mdrejhon

I know some jumpers at my dropzone do the simple prayer: "Dear lord. Please don't let me fuck up this jump. Amen."

Very nice write up! Even at my jump numbers, you'd sound like a very safe skydiver (at least in the airplane part of things so far!) I already observe cloud altitude ("hmmm, partial clouds at 3000 feet. That's my open altitude") and turbulence ("wow, that was a bumpy takeoff. I'll have to watch turbulence when landing."). I'll keep awareness of where the dropzone is by glancing out the window. I already recognize landmarks. Forest? The dropzone south. That tuning-fork shaped farmhouse. The dropzone's north. Near Kingston? We're very far west from the dropzone during the mid-climb. Almost over the Thousand Islands region? We're near the USA-Canada border farther south of the dropzone. I glance at the windsock during taxi and takeoff, but at least a couple times I forgot to -- and only notice at 3000 feet when I open. (Oops. Newbie error) I remembered the general wind direction from earlier in the day, but there are days that it's changing directions out of the wazoo. On a very hazy day (not clouds, but summer smog), it was very difficult to see the airport at a steep angle at 10,000 feet vertical and very far horizontally, but the metal-roofed tuning fork shaped farmhouse (pointing one runway length away from the landing area towards the north) stood out like a bleeping beacon. So I knew that was the dropzone hidden by the smog haze. I'm still pre-A so I can't pincheck others yet, and there's only 3 other jumpers on the 182. I usually only do one handles check on jumprun. But I do also self-check my 3-rings and the cutaway loop (feeling with my finger), a habit I've developed after hearing recommendations. I'm certainly not as comprehensive as you though... There's no such thing as a light on a Cessna 182, and the plane take twice as long to climb as a Twin Otter. You lucky turbine guys have it all. We DO get the Twin Otter from time to time though. Not this weekend though... (Next time is September 3-5th! Yay!) Last weekend was real busy. Scott Miller was at our dropzone, and all three Cessna's was even running back-to-back during busy portions of the day when the tandems fly at the same time as the Scott Miller loads, as well as us regular jumpers.

I can hear with them on, but the usual signal-to-noise considerations. For you physics students, since I am 90% deaf, the 10% hearing has to be compressed in an unusually narrow spectrum between my minimum whisper-quiet hearing threshold (80db) and my hearing pain threshold (120db). That's only 40db dynamic range worth of hearing, while you have over 120db worth of dynamic range. As a result, background noise (signal-to-noise) REALLY interferes, meaning my ability to pick out conversations is quite limited, and many sounds, of course, sound exactly the same. In a much more controlled environment (no background noise), it's a lot easier for me to hear at least a portion of speech. Even so, "Hello this is Mark Rejhon" sounds exactly the same as "Eh ih ih ah ay awn" or that a medium-large pot banging may sound like "Mark!" being yelled at me. More information in my Hearing FAQ at www.marky.com/hearing ... Speaking slowly in phrases at a time really help, and I do get a little conversation thrown in, but most of the conversation is done on the notepad since it's a lot easier, and I always carry it anyway (dive planning, talking, etc). But sometims it's just faster to write than to speak slowly, since the added problem of the airplane environment and people may be sitting facing away from me (if I am sitting next to the pilot), meaning I can't lipread them. I prefer to wait until I am on the ground and using a pocket wallet-size folding keyboard (I can type up to 140 words per minute on it -- as fast as I can talk). People at my dropzone comment on my amazing typing speed. (The equipment is an iPaq Pocket PC 4155 with ThinkOutside Stowaway XT Bluetooth wireless folding keyboard only half an inch thick and wallet-sized) I also love the iPaq too since it can also playback MPEG files, such as my skydiving videos. It's my pocket wallet album too, that plays digital media.

When I mentioned the DZSA part, I meant bringing a videogame only for the flight portion rather than the freefall portion. i.e. check with the DZSA even if just playing videogames on a Cessna.

(1) Stay late on Saturday and stay for the bonfire to socialize. (2) Free beer. (Exception apply -- you are too underage for your particular country.) Instead, get free popsicles on a hot summer day, or order free 7:30am coffee half an hour before the first load on Sunday.

Ya. I've heard of people bringing their videogame gear onto the Cessna's. And who says that's the limit? I've heard some skydivers even attempting to play videogames in free fall. A group of skydivers played a wireless networked game in freefall on Nintendo DS's. Very interesting, though. Don't think it'd be appropriate without checking with the DZSA first, and your jump numbers would be high enough, and your jumpsuit pocket would need to be big enough to hold the videogame unit when jumprun came.

"WhuffoMax Skydiving Adventures: Welcome To The Tandem Mill!"

What tool? I didn't see your original message... Anyway, I can't even fit my closing pin into the rubber band. My loops are too tight, and rubber bands are too tight. I may try the friction method first and see if it works, but not with my rigger power tool (which I just ordered too), so I don't want to wear that tool out. I'll probably test using the freebie pull up cords by Performance Designs that they give out at the dropzone. My hands are already sore from packing, so I'm not too keen on the friction method. One can argue that one can learn to use any method safely... I tried the yank method once, never again. Blah!

Y'know. I might have the broken ankle checkout dive eventually. Or worse. I'm not infallible. I'm at the jump numbers that might make me complacent. But I just witnessed a D-licensed jumper hurt himself this weekend. Riser slap in his unhelmetted face during opening (I believe). Makes me think... Nontheless, I carry on...

