ChangoLanzao

Nah ... it's not a shame That's just the way it is. It will be interesting anyway ... and I think if the attendance levels off at 1000 skydivers (including all of the staff and organizers), the two or three vendors that do show may just end up doing very well without the competition.

Wow! It looks like there are some nice innovative features. My favorites are: ... and ... Edit: Oh and the price, according to SonyStyle.com - $999.95

Who cares????

Anything but "eyebrows"

I use a Nikon D70s and I love it. I also do quite a bit of ground photography so its size and weight are justified for me. You'll probably get the most recommendations for the Cannon XT, and that's OK ... it's an excellent choice for freefall photography.

Skydiving Turkeys??? I think they had some on WKRP once

Mine in Spanish loosely translates to something like "launched monkey" You can call me "chango"

I almost always wear eye protection of some sort ... usually Gatorz, clear goggles when it's dark. I've jumped without them many times and it doesn't bother me, so I wouldn't land with the plane if I discovered that I forgot my goggles On the other hand, I would definitely recommend making it a habit to jump with something proecting your eyes.

With only one jump under your belt, the most critical information that you need to learn is in the SIM. Spend your money buying one of those and study it. Learn how to pack, ask questions, and have the rigger at your DZ explain how the gear is engineered and maintained and how/why it works.

FIRST JUMP at our BRAND NEW (privately owned) DZ! More pics here: CLICKY.

I was a gymnast in high school. My event was the trampoline. I was pretty good at it too; placed ninth in the state finals my senior year. I can't believe I didn't die doing it! Learning new stunts was always stressful because even though you could learn them in the training belt, there came the time when you felt ready to "go for it" without the belt. Needless to say, the consequances of making an error when you weren't wearing the belt while attempting a one-and-a-half-twisting double front flip for the first time could be painful or worse. Anyway ... I saw something in a movie or on TV at the time (I don't remember what it was) where people were jumping out of airplanes and could do unlimited flips and twists in mid air without being anywhere near the ground for many seconds in a row. That was the point at which I added skydiving to the list of things I knew that I would eventually have to do. Many years later, I was working as the radiation safety officer at the University of Illinois' nuclear reactor. There were some repairs that had to be done to the fuel rack, and one of our operators did the repairs by SCUBA diving into the fuel storage tank. This was the "safest" way to do it because of the radiation shielding naturally offorded by the water in the tank. I remember talking with the operator (Bob Peach was his name) after the job was done telling him that I thought he was crazy and explained that I didn't think that SCUBA diving would be something I would ever do because being under water would be too scary. Bob said to me, "that ain't nothing, I'm a skydiver too" and that's a lot more dangerous. DING! I said, "Really?? Two weeks later, I did my first jump in Veedersburg, IN (Illiana Skydivers). I was 38. Woo Hoo!

Bravo! This is the best answer.

It depends. Whether a given risk is "acceptable" vs "unacceptable" will depend on the degree to which the benefit outweighs the risk. It's not a simple matter of taking a ratio of two numbers though because neither can easily be quantified. Both depend on many parameters, so in order to reach a consensus on the answer to your question, it would be necessary to reach a consensus on those parameters. Problem is that the parameters change with time and context.

You're making the right choices for all of the right reasons. No one should ever have to explain or justify to others why they are walking away from the sport though. Intelligent people understand the reasons intuitively. The eloquence with which you've explained things will help others realize that there is nothing wrong with stepping away even when one feels "peer pressure" not to do so.

... keep it up, so far you're right on track!

First of all, relax. Don't argue with people or with yourself about whether or not your AAD (or other gadget) will save you. Instead, understand how it works, keep it properly maintained, and then do everything you can to minimize the risk that you or your equipment will place you in a situation in which the gadget will be needed. Now, here's the important part: does it make you less comfortable to jump without the ADD, or with it turned off? If the answer is yes, then I hope you'll do something about it because it may mean that you are letting your guard down on most of your jumps.

Good luck and Congratulations!!! You have no idea how much that cheered me up

Dude...Go put a fried egg on your head, walk down the street holding a shopping bag proclaiming that it is the End of Days.

Awareness is what this is all about. The trick is to be aware AND relaxed. That's how you stay in control. If being aware, stresses you out, you should be very, VERY worried

I just did, too By the way, did I say I was "out". B/c obvoiusly I'm still here I'm seriously out this time. Seriously No you're not ... you'll be back! And that's a good thing

I'm sorry, Walt. In a previous life, I was a Safety professional. I've spent a lot of time weighing risks and benefits. I've spent a lot of time working as a safety trainer too, helping people objectively sort things out. It always sets me off when people make safety comparisons in order to rationalize. I can't help it. CLICKY. I do realize this is a very difficult time and that we are all hurting.

I recommend that you go through that prcess at least every time you don your gear and line up to get on the plane.

Leave that nonsense up to the actuarial experts at the insurance company. We are all random statistics to them (nothing wrong with that, they don't control and can't make assumptions about how/why we go about our activities). It makes no sense when you are weighing the risks against the benefits for YOURSELF. You have complete control of how/why you go about skydiving, and you can/should be thinking about it constantly.

Like Remster said, you need to sit back and ponder this. It is very important to understand why. The first step to rationalization is to start comparing safety of Skydiving to other activities. All such comparisons are invalid! I always cringe when I hear people use them. Skydiving is not "SAFE". It will never be. You should be thinking about this always, and constantly be aware of it. It should scare the hell out of you anytime you catch yourself rationalizing. Don't fool yourself. dgskydive's comments are 100% the cold, hard, truth. When the old timers are talking about death in front of the students, they are just thinking out loud, instinctively, constantly working through the process of keeping it real. If you find that you have to walk away in order not to hear it, then you shouldn't be skydiving.