StearmanR985

Hey Jaye, I haven't been there but two of my fellow winemakers were just 'let go' yesterday. No warning. Ouchy. Ah man, does this mean you will not be traveling back to Cali for more jumping?? Jeff

Damn straight!!! Load after load after load.....And a bunch of great people!!! BTW, if you have room on an RW jump let me know. I have gotten better sort of (no RW suit yet though). Oh, and beer is on me next time!!! Jeff

Ah, gee thanks. I would have loved to have participated. I spoke with Bill D. and he said I could on the smaller stuff like building the base but I need an RW suit first. Looks like I won't be able to order one for a few more weeks. $$$ deficient here. We'll see ya out there next time, maybe this Saturday? Hmm, I still haven't jumped the Otter...... Give your dad a big hello for me will ya? Jeff

Very interesting perspective. I believe that what happened to me was scenario # 2. I remember that my ground speed was still up a bit (just enough that I could not run it out in the soft dirt) but the flare just wasn't there. Speaking of holding the fronts too long, that is exactly where I was advised to make some adjustments. I was on the front risers right down to flare point. The problem with this is that I would then basically snap flare to avoid hitting the ground. What would happen is I would come right down to my knees just scrapping the grass then gain a bit of altitude and stand it up. Though the ride and surf is quite exhilerating and I received some compliments from peeps that probably didn't know better(and my daughter thinks it's cool) it is definetly NOT the safewest way to land. So now I am working on still using the fronts but getting off them a bit earlier to allow my canopy's attitude to adjust while still maintaining most of the speed built up followed by a more controlled flare. It is all about timing and so far it is working out quite well as I have not had to snap the toggles to land safely but can still surf it a bit and not as close to the ground either. Thanks for the post, Jeff

Finally:6:1 1 case owed for my FIRST sit fly, it was ugly but I did do and hold it on two separate jumps. No witnesses though, as I was soloing. Jeff

Thanks for the reply Ian, I should have been more clear in my description. What I meant was that I got off the fronts up much higher and went to a standard toggle only approach and landing. My canopy had decelerated to normal speed before flare time and I did not compensate for the reduced flare power that I had gotten 'used to', hence my face plant. I did have the opportunity to speak with my instructor, bodypilot1, on Friday at the DZ. The advice: No turns as part of my landing, more specifically, NO RISER turns as part of my landing. Sounds good to me. Straight in on fronts is fine but I needed to make some changes to my technique. The advice paid off, my flare became more predictable, BTW thanks again Ed. Jeff

SWEET!!! It was great to meet ya J....... (I won't type it, I won't type it) Tell the voices to stop! I hope you can visit again sometime, maybe we can all do a 4, 5, 6 way or something!!! Jeff

I am broke too!!! Wait, why am I laughing. I sold my motorcycle and now my truck is for sale. ('01 Ford Ranger, PM me if interested ) Hey, I need a helmet, alti, RW suit and a book of 50 tickets. I got to do what I got to do......

WOW Kris, sounds like you guys had a great time! Glad to here it. Jeff

Thanks AM. I will definetly do that next time. Jeff

Hmm, interesting. Perhaps next time I will take few seconds to track away from the line of flight before trying to freefly. Do you think that will help? Edit: Don't forget that after I made my feeble attempt at sitting I got back to belly and stable and looked for them. As I stated earlier, when I pitched, we did have horizontal separation.

I was jumping at Skydance. They seem to be very safety oriented are very cautious when it comes to exit separation. It was a good seven seconds after the two way left before I was allowed to go.

Hey Phil, Well, initially we did have decent horizontal separation. I did watch him pitch then get under full canopy. Two reasons for this, I wanted to make sure I was not on top of them as I was trying to sit fly(I suck BTW) so I was worried I may have inadvertently tracked a bit as I was flipping about. And the second reason, it is fun to watch others deploy. I just know that we had horizontal separation but when I was under full canopy we did not.

Thanks for the post. I tinkered with this a bit yesterday on my second landing of the day. I blew it. I tried a GENTLE 90 degree turn to final a bit lower then my usual then went to fronts. I noticed that the canopy was reacting a bit differently so I got off the fronts and went to "standard" toggle landing but flared a bit early and ended up on my hands and knees, DOH! I have slow feet, and the ground was quite soft and I was wearing work boots. Excuses, excuses...... I am going to keep my turn to final a bit higher and stick with straight in approach for awhile Once my canopy has recovered from the turn then I will practice my landing with and without fronts. The flare power is completely different and with my second jump yesterday I did not compensate for the that lack of power very well. Practice, practice, practice....But pratice safley.

