FlyingBlueJay

Video guys have to have their own editing equipment, camera, video camera, and rigs... all maintenence costs are theirs. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

This is so exciting it's almost April! I can't wait to have a DZ so close! Good luck with all the final arrangements, see you soon! There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

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I've heard rumors of a dropzone being set up just outside of Baltimore, but haven't found much helpful information anywhere. Anyone know anything about this? There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

The 230 fits pretty snugly... it's a pain in the ass to get into the d-bag when the air is dry. I've been told that a 210 9-cell will have about the same pack volume as the 230 7 cell. I am going to get a 9 cell (probably a Sabre or Sabre2) when I replace my Spectre. Speaking of which, anyone want a Spectre 230? I definately do NOT want my reserve just floating around in the tray. One size smaller is a 193, is having a 193 reserve with a 170 main still a reasonable (safe) combination? I'll do a search right after I post this, but may as well ask too... what are your opinions on putting padding in for the main? There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Hey everyone, Over the summer I'm going to be jumping a lot and during this time I'll be doing lots of canopy control training. At the moment I'm jumping a Spectre 230 with a PD 218R. I'll be downsizing progressively and I was hoping someone would know what the lower limits of main and reserve canopy sizes can safely fit in a Vector 3 M358. After getting input from a number of people, instructors included, I'm going to work my way down to a 170 main and stay there for a while. I'd like to have a relatively similar sized reserve. Should I start looking into a different sized container? Thanks, -R There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Congratulations! Nice looking container! I remember how excited you were about everything a couple months ago at Maytown! I'm glad it all finally made it too you. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

#1 - It is possible you put the tab thru the toggle above the metal ring - and caused part of the problem... How is the tape that the toggle tab goes into? Damaged? #2 - With Tru-locks, you have to push the metal pin in all the way. A slight bit of the metal pin not in all the way will cause a brake fire. Just to clarify... That .1% CAN be a bitch. I am not discounting the possibility/probability that it was my own packing error. #1 - The tape that the toggle tab goes into is in fine condition. It didn't suffer any damage at all. #2 - It's possible the metal pin wasn't in all the way and the pressure from the opening bent it in the middle because that's as far as it was stowed. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

The other day I opened, looked up, and didn't really like what I saw! I had a lineover on the right most cell of my canopy and I was also spiraling, not too violently as I'm moderately loaded ~ 1.07, down to the right. I cleared the lineover, with my toggles still stowed, without much trouble. My next thought was, OK... Why am I spinning?. I unstow my toggles, but only the right one came out. The left was stuck and didn't look right. I tried pulling it out again but it was still stuck. I tried two more times (ready to chop if it didn't release on that third try) and with a hard pull, it came out and I was flying straight and had an uneventful rest of the flight and landing. When I got down, I inspected my left riser/toggle and found that the metal pin from the Tru-Lock was bent 90 degrees and one of the loops on the back to stow excess brake line was ripped apart. Everyone at the DZ was amazed that the pin had bent because of how much force it must have taken. I think I had a brake fire and the Tru-Lock system worked, but in it's functioning caused these other problems. I am 99.9% sure that I packed the toggles/excess correctly. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Do these pins bend frequently? There is a picture of the bent pin, but I don't have it. If I get it soon, I'll post it here. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

oops! thanks for that! There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

http://www.pdfactoryteam.com/downloads.php Why do the main canopies that these guys are flying in the Norway 2005 and Empuribrava pictures not have a pilot chute dragging behind them? I imagine it has to do with better swoops. Do the mains deploy out of a free bag? There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Jessica by the Allman Brothers... I put the windows down and crank it up every time on the final leg of my trip to the DZ. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Hey everyone, My dad used to jump with the British Military back in 1962-1964 and used Para-Commanders. I have been talking to him about the sport now and showing him all about ram-air canopies. It blew his mind. Anyway, does anyone have pictures of any P-Cs from that era? I'm curious to see what he used to jump. -R There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

I'm from Baltimore. If you can get here, I go to XKeys pretty frequently, I'd be happy to carpool. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

I'm a student at Johns Hopkins University and have just submitted all of the paperwork needed to start a skydiving club here. Now I have to wait for Student Government to get back to me and then I have to present my case. So far, we're just a facebook.com group, but I have managed to bring 9 people for their first (and two for their second) tandems. Almost everyone wants to go again and a few are really interested in going through AFF! Looks like this club is really getting off the ground..... a thank you. Which reminds me, are there any other skydivers from Johns Hopkins on dz.com? Blues, -R There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Thanks for the responses. Sorry to ask the question for the millionth time, I'll do a search too. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

I have heard mixed reports from different coaches and RW guys about sticking your legs out to slow down, aka come up from below. The thing that works for me the best is de-arching and turning my head to the side creating a pocket of air in my chest area. I have heard from a very, very experienced flyer before that sticking my legs out will not help, but everyone else I have spoken to, coaches and instructors alike have said to stick my legs out. Help? I'm a big guy and am getting better at falling slow(er), but I could use all the advice I can get! There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

I got really lucky! I budgeted out what I could afford for a rig and just figured out I could do it. I hopped onto the classifieds and 3rd in line was Big Boy Vector III w/ Skyhook... I'm a big boy, I like vectors, I want a skyhook... sweet! Got really lucky, it's hard to find gear in my size. I forgot, that was at about 30 jumps. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

3! one hop and pop and two fun bellys! That was Friday though, we got to Cross Keys later in the day, the clouds broke. 3 loads 3 jumps.

Nice slider... Seriously though, beautiful pics! I love silhouettes (image, not canopy) against sunsets. There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

I got over the fear by learning to love it. Sounds kinda weird, but I associate that apprehension with the skydive and now I've learned to love it. It does, as someone else said before, keep me in check. I would be more scared if I didn't have that fear... you're about to jump out of an airplane, it's normal to be a little scared. Good luck overcoming it! You'll get there! There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Less triathalon, more skydiving! Those 24 hour triathletes are pretty incredible though... Sounds aweful to me There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

Have any of you seen Wally Gubbins? There's a scene when a guy wraps his toggles three or four times around and starts doing really dumb sh*t. Totally collapsed stalls in and out really fast, collapsing one side and spinning... If he didn't gift wrap himself, I don't know what would! There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams

My Aviator was the first helmet I bought. I tried a number of different helmets but it seemed to be the best bang for the buck. It's very comfortable, flys great, and judging by little nicks and scratches, it's saved me from a bit of pain. That being said, after about 10 jumps the rubber lining around the front and down the sides of the front came loose. I was able to place it back on, but it came apart again flapping around in freefall and hanging off to the side under canopy. I hot glued it back on and it was great for about 40 jumps. The rubber has now started to come off again. I'm pretty annoyed by this. Though the price is relatively low, I expected it to stay in one piece.

This was a very exciting weekend for me! On Friday I completed my 5 coach jumps and made my first licensed skydive with a buddy! Sunday, I went back and made 3 jumps. The highlight of it all was an 8 way RW with a number of much more experienced jumpers. Stayed with them until break off and had a blast! There's nothing like seeing a bunch of smiling friends 2 miles above the earth at 120 mph. I love this sport! PS - yes, I bought all of my beer... Almost cost as much as the jumps There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, and try it. - Douglas Adams