demoknite

Some headaches can be alleviated depending on what your home association is, i.e., Canada or UK, etc. Also, Sigma is the tandem of choice in most places, but that is a non starter really.

+1

For military folks...when your put on your T-11, MC-1, etc, and you reach back to do a hackey check and then cry inside when you realize youre jumping static line.

If you want the most bang for your traveling buck then go to AZ during the fall or spring as mentioned above. It's one of the few places that is just as busy during the week as the weekends. Plenty of coaches and load organizing. You could also do any of the southern California DZs (Perris, Elsinore, SanDiego) during the same time, but you might find the odd slow tuesday/wednesday type deal (not always). The advantage is there is more to do if you dont want to just skydive. Also look for boogies (also as mentioned above) at those places during those times as they are almost garaunteed to busy leading up to, during, and perhaps after. Pretty much skydivers are like senior citizens. We go north for the summer and south for the winter.

Really? To long? In your opinion.....I'm sure they would love for you to come in and offer opinions on how to run their company so they can be more efficient..By the way which company do you own and what do you manufacture adn maintain so we can see where your "to long" opinion generates from. rowrrr!!! Yes opinion. Just because CYPRES/SSK/Airtec is pervasive in our community doesnt mean they, or anyone else, is immune from criticism. They provide a service that I pay for and if Im not satisfied I am entitled to an opinion. I dont think anything I said was way over the line or disparaging to their company. There is a whole section devoted to criticizing gear and a whole other section criticizing DZs. Welcome to dork zone dot com.

Also, within the past six years or so, CYPRES has been adopted heavily by the US military which means units send their devices in sometimes 60-80 or so at a time which can back up SSK. Not so long ago it was only two weeks or so for a check up. Now six weeks is the norm. Too long in my opinion no matter how in depth the inspection is or how awesomely superb of a device it is claimed to be. Every part of the US usually has an off season unless you are a skydiving nomad so better to send it in then.

Let's be honest. A lot of riggers only do a repack even though they sign and charge for complete inspection and repack or inspection and repack. Some are just doing a cursory canopy inspection and giving the harness a look "out of the corner of their eye" if that makes any sense.

Do you live in the same climate as your DZ? If you work indoors at a desk and go from your house to your car to the office then you might want to make an effort to be out in the environment. You would be surprised at how quickly you can acclimate to the harshest environments even while doing a moderate amount of activity. Stay hydrated. Diluted gatorade mentioned above is great. Coconut water is great. Plain old cool water too. Have a healthy breakfast and healthy snacks as you go like fruit. Tank tops and the modern sports tops and bottoms under your jumpsuit are the way to go also as mentioned.

Things like that are what made me dislike the scene in the UK. And if you can get to Sibson, you could probably make it to Chatteris just as easy. You should check them out and see what you think.

I have been known to talk shit about UK DZs, but several of the ones I have been to have gorgeous scenery. I think its the UK landscape in general, with mostly year round greenery and hedge rows. Beccles takes a flight path over the north sea which is beautiful. Some years the farmers rotate rapeseed into their farms and the yellows and greens are beautiful at altitude. Dont waste your money on going there though.

True, and I dont think it would put a bad name on our sport any more or less than Pawn Stars puts a bad name on pawn brokering. However, what would it do for Perris as company and the people that work there or call it their home DZ? Will I be able to get on a load or will it be full of tourists wanting to do tandems with a TV star?

I think your idea is better too. From that sizzler I couldnt tell if it was a documentary, or if they were going to go the Hardcore Pawn/Dog the Bounty Hunter route, where the show is more about the characters and less about skydiving. As it was pitched, I imagined it being on A&E. Once the cable networks get a hold of it, they will probably manufacture some drama which will then turn the DZ into a place like the Pawn Stars place where there is a line around the block to go on a place thats on TV.

Yeh right. Most DZs would rather have someone pick you up in their truck than do a go around using fuel and increasing engine hours, especially for a n00b. The OP tried everything they thought would work and in the end landed safely albeit 3 miles away. He/she did the right thing.

Was this a real question or theoretical? Of all the cheesy jokes and anecdotes etc, I have never ever had anything disappear in the mail. I have sent expensive items uninsured and untracked because I have grown to trust them. Not the best idea of course, but I have done so.

Yes! The business has a right to make money as they see fit. If they don't allow fun jumpers and are up front about it fine. Have problem with the ones that string students along letting them think they will progress to AFF when they have no intention of doing so. So they get as many tandems as possible out of them when they were ready for AFF 4 jumps ago. Seen it happen in big touristy area. The student doesn't really know any better until they visit an all inclusive dropzone. I see your thinly veiled mention of perhaps maybe a certain place. Whats worse is when you are going on vacation or business somewhere and you look at the site and even call the place up and they say sure come on out and you sit around all day and not get to jump because tandems are going up all day. You noticed early on that there are only one or two fun jumpers around but you think, "Ive come all this way, Im getting one in". And sure enough you dont. I have no problem with tandem mills as long as they admit to it. UK drop zones are bad about this.

Same thing for me except for with the chest strap. I look at it seemingly every 1000 feet on the way up on some days.

Only within the past 3-5 years have we had the social media explosion that we have today with Twitter, Facebook, Google+, et al. Not so long ago, that would have not made it past this site or just been on the 11 oclock news in its local area. Now, any video that gets a few 100K hits within a few minutes is on every news outlet and Tosh.0. When it first hit, the link that was on this site was "no longer available" but lo and behold two of my skydiving friends had it on their facebook with the "check this out!" under it, one news agency carries a story on a slow news day, everyone else picks it up and puts their spin on it and we're off to the races. Of course the video was a sight to behold so it might have exploded anyway.

As a former UK jumper, I too, have mixed feelings. At the majority of the DZs I jumped at it was more or less a courtesy "do you have your helmet and goggles? CYPRES on? Alti set to 0? Pilot chute cocked with a red strip? Happy with your top pin?. All done without touching. More of a BPA/CCI ass check really. In the US, I always look at people on the plane to make sure that they have legs straps and the chest strap is done correctly. So at the very least if anything goes wrong at least they are in the harness. But I dont feel that we all need to be doing JMPIs like we are the military.

Yeh dude. Slow release carbs to keep you going. Its no more gas producing than the beer, curry, burrito farts that people think are fine to release that even an open door at altitude wont dissipate.

Slow release carbs like oatmeal or beans on wheat toast and a long drive to the DZ with my favorite podcast always works for me. The same long drive on the way back helps me to wind down think about the day and reconnect with my whuffo family.

I havent been to every single drop zone, but I would say that the ones that I have been to have foreigners packing. That doesnt mean they are illegal or working illegaly, but they are foreign.

Yeh, this one has legs unlike any bad incident we have seen in a long while. The damage control on this will be tough. Seeing as we have hit quite a few of the bases on this one, we still havent figured out "how the hell did this leak?" Especially if it happened a year ago. /and it was edited...

I know we have gone down the "cocky TI" road, but a lot of similar behavior of people pushing out unwilling students at other places comes from the DZO not wanting to do two passes because it costs money and puts hours on the plane. Not condoning this guys behavior by any means.

Considering most DZs are flat (even ones in mountainous areas), where does one find the requisite incline before downsizing? Im still jumping a 260 because I havent been able to find one.

The social scene in the UK is a bit finicky. He might go to his normal DZ and get bollocked if they knew he was asking on here when he has been told no by his overlords.