NWFlyer

Please, let me know when/where you find scientifically valid statistical data in this sport, because I think a lot of us would be really interested in looking at it and using it.

They're not that eloquent. It's more like "YOLO, dude!" "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

And another was in Southern CA, involving a local jumper. They don't do "seasons" either. "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

FIFY. "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

For me it would largely depend on where the service is being held. If it's at the dropzone, dropzone casual is generally appropriate. If it's at a church or other religious setting, I've always taken it up a notch and worn a nice pair of pants (or skirt) and a blouse. Men at those tend to wear something a step up from jeans (like khakis or dress pants) and a collared shirt, sometimes a tie. I don't see a lot of suits, but that doesn't mean you can't wear one. I've never seen anyone wear a jumpsuit (other than if it's a group of folks gathering for a few words after an ash dive and the ash dive participants are still in their jumpsuits), and I've probably been to a dozen or so memorial services over the last 9 years. "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

More detail, direct from the DZ: "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, our 8-way earned 1312 through 1319 on April 27. There aren't any more new ones listed on the site since then. I'm planning to organize some more in Northern California at various boogies this summer. "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. I mean teaching it properly and in depth. Not just scratching the surface. While we are at it, I think the canopy part of the AFF course is woefully inadequate. Maybe that's part of the problem - our sport sets up the expectation that freefall skills matter the most and canopy piloting is something you just go out and learn on your own. I don't know - it's a theory, though. Well, we've made at least some progress in the last couple years by adding the mandatory canopy course for the B license. I think we can do more, but I'm personally a fan of having that be a B requirement; it hits someone just as they're starting to get their first set of sport gear, when they're starting to think about downsizes, etc. I feel like the information is probably better absorbed after a bit of experience jumping. (Not that we shouldn't also teach and emphasize canopy skills during the A license progression, 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

Been a long time since I had roommates, but pretty much everywhere I've lived it's been "what's mine is mine and what's yours is yours," unless there's an explicit agreement to share something. "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

Come on out to Northern California for the American Boogie at SkyDance - jump your ass off in the long June days! There will be all kinds of great organizing, including Roger Ponce for belly flyers, Sean "Monkeyboy" Horton for wingsuiters, as well as some great freefly organizers as well. Yours truly will be organizing the ladies on WSCR jumps as well. I hear rumors there's other fun stuff in the works as well. The boogie will have SkyDance's normal fleet of aircraft (Blackhawk Grand Caravan, PAC 750) all weekend as well as a Skyvan from Friday-Sunday. Friday night will have night jumps, so bring your strobe and glow sticks and jump till midnight! Saturday night features a great barbecue and shenanigans. Closest airport for commercial flights would be Sacramento, followed by Oakland and San Francisco. http://www.skydance.net/Default.htm "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

In this day and age where pretty much everyone is constantly connected, there's very little excuse for not notifying someone if you're going to be late. If I've committed to be somewhere at a specific time, I plan accordingly so I will be there at that time. Stuff does happen, but in that case, you should be letting the person you're meeting know that you're running late, and offer a pretty heartfelt apology when you do get there. To me, being on time is about respecting the other person's time. Showing up late is an indication that I don't respect their time. It's a message I try not to send. "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

PD compares the two in several areas in the "Storm Flight Characteristics" document. http://performancedesigns.com/docs/StormCFStormFAQFlightCharacteristics.PDF "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

Damn... I had to research the Malfunction Junction interchange oil tanker explosion in Birmingham, AL, because of that name. Tim Dyson was an oil tanker driver who jack-knifed his rig when some dumb fuck teenager cut him off, and Tim wrecked right under an overpass at the I-20/I-59/I-65 junction, causing a massive explosion that buckled the overpass. The new bridge that was built to replace the destroyed one, was named after the oil tanker driver. totally unrelated. "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 hear there's a movement afoot to rename it the Tim Eyman Memorial Bridge. "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 already had a lot in the article, so to expand on this would probably be an entirely separate article, but it seems like there's a LOT embedded underneath this statement that would be good to consider - how do you evaluate readiness? What kinds of things do you want to consider? Related, but separate, might be some advice on how to assess a landing area for suitability - what to look for, identifying hazards, outs, the importance of getting out and actually WALKING the area before you decide to jump into it, etc. "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

