demoknite

I kinda see this as a shortsighted solution but then I was brought up in the BPA system where getting gear checked is mandatory and was normal in my jumping career. As I see it, checking your own gear has 2 sides to it. Pro: You know nobody has messed up your gear while they were doing a check. Con: You're not infallible. You may forget a check (even if you're sure you won't) or may miss something (even if you're sure you don't). With someone else giving your gear a look over after you've done it, you mitigate the risk of the con above and can minimize the impact on the pro by proper training and constant repetition of gear checks. I used to routinely ask newly licensed jumpers to check my gear, and would then get another check by a more experienced jumper who I trusted before I got on the plane. This has the dual benefit of teaching the beginner about gear, and giving them lots of confidence without endangering me. After a few dozen flight line checks they can be as good at it as anyone with a thousand jumps. In effect you're teaching everyone to be as diligent about gear as you are. That said, with the change of culture has to be the education of jumpers not to mess with stuff they don't understand, and a understanding that 'Gear Check' isn't synonymous with 'pull on everything'. I used to refrain from doing checks on CRW jumpers because of all the funky shit they had going on - for specialist disciplines like that or WS I can see how it's best kept in the family, but for general jumping I think gear checks are a great thing if they're limited to a visual inspection of the 3 ring & harness routing, and then opening the main pin cover and visually inspecting the main pin seating & orientation and bridle routing, and then visually inspecting the reserve pin before closing the flaps back up. At no point in a gear check performed by someone else would I expect any physical contact to be made with the pins, bridle or PC unless they identified a problem and told me first. My flightline check for someone else used to go like this - front to back, bottom to top to bottom: (Do it the same way everytime...) 1) Check legstraps. Are they twisted? Is the excess stowed? Any obvious issue with hardware routing. (no contact) 2) Check Cutaway and Reserve Handle position & seating - not tucked under, velcro is all done up. (no contact) 3) Check chest strap routing. (no contact) 4) Check 3 ring setup. (no contact unless you can't see the cable going through the white loop, and then ask if they want it checked) 5) Ask - AAD turned on and zeroed? (no contact) 6) Check reserve pin seating. (Open reserve flap. No contact on the pin. Close reserve flap) 7) Check main pin orientation (pointing up) and seating. (Open main flap. No contact with main pin unless you see an issue). 8) Check bridle routing - any obvious error that would lead to a PC in tow? (Close main flap.) 9) Check PC is all the way in. (no contact) I was also brought up in the BPA system so when someone says "dont touch my gear" I respect it but am internally saddened by it. "Dont touch my gear but Im about to go a zoo tracking/sit fly/head down/belly dive where we could possibly collide with one another at extremely high speeds, but dont pull my main flap down and make sure my pin is seated and my pilot chute cocked" "Dont touch my gear, but hold on to my chest strap or main lift web for this awesome exit" "Dont touch my gear, but this wingsuit rodeo is gonna be gnar-gnar brah"

FS1....

"fatalities" as in more than one? If you know for sure, please tell us what you know. I have heard of only one fatality, and it is nearly impossible to get any information about these things. All military mishaps that involve a death are investigated and the report is filed. If you want to know, please file a Freedom of Information Act request to the installation where the military member is stationed and you will get the report in a week or so. There is the perception here on dorkzone dot com that military keeps everything secret. Not true.

It's not all that great. End up spending a $100ish bucks to not be able to hear your fellow jumpers and ride the hill for two seconds then it's like any other skydive. Jump a skyvan.

People laugh, but one of my home DZs from back in the day used Dickies coveralls. I thought it worked out well. Ive seen surplus military flight suits used too. For actual skydiving suits I always see Michigan Suits.

I would suggest Perris. Weather is pretty stable. Freefly, belly, wingsuit are all welcomed. Tunnel on site. Fly into LAX, Ontario, or San Diego. Stay on the DZ or anywhere in the Inland Empire at a 20ish minute drive.

