tdog

I have looked back to my paraglidng logbook from 2000 and 2001... I kept a logbook in an excel spreadsheet. I wrote down everything, especially when things went bad. It is fun reading - and if I read it about once a year, I remember all the good times as if I had a camera for every flight. My skydiving log book is not nearly as complete, and I already regret it. Kind of corny - something my mom would tell me to do I know, but the logbook really is the capturing of the "kodak moments". Just my thoughts.

I was the one that started this thread and I agree "vs" is lame too... I never meant the "vs" to one person - like they personally had to choose between one or the other... I meant it more on a global scale, like if you had a plane load of people who were good at both, what % of the time would they choose one over the other? Again, to clarify, I think it is cool that people can do both, especially if they can do both well... That is my goal. Are we on the same page now???

Dude... Once you get that instructor off your back you will find turning to be as responsive as the tunnel.. As long as you keep altitude aware and canopy aware, your AFF will be real easy. Just this weekend I flew with a friend who had about half the jumps as me – and no tunnel time. So I was, believe it or not, the “experienced one.” We exited with him holding onto my chest strap. I grabbed his hands on the hill and the plan was to let go and do some RW… I could feel he was pulling hard. So I gave him the “more legs” signal… To do that I had to let go of one hand. We entered a fast spin, he was pulling me that hard. We were having so much fun we both decided to forget the RW work. I let him go and we flew apart like a sling shot. Then we came back together and finished some of the original plan. Try doing that in a tunnel! You would hit the wall at deadly speed. The point of my story, you are gonna love skydiving if you love the tunnel. The tunnel has to be precise and accurate. The sky is free and wide. I learned a lot in the tunnel (and am gonna learn more this week) but, the saying “the sky’s the limit” is really true. If you got 4 hours of tunnel time, once you get off AFF, I want to fly with ya. You could teach me a thing or two! Go get that AFF done!

PM Sent. I sure hope you are not blowing smoke up our *&& by being anonymous (called a troll on these forums), but at the same time, if you are telling the truth, I understand why you would not want your name connected to the post... What I will say publicly - The card you are talking about... Is it the Yellow "A" card? If so, don't expect it to be done by the end of AFF... It takes time to get all that done on your post AFF pre A jumps. I had many open holes until 25 jumps or so.

I want to jump with you some day.

I was waiting for a "Perrisian" to respond. I assumed I was on a load of dull, unfriendly people, and hoped that it was NOT indicative of the larger population. Perhaps it was the time of day and once they woke up they could be awesome friends... I understand fully. I would have been upset if someone touched my rig without asking or offering first. But I was the only solo. The 4way team did not check themselves. The few groups of freeflyers did not check themselves. No one asked. No one offered. No one did. Perhaps they did the no-touch look without asking check, but still...

Very good point... Perhaps you should post a thread. "Canopy to save your life, Canopy to Swoop, Canopy to CReW"... I just focused on the freefall part of the dive - if you are the type that actually freefalls instead of hop-n-poping at some altitude.

You saying I have an identity problem. My therapist has worked with me for 30 years on that issue, and now you are gonna burst my bubble that I was cured. I don't know about restricting myself or anyone else... I know a lot of people who do both but are better or prefer one over the other. I also know I have been to 4 DZs and have seen one be very freefly focused and one be very RW focused. When I watched the videos the guys were taking - both DZs had incredible flyers. For the record - this was NEVER intended to be a "vs" debate. But it is no secret that some people have preferences and really stick with them. Heck, I have not skied in 20 years, but I snowboard a lot. Same mountain, different goals. Off to find my identity...

That kind of statment often comes from a retard who lacks the social skills to play well with others, and the skydiving skills basic enough to spot or safely be in the sky with 3 other people. I "SKydive", in all orientations. Actually, it came from another great skydiver who by all means could compete nationally in RW. I think I must have struck a nerve, you got quite defensive.

So, on the DZ last Saturday - someone looked at a national champion RW guy and said, "RW is a dieng breed." He said, "and we are bringing it back." Feel free in your posts to indicate the name and city of the DZ, and any other comments you might have about "market trends". How have things changed in the last few months, the last year, and the last few years. Our DZ is about 50-50.

