Aviatrr

Froggie- Congrats on the ground school.. Too bad you couldn't jump today.. From what I understand, you guys are going to be getting dumped on for a few days up there - and then will probably spend a week digging out.. I used to live in Ohio - I hate the snow.. That's why I moved to Florida.. Just go over the dive in your mind many times between now and then.. Since you've already done a couple tandems, you should do great.. Just relax and don't let it frustrate you if things don't go perfect.. I also recommend reading the articles posted here on DZ.com regarding Cypres and RSL(my FJC sure didn't cover these in any detail - it's good to be familiar with how they work and what they will and will not do), emergency situations, etc.. Most emergencies are cut and dry - not much interpretation beyond the "can I land this" question.. Two canopies out, however, is one that I've found most people don't understand very well - possibly because there are 3 different situations and different courses of action for 2 out situations.. And of course.. Happy Birthday! How old are ya now? Mike

Naw.. Chili alone doesn't work.. The night before, ya need to consume lots of pizza, chili, and beer just before bed.. Let simmer 8 hours.. Be sure to take the nose clip with ya to the DZ.. Oh, and be sure to blame it on the JM that's always sleeping on the way to altitude.. Or the pilot..

And when you're over 2.0lb/sqft...well, that shit is just outrageous.. I love watching those guys, though.. The ones that exit at 200lbs and are under an Icarus Extreme 79-89.. It's amazing the kind of speed they generate.. Unfortunately, under those canopies, if you misjudge in the slightest, you're dead.. I still want to see Luigi on that VX46.. That's gotta be a hell of a sight.. Mike

Damn, man.. I damn near spit soda all over my computer when I read that.. That was good.. But, hey.. Maybe it could turn into a Mr Bill, and just finish up under canopy - then drop away.. Naw, probably not.. Especially under a reserve.. Mike

Uh oh.. I think I opened a can of worms here.. Ah, what the hell.. In my line of work, sexual harrassment is a big issue.. I attribute it to the fact that, in my field, there are so few women in relation to men.. Sexual harrassment complaints are all too common.. We really have to watch what we do/say to or around female pilots...or flight attendents for that matter.. Hell, we're not even supposed to call it the cockpit anymore...it's now the "Flight Deck".. In aviation, there is certainly some advantages for women.. One case in particular that I can site.. To qualify for a type rating(a pilot rating for a specific type of airplane - such as a Boeing 737), the pilot must be able to demonstrate that they can handle the airplane in all conceivable situations.. One of those situations, with some airplanes, is being able to physically overcome a stall avoidance system - commonly referred to as a 'stick pusher'.. It's a system that, when the airplane senses an impending stall, activates and pushes the yoke forward(normally with hydraulic pressure) to avoid the stall.. Pilots must be able to physically overcome this system if necessary.. In the case I'm speaking about, it required approximately 90-100 pounds of pull force to overcome the hydraulic pressure being applied.. One female pilot I know, who weighs in around 105lbs, was yanked out of her seat by the pusher.. How can a 105lb person apply 100lbs of pull force? She didn't have the upper body strength.. She got a type rating.. If I had not been able to overcome that force, I would not have gotten it.. There is certainly a double standard in certain situations.. When I am flying with a female First Officer, I really have to watch what I say.. Some of the things I might say to my male counterparts may be construed as sexual harrassment if I said it to a female counterpart.. It's certainly not meant that way, but it happens.. Then, of course, there are the women that know more dirty jokes than I do, make more lewd comments than I do, and 'harass' the men all the time.. God, I love those women.. Mike

I can't speak first hand, but I am going to say yes.. I think I have a bit of insight here.. Being a pilot, I began doing something for fun(flying), and ended up doing it for a living.. I still love the hell out of my job.. I get paid damn good money to play with multi-million dollar high tech toys.. I work a week, then have a week off.. If I did this job EVERY day, I would sure as hell burn out.. Hell, if I did this job 6 days a week(as a lot of skydiving instructors do) I would burn out.. When I was flying 5 days a week, with only weekends off, I had to balance some of my work flying with fun flying so I didn't grow to hate flying and look at it as strictly a job.. I'm away from home too much, and shoulder too much responsibility, to do this work if I don't enjoy it.. I went out on the weekends and did some fun flying - aerobatics, low and slow, etc.. I'd say this would be quite similar to a skydiving instructor working in fun jumps to keep 'em interested in it as a sport rather than just a job.. Being a skydiving instructor is a hell of a way to make a living.. I think, if done right, it would be a hell of a lot of fun for a while.. When you start to look at it as 'just a job', it's time to get out and find something else.. Mike

