tdog

Dan, Do you see this shit you are causing all over these forums... Girls are ga ga, guys are jealous, and you probably are off at the gym with a smile on your face... Now that we might be on a 4 way team together... In case we suck, and the judges at nationals are female, perhaps we now have our secret weapon... Naked 4way! So who wants to judge nationals next year??? (note, I am kidding, honestly, if we do go to nationals, I hope Dan's looks have nothing to do with our score)

Congrats on the move....

I love this site because I can learn something new every day... For someone does not know what "reverse risers" are, can someone upload a photo, so I can see what they look like???? Just learning here.

Speaking from personal experience after going out to dinner with him, and paying extra attention to his methods, I got it figured out... He slips cash to them under the table to impress people like you....

But seriously, to avoid abusive use, the copyright should be plastered huge ove the whole image, like a watermark. Anyone can copy and use the "high resolution" photos that are posted on there. Which, if that's your intentions, ok then. I hope those posting photos understand they could be taken and misused by people like SkyRide. But as a professional photographer, I certainly wouldn't post any photos on your site. I do really like the design of the site though. peace lew And, some of us appreciate that there are non-professionals out there who would post awesome photos for the world to share and download for non-commercial use... Screw skyride, if the world of skydivers won't share photos in fears that they will be used by someone like Skyride, then Skyride won, and we all lost. Skydivingmovies.com is my favorite website, and I freely uploaded a video that took me about a labor week of taping and editing, and now is actually one of the highest rated and most downloaded videos of the site... Friends asked me, "why did you not sell it?" I did it for the love of skydiving and wanted to share with friends... I could have made a buck, but that is not my thing... If I had stills, I would upload them here for sure. I think the owner of www.skydiving-galleries.com is awesome! I would almost pay for one of those picture frames that has digital images that could rotate thru the site's photos for my desk at the office... Just my two cents. This site is cool... And, I would, if I had a camera, post pictures without a watermark at all... Lew, I understand you are trying to make a living as a photographer, and I support you 100%, so if you never post a photo, I am ok with that... But, for those of us who are not that good, or just want to share, I think this site is cool.

What's a Cessna???? Don't they make the smaller planes, like the caravan? Just kidding... I have jumped out of 206 and 182, and even did my AFF 2 and 3 out of a 206... I actually jumped a small plane in Puerto Rico, and I really was happy I did. Got to know the locals on the ride up, and saw a lot of the land from the window... But, I really only have 4 jumps out of something smaller than a King Air.. I think I wouldn't mind doing a few more, but definately not for RW...

Also it is just cool to see the plane... Lets you see what you are doing, but as others said, it helps with presentation forcing you to arch. One of my favorite exits for a solo (which actually will put you into either a sit, backfly, or belly, depending on your goal)... Stand in doorway of said plane with your toes on the edge... Grab your ankles with your hands, bend your knees, and roll out of the plane. You will see the plane a few times until you stop the roll by popping on your back and then watching the next group get out as the plane goes down jumprun... Now, this is not to say I am advising any student to do this, (you could be in a track/slide under another group, while on your back, so there is some danger involved) but it is fun as hell once you understand the dangers of sliding and know how to prevent them... Well, heck, half the AFF students do it, so you might as well try it too.

Drove by yesterday... The top of the structure and roof covering the fans has been installed, and the curved staircase is in place. The flight chamber (less the glass part) is all bolted together looking ready to lift in place, and the turn veins have been moved closer... Conduits are installed and the electrical equipment is in place too.... The progress what not as visible as the first two months were big things happened quickly, but these little time consuming details seem to be the "pre-work" that will make it come together quickly once it is time to lift the components into place. Funny story... My good friend, Craig, a wuffo, works near by. He asked me, since my dad is in real estate, "do you know what they are building by the movie theatres... It says out front retail space available, but the building looks wierd and has the biggest HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) fans I have ever seen." I said, "ya, I hear the new building code requires the HVAC system to blow the air at 150 MPH to keep the dust off the shelves of merchandise." Travis

If the DZ, or a group of experienced jumpers owned one receiver, the cost would go down a lot... I bet you could get transmitters for $100 or so, maybe much less... Those scientists can't spend too much to follow turtles... Perhaps one of the companies that makes skydiving specific electronics could figure out a transmitter... What were the costs you found????

