tempretired

Inteceptor 225. Someone talked me into buying a CRW canopy as my first canopy. Not much lift even with a perfect flare. Cool breezy days were welcomed. Hot days with no wind sucked. Although most of my landings were stand up, they still hurt. One time, when I first bought it, I landed it poorly and a CRW Dog instructed me to start double front riser landings. He told me to watch him on his next jump. I did and he pounded in after he rode them too long. Needless to say, I never took his advice.

There are good people and bad people in every group. The Herd members that I know are great people. Going through the student program at UPC and hanging out with the Herd and all United Parachute Club skydivers was a tremendous experience. Sorry the few that you ran into were not.

(((100+105)/2)*.25) + (88.5*.75) = 92%

I don't have anything against skydiver fathers (or mothers) with children under the age of 18. However, after I got married and started a family, I decided that it would be best for me to retire until we're finished raising our children. I haven't jumped since August 2004 but I still think about skydiving all the time. Sometimes I entertain the idea that I'll sneak out a get in a couple jumps on blue sky days (after recurrency training) but I haven't done it yet and don't really think I'll do it. However, I keep my rig in date and serviced just in case.

I was a plane Loader / Bus Loader at the 1993 Herd Boogie. The old DC-3 was at the boogie and was taking off out of a local asphalt runway airport. So, a shuttle bus was needed to get to the airport. I was still a student at the time but helping as a loader. As I was loading the bus, some of the long time Herd memebers, wanted to board the bus for the jump with pitchers, mugs, cans, and bottles of booze. I thought I'd be the authority and tell them that they couldn't board the bus or drink while skydiving. The laughed at me and called me some names that I'd never heard of. I yelled to the UPC president for some help and he told me to let them do whatever they wanted. They kept laughing as the boarded and didn't hesitate to tell me that they were stopping a "Our Place" (a local bar) for another shot and a beer. About an hour later, the DC-3 let out its group. One of the guys landed directly on the grass runway with an Otter coming in to land. As I was yelling at him to get off the runway, he was pulling a beer out of his jumpsuit. He turned around, saw the Otter, and ran as fast as he could to get off the runway. He thanked me and got on the next load.

I live in Boston and have competed in several marathons, small road races, and triatlons that the Hoyts were in. They are simply amazing. I believe that at one point the father was consistently running marathons in times between 2:30 - 2:45 while pushing his son. At one point, someone approached him and asked him to run solo so that he'd have the opportunity to win and he responded indicating that him and his son were not interested, as they are a team. They are definately an inspiration.

I felt that way too. Not only did I look at it but I tried it on for size a million times before I used it. I still remember the exact smell of it.

Same company for 11 years. Current job within the company 6.5 years.

I was a direct hit for me. Philadelphia (or close. such as south jersey)

Talk about DZ stories. I'm sure this isn't the first. We geared up a guy in a harness/container with an old round. Then, we tighed him to the DZ pick-up and did a little parasailing. As the pick-up gathered speed, his run became a moonwalk and then on the third or fourth bounce, the rope broke as he was about 8 feet in the air. The wind then dragged him backwards until he finally came to rest.

I was giving my sister a ride on my Dirtbike (motorcycle). Thought I'd be cool and do a wheely with her on the back. She wasn't holding on and fell of the back then slid across the asphalt on her feet, knees, and face. I wasn't worried about her because my father was going to kick my ### and I was too busy thinking of a story to tell him what happened to her. Since I was giving her a ride to a place that she wasn't supposed to be, I told her to tell him that she was riding it by herself and lost control. Obviously, he didn't believe a word of it and kicked my ###.

I've been retired from jumping since 2002, but I got that first time feeling just looking at the launch platform. Nice. Congrats.

I saw a vanity plate on a DZ that said "CHOP IT". I thought it was pretty cool.

Audubon High School, Audubon NJ

My thoughts and prayers go out to all at X-Keys. I didn't know PJ well due to moving away back in 2000 I skydived a X-Keys from 1993 to 2000 and then again in 2002. PJ packed for me many times in the summer of 2002 and one day he gave me some really good advice that I'll always remember. I never really thanked him. Thank you PJ. I don't know PJs faith but my wife is going to have a mass said for him at our Catholic Church in Boston and also at the Church we visit when we travel to NJ. Thanks again. Blue Skies to All

I hate to admit it. But I had another bad Landing In story. On my 3rd or 4th AFF jump (I should check my log book), I was being guided down by an unfamiliar voice on the radio. I was doing most of it by myself but somewhere along the way the person decided to chime in and put me into my landing pattern well above 1500 ft. So, there I am on a downwind leg and a little high, then she puts me on the base leg well above 1000 ft and then on final at just under 1000 ft on a very hot humid day with thermals. Needless to say, I wasn't coming down fast and she then starts having me do s turns to bleed off altitude. She thinks I'm going to run out of landing area and tells me to turn left. So, I start turning left and now I'm under 200ft turning toward a Porter doing a hot fuel with a spinning prop. Luckily, I stopped turning a 1/4 way into the turn and did a flat braked turn back to the right. I landed without incident but it was close. Now I know I should have looked before I turned but at least I looked during the turn giving me enough time to have an out. The S&TA took me into the hangar and asked me to debrief what had just occured. He had heard her instructions over his radio and was going to correct her last instruction but I corrected it before he could respond. He gave me a little lip for following improper instruction but was happy that I had enough sense when it really mattered. I think he then gave the Landing Instructor hell for the terrible instructions.