Wing loading is the relationship between exit weight and canopy size.. A jumper on a 150sqft canopy, with a 150lb exit weight, is loading the canopy at a ratio of 1:1.. A jumper on a 150sqft canopy, with a 225lb exit weight, is loading the canopy at 1.5:1.. 1.5 pounds for every square foot.. What should you be looking for? Well, depends on your experience, ability, type of canopy, etc.. Normally, it's recommended that novice jumpers not exceed 1:1 - meaning your exit weight should be lower than the square footage of the canopy.. The more experience, the heavier you may be able to safely load a canopy.. Talk to your JM's about this - they know your canopy skills, I don't.. Mike

Why's that, are you bashful? The 'mile high' club is not exactly reserved for airline lavs.. I was on one flight - a red eye from LA to Atlanta - where there was a couple in the row in front of us that just grabbed a couple blankets, tossed 'em over themselves, and went at it.. The cabin was dark, and most people were asleep.. Myeself, my girlfriend, and the Flight Attendents were probably the only people that knew what they were doing.. Well, my girlfriend couldn't control herself.. I wanted no part of it.. Yea, that's the ticket.. I wanted no part of it, but she forced me to go into the lav with her.. I wanted to go to the appropriately named room on the airplane - ya know, the cockpit.. Being a pilot is a good thing, too.. Ya know, I can go rent a little airplane anytime I want and take the little woman flying.. Hell, recently I flew with this female First Officer at work.. Wow.. I would love to.....nevermind.. Even thinking things like that is grounds for sexual harrassment these days.. Mike

What exactly is this 'Wolmari' pack I see several references to? Mike

Yea, yea, yea.. Don't rub it in.. Hell, the FAA takes years to do anything here.. I think it will be at least 2 more years before there is even a CHANCE of a 180 day repack cycle.. Well, that's assuming that the FAA started working on it a year ago.. Mike

If the gear is safe, why not try to sell it? Granted, you may not get much for it, but something is better than nothing.. There are lots of jumpers out there that can't afford to drop $4,000 on a brand new, whiz-bang rig.. I'd bet there are a lot of college students out there that would love to be able to buy a cheap, safe, reliable rig.. As long as you are honest with potential buyers regarding what the rig is, and what it is worth, there will be no problem selling it.. As far as converting it to a BASE rig, I can't offer much advice there.. I'd say talk to some VERY experienced BASE jumpers on this issue.. I don't think that a Talon would make a very good BASE rig, but who knows.. Mike

Ahh.. I do remember hearing about a couple of those.. Wasn't that on the Javelin? I know there was a Service Bulletin issued, but I don't recall what type it was for.. My worst fear is to have something happen like Alan B. had.. Riser retaining loop failure.. He was damn lucky, though, that it was on his right side, not the left(RSL side).. Had it been on his RSL side, he could easily have had a main/reserve entanglement.. It made me seriously consider removing the RSL from my rig.. I have not removed or disconnected it, but I may at my next reserve repack - I haven't decided for sure.. For now, I choose to accept the risks of jumping with it.. Mike

Hey, Wingnut.. Where in the middle east are ya? I may have a trip over that way in a few weeks.. Possible stops in Beruit, Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Tehran.. Also, several stops in Europe.. Sounds like a pretty cool trip, I hope I get it.. What branch are you, and what is your job title? Mike

Well, wind down that way is 25 gusting to 35 knots(as reported at KMLB - Melbourne), with a scattered cloud deck at 3500ft, broken at 5000.. Not a good day.. I didn't even bother heading down.. At 2am this morning the wind was blowing 15-20knots down there, so I knew it was going to be much worse today.. Maybe I'll get a couple in at DeLand today after this weather moves through.. They're saying it should be out of central Florida by around 4pm.. I hope the weather is good next weekend down there at Seb.. I'm planning on being down there for 4 days - I'm sure I'll get at least a day or two of good jumping.. Mike