I am hoping that some other skydivers may benifit from this.. I had a bit of a close call yesterday on my first jump of the day. By the time I was under full canopy I was about 30 feet away from another canopy. I took some time to reflect upon how this happened. Intitially the other skydiver and I had plenty of seperation as I watched him open (he was out first) and once he was under full canopy I pitched. I want to clear the other skydiver, he did nothing wrong and in fact steered away from rather quickly. The fault was my own. Two things that I will be adjusting from here on out: 1. I need to consider pitching at a higher altitude. My canopy typically opens very softly, sometimes too softly. This was the case yesterday, I had a loooooong snivel. By the time I was under full canopy I was at 2k. The way I see it, the other skydiver was simply cruising along enjoying his canopy ride then bam, there I appear right next to him. 2. I need to get my head on a swivel DURING opening. After this happened, I realized that I am looking up at my canopy the entire time until it is all the way open. I need to glance around a bit that way I can get prepared to turn immediatley after inflation if needed. Any CONSTRUCTIVE advice would be greatly appreciated. My number one goal is to be a safe skydiver. I am still new and learning but I was very with myself for allowing this to happen.

I want to thank all you guys and gals at Skydance. I had a great time, wish I could have stayed for the Caravan/Chopper formation jump. Thanks to Neil, Jason, Matt, Pretty Girl W/Camera on Head (filmed one of my landings), Stefano (sp?) and Action Air folks for loaning me a very nice Flite Suit. Hope to see you guys again soon.

Actually I was planning on visiting Byron on Saturday until last night when my wife informed me that she is working that day!!! I have to take my daughter to piano and I really don't want to take her to an unfamiliar DZ. Now I am angry AND bitter!!! One of the days I hope to actually get over there, GD it. Jeff

Anyone........ Hello.......... Maybe it is too early in the morning.

I am all over it! Right now I am averaging about 8 jumps or more per week of which at least half are some form of RW. At that rate I will have over a 100 jumps by May (I know, that is not a whole lot). Perhaps my skills will improve enough by then to sneak in on some of these loads. Watch out, I am on a mission....

So I am taking a short course at UC Davis and thought I might check out Skydance. I visited yesterday, signed waivers and got a tour of the area but there was not a jumper to be found throughout the land. Well, I have my equipment today and I am gonna be there at 3:30pm (ditching class a few minutes early). SOMEONE COME OUT THERE SO WE CAN GET A PLANE UP!!!!!! COME ON, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

I AM SPOILED ROTTEN!! I chose other, my DZ has cheap tickets, both big and fast planes, is only 8 miles from my door step, there are plenty of people to jump with and with regards to loads, the DZO likes to turn 'em and burn 'em baby! Okay, I'll STFU now.

Ah man, where's the love? Okay okay, I will just have to be satisfied being a gofer for the time being. Being new and all I was just curious what it takes to get involved with these big ways. I shall keep working with the smaller groups.... Unless they boot me out that is. Jeff

What kind of experience level will be expected to do these big ways? In other words, say someone (not naming any names ) has 50 or so jumps; will they be allowed to participate or does said individual need to get more experience first? Jeff

Thanks for the input guys. Much appreciated. I will get with an instructor regarding the pattern and traffic. Some of this "being in the way" feeling may just be in my head. Regardless I will check it out. I will wait a bit longer before incorporating ANY type of turn as part of my actual landing. However, I will very carefully adjust my altitude on my turn onto base and final to shorten that final leg up a bit. But I must confess, once I am on final I will continue to use fronts on my landings 'cause that little bit of extra speed and power for the flare is so much damn fun!! This sport is so enjoyable I can barely stand it!! Jeff

Yep, I do typically fly a long final. Not ridiculously long but maybe longer than necessary. I will have to work on this. I also think you are right; I need to talk with the DZ staff. The traffic does make me very nervous and it is only going to get busier as the weather improves. The more canopies in the air the more likely I am to set up to land off just to stay out of the way. I just hate the idea of getting in someones way or me going to slow on my straight in aproach and getting in the way of someones HP landing.