactic is regarding search engine ranking. Some are of the opinion that the search engines recognize “links pages” for what they are and discount the importance of the links. I don’t really know, but I figure that at worst link trading isn’t going to hurt anyone’s page ranking. In layman’s terms your sites “page rank” dictates how high you come up in search results. There are other things that can be done such as changing your titles (look at the top of your screen right now the title is something like “Dropzone.com Skydive Forums…”, and Meta descriptions (talk to your web guy/chick). My basic thought is that if our customers can at least find the real local DZ when they come across the ubiquitous Skyride/Soaring Sports/Skydiving Team/insert state skydiving.com/etc. it’ll put us all on more of an even footing, and keep more of our customers from being caught in the evil “middle man trap”. Martin AC DZ info@aircapitaldropzone.com Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I moved away form Vectran on my Icarus Tandem Canopies because of the short life, and opted for Spectra, I think 1100lb, maybe 1500lb. I know that Spectra does not stretch like Dacron, but seems like a compromise to me. Can anyone comment on Spectra with regard to Tandem Mains? I have had a few openings that were a little “snappy” with the Icarus tandem canopies but generally the load was at or over 500lb so the fall rate was a little hot, and have never had the need to deploy at tandem terminal! I’ve seen some DZs offer a “base price tandem” form 7k, that seems to not leave much time to fix any “stability issue” throw the drogue and decelerate again by 4,500 feet to me. That said, even vary rare worst case I generally will have the drogue out 1000 feet off the AC. Somewhat related I jumped solo a new Icarus 365 just as a new canopy test, I thought that was going to end up being my first cut away on a tandem rig. I started deployment above 6000 feet and it took over 2000’ to open, with me and the rig suspended was over 250lb. I didn’t cut away because throughout the long “snivel” I was decelerating the whole time. My greatest fear was that the reserve would have the same low wing loading opening “issue”. Something to consider when solo jumping a tandem canopy. Am I hijacking here, seem to be getting a little way off the original topic? Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Bill Booth told me once that “Eclipse is a copy of a Vector 2” and I defiantly wouldn’t argue that point. It’s virtually impossible to get an Eclipse Factory rating these days (some may say otherwise). Personally I’d say if you had a Vector rating, you could jump an Eclipse (I’m sure Bill would have something to say about that too) I jump and own Eclipse tandem rigs, I had a factory rating but the last time I sent them my money they didn’t bother sending me a new card (therefore the last time I sent money!) I also wouldn’t argue that the Sigma is the best tandem system ever offered! I did recently buy (last summer) a third Eclipse rig (minus main) with less than 10 jumps on it for $4000.00 form the founder of Stunts and Eclipse. It would take over 3 times that money to get into a Sigma. Edited to add pics of my $4000 rig Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Well, you’re obviously being facetious. It’s been my experience that most (guess 90%) skydivers that make it to “A” will never make 1000 jumps before they quit. I don’t think that most people even really quit, they just put the gear in the closet one day, and it ends up being the last time they ever jump for whatever reason, but I’d say most are “burn out”. The next group makes 1000, which was a big, long time goal, then fade away. Also, my opinion is that the vast majority of skydivers that make 1000+ jumps are working skydivers to some extent. I know of very few skydivers with 1000+ jumps that have never got an instructional ratting. Most skydivers with 2, 3, 4000+ jumps have either been jumping and working for many years or are doing tandems, and or video at a “large” DZ. I broke 200 jumps in one year for the first time last year, and I’m a DZO, do half the tandems, half the video, put out IAD students, and once in a while make a fun jump, but then it is Kansas. So at the rate I’m going it would take 20+ years to hit 4,500 jumps. Get back to me in 15 years. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Turned 40 three days ago 1/30. It’s interesting how your prospective changes as you have the advantage of more prospective. 15 years ago seems like such a short time to me, I can remember 30 years ago very well. It seems that time starts in a lot of ways with our birth, anything before 1965 is just “history” to me, suppose it’s the same for someone who’s 20 regarding 1985. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