If thats the case Im not sure why he needed us knuckleheads from DZ dot com to tell him that.

Yeh jump suit is a must. If you happen to butt slide or calf slide in youre in for a rough ride. Make sure your documents are in order and that you have and AAD. There isnt much (none?) gear for hire.

There are some DZs that wont let you manifest until you have a rig in hand packed and even then dont want to "risk" manifesting you when on the off chance you do land out and arent able to get back to the manifest area and get geared up to go. Plus, if you are doing back-to-back-to-backs and arent actively videoing or doing tandems, then you are missing out on the best part of skydiving. Getting to know people in the packing area and dirt diving that 8 way like the Golden Knights that will always be a zoo load is the best part of skydiving.

Everything said is true....However, Sin City skydiving is no longer in buisness and Boulder City doesnt even entertain the notion of fun jumpers. If you can pack fast I would say you could jump 3 or 4 times. It depends on how many tourists they have booked in vs how many tandem masters are available. But yes, open at 7 and closed by midday due to the heat, desert wind and resulting dust devils.

All my skydiving clothing has been taken to the local wedding dress place whenever I gain or lose weight, buy a used suit, or need some repairs. And Im a rigger, but sewing parachutes and clothing items are two different beasts.

First I thought, "damn it's good to be king". Private helicopter jumping into your own back yard. Im sure that NOTAM wasnt hard to get at all. Then I thought dude has skills to basically land a tandem in someones back yard. Then I cringed at the landing, not that it was particulary the TMs fault. It was probably better the Pres Bush had potentially fainted. A young 20 something may have braced for impact and broken a leg. Then I rewound it and saw the flag and noticed he took a downwinder (probably due to other houses or maybe a body of water). The landing is cringeworthy because you just think at that age any injury could mean the end. Hopefully it was one of those landings that wasnt as bad as it looked.

Is one allowed to jump at this job or is it just parachute packing?

Don't try to remember the formations. Think about what your move is and what you need to do. Example; star--left hand donut Think"keep driving in, right 90 turn, look across formation, feed leg grip to partner, look across formation, don't chase, take left hand grip when presented, look across formation" Rehease where you need to be and what you need to do in relation to others rather than "star-donut" Dont forget to cat scratch in the aircraft on the way up. Makes you look like you know what youre doing.

I think you mean "Tuesday." I can drive higher than that out here It's fun to take visitors from the coast up into the mountains and watch them fall over when they get out of the car. I do try to warn them not to try to walk and talk at the same time. I did notice a HUGE difference in my skydiving endurance down in Eloy. If I grit my teeth I can make it through about 5 full altitude (~17K MSL) jumps here before I'm done for the day. In Eloy, where 13K AGL is a few thousand feet lower, I felt like I could keep going for as long as I wanted to. I feel the same way about hop and pops here. I did land after a night jump here with a longer-than-usual stay at 17K and noticed that my brain-thing wasn't working as well as it usually does. I opted out of a second jump that night. Some other folks on that load decided to break out the oxygen. If I know I'm going to be spending more than a few minutes at full altitude in the future, I'd definitely hit the oxygen tank for that. I'd love to do a 18K jump from some sea-level DZ. That's a normal altitude for me, but a good bit more freefall time. A 18K AGL high pull would be awesome! As mentioned above Skydive35 in central Texas go to 17.5K several times a day.

Was it in boulder city or jean? John is the most common male name in the English language.

This is the old joke that doesnt hold as much truth now as it once did. While it does take some a crap ton of capital to start and you can fall flat on your face or barely scrape by, there are many DZs turning tandems and making money like gangbusters.

If you are referring to the T11 then yes. Airborne systems is basically the Lockheed of parachute systems to the DoD.

