tdog

That was one of the more educational posts I have read in a while. Now I got it... So, how do you prevent this? Are those "certain circumstances" definable as "if these two or three things happen, you are likely to..." - or are they the "random" sort that you never know what hand of cards you will be dealt? And the rumors I hear from friends who work in the space industry... Look for a capsule design, like the apollo program, to return...

God, I read this post and thought, "it sounds like you are doing a lot of things "right" and are interested in learning." But others see it differently. Perhaps there is one or two things you are doing that you don't even know you are doing that are scaring your friends? I jumped with a newly minted "A" skydiver... He was racking up jump numbers like crazy (renting rigs to do back to backs as his was being packed.) I am not a coach but I will offer anything I have learned to someone once they got their "A" with the proper disclosure of my own skillset and experience... So we were doing drill dives - I was being a base and he was docking/fall rating/etc. Well, I tracked at 4.5K as planned. I pulled at 3.2K. I looked down AFTER my canopy sniveled and AFTER I did a control check and saw him still in freefall. I went back to my protrack to see where I pulled, and counted the seconds from his canopy over his head till landing (downwind at the other end of the DZ) because he did not have time to turn and setup a landing. I told him, "dude please pull higher because I am selfish and I want to jump with you again." Next jump - marginal improvement but he had time to setup and he landed 10' to his spot. I told him I would land on his canopy as my spot. I missed on purpose by a few feet, but I saw he is a real accurate canopy pilot and flew well (since I had to follow him to land on my spot landing) So I went to a coach who was doing his next coach jump and told him my observations... The coach gave him some learning objectives. This guy, after that jump, came up to me and said, "You would be happy, I pulled by 3K this time." I said, "I think I pulled that low by accident once too." In his mind he is 100% safe and "knows" what he is doing. He is real safe and predictable in the sky before breakoff and would jump with him any day, but the part after breakoff is scary. Perhaps there is one thing you are doing that your friends see?

Can someone educate me to the definition of "bag strip". What, when, how?

My company cleans up after fires every once in a while... That and sewage backups, floods, hazmat deaths and other stuff I say "sure no problem" to. The one today... An ironing board went up in an alteration shop. In the restroom 100' away it was hot enough for the screws in the drywall to heat up enough to bubble the paint and deposit smoke crud where they were under the drywall mud. I could see each screw as a black dot, but the drywall between looked brand new... The metal rack 20 feet away got hot enough to melt itself into the VCT floor.... But the drywall directly behind the fire and the ceiling tiles directly above it showed no more signs of a fire than any other part of the room. If I had not seen the ironing board I would have not been able to find the source. Totally random, huh... I guess what I am saying... If an ironing board (and 50 garments) is enough to superheat the walls in a store, but leave the ceiling untouched, I would wonder about your rig... Cypres batteries leaking? Melting of lines... Etc... So, perhaps you should let the manufacture know the scope of the fire so they can cross reference the materials to see where each one gets damaged??? Your fire department should be able to help you do some math. A small kitchen fire likely was no hotter than a car outside with closed windows on a summer day... A fire that guts a room to the studs could be real hot. Were you home? What kind of fire? How hot did it get?

I too am curious, as the best honor we can give to our friends is to learn from their history and not repeat the loss.

"If you are in this sport long enough you will know someone who does not make it." I hate it when they are right, even when it is not a 'true' skydiving accident. I am sure all were wonderful people, but I knew Egon from buying my rig. He went the extra mile for me and knew me by name. I could tell he was a great person.

Ya, run with the rig holding the PC bridal. If the PC inflates it is cocked. If it streamers, it is not... Or just throw it around a bit and see how it inflates... But, if you don't see the color in the window it is very likely it is not cocked all the way... That could be bad, me thinks. I would say, have a packer try cocking it... Perhaps technique is an issue?

As others have said... Look as you grab, because I "been there, done that" too... I think everyone I know has had it happen once (or twice like me

I know we are only half way thru the year, but last Christmas I got one of the canopies you listed as an option brand new - "off the shelf" for about $1100 with shipping, maybe a little less... The end of the year sales really do save money...

Isn't that the point??? I have bungy jumped from two towers, about 30 times from the vegas one (work had me visiting there often a few years back and it was better than spending money on the slots...) I am wondering what you mean by scary???

As I was looking at Mount Rushmore with a friend on vacation yesterday, I thought... And I could be in Vegas getting in a few last bungy jumps before they close forever... But instead, here I am, looking at dead presidents... I am so sad to see bungy effectively die in the US. Anyone know of a regular operation out there to jump at??? Heck, any "appointment only" places???

Is there really a student parking lot or is this a figure of speech??? The way I look at it, students are shelling out a lot of $$$ for each jump. They should have valet parking, whereas the "graduates" should have to park in a field a long ways away. The staff, if lucky, get to park in the same timezone... Just kidding. Congrats on the parking upgrade.

No, it is good timing.

I think I would have turned it back off. What did it say was your deployment altitude? Deployment said "0". I wish it would have said "- (negative) 4000" as that would have been a better story to tell. I did not turn it off because 1) I forgot how on the plane and 2) because I was busy planning stuff with my jump-buddy and my brain did the math backwards and said, "just remember, no audible on this jump" instead of "just remember it is going to beep early." Now, if it was a real safety device like a Cypres, you bet your bottom dollar I would not have been so casual with my "oh well, I screwed up" logic and I would have done some real math. If nothing else, this will make me remember what happens when you turn on a cypres early...

