faulknerwn

We just always kicked out - never any issues. As far as the freebag - we just faced the tail and deployed a second main - dbag and all - as we went...

Information is at cfworldrecord.com There was no affiliation with the army (although various military members were on the formation.)

Spectra reserve cables scare me. I've seen reserve handles pulled in CRW wraps before (both metal and pillow). I've seen lines get broken multiple times in CRW wraps. I've seen tons of really nice scars too caused by lines in wraps. A spectra reserve cable could get sliced in a wrap. It is a possibility. I just don't see a need for the additional risk. I mean if there was some major problem with the metal cables that was taking lives regularly but there isn't. If people drag their rig when packing, that's wear and tear. If the line rubs against velcro in the reserve pocket, that's wear and tear. There are so many potential dangers with this it just scares me.

We use Flexvision with the dz name on them...

Picked 2 way dive points at random ( think they were printed from the Internet somewhere) and each dive had 3-4 points we did it on the honor system - no camera. exit was 10500, breakoff by 4500

My CRW canopies had those - I just had a rigger mod my current sliders... W

Those who have read the books know what I am talking about. We were evenly split on the dz today. I'm only halfway through the third book but I am definitely about Jacob. He's a tad immature but seems to feel true love. Edward is insanely overcontrolling and smothering and I'd have too shoot myself (or him) being around that.. I need my space!

No - and we found out pretty quick here (Cessna dz where he was trained) when he opened up on the first jump. He travels a lot though - if he showed up at Eloy - he could probably get away with it until he hurt himself or someone else.

We did a 2-way scrambles at my dz Sunday. It was surprisingly fun. There was still a competitive spirit but nothing was taken too seriously. I was paired with a rookie who managed to stay on his belly the entire 3rd jump! I did learn that launching like an AFF level 4 and transitioning from there was a good plan :-) It was goofy, but it was fun, and the rookies learned a lot. I learned what interesting things happen when you launch a compressed accordian from a 182 with a rookie :-) In all honesty, I had far more fun than I expected.

We recently had one of our young jumpers (100 jumps) show up with a 135 Cobalt that he was loading at 1.5. Apparently someone in New York sold it to him without knowing (or caring) his experience. Obviously once we found out we didn't let him jump it again here, but he travels a lot and can probably manage to keep doing it somewhere where people don't know him. He's young and has no concept of the fact that skydiving was dangerous. We want to keep the kid alive - he's a nice kid - but are having trouble getting him to understand how dangerous what he's doing is.. (He's already started talking about buying a 120 to swoop with!) So I started thinking about compiling a list with links of the hundreds of incidents where rookies who thought they were far better than they were hurt or killed themselves.. Something like 120 jumps Cobalt 120 1.5 wing loading broken femur URL 200 jumps Stilleto 150 1.4 paralysis URL etc.. Then I thought of how often we have this problem with rookie jumpers and thought that someone else might have started such a list or would be willing to contribute time/effort to it. I'd really like to keep this kid from suffering life-threatening injuries, but I think so far that all we can do is keep it from happening at our dz.. Thoughts? W

I normally just look and grab, but I have had a mal where I couldn't see my reserve handle and I had to follow the webbing. Its funny because I don't remember ever having been taught it at the time but it seemed logical..

Capitol is definitely closed. Skydive Temple offers the traditional 7 level AFF course. After you pass the 7 levels, you're allowed to jump solo or with a coach until you finish up your A license. I'm not sure what San Marcos's program is - at one point they had a tandem progression where you start with tandems - I'm not sure if they still do. I suspect that even though San Marcos is bigger, we do more AFFs. We run courses 7 days a week by appointment, and teach a lot of students..

I've seen mixed results. Some completely stable and landable, and others not so much. You definitely need to be flexible in deciding what to do. They're kinda fun actually.. Definitely do the cutaway into the ghost plane up high so that if something does go wrong you have time to deal with it....

I always have my students smile and/or make a funny face. Its hard to be tense when you're being goofy. I took up a level 5 Saturday who had been having trouble with spins. His body position was good - he was just tense. He started spinning right off - I caught him, looked him in the face and stuck my tongue out and made a goofball face. He made the same face right back at me. I let him go, and he had this really astonished look on his face cuz he wasn't spinning now. He then did a controlled 360 turn with the same look of astonishment on his face. It was hilarious. I always tell my students you can't be too tense if you're smiling. Force a smile onto your face and you will relax.. Just remember skydiving is fun :-)

It was a 182! Most of us who grow up at 182 dropzones learn early on to always look out the door and choose when to go. The pilot just says when its ok to open the door.. Its unfortunate that many big dz jumpers forget that.. They tend to get used to leaving when the pilot says go! I kinda like being able to direct the plane. We had lots of puffy clouds today and I directed the pilot on multiple loads to zig this way and zag that way so we didn't hit them. It reminds me of a time about 10 years ago I was visiting a dz with an otter. The gps went out on the plane. I had 1 jump total there I think. Everyone in the back was like lost - seemed to be clueless how to spot! I suspect the tandem masters in the front might have had a clue but everyone in the back looked lost. So I (who grew up with 182's) had to spot the Otter at a dz I'd jumped at once because none of the fun jumpers there had a clue.. It was amusing - and what was even more amusing was how after I got down people talked to me like I was a god because I knew how to stick my head out of the airplane and spot!

I love mine as well - it'd be hard to have a premature brake fire on those...

Not sure we're that desperate

We called them and they said they didn't have any.

Paragear doesn't have them. The comments on shelf life are interesting tho

Laugh. He did a great job feeling my camera on level 7 :) he's been working as a dz heyboy all summer( cleaning bathrooms etc) to pay for his aff. His packing is getting faster and better and he'll be a dx bum soon. Unfortunately he's gotta go back to high school so we will lose him during the week soon

I just graduated a 16 year old dz kid today :-) The best part is that I taught him to pack and I've had a personal packer for a few weeks now :-)

Twas a good day for CRW - got 2 people at my dz their 4-stacks today (I'm still thirsty tho :-) Have probably done 6-8 first CRW jumps the past 2 weeks so its all fun.. Its good stuff..

We are trying to put together a rig for a young jumper here and he has an Astra which works and is good for his AAD - but the cutter is timed out and the factory doesn't have any. (And he can't afford a brand new AAD). Anyone have any clues as to who might have one sitting on a shelf somewhere? W

A couple of years ago I hit my head and sliced a gash in it. Someone looked at it and said I really needed stitches. So the next morning I went to one of the urgent care clinics (not an ER). I got some stitches and a tetanus shot. Total cost - $1700.. Insurance knocked it down to $1500 (which I had to pay because I have high-deductible insurance.) The tetanus shot alone they charged me $400 for! I wouldn't have done any of it if I had had even the faintest clue that they would charge me that much. I would have slapped a bandaid on it and been done with it.

Please use the classifieds. Thanks