jacketsdb23

We are talking about two different things here. The way your rig is set up for deployment, throw out pilot chute, you do "S" fold the bridle in the pilot chute and place it in its pouch. Normally you would tuck any remaining exposing bridle under the container flaps following it back to the pin. At the pin is where the bridle window would be for checking to make sure the pilot chute is cocked. On my rig, I look for the color green. The pull out system I referred to is a different way of deploying your main parachute. Instead of allowing the pilot chute to pull your pin for you, the pull out system requires that you manually pull the pin. In this case the pilot chute and the bridle are packed with the Dbag under the flaps and you wouldn't be able to see the bridle or the pilot chute. The manual pulling of the pin releases the pilot chute which then opens the parachute in the same manner that your rig works. Make sure you take anything said here in the forums and discuss with your instructor. It would be beneficial to learn the other deployment system at some point (after your licensed perhaps) so that you understand the pros and cons of each. For now, concentrate on learning the equipment you are using and ask as many questions as you can come up with. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Yeah chris, next time you are watching someone pack or during your next packing session take a look at the window or have an instructor show you where the visible kill line is in the bridle. As far as I know, most kill lines should be visible during a pin check. The only time this would not be true is if you were jumping a pull out. In that case the bridle is not visible as its "S" folded in the container with the Dbag (don't worry bout this for now). The parachute is not glass. It won't break, so go ahead and put some elbow grease into that pack job As long as you keep the slider up and the lines centered you'll be fine. Good Luck on the packing! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Chris, Some rigs are easier than others to check this stuff. If you opt to rent, checking the slider would be impossible without repacking it yourself. However, you can check the brakes and you can check the kill line (the student rentals i've seen don't even have a kill line). If there is a kill line, there is usually a colored indicator in the bridle just above the pin. Its placed easily for confirmation during a pin check. I believe Tbrown was referencing the many up jumpers who don't pack for themselves. It may not be as applicable to students because you usually don't learn to pack until 50 jumps or so. This being said, remember one thing...YOU are jumping out of the airplane. You have to be responsible for yourself, student or not. If you aren't comfortable with the rig you have on spend some time learning it and learn how to pack as early as possible. Me personally, i've taken a rental when I was a student and repacked it so that I was comfortable with it. I learned to pack years before I jumped so that was a option that was easy for me. Most dropzones have very qualified people packing the student and rental gear. However, if you don't like to take the blind trust route learn to pack as soon as possible. Blue Skies, Marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Ryan, I believe that you can become a good skydiver with either method. I took the static line course and found it to be a great way to learn. Besides the $$ aspect of it, for me, there was heavy emphasis on canopy control from the beginning. With AFF you have a lot going on, altitude awareness being the key factor as well as body control. Then after all of that the canopy flight comes in. Don't get me wrong, you need altitude awareness with the static line course but its under a open canopy (Ideally )! IMO, taking $$$ out as a factor, I think it depends on the way you like to learn. For me static line was a slower progression (still got my A license at 25 jumps). There was less to think about each jump. As I got more comfortable, new factors were introduced, I.E. practice pulls, 5 sec freefall, 10 sec freefall...etc. AFF is certainly a good way to learn, but it throws you to the wolves. You are introduced quickly to all aspects of learning to skydive. This is not a bad thing if you have the personality for it. I think it really depends on what you are up for. I am not an instructor. Take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Make sure you speak with qualified instructors about each method and learn the pros and cons of each. Make your own decision based on this knowledge. What was best for me or John Doe, may not work well for you. Also, even if you don't have the money to make a skydive every weekend get out to the dropzone. I learned to pack parachutes long before I was jumping on a regular basis. It immersed me in the community and I learned a lot about the parachutes and about skydiving. You can learn a lot just by asking questions, watching people land, or sitting around the bonfire at night with a beer and listening to stories. In fact, packing could be a great way to earn the money you need to jump while being around the people who will be teaching you. Good Luck to you! Blues, Marcel Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Sweet! I've got games lined up all up and down the West Coast. Bring it on! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I'm originally from the east coast and we call it Beruit. I say that out here and everyone looks at me funny. Well that is until we play and I whip some ass. There are a couple bars in SF that play it. It was basically a full time sport for me in college. Back east, Beruit is the pyramid style game and beer pong is played just like ping pong with beers. usually winners stay on the table and play till they loose. So the more you win, the more beer you drink. I think 14 games was my record when I won the fraternity beruit tournament. So if any of you are up here in Northern Cali lets play some beruit/beer pong whatever. The rainy season is now upon us and the only thing more dangerous than skydiving is hanging out with bored skydivers. At least beruit only consists of beer and ping pong balls. Probably safer than tequila and 45's. peace For the true gamers......... http://www.bpong.com/ Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