I can tell you what worked for me... AFF instructors who had a fun, laughing, smile with a tongue sticked out, in freefall... The second I saw that, I felt 500% better. I think Riddler has something with setting the tone... I have seen AFF instructors run to make a back to back, and that last minute panic can do nothing but hurt the student, especially when they are out of breath trying to teach the student before the now call. Compare that to someone who slowly approaches the student, talks in a quiet and calm voice, with great enthusiasm and confidence... And, I have jumped with a few people who just got their "A"s. A couple of them seemed real nervous, so I added "smile" to the diveflow... "Eye Contact, Deep Breath, Ready, set, go, smile." It is so hard to be nervous when you have to smile. ;-)

Travis, After hearing your story of the lost cutaway, and many others... I have been harboring this idea... You know those little VHF transmitters they put on wild animals to track migrations of animals for science.... Well, I have not done a cost analysis yet to determine if it would be worthwhile, but, I am sure there is a corner of the DBag where the transmitter could be inserted in a pocket. Cutaway your main, track it like an animal, straight to Farmer McNasty's front door...

He's doing freeflying, they all have a camera. ...and tattoos, and piercings. I think those requirements are in the BSR's now. Shit, now I know why I suck at freeflying... Tat, stat!

What was special about that jump... That is what I write... Once you have done any dicipline for a while, writing "another sitfly" or "another 4way" is boring.... How about, "first time turning that block" or "XXX had a huge fart in the plane" or "first XXX" or "that opening sucked" or "most points yet with XXX, XXX, XXX and XXX." My log book has many blank pages... Seems I can't always remember a week later what jumps I did. ;-) Tl

This is actually a throw back from when the building was a hay barn. It was used to move the bales of hay up to the top of the barn. You may now return to your normal viewing. Really, learn something new every day... It seemed as though almost every apartment building "downtown" had these... Were all those buildings once barns, or did they just like the idea so much they decided to implement it on housing structures too??? T.

I too ended up with 10 hours to burn in Amsterdam when the airline screwed up my Paris, Amsterdam, Rome connection... We had NO time to plan the stop... We found out once we were at the airport. Now, while I said "burn" in the first line of this post, I am not into smoking things that burn in Amsterdam, just not my thing... Nor is buying sex... So we took the train in from the airport, was like a 20 minute ride, to downtown. We just started walking the streets... There was a LOT to see, and we did not even end up in any of the touristy things, like museums. You can see pictures on my website http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Europe%202003/index.html The things I remember from the top of my mind... 1) The amazing amount of bikes on the street. 2) How tall everyone was (I am 6'3", it is rare I feel short) 3) The waterways 4) Mothers walking their 3 year old daughters down streets with prostitutes tapping the windows while others were window shopping. 5) The architecture... Many of the buildings had large windows on the top floor with a hoist and boom at the apex of the roof, to winch up furniture when people move in. 6) The "public toilets" being curved metal walls on the street, floor drain if you are lucky. Watch out for overspray. 7) Wooden clogs. My friend purchased a pair, and to the dismay of everyone around, he wore them the rest of the day. Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk... 8) The architecture of the airport, or more specifically the furnishings. Most airports have vinyl chairs with metal arm rests designed to make them uncomfortable. The furniture found in some of the resting areas of the airport is hard to describe, but a 90s super-modern European design in bright red, seems to kind of describe it well. You will have fun, even just walking the streets and seeing the culture...

Here is how I lost 30... It was 40, but I have hovered at 30 for a year now... Find that thing you crave that causes all the shit to hit the fan. I found I craved (diet) Coke so bad, I would end up at Mcdonalds eating all that crap, just because I love Coke and Ketchup. I gave up Coke cold turkey, and am going on 2 years. Can't even touch soft drinks anymore... Too sweet. Now I find healthier lunches because I am no longer getting Coke. But, now Mcdonalds offers bottled water with their burgers, so I find myself eating fast food once a week or so, the reason I gained 10 back from the 40 I lost total... Oh well, a new thing to work on.

beautiful here.

Added myself!!!!!!!!!!!!

My canopy, with 200 jumps on it, is starting to look off white in color... In the air it still looks white, but next to the clean socks on the sofa, it is a "mocha" color... The outsides of the canopy is much dirtier than the inside, and the leading edge seems to have more "mocha" than the tail... Our DZ is REAL dusty, and we have to ride a trailer back to the packing area. I have also jumped in the very dusty environment of MOAB... I am in LOVE with all white canopies with colorful cross braces/insides of cells, so I think I am hooked on white. About washing it... I have tried wiping a spot with a damp rag, and I got the stuff off, but it looks like the mocha color is deep in the pours and not going to come out...