No I'm wearing the shirt of the DZ I'm going to. It's AC DZ (not AC DC) but then that's my bit. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I know Thanes, Planes…, but I live in Wichita and it is correct except that you have to go to Newton to catch a “people train”. I have a friend that is constantly making some really obscure quote and never feels the need to explain it like I always seem to. He don’t stick to movies, TV, music, pinball machines, comedians, my fav is when he quotes me. An awful lot of what comes out of me is actually unique. “You can observe a lot just by watching” Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I recently sent an email out to most (the ones I had email addressed for) DZs asking them if they would like to participate in a program to “trade links” with me and other DZs. One of the ranking criteria that the search engines use is the number of links found that point to a particular site. An entity like Skyride has the advantage of cross linking literally hundreds of sites, therefore increasing their search ranking. My thought is that if DZs cross link to each other we could achieve the same thing. If we all had a good/high search ratting more potential skydiving customers would find their way to the real DZs and a few less people would be fall into the evil “middle man trap” One problem I’ve encountered is that not every DZ site has a “links” page, and most that do aren’t designed to organize a large number of links. I made a separate page specifically for “link trading” on my site, feel free to take a look http://www.aircapitaldropzone.com/linktrade.htm listed links are the drop zones that have agreed to trade. I haven’t worked out all the “bugs” yet by any means, but we’re figuring it out as we go, for something as simple as this it can soon become fairly complicated to get everybody on the same proverbial, virtual, and literal page. If you have a web site and would like to participate (does not have to be a drop zone, or even skydiving related IMO) drop me an email info@aircapitaldropzone.com I’m also using “pay per click” advertising, which Skyride employs so affectively, but that’s another story. Martin AC DZ edit to fix "clicky" problem, and add my email address Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I had a Florida DZ manifest give me shit about not having my log book signed, but just a brief tongue lashing then allowed jump. I’ve since decided that if I’m going to travel, I’ll try to remember to have a little “signing party” with my buddies. When others ask me to sign their log book (excluding students) I’ll forge a dead president, or porn stars signature, very seldom does anyone even notice that “Richard M Nixon” just signed their log book. I also doubt that the manifest would notice that all your skydiving buddies were dead presidents either. I do put down my correct D or other number. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

In my opinion the one reason Skyride does the level of business that they do is that they reach some of our customers before we do (not to mention that a lot of the customers are lazy, don’t do their research, and are easily lured into the “trap”). I doubt that anyone would ever go through a “middle man” if they know what they end up knowing after going to the DZ and looking at the “real” pricing. I doubt that Skyride gets many referrals form past customers. My point is that if the DZs did a better job with their marketing at least the customer would find them at the same time they came across the middle man. I recently sent an email out to most (the ones I had email addressed for) DZs asking them if they would like to participate in a program to “trade links” with other DZs. One of the ranking criteria that the search engines use is the number of links found that point to a particular site. Skyride has the advantage of cross linking hundreds of sites, therefore increasing their search ranking. My thought is that if DZs cross link to each other we could achieve the same thing. I made a separate page specifically for “link trading”, feel free to take a look http://www.aircapitaldropzone.com/linktrade.htm listed links are the drop zones that have agreed to trade. Disclaimer: I can not guarantee that all listed are “non Skyride” DZs. I’ll put up links to Skydive the Farm, and Skydive Coastal Carolinas tonight (2/2/05). I’m also using “pay per click” advertising, which Skyride employs so affectively, but that’s another story. Martin AC DZ Edited to make it ckicky Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I agree with a lot of what you're saying here, and within this string in general. One thing I find a bit of irony in is the repeated use of the word “free”, when you know that they write a check to be a Group Member. I suppose that you get a “free” magazine every month, “free” third party insurance, etc with your individual membership. Sounds like something right off a bad info-mercial “free for only $200.00” Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

About 30 days. BTW - what was said is not in the minutes - only what was done (aka Motions) read Robert's Rules FFI I just want to clarify something about the USPA actions towards SkyRide or any other similar type organization or individual. 1. SkyRide is NOT a USPA Group member. 2. The owners of SkyRide, Cary Quattrochi and Ben Butler, are individual members of USPA. They have BOTH appeared before the BOD, defending SkyRide operations in the past 24 months. 3. Altanta Skydiving Center (ASC), Alabama Skydiving Center (ASC) and Skydive Pennridge are Group members of USPA. USPA disciplinary actions include revoking or suspending memberships and/or ratings. USPA cannot take any action against SkyRide as SkyRide is NOT a USPA member. USPA can take action against individual members. To make a VERY LONG STORY, SHORT, USPA at most can revoke the individual memberships of Cary Q and Ben B and the Group memberships of the DZs that they own (Altanta Skydiving Center (ASC), Alabama Skydiving Center (ASC) and Skydive Pennridge). Let's ASSUME that the memberships have been revoked. Does this mean that SkyRide conducts itself respectably?? USPA can only revoke membership. USPA cannot change the behavior of third parties. If you are looking to USPA to change the behavior of SkyRide, I suggest you look elsewhere. [Disclaimer: Glenn - This is my personal opinion - no need to quote it in a BOD meeting. Deal with it.] Thanks Jan! I did get the basic information on the election results in Parachutist. It simply showed the low/high vote numbers for the national directors. You’re obviously correct regarding the meeting minutes. Guess if I want to know what was said, I had better plan on attending the meetings. Martin Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I was being a bit of a “devils advocate” with my response, my point was that there are benefits to having the group members tied directly to/with the individual member. Also, the USPA does collect what I guess to be well in excess of $100,000 form it's group members, and that's every year. Maybe the split could be justified by the group members complaining that their money is spent on individual benefits as well. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