danielcroft

Because they're flaring whatever they're used to flaring and not the canopy over their head?

I wonder how much damage the "US Demo Team" can do in that time? Wait, maybe "US" is actually "us" and not "United States"?

When is the next BOD meeting anyway?

And undermine the value of the pro teams out there already. TotalWin™

Nice, I downloaded in a higher res but the net affect is the same. Damn pommie bastard. I spoke with the other jumper, our S&TA, the instructor I mentioned earlier and a couple of other people. This was not a 4 way, the other canopies were from the group before, add that to the list of things that went wrong on this jump. The other jumper has fewer than 100 jumps. She ended up low because, when they were meant to be breaking off, she was pulled down a little and got unstable. She was open by ~2500 or there abouts. She landed safely on the DZ. Many people have talked to Denis and tried to make it clear just how close he came to dying in many different ways but he doesn't seem to want to acknowledge it. He has stopped jumping with the camera, not because anyone forced him to though, I hope he's made that choice for himself. It's a difficult situation, no one barring the DZO has the authority to tell Denis to do anything. I'm sure that there are examples of this kind of personality on many of the dropzones around the world. The unfortunate thing is that we can tell them what was dangerous about this jump until we're blue in the face but I'm sure in their mind they're fine and we're the boy crying wolf. I was at the DZ today and so was Denis but many people who have spoken with him said that there was no point so I didn't bother. Denis, you're reading this, have a think about what that means. Please. Indigogirlp - you're right about the canopy bit, Denis was out jumping today when most everyone else was on the ground.

Hey Ron, this is something we absolutely agree on. That they did the demo for free is absurd. Is the goal of this team to put all the other pro demo teams out of business?

You're right Dave, I sent it without correcting my original wording (which I wrote before I read the whole thread). I'm just going to pretend that I meant that it should not go any further than it has... work with me here! I have two emails back from members of the BOD. Both expressed concerns with the plan but said nothing could be acted on until the next BOD meeting. I don't want put the emails in here without permission but I really hope they shut this thing down. I'm not trying to earn money from my pro rating but, for the people who are, this is absolutely ridiculous. It would be very easy to invest this time (and further money) in training existing very professional teams in areas that the USPA feel are lacking (if any?) and have a positive outcome. I ask strongly that everyone send an email to uspabod@skydivehard.com and express your concerns, it WILL help good people who've worked hard.

Just because he says he's going to keep jumping the camera doesn't mean he is. IMO, if I'd taken a low pull down to AAD firing I'd ground myself for a while and really work out what happened before jumping again. I can imagine it happening but damn, I'd have had to have really fucked up to get there. d100965 - win Hasn't anyone learned? When someone posts a video like this, download a copy because it's sure to be taken down quick smart after they feel the heat. Yes, I did. I'm not trying to burn Denis and as I said, I wasn't there when this happend but I know who spoke with him and I know they're not the types to fuck around or mince words. I have faith in both of those people, trust them and respect them. I'm heading up this weekend, I'll see what the deal is.

Wow, it's fucking depressing for me, I can't imagine how depressing this is for you professional demo jumpers. I love being part of a monopoly. Thanks for everyone's posts and information. Seems like we have some rogue elements in the USPA and a bunch of BOD members who support it or don't care. ----------- Guys, As a newly minted pro rated skydiver I am extremely disappointed with the concept of a USPA sanctioned demo team seeded from our membership dues. I feel that there are better alternatives that support the membership rather that take away from it. There are many professional demo teams who will all be hurt by this endeavor. I would love to say that there was an easy way to get corporate sponsorship for our US Skydiving team but I'm pretty sure taking money from our dues to fund a team that will take money from the pockets of dues paying demo teams is a really bad way to do it. Please, please do not go ahead with this plan and work on a better way, maybe asking the membership for ideas could yield a result that isn't so contentious and so clearly a conflict of interest. I'm also quite concerned that this has proceeded with no input from the general membership, I do not feel that my interests or concerns have been represented. Sincerely, Daniel Croft D-31103

Personally I think it'd be dumber to decide to backfly after break off than to try to film someone's deployment but really we're talking shades of stupid at that point. We all make mistakes, the problem with this video was that it was apparently that many more than one mistake was made. Denis has had a talking to by instructors and senior jumpers at the ranch and I'm sure will learn from this.

Student jumps were all on Navigators between 200 & 280, I weigh, like 180/185 out the door so lightly loaded. Actual canopy progressions was relatively quick I guess. This is in order, starting at jump 26 37 jumps on 190s - split between Spectre and Sabre 2 90 on 170 - mostly Safire 2 but also Sabre 2, Lotus, Spectre and Storm 127 on 150 - Sabre 2 (for the most part) 37 on 135 Sabre 2 (did a few on Safire 2 129 as well) Then went 120 Sabre 2 (@ 1.54) for I think 150 or so jumps (don't have that log book handy, yes, I go back over and count) Now, after demoing the crap out of a Skylark Odyssey 115, Crossfire 2 119 and a Katana 120 I bought an Odyssey 115 which I'm loading at 1.6. I got my Pro rating on the Odyssey (demo ) and have put a couple of jumps on my wife's Stiletto 107 (@ 1.72) which was fun. I haven't injured myself yet or anyone else. I've had a few rough landings, like 5 or 6 total but only 2 of those since I had 100 jumps. I've taken a canopy course (Brian's) and a Pro rating course. I've been learning HP canopy flight for a while (400 jumps or so) and often do H&Ps out the door. I've had very experienced people mentoring me all the way along (which I really appreciate). My ultimate goal is not to be "a swooper" but just be able to fly whatever canopy I happen to have well and completely. Oh, I also got my P2 rating for paragliding and am planning to continue working towards the higher ratings. I would never recommend anyone take the path I'm on, but I feel like my path is particular to me and supported by people who not only know me and how I fly but also understand what's going on and will kick my ass if needed. While I don't recommend people do what I've done, I do encourage everyone to learn their canopy and enjoy it. It can be so beautiful doing a sunset clear and pull for example, make it something you look forward to. That means being honest about your abilities and desires and not just trying to find the easy way. I feel that I've worked pretty hard at learning canopy control and it's something I take really seriously, unfortunately, I can't say that about a lot of other people.

