davelepka

You really think that the price of jumps is the problem? What's the extra cost for 6 or 7 jumps, $25 or $30? Most jumpers I know won't let $25 stand between them and a day of jumping. How about the cost of gas for your car? What's that up to in So-Cal? You have to admit that the DZ is out in the middle of nowhere. I used to commute 90 miles from the San Fernando Valley to the DZ every weekend. Figure the cost of driving to the DZ, plus driving anywhere, and that can't be helping. Also, it's in the mid 90s this weekend out there. I'm sure that's not helipng things any, and I wouldn't expect business to pick up until it cools off a bit.

Yeah, that's the way it works. Here's another example - A rig is out of date by a day. The jumper shows up at the DZ, and his rigger (who packed it the first time) goes ahead and pencil packs it for him so he can jump for the weekend. The rigger will do the actual repack on Monday. Is the rig any safer with the new signature than before? No, it's the same rig. What the rig is with the new signature is legal. If something should go wrong, quite literally, the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. It's the same thing with pilots and the commercial cert. Indeed, in many cases there are ppl holders who are ten times the aviators of some of the 21 year old comm pilots with 251 hours who are trying to dry the ink on their cert. However, the 21 year old kid is legal, and if something should go wrong, again, the paperwork is in order. As far as the witch hunt goes, this is not a witch hunt. A witch hunt implies that the hunted has done nothing wrong, and is beign unjustly persued by the mob. In this case, the hunted has proven themsleves to be a witch, and deserve to be hunted. I mean, come on, this guy has been busted and had his ticket pulled for this in the past. You think this guy deserves any slack? In terms of the 'community' goes, anyone knowingly breaking the rules would get the same treatment if the shit hit the fan. We're all grown ups here, we know the rules and we know what can happen when we break them. If you choose to operate that way, repeatedly, be ready to man up and take what you've got coming. Don't want the fallout? It's easy, toe the line, and it will never be your burden.

Sell it. Ask for 20% under book value, and see what happens. Don't lowball youself right off the bat. Plenty of guys will lowball you regardless of what price you ask, so aim high. Just take names and numbers, and when you get tired of trying to sell it, start calling the lowballers. Even though it seems like a tough sell, there are still people who need a large vehicle. Bigger families, or people who tow, or maybe as a work truck for a contractor.

How about just have fun? You only have 29 jumps, how are you supposed to choose one thing or another? It's your money paying for the jumps and the gear, you do whatever you want with it.

That break even is using today's energy costs. If the upward trend in costs continue (which it will) that break even will come sooner and sooner. I would expect that a quality hot water heater should last at least ten years. Even without rising energy costs, that will save him an average of $250 per year for ten years, after recouping his investment. Also, whatever form of hot water heating you use will require maintenence, so that cost is a wash in comparing solar to gas/electric.

You are in error in your thinking. In this case, you pay it forward to the other jumpers on the DZ by dealing with the guy in the proper manner. It's been indicated that he has been spoken to on many occasions, and he did not stop the behavior that was causing concern. This person is a danger to himself, other jumpers at the DZ, and the DZ itself. He has been given an opportunity to correct his actions, which he chose not to take. This is not the special olympics. Everyone is not a winner. The best we can do is to ensure that the losers are not other, well meaning jumpers at the DZ, but the person causing the problems. If you don't want to play by the rules, then you can't play on our playground. Your concern that he will simply travel to another DZ is easy to handle. A brief call with a heads-up for the other area DZOs will let them know to keep an eye out for the guy. Even in the middle of Florida or Sol Cal, this would only amount to 10 or 15 calls, and should take less than an hour total.

This is an area where the other jumpers at the DZ have failed. When you try to be 'nice' it seems as if it's not that big of a deal. However, if he is on track to injure himself, or worse, another jumper, than it is a big deal, and that needs to be reflected in your choice of words and actions. Conduct yourself in manner in-line with the severity of the situation. Skydiving is just all fun and games, up to a point. Beyond that point, it's dirty, and messy, and ruins (or ends) lives. Anyone who deosn't seem to understand or respect that point needs to be immediately corrected or thrown off the DZ. What happens when this guy hurts or kills another jumper or a student? Would that be good for the DZ? Would you still think he was a 'good guy'? People often times mistake these people as 'friends'. Their actions in-air should always trump their behavior on the ground. There is no excuse, and there should be no tolerence for acting like an asshole in the sky.

