tdog

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Everything posted by tdog

  1. tdog
    Is it: A) The balloon is in a decent, but as soon as the weight left the balloon went up a bit or B) The balloon is climbing the whole time. I bet A... I jumped from a balloon in a two-way. We were going down as we left, but the Pilot said he still shot up quite a bit... The danger being that the upward movement can actually compress the air out of the balloon, thus it is better to not shoot up....
  2. tdog

    Hi!

    tdog replied to Malt's topic in General Skydiving Discussions

    Dig thru the posts on this website and you will learn a lot. Dig thru the websites of the home DZ and you will learn a lot. Welcome... Beware, someone once told me that the DZ can empty your pocket quicker than a casino... But it is much more fun, that is for sure. My advice to you... Goto a DZ this weekend and start hanging out. You will get your questions answered and you might even make a jump.
  3. tdog
    What about your DZ's website... If they don't have a good one, perhaps find another DZ's website... (like one out of state so you don't have to explain why your home DZ has bad marketing.) ;-)
  4. tdog
    Awesome... Perhaps someone who is not so lucky to have an instructor program like yours will learn something from the post anyway... How did the sit go? You like it?
  5. tdog
    My grandmother always got a bill from the fire department for the ride to the hospital the few times she needed it. My office gets a bill every time the fire department comes to inspect the place (exit lights working, etc) - and we did not ask them to come, they just knock and come in. So, I joked with friends... What is the bill if your house is on fire? Since insurance will pay for the house, and it proabably will be a total loss, why not just tell the fire department, "No thanks, let it burn baby burn." But back to topic.... If the EMTs are gonna charge a skydiver for a ride to a hospital, it seems they should be able to charge for onsite help with no ride too... Kind of sucks though... I think I would climb out of a tree to save $750, especially since as a kid I climbed out of trees for no reason at all.
  6. tdog
    Just to let you know, that part of SDC's AFP training they do infact have us try sit flying towards the end. It is done with an Instructor not just some random person Thats cool... Probably better than the DZs who say, "no sitflying until you have a B" thus causing "bandit" sits by all those who can't wait.
  7. tdog
    Ya, I get that... When I am 4waying or even just jumping with a 2way - I am so busy I never think about it. But, on a solo, that is where my mind does all sorts of survival instincts in the plane, during freefall, and under canopy... So, ya, me too!
  8. tdog
    Awesome.. Congrats. Ain't skydiving fun. That opened my eyes a bit, because someone with 20 some odd jumps tried to sit and backslid over me a month or two ago. It was a close call, if he did not dump high, he would have been within feet of me... (He did not see me until he was sniveling) He was shaking upon landing. I am no sit expert, but I hear it is real easy to backslide when in the sky alone, especially while learning. So, set yourself up to track, I mean backslide, away from jumprun, or probably a better idea, get some advice from people who know more than I.
  9. tdog
    I think someone said they wanted 50 jumps at my DZ for a full face, but I have jumped one since 30 jumps. My two cents.... Learn how to open the visor as good as you know your EPs. Learn to do it with one hand, with your eyes closed... Here is why... On cold days it can fog up and you lose visibility - and more importantly, when it is fogged up just a bit, opening it under canopy is real helpful. Actually, my opening sequence is now something like this. Pull, it opens, I look for traffic (rear riser as needed), I inspect the canopy, I OPEN THE HELMET, I do the slider/toggles thing... I like the wind in my face as I fly the canopy, you really can tell what your airspeed is, etc... No sun glare on the shield either. Being able to open the visor in 1/2 a second one handed is a good skill to have. That is why I like the oxygn over the havoc, so I can open the visor without opening the whole face. Just me.
  10. tdog
    For me - it is greater than 10,000 feet... At 1000 feet, I am working hard to land in the chaos that some people think is a landing pattern. No time to think about anything else... However, on a high pull the other day, I looked up, I looked down, and said, "And I trust this stuff?" I actually irrationally trust my rig more than I trust the wing on a 737 airplane under major turbulence... I always think, "that wing is metal, it is flexing 6 feet or more, how many times more before it snaps."
  11. tdog
    What is the weight limit for AFF at your DZ??? That may be an issue even if you were not gonna do tandems. For an example, Perris has a 245 lb rule... My home DZ - being higher altitude (wing loading on landing concerns) is even lower.
  12. tdog
    my first and only balloon was from 6.5K at 105 jumps. The delay seemed like forever before a pull at 4K. We did some informal CrEW (no contact) - then landed in a huge field we preplanned. I would not do a 3K balloon, but I would do a 4K balloon. Just my opinion....
  13. tdog
    http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2295 I really liked it. I watch a lot of skydiving videos, and this one is awesome. Just made me smile today... Nice and long, nothing stupid, just great skydiving.
  14. tdog

