NWFlyer

What has your DZ had you wear for your AFF jumps? If they had you wear one of the student jumpsuits, why not continue to wear those for your solo jumps? But yeah, talk to your instructors ... "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

True, there's definitely no standard practice, but I've found for the most part, people are back in the air jumping as soon as possible after the incident. In the case of an injury incident, sometimes operations will stop temporarily because of a need to bring in rescue crews (particularly if it's a life flight and the DZ wants to ensure clear airspace/landing space). In some cases I've heard about local authorities that may want to shut things down to conduct some sort of investigation, but that seems to be pretty rare. Generally what I've seen is they'll show up, interview the appropriate people, file their reports, and move on. Unless you're specifically asked by the DZO or S&TA to talk to the local LEOs, I'd recommend referring them directly to the DZ management for information. On that note, another thing I would recommend is not talking to the media unless the DZO or S&TA specifically requests that you do so. Most DZs have a plan (or should have a plan) for dealing with media following an incident to try to ensure that the information is presented as clearly and accurately as possible, and the best you can do to help that out is say "no comment" or "I'd prefer not to talk about it." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I don't think I posted it in the other thread, but good evidence of that is the pilot who stalled the aircraft at the boogie last year ... that was his first (I think) and definitely his last flight of the boogie (not a regular SkyDance pilot). Ray took quick action on that one. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Reminds me of the old Steven Wright joke: "I like my dental hygienist. I think she's very pretty. So whenever I go to have my teeth cleaned, while I'm in the waiting room I eat an entire box of Oreo cookies." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You gotta be kidding me? What was the debrief like after the first one - "Well, that was scary, not sure what went worng, let's go try it again"? Yes, we just sat around with our thumbs up our asses after our friend hit the tail. Two different pilots. Two different PACs (as PAC #1 was being checked out after a tail strike). Details here on the analysis that was done between jumps. It may not have (in retrospect) been perfect analysis, but rest assured it wasn't ignored. (I was on the jump and provided my own details on what happened in posts 51 and 65 edit to add and 72 and 75) http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3604015;#3604015 "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not the same thing. A USPA dropzone is a dropzone that has chosen to pay the fee to join the USPA Group Member program. A non-USPA dropzone is a dropzone that has chosen not to pay the fee to join the USPA Group member program. Jumping at a non-USPA dropzone does not mean it's a bandit jump. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not particularly off-beat, but a great "LA Experience" (IMHO) is to have breakfast here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/back-on-the-beach-santa-monica. Casual little place with chairs right in the sand, decent food, and spectacular views. After that, you can wander around Santa Monica and head down to Venice (which is definitely marching to its own beat!). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Sooooo true... as a newbie a month was a HUGE amount of time off; now it's not a big deal in terms of fear or comfort. As for me, I find that while my raw fear has gone down the longer I stay in the sport, my respect for the risk has increased exponentially. Not that I ever thought it was safe, but the more time I spend the more I start to truly understand and appreciate the myriad ways you can kill/injure yourself or others in this sport as I see more and more close calls and actual incidents. I think that continuing to have that healthy appreciation and understanding is vital to ensuring that complacency doesn't set in. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Pete put a lovely new lineset on the Pilot I used to jump. Couldn't tell the difference from the original lineset (well, I should say that I couldn't tell a difference from the original lineset when it was newer - obviously I saw a positive difference from a ragged-out original lineset!) "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

You MAY only be in it for a short time. While I agree with the rest of what you said, I'm also a believer that setting up the "you must downsize" is probably contributing, at least slightly, to people being on wings that are too small for them. Some of us are still jumping the same container we bought when we started jumping. I fit a Spectre 230 and a Pilot 210 into it for the first 500 jumps ... now I have the Pulse 210 in there which packs much more happily. This container likes a 190, and could take most 170s as well. So ... the right first container might last a long time, depending on the person's body type, skills, and interest in downsizing. All that said, I lucked out and got a sweet deal on a used container that fits me pretty well and had only 10 jumps on it. I'm a believer in used for most people (unless of course they're real outliers on body type, then new/custom ends up being the only viable option). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That would help, if I was cool enough to have an iPhone It's an Android app too. But I just ran it through on my Droid and Shazam didn't recognize it. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