Nice video from Skydive Spaceland (starring RoryJ) on door usage, door etiquette, door safety. This would be a nice tool for a lot of DZs with this type of roll-up door to show their newer jumpers (and refresh the "experienced" folk who "forget" some of this). https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CxYc1M44Dxk "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

Well, guess what. Your instructors are going to put you on the skydiving equivalent of a 250cc for a while, whether you like it or not, and whether you walk in with shiny new gear or not. "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

Welcome to skydiving. "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

Doesn't that mark the difference between falling asleep and passing out? Falling asleep = shoes off. Passing out = shoes on? "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. Go to the dropzone. Hang around. Talk to the instructors. Talk to the jumpers. Ask about instructional programs. Learn how safe (and not safe) it really is. Sign up. Or don't. But quit overthinking 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

Yep, this is true. Of the options you gave, I'm a fan of "you can't do that here." It may just move the problem down the road, but I'd sure as hell rather jump at a dropzone where I know the management deals swiftly with people who have no business being under the wing they're under. And that is a 100% selfish attitude - I don't want 'em in the pattern with me. "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

This is sort of a bigger philosophical point, and I suspect that people who've been around a lot longer than my 9 years will say "hah, you don't even know, tourist!," but there's something to be said for TIME. Time in sport. Time under a wing. Time to get to the point where you react instinctively when the shit hits the fan, and your instinct is right 99.9% the time. Time to get to the point where you don't let the shit hit the fan because you can see the big picture so well that you stay out of the corner in the first place (proverbial or otherwise). Time to deal with a whole bunch of different days and situations and weather. Time to travel to a bunch of different dropzones with nasty tight landing areas or crazy wind or altitudes or low levels of canopy/pattern discipline that you've got to navigate. Time to see how you deal with a whole shit ton of different variables that you can't even begin to imagine till you've spent some time in this sport. Time to go to a funeral or ten. Time to watch your buddy get airlifted out, broken in pieces. Time to watch him deal with the healing from that (or deal with NOT healing from that but instead being permanently broken). Unfortunately, telling the hot shot "natural" he (and it's usually he, so I'm totally comfortable with using a gendered pronoun) that he can speed through the checklist doesn't address the time issue. "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

Read the fine print. Look for exclusions. Look for annual and lifetime limits. Those things will be very relevant if you wind up with a very serious injury. Your best bet may be to find a good insurance broker who knows the carriers in your area and will work with you to help you understand what's best for your needs. You can get general recommendations, but every plan in every state is going to vary, so even if one person covered by Plan X has a certain type of benefits, you may not. Which is why you have to look at the fine print.

You probably already know he's well-known for it. Bro, where else have i been an ass? I think i bring a different perspective to topics by simply saying what others are afraid to hear. Do people here really think i'm an ass? A troll, maybe, but not an ass "Afraid to hear." That's cute that you think that telling someone you don't know, on the internet, that they're not cut out for skydiving is being helpful. That decision is best left to the individual jumper and his or her instructors. Of course, there's also the fact that not everyone who turns out to be a good skydiver shows that potential early. Maybe it's time to bring back this old chestnut, which I love to share with students or newer jumpers who are struggling. It's the logbook of one of our very own moderators who took 48 jumps to get her A. http://crwdog.servebeer.com/CRWdog/HowCRW.html Since then ... multiple world records, 9000+ jumps, instructional ratings, still jumping after 20 years in the sport. "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

Dude, seriously....10 x on just AFF3? That's a dismal record, bro. It's awesome how you take one poster's attempt to be encouraging and turn it into an opportunity to be an ass. Well done, bro. "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