LloydDobbler

Well, looks like someone else has already hit the currency numbers...but here's the thing that would really matter for a DZ like yours: I think that's one of the best things the USPA did, as far as the Coach thing goes, and ideal for a DZ like yours. ------ BTW, here's another angle: once I feel like I have the skill set necessary I'd love to get my Coach rating, just so I could go up and fly with the students and 'give back' (I'm certain I could pass the course now, but I feel like I need to get some more experience before I will consider myself an authority enough to coach someone). I'd want to hold out at least a few jumps a weekend to jump with students for free, and just ask that it be paid forward. Right now, I think the sport needs that. When I was a student, AFF had cost me so much that I couldn't afford to go out and do as many coach jumps as I would have liked (that extra $50 seems like a lot, at the time). So I did a lot of solos, and just enough coach jumps to complete the tasks I needed to complete on the proficiency card. I know I wasn't as good a skydiver when I got my 'A' because of that. Problem being, the places where I jump, if I wanted to get my Coach rating so I could go jump with students and 'give back', it would put me at odds with the DZ, who manages and takes a cut from all the coach jumps. This is the main reason why I have issues with the Coach rating: it gave the DZO's another revenue stream (which naturally they took advantage of), and arguably hurt the camaraderie of the sport in the process. (Of course, you could make the argument that the GM program is a conflict of interest on a lot of levels...but that's another topic for another thread.) Still, how does one 'give back' to the sport (and the students who could use the help) when it would be undercutting the DZ? Signatures are the new black.

They call themselves skydivers and don't know this? I learned that during my first jump course! Dude - SERIOUS. Those things look SCARY. And what's with all the GREEN stuff sprinkled on the ground, anyway? Now about that road trip... Signatures are the new black.

Thanks, Travis - Your description does make sense.

Oh - yeah. Heh. Figured it would be one of those 'hidden in plain sight'-kinda answers. Thanks for the tip! (And dammit, they're still too long. The curse of being 5'5". ) Signatures are the new black.

Whoa! hang on a sec... Isn't 1-800-Skydive a legit number? Signatures are the new black.

Hey, folks! So here's the deal - I just snagged a pair of freefly pants. Love the look, love the feel...but they seem a little long. I heard a while back that freefly pants are supposed to be a bit long. And reading up on some other threads about making your own freefly pants, they all point out that you want to take a pattern and add an extra 10-12" to it. So my question, for all you "in the know" - how much should a pair of freefly pants bunch up around the ankles when standing? If I wore regular pants with a 30" inseam, about what should be the inseam on a pair of freefly pants (crotch to bottom of ankle cuff)? (And for that matter, I assume it would make a difference if the person in question weighs, say, 130 out the door, right?)

Okay, I just spit coffee all over my monitor. Ease up on the Guy Manos, will ya? Signatures are the new black.

To Sletzer, thought I'd share: my hop & pop went fine. My girlfriend's, however...well, it might sound kinda familiar. Let's just say it was less of a hop & pop...and more of a hop, barrel roll, backloop, barrel roll, and pop. She weighs just a *little* bit less than a ping pong ball, and instead of pushing out of the Otter and assertively presenting herself to the wind, she kind of pushed off lightly with one foot. The prop blast caught her left shoulder first and rolled her around, and it took her a bit to get stable. She was still open well above her decision altitude. Best part was on the ground. The head AFF-I (a great character, complete with authentic Bulgarian dialect) comes up to her, very calm and collected, and says, "I am sorry. My fault. I forgot to tell you: this was not to be an aerobatic jump." Very apologetic-like. Needless to say, she loves hop n' pops now...but she hates that video. (And luckily, she doesn't post on here. She'd be less-than-happy that I shared that with the world.) Signatures are the new black.

