webracer

I heard about the skydiver who tried to land on the arch, actually did, then fell off and died. Not sure if those details are exactly true, but that's what I heard. I would LOVE to jump the Arch. It would be awesome to get permission and make a day of it. A nice safe 600' drop with very few obstacles. You'd need permission and insurance. I'd be there. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Well, quite a statement. If you want to avoid it, ground the plane! Every skydiving accident can be avoided by staying on the ground (everyone). You're new, you want to protect life. You don't understand the high-speed approaches, so you want to stop them. Not the answer. Learn yourself first. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

A serious talk indeed. First you have to decide what you want to talk about. The low turns that kill are very often unplanned. Swooping doesn't necessarily involve low turns. I can start a 180 at 500' (is that low?), and 800' for a 270. If I am below 400', I will not initiate more than a 90 degree turn, and below 300, I'll just turn in and do a non-high-performance approach. I also disagree with labeling my HP approaches as hook turns. They are not the turns that first were called hook turns. If you want to eliminate low turn injuries/deaths, just "serious" talking won't due, you'll have to eliminate skydiving. All low turns are preventable by definition, but our decision making process doesn't always prevent them. How you gonna change that? Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I flew down to Ft. Myers (from Chicago) on 12/20, before Orange, not even a second look at carrying on my cypres equipped rig. I flew back 1/1, during Orange, the x-ray tech did a doubletake and stopped the belt, but let it through and didn't ask me a question. I carried my logbook, riggers ticket, USPA card, cypres book & card with me just incase. I checked my dytters and protrack along with my helmet My alitmeter is mounted on the rh legstrap, that went through with the rig. I was quite pleased with how the TSA handled it, the training is working (or maybe not). Anyway, no problems for me. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I have had this happen on a number of occasions. The first time I learned of it when I went to flare after coming off rear risers on approach. It all turned out ok, luckily it was a bit windy so I didn't need much toggle stroke to stop. I have grabbed the kill lines on a couple more occasions, but check carefully as I pull the slider down, and after I get the toggles in my hands I go out to arms length at shoulder level and look. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Tom, I was at Skyventure, and one of the employees (left unnamed), had recently taken Jimmy and Marta's course. He said he got an email (inferred from them) that the cave was closed. I figured it was a rumor, but thought I'd pass it around. I'm looking forward to going in March. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I heard yesterday that the cave was now closed for jumpers. Sounds untrue. Anyone else hear about it? Planning a trip in March, it'd suck if it cancelled. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I use IP 55 cameras, quality is adequate for purpose. Sharing via firewire is difficult. Cameras are not as good in low-light conditions as the miniDV cameras I have used. I get by though, and it is small and light. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Pretty much anything that is not current or my own. I am a rigger for myself, and do a few friends (for free). Generally I'm maintaining my two or three rigs, and up to four others. I have packed a swift 5 cell in an old vector once, but that won't happen again. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I agree with SDUCoach. I am not against grounding the jumper. He/She may be ok for "everyday" procedures, but when it comes to emergencies, this can't be good. You need everything you've got working for you to handle today's emergencies, a cast or similar is not appropriate. Sometimes we are quite anxious to get in the air, and make bad decisions. If you cannot be talked out of it, grounding is the only option. It sucks, I know... but death sucks more... for all of us! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Go to Adobe's website and look for total training. Or search the web (it may be www.totaltraining.com) It is 16 hours on DVD covering all the tools and options, and then some labs and projects. It is great. It also is only $99 now, It was $249 before Premiere pro came out. I cannot recommend it enough. I have already gotten two folks at the DZ to buy it, and you know how cheap us skydivers are. You can get a taste by putting in disc three from the installation set. It has a sample of the training. AWESOME! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Just to let everyone know, I flew from Chicago (ORD) to Fort Meyers with my rig on 12/20. The rig went through xray (for carryon) and they didn't give it a second look. I was prepared though, with info from TSA and USPA websites, the cypres book and card, and my USPA card and riggers ticket. This was a day before the terrorist level was set to high though, we'll see going back on 1/1/04. It was in a gear bag with no other equipment other than the alti-II on the legstrap. I was quite surprised they didn't even slowdown the conveyor through the xray machine. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I have done Airspeed's camp twice now, once with 300 jumps, once with 500 jumps. I am going to do it again this year. I think Airspeed's camp is the best, but I have only attended Airspeed's camp. I am going after Christmas for 30 minutes (I have 1:40:00 so far), to do some time with Guy Wright, and some friends. I will still be in Airspeed's basic camp this spring (April probably). I have heard the NSL camp is great too, and if you do a personalized camp with Majik, that is awesome too. I'll stick with Airspeed's camps, they have a great setup. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Spend as much time in there as you can afford. For starters, the tunnel coaches can do well by you, but if you're going to spend more than a half hour, get an individual coach. You'll go back to your dz and they'll be VERY surprised at your skill level (especially if you don't tell them you were at the tunnel). It is never a waste of time to go to the tunnel, no matter how many jumps you have. Airspeed, Army, Majik, etc... still go to the tunnel to train, they have many thousands of jumps (some over 15000), and still learn and progress individually. It is much like freefall, without the time constraints and danger. GO, GO, GO! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