Keep in mind that hanging in brakes in the pattern can be a dangerous proposition.. I, personally, always maintain full flight in the pattern.. I hate coming up behind somebody that is hanging in brakes in the pattern - they can't see me, so I don't know what they are going to do.. One of those times, I was passing to the right of this guy flying in deep brakes(on a lightly loaded canopy to boot) at about 800ft on a close downwind.. I couldn't go anywhere near as slow as he was.. He decided to make a right 360, and didn't bother checking the area.. I honestly thought we were going to have a canopy collision.. If I had continued to fly straight ahead, his body would have gone through my canopy.. All I could do was dig in on the right front riser and hope for the best.. Oh, and that was my first off field landing, too.. 200ft from the LZ - right in the damn corn! The other jumper was totally oblivious to what happened.. Mike

I hate to bring it up, but I have to ask.. What was this non-recoverable mal? Very few mals are non-recoverable, so I am very interested in hearing about this particular case.. We can all learn from things like that.. Mike

One day when I was out at the DZ, there were a few people there to watch their friend do a tandem.. While she was waiting for her turn, her and her friends started asking me some questions.. "What happens if your parachute doesn't open?" I replied "Well, then you deploy your reserve".. "What happens if the reserve parachute doesn't open?" There was a pickup truck sitting in the parking lot, right up against the fence, with the landing area on the other side of the fence.. It had a brand new mattress(still wrapped in plastic) in the back.. I pointed at the truck and said "Well, that's what the mattress is for.. You just aim for the mattress, and it'll break your fall.. At least one or two people have to use it everyday.." Their response? "Wow, that's pretty cool.." Mike

You know you're a skydiver when... Everytime you're on an airline flight you spend most of the time thinking... "Ok, I could get XX seconds of freefall from here, and land in THAT field.." Mike

My old rigger gave me a guarantee with a reserve repack.. "I guarantee this reserve will work, until you break the seal.." Well, I never broke the seal in the air to find out what happened when the guarantee expired..

WHOA, there's naked chicks in Chron III? Cool.. Gotta pick up a copy of that.. Why is it that I can never find chicks like that to wash my airplane? No respect I tell ya, no respect.. Mike

Skreamer wrote: Hey man, the only time you're going to catch me smoking(ANYTHING) is if I just made a smoking hole.. If that's the case, I hope the witnesses will be smart and fill the hole with beer to stop the smoking.. The good stuff, that is.. Not that Rocky mountain p!sswater crap.. BTW, I used to smoke - bad habit.. Thank god I quit - that was over 3 years ago.. Mike

I believe that the NZPF preceding that 'A' number is New Zealand Parachute Federation.. In other words, it's NOT a USPA number.. Not all countries have 37000+ 'A' licenses out there.. BTW, am I right about what NZPF means? I'm just assuming that one.. Mike

The only thing I can say is try to get her to do a Tandem.. My ex-girlfriend could not understand why I liked to jump out of airplanes.. She absolutely hated that I did it.. Kinda funny, when we started dating, she thought it was 'cool'.. Before long, she thought it was crazy, and said I should quit before I get killed.. I talked her into a tandem.. Unfortunately, I think she had made up her mind well before hand that she wasn't going to like it, so she didn't.. She said she was terrified the whole time, and did not enjoy it a bit.. Told me she wanted me to quit because she couldn't deal with having to worry every time I went jumping.. Well...notice above I said my EX girlfriend.. Luckily we had not been together very long.. She was too damn clingy, anyways..

While I am certainly 100% against instituting any type of 'license' for hook turns, I am in favor of teaching students more about canopy control. From what I understand, the new ISP addresses this. There are also a few places that offer canopy control schools - I believe Perris and DeLand are a couple of 'em. I believe that everybody should fully explore the flight characteristics of their canopy. Practice braked turns, braked approaches, etc.. On every landing you should have a target(not just "I'll hit the landing area"), and do your best(safely) to land on the target. It's not every time that you can land in or near the peas - especially at the busier DZ's - but pick a target out of the way of the other jumpers. As far as hook turns...well, I certainly don't advocate them.. If you want to do them, be totally familiar and proficient with your canopy, and consult several experienced canopy pilots and JM/I's for advice.. The S&TA at my old home DZ used to advise people(those who were dead set on doing hook turns) how to make them safer - but certainly did not advocate hook turns.. Mike

Hell, whenever I mention something about pulling my pud around my whuffo friends everybody thinks it's a sexual remark.. Jeez, everybody's got a dirty mind.. Mike