Cornholio

Ok...that explains why I have not seen it before. Thanks for the quick answers. - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Ok...that explains why I have not seen it before. Thanks for the quick answers. - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

I have been looking for a new or slightly used Altimaster and I ran accross an ad on E-Bay for an Altimaster V. Is this guy for real ? I cannot find any info on an Altimaster 5 on their website. To me it looks like an Alti2 with an Alti3 hand mount. What do you think ? I tried sending him e-mail, but I have not heard anything back yet. Ebay ad is here __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

I have been looking for a new or slightly used Altimaster and I ran accross an ad on E-Bay for an Altimaster V. Is this guy for real ? I cannot find any info on an Altimaster 5 on their website. To me it looks like an Alti2 with an Alti3 hand mount. What do you think ? I tried sending him e-mail, but I have not heard anything back yet. Ebay ad is here __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

.....site......is....getting......so............slow....... .....54 users.........and......10 guests........ .....I........don't........think.......I.............can...........hang........on.......much......longer...... .....must.........stay............alert........... __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

100 more to go.... count me in for the chance at 100000 !! __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

You mean spell right WRITE ?? Where did the word WRIGHT come from ? __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

That's right... another bird has left the nest! As some of you know, I was having some concerns last Friday with jumping out of the Cessna 182. Thread is here Well, as it turns out it was a little larger than that. It sat 5 +1, so I think it was a 209 or the next one bigger than the 182. So anyway, I graduated AFF!!! in 8 jumps too - no failures here. I did my level 7 and level 8 dives on Friday. That little plane was pretty fun to jump out of, although I could do without the long-ass ride to altitude -about 30 minutes. Jump #7 was probably the best dive I did so far. Out, get stable, backflip, left turn, right turn, turn 180 and track and pull.... and yes, I did have a few seconds at the end before I pulled. There were no problems on that dive. I even landed standing up again - twice in a row!! However level 8 was a pain in the ass. I am so suprised I passed. The objectives for the dive were to jump out in a linked fashion, then I was supposed to dock/redock with the instructor a few times, then spin 180 and track off and pull. Well, that's not exactly how it turned out.... We left the plane, but I was so damn tense that it took forever to get stable. I jumped at 11k and I remember doing my first dock at about 8.0K because it took forever for me to get stable After I undocked, it was near 7, so I was suppsed to do a 180 and track off. Well, instead, I did about a 340 and then I tracked in a clockwise circle for 5-6 seconds totally losing my heading. I then pulled at around 4500 and landed with a skip...ok I fell to my knees then got right back up. When I returned to the hangar, I thought I had totally blew that dive until I hear people yelling and yelling " BEEER!!!" I was thinking "OMG - how the hell could I have passed that dive ? " Well, it turns out that even though it took a while to get stable, I still was able to pass because of two things. One, is because I did make one dock and undock. And the second was because my pull sequence was PERFECT... I have this problem of putting my right leg down at pull time and getting unstable. Well, this jump was the best pull I did yet without putting my leg down or getting unstable. Sorry, I don't have any pics or video of these last dives. There were no camera guys there on Friday. Overall, I think the biggest things they were looking out for me, or any student, was altitude awareness, recover from unstable position, and to pull stable. Don't get me wrong, I know I have a lot to work on... but I think I got the basics down now. I didn't have time to do my first solo, but the jump that I was on was almost a sunset dive. Had we waited about another 10 minutes, it would have been perfect!! Thanks for all your help and advice... it payed off so far!! - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Hey Dove, I didn't catch the first part of your accident. What happened to you ? Is there a thread on here someplace that sheds some light on your situation ? Glad to hear that you're making a speedy recovery!! Thx- Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

You are correct Hook, in that I'm mainly doing it for currency. If I don't jump tomorrow, it will be at least another 2 weeks before I jump again. And yes, everyone did give me great advice so far. The only concern I have is that when jumping out, someone said to look at the tail to keep your arch/head up. So the wind will be at your back and not at your front like jumping out of the KA ? That will be a new feeling for me. __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Hehe...you sound EXACTLY like my JM. Another reason for wanting to do a couple jumps our of the 182, is I want to get familiar, so that when I do my hop'n'pop, I won't have any worries. You're probably right though...soon, I'll be wanting to dive out of everything. It's just the fear of becoming unstable and not coming out of it that scares me. And I know that the only way to get over that fear is to just DO IT , get unstable, and then get out of it safely. I was terrified of doing backflips last weekend too, but after the first one, I said "Hey that wasn't so bad" then looked at my instructor and did another one!! haha. __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

I'm thinking about doing my AFF levels 7 and 8 tomorrow. The thing is, is that I will be jumping out of a tiny 182 rather than the King Air I am used to. AND, I will be jumping out at 11K rather than 14K . AND I will be DIVING out - not poised exit. Bottom line is - I'm a little terrified!! I talked to my JM on the phone today to ask her opinion if I was capable (she knows my experience) of doing what I need to out of the 182, and if I had enough time/altitude rather than the King Air. She said that the AFF program was designed for 9K deployment, so I should have plenty of time. I shouldn't be worried about anything different when jumping out of a smaller, less altitude-bound airplane, should I ?? I guess I'm thinking like this: the less altitude = less time = must hurry = might fawk up....get unstable, and then pull upside down..etc..etc... And a diving exit, rather than a poised exit...is it harder to get stable ? Any encouragement or advice would be appreciated. I'm still doing it, no matter what, I just need a push...hehe - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