There was this girl. (We all know where this was going). I had a thing for her. Some friends of hers were skydivers (~13 jumps each), and one night they (& a bunch of alcohol) convinced her to go the next weekend. She called up everyone in her phone book and invited them, because she wanted peer pressure to keep her from chickening out. I said 'sure' (& I was apparently the only one). She was supposed to pick me up at 7:30AM the next Sunday. She called at 7:15 and told me she was backing out. "But my friends are really cool, you should totally go." I had paid a deposit, so I went up, in a foul mood, with the two people I didn't know (they're now good jumping buddies). According to them, I was the most calm, collected tandem they ever saw. They didn't realize I was processing being 'stood up' by the girl I was digging on. After that first jump, decided I needed to do it a few more times and get good at it. It seemed like a good challenge. Needless to say, I never hooked up with the one who bailed. But I'm currently dating an awesome girl (a 100% certifiable badass skydiver). Signatures are the new black.

Like others have said, good on you for working on it. It's SO freakin' important. One little thing to add - Up above, JohnMitchell mentioned that you should try and cup your shoulders. I've found that a good way of doing this is to turn my hands the opposite way, so that my palms face the sky instead of the ground. You can try it while sitting at your desk - you'll feel your shoulders cup themselves naturally. (That position also is good for glancing at your altimeter without breaking out of your track, which is convenient). Same body position as described above, just palms up. YMMV, but it helped me get more stable when tracking. You'll get it with time. Good luck! Signatures are the new black.

And therein lies the biggest problem I've seen with people starting to freefly. I wish more people would get coaching and ask lots of question...I've been shocked to see a ton of fresh-off-student status types going out to 'work on their sit', lately, without a bit of coaching. Glad I'm not going out after them...I worry for the students. To the OP, I don't think anytime after getting their A license (or equiv.) is 'too soon'...provided the person gets a briefing on it from someone with much more experience. Esp. since the person is likely to be backsliding like mad, anyway... Signatures are the new black.

I agree. That's the main thing. I personally never would've known to double-check for this had I not read this thread. Now I know. It's not going to keep me from using Aerodyne soft links...but it will make me more vigilant if I know the links are Aerodyne. So in a cost/benefit analysis, I (admitted newbie) think the benefits far outweigh the costs of calling out a potential point of failure and making people aware of it. Signatures are the new black.

I can't come up with any better idea than the one you listed...sounds like an excellent plan. Of course, if the 'savee' follows protocol, they'll be buying you a bottle, too...so looks like you both will have a pretty drunky-but-funky evening ahead of you... Regardless, congrats! That's awesome!

Yeah...Doug, just to use your post as a springboard, I personally won't refer anyone to the gear section without a disclaimer these days - it doesn't seem to have been updated since about 2002 sometime. In the helmets section alone, there are at least 5 models that have been out for 2 yrs+ that still don't have a page. (We're talking manufacturers like Bonehead & SkySystems here). (Not to mention those new-fangled 'wingsuits' that the kids are all crazy about...). To the OP, I fly a Bonehead Mamba and love it. The latch system is simple and secure. It's light as a feather. And it takes a kick to the head pretty darn well. It's a tough decision, because it's not inexpensive, and everyone has their favorites. I'd definitely second the others' recommendations about trying one on first. Sizes vary...and some will just feel better. Signatures are the new black.

Done it once before, and had no problems. As someone else suggested, I carried all the stuff I normally carry with me to fly (Cypres card, TSA letter, etc), and though they had never seen one before, they asked me some questions and then let me go. MUCH less hassle than some of the commercial flights I've tried to make... Signatures are the new black.

Yeah, that is a brilliant way of putting it. I've known about the 'horizon effect' for a while, but never heard it explained that way. Gonna have to remember that. ('Course, I won't be trying it because I try and always pull by 3.5. But still, good stuff. Thanks.)

Ah, okay. I'm nowhere near that sort of high-performance canopy flight, so I haven't kept up on the differences in high-performance designs. Back to the question, though, so can you tell from the vid if it's the JVX-37 or the VX-39 he's flying now? Or does anyone know? Signatures are the new black.