This is not a good idea unless you are quite careful figure-8-ing the unstowed lines. Even then you may be asking for trouble. Years and lots of mals have been spent developing the current deployment staging. Deviation may result in more reserve rides than normal. Give it a try though, it's your life! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Good choice, the extra money is worth it. I have three of them, and love them. I tried a z1 in the tunnel and it didn't fit me well. I also dont' think the fit/finish is as good. Oxygn lenses are a bit expensive, and I replace a lens about every 150 jumps or so. If you clean it per their recommendations, you'll get good life out of the lens, other than the cracking that happens after a while (150-200 jumps) due to opening the lens with no frame. I open after deployment every jump. It's worth the money though, visibility is tops, quiet, comfortable. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I started at 33, I think the majority over forty are late-comers. Maybe late-twenties, early thirties for most of them, but I agree with Quade that many people participate for 10 years or so and lay off. Hope I'm not one of them. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

John, way to go keeping it on track. Isn't it kinda foolish that they create the hoops, then give certain folks a "gate key?" Maybe the hoops are there to provide a basis for discrimination. Discriminating against who? Professors are one demographic apparently. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Jen, The Raven reserve is a good one. Yes, they had problems with stitching, something they did in the past, then stopped doing, then restarted. The real problem with them is the way they handled the recall. They put out a mandatory recall, for fairly recent products, and charged for the repair. Some great dealers did the repairs for their customers (that bought the reserves from them) for free. Precision ultimately accepted the profits from the sales but would not accept responsibility for the product. Regarding your reserve, if it was covered by the recall, and was repaired, or if it was not covered, and is "OK", you have no need to worry. You know I love ya and I wouldn't mind you using it. I have switched to PD exclusively, but only because of Precision's attitude regarding the recall. I had two dash-m reserves at the time and dumped them. They were not affected by the recall as they were too new, but I dumped them because of Precision's lack of responsible behavior. In fact, I would only recommend dash-m or PD reserves, but I haven't seen the Smart yet. I don't think the dash-m reserves fly quite as well under high wingloading as the PD reserves though (not a problem in your case). Keep the reserve, it'll serve you well when you need it! If you try to sell it, you will likely not get much due to the confusion about this issue and the attitude of people like me that like good customer service. If you buy new, buy PD though (the best choice) BTW, I have a PD126R for sale if you're interested. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

A good point by Jimbo. Yep, I think my Odyssey RPC spring is pretty weak, but when I popped it last week on the ground, it went airborne until the bridle arrested it (went the entire length of the bridle). I think it'll work fine. I compared it to a new one, and the new one seemed a bit stronger, but hard to compare when just using your hands. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

When I jumped a skyhook test rig, the skyhook worked. I was under canopy before I could even get my hands on the reserve handle. It stayed stowed, no reason to pull it. I don't have any such backups on my rigs, so I'll go for the reserve. I do have a cypres, but I think I'll go ahead and deploy the reserve before it backs me up! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Jen, I will most likely avoid Perris, although I had no plans to visit there anyway (in the near future). I choose to take my business where it is appreciated. It seems to me that Perris doesn't want it, and thus the point of this thread. Perris' lawyer is trying to justify his existence, and they are listening. As far as facilities, you know I hang at the best facilities in the world, Perris may be good, but not as good as home. As far as you moving...THAT'S GREAT!!! I'll go through some hassle to see you down there. See you soon buddy! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

Hey Jen, They hassled you? Well, that's all the info I need. I am too old to go through bullshit from kids in manifest. There are plenty of places to go without going to Perris. Maybe I'll see DanBC somewhere so I can voice my displeasure in person. Anyway, I'll not likely go to Perris because of their poor service and bullshit checking in. Hassling people with "D" license is uncalled for. It should not matter to them exactly how many jumps you have, just that you're current. Sounds like some youngins are taking libertys without management supervision. I miss you Jen! Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I sure hope you haven't updated your profile in a while, it lists you as 330 jumps on a Xaos21-88 at 1.95:1 wl. Aside from that, if you have a xaos-21, use the similar sized velocity for container size, if you have a xaos-27, use the similar sized VX for containers size. A xaos-21-88 will fit nicely in an RS.1, a V304 or V314, or an MX. These are assuming 113 reserves. The manufacturer's websites are accurate most of the time. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

I don't travel with my logbook. I do have a protrack, and they can call SDC to see when my last jump was. I have AFFI on my USPA card, that oughta be enough. I do still keep a logbook, but lots of my friends don't. I keep one in Jumptrack and hardcopy, partly for liability for AFP jumps, where I log the happenings of the jump, and my story at the time, so if a twisted ankle resulted in a lawsuit later, I will be able to recall the situation. Back on the topic, I have now heard of a few folks that get hassled about logbooks. Anyone show up without one? What do they do then? I don't have any problem with the rig going to sq1, better someone inspects the rigs that knows what they're doing. I don't have to worry about mine, but I do worry about some that I see out there. Troy I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.