I started doing 4 way competition @ ~30 jumps. That was too much. It was overload for me. I don't think people should be stopped from doing it though.

I have my GP mounted like the picture posted above, so do several other people who jump GPs at my DZ. If you mount it far enough back while still having the helmet out of shot, you can open the visor far enough to be out of your vision when the GP is on. With the GP off, the shield misses the GP mount. I really like the idea of the side mount on the G2/3, seems like a really good option to me but I haven't tried it.

You really need to have a think about what you're saying and more importantly what you're doing. You were literally seconds away from being dead. You were then lucky not to be seriously injured on landing, if you even made it that far (if, say, your 2 out turned into a downplane). I know you've heard this and more from Linda and John but the camera bit doesn't seem to have sunk in.

This person copped some serious flack at the DZ from instructors and senior jumpers for a litany of stupid decisions. Blaming the AAD is a clear case of lacking a sense of personal responsibility for those stupid decisions. The suit is a old hand-me-down (should have been put down). I wasn't there so I don't have a whole lot more info. For any newer jumper watching this video please realize that there were a bunch of mistakes made on this jump. Particularly, take note that the canopies deploying a *long* way above the jumper and the amount of time in free fall should have indicated that pulling *NOW* was a priority. The jumper clearly didn't have altitude awareness which is job #2 (depending on how you look at it) and failed at job #1 as well - pull. Beyond that glancing casually at their alti below hard deck is just plain stupid. That this jumper ended up unhurt is an anomaly in this case given that there are so few places to land on that side of our DZ and the number of poor decisions made. Here's a link to the USPA's guidelines on two out emergencies: http://www.uspa.org/SIM/Read/Section4/CategoryB/tabid/177/Default.aspx#914

I was hoping you'd say Queensland because I would have recommended http://www.ramblers.com.au/ Ramblers. Felt at home there after being there for like 5 minutes. Great place, didn't even jump (weather)! Picton was a bit meh IMO but we were there midweek after a boogie and noone seemed to want to jump. Weather was perfect too. I'd suggest calling in advance.

There's talk on paragliding and hang gliding forums that they're going to try to cut those guys out too. It's a shame because it could so easily have been avoided. I don't BASE and don't plan on it but it sucks that people who'd like to (many of whom would do so responsibly) don't get the opportunity to jump something as amazing as Half Dome, El Cp or Angel's Landing. There are trash cans and porta-potties on top of Angel's Landing, I feel like there'd more likely be a viable solution today than there was back in the day.

Does anyone have any links or articles about this? I'm curious to read on who, what, when, etc. I think it's odd that they'd ban all "basejumpers" and not just those people.

(linky) http://vimeo.com/29231099 http://vimeo.com/29253323

I'm really surprised that this comment has managed to not be deleted yet.

Ride thinking that way at your own peril. Studies have shown that people see what they expect to see, if you're relying on someone else to see you, you may be sadly mistaken. I'm in the "crashed" group, 3 times now. Twice through my own error, once due to a dump truck driving in the middle of the road on a blind corner and having nowhere to go (on a 2 week old motorcycle no less). I've done the MSF, track days, Lee Parks' ARC level 1 and 2. Train, think, care but don't pretend you can't be killed by a stupid mistake, and innocent mistake or a moron.

I got my pro rating on a canopy that I doubt anyone would BASE jump with, i think that it's helpful to have air time but like JohnRich said, there's more to it than pointing your canopy at an open spot and landing. You're normally jumping with other people and have to account for the stack and the "show". Having said that, I've never BASE jumped so I don't know how well those canopy skills transfer.

Signed it. Tweeted it. Facebooked it. I don't BASE. http://wh.gov/g6c (linky)

My wife and I did a road trip across the US and back, I rode a motorcycle the whole way. We visited most of the major national parks and saw and did some amazing things. Our friends were talking about skydiving within about 10 minutes at our return dinner. We love our friends, they're awesome but that was pretty eyeopening. Skydivers are annoying when you are one, let alone when you're not. I stand by my earlier comment, if you care about these people, talk to them individually. If you don't, move on.

I think skydiving is one of those things that you want to do more when you do it. Once you stop, it's easy for the fear to sneak in and forget how great it is. If you genuinely don't want to jump, don't. It may be worth upsizing like the other guys suggested and doing a jump to see how you feel. If you enjoy it then getting a bigger canopy like Dave suggested would be the place to start. If you don't, sell it and move on.