Fab

Ok...Let me rephrase my post... I can't imagine that you would be allowed up there. Doom scenarios like a spinning mal and handles dislodged pops in to mind..you can't see if you have a good canopy overhead...flying into powerlines or ...etc. What do you do if your radio suddenly doesn't work? ***I would. I know two blind jumpers (Dan Rossi and Blind John) who skydive; they understand and accept the risks. As long as they understand they have a much higher risk of getting injured or killed than other jumpers, what's the problem? *** Personnally I find the additional risk too great..But it doesn't matter what I think. I don't have a problem with it if he is ok with it. On the other hand...if he's blind he can't see where he steers. What if he flies into someone else his canopy? Then it's not just about him anymore. You can use the argument..yes but he has a radio. I think nobody should rely on a radio to guide them to the ground. I have respect for those that skydive despite the fact that they are blind, but I still think too many things can go wrong. My opinion is that it's irresponsible but that's just me..You have a right to think otherwise of course

Are you talking about a real blind guy weid14? If so that's totally irresponsible. which fruitcake would let a blind man make an AFF jump. Too many things can go wrong. Tandem, ok..but AFF, I don't think so.. _______________________________________

That's a nice thought darkwing... You can also consider doing a tandem once..Perhaps that will be easier to begin with..or at least jump with an AFF-instructor. Why is it that when we start with skydiving everything goes with relative ease. You're not too afraid of jumping. You still got the nerves ok..but you're doing it anyway. How come after a layoff you're experiencing more anxiety then you ever had before? If you think about it....You have done this before and you're a whole lot wiser and more experienced then when you started your training. So basically you should be more relaxed instead of more stressed :)... As I said before..I'm having the same problem as you so I know how difficult it is. I think you got some great advice of all the posters here which I'm also using for my own personal benefit :).. I think if you really want to be up there ..the urge to skydive will some day be greater then your anxiety level and you'll go... _______________________________________

hehe..no no hookitt...I didn't called adam an idiot. Actually I called Betzilla an idiot ...my remark was in reply to * ........ * from Betzilla's post. It was late hmmmmmmm Anyway...Aren't we all idiots to be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane? Will nobody make the remark: "Dude..you haven't seen our airplanes yet" please? _______________________________________

*Hey Adam, don't beat yourself up. After my first winter layoff from jumping, I drove an hour to the DZ, only to drive right by and go back home, not once, but TWICE! * This sounds awfully familiar. I'm glad I'm not the only idiot walking around on this earth :) ..Have kinda the same problem. AFF was a bit more expensive then I hoped it would be because I had to do some levels again.. so ran out of money. Then winter came and then I found myself having some trouble going back in the air again after the short layoff. Just couldn't bring myself to manifest, although I went to the DZ a lot of times (banging my head against a brick wall at this point). Conclusion: didn't jump the entire summer. Regretted it afterwards. The desire to skydive has only grew since then... The longer you wait to get back up there, the harder it will be.. I WILL finish AFF this year.. even if they have to throw me in the @(#^&!@ airplane and kick me out at 12000ft. *A hole is starting to appear in that brick wall, how did that happen ?* _______________________________________

I LIKE IT...yam yam.. _______________________________________

Here's mine..I change my background regularly...sometimes I don't even have a skydive related background. Can you imagine that? cya _______________________________________

**HUD altimeter would be so cool ! I'd like to have altitude and current speed displayed. It would be also sweet to have speed over 150 mph displayed in, say, red and whatever is below in blue. Just to know when I slowed down enough to open safely.** I think with a full face helmet this could be made relative cheap and easy because you have a visor which you can project the info on. BMW is also working on a hud for motorcyclist (for displaying speed, navigational info etc) in which the systems uses a ring sight hud to my knowledge. For a normal open face helmet you would have to put the hud in your goggles so you would require a transparent flexible high resolution lcd-display of some sort which to my knowledge would be rather expensive (if it even exists).. Especially if you would like to have a colordisplay instead of monochroom. I think a ring sight as camera-jumpers now use for targeting and such would be inpractical for the average jumper.

I saw also on the wind tunnel homepage (adress to that page was also posted somewhere on this thread) there is a new wind tunnel (twister) in France which looks pretty nice and a lot better then the one in Germany. I don't think it's operational yet though...I would love to visit that one... Are you thinking about going to Germany Fonz?

