GLIDEANGLE

The big issue isn't about freefall. It is about canopy flight. Don't you want to be able to hear other jumpers under canopy? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Most Excellent!

I used to shoot IPSC. I don't anymore. It was a lot of fun. I stopped shooting it over safety issues. The local shooters, course designers, and range safety officers were having trouble keeping all rounds on the range. After hearing rounds go over my head on an adjacent range and the death of a child at a local match due to a round leaving the range, I decided that it wasn't something I could support. I have no doubt that many shooters, course designers, range safety officers, and range operators are able to keep all the rounds on the range... But too many could not. There is much fun to be had in those matches, IF they are conducted safely. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I wouldn't want to smack it in freefall. However, I lose no sleep about it. CReW dogs lose shoes frequently, sometimes by accident, sometimes as a deliberate effort to clear a wrap. That is why they are often seen wearing mis-matched shoes. Before boarding the plan"e to do my first CReW downplane, my partner said.... If you pull off my shoe, please hang on to it and give it back to me after landing." The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

96 miles (155 km). Travel time under ideal conditions: 1:45:00. So I had better get going! I love jumping on Fridays in summer! Every weekend is a three day jumping event!!! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Here is the essential key to all the skills you are seeking: Learn to RELAX. I am not kidding. You will get lots more out of learning how to relax and use visualization, than you will get out of us telling you to move your arms and legs in certain ways. The basic root of most AFF problems is lack of relaxation in freefall. If you can learn to smile, breathe, and relax.... The rest will be easy. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

After a bad landing which ground gravel into my palm... Gloves on ALL jumps! When doing AFF I feel like I get a better grip and that the harness chews up my hand less when exits get "sporting". The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Hell yes I tip her! When I use a packer it is usually because I am working, or on some other tight schedule such as team training or competition. As such, my tip is mostly in appreciation for her having my gear ready when I need it. That is no small task and is well worth the tip. I also jump a big canopy and the tip is partially for the extra effort that my canopy entails. However, I bet she would say that that my tips are not as important as my effort to be very clear about when I need my rig ("I am on a 20 minute call" OR "we are breaking for lunch...no hurry on my rig") and my appreciation of her work. I thank her almost every time I pick up my rig and thank her for my opening when I bring the rig back most of the time. The price of a pack job at our DZ is $6. I tip an additional dollar per pack job. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Not cocking pilot chute --> pilot chute in tow Improperly stowing brakes--> spinning canopy Letting brake lines in front of canopy nose --> line over. Improper arrangement of bridle on top of pin --> pin pierce bridle --> pilot chute in tow I am sure that there are many others too. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Skydive Fulltime? I am not perfectly clear about what you are asking in your posting. Are you simply trying to build your experience, OR are you trying to build your jump count and experience so that you can get a full-time skydiving jumping job? If all you are trying to do is build experience… have FUN. Pick a place with good weather and good prices and knock out the jumps. Paying for this is no small trick. If you are paying full retail price in the USA you can expect to pay ~$25 per jump. If you did 6 jumps per day (easy) 6 days a week, that would cost you $900 per week (6x6x $25 = $900). That would be ~ $3600 per month. So even if you are living in a tent eating VERY cheaply… this is an expensive proposition. Packers in the USA make ~$6 per pack job so… 4 pack jobs will almost buy you one jump. However, if you are busy packing… you aren’t jumping! Of course, if you can get the jump price down this will help a lot. • Sometimes staff member get a price break on fun jumps. • Some places have really low prices. The current price for a jump ticket is only $13 in Lodi, California, USA. www.parachutecenter.com/ • Buying jump tickets in blocks can cut the price a lot. If you are trying to build experience so that you can earn a living as a skydiver… good luck. It is possible to make a living as a skydiver, but it requires: • Marketable skill(s). - Many full timers have multiple skills/ratings. - Tandem requires at least 500 jumps and 3 years experience in the USA. - AFFI requires at least 6 hours of freefall in the USA. (Practically, few folks have the necessary skills at 6 hours) - Camera typically requires less than either of the above… but you have to own your camera equipment and be able to “get the shot” 100% of the time! • Willingness to work REALLY hard. o Willingness to jump in unpleasant weather. • Willingness to live in a place that has jumpable weather all year long. o Bad WX = no pay. • Willingness to be an independent contractor rather than an employee (at least in the USA) o No benefits. o Irregular pay. Winter will pay less in most places due to cooler weather. • The LEGAL ability to work in the country where you want to. o WORK visas are often hard to obtain. • Own your equipment o Unless jumping Tandem, expect to pay for your main and reserve re-packs (unless you are a super-fast packer for your main). A joke about this situation is: What do you call a professional skydiver without a girlfriend?.... Homeless! Most of our paid jumping staff at my DZ have real jobs Monday through Friday for pay stability and benefits. We jump on the weekend for fun and $. That is what works best for most of us. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

How does this arrangement affect cutting away the canopy? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

