pilotdave

My DZ is a club. We have no owner. Nobody is getting rich off of our jumpers, including tandems. But we still do tandems. We still have $15K tandem rigs. We've spent the last couple years as a small cessna DZ, but this year we're back to having a super otter because thats what we want to jump out of. Tandems do nothing but pay the bills, and they barely do that. Sure, we could cut costs. We could get crappy gear, crappy planes, crappy facilities, etc. And we'd still have a few jumpers that would have a great time. But that's not what skydivers want. We want big planes, high altitudes, and big groups. That stuff costs money. So the sport is expensive. What's your suggestion? What do you want? What is your purpose for bringing this up? Do you believe that if we abolished the BSRs the sport would become cheaper? Dave

I think it's one of your most coherent posts in a while. Congratulations. Unfortunately, it's too late to bring back the olden days of skydiving. It's big business and many skydivers like it that way. If you don't like turbines and fancy gear, there are cessna DZs and old used gear readily available. I don't think the price of skydiving has much to do with regulation. It's more because the things we want are expensive. Dave

Sounds very strange. You're sure it was just you and not the brake line or toggle stuck on something? Very lucky it was a lightly loaded canopy. A flare with one toggle isn't a flare at all, it's a low turn. That would probably be the worst possible thing to do. Landing priorities would be to land with your wing level, in a clear area, and preferably flare at least half way. Well, you can still get the first two. And PLF like you mean it. Dave

If the A-license in your pocket isn't enough recognition, get the D! I have no idea why they require a D, but I also don't see the big deal. Whats your reason for not getting it? Dave

Better check more often than every 20 years!

Climbing exits are fine for experienced jumpers when there's adequate communication between the jumper and the pilot. I've seen jumpers request climbing exits... never seen a pilot demand one. A poised exit is not appropriate when the plane is climbing. The jumper must be aware of that. I'd hate to see USPA try to ban climbing exits... they save time and money. But they are not "normal" exits and need to be treated with respect. Dave

Geez, I've known you long enough that you'd think I would have known this about you. We have something in common. I never knew you were a skydiver! What a coincidence! I am too! Dave

I understand why it happens. But it SHOULDN'T ever happen. The vigil was missing some smarts to check the validity of the air pressure data that it was using to calculate speed and altitude. It should not see a 150 foot climb during the pressurization. That would look like a rapid descent. If just variations in air pressure on board an aircraft are enough to arm it, the arming conditions they chose are no good. No reason to arm below an altitude at which anybody in their right mind would exit an aircraft in the first place. I don't know how fast cabin altitude changes when an airliner pressurizes. Maybe that number is within the realm of possibility of a skydiver in freefall. But the device should be smart enough to see that the skydiver accelerated at an impossible rate with no climb before descending. AAD manufacturers don't publish the algorithms they use to make their decisions, which are based on pressures and rates of change of pressures. They publish firing parameters converted to altitude and descent rate. To say an AAD worked properly when it fired on the ground is just not correct. When an AAD detects impossible conditions, it should put itself to sleep because something is wrong. Either the skydiver encountered conditions the device was not designed for, or it is experiencing an internal malfunction. That's what scares me about the Vigil... I think it's missing that set of safety checks. Dave

My point exactly. They won't both have zero ground speed. You are completely mixing up the concepts of ground speed and airspeed. When the pilot applies a certain control input, the plane will respond exactly the same way, regardless of wind. The ground speed of the plane will vary... which has absolutely no affect on the plane. Go back to your plane circling around inside a car... but lose the car... First assume zero wind. The pilot picks an object on the ground and flies a perfect circle around it. He just puts his controls in the required position and holds still. The plane just keeps following the same path over the ground in a perfect circle. Now the wind starts to pick up. The plane's path over the ground becomes a... well... whatever you'd call that shape. Looks kind of like the way you'd draw a spring. If the pilot had his eyes closed, he'll still feel like he's flying in a perfect circle. The plane will feel like it's flying in a circle. If he had a cloud layer right below him, he'd even look like he was flying a perfect circle over the clouds. The plane's airspeed is contant throughout the maneuver. When the wind is coming from behind, his ground speed increases. His airspeed does not. The wind has no affect on how the plane flies. Dave

If you assume the plane comes to a stop in relation to the ground in both cases, then you're comparing apples to oranges. The plane is coming to a stop in relation to the air. There'll be a 20 mph difference in ground speeds when it is stopped with wind vs no wind. The accelerations will be identical. Dave

