BlindBrick

Just wondering if Precision has released the RavenMax and Fusion yet? If not, does anybody have an idea of when? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Or you can say screw it to the RW snobs(please note that I'm not say all RW people are snobs) and go fly with the freeflyers. Once the freeflyers saw that I(5'10, 250) could belly fly at their heads down speeds, I got invited to do a lot of hybrid dives. Say, I wonder if people like us have to get clearance from the FAA for breaking the sound barrier before we are allowed to go heads down? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

We had a guy renting student gear just grab one off the rack wihtout doing a pin check. He ended up getting his first reserve ride when he went for the ripcord and realized it was a S/L rig set up for a PRCP. For some reason that guy is incredibly insistent on pin checks nowadays

I respectfully disagree. I think I do OK. I am used to living with vision that corrects to 20/70 or so and have learned to adapt. I won't lie, when I was a student it was very scary for me and my instructors, but we were all willing to work through the obstacles. My DZO, S&TA and Jumpmasters bent over backwards to not only encourage me but to insure that I could do it as safely as possible. If figure that if I have earned their OK, that should say something. Plus I try to be very realistic about my abilities. I don't do formations with people who don't understand the way my eyes work, I always approach a point to the side of the formation rather than directly at it, and always at a low speed. I also quite happily fly a .8 wingloading because I know it gives me more tolerance on the landings. That's not all I do, that's just some examples to try to show I do my best to be extremely conservative and manage my risks as much as possible when I jump. Having said all that, I am doing what I can, but it takes 9 months to a year for a cornea transplant to give good vision and its only been 6 months. I am tentatively scheduled for another transplant in early June so hopefully about a year from now I'll be able to see what the rest of you all see. But you know, the transplants aren't any guarantee. My old condition could manifest in the new corneas or my body could reject them. I hope not but if it does happen, I'll find a way to work around it. When I came in to this sport, everyone told me that I'd never make it. I lost 80 pounds to get the chance to jump. I then overcame ADHD and low vision to become competent in it. If this sport has taught me anything, it is that any obstacle can be overcome if you want it bad enough. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Well, as your luck would have it, you've found one. My eyesight sucks(if they made me retest, I'd lose my driver's liscense). I've tried to guestimate my altitude in freefall and then compare it to my altimeter and I've usually been 2-3 grand off. I use my alitmeter and my sense of timing. It's not too bad. I like to open at ~4500 and when I went to Rantoul and really didn't see a lot of difference, but my internal clock was saying I had been in fall way too long. I was so glad to see my altimeter finally hit 2500

Yah, and if you forget to turn the ASTRA off after every jump you will eat the batteries WAY fast. That's a serious drawback to the Astra. Cypres is turn it on and forget it basicly. Sure, you should always check that it is on (or off if that's what you want for that jump) but it's very low in user input. Astra seems to be user intensive comparitivly. My $.02 Chris Schindler AFAIK, FXC fixed that issue with the Astra and all new models now shut themsleves off after a set time like a Cypres. Also, I think you can send older Astra's back to be refitted with this mod. While a lot of bad things have been said about the Astra, there are some advantages. I've had several friends complete a full days jumping only to realize that they had forgot to turn on their Cypres. The Astra control unit is external, making this much harder to due. Yhe unit also has a blinking light that assures you that it is active. The Astra fires at 1000 ft vs. ~750 for the Cypres(though you can trick the Cypres to fire higher). That's equals ~ double the amount of time under your reserve. Those extra 10-20 seconds may make the difference between a rattled low-timer getting hurt and landing their reserve safely. Robustness. If you read the Cypres owner's manual, they will flat out tell you that the Cypres is fragile and especially suceptable to wire damage. The Astra is a much more robust unit with a sturdy metal casing and heavier wiring. Finally, the Astra is tremendously cheaper in the long run. Batteries are about the same as a Cypress, but the Astra doesn't have to be sent in four four year checks. This is a savings of over $300! Also, as long as the Astra passing its rigger's check, a Astra has no set lifespan. Compare that to 12 years with the Cypres. In the end, it comes down to owner's prefernece. I have maintained and used both systems. Both do the job and do it well. Pick the one you feel most comfortabel with. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Now that school's about out, I'm getting ready to start jumping again. I had one question that I thought I'd shoot by you all first. Is there a way to train yourself to consistently hear your audible. I am positive that it is functional and fitted to my ear, I just seem to tune out my sense of hearing while in freefall. I think what is happening is some sort of survival instinct. I have ADHD and when I first started jumping, I was in total sensory overload. I remember how loud freefall was but somewhere along the way I stopped being able to hear it(and my audible). I know it sounds flaky, but for the last 30 or so jumps I have been trying to hear freefall but no luck. I hear the wind on climb-out, but once I leave, the next thing I hear is my slider flapping once I've opened. Right now that's now a big deal because I belly fly and can easily see my Alti, but I would like to do some heads down stuff towards the end of the upcoming season. Given the need for an audible, I don't want to start until I have beaten this. I'd appreciate any help you guys/gals could give me. -blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