No. Didn't you read the waiver? But seriously, if you're a non-drinker you can choose to bring beer - or choose to bring something else. The beer rules are less about sticking a box in the beer fridge than about walking up to someone you don't know with a cold one after-hours and saying "Hi I'm [insert name here], I just [insert first here]." You could bring a cooler full of iced-down Gatorade and bottled water and pass 'em out during the jump day and meet just as many people. Or buy a bunch of pizzas after the day is done. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yep. About 7 years ago I was hit by a car (as a pedestrian) in Seattle after two cars collided in the intersection and one hit me (one had run the red light). A few months before that a pedestrian was killed at that intersection as a result of a similar accident, and a few months after, two cars collided but (fortunately) no pedestrians were involved even though one car ended up on the sidewalk. After the third incident, my employer and other employers with offices at the intersection were particularly concerned about the safety of their people, who often traversed this intersection on foot going to/from lunch and to/from parking lots or buses. They invited a traffic engineer from the city out to talk about the intersection and whether there was anything that could be done to make it safer, particularly for pedestrians. Since I was a party to one of the incidents, I was invited to tag along. It was interesting to talk to him - he said basically the same thing you're saying - statistically speaking there's a "sweet spot" of red-to-green delays, and if you go too long, it just encourages red light runners to continue to run the light. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That I don't know - never paid close enough attention to collegiates (though I have been at Eloy when they were going on). The comps I've seen have been fun comps at a DZ - sport competitors are using their normal sport canopies, while the classic guys are on the big accuracy canopies. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

The sport accuracy comps I've seen have the targets spray-painted on the grass . Skydivers Competition Manual, Section 7-1.8 has classic accuracy rules, 7-1.9 has sport accuracy rules (excerpted below, but also available on the USPA site). A. Competitors will be judged on the following three tasks: 1. Accuracy: The distance between their first point of contact and the target center will be measured with a possible score of zero meters (dead center) to 15 meters maximum. 2. Stand-up landing: Failure to perform a stand-up landing will add a 15-meter penalty to the competitor’s score. 3. Landing control a. Failure to contain the landing within the 30-meter-diameter circle will add a 15-meter penalty to the competitor’s score. b. If the first point of contact is not within the 15-meter radius circle, the competitor will receive the maximum score. B. Maximum total score is 45 meters. C. The target dead center is 1.5 meters (60 inches) in diameter and may be changed to .4 meter (16 inches) in diameter during the last two rounds at the judge’s discretion. D. The individuals with lowest total accumulated scores will be the winners. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

No - students (including tandems) should be an exception to what everyone's saying here. When you're under the supervision of an instructor and it's that instructor (or a DZO/S&TA) who is making the call to jump or not, then you wouldn't pay. But once you're making your own calls ... it's up to you to absorb the cost of that call. There are, of course, other exceptions where the DZO might make a call to bring the plane back down, but those are unusual circumstances like closing the landing area because of the need to bring in a life flight helicopter. Depending on the timing and the configuration of the DZ, I've seen jumpers sent to alternate landing areas or brought back down in that case. In that case if the plane's brought back down the DZO should just absorb that cost, but that's a rare exception. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yes there's one in Perris, too. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

If he thinks Casa Grande is "too far" he's definitely going to think Eloy is too far (as he's stated he's coming from the North). To the original poster - the reality of dropzones is that the vast majority of them are NOT going to be close to home if you live in a city or the close-in suburbs of a city. One to two hour drives are not uncommon from most metropolitan areas. Three to four hours is not out of the question. If you really want to skydive, you'll have to deal with a drive... or move. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Aww, this reminds me of one of my favorite threads. I know Remi always loves when we bump this one up. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

What he said, plus, in many malfunction situations, there's not a lot you can actually do to control the canopy to get it out of the way of another person, even if you have awareness of other people near you. So spend your mental energy on something you can do something about - attempting to get a good canopy over your head. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

No contest (though I suppose you could debate whether it falls into the right genre): I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yep, Don is the one who returned my call re: training @ Beale. Very hepful, even gave me his email to follow up later in the year re: classes next year. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

See here. Post #10 has the video link. Kitteh is displeased. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3566717 "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Having you do ground school again seems entirely appropriate - you've been out 4 years and only have 8 jumps total. Your 8 jumps in 2006 still count as jumps towards your license, however, you will still need to demonstrate all of the skills required to complete AFF and get cleared for self-supervision. Since you only got to your 3rd level in 2006, it's pretty reasonable for the DZ to expect that you'll need to re-do all levels of AFF. Once you've done that, you'll still need to complete other license requirements and get to a minimum of 25 jumps to earn an A license. Those jumps in 2006 will count towards the minimum of 25, so if you can complete your other post-AFF requirements in a minimum number of jumps you may still hit an A license with 25 jumps. You could call around to other DZs till you get the answer you want to hear, but I suspect given the information that you've provided, most DZs would give you a fairly similar answer. Some may suggest that you'd get through AFF in fewer jumps than the standard, but I doubt anyone will put you up in the air without a full ground school again. If a school does tell you that you don't need retraining on the ground ... I'd personally consider that a red flag and wouldn't want to train there. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHaVUjjH3EI&feature=player_embedded Always fun to re-watch. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke