tdog

I deleted my post because I changed my mind on what I had to say.

There was another activity I did once that was my passion (designing lighting for concerts, modern dance, theatre, etc). I spent every waking moment doing it in high school and college. I got a degree in the field and then got a job doing it... It lost it's fun real quick - and became work – as soon as I had to do it to pay the bills. I still do it as a “hobby job” – and choose only the concerts that sound fun. I will never do my passion full time again. I know more than one person who says skydiving lost it's fun once it became a full time job. But the friends who do it as a job or for fun on the weekends seem real happy... Clearly, you can’t stay where you are – I got depressed just reading your post. So, how about a plan B? You find an alternate job, other than engineering, other than skydiving, that sounds fun – a job that you could do for a long time… Teaching math/engineering or something to college students, flying planes (you said you liked it and you could get student loans to learn), becoming a landscape architect and working outside all the time (you know drafting I assume), being a bus driver – anything that keeps you happy…. (Does your engineering degree apply to airfoil design – you could work for a canopy manufacturer perhaps? With your electrical engineering experience, perhaps you could work for an AAD company – or a company that makes equipment for the production lines of skydiving gear.) They say most people completely change their career 3.5 times in their life. I am 30 and half way thru that statistic. My grandfather only changed once – so you and I have the right to change 1 extra time to make the statistic average out…

2530 words (no I did not count them, MS word did...) That just might be the longest post I have seen yet. It shows your passion. That is a good thing. Congrats. In case they did not tell you - it gets more fun from now on.

I know a guy who jumped in his company uniform - and then took the video to work and said, "this is why I was late to work today." Some people.

The canopy guys at our DZ have them, and I saw one of them using them to coach a very experienced jumper some freefly. When two of the canopy guys were doing swoops together for a video - the video guy on the ground had a radio and was able to record on the video the communication between the pilots. It was kindof like the NFL films where they have the quarterback's voice on the archive footage... They seem to think it is cool, and I do too. But I have not personally used it. (I wish I had it last time I was in the tunnel because I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the sign language the coach was giving instead of just being able just do what he says.)

Newbie experience: When I first got the audible I wanted to use it for the logbook, I wanted to pull when my brain told me I needed to… So I set the flatline only. When I changed the battery - it defaulted back to the factory altitudes without me knowing it... On the next jump it beeped at me... I honestly did not process the beep - because I was not "trained" to hear it. Granted – it was not a flatline – but the beep did not “click” a reaction in my brain. I then set the beeps for “time to track” to see if I could hear it… Now I hear the beeps very reliably – because my brain is trained to process beeps. (but the pull the main altitude is not linked to any beep - I am on my own for that) So, my opinion has changed… I don’t believe the flat line beep will be as meaningful to me if I don’t practice “hearing” the beeps at the other meaningful altitudes… It took 5 jumps for my brain to process the beeps and get the “muscle memory” built. But I honestly like only two beeps - "time to track" and "where is that reserve"...

So you are saying you have 18 reserve rides - and one reserve was a mal? Would you mind sharing info on that mal - or link to a thread where it was already discussed?

I have flown both a Paraglider and Canopy. I was never a great Paraglider pilot, just someone who was off student status and having fun - but I will say, I think Paragliding is much less forgiving – and thus – more dangerous. A typical novice in skydiving loads their canopy 1 to 1. In paragliding it is half that .5 to 1, and people don’t ever really downsize because swoops are not the goal. With that much fabric over your head, the canopy is not pressurized as much and the lines have less tension since there are orders of magnitude more lines. (Like 3 or 4 times more connection points). It is ROUTINE for a paraglider to fold up in half in turbulence (called an asymmetric) and dive to the side. You are taught how to fix this in ground school before you ever leave the ground. It is also ROUTINE for your paraglider to dive out directly in front or directly behind you – to the point the lines have no tension – if you don’t correct the dive before it happens – you could land in your paraglider. You fly with some toggle tension and simply let up or add more to keep the paraglider overhead. In simulators you close your eyes and the instructor rocks you back and forth to simulate a diving canopy and you learn to keep the glider overhead. My hands typically were very busy on a paraglider whereas on a canopy I bounce thru the turbulence with little need to worry. So – yes, it is my OPINION that beginner to intermediate paragliding is less forgiving in many ways (but once you hit advanced canopies in both sports the playing field levels out) There is just so much more fabric to get blown around and the paraglider is trimmed and designed to have the flattest glide slope with the down side being a wing that is easy to stall, easy to deflate, and really does not want to stay over your head. And, launching a paraglider off a mountain has killed my friends. They have been thrown back down into the hill from 100’, their glider has turned 180 on launch due to a thermal or rotor, or they just biffed it… I have looked at the fatality rates per participant – and I would say, paraglidng is more dangerous on paper too. And – the reserves in paragliding typically have NO steering capability – they are more like a drogue or old school round you would use to drop equipment with. My instructor was infamous for landing his reserve in the only powerline within miles – because, that is where fate took him. (oh - and that reserve ride was because his perfectly good paraglider folded up when he hit a bump in the road. How many skydivers have these types of reserve rides?) Anyway – not to hijack the thread – but that is my experience. I still stand firm - in either sport - canopy control is #1 learning priority.

