SkymonkeyONE

Hooty HOO! Bring the pain! "Chucky, I am out of control!" -Jari Kuosma "I don't know where I am, but it's very fun here!" -Jari Kuosma

CB...Dude, I used to get skip all the way from Texas (to NC) almost every night (in my truck) 500 watt linear amp and dual firesticks, upper and lowers, etc....lovely, albeit illegal. I was the typical redneck juvenile delinquent with a big truck, echo mike and a "roger beep." I would talk right over the top of anyone in a ten mile radius and scramble TV signals at will. What a jackass, huh? That said, we used to have a set of stacked Moonraker IV's (log periodic) on a 75 foot mast and rotor at our house. Incredible fun talking to people all over the world.

See the other, longer thread on my one year experience spent in that shit-hole.

fun

I hadn't considered the sales tax issue...good catch! You will love your neptune.

Yes, we always put our students in jumpsuits at my last dropzone. We didn't want people dirtying their clothes with sliding landings. We also didn't want womens tops flying off or up over their boobs in the video (unprofessional).

Who is paying for the airplane? Where will you get the fuel for that plane? Who is paying for the gear? What kind of student and rental gear do you plan to use? Who will you have as instructors and what are their qualifications and experience? Who will pilot your plane? Who will run your manifest? How much, if anything, will you pay that pilot? What do you plan on paying your instructors? What method of record keeping will you use? Who will do your advertising and how much advertising do you plan on doing? Who will maintain your equipment? Are there even any "real" riggers in your area? Do you have any problems with the airport authority or local government in the area where you plan to run your operation? Are you going to run it as a "club" where members pay dues and own everything, or are you going to run it as a "for profit" business? You will need to know the answers to all of these questions (and more) before you will be able to get your operation up and running. Good luck to you. Chuck Blue D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, BMCI, PRO, former S&TA and school manager.

She is the one on the right. The person on the left is Carl Dougherty. It's quite an old picture as Carl has short hair in the photo. He has been retired for some time now and has really long, out-of-control hair. Chuck

Popcorn popping. Seriously.

No, Doug, I didn't mean to respond directly to you. That "tragically flawed" comment has since been edited out of the other actual post which caused me to respond. Your's was the last post I had read before responding. Mine was a general response to those who had determined the questionnaire had no merit. Chuckie

That's funny; I recognized him immediately. I did not picture him being such a big guy though. Large and Asian just did not compute for a minute. Peace! Chuckie

No. Most have poor grooming standards and smell like pizza.

Billy! Good jumping with you and John on that big-way with Guy. I still say you should have done a downplane on that 2-stack with John. You don't have a hair on your ass! See you next time. Chuck Blue

Does your A-card have the A-license check dive initialled off? If so, then all that ought to be neccessary is for school manager/Instructor/S&TA to give you the oral exam and stamp your card. If they are questioning the vailidity of your card, then simply have them contact your old DZ. Chuck

You're kidding, right?

On a Level IV? Uncontrollable spin at altitude with the "real" JM not dressed for success? Me with an AFF ticket? I would absolutely go over there and stop that spin and take responsibility for that student. I have seen people spin so hard they black out and blow all the blood vessels in their eyes. I have also spent many, many hours in the windtunnel on Fort Bragg stopping such spins (on mock students) as drill for actual instances. Quick reaction by qualified personnel has saved many a student and even experienced skydivers. I stopped a guy from uncontrolled back spinning on his 1000th skydive after he blew the exit. Unbelievable? You had to be there. Bill Von Novak has a good, similar story from last year as well. I cannot imagine an instance where I, a very-current and qualified AFFI would just sit there and shoot video as a Level IV spun his eyes up while his primary JM sunk out and just looked up. Edited to add: I would fly up and give assistance right down to 2000 feet. Chuck

I would absolutely drive that distance to swoop a nice pond.