That is good to know. I have been putting my student helmet on up to 2k, then off, on again at 10k and then off again after landing. Okay-- more questions... Why did you strip off the airvents on the front ? Do they get in the way or make too much noise (wind resistance ) ? Is it better to leave them closed or open ? One think I did notice, though, was the 2 airvents on the back top. Would those become a problem, since they are just plastic grommets that can be pulled out ? The nylon strap w/snap on the back - is that really a problem ? I still plan to use mine for snowboarding and would like to leave it on if possible. - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Although it appears that another dude has his hand on 'your' woman's ass... Did you have to share ?? Sloppy seconds, perhaps ?? __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Should be on right now... at least according to this : Time Table __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

That makes me feel a bit better. I looked at it last night and it would be possible to mount something either on the outside or carve out a piece of styro on the inside and mount it there. The only problem I see with it is in the summer time. Afterall it is a winter snowboarding helmet. Do you think it will get a bit warm in there ? Then again, there is a 30 degree difference when you're up that high, so maybe it won't be so bad. Guess I'll just have to jump it a few times and let you guys know. I searched back and back in this forum for info on helmets and could not find a thread similar to this one. - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Thanks for the feedback, Jason It appears that there is room on the side to strap a dytter or time-out. There appears to be a little room inside, but maybe I can work something out. Let me look at it again.... That's about the only bad thing I can think about it. It looks sharp!! It's lightweight. __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

I just bought a helmet - a snowboard helmet. I bought it for two reasons actually - I need it for snowboarding (duh) , and I plan on using it for skydiving as well. Is there any problems using a snowboard/ski helmet for skydiving ? It has adequate padding, is ASTM certified (not Snell.) I could't beat the price. Tri-City (the worlds largest sporting good store - ) is having their 50% off sale. I got it for 70 bucks !! Here's the one I have. It's the Myto Air. Anyone else out there that wears a snowboard/ski helmet ? It fits like a glove and I have no problems wearing it. Will I stand out at the DZ if I wear it? hehe __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

I have just recently been finding out that Streaming Windows Media format (.WMV) works really good. It is a highly compressed format that looks and sounds really good. I have a couple vids encoded with that and they look pretty sharp. A two minute (384Kb @ 30 FPS) ) movie is just under 5MB. The tricky part was getting it to play on the web. I had to "copy" another sites video link page, and then I just inserted my video filename in where theirs was. www.almgren.net/aff __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Thanks for the encouragement. I could be wrong, but I thought the hop'n'pop was from 3500' ?? or not. 5000' I can handle (that's an extra 10-12 seconds) but 3500' sounds a bit too low for my comfort level. __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Guy ?? That wasn't a guy That was Connie - for those of you familiar with the Byron DZ. She kicks ass!! My next jumps will probably be in a couple weeks. I am busy next weekend. Yeah, that hop-n-pop is what scares me next. I think level 7 and 8 will be a breeze now. __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Thanks for the advice. I would try the bathtub thing, but I don't have one... I have a shower/bath, but the walls and door will get in the way. I do need to work on my deployment. It seems that I can hold a steady arch up until that point. I asked my JM if on my level 7 and maybe 8 if I can do a couple practice pulls before I actually do it. I like that " trying to move the Pilot chute to your hand " That is so true. I was in the habit of looking back for it, but I have stopped doing that, but my arch still goes to shit cause I drop my knees and don't keep my balance when my arms are not at my sides acting as stabilizers. __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

My AFFLevel 6 video is online for those interested parties. I am so excited. There were so many firsts today!! I think I owe a lot of beer. - First (and last) Level 6 - First backflip - First stand up landing - First edited video - First time doing more than 2 jumps ( I did 3 today: 4, 5, and 6) - First poised solo exit Gosh, I was so freakin nervous about this jump. The backflip scared the shit out of me, but I told myself that I was just going to give it a try and see what happens. Well, the first time didn't go too well, but the second one kicked ass ( IMO ) and the thrid one was OK. Feel free to grab it and post it on the ftp skydiving site or use it wherever. I can relate to what Ann was talking about when she made/edited her first video. What a rad thing to do. http://www.almgren.net/aff/ __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

Woohoo!! 0:3:0 Passed AFF Levels 4, 5, and 6 today!! Backflips are cool !!!! Not just one, but TWO backflips !! Video soon to follow, once I edit the tape. - Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.

What exactly does this mean, and is there a way that it could have been prevented by doing a proper gear check ? No offense, Pete, if it could not have been avoided by checking your gear. -Matt __________________________________________ If first you don't succeed....skydiving is not for you.