RandomLemming

I agree with everything you say there, and when I'm at my home dropzone, I do pack for myself. I provide a source of amusement for all around me, but I will get better over time. It's just that when I'm away at a foreign dropzone that I might never go back to, I prefer to pay for the pack jobs so that I can spend more time meeting interesting people. This is going to sound weird, but I've had people look slightly offended when I tell them to keep the change or offer to pay a higher rate. I certainly will give it a try though... Worst case I can just pay with a bigger note at the end of the day and then run away from the DZ so that he can't give me change :)

Heh, when I'm packing, I get it done very right. I check everything about 6 times. That's why it takes me an hour to pack... That and the fun of trying to get a pilot 188 with 35 jumps into the bag ;) I'm still new to packing, so when I'm away from home on a limited time, I pay for my pack jobs so I can make the most of my visit to the DZ. I just feel like I'm taking the packers for a bit of a ride out in SA though, paying 1/7th of a jump per job. I would have thought that packing fees would be tied to jump costs as a percentage, rather than fixed at a price.

Well, I won't be the one doing the packing, so I'm not too worried how quick he / she is... Hell, I'd rather they get it right than get it fast.

I'm planning my trip out to SA for May this year, and I've just come across something interesting. Pack jobs at JSC appear to be R25 each and a jump there is R175. That means 7 pack jobs pays for one jump. The average that I've seen in the UK so far seems to be £5 per pack and £20 per jump. This means 4 pack jobs buys a jump. What drives the packing economy? I understand that fuel and pilot costs will drive the jump ticket up, but what sets prices in the packing world ? I mean, this cost is just great for me visiting SA because I pack quite slowly and this will give me better use of my time, but I honestly feel like I'm ripping the packer off a bit.

I've still got an old G5... If I hadn't got into Skydiving, I probably would have had an Intel by now, but computers seem less important to me these days :) In any event, the problem with getting it to talk to the machine seems to be a hardware one. Paralog, the software I want to use (paralog.net) runs quite nicely on the Mac. But neither of my current macs come with Infrared ports, so I'm trying to find either a USB or PCI based infrared solution. I could swear that my old 15" came with an IR port, but a handyman at the office stood on that one, so I don't have it any more :(

Hi all, I think this is gear related, but if not, please boot me somewhere else :) I've just got an Alti-2 Neptune and I'd like to get it talking to my Mac. Does anyone know what equipment I'd need to do this ? I've found a USB adapter made by Belkin (F5U230), but these seem to be a very old product and none of my local retailers carry this. Thanks...

I live in London, and Headcorn is actually the quickest dropzone for me to get to. In summer, this is a 5* dropzone all the way, going down to 4* for winter. During Winter they operate a Beaver for most lifts and I just can't love the thing. I have no rational reason for not liking it, I just don't. Maybe I've been spoiled with the Turbolet at Headcorn and the Pac750XL at Hinton :) It can get a little busy and the manifest seems to work on a fairness basis rather than first person to put their name on the board gets on the next lift. I think this is partly because the board is split into multiple columns for different things, but I could be talking rubbish on this one. This bothered me at first but after a few visits and watching people, it actually seems to be a good way to run things. Everyone gets on a fair amount of lifts and seems happy with their count at the end of the day. Most of the staff are really great, and this is one of the things that I love about the place. They've dealt with me as an individual jumper, not as an A license jumper with X jumps. They do have a few hard and fast rules (like radio on all jumps below 50, and you must have an AAD if you're on an A license), but other than that they don't seem to have any arbitrary rules that don't make sense, unlike other places I've been to - they talk to me, work with me, evaluate where I am and seem to be interested in helping me progress. For some things, this means doing things earlier than at other dropzones, and for other things it means doing them later. But they're open and communicative all the way through as to what and why, and I get a lot out of that. The pricing initially looks very expensive for a student / someone renting gear. However, when you look at the credit system, the costs are actually there to incentivise you to learn to pack and pack your own gear. They run packing courses fairly regularly on bad weather days, so it's not like you have to wait forever to learn either. The other costs that look expensive go down again when you move from your A to your B license. Again, this is to try and convince you to keep working on progressing I think (although the full face helmet privilege is more of an incentive for a blind guy like me :)) The crowd there can be a little standoffish, but I've always had positive experiences when I initiate conversation. I'm there to jump out of an airplane, talking to strangers isn't going to kill me ;) I've met some very cool people there and they've taught me almost as much as the staff. Their training (packing, CH2, JM1, etc.) is really good. They also offer rigging services, and I've been happy with all the work they've done on my kit. While your gear is in for rigging, they have the best rental gear that I've used in the UK and out of everywhere I've jumped in the world so far, their gear is second only to Lodi. In closing (yeah, yeah, finally, I know), come to Headcorn and have a blast. Arrive with an open mind and be prepared to chat to random people for no good reason and you'll probably have a great time.

