pilotdave

I know that blackhawks can run on pretty much any type of fuel in an emergency. I really don't understand how it can work, but the list of emergency fuels is pretty much every fuel the military uses or might have access to. Doesn't make it safe for regular use, but they'll run. Dave

But if you put a 182 inside a C-5, it becomes really fuel efficient and climbs fast too! Dave

Hehehe. I've jumped at 10 different DZs, and yes, I've never seen one more safety conscious than CPI. But in my 3 years/500+ jumps there, I've only seen a few jumpers get grounded (aside from everyone that voted to put me on the BOD... I grounded all of them! ). I don't necessarily agree with every grounding I've seen, but there's a story behind every one of em. I agree that some were overboard, but they weren't first time offenses either. Beer is still the punishment 99% of the time like every DZ... Typically ya gotta do something pretty stupid to get grounded, like [almost] getting someone else hurt... Not sure bout the advanced skills part... aren't style and accuracy advanced?? Dave

Isn't the DVD out already? I thought I saw it... Dave

I don't know the full story, but I've emailed a bit with the owner, Lee, since he's advertised on my site on and off for over a year now. I think he just wanted an alternative to the existing skydiving forums. So far it's mostly newbies, but I don't think that's the intention. I did get extremely freaked out the other day when I looked into the "$50 skydiving certificate" I was helping him advertise. It was for a nationwide skydiving gift certificate, redeemable at hundreds of skydiving.com locations. ACK! I immediately pulled the ad down and replaced it with his old banner. I then sent him an email explaining why I refused to support his new ad campaign. He didn't seem to know about the skyride scam and seemed happy to hear about it before it was too late. He switched the $50 to be toward a reputable gear store (or toward the dropzone of the winner's choice). I'm satisfied! Anyway, it's just another skydiving forum. Nothing to be afraid of. I'd say it's worth posting over there once per day (on average) for the chance of winning $50 in jump tickets or gear. I think I'm kinda out of the running considering I registered over a year ago though...

It'll get more comfortable as the rig loosens up over the next ~50 jumps. The stiffness makes it worse... Dave

I'd love to hear more about the PAC 750. It sounds perfect for my DZ from a business perspective, but I really don't know much about it from a jumpers perspective. I know it climbs fast, but what else do jumpers like about it that has you prefering it over a super otter? Dave

Last sentence of the first paragraph: "All Wiley X Eyewear will accept prescription lenses with the exception of the following models: B-2, CQC, FL-1, FL-2, JP-4, P-36, PT-1, Saber." Dave

How's this one?: You're not experienced until your opinions have solidified to the point you believe they're facts.

I'm definitely no expert on the subject, but I just don't understand the concept that the closer your eyes are, the better your depth perception will be. From the page: The farther apart your eyes are, the more difference in what your eyes will see. You'd have better depth perception at longer distances. That page compares eyes on the sides of the head with eyes on the front of the face. Those are totally different because they're not pointed the same way. If your eyes were farther apart but both pointed forward, I can't see why you'd have worse depth perception, except maybe at close range which is probably why we don't have eyes really far apart. But all in all, I doubt men have greater depth perception due to their eyes being closer. But of course I really have no idea what I'm talking about. If you learned it somewhere, I guess it's probably true. I just don't understand it. Dave

Wouldn't eyes farther apart make depth perception better? Dave

Simplify it even more. Your students have packers and AADs, right? Landings are where it's at. Remember, it's not "any landing you walk away from..." It's "any landing you do a kickass swoop on and stand it up..." My canopy coaches told me so. Anyway, to the original question... I think an experienced skydiver is one that knows things through experience, not through reading or being taught. You don't get experience by hanging out at a DZ. You get it by stuff happening to you that you learn from. Having knowledge is different from having experience. An experienced skydiver can suck at landing... experience isn't the same as skill. A new skydiver can be an awesome swooper. Skill isn't the same as experience. I don't consider myself experienced, and I probably never will. I also don't consider anyone with fewer jumps than me experienced, and I probably never will. I get freaked out seeing people with fewer jumps than me swooping. I have to remind myself that I'm allowed to swoop too, if I wanted to. I'm about to start camera flying (as soon as my helmet arrives). It freaks me out to realize that "they" are going to let ME jump a camera. Then I remind myself I could have jumped one 450 jumps ago if I believed 200 was enough jumps to start. It's even harder for me to believe that I'm the "they" that can make decisions like that now, as I'm on the board of directors of a dropzone. And don't get me started about people with 200 jumps or less that are static line instructors... that just blows my mind. I've got experiences, and I'm experienced enough to do some cool things... but I'm not experienced. Those instructors that have been there and done that, and repacked their reserve after their last cutaway... they're experienced. Dave

