faitor

I think it is time for a Nippleboy reference.... http://www.dropzone.co.za/content/fun_stuff/humor.htm See #2 "Why Packing Doesn't Matter"

Skycat- I live in Denver and have jumped at all of the DZ's except Calhan. They are all very good depending on what you want. You said your office is 12 miles away from Mile High. That is good since the others are about 2 hours away from there. Skydive the Rockies (Canon City) is a small but friendly DZ. It is located 45min west of Colorado Springs or 2 1/2 hours from Denver. Can be longer depending on traffic. They have a C206 that takes you to about 9-10k AGL, or 17,000ft MSL. It can be a long ride depending on the density altitude that day. However, it is a beautiful ride. You are right in a mountain range and you fly over the Royal Gorge on the way up. Most of the instructors are Air Force Academy instructors. They also don't see a lot of freeflyers. I only get about 3 jumps per day when I go. Bob the DZO is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and he treats you fair and has integrity. Brush is good if your NOT doing any training. I tried to get training there and ended up very disappointed more than once. Twice they had my friend and I show up for our AFF level 2 & 3 but never got us in the air. We waited all day and watched many tandems go but were sent home with only the promise they would get us in the air the following week. If you want fun jumps it is a great place. There are a lot of fun experienced people out there who like to party. On a down side it is kind of far from the mountains out in the eastern part of the state. (Also about 2 1/2 hours from Denver) This allows for more freefall time, (not much more) but probably not worth passing up on the view of the Rocky Mountains. After all you don't get to fall beside huge mountains at every drop zone. They use a C206 also, but sometimes have other planes leased for a week or so. Mile High is the biggest in the state and they do have the fastest and biggest plane. (King Air) It can and does get you to 17,500ft in about 15min. This allows for about a 1 min belly fly or 35-45 sec freefly. Mile High is very much a tandem factory but this doesn't normally get in the way of experienced jumpers. They have many experienced jumpers since they are the closest to Denver. There are also groups for any discipline you enjoy. Just introduce yourself to some of the jumpers and you can get in with the groups no problem. I can get on just about every other load usually. I'm not that fast at packing so that is what keeps me from jumping every load;+) I will add this. The DZO is not liked very much by many of the experienced jumpers (including staff). Many of the staff leave due to the fact that he can be a huge asshole at times. He is also very much in it for the $$$$. The only reason that most of the jumpers stay is because of the distance and because of the faster plane. Just stay away from Jeff, especially if you have tits and you'll be ok. Well maybe you could get a few free jumps if you share your tits with him?? Calhan, I have never been to but only hear great things about. They are comparable to Brush. They sometimes lease planes for events and for busy times during the year. They usually attract mostly experienced jumpers. There are also all disciplines jumping there. You will find that Calhan and Brush have many weekend events that will attract jumpers from the other DZ's. The experienced jumpers also go to one of these two DZ's when they get pissed at Jeff from Mile High. Calhan is not very close to the mountains the way Canon City (Skydive the Rockies) and Mile High are. In summery, Mile High if you want lots of jumps and the most options. Check to make sure Brush and Calhan don't have something going on that weekend first. If they do then you can bet that is where most of the experience and beer will be. They are also good if you want to avoid the business feeling that Mile High can have at times. Then you have Canon City (Skydive the Rockies), which is a nice small DZ to spend the day at. It has a nice small family run DZ feeling. On a side note it is also the only DZ in the state that I know Troy Hartman and Joe Jennings have jumped at. Plus I think it is one of the most scenic of them all. Brush and Calhan are not by the mountains the other two are. Hope this helps everyone and hope to jump with all of you. "Blue Sky's"

I'm sure this is simple but I can't figure it out. I have Win98 on my desktop. I want to capture DV from my PC-9. The problem I am having is that I can't get anything over 20min in length. Memory size is not a problem. I know there is a limit to file size. Is there any way around this? What do I need to do so I can capture a whole tape at once? Thanks for any feedback.

I have Adobe Prem 6.0, PC-9, 40G HD, and not enough time. I have been using a Sony capture card. Now hear is the problem. I capture the DV onto the computer with a firewire connection. From there I edit my clips in Adobe. I get it all perfect and now can't get it to a usable format. I want to accomplish two things. One, get the file small enough to put on my web site. Two, transfer it to a VCD (video CD) and eventually DVD. Right now VCD would be great. I can't figure out what resolution to use so I can obtain VCR quality VCD's. I also can't find a program (including Media Cleaner 5 which comes with Adobe) that will allow me to make MPEG2 formated films. It is my understanding that MPEG2 is the only format that VCD works in. It is also playable on most DVD players. Thanks for the help anyone can provide.

I am getting ready to fly out to Quincy. This means taking my gear with me on my flight. I want to be prepared for anything they might throw at me. Can you experienced guys give me some pointers so I don't have any problems. Thanks

Cobaltdan informed me last week that there will be no demo canopies at Quincy. You will have to order a demo.

