dayle

Hello everyone, I was just watching Cops on TV and they had an incident where four skydivers landed off on some sort of a demo. Two went into the water and two made land but looked like they hurt themselves on landing. Did anyone else see this?? I'm not sure where it was that this happened because I didnt' catch the begining but it's the "Lynnn Police" force who were on the scene. The area where the two were laying on the ground looked like a crap landing area. Does anyone have any info or know if eveyone turned out to be alright? Dayle

Hey there, interesting post, I Scuba dive too but the only comparison that I can make between the two is that it's a different world. That applies to Skydiving as well as Scuba diving but they are sooo different. With Skydiving there is that rush you get when you leave the plane. You don't really get the adrenalin pumping that hard when you scuba dive. However in both cases your looking at the world through a different light. In the sky, you look around and are amazed by the beauty, its the same underwater but things are alot slower under the sea. The only time I get a rush scuba diving is when something unexpected or bad happens, eg a fish darts out and startles you or you look at your air gauge and its running out. The only thing that is exactly the same is when you have an emergency. In both sports you ahve to react quickly and decisively. Dayle

Ah hem.....if someone would lose some weight, maybe they wouldn't fall so fast....

Hi Rachill, I guess that means you'll be here tomorrow. I'll see you around on Friday!! It'll be good to see Pippy and Scott again. blue skies!!

Hi there if near Niagara is what you want, you need to come to Skydive Burnaby. It's not far from Niagara and has a spectacular view. This past weekend the Canadian Womens record was set there. (27 way) and we are the current holders of the Canadian Record (54 way) Right now up until August we have the Frankenotter here. It's supposed to leave August 6, but we are trying to have it until August 15th. Look us up at www.skydiveburnaby.com. Blue Skies

The last part of your message I must disagree, it is never unsafe to have a pin check, I don't care what airplane you are in. I'm really just a newbie myself, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Do you remember when you were a student?? Your instuctor gave you a pin check before you left the plane, guaranteed!!! When they are taking up 3 or 4 students for IAD's, they check every pin. (or at least they should be from my understanding) It doesn't matter what position they are in. They get a pin check. If you can't or unable to check your own, you shouldn't be exiting the plane without one. One other thing to a previous post about the pilot chute geting caught. I'm glad that your still with us and I know it's a mistake you wont' make again. Always check your hacky!!! One other thing one of my instuctors told me was to always protect your handles and your hackey. If you are moving around at all in the plane put your free hand on the hackey so it isn't dislodged. Also if you make it a habit to do a full check on jump run, hackey, cutaway, reserve, that problem should never happen again. Dayle

You should be getting a pin check in ANY plane if you want one. You can get a pin check on any plane in any position by getting the person behind you or beside you to check and vica versa, the JM position in either the 182 or 185 can be checked by leaniing forward and putting your head down while the other person checks over your back. You should always check because chances are your are not going to dislodge your pin on the ground, it's going to be when you are in the airplane and are being jostled around. just my 2 cents.

just you wait and see Dayle

I don't care either way because whoever wins that series will have to lose to my Toronto Maple Leafs!!!! Dayle

I agree with you, I don't know why anyone would want such a lhigh loading on a reserve. When I think about landing my canopy I think about worst case senarios. Downwind and off the DZ, what if you are hurt?? Couldn't be much fun landing a highly loaded reserve with a broken arm or some other injury. I make due with the larger pack volume thank you very much. Dayle I'm just a newbie so take it for what it's worth.

I two had some raised eyebrows at my DZ when I downsized quickly to a Tomcat 135. (The price was just too good to pass up) I did hop & pop's at altitude twice to familiarize myself with the characteristics. I had no problems with my landings. (straight in) For the first couple however, I got a huge rush from the ground speed. After about 50 jumps on it I switched to the stilletto. I love the canopy and have no problems with it. I too like to play up high and have never done a high performance landing. (unless you count the downwinder in 16mph winds lol, ouch) nor do I intend to for awhile. The important thing was that both the 135's were only loaded at about 1.2, 1.3 max if I wore weight, and my instuctors approved of the size. However they did warn me it was right at the edge of my ablilities at the time and to take it easy. If your insturctors don't think you are overloading it then I would go with their opinions of your flying abilities. If you are going against the advice of your instuctors or other experienced people at your DZ then you do so at your own peril. As to currency, hah, it's good but it's not always possible. I'm in a northern climate and I refuse to jump in the cold. My jumping season runs from middle of May to Middle of October. I take my time at the begining of the year to get used to flying again. I do high hop & pops to get used to it. As long as you do this EACH time you are away from flying for awhile, I think you should be fine. I have about the same number of jumps as you, so I may not know what I'm talking about either. lol Dayle CANT WAIT TO START JUMPING AGAIN!!!!!

There is alot of good advice here for you. RELAX and LOOK at the plane. This should solve your problem. last but not least don't give up!!! You've come this far your almost there. How are your diving exits?? When I did my hop & pop, I did a diving exit. Some of the people on the plane thought I was insane but it was a hell of alot of fun!! Dayle