BDOG, I totally hear you. I relate well to what you said because I said the same thing almost verbatim. Once you get your "own" canopy and learn to actually fly it you will probably change your mind. Not that it will make you want to do hop n pops all the time, but you will start to enjoy the canopy ride. Heck, you might even open at 13K and have fun doing it. If you ever take a canopy course (highly reccomended) they will generally have you do Hop N pops from 5000ft. I did the static line course when I first started skydiving and my first jump was from 3,000ft. When I moved to california and jumped from a King Air I was hesitant about 13.5K. Have fun with the hop n pops! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Well in this case (my dream) I started to track for the pond (no idea what dz i was at) and skipped like a rock off of the pond and landed on the ground. How you can track with a ball of shit over your head I have no idea ----dreams are dreams i guess. I threw my rig off and tried to figure out why my reserve malfunctioned. Crazy. No blood, no broken bones, no scratches...but still scared the shit out of me. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

So I had a dream this weekend about a double mal. Woke up sweating and apparently had been grinding my teeth as well. I couldn't go back to sleep. I'm not very superstitious or anything but I'm definitely not ammused by this. Has anyone had a similar instance? If so what did you do to 'get over it'? Man, it was scary. Could do without those! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

My pumpkin... carved last night w/ my gf. I haven't carved a pumpking in years. Havn't had a *true* gf in years...coincidence? maybe Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I SOOO was not sober by 9 AM....there just was not enough blood in my alcohol to go to 14k at that time of the morning... Thats why I came in to wake you guys up! Full RV of people sleeping at 9am on Sunday....jeesh Is that what happens when I turn 30? Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Heck yeah. I did a bunch of cool jumps, including one that goes down in my personal list of coolest jumps ever ... a fairly complex 9-way hybrid that we pulled off (or at least came close enough for government work). Four-way belly base, two hangers, one head-down in the formation, then once that was stable, we opened the formation on one side for two stingers to come in. Very cool stuff. I second that. The hybrid jump was one of my favorites. Its amazing what you can pull off without any outside video. Just clicked that Krisanne = NWFlyer. Good meeting you! I'm also amazed that the 8-way speedstar at 9am was successful. Normally this should be no problem...but here is what made the load crazy fun: 1) ALMOST SOBER LOAD has never been more appropriate name for a load. 2) 6 sub 200 jump skydivers 3) formation completed at about 8,500K 4) spun the speedstar (FAST) to breakoff Just good times overall. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Maybe some more pictures would help him out I agree. They must be out there somewhere! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

