mnischalke

Thanks Marc!!!! And a good spot it shall be. I'll make you proud. now you understand why I asked on another thread what happened to your gear. mike

I have been worn, but worn out?

"Congrats to you, that you made it! Don't a lot of people apply for that?" Thanks skymama!! I am pretty excited. I was on a short reserve list until last week and then I got the acceptance notification the other day. "anybody who can pay is accepted" Geoff, I know a few people who got the "we're sorry" letter. It made being on the "short reserve list" so much easier to stomach. Then they let me in! And I didn't even have to threaten violence. peace mike

"whoa, I'm worn out, I just can't do it anymore" Does this happen?

I haven't even heard a whisper about Skydive University's Search here. I am going down on the second week and would love to "know" some people when I get there. Thanks, mike

that just sucks!! How long ago? Is Deland in a bad neighborhood?

Marc, How and where did it get ripped off? I am heading down there in feb and I want to be able to protect my stuff. Thanks, mike

have you downloaded the USPA SIM from www.USPA.org? http://www.uspa.org/Publications/SIM/SIM_2001.pdf

Guilty as charged, sir. In my own defense, it was getting a little tense over there prior to a little one-liner action. mea culpa mike

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this one from about a month ago. It might be reoccuring, but I don't remember. I am on this plane, but, its more like a big, brightly-lit hanger in space, maybe like a C9 but bigger. It doesn't seem to be moving. Nonetheless, I think I missed the Jump run because nobody is here. There's a big hangar door to come in and a big hangar door to go out. I walk over to the out door. The air is so full of little puffy clouds, I think "Who could spot in this?" So I see the next group of jumpers riding the tram into the "plane" and I go out after them. They all have on white jumpsuits. I start falling through the clouds as well as the jumpers who left before me. I turn points with this other guy. I swoop around a formation and I realize I am really cruising faster than anyone. I am popping through these little clouds and skooting around people. I look for my altimeter, but I can't see it because I am in a cloud. As soon as I throw my PC, my canopy is out and I am landing straight down on a bullseye accuracy tuffett. I hit dead center on my ass. No flare. Just a bunch of people cheering. What the hell is that? Peaches, mike "I have some KICK ASS sex dreams!! Oh yeah!! And none of that "waking up right before you really do it" shit. I go all the way baby!! woohoo!!!!!!" -- DO tell

It's interesting there isn't a CReW forum here. Sangrio?!?!?!?!

damn I'm good. Did I call that or what?? Just be sure to wear the camo face paint when rummaging dumpsters. It adds to the effect when the cops find you.

Actually, I hated the idea of a tandem. Kinda gay if you ask me. But, it was paid for before I got there. I learned a ton doing it and kept on with my passion because of it. You're right, it's personal preference. I may also be biased because there are so many great instructors at Skydive Orange. Those folks made it easy for me. mike

Justin, "Skydivers need to know the material covered in the ground school if they are going to continue." I did get the same training just during and after. Then again, I learn better doing, rather than studying. OJT is best for me. "Being able to deploy your own parachute and land on your own is a huge rush that I can't imagine a tandem passenger getting." I was a little slow on the clear and pull on the first jump but, I did everything else. I must emphasize, I went straight to a single jumpmaster on #3 with a 1:1 wingloading. Musta done lerned sumpin rite. mike ps if you shit your pants, you have someone to share it with

I recommend tandem. Get the full experience without the hours of groundschool learning foreign subjects that you can't comprehend yet. You also can learn so much more about the pattern and canopy flight as you are under one. My instructor gave me the tools in the air and I used them. His hands were on the toggles, but I came in on the pattern and landed the canopy 20 feet from the peas. Such a confidence builder. If you were to screw up, he's there to fix you. My other tandem was a long spot and I learned how to use the ground rising in front and passing underneath to pick my out and use half brakes to bring it back closer to the DZ. I had a single jumpmaster on #3 and used the radio only once. I am glad not to have relied on a radio to bring it back on jump 1 since I could not tell what he was saying on #3. I thought at first that Tandem was sooo touristy. Now I feel different. peace, mike

stalker

We jump an Otter and I started hanging out in the door around jump four and I started really spotting around jump nine. I think I spot well, thank you for asking. My adjusted targets were within a 25- to 30-yard radius of the center of the peas. Peace, mike

who ever said the target had to be the peas (crosses or whatever)? I thought that was the way it was and called myself out on a bunch of my student jumps. Truth is I was generally right on. Usually at about 3k, I would look at how busy the peas were already. At that point, I would adjust my target if needed to find a nice clean spot of grass, while maintaining the pattern. Our landing area is a bunch of different shades of green, so I would pick one spot and land there. I never did really count any of those and toward the end, was merging into the pattern and heading for the peas for score. I wish I would have known then that my 3k agl adjusted targets were okay to count. Just a thought, mike

Skyventure!! It's right up the road from sebastian in Orlando. Fifteen minutes in the tunnel with the tunnel rats and you will be right on track. I know for fact it has worked for others in the exact same situation. Peace mike

Wow! I am gonna find somebody tomorrow morning to do that to me. Yes!! peace out, mike

"That said, if you were to continue to pull down the brake lines farther and farther, eventually, you could probably get almost any canopy to collapse (including ones with airlocks?)." Prior to collapse from a flat stall, you will begin reverse flight. I was encouraged to put my canopy in reverse flight on jump 14 and it was quite a memorable experience. If you haven't done it, you should to know where it happens. I am not advocating jerking the toggles to you hips and hanging out there until a total collapse. I have held mine until I could see the canopy start to flutter across the bottom skin and then start to drift backwards (from my point of view). Knowing where this occurs up high will can your ass down low. With air locks, you will probably be able to get actual rearward acceleration out of reverse flight prior to collapse. Peace mike

tandems damn

yes clay, but if you get a flat in the desert, how many pancakes does it take to jack up the house? I say it's blue because ice cream has no bones. Your mother was a hampster... mike

My vote for the safer activity is skydiving. I grew up on motorcycles (since age 4) and have owned a bunch of bikes including a Harley (before it was the cool thing to own and the prices were as much as a new car). Now I live near DC and after two years and 5,000 miles of riding here, I sold my most recent bike. I was tired of doing stuff safely only to have people run me off the road, try to run me over and often just pull right out in front of me like I wasn't even there. I was told in skydiving (and pretty much everything else), accidents generally happen because of a chain of events. If you do everything right (like a ritual) that chain will be broken and, you've just increased your chances of survival exponentially. Driving to work is dangerous. If I check out of this world commuting to work rather than doing something I enjoy, I will be really pissed for the last fleeting moments of my life. Be safe and have fun. Go do a father/son day at a good dz and do tandems together. You may get hooked yourself!! Peace, mike

So you are telling me that my instructor was full of shit and that my canopy is not suspended by magic? mike