Best post in this thread so far. (Along with DougH, whose point about the right tool for the job is spot-on.) Even though I have lower jump numbers, I'll chime in, because this topic caused me (featherweight) a lot of grief when I had your jump numbers. My g/f had the same problem. Most important point: the best way to learn to dive is simply to get out and do it. Grab a coach, and go out with them like Dave suggested. To reinforce some stuff said above: - Like others said, focus on leveling first, THEN getting to the formation - if you aim straight for the formation, bad shit can (and will) happen. Aim to the side, then close the horizontal distance when you're on level. Pull out of the dive if you feel like you've misjudged. - Put on the brakes early, and stairstep it down. They tell you this in your student training, but it never seems to sink in until you go low on a formation and have to get back up. - Of course, talk to instructors at the DZ. They'll be able to steer you in the right direction better than anything any of us have just said. One big point: Diving will most likely feel weird at first. Squirrely, at best. It takes some getting used to, having your head lower than your feet. Just keep working on it, and know that it can be done, and you can do it. Tunnels don't work for this one - the best (& only) way to learn it is just by doing it. Get some coaching and go to it. If you do belly work, it's a skill that will be immeasurably useful. Signatures are the new black.

Seriously, though, just out of curiosity, are we sure it's the VX-37 Luigi was flying, or was it the VX-39? I've seen him jump the 39 a few times out at Perris, and I followed the recent big publicity of him landing the 37...just curious if he's confident enough after landing the 37 a few weeks back to have 'downsized' to it on a regular basis already... Anybody know if we can expect to see a VX-39 popping up in the classifieds sometime soon? Signatures are the new black.

For realz. Sigh... While we're at it...I guess we should see what else we have sitting around in need of a good renaming. I mean, the word 'dropzone' is a little overused... ...and 'jumpsuit.' Waaay too obvious. And don't get me started on 'altimeter' - it's gotta go (I mean, obviously, it's a 'wrist-mounted pressure gauge.' Altitude awareness is just a by-product). Anyone got any good ideas? Signatures are the new black.

My g/f brought up this question a few weeks after getting her A, and I had never really thought about it for some reason (I always check them repeatedly on the plane, but never in freefall, until she asked). Now I do it whenever I have the occasion (meaning: whenever it won't get in the way of the dive). If it's a solo sitfly jump, I get on my belly a little early and find the handles. I've been jumping with some newly-licensed people lately (who tend to pull a little higher), so after tracking away I take the extra couple of seconds to find my handles before waving off. They've actually been pretty easy to find...but I'm glad I tested it out now, instead of fumbling around for them in the event of a high-speed mal. Signatures are the new black.

I also posted something on this a while back...of course, it's not just about the aesthetics of fading colors, but about the strength of the canopy fabric after exposure to sunlight. One of the master riggers at Cal City did a study on this subject a couple of years ago & presented it at PIA. His findings showed that most colors (including dark colors) held up well - but certain fluorescent colors showed weak tensile strength after prolonged exposure. When the question came up on here before, I got his permission to pass it along to anyone who wanted to know more. So I'll put it up again - if anyone wants to check it out, here's the info: [URL "http://www.upscalehomeless.com/muzak/fabric_color_study.zip"]Presentation[/URL] (~20MB) [URL "http://www.upscalehomeless.com/muzak/fabric_color_study_files.zip"]Supplemental files[/URL] (~120MB) The 'Presentation' powerpoint file contains the report presented at PIA - if you'd like to dig through specific scans of the fabric each day as it was evaluated over the course of the study, etc, then you can download the supplemental files as well (but for the most part, the powerpoint presentation is pretty darn thorough). Here's what the originator of the study emailed me: As with any scientific study, it's subject to peer review and replication. Look it over and conclude what you will. Hope it helps. Signatures are the new black.

