GLIDEANGLE

Here is my bottom line.... Do what you want, but don't hurt or kill me, my loved ones, or my skydiving buddies. That sounds easy...however there have been too many jumpers minding their own business under slower canopies who got killed by some cowboy swooping into them. BTW... Please make sure that your point of impact is not on the runway. If you obstruct the runway, we have to stop jumping until you are removed. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Here is a novel idea....CALL UPT. If I read their sizing chart correctly, I recollect that they warn that a "full" main AND "full" reserve may be trouble. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I will never forget the loft that the Master Rigger who taught me to sew had. His loft was in the barn at his home. It had ELEVEN sewing machines, all set up, all ready to use. They ranged from two simple straight stitch machines, to a harness machine, with a bartacker in the middle. It was a magical place. Unfortunately, before we finished my work with him he lost his mind (acute psychosis) and died. I always wondered what happened to those machines. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

An exquisitely bad idea. 1. You will likely use various sizes of canopy as you progress through your training. 2. The type of canopy suitable for a student may not be the type of canopy desired by a licensed jumper. Regarding canopy size for a student your size: At my DZ as an AFF student you would be under a 260 sq ft main canopy until you proved that you were ready for something smaller. Other DZs may use larger or smaller canopies for your weight. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Same question recently asked and answered: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4348536#4348536 The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

SOURCE: http://www.blm.gov/nifc/st/en/prog/fire/fireops/people_in_fire/smokejumpers/operations.html The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Congratulations! This sport will not only eat your $$ and your time.... it often drives off one set of friends and replaces it with another set. That price seems high for AFF alone. AFF alone is typically ~7 jumps. I think the prices you have been quoted are probably for AFF and the stuff that follows it to get you to your license. Purchasing NEW gear is not a great idea for new jumpers. There is lots of used gear that is much less expensive and very serviceable. Annual cost is driven entirely by your choices. A competitive jumper on a team might do 20 jumps on a weekend (at a discounted price), while a broke fun jumper might do 2, or anything in between. There are a few unfortunate souls who get sucked into turning this recreation into a paid endeavor. Most of the folks I know who get paid to jump, do it only as a supplement to their regular job. Yes, the vast majority of jumpers only jump on weekends. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

http://temptphate01.tumblr.com/ This woman just finished a trip to jump in all 50 states. I bet her story could be helpful to you. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

USPA publishes a different standard of currency for jumpers making demonstration (exhibition) jumps. SIM §7.1.C.1.c & d c. 50 jumps within the past 12 months d. five jumps within the previous 60 days using the same model and size canopy to be used on the demonstration jump Something like this might be much more useful for a jumper to use to assess his or her own currency... rather than the simplistic "how long since the last jump?" The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Bill Booth - 3-ring The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

All of my skydiving plane landings have been either weather related or due to students who balked the door. Most of the weather related plane landings were when winds exceeded my student's limit after take off. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Let's see, during my first year: In the plane... I couldn't spot if my life depended on it. Exit... There wasn't a kind of exit I didn't funnel. Freefall... Can anyone say FALL RATE? Deployment... I terrified my coach when I went unstable at pull time. Then I developed the knack for tracking too low. Canopy Flight... I was great as long as you didn't care about me standing up my landings or landing anywhere near the target. Somewhere between 50-100 jumps I looked through my log book and discovered that I had stood up fewer than 25% of my landings. My accuracy was such a struggle that I didn't earn my A-license until about 35 jumps, my B-license until about 100 jumps, and my C-license until about 400 jumps. To add insut to injury... I wore spectacles which are best described as "birth control glasses". Hmmmm come to think of it, I wear different specs now... but they are BCGs too! My sole saving grace was that I kept coming back and jumping! Slowly my skills evolved from awful to merely mediocre! Thanks to all who were helpful or encouraging to me. Without you I would have never made it. Particular thanks to Roland who was an incredibly patient player coach on my rookie RW team. To the un-named SOB who was unnecessarily unkind to me when I was a student.... kiss my ass. To the newbie klutzes reading this: Keep getting out the door, get all the training you can, seek out the good "old dogs" at the DZ for help, avoid the rare toxic jumpers, pay your beer fines, be safe, and have fun! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Use this skill checklist to help determine if your skills are ready for a smaller canopy: [url]http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=47[/URL] Highly suggest that you read all 22 pages of the following before you decide. Many of these drills can be helpful to you. [url]http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf[/URL] The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

It is my un-scientific impression that: -- The rush of a jump punches the same plearure center buttons as some recreational drugs and thus can result in the same addiction-like behaviors. --Saturday nights at the DZ can impair cognitive performance Sunday morning. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I have heard of fatalities which match your description. A horseshoe with main-reserve entanglement is one example. The horseshoe was believed to be due to the main's lines snagging on a main container flap (the flap, not the grommet). I suspect that nearly all tandem fatalities would fall in your description above. Risk can be managed and reduced... but skydiving cannot be made risk free. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

This might help with the vocabulary: http://www.uspa.org/SIM/Read/Glossary/tabid/173/Default.aspx The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Hard openings vary quite a bit. I have three friends who have broken vertebra due to hard openings. Two have recovered and are jumping again. One is in a wheelchair. On the other hand there are the hard openings which merely hurt and make your say "WTF?" Fortunately, hard openings are not common. Yes, good equipment choice, good equipment maintenance, and good equipment packing all can diminish the frequency and severity of hard openings. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I am a big proponent of those jumps being H&Ps focusing exclusively on canopy skill drills. Many if the canopy tasks for the A-license are "do once" tasks. Most students would benefit from practicing them! Here is a basic (and incomplete) list of skills suitable for these jumps: --braked flight --flat turns (aka: braked turns) --riser turns --toggle stalls & recovery --rear riser stalls & recovery --flying predictable pattern --landing accuracy The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Perhaps this might help: http://www.flysight.ca/ The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Re: Dangers of hard openings I have three friends who broke vertebrae due to hard openings at terminal. Two recovered, one uses a wheelchair to get around as a result. Hard openings can be VERY serious business. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I doubt that you will get much CReW done at a WL of ~0.8. Based on my small amount of CReW experience, most recreational CReW (non-competition) has a target common wing loading of ~1.3 lb/sq ft. Just as jumpers in freefall want a similar fall rate to allow them to play together... CReW dawgs want similar WL. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Possibly the single most powerful tool as an instructor is to say "NO". No, it is too windy. No, you are too fat. No, you lack the flexibility. No, you lack the capacity to remember and execute EPs. It isn't always pretty... But often it is the best answer. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Most importantly...7 cell canopies are preferred for CReW. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Matt: You have MANY good options for winter jump training in the western USA. You should shop around the DZs in California and Arizona for sure. There are many variables to consider: -Cost -Weather -How is the "fit" for you there (how does it feel as a social environment). -Training methods available. -How busy are they at mid-week? So you can build jumps after you are off student status. -Proximity to a tunnel (optional, but cool). Of course, there are other places which might have good weather for you: Houston, TX and Florida come to mind immediately. Have fun!!! Regarding wingsuiting & BASE. I am not the person to give you advice on that. However, I suspect that if you go to http://www.basejumper.com/ you will find lots of good advice on that. My guess is that you will find that the experience needed to do what you want is much higher than you may expect. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

While AADs are not TSOed, the FAA stipulates that users maintain them according to the manufacturer's directions. FAR § 105.43 (c) If installed, the automatic activation device must be maintained in accordance with manufacturer instructions for that automatic activation device. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!