jettero

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Everything posted by jettero

  1. jettero
    Kaz has apparently set up a group at groups.yahoo called greatlakesskydivers. Hopefully many people join.
  2. jettero
    Many interesting things to be read here: http://www.lifestorynet.com/memories/7357/ (It was linked in the obituary above, but hard to find imo.) Blue skies Dennis. Every time I hear an airplane outside I remember the sad news.
  3. jettero
    Yes, I totally agree that it's graphing what it says it's graphing. I'm suggesting that it may be misleading and the lines between the points don't indicate anything.
  4. jettero
    Sorry if this has been asked before or if it's the wrong place; but the graph at http://www.dropzone.com/fatalities/ appears to be a bit misleading. It shows, 30 fatalities for july, and 36 for august, and proceeds to graph the (fairly) linear trend of that. However, in reality, there were only 4 in july and only 6 in august. It probably shouldn't be showing a linear trend since it's really just the total since the beginning of the year. If I'm being an idiot, sorry in advance, Jet UPDATE: I suspect the graph that mislead me is drawn that way intentionally. There is a graph broken down by month over here: http://www.dropzone.com/fatalities/2004/. My mistake I guess.
  5. jettero
    You would be correct sir. This is the rest of my day right here. click. click. click.
  6. jettero
    No snub taken, you are totally correct. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to grow into from here. And flying around inanimate objects is one of them. You know, something to aspire too. I think I got in over my head with the PDA thing; but I'm still looking into the feasibility. I'm going to ask some people (including my DZO) about just how dumb it really is. Then again, there's a pumpkin day at my DZ. So, you never know. Perhaps if they think it's funny they'll help me out. Perhaps they'll just tell me, "no." I think it'd make a slick video either way.
  7. jettero
    That's an option of sorts... but I wouldn't get video, which is part of the goal.
  8. jettero
    This is extra fascinating. It appears that I know almost nothing about the skin drag on falling objects. It actually leads me to something I've been wondering about. I would actually like to set up one of those FF streamer balls like in good stuff. How did they adjust it to fall at a rate similar to their own? Or did they?
  9. jettero
    Pretty low timer here, but I've already noticed this. It's more difficult to motivate myself to invest a saturday at the DZ when I don't have something to work toward. The good part is, at my level, I have goals like, "learn how to land" and "learn to pack." Right now I'm working on my A... Two jumps to go (hopefully).
  10. jettero
    I had not thought of THAT! I guess I figured it'd be more dense than me. Fascinating. Now I wish I'd set up a poll: Will it go [up] or [down]? I should add that I was picturing a streamer on one edge so it'd be falling edgewise -- if that makes any difference.
  11. jettero
    So, in theory... If I got someone really awesome at spotting to help me; I could just drop it over some trees or something? That was more or less my original plan.
  12. jettero
    It's not over the UK, it's over michigan... it's just a britsh (mostly) website. I totally get that I won't be able to do this. I reasoned that out on my own. I just wonder what I'd have to do ... to do it. And I'm thinking going to arazona to skydive doesn't sound so bad.
  13. jettero
    This came up on a british (mostly) message board I frequent. It happens that the site leader's PDA broke. It's a handsrping visor ... was. Anyhoo, I had offered to get video of myself dropping it in freefall. Excitedly, he asked for my address so he could send it over and I could set it up. Then reality kicked in and I realized that I probably can't actually do it. It's pretty dangerous really. But my question is: What has to be true to intentionally drop something in freefall? I sincerely doubt I'd be allowed to do this at my home dropzone. But, people drop those PRCP handles all the time -- apparently at Eloy, people drop whole cars. I've seen video.
  14. jettero
    Yeah, thanks you guys. I was totally going to practice all this stuff. Yesterday, the only load I could get (after an hour wait) was a solo... It was fun. I tried flips and barrel rolls. I suck at rolls btw... Anyhoo, I had to leave shortly after that. I went down again today, but the weather was just barely bad enough that I didn't want to go. That and a class was just about to get out. Pffft. I think I'll buy some coached jumps on wednesday (weather permitting).
  15. jettero
    Wow, I don't think I could do 5 in a day... I get pretty tired after 3 or 4 and this new packing thing tires me out even more! But I do see your point. I will be out there 9am (weather permitting) and plan to stay all day... Perhaps even come back sunday. This sport just get's to be more and more fun. Now that I'm on my own eq it's gone up a notch too.
  16. jettero
    Heh. No, I head to go through the student progression a couple of times. I did 4 jumps last year after I graduated -- no relative work -- and only about 5 jumps total this year. Circumstances... you know how it is. So until I jumped with Mr. McKee, I hadn't done any RW since the two (and only two) last year. This is all pretty new to me, though the 57 jumps makes it seem like I should be further along than I am.
  17. jettero
    Terry, thanks. That answers almost all my questions right there. I've seen out there btw, but not since saftey day. Actually, this bit about "flipeed lots of low timers over" cracked me all the way up. Apparently that's a common sort of thing to learn how to do? I was mystified by it at the time. Tim McKee was the jumper. He flipped me over like he was standing on the ground.
  18. jettero
    I have learned to pack my own rig, finally. I jumped it 3 times. I have proven to myself (and a coach) that I can track and turn successfully. I'm ready to start with the relative work, but ... There's various little things that will probably work out just before the jump. But I'd rather discuss them now, so I know what I'm up against. When I jumped with the coach... I ended up all on my back, cuz I suck. But he had like 4,000 jumps and he just turned me back over. That was amazing. What happens when I'm with people sortof my own skill level though? Is that seriously dangerous that I suck that bad? Do they just look out? The second thing: I'm not at all clear on what happens at break off altitude. Do you just track off? Is there usually a hand signal? Lastly, what am I missing? How do you get into this with as little suck as possible? Again, I'm going to get a lot of tips at the DZ... But it never hurts to ask questions.
  19. jettero