Then why are the DZO's interested in USPA at all? Is there not some void it's filled by becoming a sort of 'DZ trade organization'? To this, I have no answer. Isn't that always the case, how questions ultimately seem to lead to more questions. Perhaps there isn't a good way to make it happen. I'm still relatively new to this, so all I know is what I've read around here and elsewhere. I'm not in the best place to offer suggestions of how such a program could be incentivized, or promoted to both skydivers and DZO's as a beneficial thing to them all. (I didn't even know about the voluntary inspection program until recently - it apparently doesn't get much promotion.) It seems like there would be an obvious benefit to skydivers, so the question is, why would it benefit DZO's? In *theory*, the business angle makes sense - When I was looking to make my first jump, if I had gone to the USPA website and found that one DZ near me scored 5 stars on the DZ inspection, and another scored 3 stars (or hadn't taken the inspection), I'd have gone to the one with 5 stars. As it was, I just looked at the GM's and chose the one closest to me. In the case above, the 5-star DZ stands to gain a student (unless said student gets swept up by Skyride first ). So if a DZ knew it was doing everything right to get a 5-star rating, why wouldn't it have the inspection done? If we made the inspection standards available and promoted the results, then the DZ that knows it would score high stands only to gain, and those who know they will do poorly (and thus don't have the inspection) will stand to lose (their lack of participation will likely be seen as them hiding something). The key would be making the standards transparent, and convincing those DZ's who are doing things right that they only stand to gain by participating. Then again, like I said - I'm new. All of this could have been tried before. But maybe, without the context of the GM program as a backdrop, it would have a little more traction...? (Or maybe not. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong. Just throwing it out there for the sake of discussion). Signatures are the new black.

The USPA GM program took all it's members! Then PIA dissolved the committee for lack of interest. Reviving the PIA drop zone committee is one of the most important pieces of work to be done to help eliminate the conflict of interest in USPA's GM program. Definitely. Just to chime in here (after spending a week reading all the threads that deal with this issue), let's isolate the problem. I think this whole thing boils down to an issue of focus. The USPA's mission has been cluttered by the GM program (as evidenced by the conflicts of interest that have popped up). Here's my thoughts: 1) The DZ's need a trade organization. For the purposes of things like the AAD Fund...and simply as businesses (promotion, etc - one of the things the GM program was supposed to offer, IIRC). There are potentially a lot of things that a DZ trade organization could do for DZ's. And those things might require funds that skydivers wouldn't be willing to pony up. By separating it out, the DZO's organization is not going against the interest of skydivers, and vice-versa. Skydivers and DZS's gain more control of their own course. The free market takes care of the rest. 2) The individual skydiver needs an organization that's looking out for him/her. This isn't necessarily in conflict with the DZOs' interests...but as we've shown in recent months, it can be. The only way to eliminate such conflicts is to simplify. (Hence, creating two separate organizations). 3) The DZ Inspection Program. If the USPA's mission becomes to look out for skydivers, I think there's a stronger argument for this - a skydiver could go to the USPA and look at a DZ rating like they would a health rating at a restaurant. If the place has a C rating, you're taking your chances. (Or you can at least read the report to see that you are). Like so many others, I can't yet see a great option for *how* to implement such a thing. Costs seem to be prohibitive. But it does seem in line with the mission of protecting skydivers and promoting the sport. I don't have any good answers for the inspection question, but I do think this whole discussion would benefit from us stepping back and looking at the USPA from a broader perspective. Bottom line is, skydivers and DZ's have 2 different interests, which share some common ground...but which ultimately diverge. IMHO, that makes us incompatible in an organization such as the USPA. But that doesn't mean we can't cooperate from separate groups...right? Signatures are the new black.

Dude, if you can do that, I'll be more than interested to hear about it. I'm running a Mac, too, and use a friend's PC to upgrade my Neptune when necessary (ANOTHER topic - how crappy is the new Neptune 2 user interface?). Had I known when I bought the Neptune that I wouldn't be able to download my logs from it, I would've just bought a Protrack - because at least it offers a more-workable USB interface (and like someone said above, I'm sure that Klaus can tell you how to interface it with a Mac. I know a couple of people who do). Regardless, with so many ways of coding cross-platform apps these days, I'm amazed that Alti-2 designed their product this way. Ugh. Signatures are the new black.