KathleenL

Psycho Bob you probably made them soil their pants.

There is an Army Ranger training school in Dahlonega. They train in mountain warefare up there. The Rangers are probably jumping in to do a field op or something.

Keep this list going. I added Anthony because he will go too. Cheeseball Lauraliscious Kathleenl intrepid1

Hi Bubbles! I don't know if you remember me but we meet at the Dublin GA boogie last March and partied at the Mexican place with huge margaritas. I think a boogie in Alaska is an awesome idea. And you know that there are almost more planes than cars in Alaska. I spent a month (July) up there 3 years ago. I LOVE Alaska. It is sooo beautiful. Anyway, I bet we could find a boogie spot near Talkeetna how awesome would that be? You would of course have to warn everyone from the lower 48 about the mosquitos. Stay warm up there. Kathleen

Hi J, Here is my opinion from one A to another. I downsized from a Chute Shop zp.exe 170 (square) to and Alpha(eliptical) 165 and now I have my brother in laws Nitron 150 in my rig. I have about 15 jumps on it. I demo'ed a Saber II 150 right before I got the Nitron. I flew the Saber II for 6 jumps. All of this has been in the last 4 weeks. I like them both. In the air they both handled very similar. The landings are different though. I could easily land the Saber II standing up. The glide angle and flair are different than the Nitron. PD has a great article about "the corner", it is about landing. I had to really dial in the flair on the Nitron but once I got it I landed it just fine as well. The Nitron IMO opens softer than the Sabre II. I too get the same comments about getting broken etc. But here is the deal. And I can not stress this enough. If you have not already done so, take a canopy control course. I took Scott Millers course when I had less than 40 jumps. I realized right away that canopy control was very important. The question to any jumper should be "can you control the canopy your jumping?" AND do you know what to do to learn how to control it. I agree with you about jump numbers influence peoples perspectives of your ability to fly your canopy. But most of the 500 or 1000+ jumpers that give me "advice" don't have any training on canopy control. As far as I am concerned Scott Miller is the master of canopy control. He will teach you the physics and geometry of canopy flight AND you will understand it. Knowing what a canopy does and why and working on control skills in the air on every jump is key. You need to know how to flat turn, turn with risers, turn with harness input and all that stuff to be able to make a good decision about a canopy. Scott even had us learn our stall points by wrapping our break lines around our hands and stalling our canopys in the air above 2000ft. It was scary to see my canopy ball up into a big wad of crap. But when I slowly released the lines it reinflated just like Scott said it would. Like I said if you have not already taken a canopy control course do that and then demo canopys to see what you like. By the way my brother in law wants his canopy back and he just bought me a zp.exe 135. So I will be jumping that one this weekend. My first canopy was a zp.exe and I know the flight characteristics so I am sure I will be just fine. BUT note that I only weight 148 out the door so my wing loading is not really high.

Hi Steve, All good answers here. I get asked that question alot. My response depends on the company I am in. Basically I go with there are no perfectly good airplanes. But my best response is "I can not explain it to you because it would be like trying to explain sex to a virgin." Try that one and see what type of response you get.

Beezy was one of the first people I met when I started skydiving. His advice was always welcome. He will be greatly missed.

Awesome advice! I am at the DZ now getting ready for a big junping day tomorrow. I will try the stopping in the middle idea and report back tomorrow evening.

I agree with Bill. Lets be caring and constructive. What can we the skydiving community do for the family and friends left behind. If anyone at their home DZ needs anything from us please let us know. Know that all of our prayer are with all of you. Fly free in eternal blue skies my brothers and sisters.

Thanks, I feel that if people can live in wrecked cars upside down in ravines for 7 days. There is still hope and everyone should be sending out that positive vibe until we know for sure.

I am so excited about this weekend I can't stand it. Anthony is off work for a four day weekend. The Stone family will be out either Thursday night or Friday morning. I have to work Thursday :( so it depends on what time I get off work. The Farm is looking awesome! Greg has really been working hard getting it fixed up. I think everyone will be very impressed when they get there. AND Anthony has hula hoops ready for hoop dives.