    Go Players

    jettero replied to jettero's topic in The Bonfire

    "grew up in the navy" suggests that you possibly played in Japan? I studied nihongo briefly, but I suck at it. I've always wanted to go there. To date, I have 0 stamps in my passport.
  20. jettero

    Go Players

    jettero replied to jettero's topic in The Bonfire

    I'm glad to hear that I'm wrong actually. Would any of you be interested in meeting up on either KGS or DGS for some games? In between moves we could make metaphorical comments about skydiving. Unrelated question: How does the spellchecker here not know the word skydiving?
  21. jettero

    Go Players

    jettero replied to jettero's topic in The Bonfire

    My bets are that I'm just about the only skydiving go player on dropzone.com. Please correct me if I'm wrong. -Jet (15kyu AGA)
  22. jettero

    Cypress

    jettero replied to jettero's topic in Gear and Rigging

    I didn't expect to find quite so many posts here today. Ron, you post a lot... The reason I want a cypress is for the knocked out factor. A guy at my dropzone was saved this year by his cypress because it fired while he was unconscious. That is the selling point imho. In fact, I'm a little freaked out about smashing into someone while I'm trying to learn RW. I doubt it's even as big a problem as I'm imagining.
  23. jettero

    Cypress

    jettero replied to jettero's topic in Gear and Rigging

    $70? At that price I could afford to buy one every year. Don't they have to take the reserve out to put it in? That doesn't appear to matter though, since I'll need a repack before I can jump it anyway. On those 1 year left ones... how can you be sure it was sent back for maintenence? How much does it cost to send it back?
  24. jettero

    Cypress

    jettero replied to jettero's topic in Gear and Rigging

    I'm buying my first rig. It's a Spectre 190 with 35 jumps in it. The container is a talon 2 and I forget what kind of reserve. Very exciting though. How often does a reserve have to be repacked? How much does that generally cost? My real question involves the AAD. I can't afford a cypress at first. I'm thinking about jumping without one until I can afford a new one. Rumor has it, even if you use one of those calculators online, you get screwed buying a cypress used. Just this year, one of my jumpmasters was rescued by an AAD. Well, go ahead and clue this newbie in about AADs?
  25. jettero
    In point of fact I had not missed that. I found that concept to be hilarious, and if it came true, I would most certainly be on here all day.