jimtalon

Mike, thank you for your input, and by the same token, I extend my thanks to all who have taken the time to respond to my request for assistance. All but the skydiving (and the ubiquitous possibility of unplanned injury) are known factors; for a five day survival outing my ALICE weighs about 63 pounds, give or take, but I have no idea how much parachuting gear weighs. As you noted, this in-and-of-itself is not an insurmountable problem, and from your comment about the ease of landing with modern parachutes leads me to believe that the remainder is also doable. I am located in the Gilmer, Texas area of northeast Texas, and I do not know of any jump schools in this area; however, I confess that I have not yet searched diligently for same either--- I first wanted to know whether the prospective impact forces foreclosed such a tentative option as I had been entertaining. Again, my most heartfelt thanks to everyone for responding. Jim jtalon@cox-internet.com

N/A

Hello All, I have just joined this forum, and I know nothing about skydiving, so should my questions appear nonsensical or frivolous please indulge me until I can get my proverbial feet in the air. By way of preface, I am a bilateral below-the-knee amputee, acquired during combat in Vietnam, and I am retired from the military for the abovementioned reason. As I mentioned previously, I know virtually nothing about skydiving or parachuting. My current hobbies are camping, hiking, climbing, spelunking, SCUBA, orienteering, and computer programming. I wish to learn how to skydive so that I can jump into a relatively unknown area, from a terrain perspective, (lose myself, if you will) and work myself out through map and compass and GPS. The problem that I envision with this goal and my particular "disability" is the prospective impact forces that I might expect upon landing after a successful jump; in other words, would the impact be such that my prostheses would fail or skeletal structure would be damaged? Pursuant to this, is there a quick and "dirty" way that I can experience a similar impact force in vitro, say, for instance, from jumping off of a step or porch or whatever? Finally, if this even proves to be a viable option, the only equipment that I have seen that would be suitable for someone such as myself is the military set-10. Again, I stress my ignorance on this subject so if anyone could offer any comments or advice or suggestions, I would be grateful-- regardless of the positive or negative character of such advice. Thanking you for your indulgence and assistance, in closing, I am Respectfully, Jim Talon