The question is - how close of friends are you to this guy? Based upon your previous post, I don't think this guy will be skydiving anytime soon. If it really does go for pennies on the dollar - you could buy it, use it for a while - then GIVE it back to him when he gets out. Sure it will be more used when he gets it back, but that is the price he will pay for getting his rig back for free - and your money will be well spent because you got to jump it for a while. That is a win win where karma is on your side. (and if he gets out early – you can sell it to him for the price you paid, and look like a hero because you saved him the money for getting his rig out of the gov's pawn shop.) T.

With that new info - I would tell everyone this guy knows. Don't make it like a rumor mill or do it unprofessionally or tell things you don't know to be fact as fact - but I would tell it like the newscasters do, with words like "suspect" and "alleged"... Perhaps get 3rd party sources, like the newspaper articles, so you are not the “bad guy”. Tell them why they need to know – that they might be suspected. (The cops probably have seen the movie cutaway and think the skydiving rig was used to transport.) In college I was woken up at 2 AM by my RA who unlocked my dorm room to let the FBI in. The first thing I saw was a tall FBI agent who said, "I would like to speak to you." I said, "as long as you are not gonna arrest me, would you mind if I put on my underwear first?" The second thing I said was, "And (RA) - unless they have a warrant, please knock next time." Then I was handed the warrant. My roommate was the center of a million dollar counterfeit money ring – and I did not even know. If I would have, lets say, broken school rules by having a crock pot of chili (we could not cook, cold food only) in my room, I would have been in trouble myself. A warning would have been nice that the FBI were coming. T.

Say - I looked at that glossary before. It is real cool… But – there are a lot of other words, like the ones below, that I had to learn that were not on the list. Anyone want to update it with the definitions for the following and anything anyone else brainstorms? I found missing: Freefly Sitfly (and all the other freefly positions) Freefly Friendly (as in rig) Yoke (as in rig) Mantis Point Random Block Audible Softlink Hacky Handle Freefly Handle Collapsible Pilot Chute Type 8 Webbing Type 17 Webbing Reserve Soft Handle Reserve Metal Handle Skyhook Hip Rings (and all the other terms for variable geometry/articulated harnesses) Booties All the material types for jump suits Cross bracing (and any new forms of high performance terms) Airlocked (as in canopy) Flat Turn/Braked Turn (canopy) Braked Approach Aerodynamic Stall Dynamic Stall Full Stall Pond Wing Suit Tracking Dive Tunnel/Wind Tunnel Thermal Toggle Propack Flatpack Psycho Pack Troll (as in discussion forums) Riser Turns Panic Turn Freebag Hard housing risers Stainless (as in hardware on a rig) Mini 3 rings Drogue Skyball (as in the game you play by passing a ball in freefall) Tubes (as in the tube you hold in freefall) Windsock Tetrahedron Vigil HALO Hop-n-pop DZ DZO Exit Count/Count Night Jump Beer Light