1.17 wingload at 199 jumps? I think it's within normal guidelines from what I've been reading? [Ooops. Edit: Just noticed the "Swooping" part... Hmm... I don't know if that meant simple straight-in turf surfs with no front risers (you can still "swoop" 40-50 feet that way, maybe an abuse of the word "swooping"?), or he wants to do it as a future discipline, or that he's already doing 270's.]

Purchased 1 pound of rubber bands from ParaGear, along with stuff I've been wanting to get (a hook knife, a closing pin to add to an existing bead necklace, a new set of Sorz goggles when mine gets scratched up). That tool from Germany looks interesting. Is that tool sold anywhere in a store? In the meantime, I'll need to inspect a stitch remover and judge whether it's dangerous or not. Come to think of it, there are other alternatives. The removable tip of my old medium-point soldering iron is a perfect shape and not too sharp to be able to puncture D-bag fabric material.

I don't do sign language (a common assumption though). I'm trained since birth on other communications methods. I already have friends at the dropzone (another assumption you made ) I leave my $3,500 hearing aids on the ground, since I don't skydive with them. However, if I am travelling (Texas or anywhere else), I'll definitely post somewhere on here...

Wow! How are you going to sleep while driving between dropzones?

1996, "Extreme Skyflyer" ride, at Canada's Wonderland amusement park. It convinced me to try a skydive, which I subsequently did in 1997. It hung in the back of my mind until I became 31, and gave myself a freefall course for my 31st birthday. (Mental quote: "I'll regret it more if I don't do this.")

I do something like that if I am not going solo. Review. Joke around. Review and mental rehersal. Self-check my 3rings and check handles. Mental rehersal. Poke fun. Mental rehersal. Jump run time. Have somebody pin check me. Door ready, climebout, nod, ready, set, go. But about 60-70% of my jumps are solo freefalls, so I don't always have a dive plan. (I do for a portion of the solos, but...) Once I get a "B", this will change since people will start asking me to jump with them

Usually about 20 minutes. You have to watch the movie in bits at a time. You can finish watching a full hollywood movie on a helmetcam screen in one day's worth of loads.

Ever tried to send a short email while in freefall? I can thumbtype fast enough type a full sentence in 30 seconds. I can thumb touchtype 72.4 words per minute on a BlackBerry, so that should give me time to compose a short email in freefall. But I'll need a short removable bracelet and attach the BlackBerry to it with 3-4 inches of lanyard, so I don't lose it! (Note... I'm the maintainer of the BlackBerry FAQ at www.BerryFAQ.com) I may try that sometime, once my jump numbers are up. At my jump numbers with a still-pending "A", I don't have any business doing this stuff yet...

Yeah. I don't get nervous in solo freefalls anymore. I immediately get more relaxed as soon as I am in freefall. Although I do tense up with an instructor! Performance anxiety.

Hey, thanks for the tips in this thread. I got my answers. The closing pin is too blunt to even fit under the very tight rubber band. I need something easier, so I may investigate a seam remover and do a dry test run on it on the bag (without canopy) to see if it's safe to use. I'm going to avoid knives, but the seam remover seems within my margin of tolerance. Most of my broken rubber bands occur before I bag the canopy anyway. At only $8 for a one pound bag, I'll over buy anyway just in case I jump more often than expected. Besides, it's good karma to give them out to others who ask

It comes in time! You've only got 7 jumps. The people who fall asleep in the plane are the 500+ jumpers. I won't really fall asleep. But I will close my eye and relax now for the slow lane to 11,000 feet. I didn't yawn in the plane until maybe 25 or 30 jumps, and only at lower altitudes when there was plenty of time before the door fear sets in! When the Twin Otter plane visits, there's no time to sleep though

Hi, I need to buy appropriate rubber bands for my stows for the bag in my Vector 2 / Sabre 170 so I can stop double-stowing my lines (especially the lines beyond the two locking stows). My dropzone only has the bigger tandem-compatible rubber bands, and everyone seem to use them and double-stow where needed. However, I need the smaller rubber bands for safety reasons. Should I buy them directly from Performance Designs (Sabre 170) / Relative Workshop (Vector 2), or can I just go to Staples Store/Business Depot? (Note: I'm using the ordinary lines, not micro lines. I got this rig used.) I've been using a pen tip to pry away broken rubber band stows by ripping them off with the pen tip. (And breaking a pen occasionally). What is a good safe broken rubber band remover, that also minimizes risk of accidentally damaging the canopy (from an accidental slippage and goring the canopy by accident, trying to remove a broken rubberband stow). So: (1) What is the best, safest place, to buy the smaller rubber bands? (2) What is the best, easiest safe way to remove broken rubber bands? I don't want to wear my hands out trying to pull them out with my hands alone. They get sore just in a normal jumping day, especially with packing. Yes, these are newbie-ish questions. I only started packing at around jump #60.

It's a very good article, and very clearly carefully written -- I think this should be textbook study material for journalists wanting to properly report on skydiving.

Someone has a funny sig line to the tune "Flare before you hit an obstacle, even if you're landing on a policeman!". (Edit: Funny, but a very important thing to remember. Also turbulence too. I automatically went to one quarter brakes during near-ground turbulence and flared from there.)

How regularly does he jump that small bedsheet? Very scary but very impressive. I saw his one "Go Fast" sponsored landing video, but wasn't aware he jumped it again.

You lost your wazoo out of your wazoo?