wolfriverjoe

Probably the best answer so far. You say you have an established career. Are you willing to throw that all away to put yourself into deep debt (4year college level debt) for a job that might pay 20k/yr for a long time? It's a lot of hard work, stress, long hours and time away from home for very little money. If you don't have the passion for it, you won't be happy. Like davelepka said, go take an intrductory "First Flight" lesson. Find a decent flight school in your area, go out and talk to them. Kinda like a tandem, they'll teach you the bare basics on the ground (15-30 min) take you up and let you do a good bit of the flying. Maybe give you a logbook and a certificate. Then you decide if it's something you want to pursue. I'd suggest doing the "evenings and weekends" thing (if you have a job where you can have a morning or afternoon off a couple times a week that's best) and get your private. Build hours and get your commercial (single engine). That will let you fly jumpers at a 182 DZ, and you will start earning a bit of money back, and be an asset to the DZ. Plan on it being an expensive hobby that will support itself after a while and you won't be disappointed. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

On 95 in Va/MD cops are like friggen' pace cars with a mob of pissed off drivers in line. As soon as he pulls off on an exit its like the start of a Nascar race. Cracks me up everytime Well, it's even funnier to watch people cruising along at 65-68 (in a 65 zone) stomp on the brakes and drop down to 60-62 when they see a cop in the median. The truck I drive is governed at a little less than 65. So these morons go past me, then see the cop, pull in front of me and slow down. C"MON PEOPLE!!! The speed limit is 65. The cop won't pull you over if you aren't going over it! "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

On the delay falls I was being jumpmastered by an instructor who spotted, called the cut and told me to go (by the 3rd jump I didn't need the "Get your feet out and stop, go all the way out and hang, GO! commands). Just like with the S/L and PRCPs he would stay in the plane and watch out the door as I fell. Because I was only falling a couple thousand feet he could tell how I did. Once I was cleared for solo self-supevision, I would ride the plane up with tandems or other jumpers and do a solo jump. Once again, your instructors should have told you this. Where are you jumping? (filling the rest of your profile out would help) Are you doing this as a structured progression? Or have you done a couple static line jumps as one-time deals and want to go on? "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I don't think so. We just publicize them a lot more than elsewhere. We have a lrger share of shameless idiots, but overall about the same total numbers. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Hook, line, and sinker!!! Oh, and the US is not a democracy, even though you and the Dems would like it to be one No, it's a representative republic. Where the representatves are democratically elected. And those elections are pure popularity contests. Whoever can get the most voters to believe their line wins. And I don't like him much, but Obama won the popularity contest by a large margin, Because his "hope and change" line was more popular. And because Bush had become so unpopular. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Alaska is a tough place to fly in. Weather, terrain, and lack of navaids all contribute to the difficulty. I can't find a location other than "325 miles southwest of Anchorage". Plane was a DHC-3 Otter (single engine). ABC News story "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I have done two static line jumps. The way they have it outlined is you do two static line jumps with good arch, and three more static line jumps with practice rip cord pulls and then a hop n pop. Right. But the H&P isn't from 10K. That would be a long, long canopy ride. It's from the same altitude as the static line and PRCPs. After that you start doing delay falls (Freefalls) from progressively higher altitudes. When I did it, they had me do "10 second" delays, then "15 second" delays (doing nothing more than falling stable or simple turns). The 15 sec were from about 6000 feet. After that, they had me stop counting and use the altimiter (although I was using it during the delay falls too). Then I was cleared for self-supervision solo jumps and coach jumps. This is all stuff your instructors should tell you. Hope that helps. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I read the whole thread before replying. Thank you. You may have saved his life. You may have saved mine. I work out there on those roads and some of the drivers are very scary. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Good call. http://thechive.com/2010/08/11/a-word-from-jenny-16-photos/ Today's message from "Jenny". "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