A newbie answer for ya… I really like it when the DZ culture is like yours. I have been to a few DZs that are that way. Our home DZ is very friendly too… You don’t get checked automatically unless you are a student – but they will hold the plane with a smile if you ask for a check. Let me preface this by saying I really think Perris does a good job in educating about their DZ in the wavier process… But the one jump I did there I walked up to the flight line and said, “Hey, this is my first jump at this DZ. I am gonna be playing around on my belly as a solo, what is the exit order you guys like here? Where would you like me?” An otter load of people looked at me like I was an alien from outer space and walked away from me. No one answered my question, so I made it up as I went. Not a single gear check was given on the plane… At the other DZs I have been to, the whole load of people would have introduced themselves to me, told me the procedures of the jump run/exit order, pointed out some tidbits about the DZ, and talked to me. So, to answer your question – it is my experience at 4 DZs that I have been to, you better be real good at having a very accurate self-gear check because you will not always get people who are willing to help. The bigger the DZ – the more it operates like a ski resort – the less like a tight knit community. That is my experience from being at a Cessna DZ, a single otter DZ, a three plane DZ, and a huge DZ. Very linear – the bigger the DZ, the less gear checks are given. Sorry to take this thread a bit away from the incident… But since I did have a Perris experience I thought I would take a gamble at posting it since someone asked. I am not implying Perris, or any large DZ, is dangerous or lead to this incident.

But there would be no proof that the batteries would have come from this guy's rig... If you trust the rigger, a quick question, "Say - did you change the batteries?" should be all it takes. If you don't trust his answer - why would you trust his packjob??? That is my two cents.

Do you have a grandmother or mother that sews? If so, you can buy the top notch fabric you desire, and have them teach you how to make it. $30 for the fabric, maybe $50 tops... Borrow a friends suit and study how it is made (double stiching, etc)... It ain't that hard to sew one as long as you have some basic skills taught to you and you do your research. There are even threads on this forum about how to make one.

I have had to collect money from customers before. Sometimes I win by being their best friend. I try to be polite and simply ask them for the money. They don't feel threatened - and pay. Often I will offer terms, like 10% of what is owed paid monthly. If you choose to send an open letter to the community, I would: 1) Make sure it is as professional as possible, listing very specific details, and not making any personal attacks. 2) Make sure you send it to the DZO 7 days before you publish it, and put that in the letter, that the DZO had 7 days to acknowledge your concerns and pay you the first installment of 100 euros. What is that, a few jump tickets?

Remember the feeling of your first jump? It was awesome right! I got that feeling again today. A paralyzed individual showed up at the DZ for a tandem… As far as I could tell, he had control of his left arm – but the rest of his body, including his face, was paralyzed as if he had a stroke. It also appeared that some of the paralysis was from birth due to deformity. But guess what, it did not matter to me. He was a skydiver today. His church showed up and there was like 100 people to watch. I kid you not; I have never seen so many people show up for one tandem. I have never seen that many wuffos, period, on the DZ. I jumped on the trailer to goto watch the landing – but the TI asked me to help. Next thing I know I am lifting the “skydiver” into the king air. Then we rode out to the landing area with 30 people on the trailer and 8 cars following, the last being a pickup truck so overloaded with this guy’s friends that the rear springs were flat. I was the only skydiver on the trailer so I was answering questions faster than I could think. To see 100 people look to the sky and “ooh” and “ahh” as if firecrackers were going off on 4th of July was awesome. A lot had binoculars, most were pointing to the sky as soon as they saw the drogue. As a few other people wrangled the toggles on landing, I carried his wheelchair out to the landing area – which due to wind changes – was far from the peas that the TI never misses. But – the question… Did he enjoy it? The only words I heard the entire time he was at the DZ were a mangled and struggled: “I want to do it again”. And on the video, it was so awesome to see him wave with his working hand to the video guy. He was 100% mentally there even though his paralyzed body clearly hid his enjoyment. This was the tandem instructors 7814 jump – but you could see he really enjoyed it too – and did not even make a facial expression when the saliva ran into his face (I know that is gross sounding, but the guy clearly did not have control of it, so how can you complain?) I told the TI that I really respected the fact he would do such a dive on the next trailer ride out… The TI smiled and said, “it is good for me to be able to do that every once in a while.” Anyway – to see someone who’s life will never be like ours, for a brief moment be a skydiver, was one of the most rewarding things I have done in a long time – and I really did not even do the “hard part” – I just lifted him into the plane and carried a wheelchair. For the first time ever I wanted to be a TI – to give something special like that… Oh, and I was told the left-handed spiral dive under canopy was not initiated by the TI, but by the giggling passenger. Anyway… It made my day… And, one of this guy’s friends who came out on his wheelchair and was just as paralyzed already said he wants to celebrate his birthday in June with a skydive. Wow.

...