I think your all missing the most crucial. Sex doesn't cost $20 per jump, well most of the time anyway. Not that it doesn't cost you more in the long run.

Has anyone noticed that the WFFC website is different? Did they move it or is it messed up? Hope this doesn't mean they canceled it this year. Ok, bad joke. Just in case you didn't know, the website was at www.freefall.com

Mountainman is right, that is the closest one to where your at. It is called Skydive the Rockies. It is a small little "club" style DZ. It only has one 206 but they are nice people. It is in between a couple of mountain ranges that also keep the afternoon showers away a little longer than usual. Most of the staff are Air Force Academy instructors that hang out there for the weekend. If you go about 1 1/2 hours further east there is Front Range Skydivers in Calhan. It is the only DZ I haven't jumped at in the state. Also a lot of AFA guys but it is a very relaxed DZ from what I here. They have the reputation for being one of the experienced jumpers prefered DZ's. Everyone likes to relax and just have fun. I guess what I am saying is it doesn't have the business feeling that some DZ's have. Denver Skydivers in Brush is way far away and not really worth making the drive. The last but not least is Mile High Skydive in Longmont. This is the biggest DZ in the state. Every weeekend they run a King Air. It is a money maker but they still have a lot of great people and fun jumpers. This will be the place you get the most jumps most likely but probably not more than about 5 or 6 a day if your lucky. I average 4 per day. Probably not worth the extra drive. You could probably get just as many at Calhan or Canyon City. I hope this helps. Like Mntnman said look at the DZ list on this web site and check out the links to the DZ's webpages. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Let us know how it goes and maybe we will see you out there.

This may be a good question for you cobaltdan, but anyone who knows please tell me. After hearing so many good things by all of you online, I want to know more about the Cobalt. I am thinking about getting a one. The problem is that I have written to Atair three times in the past two days. I received one reply on my first try and they didn't answer my questions. They told me to see the web site for info. I looked all over and couldn't find any of the answers. Those questions follow. What sizes do the Cobalts come in? What are the pack volumes of those sizes? What are the weight limits? Thanks for the help.

I had this same problem and I could find nothing that helped. The only thing I found was to adjust my position in the harness. After opening look around to make sure there is no one that your going to hit. Then move the leg straps under the back of your legs. This will put you in a sitting position. I found that sitting in my harness felt much better than hanging in it. Be carefull once you get close to landing that you can still put your legs down for landing. Hope this helps.

Great idea and while your out there sell rafle tickets for a free tandem jump! That should be worth quite a bit.

Could you tell me the email address? Thanks

I agree with skymedic. I just purchased a new Hornet. All I hear at my DZ is comments like "PISA shit". I didn't buy mine because of a lack of money. I bought it for the value. I think it is funny because a lot of people talk trash. I wonder if they have noticed that PISA also makes the TEMPO. The TEMPO of coarse being the best selling reserve in the world. What we have here is "NAME BRAND SYNDROM". Just because a company has the best advertising doesn't mean they have the best products. Nike, Tommy Hilfigure, Polo don't necessarily make cloths that last longer than the ones they sell at Walmart;+)

Don't feel to bad. My best friend was jumping this weekend with a brand new pro-track. It was his first jump with it, and guess what. That right his Sabre gave him a major riser slap and he lost his pro-track. That's $290 down the toilet and he didn't even use it one time. Buy the way he hates his Sabre. To many hard openings;+)

Most likely you encountered a weather phenomenon called virga. This is very common. What happens is the cloud reaches a point where it can’t hold more moisture or the raindrops get big enough that they begin to fall. Once outside of the cloud they hit dryer/warmer air that will cause the rain to evaporate before it hits the ground. You can see this off in the distance when clouds look like someone took a paint brush and smeared the bottom of the cloud towards the ground. Virga can also consist of ice and hail so watch out. On a side note has anyone ever had there canopy freeze or get any icing from flying in rain?

It seems that most of the experienced jumpers I know overload their canopies. This includes both the main and the reserve. Why does it make more of a difference if you overload the reserve? (Besides the obvious reason / it is your last line of defense when dealing with a malfunction) When jumpers overload their canopies, it in most cases exceeds the manufacturers maximum weight limit by a substantial amount. If anyone has more information or details please share.

I have noticed that a lot of gear manufacturers have rather low weight guidelines for their chutes. Icarus is the only one that I have seen that has a higher MSW of 300-330 lbs. Does anyone know the reason? How do they determine this limit?

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what some good and bad chutes are? I am at 235lbs and plan on doing some extreme flying as I get more advanced. The only problem is that I am concerned with the idea of a blowout or damaging my chute when/if I deploy at higher airspeeds. I am at a DZ altitude of 5,000ft if this is also a consideration. I am not really concerned about getting the big name brands such as PD,Icarus...I would like to hear about all of them. I have recently heard some good things about P.I.S.A?? Any help is appreciated,Thanks!!