I know a small bit about them. Not necessarily specs and engineering but from a user level. I do believe the "adapted" comment was a dig at the Special Operations Vector and Military Javelin which are the most popular "non standard" military freefall rigs in the US military and are beefed up versions of their sport container and/or tandem adaptations. Units that actually have a robust jump mission fell out of favor with the MC4/MC5 in the early 2000s as parachute technology progressed rapidly, and DoD bureaucracy was slow to match that pace. SOVs and MJs were used to fill that gap usually purchased at command or unit level as opposed to service or DoD level. Basically, you have a hybrid canopy (akin to a PD Silohuette) with spectra 725 lines, the deluxe back pad, "bio-yoke", harness that is adjustable to the 97th percentile of military member (MC4/MC5 was very uncomfortable on big guys and dangerous on small wiry guys and females). The all-up/suspended weights posted above are true. Bigger guys with bigger loads can be safely accommodated. Didnt get much experience with the reserve but the (assumed) smaller size does give it the "teardrop" shape we have become accustomed to in the sport market. It is more modular wherein units can order them with BOC (though spring loaded is still the standard), double bag static line, different color harness/container etc. There is no hand deploy drogue or static line deployed drogue as far as I know. Looks like the contract was awarded in 2011. I played with it 2012 and here we are in 2014. I dont think any unit is using it operationally. Military freefall schools are teaching MC4/MC5 and Im not sure when Raider intruder is meant to come online. Once it does I think it will actually be called MC7/MC8.

If San Diego is reasonable, perhaps perris is? They frequently do 12-18 loads mid week.

Considering the topic above about the death of boogies...I think this is the closest thing we get these days.

Bill, I was kind the first time and the DZO also talked to them, that would be the second time. I swear does anyone at all read all the posts before they chime in? at what time is it appropriate to get annoyed with someone is unsafe? I guess I won't say shit anymore, or get angry when it is the 3rd time they are told. I will turn a blind eye like everyone else and then when someone gets killed I will be part of the problem not the solution. Also, watch the movement of the camera, there were only 5 people in the sky as the first group of tandems got out at 9. You can see the canopy pass below me (below 400' on what appears to be final as he is close to the ground) you can see the white canopy landing in the peas, that leaves me and the tandem above me, thus EVERYONE accounted for. I did a 90 on final, hardly a high performance landing. Also, there is about 20-25 acres to land in and one small section of peas for the tandems. If I ever decide to post here again I will make sure it is a minimum 500 word document with witness statements to make sure it is clear as crystal. Until recently this forum was a learning place, now it's more like a dart board. I was very tired when I posted the video which was my bad for not giving a clear explanation of the events pre-ceeding this incident and the number of the jumpers in the air, the location and size of the landing area, number of jumpers already on the ground, those left in the sky, winds aloft at 12k, 9k, 6k, 3k and on the ground as well as the color of jump suits used and color canopies of everyone on the load. Next time will that cover it?? if not please feel free to ask rather than assume, it will produce a much greater learning environment. If you read the first few posts, I dont think anyone on here disagreed that you were in fact in the right. However this is the internet, and 95% of this site is about armchair quaterbacking. If you arent ready for some devils advocate dont post. Even Brian Germain and Bill Booth get dissenting posts on here. I think the only problem is your perceived internet tough guy attitude. It's a risky business and we will never cure of it 100% of idiots. As soon as you board your chances of injury or death begin, so you can blame your less- than-perfect pilot, rigger, aircraft mechanic, air traffic controller or fellow skydivers if you cant support your family if you get hurt because it will always be someone elses fault.

I would say the OP was right all things considered. However this a symptom of DZOs having these little target areas that everyone wants to land on. Does it cost that much extra to lay and water a larger area of sod? Was the guy a visiting jumper? Do you usually land to the "fucking west" and this was the one weird time where you didnt? That probably wouldnt have been a life ender but it would have sucked for sure. You could also tag the video so it can be found under "what a douche sounds like".

I dont want to be the "do a search" guy but this one has been done many times. You wont get much scientific data, but it's mostly marketed as a ride these days. Ive been on loads with people who didnt even realize you could skydive "by yourself". Damn near every student hits the ground and says "I cant wait to do it again." Most never do for many reasons.