I write software as part of my job. What you want I could knock out on a few rainy days. If someone was willing to pay some hosting fees for a server - less than a reserve packjob a month (like PIA or USPA or someone) - and you could get all the manufactures to play ball - the system could be up very soon. Heck, if someone scratched my back, I would find a way to host it for free - but I like the idea of it being hosted on an independent trade organization's website. I think it is a cool idea. When I took a truck in for repair last month, the GM dealer looked up the VIN and knew every recall (or lack there of) that was required to be done... That is what you are looking for, right? Hook - get some manufactures to agree to play ball, and I will write the software. Nothing fancy - just clean and reliable. Initial design info needed, if you are serious: 1) List of manufactures who are gonna play ball. (This might take some sweet talking) 2) Can the system be password free (I think it should – if I am buying something used I should be able to use it, but the manufactures might have a different idea) 3) List of manufacture’s products by name. 4) List of types components you want in the system (Container, Reserve, AAD???, Others?) 5) Sample serial numbers for each manufacture/product to determine data length and data format (special characters, etc) 6) Does a manufacture ever issue the same serial number to a model X reserve and a model Y – or are the serial numbers unique within the manufacture. I.E. Serial number X1234 is only used once, ever, by that manufacture. 7) Could a manufacture who chooses to play ball give us every serial number affected by a issue – or are they going to do DOM because they fear their records are not good enough and they might miss a serial number? 8) Do manufactures tend to do sequential serial numbers – or do they jump around? 9) How important is it to track what has been done to a specific rig? I.E. a rigger logs in and says “I fixed this on this one rig.” – Note for liability reasons, I really don’t like this… Car manufactures do it, but their system is a closed loop to dealers and manufactures. That being said – instead of keeping track of very specific serial numbers – would a more broad search engine be effective where the rigger – not the computer – does the fuzzy logic. I.E. – does the rigger enter “Manufacture X, Model Y” – and the system simply reports “all units before serial number 1234 or DOM 9/05 need to have this done”. Then the rigger, not the computer, figures out if the rig in hand is subject to the mod. I can come up with more questions - but these should be a good start to see if you are serious or not???

Dude, been there, done that... On a random jump around jump 20 (on a very, very, very cold day) - I found myself on my back. All thru AFF, and every time before, and every time after, I just flipped over. I don't even know how I do it, it just happens when I tell it to. (Well, I do know, but the point is my brain normally just does it on command without thinking about the steps involved.) Well, on this one jump - it took all my brain power and all my body to make it happen. I had to think about my arms and my arch. Once I flipped, my feet caused a turn that I had to toe-tap out of. Scared the piss out of me, I flew that jump worse than I flew AFF1 – the whole thing sucked. Ok – so on my first pack job ever I planned on pulling a little high, just in case. Ok – so the plan was – pull somewhere higher than 3.5K, lower than 5K. The other jumpers in the air knew this, so no surprises… Well, when I got to 5K, my brain said, “pull now, don’t wait – it might not work”. I panicked and went for the hacky. Well, from my last move I was not even arched. The next thing I got to feel was body turn onto its side and feel the D-bag brush against my entire left arm as it left the container. The thing opened just like a champ UNTIL the only riser that was loaded was the right one. Result – 8 line twists that went into a dive after the sixth twist. Found my handles, but decided I had the time, so I fixed the problem. I remember counting the twists as they spun up, and being very dizzy after the whole thing was over. The first question I asked the rigger was, “so, how many line twists is considered kindof normal, and how many are considered real bad?” At least I know my pack job worked. Anyway – the point being – been there, done that. You are not the only one to scare the piss out of yourself early on. Have fun and, as the sign says at our DZ – never give up.

Maybe for the last few seconds of flight, but before that, clues should tell you that you are about to overshoot the second you turn onto final. We started this skydiving thing about the same time, so I am not qualified to say anything other than I have video proof of a technique I used to cut 250' off a bad turn onto final because I was jumping a unfamiliar canopy at an unfamiliar altitude… There were clowns to the left and jokers to the right, so I could not S-turn it or turn back to X-wind. But I still landed on my tiptoes, next to my friend who had the camera, right where I wanted to land. (The camera was NOT the motivation to make this happen, trees were, otherwise I would have kept it a normal full on approach.) Anyway, I am far from criticizing or even giving advice. My spirit is just challenging us both to be better canopy pilots. “Nothing” is a pretty strong word when the alternative is landing into the side of a building or downwind onto a runway. Anyway – my challenge to you was to go ask the questions to a few people much more experienced than I – not for you to tell me the answers… But, I respect your courage for posting your mistake on these forums and letting us all chime in.

