LloydDobbler

I agree with the others. Both are good tunnels to fly in. For what you're looking to do, the SkyVenture tunnel should be great. Signatures are the new black.

Okay, now that's just uncalled-for. Apologies to the rest of the thread for troll-feeding, but had to comment: The sad reality is, liability is a huge part of our society. And skydiving instruction, be it in a coaching capacity or as a full-on Instructor, subjects us to a heightened chance of facing litigation (which is the *new* American dream - sue someone and get rich. If only they knew...).

Interestingly enough, Cal City used to use Altimaster II's with hand mounts for their students. I remember clearly how ridiculously big they looked on my hand. Of course, no idea where they got them...perhaps it was just a pet peeve of the master rigger that he decided to take care of it some point.... Signatures are the new black.

The AAC is an interesting time. Some nice people work there, that's for sure. I'll say this - you won't learn as much there as you would at a Skyventure tunnel. It's more of a ride than a training ground. Reason being, you'd be surprised how hard it is to stay in the middle of that column of air. You have to keep looking down at a dot on the net to stay lined up, which is not the best body position for belly flying. One leg goes out of the column, and you lose the drive from it. (And usually, since you're used to driving forward with your legs, out you go. Meet the net.)

Mile-Hi is definitely a far cry from a Cessna DZ, both in facilities and atmosphere. But a good place (and there are some good peeps who hang out there). Just be prepared for a small culture shock. Whether you're in the Springs or in Denver, my favorite DZ is still SkyVenture Colorado, though. That place has totally saved me this winter...even while draining my bank account. Signatures are the new black.

Ah, except for the real reason for the economic boom - the internet. It was made open to commercial interests in 1988, and the WWW was invented in '89, but didn't really come into public interest until late 1993 with the first release of the Mosaic browser. Soon thereafter a guy Jeff Bezos quit his job and moved to Seattle, having realized the incomparable benefit of being able to sell your products to millions upon millions of people, 24 hours a day, with reduced overhead and ridiculously-low marketing costs. The rest, as they say, is history. The internet was an economic game changer, the likes of which has never been seen in the history of the world. Even the invention of the Gutenberg press, cotton gin, and automobile didn't do as much to create economic growth as did this beast - all due to scalability. So I don't think you can say with any degree of certainty whether that period in the Clinton administration proves that higher taxes equal increased tax revenue, as you don't have a control to compare it against. No matter what anyone (Al Gore included) tells you, we can't say that it was planned to happen that way, at that time. It just did. Had you moved the internet boom to another period with lower taxes, it may have led to even MORE revenue and economic growth than it did. To be fair, there's largely no good way to compare time periods like this. Due to the ever-changing world, they'll always be apples-to-oranges comparisons to some extent. But given the radical changes the internet made to the economic landscape (on a scale never-before seen), looking at that particular time period as evidence that supply-side economics don't work is unrealistic (at best). Signatures are the new black.

Before you go investing the money in one of the sleeves, you should probably talk to the tunnel you're planning on flying in and make sure it's okay with them, too. True, shoes and helmets have come off in the tunnel before, but they generally get stopped by the grate at the top before they can do permanent damage. An uncontrolled canopy, OTOH, could do a lot more damage than a tunnel owner/operator may be willing to risk.... Signatures are the new black.

Just a technicality - is it not the BASE canopy (rather than the rig) that's safer on a low pull? It's both. Most skydiving rigs mount the closing loop on a tongue attached to the reserve container. Most pin-closed BASE rigs mount the closing loop(s) on one of the flaps. A line is more likely to half-hitch around the closing loop mount with the skydiving rig. Thanks for the info. Good to know. So I suppose the waiver would've been a better option. Sure. Most people don't have a big enough one lying around though. Good point...but then again, most people can't afford to charter a couple of helicopters to shoot an episode of their MTV show, either. Signatures are the new black.

Just a technicality - is it not the BASE canopy (rather than the rig) that's safer on a low pull? Could they not have packed a BASE canopy into a 2-parachute, TSO'd piggyback container, slider-down, no D-bag, and achieved close to the same result? I've seen a huge number of friends test-jumping BASE canopies out of TSO'd containers. Just not sure how much of an advantage the container itself lends to the practice of pulling low... (Of course, the waiver would likely be the proper way to go, but sounds like they didn't go for that)... Signatures are the new black.