the following is the reply I got from MARS when I enquired about the MPAAD. Hope that helps, -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I wouldn't recommend it at all unless your a /master/ rigger. If you wnet in with a self-died reserve both your rigger and pilot could lose their tickets. -Jackmc "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That's not quite accurate. When you steal from the store you are hurting the store and it's customers(who have the cost passed on to them). When you downlaod MP#'s, you're hurting the artists and music industry. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I fell through the cracks at my dz. I never really learned how to pack. I ended up going to rigging school and became a sr. rigger before I ever figured out how to pack a main. I then basically taught myself how. Coming from the rigger background though, it took me a lot of jumps before I was able to pack a snivel isntead of an instant opening. I don't want anybody to have to go through something like that so I applaud you for making sure this guy doesn't fall through the cracks. Best of luck. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

It's got to be more than just a "feel good" addiction. I've had too many days where I was taking over 2 /grams/ of motrin at a go for pain for it to be just for the "feel good" factor. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That would eb "The impression that I get" by the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Unfortunately no. The only way I really see this working well is to entice a plane to our location. We have airfields capable of supporting anything smaller that wide-body airliner, we just don't have the planes. On the surface it's not a bad deal. We would pay the fuel so the owner's only out thier time and the normal wear and tear. Since we wouldn't be jumping back to back load after load that shouldn't be too bad. Whatever these cost are, they should be more than offset by getting to deduct the equivalent of a full paying load from their taxes. Assuming people buy that logic, the only real question is do we try to get in a true jumpship that sits idle during the week or try to get a cargoship that sits idle on the weekends? There's a retired Air Force general, who used to be on the Joint Cheifs of Staff, living a few miles out of town. He's supposed to have a lot of connections and friends in the region's aviation industry. I'm gogin to try to get ahold of him this weekend and get his input. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

oops, that was a mistake thanks to the scroll wheel on my mouse. We are actually in Durango, CO. Albuquerque has the nearest DZ and is about ~250 miels away. The closest turbine dropzone seems to be ~350 miles away. The local sailplane park has a turbine towcraft, maybe we just need to find us one of those old WWII era gliders :-) -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Thanks for all the great replies everyone. Let me refine our position a little more to see if it generates any more ideas. We would like to field a four way team and a couple of freeflyers for Nationals. Very few of us have our gear and those who do wouldn't mind competion oriented gear anway becuase of free-fly compatibility and other issues. I know the whole economy is hurting right now so I don't expect any real sponsorship from the skydiving industry. I do know however; that there are a lot of manufactuers out there that do give substantial team discounts if you buy identical items. Given that I figure we need to budget about four grand per rig(w/ AAD). So that's 24 grand. Next, very few of us have jumpsuits so there's some more money out. Let's call it $2500 for 8 suits. Let's tack on another $2000 for decent helmets. Then let's say $1000 for altimeters. Let's assume that we spend another $500 in rubber bands, patch amterial, and other supplies. So gear cost comes out to $30 grand. National entry fees are what $120 a person? That's ~$1000. Then we have transportation and food costs, so let's call it $3 grand all told. Now we're up to $33 grand, but here's where it get's interesting... The real rub is that the nearest DZ is ~250 miles away. So realistically, we need to entice a private owner into providing us with a jumpship. That why I was thinking of the tax exemption idea. I figured that with that and an off to pay for fuel, we might be able to get a bird. I honestly have know idea how much fuel would be but let's get some what conservative on fuel estimates and say another $7 grand. So in sum, our budget calls for $40 grand and the enticing someone into providing a plane. I know of one school-sponsored fund-raiser that guarantees a minimum of $2000. If we can show the studant senate that we are seriously comitted, we might milk a grand out of them. Assuming we scrimp durign the summer break, each member can probably chip in a grand. So now we just need to come up with the other $29,000. Risk-factor aside, what I've read suggests that companies really only realize the marketing potential in sponorship when it's an olympic level event. Given that, I was thinking more along the lines of asking /alot/ of people for smaller donations. I know from previous experience that alot of people are fascinated by our sport and what we do. I think that we could probably peruade a lot of people to give $1 or so to vicariously be part of what we are. I was also thinking about seeing if local/regional companies would be interested in departmental comeptitons to see which department could raise the most money. Finally, some of us our native americans. I think we might be able to getting some help from our tribes. This may sound like hubris, but bear with me. There aren't a lot of native american role models out there. We all are pursuing higher education and have a strong desire to make somethign of ourselves. I think that combined with the excitement of being skydivers could be used to market us as positive role models to native american youths. Call me a sell out or fake if you want but I just want to jump. If I can do that and help inspire a few kids along the way, so much the better in my opinion. Well those are my thoughts. I know that what prose is so daunting as to be almost ludicrous, but I beleive that wiht enough determiantion that it can be done. I would welcome any additional ideas or thoughts you might have. Blues, -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

