MarkM

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Everything posted by MarkM

  1. MarkM
    I thought all you needed was the land owners permission and for the pilot to file a NoTAM, so long as you weren't doing a demonstration jump. But there's always the "OMG, I fell out of the airplane, thank God I was wearing a parachute" defense.
  2. MarkM
    Welcome to the wonderful world of being a lightweight jumper. You're going to just have to be a little more aware of the weather than the guys with the pocket rockets, since you'll be at a lower wingloading for awhile. But I'd recommend getting your own gear soon. Your legs shouldn't be falling asleep on a long canopy ride. People do high altitude hop and pops all the time at Sebastian and with a comfortable harness it's not a problem being in the air for a long ride.
  3. MarkM
    If you let us know where you're from I'm sure people will give you suggestions.
  4. MarkM
    I prefer to pull around 3k, but it's not a hard and fast rule. It's just I'd rather be dealing with a mal at 3k than 2k, so that's my habit.
  5. MarkM
    Have an experienced jumper jump it. If they don't have the same problem, it's probably you, not the gear.
  6. MarkM
    I think a big part of these arguments is that you have two different personality types. Many people skydive because they enjoy the challenge of the sport, the socializing, the people, etc. But a lot of people enjoy the sport because it's one of those things that your choices 100% determine whether you live or die. The one personality type sees an incident and thinks of how can that type of accident can be 100% eliminated from the sport. The other personality type sees it as an issue where the individual's choices were wrong and he died because of that. If the person in this incident was wearing a RSL it may have saved his life. But if this guy had also had done correct EPs in a timely manner he would've likely lived as well.
  7. MarkM
    1k is about 1-2 hours of coached tunnel time. I'd rather jump with the guy that has the training to not take me out, then one with the AAD in case he does.
  8. MarkM
    So you make a skydiver pay $1k on an ADD they leave turned off when that money could've been spent on canopy coaching, freefly coaching, currency jumps, etc. Brilliant.
  9. MarkM
    Yeah, some states don't allow minors to sign away their rights so any waiver you signed wouldn't hold up in court. So if you died on a jump, even if the parents were cool with it, a grandparent could sue the DZ and the waiver wouldn't hold up.
  10. MarkM
    A bad wingsuit pilot can kill other people and not just themselves. If I was a TM or AFFI, I wouldn't want some guy with 50 jumps tracking into my airspace.
  11. MarkM
    All the sim really says is "Evaluate controllability and flare before reaching the decide-and-act altitude of 2,500 feet for" Which while it's correct doesn't mean that people shouldn't get more advice from places like these forums. The sim doesn't say to take it easy flying with a PC in your lines and it's good advice.
  12. MarkM
    The biggest thing I saw was that you stop flying your canopy and went into "human falling from a small drop" mode. It's a mental problem. Even when your feet are touching the ground your mind should be focused on flying the canopy.
  13. MarkM
    Went from rowing 5 times a week to every other day. I seem to have more strength for rowing this way, it works into my schedule better and I've just been upping the intensity of the workouts. Still weigh the same, which is what I want, to maintain my weight. Abs are starting to shape up some, which is motivating me to keep going. And I've been noticing I have a lot more of my strength back. Can wingsuit, canoe and walk all day long without feeling as sore and tired. Just need to keep up on what I eat. It's so hard to keep to a minimum on drinking sodas and eating lousy food. The stuff is just everywhere, everyday.
  14. MarkM
    Up above your hard deck, you might be able to stall the canopy back into a collapse and get it to flip back over. Actually when instructors were telling me about stalling canopies like this(a long time ago on large old canopies), one of the warnings was that it might flip my pilot chute over the nose. But I was always taught that it wasn't an issue unless it wrapped up around some of the lines in which case it could potentially start to tighten and cause canopy issues. Probably wouldn't happen, but was just something to watch out for and be ready to handle.
  15. MarkM
    Vans for the smooth soles or keens when I want that "wearing sandals" feeling, without the risk of shredding up my feet.
  16. MarkM
    The beer thing is an old tradition and a good one. It promotes the social aspect of the sport. You "owe" beer for certain events or mess ups, you buy it, hand it out and everyone sits around drinking it socializing. The next time around someone else owes beer, buys it, brings it and then you drink it along with everyone else sitting around socializing. Or you just buy it as a thank you for someone coaching you, finding your freebag, canopy, etc etc. And it has the same effect, you both sit around drinking it and socializing. But paying tips, paid coaching and covering slots is more of a recent thing in the sport. And not everyone agrees with it.
  17. MarkM
    The sport needs less money being exchanged between jumpers for services rendered and more beer.
  18. MarkM
    Do what you enjoy. RW was always too much "work" for it to be fun for me. FF was always much more fun, just felt fluid and I especially loved to track. So I did a lot of tracking and ended up in wingsuits which is all I do these days.
  19. MarkM
    4. Realize that his shit still stinks. You're only into him because you can't have him and find out what an ass he is. And that you should move on to the next available guy.
  20. MarkM
    Wow. Next you'll tell me they don't have valet parking.
  21. MarkM
    Well, he can think about it and learn to do it now in a controlled safe environment or he can wait until there's a high stress emergency situation that forces him to do it.
  22. MarkM
    WTF. And you call that a DZ? No ice at manifest? Next you'll tell me the bar doesn't serve Iced Mocha Lattes.
  23. MarkM
    Doesn't matter. It's still your limbs that'll get mangled even if it's the other guy's fault. You should be setting up your landings well before then to anticipate who's near where you're landing and be ready to avoid them when they go on idiot on you.
  24. MarkM
    Cons - you'll be spending a lot of money on a new suit you'll want to replace soon after. Though I think Tony Suits has a trade in program so that's a big benefit for going with them.
  25. MarkM
    People could say that about skydiving in the early 90's before swooping was even going on. I think the yearly death rate in skydiving has been pretty steady over the last 20 years. It's just that today people are more likely to get hurt under canopy than anything else, swooping or not. But if we're going to trash that aspect of the sport, then we might as well trash the entire sport altogether and just all take up golf and bowling.