I have 240 "RW" jumps (and 5 or so hours in a tunnel on my belly) and 10 freefly jumps, and I am just STARTING to feel like I have some of the skills solid in RW and my freefly is crazy... So it takes a while. Nothing 10,000 more jumps won't fix. It might just be me, but I also think tracking dives are a great learning tool while working on your belly skills too... Tracking is something you will do every RW jump to save your life, but there is a lot to learn by spending the whole dive doing it... I also think it is good to throw in some "freefly" even if it is solo jumps where you spend some time on your back or in flips, etc... I spent 120 jumps in a row once doing 4way RW... I found after that, I had better abilities on my back as a 15 jump wonder, that I lost trying to be so "stable"... Being on your back is a useful tool, even if you just do RW... (For an example, you go REAL low on a formation, but you need to break off at the planned altitude... Flying on your back is a great skill because you can look up and see what is happening.) Barrel rolls are also a life saver, and having the skills to stop the roll for 2 seconds to get a good look, is great... All these skills are not exactly sit flying, but not exactly belly either. T.

I started at jump 30... Not to say that is the right time for everyone, but it worked for me, and the USPA does not have any BSRs that I know of about jump numbers and helmets... I think the right time is when, as a skydiver, you have enough awareness to open the visor (if it fogs up), while maintaining altitude awareness and not only maintaining stability but the awareness to continue with the "dive plan" in freefall or having to open it while maintaining canopy control with toggles in hands on final, etc... The cutaway handles have always been visible with my helmet, but others might be different, so make sure you can find them even if you can't see them, but you should see them and practice on the ground with the helmet... I personally will always have a helmet with a visor that flips up... (without the whole front face flipping) Right after I pitch and have rear risered away from anything I might need to, I open my visor before I do anything else. Under canopy, I like the wind in my face as it gives me a sixth sense of speed, and I like to know I will never get a sudden glare/reflection of blindness caused by the visor... And I just like the wind in my face because it is fun. That is me... All this has been discussed many times before, you may want to search to find more info.

Skydiving is definitely more dangerous than driving a car (and we will let how much more dangerous be debated in the other threads where it has been debated in the past)... I have seen three things that makes skydiving *different* than auto fatalities in terms of how the community handles the situation. 1) The community is small, and most people travel a lot to see friends and jump in new places, making new friends. Within two degrees of separation, I bet I know every skydiver in the US, whereas they say the general population has no more than 6 degrees of separation. So when someone "goes in", we likely know them. 2) How many times have you found a discussion forum on the internet debates about every single hunting accident, car accident, or medial malpractice.... You don't... Skydivers, perhaps in part to item 1 above, and in part to seek knowledge, likely know the facts around most of the fatalities. We have a tendency to dig into the facts, so we can learn, so it does not happen to us... 3) And, I think a lot of skydivers want to "prove" that it will not happen to them, so they justify the risk by analyzing others and saying, "I won't do that"... Here is a snippet of a PM that went back and forth between myself and a regular on these forums: GAZ14, if you are "hooked" in skydiving with your 14 jumps, you will know... And you will see the rewards are huge in this sport, and you can change your life expectancy a great deal by respecting the sport, not pushing your limits under canopy, etc... But you can still do everything right and die, but it is pretty rare that people who do everything right die....

When I learned to paraglide, the instructor would not let you get your "P2" (think USPA "A") until he saw you walk down the hill when OTHERS were flying... It was an unwritten and unpublished requirement he kept track of in his mind, otherwise people could just "fake" the decision... He told us often his story of being in a coma for 6 months after he told his students to walk down and he crashed when he thought "I can make it". Clearly he knew it was harder NOT to fly, so he put it in his teaching progression....

Great minds think alike... I did this math a while back at work too. I of course added in the wind tunnel time when I did my math. ;-) Travis

He did two jumps to get the "take" just right... It could very well be that the footage came from both... Since the DZ's colors are purple and yellow, it is not unique that many of the tandem rigs are those colors... The guys probably grabbed two "yellow purple" rigs and did not realize they were inverses... But, pure speculation... I was not there... Travis