I almost said, "I can't believe you did that." I have never forgotten my Cypres, but I did forget to turn on the audible last weekend... I have the protrack set to turn itself off. On the plane I went to set the altitude and found it off. OOPS. I was doing a quasi-coach jump. The guy had his "A" but was still working on the most basic tasks... So here I am trying to be a stable base for him to swoop and dock to and all I can hear is the flatline in my ear for most of the jump... So hard NOT to pull when you tell yourself that flatline means PULL reserve. Kept me on edge the entire time.

My Physical Therapist called me today: "For your appointment on monday to work on your neck (stress from work).... You have a $2000 deductible. When we bill your health care company, after their contracted discounts, you will pay $190 per visit until you meet your deductable, then 80% after." I said, "how much if I didn't have insurance and I had to pay cash?" Oh, well, it would be $45 then. No wonder why Americans can't afford health care anymore... I lied and told them I lost my job and am uninsured and going to save myself $145 a day for the next week!

I know - my second reply to the same post... But I woke up this morning thinking of this photo all night long... To me, it has to be one of my favorite skydiving photos I have ever seen. Pure beauty. It captures the essence of skydiving. A little rebellious - a tattoo. A little unfinished - a rip in the pants. A little disjointed - A sleek modern rig against a well used plane. A little unique - the black-n-white with a touch of color. A lot happy - the smile on the face. I am in love with this photo and I don't even know the people who are in it or took it.

Actually - Parachutist sent me a survey to fill out about the publication. It came in an envelope with another copy of this month's issue. I said my piece about it in a positive way... They have not received my survey yet, but when they do, I hope they like the time I put into it because they are not going to like how much "wouldn't it be cool if ya" stuff I put into it. Specifically about covers I said: WOHA - just like the photo in this thread, huh? I am glad to know I am not the only one that thinks the magazine gets repetitive. Lets see if my words will make any change like they promised they would in the cover letter to the survey. We digress. I am still in love with that shot posted in this thread.

Not if there is something to hold onto or a rig on my back and time to deploy it.

Yep... Very nice shot... I sometimes wish shots like these would make it to the cover of Parachutist... Freefall pics are great, but there is so much more to DZ "spirit" than a 4 way freefly exiting a plane.

"Cross reference" - keep eye contact - eye to eye, with your friend.

I agree.... The first question I asked my rigger was "can I watch"... Doubled the packtime because I had a million questions, but I did not want stuff "hidden behind door number two" that I did not know was there.

So since you did it it's for everyone? No... I had the maturity to take a class, go slow on my learning, and respect the bike. I had the crotch rocket. I was 190 pounds and 6-3". Bill... I am friends with Hooknswoop who started this thread and actually went on a ride with him before I posted my response that you replied to. My post was in the spirit of saying - canopy progression has to be taken even more serious than motorcycle progression - simply because - on a motorcycle with discipline and awareness you can go slow in your learning... No way to slow down a canopy, even for a "straight in approach"... Just saying, "I don't plan on hookin it" does not slow down the speed, whereas on a bike you can say, "I am not going past 50% throttle, sticking to the less populated roads, sticking to the speed limit, and practicing a lot in empty parking lots emergency stopping, evasive turns, etc.) I love my 600 cc bike. I have no intention of getting something different - after riding a few. It is light weight, nimble, quick, and does everything I need it to do. I honestly believe it was a great bike to learn on and keep forever. (my first 20 miles were on a 250 CC bike, but that was in a class.) If I had ANY doubt that one of my friends did not have the maturity to learn on a 600CC bike, I would believe that then the WOULD NOT have the maturity to ride ANY bike. If they can't (which many younger males can't) know where the line is and promise to themselves not to cross it - then they have no business of being on a bike. Bikes only go when you accelerate and you can choose how hard you accelerate and when you stop accelerating... Canopies you can't stop it from flying unless you chop it, land it, collapse it, or crash it. I am in 100% agreement, you can't safely learn on a fast high WL canopy - because there is no way to slow it down and fly within "your limits" - instead it flies you at "its limits." That's all I am thinking...

So the fact I purchased a 600CC bike for my first bike 6 years ago, which I still ride, is wrong then... I would let my best friend buy a 600CC bike as his first bike, but I would not let him own a canopy that was more than 1.2 to 1 wingloading as his first canopy... Why? Because on a sport bike you don't have to go fast - whereas on a canopy you really can't slow down beyond reason... So I guess your author you quoted can flame me away. For the record, the one accident I got into had nothing to do with the size of the bike, and the one accident I avoided with the narrowest margin was saved by the fact I could floor it and get out of the guy's path. But still a good article.

So, I am sitting at my desk minding my own business when our director of sales comes in. He knows nothing of skydiving other than a few 4way videos I shared with the staff. He says to me, "so, when are you going to learn how to swoop?" My jaw dropped... But then I said, "which TV show did you watch?" From a wuffo golfer's perspective he enjoyed it and even was able to site specific statistics on how dangerous it is. He said, "You know, low turns close to the ground are dangerous, right." I just smiled and said, "it must have been a real good show based on how much stuff you learned."