councilman24

Wow I thought rec.skydiving was dead. Now I remember why I keep posting here. To try to counter act some of the really bad advice given by __________ (you fill in the the appropriate noun I can think of several) I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I don't know they can't be resized but it may be the factory doesn't want to mess with it. Much easier to cut a harness off than undo the stitching. I don't know they have a blanket prohibition And if it was pre UPT its an orphan and the company that made it doesn't exist. It very well may be that so much would need to be done to this harness to fit you that it's easier and cheaper to build a new one. I haven't done one with this big of change. Would have to think about it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Sign him up for beer of the month. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Get the permit, follow all the laws on noise, time, clean up etc, invite a Jewish reggae group or whatever will set him off, and let the police explain when he complains that everything is legal. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Again this was tried. Many harness manufacturers signed on. A website was up. It was/is based on existing falconry bird trackers. Never caught on. Same system is called FIDO on the Plexus tandem. http://www.plexustandem.com/products/fido.html I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

"I saw it on the internet, it must be true!" One to three year life time. From the internet. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Were the bobbins full? And all of the above. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

George Galloway tried this using falcon trackers. Magnetic switch to on when cutaway. Used radio tracker. Never caught on. Now offers it on the new tandem. If cost was lower maybe. Other was a couple hundred bucks and 6 to 8 hundred for tracker. Not familiar enough with RFID. How long does battery last or how is it turned on and what is range? Frankly while losing a canopy is a bitch when it happens it happens rarely. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I pulled one of mine out. It was bigger than I remembered. If it had compression straps it might work but it probably is too big. The idea would be to wear it backpack style and it might work on my 750 vulcan but it would be big. On a sport bike no way. But I got to tell dz.com about it. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Has nothing to do with skydiving but I have bought two of these now. http://lbtinc.com/sale/enhanced-warfighter-load-out-bag.html One when on sale for $80 and one later at the $50 price. Look at the normal listing and see the normal price of $309. These bags are well worth the $300 let alone the $50. I've got lots of bags and some back packs and have never seen a bag built this well. Hidden pack straps, sheet foam to give it structure and on and on. I couldn't buy the materials in this bag for $100 let alone the 10s of hours it would take to build. The reviews are all correct. I'm sure mine will see use as gear bags. I can't say it enough. I don't care what bag you've seen before this is built better. Perhaps not quite as refined as a North Face (or whatever it top of the line) expedition pack but better for its intended job. This is a tank. And the dimensions at first might seem maybe to small but you could put two big rigs in one of these. There's a video somewhere of a person crawling out of one. You're rig might survive a crash, certainly better than you will unless you ride in full armor. I can't stop. This is the best value deal of anything I've ever found. And I'M CHEAP. The only thing better is a rolling Pelican case but not as convient on the bike. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

order the sample sets first I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Paragear has some. I bigger selection is at seattle fabrics. Google and you'll find it. Local fabric store will have some you can start with. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

As I said nobodies answer matters but theirs. Their DZ, their toys, their rules. You will weigh close to 240 with clothes and and gear. That's the weight that matters. Call them and ask them what their body weight limit is. That's the only answer that matters. The answers here will vary. BTW most DZ's would be able to handle your weight. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Depends on the canopy. Not enough information. And whatever we say isn't going to over rule your instructor or DZO. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