Thanks - are those things any good these days? I tried one a while back and it was kinda like a voice over IP call on a slow modem link :) These days I mainly use Skype or iChat, but that requires the other person to have that too.

Nah, the server is still up, but the user is over their storage limit for mail. I'm also not sure I was mailing the right address... It's still an @aerodyne-int.com which doesn't match their current hosting domain. I'll just drop something in the post instead. Calling the US from the UK has become expensive and I've not really had much in the way of response by phone.

Thanks - I've PMd Bushman - it's his address that is currently bouncing. He's not posted since 2006/12, so I wasn't sure if he was still logging in here at all :)

Hi all, Does anyone have any alternative contact details for people higher up the foodchain at Aerodyne? I've tried to e-mail Mr Anderson from there, but mail to his address in his profile is currently bouncing. Thanks...

These videos are brilliant thanks! 3 weeks for a new rig from Aerodyne seems a bit optimistic though... Mine has been with them for some adjustments for 4 weeks now and is only now shipping back. I guess they've been busy getting ready for PIA though, so this might not be the norm.

When you say -4, are you talking about the cyl measurement ?

I can second that - the gear I did my AFF on with Ed at Lodi was better than any other gear I've rented before or since! I'd love to know how Bill manages that for the prices he charges :)

I'm going to be at Empuriabrava from 1-4 March... Weather is supposed to be OK that time of year and I've mostly only heard good things about Emp. Ocana is great, can't speak for Lillo... Only thing to check with Ocana is how many planes they actually have... I know their one porter was a bit ill a few times last year.

Ok - scratch that. On the phone, Urban Chaos said they don't have any. My darling wife (being the trusting sort that she is when it comes to sales staff) decided to go and look anyway, and behold, they have loads :D

Well that was interesting... O'Neil in Covent garden - no Slam City skates - no Urban Chaos bluewater and covent garden - no Decathlon London - no (after 15 minutes of trying to explain what the stuff is to someone who has no command of the english language) Any other ideas where I might get some of this stuff?

shoe goo is a good idea. getting more confident under canopy might be a better idea. Not a bash/flame fest. Just a kind advice. Seriously. I'm definitely keen to get more confident under canopy, and I'm currently working towards my CH2. I'm also opening high so that I get more time to fly and learn. The problem with that is that it takes time and experience, and until then I need to hold my soles together :D

You volunteering to fly over to Florida ?

Hmmm - none of those around here in yuppie town. I'll try going into town on the weekend then :)

That looks pretty ideal - I'll have a hunt around at lunchtime. Thanks :)

Hi all, Can anyone advise where I can get a pair of stick-on soles for my jumpsuit? The soles of the booties are getting a bit trashed landing on rough surfaces, and I'm not confident enough under canopy to spend any time taking my booties off before landing. I found these at http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STICK-ON-SOLE-BLACK-2-4mm-SIZE-11_W0QQitemZ180057133677QQihZ008QQcategoryZ106124QQcmdZViewItem but I was hoping to find something I can buy in / around London. Thanks in advance,

It depends on your household insurance. If you have your rig as a named item covered for a specific amount, you may be covered in the hold. If you have your rig as an unnamed item, just part of your personal items limit, you're almost certainly not covered in the hold of an aircraft. Same goes for most (all that I could find) travel insurance as well. But yes, in your car, your hotel, at the DZ your household insurance would normally cover it as a personal item, even if you have not named it specifically.

I'm not sure how bad a person this makes me, but I couldn't stop laughing on reading that :(

I don't own a bag that I could get my rig into and still get it through an airport (size limits) so my only choice would be to have it on my back if I took it hand luggage. My rig is pretty close to the size restrictions and any extra bulk would put it over. Since most travel insurance (every single place I've checked with in the UK) doesn't cover valuable items in the hold of an aircraft, and the airlines won't pay full replacement value (see their terms and conditions) I can see why people would choose to travel with a rig as hand luggage. I've seen what happens to checked luggage. It really doesn't matter how many 'handle with care' or 'fragile' stickers you put on, it will get thrown at best. At worst, I've seen stuff fall from carts and get driven over. I'd rather that was my clothes (total value - about 30 quid) than my rig (value, slightly more than 30 quid) :D I do take your point about having my rig contained if I am forced to check it, but then, I have my daypack in my luggage so I can just load that up with clothes and other stuff from my luggage and replace that with my rig. And I wouldn't want my rig checked in a bag small and light enough to not put me over the size / weight limit for hand luggage so I'd probably be repacking my suitcase anyway.