I'm a fairly skinny guy as well. I think it's more a general issue - getting your body used to the arch position on the ground can be hard (especially without the force of the wind helping you out). One suggestion is going to the tunnel. You can definitely work on your form in there...but not sure how the process is different for RAPS. Another flexibility exercise is 'humping the wall'. Stand up next to a wall, with your feet about 6-10 inches away from it, and lean forward until your pelvis is touching the wall. Then lean your upper body backwards and arch hard. It's more of a stretch, really, than an exercise in form...but that seems to be what you need at the moment. Good luck! PS - I'm older than you, too. 'Old Wrinkly Ninja,' my ass. Signatures are the new black.

My only guess: Inflation. Over the past 3 months, the U.S. government has printed roughly $1.75 trillion dollars - a little more than 10% of the entire U.S. GDP. The value of a dollar is *slightly* less than it used to be. (Or were you talking about the UK?) Signatures are the new black.

Watched a friend of mine go through AFF this past weekend whose parents had made a number of static line jumps back in the 70's. They had gotten out of the sport before getting too into it, so she wasn't exactly a 'DZ Brat' - but damn, it sure was cool to see them all together when they showed up at the DZ to watch her jump. She's got about 6 hours of tunnel time, so she made 4 AFF jumps in a day and passed all of them. Gives new meaning to 'chip off the old block,' I guess. Signatures are the new black.

K, I'm completely late to the party here, but I worked on the show a number of times when I lived in L.A., and can't remember us ever wetting down the backlot for exterior shots. Maybe it's just an upping of contrast in the final print? Or maybe you're watching eps that were shot during the rainy season?

+1...for both the request for info *and* the SVCO rec. Signatures are the new black.

To put what Mike said a different way, what you need to worry about is where the groups will be with regards to the ground, not the aircraft. If the ground speed is only 40 knots & people stick to standard 7-second exit separation, 5-way #1 will get just as much push back from the aircraft as 5-way#2...but they'll still be really close together, because the plane hasn't travelled much distance at all in between each group. Signatures are the new black.

$25 for right now. After our DZ mgmt lowering jump prices by $2 when gas prices came back down, I'm thinking it won't go up in the next 4-6 months. But then again, I know very little about OPEC & oil supply and demand, so I guess it really all depends. I *do* know that our DZO earned some good karma from me on that decision, and it makes me think that he won't raise prices again without the outside influence of inflation (which'll take another few years after the stimulus bill passes) or gas prices significantly rise. We can discuss the inflationary results of the stimulus in the Speaker's Corner. Signatures are the new black.

Rich, I'm pretty lost on this topic. Don't think I've ever encountered that sort of attitude towards BASE. I mean, sure, I've seen skydivers call fixed object jumpers 'crazy fuckers' before...but never seen it as a prevailing attitude. I just wrote it off to the old thought that 'most skydivers don't fear heights - they fear lows.' OTOH, I've definitely seen the skydiver backlash towards people jumping non-TSO'd BASE equipment out of aircraft. And IMO, that backlash is 100% justified...but that's a whole 'nother can of worms. For the most part, everywhere I've been (including here) it seems to be viewed as a sister sport. No hush-hush whispering about it. But maybe that's just me. Signatures are the new black.

As the first responder said, it's a toss-up on weather. You could have snow or warm, or both. As the saying goes, "if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes." Mile-Hi will be open - at least on Fri-Sunday at that point (not sure when they open up for all week). The tunnel is on the opposite side of the city (further South), and is EXCELLENT. Offers some AMAZING coaching, very friendly folks, and a great facility. If you can get to both, I'd highly recommend it. As for food/stuff to do, it of course depends on where you'll be. Lodo is a cool area very close to downtown with bars, clubs, lofts, etc - the hip, artsy scene. The Denver Art Museum is also nearby, and is awesome. If you're a reader, be sure and check out the Tattered Cover bookstore. Cherry Creek is also a nice area of town, with lots of galleries, good shopping, etc. Boulder is a little ways away, but offers a good restaurant-and-nightlife scene (though you'll have to deal with a few college students). If you go to the tunnel, drop by John Holly's afterwards (it's right next door). Great sushi & asian food - we're there every Thursday after flying the tunnel.

