MikeJD
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Everything posted by MikeJD
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Skydiving sweat more potent than exercise sweat
MikeJD replied to riddler's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
All I want to know is, how do I get people to pay me to take part in this nonsense? -
Question about logbooks and currency
MikeJD replied to ikon's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
I log every jump but I admit that I'm very lazy about getting signatures. My boyfriend and I often find ourselves going to a boogie/DZ where logbooks get checked, frantically signing the last few jumps in each others' logbooks. Don't know whether things are different in the US, but someone told me a long time ago that once off student status you could sign your own log book. I've never actually bothered to find out whether that's true, but I do sign 99% of my own jumps! In my view it's equally valid since, as you say, very often people just end up catching up with signatures when they have to - at which point whoever is doing the signing may only have your word for it that you did those jumps. -
Higher than that is off the English scale . I have jumped in UAE when it was in the mid-40s, and the only relief was to be in the air. We were taking off from a sand strip so we had to close the door until we were off the ground. For those few minutes it was almost unbearable, but the bliss of opening the door again made it worthwhile.
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Here you go, Bry. This is the English Summer scale - you may have to make adjustments for other climates. 17°C - Mild 18°C - Milder 19°C - Even milder 20°C - Almost warm 21°C - Actually quite warm 22°C - Really warm 23°C - Warmer 24°C - Proper warm 25°C - Damn warm 26°C - Getting hot 27°C - Hot 28°C - Hotter 29°C - Hotter still 30°C - Damn hot 31°C - Must 32°C - Find 33°C - Shade 34°C - Scorchio!
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Ah, mystery skydiving injuries. They're all part of the sport. Once in a while you finish a day's jumping with a massive bruise somewhere and no idea how you got it.
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Inhale && Exhale ~ Why is that SOOO hard?!
MikeJD replied to skyesthelmt's topic in General Skydiving Discussions
Jen, I don't really think there is a 'normal' - everyone reacts a bit differently - but you're certainly not abnormal! I was pretty nervous before all of my AFF jumps, but for me (I think) it was fear of failing levels rather than of the physical danger. In terms of the door, it's very common to have a strong reaction to seeing it being opened at altitude. I must have shared loads with a thousand tandem students, some of whom have looked nervous and some perfectly calm - but when the door opens, and especially when people start disappearing through it, you can almost see their pulse rates rocket. -
Um, why would I want to? Why would anyone want to?
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Stick around for a few years and you will see. Things change pretty fast within our own lifetimes - the moon landings, the birth of the internet and all kinds of other pivotal events have all fallen within mine so far. Heck, we've barely had powered flight for 100 years. I don't see any reason to live further into the future. I'd be very curious to know what life is like centuries from now, but if I have to live 'there' without the option to come back? No way.
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Wow. Your 'front yard' is the size of my whole street. Looks like a lot of fun. The side view put me in mind of the loader from Aliens.
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Well said. And I think those waiting for a "better" spot forget that they're not the centre of the load. On a big DZ the first group out has to accept getting out slightly short so that everyone can make it back.
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More than that - shifting gears is part of the pleasure of driving. Seriously!
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I'm more interested to know how you get those big pointy ears in there.
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In a civilian skydiving setting where you aren't intentionally getting out miles away from the DZ, at night, I would agree. However for a military application it is a HUGE benefit to have this capability. Yep, I should have qualified that better - I meant in the context of the original post. And I'm guessing any system you've used isn't telling you to take the exit, then stay in the right hand lane!
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In my life Why do I give valuable time To people who don't care if I Live or die? ... In my life Why do I smile At people who I'd much rather Kick in the eye? Sorry, I know that's not much help - but thanks to your thread I've now got the song stuck in my head and I don't see why I should suffer alone.
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I cut my teeth on visual spotting as well, and if someone I trust is first out then I like to see them with their head out of the door. If it's the first load of the day, when you're still discovering what the winds are doing at different altitudes, it's even more important because although the pilot knows where you are, he doesn't necessarily know where you need to exit. But given the choice between being spotted by the pilot and one of the young 'uns who's never had to learn the art, I'll take GPS! However there's nothing to stop every group from taking a look before they get out. The main problem then is miscommunication between the pilot and the jumpers. Does a green light mean we're over the spot, or will the pilot put it on to say we're clear to drop and then flash it over the spot? Our DZ is surrounded by farmland too, and we have to be careful to avoid crop and animals. Skydveraz, if the horse had bolted and injured itself things could have got very expensive!
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Pah. Byrne's ideas peaked with the big suit. He should have stopped there.
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Tom Tom (and any car-oriented GPS) would be impractical because its directions are expressed in road terms, and you are not on one. But in any case, I'd say the unlikely benefit of any GPS system under canopy would generally be outweighed by the distraction. You really shouldn't need one. I mean, whatever next - a gadget that tells you it's time to pull? Oh.
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Yeah, we probably shouldn't even be discussing them in an open forum. Let's pretend I said 'SR-71' instead and hope this thread doesn't attract the attention of the spooks.
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Presumably if it was underneath you it was on its way up (or down). Now if you and your dad had been in an AN-2, then you could both have been at cruising altitude.
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I read this three times thinking, huh? 11 years ago was the late 90's! Then I got it.
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Another old thread resurrected from nowhere! The main thing this one made me wonder is - whatever happened to kelel01?
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Andrea, sorry for the loss of your friend. I'd prefer no coffin/ casket at all, open or closed. For me the most upsetting parts of a funeral are the arrival and departure (or burial) of the coffin. It's seeing someone you've known in life reduced to remains in a box, which somehow never seems an appropriate way to remember or honour a person. I realise the coffin forms a focal point for the funeral - but even so I'd prefer just a photo at the memorial service, and the reminiscences of people who knew that person in life.
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Except for a few weekends in mid-summer, I associate that word with a sudden drop in temperature more than anything else. So if you tried to wake me with it you'd probably just see me pull the blanket tighter around me!
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+1 Fantastic job "Kill a few people, they call you a murderer. Kill a million and you're a conqueror." Actually makes me want to watch that movie again, just for his performance. And for the opening scene, which even if the rest of the film didn't quite live up to it, is one of the greatest ever.
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Yeah, but in those days you guys were poised to nuke the West into oblivion, so a little xenophobia was fair enough. But what have the English ever done to the US? Well ok, but in the last couple of hundred years?