They advertise IAD. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

This may be the first original question I've seen in years! Countries all regulate skydiving to different degrees and in different way. In some places the government regulates training either directly or through delegated organization but the rules have the force of law. In other countries, particularly the U.S., there are very few real laws about skydiving. Here the United States Parachute Association (USPA) is a member run organization that has no legal authority. The Federal Aviation Administration (dept of the government) had recognized some aspects of USPA's rules so that if you meet USPA things are easier. But not so much in student instruction. AFF is a training method. Each country has implemented that training method differently, and some may have not implemented it at all. AFAIK in every country when you finish AFF you are STILL a STUDENT. You may be authorized to jumpmaster yourself (ride the airplane without an instructor, get out and land by yourself). You may/will be limited to who you can jump with and have additional goals/skills to demonstrate to instructors and jumps to make to earn an A license. ONCE you have a beginning license from a country recognized by the FAI (international governing body) you should be able to move from country to country jumping more easily. But license requirements, both A and higher vary from country to country. I would suggest that you will need to plan your instruction both through AFF AND through a beginning license. If you plan to move between countries you should plan it all out ahead in contact and consultation with the dropzones you plan on using. You might do AFF in one place and get to another country only to be required to start all over. One constant may/should be if you go to USPA group member dropzones in other countries. They may have USPA rated instructors and follow the same system. Normally this would be in countries that do NOT have a strong national system. For instance there are no USPA member dropzones in UK or Australia, both of which have very strong national systems that have the force of law behind their rules. Non US USPA group member dropzone are listed here. http://www.uspa.org/FindaDZ/GroupMemberListbyCountry/Germany/tabid/418/Default.aspx That's not to say that other national systems are bad. Just that USPA's is probably represented more widely outside the originating country and would offer you more options under the same system. The easiest would be to complete through your first license in one place or at least one country. Even moving between dropzones in the US will require some retraining and rejumps as the local dropzone and instructors get to know you. This will increase with time between jumps. I'd be leery of things in Mexico. I see one USPA group member. Little oversight may compromise safety and recognition by other countries/organizations. I'm sure there is somewhere good to do AFF in Mexico, there just may be more bad places. Others here will know more about that. Also be aware that you may find a dropzone online or in a listing but it may be a dropzone that only does tandem skydives. You can find that in the US as well as other tourist areas. Found this website researching this answer. http://www.skydiveworld.com/index.html Good luck. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Unless you were there for the discussion you don't know what went on. News reports are not reliable. Looked up the site on satellite map. Country road with 6 or 7 houses and what looks like one or two large farm operations. Subdivisions 1/2 to 3/4 mile to the SW and NE But between them fields. Site for permit was 5.6 acres. About 6 football fields. If is is a perfect circle and there are NO hazards (fences, lines etc) it is still smaller than the clear 100 meter radius required for students and novices. From SIM "DROP ZONE REQUIREMENTS 1. Areas used for skydiving should be unobstructed, with the following minimum radial distances to the nearest hazard: a. solo students and A-license holders—100 meters" 100% landings on the property is not be a reasonable requirement. But in the absence of an emergency it should be close. But this doesn't meet USPA requirements. Now the adjacent land would make it big enough but that wasn't what they had. Being a skydiver my approval would have depended on why he only had access to 5.6 acres of the larger site. No doubt that unrealistic complaints about noise etc. may have swayed commissioners. Between airport and landing area is largely developed housing. But the site he was asking approval for really wasn't big enough if he was running students into this site. I'm all for access but I also have dealt with the government side of requests for over two decades. This was not a slam dunk on unbiased criteria. You have to know the way both staff and elected officials look at these kind of discretionary requests. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

The Feds protect us on airports that receive federal funds. And they control airspace use. But I don't believe that they overrule local zoning/land use regulations and decisions. We (local city council that I've been a member of for 16 years) got to make ordinance regulating heliport siting under our zoning code. That being said I can't comment on the reasonableness of the decision. We don't have facts of size, adjacent uses, other permitted principle and special uses. There very well maybe misinformation or prejudices involved in the decision but if something isn't a principle permitted use then special use permits are at the discretion of the body. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I've always liked those. Instant gratification as it falls open and I could see what I was doing.

Dan Gale packed my 1400' reserve total malfunction. Reserve pulled at 1700'. Different jump. Saw Dan last Labor Day. He was like Jack Benny, he stopped counting at 39. But it was malfunctions not years. He packed his PC faster than anybody. Drop it, walk back and drop the container, shake the canopy, pull the slider down, stow the lines. A true 5 minutes. Of course he was jumping a chest mount so most of his malfunctions were canopy transfers. Dan only made a few jumps on a ram air and really stopped for the most part in the 80's. I should have known better when Dan packed my SST reserve on the ground in the field at the DZ. But I was an 80 jump wonder and didn't know any better. It's why I became a rigger. Actually it wasn't Dan that did the tree thing. Hmm, can't remember his name now. If I wasn't trying to remember it I would. It was before I moved here but as I heard it the guy stripped the side of a tree under a streamer and landed in the mud of the bogs around there. They were looking for his body and he sat up out of the mud. He didn't want any surgery but his family gave permission for exploratory surgery. The docs couldn't believe he didn't have internally injuries. He didn't. Just a scar afterwards from his neck to his crotch. I met him a few times. He didn't handle it well. Don't know if he had issues before but he became an alcoholic and never did much in life afterwards. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

More or less. PC in tow on 1800' exit at demo into ski area. Both canopies were starting to inflate as I hit the tree. Not full streamer speed. Ended up 40' up a tree half way up a ski hill suspended by both canopies with a shattered tibia.. Volunteer fire had no idea how to get me down. I ran own rescue since I was used to getting students out of trees. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

I've been elected to the city council 5 times (four year terms) and unless I die in office will be the longest serving council member ever. And I was on page three of the Weekly World News in 1987 with two photos. "Miracle in the Sky - Tree Snags Unopened Parachute and Saves Skydiver." I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

These days there aren't to many places with people that doesn't have tamdems a available nearby. I think advertising enough to take business away from local dzs without lo al jumper recommendations would be hard. In the 80's it was rarer and there were several gypsy tandem masters. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

See above. I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE

Until RI tells you different the manual that came with it is the best reference. It may be that it is a talon2 and he hadn't rewritten the manual yet. Riggerrob on here used to build them. PM him. Also you shouldn't be picking a reserve to fit a container you got a good deal on but picking a container that can hold the reserve appropriate for you! I'm old for my age. Terry Urban D-8631 FAA DPRE