NWFlyer

Because then their entire childhood will be devoted to the Radical Gay Agenda (TM). "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

Far from perfect, but she executed her own EPs and landed the canopy on her own. Big difference IMHO between that and a "wait for the AAD to save your life" situation. "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

How much do you need? Smart ass answer, but really the only one that anyone on the internet can give you. Best bet would be to contact the dropzone you'd like to visit, and tell them your situation - jumps, license, layoff time, etc. They'll let you know what they'd recommend for retraining, which may very well be adapted if you show up and are either especially on top of things or especially clueless. "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.uspa.org/SIM/Read/Section5/tabid/168/Default.aspx#52b "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

Don't conspiracy theories belong in SC? "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 to both options. Your dropzone should have goggles that fit over glasses (I'd recommend confirming that when you make your reservations, just to be 100% sure). As for Rx goggles, you may want to hold off on those to see whether you want to stick with skydiving. If you do decide to stick with it, there are several options - sticking with over-the-glasses goggles, wearing a full-face helmet with your glasses underneath, getting Rx goggles, or wearing either goggles or a full-face with contact lenses. No need to rush to that decision. "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

It's not always perfectly cut and dried. For example, there was DNA evidence that was submitted as part of the evidence in the case for which I was a juror. Had the DNA evidence been the only piece of evidence in this case, I doubt the jury would have convicted. It wasn't strong enough on its own, but combined with all the other evidence provided by the prosecution, we believed there was enough evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. So it's not as simple as saying "DNA evidence = death penalty eligible, no DNA evidence = no death penalty." "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

Que?? Maybe one of the kids got hold of the keyboard? "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

Any lingering doubts I might have had about the death penalty went away early last year when I served on a jury in a murder trial. It was not a death penalty case, and I (and all of my fellow jurors) still felt the weight of our decision quite heavily. I felt fortunate to serve with 11 other people who respected the process, took it seriously, and all did their best to carefully consider the evidence presented and make the right decision based on the evidence presented. It was not a slam dunk case with a smoking gun, we had a lot of small pieces of evidence to consider. It was a great example of how difficult police work and legal work can be, and how the answers really aren't that easy as the procedural dramas make them seem, even when you do have 12 jurors of above-average intelligence who were taking the process and their role in it quite seriously. The decisions juries are asked to make every day aren't that easy, and they're not decided in the way the court of public opinion makes its decisions, and, imperfect though the criminal trial justice and trial process may be, that's a good thing. All in all, I came out of it more acutely attuned to how flawed our system is, but more convinced that it's better than any of the alternatives that have been developed thus far. End to end, it is a less-than-perfect process run by less-than-perfect humans from start to finish. To offer up the death penalty as a possible punishment at the end of that process is a mistake that we ought not to make anymore. "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 mere existence of frozen yogurt is a threat to the sanctity of ice cream, I agree. "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

Thanks for posting. Did you talk on the ground with the other jumpers to see if you could figure out the source of the lack of separation? What was the outcome of that conversation? "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

It's hard to tell whether the guy was actually supposed to be jumping with the two way group that come in frame. If he was, he wasn't doing a great job of either 1) joining the formation or 2) getting and keeping them in frame if he was doing outside video. My gut instinct looking at the video is that he was a solo skydiver who exited after the two-way, and I'd wonder whether he even saw the two-way during the skydive. Maybe, maybe not. The camera certainly picks them up, but nothing that the skydiver with the camera does seems to indicate that he is taking any action to get farther away from them. The camera picks up the two-way, then he looks at his altimeter, and continues his skydive. Other things I see. He doesn't scan around him at all before pulling. No waveoff. During the opening, he looks straight up at his canopy, focusing only on the canopy rather than the airspace around him. Awareness seems pretty low, yet (gee what a surprise) there's a camera on his head. In summary some ways to prevent: 1) Know what your exit separation should be, and stick to it. 2) Be aware of others who are exiting before and after you. (Corollary: know line of flight and which way to look for others) 3) Wave off, even on a solo - because if you've screwed up 1 &2 it helps the people from other groups who end up in the same airspace as you know that you're going to pull). 4) Look around you before you pull. 5) Look around you as your canopy is opening. Once you have a few jumps under your belt, you know pretty well what a good opening feels like. If it's feeling good as it opens, there's no need to stare at it quite so intently. 6) Leave the damn camera off your head till you have better awareness. (Edit to add: even if my interpretation of the video is off or somewhat off, I'd still hold that the recommendations above are good in any case to minimize the likelihood of collisons or near misses.) "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