They certainly can be! What exactly is dangerous about opening hard? Is it just the risk of physical injury? Is there also a risk that passenger becomes detached from the TI, etc? The 2 dangers are physical injury and canopy damage. You will not detach from the TI due to a hard opening (or if you do it won't matter anymore). The breaking force of 2 of the attachment points (there are 4 used) is high enough that an opening hard enough to break them has enough force that you would be dead. The upper connectors have a 5000# breaking strength and the lowers have a 2500# breaking strength. The webbing has a 6000# breaking strength. You will not break loose. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

What are folks using these days? I used to keep a bunch of 550 in my gearbag for pull-ups and closing loops. All gutted of course. I use "Type IIA" in mine and in several others. Type IIA is gutted 550 cord "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Because groups like the KKK, have proven over time that they are willing to do more the just exercise their freedom of speech. They have no problem resorting to violence. Same goes for radical Muslims. Sorry, but I can't agree. If (when) they commit a crime, go after them. Put them under surveillance, infiltrate them with FBI guys, whatever. But their freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly is pretty clearly spelled out in the Bill of Rights. Again, I hate their philosophy. But where do you draw the line? KKK, radical muslims, PETA, NRA? "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Yeah, I see that in a lot of car shops too. But I am willing to put a little extra time and effort into showing someone what's what and how stuff works and fits together. I would much rather have that than the typical "Here's my rig, can you have it done tomorrow?" then they turn and walk away. One of the reasons I got my ticket (and the main thing I took from the course) is to better understand how the gear works. I know not everyone agrees, but that's OK too.

You spoke of no action and preaching hate is no difrfrent then the KKK preaching hate. Because freedom of speech applies to all americans not just the ones you like. I guess I don't see how you can support freedom of speech at the same time as criminalizing the KKK. I hate their racist drivel. I also hate the intolerant crap spouted by any extemist. Religious, political, racist, whatever. But that's what freedom of speech really means. The right to piss people off with words. Different from "Fire in a crowded theater" or incitement to riot. Or actually committing a crime (or conspiring to which is a crime in itself). I can't support taking that freedom from people that I disagree with because I don't want it taken away from me if others disagree with what I have to say. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

FIFY

No. These idiots have always been out there. They just have a better way of getting their message out now that there is an internet. The same point was made in the 9/11 truther thread recently. Some of them are so convinced that evolution doesn't happen. I gotta admit that many of them seem to prove that Darwin was wrong. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I have less time than that in the sport, but I am like a sponge. I want to learn and be good at my new found craft. Both jumping and rigging. But if someone at my home DZ said they wanted to assemble their new rig, I would tell them not to. Like you said, "What could go wrong?" I like that answer. I would be against anyone assembling their own gear without proper training. If someone brought me a rig they had put together on their own and asked if I'd check it, I'd probably take it completly apart and start from step one. Not as a punishment or to be a dick, but because I have a set procedure for assembly to make sure it is done right. I would, however, be more than happy to assemble it with them watching, explaining as I go. It would probably take longer, but I wouldn't charge any extra. I'd be fine taking the extra time to help someone who is actually interested in how the gear goes together and how stuff works. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

180mph is a totally different world. The only people who have any real seat time at those speeds are F1, Indy car (whatever the leagues are called) and NASCAR (the pro-class dragster guys go even faster, but it's only a few seconds at a time). And they have some pretty spectacular wrecks, despite their skills. Anyone who is skilled enough to handle those speeds knows enough that there isn't any open, public road where this would be "safe" to do. Anyone who thinks this is anything other than really stupid and dangerous has no real appreciation for how fast shit happens at those speeds. A small to mid-sized animal (racoon or bigger) would quite possibly be enough to cause you to wreck. I've been up to around 100-110 on a sport bike once. Trying to focus on controlling the bike, watch out for bumps on the road, and watching for cross traffic was too much (maybe with experience I would be better at it). I did a hard stop and was amazed how long it took (and the bike had great brakes). "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