My college's skydiving club would really like to form a competitve team. Unfortunately, the state just slashed the school's budget by over 15% due to the recession. So if this happens, it is going to have to be entirely self-sufficient. Given that, are there any organizations or manufactuers that are known to sponsor college teams? Also, does anyone hav experience with this type of fund raising? If so, do you have any suggestions or tips? Finally, a question from left field. The school's a non-profit org and we are a registered organization under them. Could we get away with trading an aircraft owner lifts for tax-deductions equal to the value of the lift? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I am not sure it is feasible, but you might be able to jury-rig a fiber optic cable from the protrack's diode. If it would work then all you would have to do is connect the other end to the cradle's receiver and initiate the transfer. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I had two out once that stabilized into a bi-plane. I've only ever had nightmares about two mals and a downplane was one of them. What they don't teach you in first-jump course is that the rear canopy in a bi-plane will buffet due to turbulence from the lead canopy. I saw the rear canopy bucking around and thought the canopy was going unstable prior to downplanning. "Screw this," I thought as I yanked the cut-away pillow. I then had the distinct displeasure of watching my right main risers tangle in the cascades of my reserve and start to collapse it. I remember thinking, "well damn! I just killed myself." but luckily the risers popped free after about a second and a half. Definatley made for a memorable 50th jump. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

QuoteAaron: I'd like to play the Devil's advocate here for a minute and ask why it is so important to get your "D" in 200 jumps? Quote My thing is that I would really like to get my PRO ASAP. PRO requires you old a D for 2 years before applying. With the new D requirements, it will, on average, more than double the time required to obtain one since it will tkae so much longer to get the required jumps for a D. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

On our Telesis student rigs the main risers covers wear out and becoem useless. I never really noticed it until I did a jump without a helmet and the damn things beat the tips of my ears raw. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

A few years back on 20degreeF day we had a guy celebrate his 800th jump by making a naked static line jump from 10 grand. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You say this dow character has a habit of video taping anything and everything? I would never, never advocate anything illegal so don't get me wrong here. But the mention of a camera reminds me of something i've been wanting to tell camera flyers. I read the most interesting thing the other day. Seems that a lot of of the cheaper imported laser pointers actually use a laser that is too powerful. Some are so powerful in fact that they will burn out a video camera if shone into the lens. You camera users out there have to be careful too! Unless there is dust or smoke about it is almost impossible to see these beams making it very difficult to protect your camera. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I remeber having dreams like that when I was a kid. Except that mine were at night and the lights always seemed so beautiful. Besides having bad day sight, I am effectively night blind due to my eye condition. One of the main things I always loved about skydiving was I got into it when my eyes were causing other doors to be shut to me. Given that, there was no way I was going to take a restriction on my liscenses, so I did my night jumps. Before my first night jump I was incredibly terrified, so much that before the jump I called my family to let them know how much I loved them. It was a very cloudy night and our ceiling was a little under 6 grand. Our DZ does it backwards and makes your first night jump the formation one so you have an experienced jumper literally holdign your hand. Low ceiling, night-blind, and formation work all in one go! Oh, and I was jumping an FXC 12000. I was about pissing myself by climbout. We launched and funneled almost immediately. We flattened out for about half a second and I began trying to break free. At that time I was just thinking "let the fuck go of me so I can track and open!" When I finally broke free, I was one step away from total panic, tracking as hard as i could. I looked down though and everything became OK. I was tracking over the runway and the lights were sliding under just like in my dreams. As much as I love my fiancee, that night, that sight was the prettiest thing I have ever seen. I calmed down, deployed stable, and made it back home without incident. It was that beautiful and majestic dream-like expereince that gave me the courage to later go again and make my second night jump. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Personally, I think that's pushing it a bit, but given the realm of probability, anything is possible. [Homer Voice] D'oh! [/Homer Voice] You got me there. I need to read and not skim before I post. Kris I have seen a line over devlop sponatneously. Weirdest thing I ever saw, a Raven IV with perfectly symetircal line- overs on cells 2 and 6. I'm positive it was spontaneous as several peole watched the pack job and saw nothign wrong with it. Got to hand it to that Raven Iv. It was effectively a 3 cell, and while obviosuly unlandable, it flew very well. Not that there's ever a good cut-away scenario, but we couldn't have asked for a better one since the diver was a first time jumper. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."