Amen. My first hop-n-pop for my A was at about 4.5K-5K. I remember thinking - "The A card says I need to be deployed by 5 seconds after exit... Since I am a little higher than the 3.5K on the card, lets keep the time as if I was at 3.5K to simulate an A/C emergency exit or the 3.5K planned jump." I remember having my hand on the PC hacky like a millisecond after leaving the plane. I said, "no, dude, get a little bit more stable, if you pull now it is gonna suck, you have time." I did wait a second - and even then, I saw the 8 other people on the hop-n-pop freefall past me (safely in the distance). I looked at my alti and thought, "I could have slowed that down a bit - there is no need for that kind of rush." One hop-n-pop taught me how slow the first 1000 feet of freefall really is.

MikieB, To answer your question, (in caps because I cut and paste) ARTICLE III—BOARD OF DIRECTORS - SECTION 4: IMPEACHMENT – says: “Any USPA Director may be removed for cause by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any BOD meeting, provided that such action was contained in the proposed agenda of the meeting.” I found that by downloading the USPA GOVERNANCE MANUAL, found at http://www.uspa.org/publications/manuals.pdf/Gov.Man.Sept04.pdf But, I honestly don’t think that is why you asked the question – because looking up the document would have taken less time than all the posts you made here. I think you want a change, and I have to respect the fact you care about the issue(s) at hand. Trying very hard not to make a personal attack, I will say in the most P.C. way I know… I don’t agree with the way in which you are attempting to solve whatever problems you have with the director in question. I don’t know anything about the politics at hand. And, whatever is your beef is not the point of my post here… But I do care that our community (skydivers + dropzones + USPA + mass media + wuffos + angry farmers + FAA) all play well with others. I have some experience in this – as I used to paraglide at a mountain that was closed down to paragliders when the club + city + instructor all got in a pissing match. Ratings were revoked, clubs split in two, angry threads were posted in the discussion forum, rumors flew more than canopies, and Romeo and Juliet were stuck in the middle. It sucked, and for those who used to fly off a few launches that are still off limits - it still sucks. I have kept the e-mail I got from someone on the other side of the fence that stated I was going to die because I learned from the wrong instructor. I am happy to report I turned 30 today – and I am not dead yet. It is amazing how angry people can get – and guess what – we all lost. Anyway, that is my two and a half cents – which you can buy nothing with these days except for a ride on the little electric horses at the entrance to the local Wal-Mart… Perhaps you should goto the next board meeting, or send a letter to all the board members if you can’t make it, expressing your concerns so they can be handled within the governance systems already in place? But getting us all worked up here is not gonna solve the problem, or at least I don’t think so. It did not work the last time I ducked for cover but got shot anyway. I hate to be the kid who rings the door bell and runs – but I am leaving to a place with no internet for a week. So, please don’t expect me to reply until I return. But, I think I have said what I need to say.

Bill, So, when I learned to Paraglide, these sort of skills were part of the basic skills we learned since flying off mountains was what we did... Because the wind went uphill (or we would not launch) - landing uphill was not something we did - because it would be like doing a downwind into the side of a cliff. Landing downhill was much preferred... And, if the hill was so steep landing was not possible, our glide slope would most of the time be more shallow – so we would fly past the steep parts of the hill… But, in skydiving - since the wind could be going either direction on any hill, I guess landing uphill could be more common… Our DZ is miles from the mountains – So I honestly have not thought about this for skydiving canopies… I looked in the SIM... It talks about the SOP for landing on buildings, in trees, on water, power lines, et al. But, no common advice for hillside landings. Would any of you more experienced care to share the basics that seem to be omitted from the SIM? (BTW – a tidbit from paragliding… Know thy wind direction on a hill because the rotors on the top of the hill will kill. I knew someone who was ground launching a skydiving canopy who did not understand this… I would never launch a paraglider without a wind sock (or other indicator) at the top and bottom of the hill to make sure I understood the wind and rotors. Landing a canopy without the same seems scary)