You beat me to it (Google had it up as the first suggestion after I got to "conser"). This quote is one I found rather amusing. "Some liberal politicians have extrapolated the theory of relativity to metaphorically justify their own political agendas. For example, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama helped publish an article by liberal law professor Laurence Tribe to apply the relativistic concept of "curvature of space" to promote a broad legal right to abortion.[45] As of June 2008, over 170 law review articles have cited this liberal application of the theory of relativity to legal arguments.[46] Applications of the theory of relativity to change morality have also been common.[47] Moreover, there is an unmistakable effort to censor or ostracize criticism of relativity" "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I've always wondered what would happen if a passenger would "escape" from one of those "delay from hell" situations (where the passengers are trapped in the plane for hours) in that manner. Just scream "Fuck you, I'm outta here" and go out one of the emergency exits. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Don't ever forget that the rules and recommendations were the result of someone (or many someones) getting hurt or killed. Don't think that you are different or special when someone tells you that you need more experience when you want to do something. If 5 people give you advice that you don't want to hear (presuming that they are knowledgable enough to give that advice) don't go looking for someone else to tell you what you want to hear. Don't get complacent. Shit can happen in an instant. Last - NEVER EVER tell your instructor "But someone on DZ.com said..." "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Some think it is good, some think otherwise. Search results for "Diploma commercial skydiving NZ": http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results;search_forum_id=;search_string=diploma%20commercial%20skydiving%20NZ;search_user_username=;search_user_id=;search_time=;search_forum_type=all;search_forum=all;search_fields=sb;search_type=AND;page=1;mh=25; Going from 1 tandem to making a living at it is a big jump. If I understand it correctly, you won't have enough experience (jump numbers) to go pro in the UK. You would need to build more experience before you could make any real money at it. And for the most part, "real money" in skydiving means living in a trailer on the DZ, eating a lot of beans and rice. There are execptions to this, but they aren't all that common. Do it for fun, worry about turning it into a profession later. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

30C is about 85F. That's pretty hot. With a "normal" 182 you are going to lose a lot of performance at those temps. With 4 bodies on board it will not climb very fast. You might not see 300ft/min above about 7K 30 min to altitude is an optimistic guess, I've seen it take longer. Then add in descent time, plus taxi and loading times. 45 min to an hour for a complete turn is a good ballpark figure. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Get help and advice. REAL help and advice from people you know and trust. NOT the strangers, dorks and retards on here (I include myself in that list, so take this advice with a grain of salt). There are great deals in the classifieds, but seperating them from the scams can be a bit difficult sometimes. Working with a reputable dealer is safer, but more expensive. That's where someone at your DZ with experience buying and selling can be invaluable (and it may only cost you some beer). Seperate components or a complete rig depends on what you need/want compared to what's available. I got lucky and bought a complete rig that fit me reasonably well (with appropriate canopies) from a guy at my DZ who was getting out of the sport. Tall and thin isn't all that uncommon in this sport. Look around at all the other jumpers. Anything fairly recent, in good condition, with any updates or service bulletins completed will be fine. Plan on paying a rigger for an inspection on any ger you get in a private purchase. Stuff from reputable dealers should be fine, but you can have it inspected too, if you choose to. Brand loyalty is a lot like car loyalty. It's all good stuff, some people have preferences. Although your instructors are the best judge, a wingloading of 1:1 (one pound of exit weight per square foot of canopy) is a good place to start. Keep in mind exit weight includes all your gear so at 160 or so your exit weight will be around 180-190. Get on a scale with all your gear on and see how much you weigh. You might be a bit surprised (although the student gear is pretty heavy). Hope this helps

1 - Does it hurt your face or hands (if you don't wear gloves)? It's just the sensation of 120 mph air on every square inch of skin. 2 - Don't forget that you have a large piece of cloth attached to you. It can easily double as a toga or sarong or something like that once you are on the ground and don't need it to support you anymore "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo