demoknite

Came here in 2010 so I don't know how accurate this still is. I went in the fall and there were plenty of Europeans getting in on the warm weather and a few teams from Asia training. As fast as you can pack you can jump. While I was there it was a bit free fly heavy, but there is something for everyone. There was some load organizing as well and I did 3-ways up to 10 ways belly flying no pressure fun jumps. The load organizing was phenomenal with the jumps organized for all skill levels to challenge everyone on the jump yet making sure no one was under pressure and everyone was having fun. The only downside is there are two perpendicular landing areas where potentially two patterns could converge at the "corner of death". The wind arrow and tetrahedron are a bit difficult to see and by the time you can see them, the final landing direction is set. They should set up a wind arrow where everyone lands "this way ----->" and instead of two perpendicular landing areas (they also have a military landing area close by) they could have one very large area. However, they do have wide open desert that you are welcome to land in. As most DZs, this one is out in the middle of nowhere, but Casa Grande, AZ is close enough with enough chain restaraunts and decent hotels to take care of non-picky skydivers to stay for weeks.

30 minutes is an excellent time. That amount of time wont make or break you getting on the next load. Any faster and you would want two rigs if you want to jump more in the given time. I would say that packing and jumping is a bit more tiring than just passing your rig off to a packer and jumping.

It is against the UCMJ to resell military gear you have procured from unit stock.

There are so many run of the mill, middling videos on the net. Some are poorly shot, some have crappy music, etc, but that's one of the best videos Ive seen in a while.

Not to invoke military all the time, but the guy wouldnt have been allowed to jump with a wrist injury much less wearing a brace. if you arent 100% its time to sit.

And who's to say that it wasn't your fault as the jumper by pitching while in a bad body position, etc?

Before you move on the piercings, make sure you have a skin tight suit to show off your under developed bird chest and pencil arms.

If you want to jump in Europe anywhere north of Spain you will be busting clouds.

I am a UK/US jumper and if you go by the FAR, I would say quite a few places break the rule. There are not very many places where the rigger overlords watching the packers. He/she may have vetted them and said they are good to go on the mat or they may pop out and make sure everything is good to go. But for the most part 7 days a week, all day long there is not a rigger supervising. Cue the "not at my DZ posts" but we know the truth. I think the UK actually does this well. You have a certification thats not a rigger, but someone who has gone through certification and can pack mains for cash.

Pretty much everything I typed in my second post people came in here and said. "Everyone else has done it". "Stop complaining". "I would never charge for a coach jump." I got my FS1, bit only after 90 solos, some bandit jumps, and a stint at Eloy. I just got lucky one weekend where there werent that many tandems booked in, the weather was a bit suspect per the operations manual, and the CCI wanted to keep the plane going instead of closing down to watch football. And I talked the CCI into just letting me do the three way and the four way. Other's milage surely varies. And Im sure the BPA wants to hear from the 80 jump wonders. Once you get the FS1 sticker and realize that you will only get 3-5 jumps a day on the best of days as a fun only jumper with one rig then jumping in the UK is really good. Most DZs have some on the best views at altitude and under canopy in the world and most fun jumpers are super friendly. Funny how if you have the FF1 sticker without FS1 you can still jump with other people.

I also dont agree that its a money making scheme. You always get the "at our drop zone coaching is free". But the truth is, at most drop zones, its not and there arent enough coaches on a given weekend at one's chosen drop zone to get coaching, thus having new jumpers doing solos and not progressing. And when you finally get coaching you have to do a three point three way so there is two slots plus fees then the four point four way which is 3 slots plus fees. Not necessarily money in the DZOs pocket, but definitely money out of the jumper's. And I too have come across the "stopping for a cup of tea" syndrome at the few dz's ive been to. I know there are engine shut down rules and so forth but some places arent as efficient as they could be. And as small as the UK, its actually quite big. If you live in Kent, you would be hard pressed to "just pop up" to Hibaldstow for the weekend especially with the unpredictable weather. That means people stick to their home DZ more so than they otherwise might. And to the one guy saying something about going to the DZ every weekend. Remember people have jobs, families, lives where they cant spend all weekend every weekend at the DZ. I live a distance away from a DZ that unless the weather is forecasted to be perfect, its not economically viable for me to make the trip. id rather spend time with my kids than people at the DZ on a bad weather day. Im not in to the typical all or nothing skydiving mentality.

I dont agree with the weather sentiment, but slightly agree with some of the other things. And in the UK, if you say anything about the system or XX1, people sort of do the finger in the ear lalalalala thing, or the just shut up and color thing which is what youve gotten on this board. And Ive heard the sentiment at the drop zones where Ive jumped. All the coaches are on the staff cranking out tandems, aff, and video slots. And some of the videographers who are great flyers aren't technically coaches or instructors so cant actually coach you. Im moving countries, so whatever. Flame away.

Honestly, a rigger assigned to a special ops unit will probably get the most jumps. Some of the other things, as mentioned, are not jobs, but special duties or assignments. They usually have a set amount of time you can be there and have to return to your "real" job. Riggers, can be be MFF qualified (but have to get "lucky"), instructors, test jumpers, members of all the aforementioned teams, etc. Remember parachuting is just a way to get to work for SEALS, PJs, etc. Their primary job is doing cool guy stuff. A rigger's primary job is making sure that guy gets there. They jump the most.

Im glad someone else has said this. Its almost becoming blasphemy to say anything contrary to skyhook.

I dont think you will be able to because AFF is not an "accredited" course. But you could get a rigger ticket or pilot certification.

Yeh, its not that hard to replace, though I think they could have engineered it to be a bit easier. I also replace mine every season, and chalk it up to the price of skydiving. I also dont mind jumping without the visor and just throwing some goggles on.

I probably have about 3 hours tunnel time or so and as a super casual for fun only skydiver I dont think its worth it. Especially in the very beginning as someone above mentioned. And you cant track or fly your canopy in the tunnel which are the most critical points in the skydive. But it is a good tool if you really want to take your skydiving somewhat seriously and be able to get on certain jumps because of freefall skills. I play soccer a couple of times a week after work, but I dont go to soccer camps to hone my skills.

There is an element of doing it for the love of the sport but dont be fooled. In the words of the infamous Randy Moss: "Straight cash homie". I know a lot of guys that use it as paid jumps to get up the old DZ totem pole to be AFFIs and potentially CCIs and to just be more marketable. The more qualifications you have the easier you can get hired on at a DZ for the season.

It mostly comes down to weather. Some northern DZs might be open year round but most will close down or have reduced hourss because it costs more to open the DZ when there wont be many people to come out or only enough to do a lift or two. Eloy is slow in the summer time when its a billion degrees and dust devils are popping up everywhere. They do reduced hours during the summer and take advantage of drop zones being closed during the winter making sure people can jump year round.

As stated above, with the geo political climate the way it is its going to be a tough sell. Some bases have a hard time operating the base pools, movie theaters and bowling alleys. My only idea would be to start off with a sort of grass roots type thing. You wouldnt have a club per se, but you could work on getting a NOTAM to do drops on the base on a sunday afternoon and see if MWR would subsidize super cheap lift tickets for active duty personnel, or you could get a military aircraft or military contracted aircraft to come out and do x amount of drops etc. If you did that once a month or so and the turn out was good on a regular basis then its just building on top of that. I suspect its a pipe dream though.

This might blow you (and most members of dz.com) away but... There is nothing wrong with being a casual skydiver. If you have enough skills to jump with others safely, fly your canopy and land safely, which is what your A license says you can do, then there is nothing wrong with coming to the DZ on the odd weekend, getting on some organized loads, do a little bit socializing and call it day. We have sort of created this culture in which if you arent coming to the DZ every weekend doing 8 jumps per day, going to skills camps, and racking up tunnel time when your dz is in its off season, then why did you even take up skydiving in the first place. There is nothing wrong with being casual and finding your own way in the sport.

Maybe, as a sport, we should stop advertising, "become a skydiver after only 7 jumps!"

Yeh, the summer is actually the off season at Eloy. Its extremely hot and dust devils galore. Skydive Chicago is sort of the antithesis of Eloy. Theyre closed in the winter because its too cold. California as mentioned above have good drop zones. I would also suggest Skydive Dallas all though there isnt a lot to do during the down time. You could definitely achieve your A liscense if all the stars aligned. In six weeks, potentially a B though you might get burned out.

While not a direct effect, I think you touched on it slightly. We have become such a numbers driven sport. People are still damn near considered students and "wonders" even with 500 jumps, so everyone wants to go to the turbine DZs and do whatever it takes to get to the landing area closest to the packing area so they can get packed and be on the next load to get their numbers up to reach whatever milestone they have their hearts set on or even to make themselves (and the DZO) more money. I have seen some fiesty DZOs yelling at staff to hurry up and quick turn it so it only adds to them trying to get to the landing area by any means necessary which trickles down to fun jumpers. Not the biggest deal or anything that potentially needs to be changed, but thought Id throw it out there since its the internet and we are discussing things.

Not really trying to get in to semantics on dropzone.com, but my three home DZs all closed for the winter and just quickly glanced over some online and found 4 that were closed. Some that claim to be open 7 days a week all year long actually arent or just do few tandems or AFFs that stumble in so you might have only 3 or so loads over an otherwise nice January weekend just as an example. I know Langar is notoriously hardcore, but that is an exception and not the rule. Like I said, I gladly pay my BPA monies, right along with my TV license fee, even though I watch very little TV, and my road tax. I know all of those things are for the greater good but not without its downfalls. If I want to jump at those times, I just go to AZ or FL and jump with all of the Norwegians and New Yorkers who also go there and I dont even have to have an FS1 sticker.