My favorite place in the plane is right next to the door on the ride up (unless it is cold). I love being the first to open the door and put my head out for 30 seconds. If I could, I would sit in the door with my feet dangling out for the entire ride up… It is a fun place for me… I am kind of like the dog that likes putting his head out the car window. For anyone new to the sport with a (negative) fear of the door – I would advocate being close to it on the ride up and just looking out it and enjoying the view – as the simple act of operating the door and being near it makes it more familiar. This is how I very quickly went from door fear to door respect. (If you don’t respect the door, you better pick up bowling.) And, yes, I was scared to death of the door – this was something I overcame like most other skydivers had to. I overcame it with the confidence that I could save my own life once I fell out of it, even if I fell out prematurely -- combined with operating it and sitting next to it -- knowing what to expect. Botching exits… I still “botch” some… Ok, I “botch a lot”… It has nothing to do with door fear – because I love the door and have lost all negative fear of it… For me, it has to do with the fact I am not 100% concentrating on flying the exit, instead I am concentrating on separation and knowing where I am when I leave and where the person before me left (the spot)… When I stop for a millisecond after my brain says, “it is ok to jump now” and think, “this is how I want to fly this exit” – I nail it. When I don’t take that millisecond and just jump, who knows what I will do…

Now posting something like that without attaching photos is like waving a beer in front of a recovering alcoholic.

I tend to agree... When I purchased my first rig - there was over 30 e-mails and 3 hours of telephone conversation to my dealer, plus 3 hours of talking to a local rigger, plus a call to the manufacture, plus an e-mail to Mr. Booth himself. Still, I could come up with 1000 more questions... If I should happen to ask one, please don't dis my dealer.

First, glad you are OK. Do you feel you have the skills to alter your glide slope to fix the inevitable wind changes and pilot errors that might make you land somewhere you don’t want to land? I am too new to offer the answers to the questions, but I will offer the questions themselves that I asked my instructors. For both the following questions - for whatever reason (traffic, between a rock and a hard place, etc) – you can’t turn once on final approach… You have one option, fly straight – but where you are going to land if you change nothing on your glide slope is going to hurt, like into a building or on a fence. You need to change your glide slope… 1) What can you do to slow your forward speed down to near nothing and sink instead of fly, if you are overshooting your target and are going to hit the runway? 2) What can you do to get best glide so you can make it past a short fence or ditch that you did not see until the last minute or the headwinds picked up and now you need an extra 30 feet to clear some nasty mud? Again, for the sake of the question - assume turning is not an option... I don’t have that many jumps, and I have so much to learn, but my accuracy has increased a lot and my confidence has increased a lot because I have been using these skills. Since I am too new to offer the answers I was taught and have been using, perhaps some others might chime in?

So I come home from work - click to download it - go get some clothes to change into, come back and find the video playing. I had my shorts half on and was balancing on one foot when I glanced over and saw the video playing. I laughed, lost my balance and ended up on my ass with my head hitting the hard floor with my clothes half on... I tell you, skydiving can be so dangerous. T.

I practiced that in a tunnel with a coach. I had a lot of fun just trying to match his rate and go up and down with him and stopping before touching the net. The video shows my skill alternates between total chaos and reasonable "synchronized falling". Fortunately, at the end of the 5 minutes of drilling it, I got much better, not much worse. ;-) I don't have the April 2004 parachutist available. Do you have it on your computer that you could PM me or post the text so I can read it? I once looked but gave up, is there an archive of older magazines online somewhere??? Thanks, Ed.

I did not do med school - but my studies were pretty tough on my personal life... My average school day started at 7 AM and ended at midnight - 7 days a week... Then my first job in the industry I worked 90 hours a week.... But, I was into snowboarding at the time and made sure I got at least one weekend a month to snowboard - even if it took an act of god and planning ahead of time. If skydiving is your thing, and you can get out at least one weekend a month (and stay current), do it. I cherished my snowboarding time as my time where I could decompress and have fun. (This goes along the line that I force our employees to take vacation time instead of take the money - because you need to step away from the daily grind at least once a month.) My two cents... T

Kelly, Perhaps I am tired and just can make my mind work, but... Got that part. Don't quite understand that part... Specifically - if the reserve PC needs a bit of load on the bridal - wouldn't a spring that shoots the PC as far as possible get load on it the quickest? Could you give me some more details so I understand why this logic works...