crutch

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Everything posted by crutch

  1. crutch
    Thanks for fixing the audio portion blue skies, art
  2. crutch
    Chuck, you hit the nail on the head! I was on the 200-way back in '92, it was very well organized, but it still was very expensive (plus one week off work). I was invited to the 300-way, but it was going to cost about twice as much. My feeling nowadays is that I had my record, it was fun, not willing to spend the money required to do it again. There are plenty of capable skydivers out there, it has just gotten way too political and way too expensive for the average person to go. blue skies, art
  3. crutch
    Call first, or you may be disappointed. blue skies, art
  4. crutch
    That right there sums it up! There is a difference between being confident and thinking you know it all. I have over 3400 tandems and I still watch, ask and learn from other people. The minute you quit being willing to learn/try something new to make the skydive more enjoyable for both your passenger and yourself, you need to give it up! Being confident, that is entirely up to the individual, how do you feel every time you step out of the plane with someone strapped to you? Are you throwing out enough confidence that your passenger is feeling it and is relaxed with you? These are questions only you can answer. blue skies, art
  5. crutch
    May I ask why? The STC goes with such things as extended wingtips, cuffs on the leading edge, etc. The gross weight is raised, so the weight of the fifth jumper becomes a non-issue. blue skies, art
  6. crutch
    Thanks Jeff, this way if he comes down our way, I don't have to write the accident report. blue skies, art
  7. crutch
    $10 to 5500 at Skydive Palatka, $12 to 5500 at Skydive Deland, $20 to get into the plane at Skydive Jacksonville, altitude optional. Those are the only ones I frequent enough to tell you the price here in Florida. blue skies, art
  8. crutch
    Being from the greater Jacksonville area also, I really would like to know who you placed this order with, I need to make sure none of my students are led doen that road. Getting back to your question, I have seen a couple. None resulting in any serious injuries. Two, where the reserve split upon openning and one line over. I have been involved in and seen several main/reserve entanglements also, so yes they happen. All were preventable by following better procedures. blue skies, art
  9. crutch
    On my personal rig, I took the disc into the shop and polished it mirror smooth. The drogue bridle actually wore more at the attachment point than it did going through the disc. Even then, I put about 750 jumps on it before it needed replacing. blue skies, art
  10. crutch
    This is an exit on Saturday with hurricane Jeanne in the background. The passsenger is 80 years old and has an artifical left leg. We jumped from a C-182 over Palatka not long before the winds shut us down. blue skies, art
  11. crutch
    I am going to have to interject here. I use to own one (Strong Tandem) and when the main blew up, was accused of poor packing. When the reserve blew up the same way on a friend of mine's rig, I sold mine and bought a different brand. I have had nothing but great service from them, and a very good product. So when I bought another one, it was from that company (Relative Workshop). blue skies, art
  12. crutch
    There are also a lot of very good smaller DZ's in Florida, where you may get much more one on one coaching/instructing. The price may also be better, you don't get caught up in all the going ons, and there is usaually a lot less "traffic" in the air when you jump. I am not going to promote my DZ (Skydive Palatka), just say that going to a "large" DZ doesn't always get you any better instruction either. blue skies, art
  13. crutch
    Something extra that I would rather not worry about until needed. I think people need to learn how to feel the air without the assistance of a bootie. blue skies, art
  14. crutch
    Everything Chuck says, he summed it up pretty well. Except, I shelled out the extra dough and bought a Sigma. It is by far one of the best investments I have ever made. Although, it is heavier and much wider than the Racer (which is be far the most comfortable for the TM) the system has to be the simplest out there, with very nice well thought out safety features. blue skies, art
  15. crutch
    Jacksonville is sometimes hit or miss, so you can try them. Palatka is about an hour south of Jacksonville. We are open every Saturday and Sunday, and have been jumping a couple of days during the week lately. Give Jeff a call at the DZ for the schedule the days you are going to be in town. If he knows what days, we can usaully round up a few locals and make some jumps. blue skies, art
  16. crutch
    If you think about it that is only two a weekend. blue skies, art
  17. crutch
    This had to be one of the toughest calls I ever had to make. It would have been real easy to cross my fingers and hope for the best, hell there were two ex-Golden Knights on the load who had done much tougher jumps. The amount of work that goes into planning and setting up a jump like this is really unbelievable, if you don't have any idea, get involved in just the ground crew one time. In the end the man who writes the check for this jump thought very well of our decision and has us coming back in two weeks, so look for pictures then (besides the tandem, we are jumping a 30' x 60' American flag into the stadium). As a footnote to anyone getting demo insurance, the people at Insurance Technologies& Programs, Inc. have been great to work with all year. They willing moved the coverage to the next game with no added fees! blue skies, art
  18. crutch
    Back in the early '90s didn't go to Europe. Then I think it crashed at some point, but I was told they were going to rebuild it. I haven't heard of anything about it since then. Was the nicest Porter I ever jumped when it was based here in Deland. blue skies, art
  19. crutch
    Thanks for your suppost John. The decision also had nothing to do with who was on the jump with us. Although, it took quite awhile to convince Curtis we were not going to jump! Well, we will try it again in two weeks! blue skies, art
  20. crutch
    That was the plan, but we got winded out, so we are going to try again in two weeks. But, back to the subject at hand. You need to get a waiver to the BSR's to do a tandem into a stadium. You can get hold of, I think, Jim Couch, at USPA headquarters and he can help you through the process. I personally have done three tandems into the stadium here and Jacksonville, all have been very well received. It is a bit tricky jumping into the bowls though, as the winds do some awful funny things down inside of there. blue skies, art
  21. crutch
    What kills me is Chris screws it up for the whole team and then they blindside Brook at tribal council because he is too strong a player! blue skies, art
  22. crutch
    Actually, it all depends on the interpetation of the S&TA that signs one off for the jumps. I have dealt with some who say first point of contact, others where one actually stops completely. One of the items that definitely needs to be addressed. As far as "hook" turns at a demo, we avoid them in the stadium as the winds are always pretty funky inside. At the beach though, as long as you are not breaking the 50' and 15' rules set by the FAA, I don't see a problem. blue skies, art
  23. crutch
    This has been hashed over many times in other threads, so let's don't hijack this one. Back to the subject at hand. I have worn earplugs since about my tenth jump. It is a little hard to hear in the plane, but I can still hear on the ground. Back in the day 30 minutes in the Soutern Cross, 7 or 8 times in a day would cause anyone's ears to be ringing. I use the foam ones on a string, a box of 500 is $30 dollars I think, something like that. They have a db reduction of 23 I think. blue skies, art
  24. crutch
    There is usually an addendum attached to the waiver for demos that we get. Amongst those there is some verbige about not do hook turns, although DOD teams are exempt from all of these "extra" rules. blue skies, art
  25. crutch
    Chuck, I just ordered my S3 today, they are saying it will be here in time to debut at the boogie. I am keeping my fingers crossed! blue skies, art