    Morning Jump

    tdog replied to dropdeded's topic in The Bonfire

    A few weeks ago I jumped out of a balloon and was at the office in time for my normal arrival on a workday... Sunrise skydiving - except for waking up early, it is awesome.
  15. tdog
    And by vending machines too... Vending machines kill more people every year than sharks! I'll bet it's more accurate to say, "Vending machines don't kill people; people trying to rip-off vending machines get themselves killed by vending machines succumbing to gravity and the extension of their centers of gravity over the edges of their bases." I am pretty sure that a vending machine, just sitting there unmolested, hasn't the power to kill anyone. -Jeffrey Ya - it is not that people are always ripping it off, it is them shaking the machine to release the pop they paid for... Since all the pop is at the top of the machine, all it takes is 20 degrees of tilt to cause it to come crashing down. It was actually published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The solution, other than finding smarter humans, would be to weight the bottom of the machine to put the CG below half way up... But, back to the regularly scheduled topic of discussion, enough with vending machines.
  16. tdog
    Well, when I had surgery - it did not kill the pain, but just knocked me out so I did not care about the pain. They stitched the wound open so the infection could work its way out as it scared over. The doctor told me to take up to X amount, but start slow... Well, the pain was so bad I tried to start slow... About an hour passed and I could not take it... Then, well, I went for the gold and maxed out... Woke up every 8 hours and "repeated" until the pain went down. Fun times....
  17. tdog
    The first time you break off from a group skydive and find that your personal space is filled by others on both sides and you need to track like hell to the very last minute to out run them because you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, then see if you remember to stop your track... Not that it happened to me or anything. I think I was even putting on the "brakes" when I threw, but wow, that was fun.
  18. tdog
    When you try it up high, let us know what happens... I put money on a "buffeting" "shaky" effect with a little turn... Just a guess out of the blue. Have you done a full altitude hop-n-pop yet? I did another one this weekend and had so much fun doing all sorts of things not recommended close to the ground...
  19. tdog
    In a dream once I did a hop-n-pop... As the plane was taking off, I jumped out and landed on my feet on the runway. I then said to the person who jumped out with me, "This is not fun, I don't understand why people do it."
  20. tdog
    But it was my first time playing it, so thanks for posting it...
  21. tdog
    Rollercoasters are fun... I still enjoy them... But I really like the rides that are smooth and fast, like skydiving... How often in skydiving do you get shook around - not often... But a fun canopy spiral is smooth and high in Gs... That is fun... Last weekend in the snow I went to the Six Flags... I was the only one there. Well, maybe 10 other "paying" season pass customers... I rode the Half Pipe for an hour straight, until I had to get off or puke... The Half Pipe in Denver is awesome... Magnetic driven car that goes back and forth on a half pipe, while you spin around on a pod of 8 chairs... Often you get freefall on your back, on your side, and facing down... Love it. Skydiving did not ruin amusement parks for me... Too different.
  22. tdog

    tubes and gorillas.

    tdog replied to tdog's topic in The Bonfire

    Being the guy who does not ask for directions when lost I am going to admit I need some help here. It appears all this 4way stuff I have been doing has been way to serious, and it is time to let my hair down some... What is a tube exit and what is a horny gorrila? A search on skydivingmovies.com and these forums and got a lot of "noise" but no good pictures or video... (I know what a horny dog is, oh wait, I am talking about my K9 friend who proves boys will be boys even after being chopped.) Anyway - anyone got some good text or photo education for me???
  23. tdog
    The unjustified fear goes away with education. The justified fear comes with education. Perhaps your family should come to the DZ with you to see what this is all about... I know that the more I educated my family, the more they calmed down.
  24. tdog
    And by vending machines too... Vending machines kill more people every year than sharks!
  25. tdog
    I only have 110 jumps, and I know I am going to piss off karma by saying this... I have sprained an ankle and gotten some road rash skydiving, however my "injuries" are much less than the tail bone I broke snowboarding, the knee I dislocated paragliding, the rib I broke on my motorcycle, the knee I sprained rollerblading with my dog, or the head injury from wakeboarding...