Hi Fonz, Haven't seen you around www.parachute.nl for some time...you know Jarno right?...He was the one who went to the windtunnel in Germany..check out the posts on the dutch website. bye Fab

so sorry... www.air-power-arena.de But it is a rather small one I think..not as sophisiticated as you would find them in the USA

hello nick, the closest windtunnel for you would be in Germany I think...near the Holland/Germany border (www.air-power-arende.de)

Well skymedic...your brain normally uses both eyes for depth-perception. With only one eye depth-perception is a lot more difficult

on my homepage ha ve a couple of [ictures which you can use as background http://elektron.its.tudelft.nl/~fpr95

because most jpg have low resolution which will just look terribe as a background

resistance is futile..hand over your rig

Nice video jumpervali...what idiot placed that lantarn at that place...doesn't anybody have any consideration for base-jumpers anymore? By the way, doesn't that jumper know that standing so close in front of a high frequency antenne is hazardous to your health?

Fab is rolling on the floor laughing at pHreeZone.. You should be working not visiting www.dropzone.com

*Fab is looking at Jessica's desktop

sure larry...no problem... "....hand over your rig"

Hi scottbre, Did you see that :)...? that means I was not too serious at that point...but you already knew that of course ). Nice desktop you have by the way except for the micro-tronix text..doesn't that bother you?. "resistance is futile....."

oh yeah... So far my analysis is that only mountainman and myself are true skydivers here in this thread...:)

great idea mountainman. Here is mine..

I would advice you to stop asking these questions Clinton (and so many of them at the same time) before you start to irritate people here. We don't want that to happen of course... :) I also don't see the reason why you want to make a record for your collection...

In the Sebastian Sun. http://www.tcpalm.com/news/verobeach/1109verojump1.shtml November 09,2001 By Tony Judnich staff writer A parachutist who crashed into the roof of a Roseland home Wednesday afternoon died from his injuries early Thursday morning. Craig Chesworth, 23, of Crewe, Cheshire County, England, had sustained head trauma and a broken leg, Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Detective Chris Gregory said. Neurosurgeons at Melbourne’s Holmes Regional Medical Center found no brain activity when they examined Chesworth, Gregory said. Chesworth was placed on artificial life support and at 7:42 p.m. Wednesday was pronounced clinically dead. Life support was stopped at 2:31 a.m. Thursday, Gregory said. Chesworth had landed feet first on the roof of a 79th Avenue residence. He crashed through the roof and hit his head before tumbling to the ground, Gregory said. Chesworth had misjudged his approach to the Skydive Sebastian drop zone, or landing zone, at the Sebastian Municipal Airport, Skydive Sebastian Drop Zone Safety and Training Adviser Mick Hall had said. The zone is about 3/4 of a mile southwest of the crash scene. Federal Aviation Administration officials investigated Chesworth’s equipment Thursday and found "his equipment was working properly," Gregory said. "Witnesses on the ground saw a full (parachute) canopy." Chesworth had deployed his chute at between 1,700 and 2,300 feet, but should have opened it at 2,500 feet or higher, said Gregory, who didn't know why Chesworth didn't open his chute sooner. Skydive Sebastian officials could not be reached for comment Thursday. Speaking Thursday from Chesworth's hometown of Crewe, Chesworth's half-brother, Tony Smith, said family members were making plans to have Chesworth's body returned home. The death "is really incomprehensible," Smith said. "He lived for the sport. At least he went out doing what he loved best." Chesworth had made 165 previous jumps, with Wednesday's being his 33rd with Skydive Sebastian, Gregory said. He said Chesworth had been practicing aerial maneuvers after he jumped from a plane with instructor Mike Swanson, of Sebastian, who landed safely at the drop zone. Paul Clarke, Chesworth's brother-in-law, said Chesworth was an experienced jumper who had served in the British Army Parachute Regiment. "All he wanted to do was jump," Clarke said. "He had served well in the military. That's where he got the hang of parachuting." Clarke said Chesworth "will be remembered as a person who went out and did what he wanted to do. He lived life to the fullest." On Oct. 6, a parachutist crashed into a residence on 79th Court, one street north of 79th Avenue, but was not injured. In May, Urs Bischofberger, 33, of Switzerland, became the first jumper to die while sky diving with Skydive Sebastian, which opened in 1993. Bischofberger's main parachute failed to deploy, and he had crashed into the south prong of the St. Sebastian River, about half a mile southwest of Skydive Sebastian.