1. Sit down with your DZs chief instructor and put together a plan to help you get back on track. Things to consider include: - canopy control course - formal coaching in your areas of weakness - identifying who are suitable folks for you to jump with in an informal coaching manner (often a grey beard who doesn't want to work at the DZ but who is wise and willing to jump with new folks.) - Review of EPs regularly (at LEAST monthly). 2. For a while... Pretend that you don't have a license and follow the "student" rules in the BSR and local DZ rules. These rules will help you stay safer. These rules will guide you to conservative gear, weather, and such. 3. Hang out and learn as much as you can on the ground both during the day and after the beer light goes on. 4. Jump, land, pack, repeat.... In fact, I suggest that you plan a three day weekend of concentrated jumping to "prime the pump". You could easily do 15 jumps in three days... Which would be ~50% of your career jumps to date. If you did that with good dirt dives and debriefs from experienced jumpers or coaches... I think you would probably solve your problem! Two solid weekends (10 jumps each weekend) would do the same thing. 5. See my reading list here [URL] http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4052172 [/URL] Good Luck!!! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

You are going to fall FAST, and not everyone will be able to keep up with you comfortably. This will be no problem for you as a student. However, when you are licensed and want to play with others it will become an issue.... Jumpsuits can really help you regulate your fall rate. If you see the instructors playing "paper, rock, scissors" before they greet you.... You now know why. Have fun!!!! Dooorrrrrr!!!!!!! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Use an N3Audio. It uses earphones... audio level is much lower. http://forum.altimaster.com/content.php?145-N3A-Product The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

We can fix that by broadening your reading list: http://www.jumpshack.com/default.asp?CategoryID=TECH&PageID=Turbulence&SortBy=DATE_D The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

It appears that this may be a source for Reflex parts. See the link to replacement parts on the left. http://www.tridenthc.com/catapult.htm Caveat emptor! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

That is not likely going to happen. In addition to the good reasons cited above, most skydivers find that only a couple of disciplines match their interests and personality. There are a few generalizations that can be made about the corners of this sport. (Like all generalizations, they are inaccurate in specific cases, but hopefully accurate enough overall to have some use in understanding the situation.) For example, it is not very often that a freeflyer from the facial piercings crowd crosses over to the CReW dogs with their pocket protectors. Equally it isn’t too likely that a high-speed wingsuiter is going to find slow-speed classic accuracy to be appealing. Some folks like group work, such as any of the relative work disciplines (RW, CReW, VRW), others like more solitary pursuits such as classic accuracy or swooping (Yes, there are team variants of these disciplines… but they are essentially solitary endeavors). Also the gear needed for various disciplines is often not compatible with other disciplines. Buying several different canopies or rigs for various disciplines gets expensive. For example a classic accuracy canopy is not suitable for swooping. The typical RW rig is going to be a poor choice for CReW. Also, how people perceive risk affects what disciplines they choose. There are some of us who are terrified of swooping… but who think that CReW is great! Other folks see the risk the exact opposite way. So, after you become competent at RW…. Shop around and taste other disciplines. You will find something that feels best for you. Get good at a few disciplines. It is far better to be competent at a few disciplines, than to be dangerous at many. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Here is how the maker of those two canopies describes them: http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/Sabre2-Flight.pdf http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/Spectre-Flight-Char.pdf The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I presume by "ready to downsize" you mean that you have demonstrated mastery of the skills described in both of these documents while flying your current canopy. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=47 http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf See ALL the drills in this 22 page document. Spectre in the right size may be a great canopy for you! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I know you Asked for typical. However, I thought you might find it interesting that I had two big AFF students this weekend who fell at ~143 mph in stable belly flight. On the other hand I have heard of large, dense belly formations slow to almost 100 mph. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Other differences: Exit from aircraft is different in that the apparent wind is horizontal rather than vertical. Tunnel provides better feedback (frame of reference) about our movement. Tunnel allows very LONG freefall. Real skydiving is VERY time sensitive. We have to pay attention to altitude and getting a canopy overhead at the correct altitude. The tunnel does not have these issues. Skydiving is more expensive on a per-minute basis. HAVE FUN!!! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Yes, there are times that jaw and facial bones seem to act as "air bags" protecting the brain and spinal cord in a frontal impact. It is a good news/bad news sort of deal... good news is that brain and spinal cord are OK, bad news... face and jaw are trashed. However, having cared for many, many folks with catastrophic brain and/or spinal cord injuries... I would take the jaw and facial injuries any day if it meant keeping the brain and spinal cord intact. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Argus problem can result in situation where jumper cannot deploy reserve with ripcord. Even if the reserve pin is pulled, the closing loop is trapped and cannot move. Depending on where the Argus cutter is mounted this can keep the reserve container closed. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Try this next time: http://www.uspa.org/FindaDZ/DZMapSearch/tabid/522/Default.aspx The USPA site indicates that in the general area these three offer static line or instructor assisted deployment training (a closely related form of instruction). www.bayareaskydiving.com www.skydanceskydiving.net www.skydivemadera.com The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

So perhaps my earlier comment about "training" wasn't so far off base. It sounds to me like their interaction with you was about their learning, rather than exclusively enforcement. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!