I'm fairly new at this so take my advice with a grain of salt. I would say it depends on how many jumps you have and what your insturctors say about your canopy handling and landings. I started jumping on a Manta student chute at 288 sq feet for my first 30 or so jumps. I'm a featherweight at 145 lbs. I spoke with my instuctors and other knowlegeable people around the DZ as to what size canopy I should be looking for. It was a toss up between a 135 and a 150. I got a really good deal on a Tomcat 135 and bought it. I transitioned by dropping to a Sabre 170 for 7 jumps and a Sabre 150 for 2 jumps before finally getting to my 135. A word of caution. My instructors believed I was a good pilot and I was/am. Some thought I went a little small but as long as I kept my landings conservative (straight in) for awhile I would be alright. I was, no real injuries other than a slight sprained ankle when I tried to run out an untintentional downwind landing early on. (slide, it doesn't look pretty but it looks better than trying to run at 35 mph and ending up as tumbling mass of body parts and tangled lines lol) I agree with everything said so far except for one thing. I don't feel that you have to downsize one size at a time, when you ditch the student gear. make the jump to .9 or 1.0 loading and then start one size at a time. Just remember when you do this to pull high and get a good understanding of the canopy prior to trying to land it. and when you do land it be conservative. If necessary, ask for an instructor to use a radio to help you with the first couple of landings until you get a feel for it. And most of all, enjoy Dayle

Hey Andy, Welcome!!! What a blast eh!! My advice to you is to jump more!!! If you can't jump more, save up your money to do a bunch of jumps in one weekend. I think you would progress faster that way then doing one or two every couple of weeks. I learnt how to fly on my belly first and now this summer I'm going to start working on sit and freeflying. When I started I did alot of solo's to improve my body position and ability to move in the air and think about moving in 360 degrees. I also continued to learn about canopy control. On every jump I tried different things with the canopy, like riser turns, spins etc. (keep it above 2K until you get more experience) My other advice is ditch the student canopy ASAP (say after your first 15 - 20 jumps and after consulting your instructor and if YOU feel comfortable with your landing ability) It's a whole new world once you get rid of those lumbering pieces of S#it and you'll have alot more fun with your canopy. Rent borrow, whatever but check with your instructor first regarding size. Enjoy the experience is the most important thing!!!! Dayle

I hear you andy, I prefer a cigarette boat myself for the high speed, not the puny bass boats. But there is a rush about going across the water at Very high rates of speed!!! Dayle

The next post got it right Bill, It's for if they get ejected from the boats. And they call me insane for jumping out of planes!!!

I do believe that this is the first time I have recomended sueing someone. lol about the lawyer part though.....I wish, then I wouldn't have to figure out where I was going to get jump money from!!!!! Dayle

Floyd is one of my Favourite Bands!!! Although I'm too young to see them when all of them were together, I did see the Division Bell tour, sans Rodger Waters and a couple of years later saw Rodger Waters. Pink in concert is absolutley amazing. best concert I have ever seen. Dayle My sole intention is learning to fly!!!

Aren't you allowed to drop a civil suit on him??? Sue the bastard!!!

Unbelievable. Sangrio you have an awesome site and everyone knows it's the original. I wish you luck with this guy, drop a multi-million dollar suit on him.

I don't think that's what this is at all, this is just a company trying to make more money by expanding their market. I don't think ANY skydiver in their right mind would jump a helmet with spikes, never mind any DZ that would let him get on the plane. (nor anyone that would actually get in the airplance with him.) You never know what it could be used for, could be mountain bikingor maybe just cycling, I've seen bike couriers with spikes on their helmets racing around the city. Who's to say that a whitewater kayaker might want that as a "cool" helmet to wear. Or, how about fishing?? I have a friend that takes part in bass fishing tournaments. Some of those boats to 85 mph across the water. Some of them have taken to wear helmets. My friend has also bought two pair of high speed goggles off of me. This can only be a good thing. We have a sport that is limited in our overall "population" in sheer terms of numbers. If the manufacturers can churn out "our" equipment to other markets, hopefully some of the prices will come down. What does piss me off however is what I heard from another skydiver at the DZ. He saw an add under a different makers lable, of practically an exact duplicate of a full face skydiving helmet from a certain manufacturer (cant remember which one) that was being sold as a bass fishing helmet. FOR HALF THE F@#*ING PRICE!!!!!!

I've never done a tandem myself, I went straight to PFF and I've thought about that.....for a second. Why now that you can jump on your own, would you want to hang off someone else. Your on your own now. In full control of whatever it is that you want to do!!! You can also go lower which gives you more time or you can pull higher and play with your chute. (just be sure to tell the other jumpers what it is you are going to do) But the point is you are your own boss now!!! Enjoy the freedom! Dayle

Call someone.... LOL

Ok, I have to step in here!!!! Stop harrasing our Canadian Drop Zones!!! :( For your information!!! My DZ has a 185 that will take up 5, and a 182. Every summer we have Twin Otters too, but alas not for long enough. This year however there will be at least one twin otter there from July 6, to August 5. There is a rumour that the Frankin Otter will be there!! Two years ago when we had our boogie we did a Canadian Record Big Way with 54 people. It was very cool, alas I didn't have the experience to be in on it myself. I've also heard that Olav Zipser and Dave Brown will be there from July 23-29. Oh and did I mention the view??? Check it out at www.skydiveburnaby.com. We're on the North Shore of Lake Erie in southern Ontario and from 13,500 you can see, on a good day, the entire Niagara Peninsula, Part of two U.S. States the northern part of Lake Erie and the southern part of Lake Ontario. by the way, if you look for it, you can see the mist rising from Niagara falls. On a really really good day you can even see Toronto across the lake. It's a great DZ IMHO, however to be honest, I've only jumped at one other local DZ and no, I am not financially involved with the DZ..lol. I do have a bias however because it was there that I was able to do AFF and get my licence. We have people come in from all over the country. Two, or three years ago the Canadian Nationals were held there. It's a great DZ with great people and it's lots of fun. And leave us Canadian's alone!!! We do just fine up here!!!! :) Check it out the website if you want more info and contact the DZO there. Cheers. P.S. our beer is better than theirs!!!!

Congratulations!!!! Welcome!!!! Glad you made the leap....lol The best part is you'll never look up at clouds or blue sky in the same way again.