pilotdave

What is it that makes jumping with a tandem so difficult/dangerous? I realize that a tandem has very limited maneuverability and all that, and an entaglement with the drogue might kill 3 people, but it seems like a tandem would also be an easy target to avoid. What's the deal? Dave

all I remember about C is the program will probably begin with #include math.h. can i have a jump ticket?

Best advice I know is to HAVE FUN. There's no reason to ever be in tears after any skydive, unless you get hurt or something. My AFF level 4 was pretty disasterous (for a skydive in which nobody gets hurt, anyway), but it was still the funnest jump I had done to that point. Just relax and enjoy each jump even when they don't go perfectly. As for as getting the skills and getting off student status, that'll all come in time. Staying stable and all that isn't something you're gonna learn online. Listen to your instructors for that, but just don't worry about it. Stick with it and it's just going to "click." Dave

Oh boy...I think I'm going to start "hearing" all of your posts in homestar's voice.

Here's a thought... announce your "great" site when it's GREAT. There's absolutely nothing there worth looking at. Those are not stunts, those are ramps. I like the background on the front page, but it's too small for my monitor's resolution. And that banner that moves.... WHAT THE FUCK? I don't mean to be... well... mean, but you're asking for it. When your site is done, if it's something that anybody on earth would like to see, feel free to post a link again. Once. Or, here's a novel thought, write SOMETHING with any content in it, and put your link in your signature. Dave

Where is that listed as a requirement? I think they are referring to unintentional water landing TRAINING, not the landing itself. You can't intentionally make an unintentional landing. Dave

Some dropzones just want you to prove you can regain stability, others want to see a perfect flip. I've heard of people failing AFF levels because they didn't flip properly even though they regained stability and pulled. I know when I did it, they just wanted me on my back to prove I could get back on my belly. Dave

VOTW3.wmv moved from /UPLOADS/ to /freefly/ El Gigante Birdman Jump.mpg moved from /UPLOADS/ to /base/ El Gigante 2 Way.mpg moved from /UPLOADS/ to /base/ Exit1.mpg moved from /UPLOADS/ to /exits/ Josh - Skydiving Music Video.wmv moved from /UPLOADS/ to /misc/ tombraider2_skydive.mov moved from /UPLOADS/ to /trailers/ TombRaiderBirdMan.WMV moved from /from%20tv/ to /trailers/ Dave

Finally watched it. Nice video! I'll move it to /misc/ I s'pose. Dave

Pack his rig after he lands. just kidding Dave

I had some trouble with backflips for a while. I think the easiest way to think about it is to leave your upper body right where it is, and just bring your legs down under you. It's not like doing a flip off a diving board or something... it's all about aerodynamics, not momentum. You don't really have to whip around. A front flip is basically the same... leave your legs alone and just bend the top half of your body down, then just bring your legs in. Either way, you'll pretty much keep flipping till you stretch back out. Dave

27 (knot gusts that started while I was in the air on load 1):2:0 Didn't collapse my canopy quick enough after landing in a corn field, so I have some nice new grass stains on my rig. Luckily the green covers a little of the pink on my rig, so I don't mind.

Pong! Dave

I'm 23 and started jumping when I was 18. Been an interesting 5 years!

BOOOOOOOOO!!!! Dave

Bring a towel and change of clothes. I think i'll be adding those to my gear bag soon.

The video with tom sanders talking about the cypres is /from tv/cnbc-nat_geog_part2.mpg, but it's 87 megs so here's a quote: "That device, called a Cypres, is actually my most important piece of equipment." -Tom Sanders He passed out on a world record attempt in Slovakia in 1994 (216 way I think). "I was literally carried out, in freefall, with just this mass of bodies. And for 25 seconds I was unconscious, falling through the sky... So basically unless I woke up during freefall, I was a dead man." -Tom Sanders Dave

Message board vs listserve depends on the number of people. For announcements or small number of "chit chatters," I prefer an email list. But when you get a lot of traffic, a message board is a lot nicer. My skydiving club has 2 listserves. One has about 850 people on it, and is just for sending out announcements related to our club. Nearly everyone on it is a whuffo, so I don't let any messages go through that dont relate directly to the club. We try to keep the traffic on that one to a minimum. The other list is for the members only. It's unmoderated so anyone can send a message, but it's gotten big enough that we need to think about what we send and decide if everyone really needs to see it or not. I had originally set up a message board for the members, but it got no traffic because it was inconvenient and "out of sight, out of mind." I'm on another listserve for pilots in the DC area. I've suggested to the admin to go web based a number of times, because it's gotten to the point where people are afraid to post because they know they'll be clogging so many people's email addresses, and if they are off topic they'll get yelled at by the admin. He has the idea that message boards are hard to use and slow, so he wont do it. I actually pointed him to dropzone.com to see what a model message board looks like. Dave

Skydivingmovies.com gets the same thing. About half as many hits on Saturdays as mondays or wednesdays. The hits peak on wednesday, drop steadily until saturday, then begin climbing back up on sunday, and shoot up on monday to near the wednesday peak. I kinda guess that internet traffic in general dies down on weekends (nobody's at work surfing the net), but I wonder if it's more extreme on skydiving sites cause skydivers tend to have their weekends occupied away from the computer. Dave

Damn at my rate that battery would last me like 6 years! Dave

Your friend is correct. All speeds over 120 are hypoxia induced hallucinations. Dave

I'm a little lighter than you. I bought a PD150 (F111) and am perfectly happy with it. I made my first jump on a PD170, but then switched DZs and went up to a 230 (the smallest they had). Since I had no problem flying the 170 on my first jump, I'm sure I could handle something smaller than a 150 now, 80 jumps later, but I have absolutely no desire to downsize (other than to get a canopy that fits in my container more easily). Don't go smaller than you're comfortable with. Trust me you can have PLENTY of fun without a lot of wing loading. I only load the 150 at about .8 or so (a little more when i wear weight

8 seconds... each group lands in a different state. Dave

Out of curiosity, how often (jumps/time) do you have to replace the battery? I just started thinking about getting me one of them fancy altimaster neptunes when they come out. That thing is just SO cool.

Nice, you got it in my school's colors!