Your head and camera helemt are in your burble when you fly in a sit or feet first. Belly flying is better, and head down offers the smoothest air for your camera. The IS or model of camera my have an affect as well, but the upright freefly position is the toughest place to be smooth with a camera.

Don't buy a 20 year old container and reserve. I'm sure it's nice, and looks great, but just don't. Being 235 lbs, you'll be going fast on every jump, and being freefly friendly would be a good thing for you. Also, don't buy an F-111 canopy like a Raven or a PD230. Even if it's got low jumps, just don't. Look for something zero-p, you'll be much happier. I'm sure you can find something 10 years old for the same money. It may have more jumps on it, but the newer stuff just works better.

That's crazy. Even if you can double your pay by selling the stills, why the hell would you give up a jump where you will be paid, to sit on the ground and sell stills where you might get paid. Why not not forget about the stills, and make another jump with guaranteed pay. I'm not sure about you, but I go to the DZ to jump. In fact, I'd rather spend money to make another jump than skip a load and try to sell anything to anyone.

Of those two, it's the Micron. The Skyhook and magnetic riser covers seal the deal. I wouldn't worry about the comfort as this will be a custom container made to your measurements, and provided it's measured properly, it will fit like a glove. When it comes to comfort, the only way to make a fair comparison is to have jumped the latest versions of both rigs, with both being built to your measurements. Anyone who borrows either one, or had one 'years ago' are not working with correct information. And really, if the Micron wasn't a comfortable rig, would they have a 5 month backlog of orders? (The wait is due to the backlog of orders, not slow or inefficient production processes).

I'm not sure where you get the idea that 'most' DZs do one thing or another. I know where I jump, we used to offer video alone, with still being an extra charge. Many customers bought both, and others could be sold the stills after the fact. Camera flyers were paid one rate for video, and an additional amount if the stills were sold. A couple years ago, we bundled them together in a package, and began to offer only the package. The number of sales remained about the same, but now every jump is video and stills, and the camera flyer is paid for both. It would appear as if the stills are 'thrown in', but in reality, they are 'forced in', and it's worked out very well for all involved. The camera flyers make more money, and don't have to sell anything to anyone, the deal is done before they board the plane. In reality, each DZ is unique in their arrangement. Does the DZO run the video consession, or is there a 'head' video guy who runs the show? Who does the edits? Who pays for the editing equipment? Who pays for tapes/CDs/DVDs or other consumables? Does the customer get prints, or a CD with the pics? All of these facotrs will influence the pay scale, and unless all things are equal, or you account for these factors, comparing one DZ to another is by and large a waste of time.

This is an easy one - You may need your hands to save youe life. If you feel that your injury could limit your ability to do that, then maybe don't jump. There's also the idea (as sombody mentioned) of furthering the injury, which would put you off of jumping even longer, and from the sounds of it, off of work as well.

I think one of the problems is a real helmet needs that crush zone between the shell and the head, and that sets the shell out away from the head. Around the eyes and face, this allows the shell to protrude out far enough to effect visibility. I've come to accept this when I ride a motorcycle, partly because I have mirrors, and partly because I'm primarily worried about people/cars/things all coming at me on the horizontal plane. Under canopy I have to worry about things coming at me from every possible angle, and have become used to the superior visibility of the thin shell/padding of my skydiving helmets. I think you should be looking for a 'swoop only' helmet. One that offers the superior protection you're looking for, but at the expense of some visibility. The catch would be that you would only wear this on hop n pops where you have a pre-determined landing order, and traffic management is almost a non-existant factor. The trade off is that on regular skydives, without the big time lid, you may have to skip the ghostriders over the pond. None of this is taking into account how far the lower edge of the shell, in the rear collar area, will protrude into the area where your risers/slider/reserve parts reside. I know that in the past 'stuff' has been known to hang up on the lower edge of a Protec, and I would gather that a 'real' helmet might provide the same hazzard.