This isn't a landing out story but it is an embarrasing landing story. I was jumping a Elsinore back in 98 or 99 and the winds were strong all day long. I was landing between the student landing area and the grass landing area in fron of the packing tent all day. During the sunset load, the wind shut off on the ride to altitude and my forward speed was carrying me into toward landing in the grass landing area. Although I like being away from swoopers, no problem, as I have plenty of room. Well, I land with a straight in approach but I had to run out the landing a little and stop immediately to avoid running into the wind blade. Rather than my canopy falling behind me, it continued to go forward and fall over the top of the wind blade. Everyone in the landing and packing area gave me a standing ovation. The laughter went on for several minutes. Glad I was a visitor.

WOW. I'm surprised that that there are a lot of people who havn't been through industrial haze. I've been through quite a few and I only had a little over 500 jumps when I retired. On one of my AFF jumps, I opened my canopy in some industrial haze and was in it for a while. There were several other industrial haze jumps on days with spotty clouds where we simply punched through a some puffy whites somewhere in the middle of the skydive. My favorite was climbing to altitude in a skyvan (maybe Casa) sitting right seat for the ride up. It was a hot summer day with many many thick clouds. I thought it was a little crazy as we were heading directly for a bunch of thick clouds. Especially, due to the local airline traffic. We were in them and then punched through to this unbelievable pathway surrouned on three sides (left, right, and bottom) leading upward in a gradual curve until we got above the clouds. The pilot looked over at me with his eyes wide open and screamed AWESOME!!!! It really was cool. I guess the places that I jumped were on the edge.

Brady Bunch when Peter's voice changes

Richard Lee "D-346" was the Instructor/Jumpmaster for my First Jump Course at Skydive East in NJ. I think Doug Angel and "Dick" Lee were co-owners. Doug was my jumpmaster on a few of my round jumps but signed with a very low "C" license #.

My favorite skydiving t-shirt is my Yellow Plane Loader shirt from the 1994 Herd Boogie. Awsome Graphics of what a plane loader looks like after 12 hours. Now that I mention it, I love all of my Herd Boogie shirts. I think they are Libert (sp) shirts. Now that the DZ is closed they have huge sentimental value. I learned to skydive there in 1993 and have nothing but great memories. My other favorite is my "Sixty Seconds over Elsinore" shirt.

It's a very personal decision and everyone is very different. There is no right or wrong position on this topic. Personally, after I got married, I decided to retire until my child and future children are grown up. After they grow up, I'll decide if I want to return. Life has many risks (some avoidable, some not) and I decided to eliminate a few that are avoidable to improve my odds of being around as long as I can so that I can raise my family. There are many days when I want to go out to the DZ and make a jump but then I look at my son and I remember why I retired. Heck, I have a hard time leaving the home for business trips.

Yep. I have skydiving dreams. Generally, it is the same recurring dream where I deploy my parachute and it falls below me like a rock. Then, I use the old belly mount reserve emergency procedures when it doesn't inflate. I try to shake it out and then end up reeling it in and throwing it out again. It always deploys just prior to impact and after I land I always promise myself that I'll get a new ride as everyone on the DZ is busting my chops. I've had that same dream for many years.

I aggree with everything you said. Although I only had a little over 500 jumps before I temporarily retired from skydiving, I had a heathly respect for the possibilities on each and every jump that I completed. I retired in 2002 when I got married and started a family. Although I love skydiving, I made a descision to retire at least until my children are grown up. I will decide whether or not I will begin again after they grow up. Although I made this personal choice, I have nothing against skydivers who continue to jump while they raise families. Everyone is different. Since 1992 when I started skydiving, I've witnessed 2 deaths of DZ regulars, personally knew at least 6 other people that died although I did not witness. My first rig that I purchased (second hand) was originally owned by a person killed last year in a skydiving accident. So, your comments are accurate. That being said, I loved skydiving and all of the joy and challenges that it provided. I miss it everyday. Everyone should understand and accept the risks and be prepared for anything and everything on every jump. I don't want to go through every step of a skydive inlcuding all safefy checks and scenerios, but remember that every time you throw out your pilot chute, you could have a malfunction. So, assume that it may be the big one and be prepared to react accordingly.

Marketing Strategy. Slow down the pumps so that you have time to think about going into the convenience store and spend some money. In the NJ, PA, DE area there are convenience stores with the name "WaWa" that have been adding gas stations to their properties. The pumps are actually set slower so that you can run in to make your purchases.