This is a good thing?? The vigil 1 manual says it fires at 840 feet when you're falling faster than 78 mph. Unless the DC-9 was descending through 840 feet with a vertical speed of 78 mph, your vigil should not have fired. In my opinion, the worst thing an AAD can possibly do is fire when it's not supposed to. The cypreses acted correctly, realized pressure readings didn't make sense, and shut down. Dave

Yup, super otter will be there starting April 3rd. Dave

A couple more... Spectre with royal, Lightning with navy. Dave

I've been using mine to carry my 50D, 4 lenses, spare battery/charger, and usb card reader for maybe a month now. I'm starting to question the idea of carrying maybe $3K in equipment in a $10 box. Working fine so far. I've had the shoulder strap pop off a couple times when I picked it up... if it's twisted, it can unclip itself. Also the rubber pad on the shoulder strap is cracking in a couple places... assuming it will fall off in a while. I've also found one of the latches open after carrying it around... not sure they are really THAT secure. Other than that it has held up fine so far, but I can't say I'll be 100% surprised when the thing just opens itself or the hinges bust open and all my gear falls out. Dave

Belly flying = navel aviating. RW team = navel aviators. Can also be shortened to navelating and navelators. I see this terminology being adopted by the FAI any day now. Dave

[Reply]Yep, those unexpected sunsets creep up on D icensees, but for some reason not on A licensees. We don't do water training before our first jumps. We can't fit all training in at one time. I think there is an assumption that most skydivers that keep jumping get their licences. B is all that's required for night jumps. Over the next 450 jumps or so, most skydivers will find the opportunity to make a couple night jumps under controlled circumstances to prepare for doing it in less controlled circumstances. Sure, there could be as many a-licenced jumpers on the plane that climbs a bit too slow on the sunset load. But I'd think that statistically, d-licenced jumpers are more likely to find themselves in that situation at some point in their jumping career... because they have jumped more. Dave

A restricted D-license is available to those that can't do night jumps for whatever reason. Which also seems silly to me. What exactly is the restriction? They are not allowed to do night jumps? How do they get the restriction lifted? By doing night jumps? But in general, I think instructor ratings should all require a D-license. Seems odd that you could be an instructor with 5000 jumps, no night jumps, and be teaching AFF students and doing night jump briefings, etc without having a D-license. Dave

Might sound dumb, but it happens. Last load of the day, you know it's going to be a little on the dark side by the time you land. Sun sets, clouds roll in, etc... and it's a whole lot darker than you expected. Good thing you were wearing a strobe! I have no problem with the requirement, but I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense. Anyone with a B-license is trained for that unexpected dark jump. But I also am fine with the idea that every D-licensed jumper has actually demonstrated that they've done it. When you do find yourself landing after dark, it's nice to know the people in the air with you have done this before. But I love night jumps. Last one was new year's day. Winter night jumps are nice because you can be done by 6:30.

I'd love to see a no-contact bigway RW jump with 3-meter spacing. Doubt it would look much prettier than a recent wingsuit jump. Might make for a fun competition at the DZ sometime... same formation, wingsuits vs. RW. But no, I don't have judging criteria. Dave

You're buying a brand new rig and you're choosing your canopies based on what will pack smallest? Seems backwards to me. Choose the canopies you want, and buy a rig that will hold them. If you downsize slowly, the rig will last a long, long time. Dave

My suggestion: Best shot using a fully-automatic mode (full auto, sport mode, P, whatever Nikon's have, etc) and a cheap kit lens (ie 18-55). Dave

Sounds like what I'd expect from USPA board members that have no direct affiliation with skyride. I think USPA made it very clear that they aren't going to get involved in skyride's practices anymore. Board members are the last people I'd expect to comment publicly or take action in their states. We can't look to USPA to help with this. They tried and things did not go too well. At this point I'm not sure what difference it makes how the BOD members feel about skyride. But I agree with your post in general. Dave

The last tandem I did (to get the USPA rating) was with my friend... Not only did she not have handles, but she didn't even wear an altimeter. I couldn't convince her to. I've ridden up front for a few people getting their rating or getting current. Done it with handles and without... but never without an altimeter. That's guts... or something. Dave

It's 180 days, not 6 months. I don't see how that's easier to remember than 120 days, except it's once less per year. But anyway such a site already exists... rigminder.net. Dave

What it's all about. Dave