I hate over-the-glasses goggles. Used kroops for my first 50 jumps or so, then got a full face that I've used ever since, except for 2 tandems. Now I'm about to get into camera flying and was pretty much forced into an open face helmet (Bonehead Helmets, are you listening? WTF? There's a giant market for full face camera helmets and nobody is making them anymore. Get on that already!) I tried a pair of those flex-z goggles once for one tandem, and really liked them a lot more than the kroops. Much more comfortable and much lower profile. I just didn't know what brand they were at the time. So recently I went and bought a pair of flex-z's and another pair of flexvisions (both from square1). I figured 2 pairs are a good idea since I'm bound to forget goggles every once in a while after not using them in 600 jumps... The flexvision goggles are a flat piece of soft plastic... folds easily so I stuck them in a jumpsuit pocket as backups. Not very comfortable and much much bigger than the flex-z's (they pretty much cover my entire forehead). But both types seem much better than my old "kroops for the blind." Never tried prescription goggles... looked into sport RX but they only take such low prescriptions that ya might as well go without glasses anyway and save yourself all that money. Dave

How long will it have been since your first jump course when you do your first jump? Waiting too long and practicing a lot on your own can be a bad idea... you might pick up bad habits that you don't even notice. If it's been a while, I'm sure your instructors will review all the most important points again before your jump, but it might be harder to break a bad habit than it was to learn it the right way. You'll do what you practice... so if you're practicing a lot on your own, it might be one more reason to sit in on another first jump course just to be sure you're still practicing everything exactly how you were taught. Dave

Looks more like the chicken dance. Don't worry, it compressed ~1 hour into ~1 minute... everything happens fast. But pausing at random times does reveal some interesting things going on...

It was nice meeting you guys too. If I wasn't such a wuss, I'd have made more than one jump and gone with you guys. I was glad to get one, but I remember why most new england DZs shut down for the winter... The time lapse packing is hilarious... maybe I'll post it tonight. RipcorD's got some ideas for episode 2 though.

There's one that might be perfect for you in the classifieds: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=29664&d=1. Looks to be just what you need (assuming you don't really plan to jump the camera you buy). PC1s have firewire, right? Dave

Scott Miller video: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1628 Dave

Well, different shaped objects or objects with different masses do react differently when exposed to a change in wind speed or direction. They accelerate in the direction of the wind at different rates. But after a while, they reach the speed of the wind. They can't go any faster than the wind, because once they reach the speed of the wind, there's no longer anything pushing them. It's like standing on a moving sidewalk... Once you're on it, your speed matches its speed. You don't feel like you're being pushed along... you can move just as freely within the moving sidewalk as you can on nonmoving ground. Thats like a plane flying in wind. It's flight characteristics are totally unaffected by (steady) wind. Only it's path over the "fixed" ground changes. I think the balloon example is simplest... when the party balloon is released from someone standing on the ground into a steady wind, for a split second it's not moving and the wind moves around it. The wind produces a force on the balloon, causing it to accelerate. That acceleration continues until the speed of the balloon matches the speed of the wind. Then there's no longer any wind pushing on the balloon, so there's no more force on the balloon from the wind. The balloon doesn't stop... it continues to move at a steady speed. To stop would require a force in the opposite direction. Dave

Check out the 2005 skyhook video on my site or RWS's. They demonstrate a baglock. Skyhook works as advertised. Dave

I think you'd have to pull left then pull right for that to work, or maybe pull them at the same time. You're not going to beat any RSL unless you pull out of order. The skyhook should work as designed if you pull right then pull left. Dave

Freeflyers present more surface area to a wind GUST, not to "the wind." They present no surface area to a steady wind, just like belly flyers. By "wind" I assume you mean the horizontally moving airmass, not "relative wind" that we feel in freefall that comes up from the ground, right? We're all moving with the airmass... not instantly, but after a few seconds we accelerate to the same speed as the wind. It is no longer producing any force on our bodies, otherwise we'd continue to accelerate in the direction of the wind. It makes absolutely no difference how much surface area you have, in the steady state. Picture a different scenario... 2 balloons. One is a HUGE hot air balloon, the other is a little helium filled party balloon. When subject to a steady wind and given some time to reach a steady speed, both balloons will travel at the same speed. Their surface area doesn't matter. Think of wind like a treadmill. Freeflyers and belly flyers are both standing on the treadmill. Both will drift at whatever speed it's running at. Now freeflyers do get more "throw" from the plane because they present less surface area to the relative wind on exit. That's a good reason to make em go out last. Putting them out first reduces separation at exit time between the last freefly group and the first belly group. Then freefall drift will just move them closer. It's an accident waiting to happen unless you guys plan for it and leave extra space between freeflyers and belly flyers. Not understanding physics isn't an excuse for putting jumpers lives at risk. Dave

Like Tonto said, step one is to update the software (for many reasons). That'll also give you a better battery indicator... you might suddenly find it's not full anymore. Mine starts sounding like that when I let the battery get very low... right before it dies. Dave

Delmarva's great... it's where I did most of my first 80 or so jumps while I was at UMD. It's not the biggest DZ around (in terms of people), but that can be a good thing for students. It's a really good, safe dropzone with much better facilities than a lot of much bigger DZs. The place is in the middle of nowhere with a big landing area, surrounded by empty fields. Those are good things.

Yeah, it definitely is, but it's good! My college roommate for 2 years was from NM and he loved it... but missed the real stuff from home too. Couldn't ever get anything hot enough in Maryland. BTW, there are chipotles in AZ and TX. Dave