I've had a different experience. I used to jump a Sabre with the brakes unstowed to get it o snivel more. It full flight it took longer to inflate. Additionally, I had a Stiletto with an 'older' lineset that was opening too fast. I relocated the cats eye to a lower position on the brake line, and the canopy went back to opening more slowly. I'm pretty sure that if your canopy is sniveling too long, unstowing the brakes and pulling them down will help to bring the slider down faster. Much like tugging on the back risers will bring a slider down as well (which I do with my Velo on extra low hop n pops where the airspeed is low, and I don't have time for a snivel).

It seems like a lot of trouble for something that's not a big deal. You could have a rigger change it out, but there's a fair chance it won't look like it came out of the factory. On an otherwise brand new rig, it may stand out. Additionally, a local rigger wil probably charge more than the factory. Seeing as they don't so that sort of work all the time, it will take them longer, and riggers and the factory come up with costs based on how long things take. The difference would probably cover the shipping back and forth to Fla. I still vote you leave it be until the winter. If it's as mint as you say it is, it will be worth it to wait, and have the whole thing look 100%. More than one rig has been ruined by a second owner trying to 'adjust' the cosmetics to their tastes. Remember how it looks is a secondary factor. How about focusing on your skydiving, and spend your money on additional jumps.

Many people have suggested practicing your arch on the ground, but I would guess that they are half (or less) your age. Arching on the ground is far more difficult than arching in the air. During the jump you will have wind pressure helping to hold you in a hips-down position. Without this pressure, the position is much more difficult to hold, and it's not uncommon to see 20-somethings fatigue quickly during the first jump course while working on their body position. I would reccomend that you work on your flexibility in general, using some basic streches. Trying to focus on the arch itself from the start may lead to a strain in your lower back, which will only put you further behind in your progress. Improving your overall felxibilty will help with your skydiving in general in terms of fitting yourself into, and manuvering around inside of the plane. It will also help to prevent injury in the case of a hard landing. I think you'll also find that your arch will improve on future jumps based on being able to mentally relax more in freefall. The first jump can be a tense situation for anyone. Your instructors may have mistaken your age or flexibility issuse for a simple case of average first jump jitters. In reality, you only need a very slight arch to be stable. The hard arch they teach in the first jump course is overshooting the ideal, taking into account that a student may actually only perform to 50% (or less) of what they are taught once they are up in the air.

You can remove it yourself, however there is a good chance that it will not look like new when you're done. Even if it's not faded, you'll most likey have needle holes in the fabric. Also, the mudflap covers some fairly important harness stiching where the harness, reserve risers, and lower three ring all come together. If you do try to remove it, use extra care not to damage the mudflap itself, or anything under it. My advice is to wait until the off season, and send it back to UPT (formerly RWS) in Fla and have them change the mudflap outright. IF the rig is not equipped with a Skyhook, you could have it retro-fitted at that time as well.

There's your answer. Sit through the first jump course again. If you do it at the DZ where you are learning, and explain to them that you feel behind the learning curve, I can't imagine that they would charge you to sit through the class again. That would demonstrate your level of dedication.

Just to be clear, I never suggested that an analog alti was the way to go. Digital is the only option if youplan to use it for swooping. I did say that at lower altitudes, the sight picture is easier to aqquire as the differences between 250 ft and 500 ft are easy to determine with the naked eye. This makes the 'eyeballs only' method a workable solution for 45s early on in the progression. In contrast, the differences between 750 and 1000 are more subtle, and require a trained eye to tell the two apart at a glance. This is where a guy without a trained eye, who is counting on his digital alti, can run into problems in the case of a mis-read, or failure of the alti. I don't know why people seem to think there's another way. There's just not. It takes time and perseverence. I'm sure that plenty of the high-time guys (myself included) can remember back to their early days, and sloppy flying and mistakes they made. During a bonfire discussion about swooping with a couple of pro level swoopers, one of them said, "It's always the guys with lots of experience that come out on top. You just can't touch them when it comes to consistancy". The guy who said that was not including himself in that grouping, and he's got 5000 jumps, and over a decade in the sport. Swooping is a different world than skydiving. What makes a big shot on the DZ is chump change out by the swoop pond. 1000 jumps is a drop in the bucket in terms of swooping. It takes that long to safely work your way down to a competitive WL, and then you buckle down and learn your craft.