There was no fun or you can't remember? I'm pretty sure I had a blast! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I grew up on the dropzone and started packing at age 11. I did my first jump at 16. I did a few jumps over the next two years but my father about that time left the dz he was at and life sort of got in the way for a while (college, work, blah blah). I got 'away' from the sport for about 8 years and just started again back in February. I put 10 years down in time in sport because I counted ages 6-16. I have no real logic for it other than I feel that is when I was actively learning about the sport and participating in one way or another. On a related note: My dad was out of the sport for about 7 years and for his 50th birthday (this july) i bought him a rig and we did our first jump together. It was awesome! He is now 'back in' the sport as well. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Stupid things I've done: About jump #100 got out of the plane in ~36mph winds. Now, before takeoff the winds were about 25-28mph and on the rise. This is usually my cut-off. I decided to jump anyway and we were getting updates on wind conditions on the way up. (i guess no need to mention that people with 1000's of jump were willingly staying out of the airplane. As we continued to altitude the updates were 30mph & 32mph. Well the aircraft was full and everyone proceeded to exit. Three of us stayed in the plane for a while longer as we were planning to do a cross country sunset jump. Turns out that we exited the plane in winds of 36mph with a gust going over 40 while we were in the air for ~12 mintues. All three of us ended up landing without incident right in the middle of the landing field. However, seeing a well respected friend marching into the landing area on final and myself all ready realizing I'd made a mistake getting out of the plane...I knew I was about to get it. I did. lesson learned the easy way. Smart things ive done: 50 jumps later, I stayed in the plane (only one to do so) when I looked out and saw a storm coming toward the landing area (8,000ft jump run). Rain & lightening not far away. Everyone beat the initial sheer wind with the storm to the landing area, but it was not a race I wanted to lose. Not sure if the plane ride was worth $23....but the opportunity to jump again later that day sure was. Be safe all. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, Verona NY. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Do you have a chest mounted altimeter or hand mount? I'm not your instructor so I don't know how stable you have been in free fall. ****Talk with your instructor before doing this****...however, one way to do this with a hand mount would be when you reach back to deploy you are already bringing the opposite hand (altimeter) toward your line of sight looking forward. Just keep an eye on your altimeter through deployment. Again, discuss with your instructor. You already have enough going on with just getting your canopy deployed. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

The concept of a 1000' opening is a myth. If someone's canopy takes that long to open, then you're hanging under a snivelling canopy for approx 10 secs or more. At that point, it's called a streamer. A canopy that takes more than 600-700 feet to open needs to be fixed. I agree - if it takes 1,000ft+ for an opening its a malfunction. Although I think you could go through 1,000ft in probably 5-6 seconds even with a sniveling canopy. Can you tell the difference between 600-1000ft? I would say most beginners could not. That is proabably where the 1,000ft 'myth' comes from. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

I absolutely loved my night jumps. As stated there are not many people in the world that get to do this. The beauty is surreal. My last night jump was a three way "peter pan" tracking dive in which the three of us tracked in a line with hand docks toward the absurdly big moon in the sky. One of my most memorable jumps in my young skydiving career. The landings were a bit tricky in that you really didn't have any clue how fast you were going until you could actually see the ground. It is normally farily windy (15mph or higher not uncommon) during the day and the winds dropped off a bit at night which only increased the speed a bit. My landings were good, but one other guy had a tough one. I can easily see how some might not enjoy the landings much. Blue Skies! Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Just an FYI... Connie has sent out an email on NCS stating the the broke down Skyvan will be replaced with an otter for the boogie next weekend. So fear not! but i know everyone is really coming to listen to Gareth's band. Worst and 80's in the same sentence has got to be a good time. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

And here's the reason why I wish I could be there ... 'Shell Damn, and I thought it was because I was there. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Hey welcome! My best advice for you is to talk to your instructors training you through AFF. They are the ones that will be watching you and they will see how you progress through the student program. Take any information you get at this site and discuss it with your instructors before acting on it. Where will you be jumping? Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

Unless you jump a pull out the risk of a closing loop failure is not worth it. As others have said its cheap to do. Change it whenever you think it needs it, whether it truely does or not. PM me and I can tell you as a first hand witness what can happen if the closing loop breaks Nobody wants to deal with a horeshoe malfunction. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.

If you drink heavily, Byron is probably not the place for you. None of us drink here. Especailly at boogies. We didn't drink much at the American Boogie either. Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen God is Good Beer is Great Swoopers are crazy.