New versus Used…. I wanted a somewhat new (like 4 year old) used rig. Posted want ads everywhere (sent .PDF files to manifest at all the big DZs so they could post. They promised me they did… I posted ads on DZ.com, etc. Asked gear dealers for consignment rigs.) After a month of people trying to sell me velocities loaded 1.8 to 1, or rigs that were so un-freefly friendly my rigger just laughed – I gave up. It sucks to be on the end of the bell curve of height and weight (6’-3”, 205 lbs, high elevation DZ) because the market does not have a lot of used rigs… So I purchased new on the end of year X-mas sales - placing my order two weeks before Christmas - for a killer price. I got a container that would allow me to downsize to my 300-500 jump goal… The main was so discounted to get stock inventory off the shelf that I could sell it in 50-100 jumps and break even if I did not like it. The canopies arrived in time to put under the tree for myself. I knew the only “custom” item that had to be made was the container. No one stocked something for my 6’3” height… I called a few factories and talked to the sales department and asked if they had something pre-made (demo/change of mind, etc) that would work. No… But I was promised a date on a custom from the factory that my rigger and a few people I trust really recommended, and I even said, “just to make sure I understood you correctly, you are saying the last week of February. Let me look at my calendar. That is 10 weeks from today, right? Promise? That takes into consideration the holidays, right?” Well – late January I get a call from my dealer… The factory added 5-6 weeks to the order once my paperwork made its way to the top of the inbox… And the same factory, 10 weeks after I placed my order, changed their website to say 10 week delivery time on new orders, but I am at 13 weeks now, and if they hit their revised target, it will be 15 to 17 weeks… I know shit happens and I am a very forgiving person – but I am a little let down by the whole experience… How could a brand new order today be fulfilled nearly twice as quick as an order I have not even recieved yet? Here is the hidden cost of new… I am using many different rental canopies becoming experienced at many – but a master of none – which is not the safest thing in the world. Plus the rental fees alone for the last 5 week delay are $$$. Anyway – I just thought I would give you some more detail on the new versus used saga that I did not take into consideration when I made my decisions… Basically – look for used – and if you find something that works for your skills and is in good shape – get it.

This is real life. If it wasn't - I would not be awake at 6AM thinking about how silly it is to be awake a 6AM talking to you... Actually - in face to face meetings I rarely realize that I am talking to the wrong person. That was what happened in this case... But in face to face meetings I also have one of those Men In Black flashy things that erase memory - just in case I do need it.

I have one landing at Perris - and it sucked... So for me it is 1 : 1… I hit some nasty air 10’ off the ground (just before flare) and was slammed into the ground in a turn/dive/collapse of the canopy. The winds were parallel to the runway, and I landed into the wind right across from manifest/pool in the dirt area. I am kindof nervous because I am scheduled for a camp there next week and know that I am gonna be doing at least 25 skydives – and I really want to not get slammed again. Anyone got landing suggestions specific to this DZ? Did I have bad luck or did I discover the known gremlins that occupy this DZ? If you don't want to join me in taking this thread quasi-off-topic, send a PM. T.

I took my altimeter in a carry on... It was calibrated for sea level before they closed the door. The cabin pressure slowly went up to 6.5K as we climbed to 30K, but the cabin went much slower than the altitude of the plane... Just FYI. So, if someone does not have a problem in a commercial plane, a skydiving jump run is only 2X what a commercial plane faces.

I don't think it is a cookie issue... Although I did clear out my cookies just in case... The reason... It has happened on my laptop, my desktop, my work computer at random times - half way thru reading... Not when I first log on or when I change computers - just half way thru... I would think the cookie would be computer specific.

Every once in a while I will click on a forum, like "General Skydiving".... I will read a few threads that show as having unread items. When I come back, EVERY thread in that forum shows they have been read in full, even new threads I have not even looked at once. (The document icon is white, not orange) It happens about once a week. Ideas?

Can you further clarify... Do you mean the student forgets the info on a long term basis - like a day after the tunnel it did not sink in... Or do you mean right then and there - the student gets the dear in the headlights look and has a hard time concentrating on the task at hand because their brain is focused on the words... or something completely different???

Dom, frustrated by the rain??? I guess I will do a rain dance for you when I am out there next week right before I leave... I always miscommunicate with the gods though, and my rain dances always bring wind instead.

... and off the landing area. I think sometimes people land, gather up their canopy and start walking without looking up. Heck, it was a while before I figured out that after landing turning 180 degrees and facing the others landing was a good idea – so I can see who is about ready to hit me as I ball up my canopy. Good post, I was actually thinking this week (after my last jump) that I have had 35 clean openings in a row on my canopy and no other close calls - and I need to stay on my toes because there will be a chance I could get a bit complacent.