Bill you are so right about the block not being flown like the IPC dive pool. I have had some coaching and have flown the following blocks 21, 4, 8 My best most recent 4way with a block was O,M,E,21 we turned 17 points but only 14 in time because I boogered up the exit out of the King Air. Everyone laughed at me when we landed because by had never turned points in a four way that fast and by the third zig-marque I was looking at my altimeter thinking it was time to track and we were still turning points. Also, it should be known that the folks I jumped with have tons and tons of jumps and made me look like a much better 4 way jumper than I am. I was just excited to keep up with them. And to have an awesome video with me in it. I am going to ask around for coaching and learn 7 and 9 next. I agree with you that they look easier than some of the others.

I have been watching hours of video and studying the draws etc. It took me awhile to figure out that the pro teams were slot switching. I am sure that I am not ready to learn that. I know and can recognize on video all the blocks most of the time. The mirroring and slot switching threw me for a loop for a minute though.

I think your right about the tunnel. I believe I might get my coaches to go with me once again.

Awesome! Thanks for the link to fastrax. I will check that out. My husband sent me to the tunnel with coaches when I had 20 or so jumps and I learned stability and levels really well. My coaches made me fly five 2 minute dives in the tunnel just staying still and on level with a spot on the wall. They flew all around me stole my air. Bumped into me and took grips. That was the best thing ever to learn as a rookie, IMO. I learned the randoms fairly quickly after that. I think I did ok because I stayed level and with the formation. Next time in the tunnel I learned mantis and flying with hips and legs. 360's, sideslide etc. I only have 100 jumps but I am ready to tackle the blocks.

OK you and I will work on this this weekend. There are five teams coming to the meet. It will be great and we have a bunch of folk showing up to get in on pick up teams.

Do I understand correctly that as of 7:45 am EST that there were only 7 people found? That means that 3 are still out there and their condition is unknown. If this is so we should all pray for them to be found quickly.

Does anyone have any tips for learning blocks?

This one helped me alot. When I had 15 or 20 jumps and still on student status very experienced jumpers took me on two ways. Once I was able to fall stable we did no contact exits and follow the leader but with no contact. We worked on levels and staying close. We did that for about 8 or 9 dives. Next we did no contact and I had to "stay in place" while my coach flew all around me over me and under me and ran into me. My job was to stay in place. We did this for several jumps. Then we started in on the normal two way drill dives. I have to tell you that learning to stay in place especially when people are flying around and running into you is a very important skill when you are new and just learning. Additionally, my friend had huge fun flying around stealing my air and watching my reacations to being run into in the air. And of course there was some fruitlooping involved too. All this must work because I turned 17 points on a four way on my 70th jump. Our dive was O, M, E, 21. We would have done more points if I had not messed up the exit. We still got a great video though.

'cmon J you know you were there.

Anthony says thanks and he is sure that he will need your services if you are able. Looks like the weekend is going to be super fun! The Stone family will be there all weekend to celebrate.

I think I am going to let Anthony know that you have never been pied.

Andy will you be at the Farm all weekend? I am coming out on Sunday. By the way you missed my wedding at the Farm. But I will let you make it up to me.

I agree with you. And I like your progression. As a low time jumper I realized where I needed more training and took it upon myself to get it. After AFF I worked with my instructors to get all checked off for my A license. Then went to the tunnel with three other very experienced skydivers who are also AFF and coach rated. One hour in there with them gave me flying skills that would have taken 100's of jumps to get. Then got right back to my home DZ and took Scott Millers canopy course. Which I might add IMO should be a mandatory part of getting your A license. You don't realize how dangerous you are in the air under canopy until you take a course like that. Most skydivers I have been around are mostly concerned with the freefall part. The canopy ride is just to get them to the ground quickly to go back up. The confidence level that I had prior to my canopy course was low. All I knew was turn right if someone is flying towards you, low man has right of way, how to flair and land and the landing pattern we were suppose to fly. Learning all the stuff that you can do with a canopy amazed me. Now I like the canopy ride as much or better than the freefall. And I have a ton of confidence under canopy. So someone with some pull get USPA to make that canopy control course mandatory.

Hi Bill, Don't wish for a malfunction. I hope you go your entire skydiving career with out one. But if you want to experience a cut away in a safe environment ( I thought about this too) lets go to FL. I think Deland has a three canopy rig that you can jump just to try a cut away on purpose. Blues, Kathleen