Tragically flawed? Really? My scores: 28 (average risk) under my wingsuit main (Sabre2 97) 33 (average risk) under my competition main (Velocity 79) I can see where this questionaire might ruffle some people's feathers, but oh well. Lisa hit the nail on the head in her response to Andy. You can't use the excuse that "nobody jumps up here in the winter" to quantify the fact that there are a LOT of people up north who need time to "tune up" before they get in the air with a lot of other people. Currency is incredibly important. An example of doing something smart: Katie was jumping a demo Sabre2 135 before she went to Kuwait. While she was gone she bought a Sabre2 150 because she knew she needed time to get her skills tuned back up. (she has made over 100 jumps since November and just went over 200 total).

Yes, perception certainly has changed. Back in the day (think 1990), when people were toggle whipping PD 9-cells or old Raiders, they were doing so VERY, VERY low. You could not help but gasp. Still, even when we figured out riser dives, the turns on those canopies and their subsequent replacements (Excalliburs, Blue Tracks, Pintails, etc) were still low due to their short recovery arc. An old friend of mine, Rixter Neely, still owns my original Excallibur 150 in my original Mike Fury built J1 Javelin. He jumps once every two or three years whether he needs to or not..... Last time he was up to visit he broke that thing out and was snapping 180's at less than 200 feet and scaring the piss out of everyone. Pure perception overload for everyone on the ground because we have gone so long without seeing that type of display. Not that every one of us who was jumping then didn't do exactly the same thing back then when those were the only canopies available. So, what can you do to "stop scaring them?" You already answered your own question, but here's my take: -use a taller, more carving descent and get the same speed and swoop performance -don't ever hold your riser down so long you have to dig out of the corner -don't ever fly your canopy into the ground because you ignored that advice

It is not even the slightest bit faster in my experience to pull your arm cutaways instead of efficiently unzipping.

Hey, old man, WTF? Up there doing tricks, are you? You missed a real brain burner at Moss Point. Oh yeah, post the video.

I am incredibly jealous. My schedule is too booked to get over there.

This is covered over and over again in this forum. Yes, you can get away with jumping any canopy for a certain amount of time, but eventually, if you are jumping a spin-prone canopy, then it's going to take you for a ride in your suit. I have jumped canopies as small as 65 square feet in my wingsuit, but have been taken for two rides and now won't jump anything in a suit that isn't right for the job. Why risk it? Just so you can get a better swoop? Or is it possibly that you only own one rig? If that's (money) is the case, then I can tell you that old used Sabres are a dime a dozen, can be had for +/- $300, and do not spin. My choice for all my wingsuit jumps: the Sabre2 97 Other really nice choices that I have jumped and would recommend (new): Aerodyne Pilot Jumpshack Firebolt (incredibly soft and straight openings) HiPer Nitro (and even the Blade). both have fantastic openings Icarus Safire Still, I believe the problem that Skydiverus is having is a result of having to reach around so much wing. Without seeing a single video, I can bet that he is bending around to the right to get his hackey and is throwing asymetrically as a result of it. S3's require perfect symetry and violence of action in the throw. Sometimes going back to basics cures your problems. I had a period of time where I was sure my pilot chute was wearing out or something. Nope, I was just doing a weak throw. Violence of action is key. Keys to a good (skydiving) S3 wingsuit deployment: -Kick off three times and on the third time collapse everything while arching heavilly -while arching and looking up, reach around your wings with your hands and touch your fingers together at your butt. -cupping both hands (with your fingers touching), slide your hands up to the center of your container. -slide both hands outwards until your right hand is on your BOC and your left is on the left corner of your container. -take a breath (it's not a race on a skydive) and then when you are damn sure your BOC is in your hand (and you don't have any wing in there), THROW outward with both hands EQUALLY with violence of action. EQUALLY WITH BOTH HANDS. -when your main starts to sit you up, bring both arms/hands in simultaneously to the area near your mudflaps and bring your hands together so that when the canopy DOES open, your eyes are already looking at your arm zippers. Chuck

I will be at both the CSS easter boogie/symposium and the Monroe CASA boogie Cockatillioooooooooooo!

You're purdy...