jumpdr

Ordered my all-custom Aerodyne rig on 4th September 06 (that was the day my dealer submitted it to them) and had an email on 3rd Jan 07 to say it was ready to ship. I'm picking it up when I get to the States in a week. So I guess you're looking at the 16 week wait. Sorry. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

I'm downsizing with the purchase of my new rig because I wanted something that I'll be happy with for a few years. The second hand market isnt exactly thriving out here in Cyprus so I've bought new because I got a good deal and I can afford it. I started on a 290, progressed through a 260 quickly and last jumped a 240, on which I probably have 40 jumps. I have 68 jumps total and haven't been able to try anything smaller, because my DZ's next canopy is a 190 Silhouette, which according to the PD specs, I'm too heavy for (about 235lbs exit wt). Next week, I'll get my Icon and Pilot 188. I was originally going to go for a 210, but talking to my instructor, rigger and the Aerodyne dealer I went through, all were happy enough to let me jump the 188 with some degree of downsize progression. As of next week, I'll be jumping at Perris having had a lay off for 2 months. I have no intention of getting straight on the 188 (given the lay off and DZ altitude) and plan to spend the first day or two on student canopies. Hopefully, Karl from Aerodyne is arranging for a 210 demo Pilot to be sent out to me as it will fit in my new container so I can jump that for most of my holiday and get used to the Pilot's characteristics before I try my 188. I suspect from reading many threads on here that I'm still being a little aggressive. But none of my instructors seem concerned. One described it as like the difference between going from a clapped out old banger to a Ferrari. You can still drive the Ferrari around carefully at 30mph and be absolutely fine. It's only when you push the limits without the experience that problems can occur.

I would say the main difference was the orientation going into the bag. As someone pointed out, the flat pack comes out at 90 deg, the pro-pack (standing for Proper Ram-Air Orientation) comes out on heading. Flat packing is generally neater and so perhaps gives more confidence that you've done it correctly! It's also easier for larger canopies (such as a student or tandem canopy) as you're not trying to hold the weight of 290+ square feet of fabric! I'd also say it probably gives students a better idea of the 'anatomy' of the canopy and allows it to be left at the various check stages while they run off to find someone to check it! I think most modern canopies are designed to be Pro-packed (please correct me if I'm wrong), the Pilot certainly comes with colour coded line attachments so you can easily separate the line groups. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Did my first static line ground school in 1996 when I started University but didn't get to jump because of the weather and never made it back to the DZ to do it. So my first actual S/L jump was in 2001 where I managed 4 in 2 weeks (shitty UK weather and also the fact I sprained both ankles on the 4th jump!). Attempted AFF in Sebastian, FL in 2003 where I managed to get to level 5 and a few repeats before becoming totally demoralised and ran out of cash and time. Finally banged through 8 AFF levels in 8 jumps last year. Now have 68 jumps, B licence, new rig on the way with at least 4 weeks solid jumping planned in Perris at various times this year as well as jumping every weekend at the DZ here in Cyprus which is about 5 minutes drive away.Oh, and I'm going to be the new club chairman! Woo hoo - I finally made it and yet the journey is only beginning!! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

How about: Skydivers: guaranteed to pull. My drinking team has a skydiving problem. Everyone's ugly in freefall.

LOL Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Attempted AFF in Sebastian in 2003. Had to repeat level 4 once, then had two goes at level 5 and had a relax dive. I was really frustrated and my holiday and money ran out. At the beginning of last year, I did 10 minutes in a wind tunnel and then last summer, I passed all 8 levels in 8 jumps, no problems. Keep at it and would suggest tunnel time if you can. If nothing it boosts your confidence which makes it easier to relax - I found the performance anxiety on AFF was far worse than the fear... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Plavix, or clopidogrel to give it its generic name, is a platelet inhibitor. Platelets are the sticky components of blood that have some role in initiating clotting. I guess the best way to think of it is something of a spectrum. Your blood is being held in a constant state of equilibrium - 'thin' enough to run through your blood vessels without blocking them, but 'thick' enough to clot when you cut yourself to stop you bleeding to death. Everybody is somewhere on the spectrum - some people on the right of the spectrum clot quicker or more easily than others and they're at risk of things like strokes/MI/DVT/thromboembolisms, other people on the left of the spectrum clot much less, and they're at risk of catastrophic bleeds from just about anywhere. Most of us are in the middle - or 'just right'. The Plavix is simply pushing you slightly more to the left than you might otherwise be, because the 'defect' in the blood vessel in your brain could theoretically cause a clot there, chiefly by being attractive to those platelets. Because Plavix only inhibits this particular clotting pathway, it's far less dangerous than warfarin (another blood thinning agent) which can leave people open to serious bleeding if their dose isn't right. If you were my patient (which you're not, so do please check with your own doctor) I'd suggest skydiving would not be a problem - it's certainly far less of a risk than contact sports such as rugby, american football etc where you're quite likely to end up bleeding from somewhere. In many ways, I'd be more worried about the original problem and skydiving, than the medication itself as having a stroke in freefall would not be ideal. Obviously I don't know the full details, so I'd want to know if you had any other arterial stenoses (narrowed blood vessels) in your brain. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

N/A

Absolutely, I appreciate where you're coming from and admire your altruistic motives - safety is important, yes. In my experience of range firing, there's usually a number of range controllers wandering up and down the firing points in addition to the equivalent of the 'centreman' to esnure firers obey instructions. I'm sure they'd give anyone a kick/signal if they hadn't ceased firing when required to. I'd also suggest that when range firing, as long as everyone keeps their weapons pointing down the range, there's not a huge number of occasions when safety is going to be sufficiently compromised while firing a group to necessitate a complete cease fire... I might be wrong as I only have my experience to go by. Operationally, yes, hearing protection is more difficult when you have to lead section attacks, while giving orders, receiving orders and listening to a radio. I saw a soldier the other day who had just come back from Afghanistan where they were firing all the time as well as receiving incoming rounds/mortars and weren't able to wear hearing protection. Unfortunately, his hearing tests were pretty awful and he's 25. He looked a little shocked when I told him if he kept it up, he'd be deaf in a short while... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Think the BPA requirements are 800 jumps, plus 8 hrs in freefall (so 800 H&P wouldn't count), pass tandem instructor course and have an aviation medical done by a qualified aviation medicine doctor (as you're technically flying with a 'passenger'). I think that's it. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Well, I'd consider the first test a warning, and now you know better, take reasonable precautions to protect your hearing!