Has anyone suggested this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5I6y1Qvz0 "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 could start with what's in the USPA SIM. http://www.uspa.org/SIM/Read/Section6/tabid/169/Default.aspx#984 "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 actually pretty bad advice. Whether or not you can use booties pre-A may vary by dropzone. Some will advise against it, others will be fine with it. I would advise exactly the opposite in purchasing a belly RW suit - booties are an extremely useful tool, and if you get them in your first jumpsuit you don't need to buy another one when you decide you want booties. Booties can be tucked up if one doesn't want to use them. But it's rather difficult construction to add them to a jumpsuit after the jumpsuit is built. All that said, if you can find a cheap used jumpsuit that fits and it doesn't have booties, go for it and use it while you figure out what you want to be when you grow up in skydiving. But a lot of people aren't going to have any luck finding a well-fitting used suit, and will purchase a custom fit. In that case, skipping the booties on a belly suit is short-sighted, IMO. "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

It's quite a bit farther west than Missouri, but Lost Prairie in Marion Montana is a must do in early August. Worth the drive, I promise. www.meadowpeakskydiving.com "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

Why do you want to downsize? Why are you worried about downsizing? Answers to those two questions might help people understand better how to give you advice. "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 ideal" is a pretty subjective thing. As noted above, there's a lot of benefits to being at what may become your home DZ. And there's a lot you can learn during those cloud cover days. Being two hours away from a DZ is pretty standard - a few folks are lucky enough to live in major metro areas and be closer, but generally, DZs are out in the middle of nowhere, so unless you also live out in the middle of the same nowhere, you're going to have to drive. The biggest year-round DZs in the US tend to be in places where the weather can range from abysmal (FL, AZ) to inconsistent (Southern CA, TX) in the summer. All of the big DZs will be jumping all summer weather permitting, but in many cases (like Skydive AZ in Eloy) the days will start and end early to miss the worst of the day's heat. Irrespective of weather, there's positives and negatives to going to learn at a big DZ like that. Lots of people do it (though it tends more to be people coming from crappy climates in the winter to a place that has a better winter climate). Yes, you can probably crank out all your jumps in a concentrated period of time (while you might not have a 7-day a week DZ available near home). The bigger DZs pump out a lot of students, and while the quality of instruction is generally consistently high, there may be less of a "personal touch" that you could get at a smaller DZ (particularly one where they know you're going to become a regular, and they have a vested interest in making sure you "grow up right.") Most bunk houses aren't free, though they're not too expensive (in the $10/night or less range). Tent camping is free at pretty much every DZ that allows 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've been the trusting guy and the trusted guy many times. So far, so good, but I think that's just luck. Well, there was that one time.... "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=98P-gu_vMRc

Where do you live? Why would you want to travel to get your license? Summer in most parts of the world provides fine weather with no need to travel elsewhere to skydive. Once you earn your license, it'll be much more beneficial for your continued learning and development to already know the dropzone (or dropzones) in your area and some of the people. An A license is just the beginning - it's a license to learn, and a lot of your learning will come from doing fun jumps with people at the dropzone. If the people at the dropzone have already gotten to know you when you're a student, during the jump day and over a cold beverage after hours, it'll be that much easier to get to know people who will become your jump buddies and informal mentors as you grow in the sport. Conversely, if you're that person who comes back to your local dropzone as a freshly minted skydiver from "somewhere else," it'll take that much longer to get to know the folks in the local area. None of the local instructors will know you, so you're less likely to be able to rely on them to make introductions to others. It's not that you can't do that, but it's a lot easier if you "grow up" there. Plus, you're starting out in the sport by supporting a local business, and that pays untold dividends, even if you might be able to save a buck or two on your training by going somewhere else. My recommendation - save the travel costs and use them towards more jumps or to build up your gear fund. "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

Oooh, that is nasty. I take pretty much the same approach; I glance at my emails from Verizon and as long as the amount is within a small margin of my normal bill amount, I don't even bother to look at the bills. A bill that large *would* cause me to click over. "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

Weeeeeeelllllll, Exccccuuuuuuusssssseeee, Meeeeeeeeeee! "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

Tell me you have a couple you want to sell . . . cheap. That'll always get you in the door. You'all are discounting the daughter I'd bet she knows how to handle herself! I'm teasing, especially since I know J & V and the daughter in question pretty well. She'll do just fine. Those two have raised some sharp 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

So how many PMs have you received asking if your gorgeous daughter is single? "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