You're lying. And, your username has been disabled for selling fake Rolexes in our Classifieds. Go to Hell. I like your style! +1 Way to go, Jay! Signatures are the new black.

In the tunnel progression, it's usually more about showing stability and control than it is flying a kickass belly session and turning a lot of points. So you'll likely be checked off on belly fairly quickly, as long as you can keep a heading and move on all axes. The real kicker for you will probably be backflying. It's just a *tad* different in the tunnel than it is in the air, given that there are plexiglass walls on all sides of you (and those things have TEETH, and they BITE!). Takes a bit longer to 'get it' and get comfortable flying stable. Given your goals, they may feel ready to move you on from backflying pretty quickly, though - who knows? FWIW, I personally recommend that everyone get really comfortable on their backs before moving on to sitflying, but some don't, and are fine. I just prefer to actually be able to bail to my back in a controlled, stable fashion, instead of falling into it from a sit and popping up/crashing around the tunnel because I can't control it. Anyway, YMMV...but you can't go wrong with tunnel time of any sort. Go check it out - you'll have a blast, and learn a lot no matter what you're working on.

Seems we're thinking of your resource in 2 different ways - you're thinking specifically of people going on vacation and looking for a place to fly, while I'm thinking that people could use your site as a one-stop wind tunnel info resource. If I'm going on holiday and looking for a tunnel, true, I might just want to know what the base rate is. But if I see that I can get a lower price at X boogie (that happens to be coming up at my DZ in a few weeks), I'll make it a point to hit up that boogie. Or if there's a promo going on, I'll try and schedule my time during that promo. Or there's the other dilemma - I used to live in L.A., and the Perris tunnel versus the Hollywood tunnel both had drastically different prices, programs and amenities. If I could find out about them both at the same place, I'd save myself the time of visiting both their sites (Perris used to do 'Meeker Mondays', whereas the Hollywood tunnel has a 'frequent flyer account' thing set up...etc, etc). As for HP, yeah, usually only the tunnel instructors/mgmt know that sort of thing...but if I was a heavier freeflyer, I definitely wouldn't want to go to certain tunnels that wouldn't be able to push enough air. But I can certainly respect your preference for minimalism. I wouldn't expand it without a good reason. Just thought I'd share another perspective. Like I said, great idea, and for your purposes, it delivers just what you need. Good luck! Signatures are the new black.

Nice idea! You might consider adding more fields to your DB for diff't tunnel specs (horsepower, # of doors, indoor/outdoor, etc), as well as notes. For instance, at the tunnel I fly in, their advertised rate is one thing...but if you buy from them at a boogie, you get a huge discount. (Some tunnels also charge you for DVDs, etc, and some don't - those sorts of perks can add up.) Again, great idea.

Well said. To the OP, sounds like you know what you want to do...you're just trying to accept your decision.

Congrats! I second Lisa's advice above - you should definitely show up for the Excel Basic Camp tomorrow. It's a GREAT (& free!) way to build skills, and you'll meet some cool people, too. Have fun! KC Signatures are the new black.

Tyler, I'd actually give you the opposite advice as to what most people here are saying. I started out with an RW suit, which was fine...except it didn't allow me to do anything else but RW for a long while. In fact, I only just recently got myself a freefly suit. This wasn't a problem, given that I started jumping in a warm climate and could pretty much go out in street clothes when I wanted to freefly - but it hindered my freeflying abilities a good bit. Luckily I started doing some 4-way FS, which put my suit to good use. But still. Like others say, you'll get the best performance if you have a FF suit for freeflying, and an RW suit for Relative Work/Belly. But if the budget is really tight (and usually it is when you're just off student status), it's a lot easier to fly on your belly in a FF suit than it is to freefly in a bootie suit. You likely won't be cranking out points like Airspeed on your belly, but you'll still be able to fly it. Again, none are ideal situations, except for having 1 of each kind of suit. But if I had to do it differently, I'd likely have grabbed a freefly suit first, so I could more easily explore different types of flying. Good luck in your gear search! KC Signatures are the new black.