You do get some loss of hearing in the short term from exposure to loud noise which does recover (think standing next to the speakers at a rock concert - your ears will ring for the next 2 days, but after that, they'll get a bit better). It's repeated exposure over periods of time which causes permanent damage and it often comes on insidiously. It's caused by the high volumes killing off the little hair cells which respond to vibrations in the inner ear. These don't grow back. Once they're gone, that's it. There's some more information here Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

I, like yourself, do get annoyed at the 'nanny state' mentality and the hand-holding that goes on. What I was suggesting was more making people aware of the dangers of noise exposure in the aircraft and in freefall and letting them make an informed choice. People might know it it's loud, but they might not know that they could be seriously damaging their hearing and if they did, might think differently about their actions. It's true that once you have some hearing loss, you then need to expose yourself to louder noises in order to hear, but it then becomes a vicious circle. If at 22 you already have NIHL, you should be doing everything you can to preserve what hearing function you have left. Exposing yourself to the noise from range work is just going to make things worse. If someone in the British Army has hearing that has deteriorated beyond a certain level, we'll be recommending they use double ear protection when shooting, be exposed to as little shooting as possible (mandatory tests only) and have regular check ups. If it gets so bad, they'll be downgraded and their activities restricted for their own protection. My thoughts were, from a jumping point of view, to have a big box of ear plugs at manifest and warning signs up, but allow people to make their own choice as to whether they use them or not. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

This is why I've taken to sitting down every so often and scanning in the most recently completed pages of my log book and saving them as simple PDF files... Doesn't take too long and is probably worth it, just in case... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Yep, floaters are caused by a number of things such as deterioration and thickening of the vitreous humor (the jelly like substance in the eye) or the odd cell. The brain usually adapts and automatically ignores them (same as with your blind spot) and they're usually only visible when looking at large homegenous areas such as the sky or a wall. As pointed out, any sudden change in your floaters (or flashing lights/dark curtains) need to be investigated quickly to avoid further deterioration in vision. With regard to lenses, in the old days before intra-ocular implants, cataract patients used to have their diseased lenses completely removed and have to wear REALLY strong lenses in spectacles. They're the ones that really do look like milk bottle bottoms! Not sure what the refractive strength of such lenses is though... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Another vote for the Mamba XXL. My head is about 24" (and I thought I was a freak - they spent ages trying to find me a helmet when I was a student and nothing on the DZ would fit - someone had to go home and get me one of theirs...) and it fits nicely, although I can feel the audible pressed against my ear. I haven't baked it yet as I don't have access to an oven, but I don't really think I need to. The protec I'm wearing in my piccy was an XL and it was tight. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

MacBook, definitely. Been using Macs for 15 years and have seen them evolve tremendously. The newest Mac OS is fantastic. They just work. Am slowly converting the world... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Moist and crevice are two words I quite like, just because of the way they sound! Don't necessarily have to be used in the same sentence... If we're looking for long words, then floccinaucinihilipilification is something of a world beater. And yes, it is a real word! Trust me, I'm a doctor... Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Absolutely, that was my plan. The Solo is slightly curved anyway, so the beeper porthole is facing in to the helmet when you put it in in the logical way round. My career is heading towards occupational/aviation medicine, so I know a few things about noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). I've noticed on the plane that during take off, I have to stick my fingers in my ears, especially when I'm near the open door, as the engine noise is reflected back up from the runway. There's lots of people I know don't do that so they either don't care or their hearing's shot anyway. I think I might have to start recommending that people wear hearing protection at our DZ and trying to enforce it upon people for their own good - perhaps the BPA should put it in the Ops Manual? Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

The Solo is the redesigned Pro-Dytter, I think. There's no volume setting and you can't use the LEDs as warnings. I appreciate that in use, with the freefall noise, it appears to be at the right level, but what concerns me is that you've still got that amount of sound energy entering your ear and that's what kills off all those little hair cells in your cochlea and makes you go deaf. Anything over 85 dB can cause damage, depending on cumulative exposure. Recommended maximum occupational exposure times are about 15 mins at 100dB, 30secs at 115dB - 120dB can pretty much cause immediate damage. Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

I've just bought a L&B solo to use in my BH Mamba. I think the paperwork says it sounds at 120dB, which is easily enough to damage hearing. It sounds REALLY loud on the ground, away from my ear, so I dread to think how it will sound when it's pressed against my ear inside a helmet! I plan on wearing soft ear plugs when I use it - what do other people do? And no 'pardon' jokes! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

Damn. Bit late now... It's 3 months since I ordered. I actually chose a white cell because the student canopies at our DZ have them and someone pointed it out as making it easier to find the centre cell when packing. Didn't think about it getting dirty... Ah well, I'll know for my next canopy! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.

What can I say! Skydiving is more than a sport and more than a job: skydiving is pure passion and desire which will fill a lifetime.