Yeah. 100%. It's not that complex. Start off with small turns, like 45s. They're done low, and it's easy to see your altitude when you're down low. Addtionally, those turns are less of a 'commitment', and more foregiving of mistakes. Once you have that dialed in, and it will take a fair number of jumps to be good at it, add another 45 to the turn so you're doing 90s, and so on, and so on, and so on. This is the way you build experience while you build up to a bigger, more committed turn. This is the way that provides you with time in the saddle before you're throwing the big turns. You have an exposure to more situations, different weather, different DZs and such. You are a better canopy pilot, and you have earned the right to be 'up there' where the bigger turns happen. Your way involves lightening your wallet by $250, and going online to find out how high you should be turning. To be fair, my way has it's holes as well, like the guys who skip the smaller turns, or do 12 45s, and 16 180s, and think they're ready for the big time. You can't stop them anymore than you can stop the guys who will grab a riser at 1000ft, stare at their alti, and wait. Overall, I think if a guy really follows the 'program', my way will produce a better canopy pliot than your way.

The use of any of these devices beyind a certain point is a bad idea. For example, I usually start my turn at about 700 or 800 feet. The last time I check my alti is around 1000 or 1100 feet. The alti is a tool to use for your set up, but once your in the area, you need to be able to use your eyes for traffic management, and then to fly your canopy. Using a machine to tell you when to turn will slow your progress in learning your sight picture for when to start your turn, and when to stop. There may be a point, far along in your development as a swooper where your turn is consistant enough that using a digital alti to a more precise level is beneficial. I'm talking after 1000 jumps swooping the same wing, when you're into competition swooping, the accuracy of a digital alti could be helpful. This is all after you have developed your 'eye', and could reach 90% of your potential with no help at all. In that case, the alti may help you through the last 10%. As proven by this video, more and more people will simply wait for the 'right' number, and crank a turn. Or they will wait for a 'beep' and fire one off. What happens when the beep doesn't come? By the time the jumper realizes that the beep isn't coming, they're too low for what they wanted to do, and probably not in a good spot for much else. On top of it all, they don't have another machine to tell them what to do now. These gizmos are setting up a bad standard for the next generation. They are very narrowly focued on doing one job, and yes, when all other things go right, they perform that job well, but as we know, all things don't always go that well. It's like we tell newbies, buy the canopy you can land in the worst case scenario, not the one you can land on a calm sunny day. It's the same thing with swooping, plan on the landing that you can survive if everything that can go wrong (traffic, wind shifts, gear problems, etc) does, not the one you can pull off on a good day with all of your gizmos. Check out this video and listen to what he says around the 1:15 mark, it's pure gold, and words to live by for any aviator. http://youtube.com/watch?v=9ZBcapxGHjE

I'm headed to SDC for a weekend of pond swooping pretty soon, and according to their website hop n pops are $15. Are you sure it's only $10? I find it hard to believe that they lowered the price by $5, but I hope they did. I'm going either way,

Your problem is that you're making your argument based on several assumptions. If any one of your assumptions proves to be incorrect, then your argument isn't valid at that DZ. For example, the cost of the slot to cover the loan on the plane. How can you compare the cost to cover the loan from one DZ to the next? The cost of the plane, the amount of that cost that was financed, and the interest rate on the loan will all effect the amount of the monthly payment. Many aircraft at summer only DZs are on a lease. Again the terms from lease to lease vary, so the cost to cover that lease will vary as well. It terms of justifying the cost of a hop n pop, also keep in mind that flying a low pass requires as extra jump run. Often times based on the location, the jump planes fly a certain 'pattern' as they climb based on the direction they take off, any airspace restrictions from ATC, and possible sound abatement. Given these factors, DZOs will find the route that will allow for the fastest climb to altitude, which would be the route with the fewest, most gentle turns as airplanes climb faster in a straight line than in a turn. Even if climb pattern keeps the AC close to the DZ, leveling off and cutting the power adds time and cost to the load. Extra cost incurred for a lower priced slot. It's not a black and white issue. The number of factors involved makes each DZs situation unique.

I'm not sure about the turn rate. It will be quicker than the Sabre, but again, it's all in how you fly it. I'm sure that just shy of inducing line twists, it will be turning fast enough to keep your attention. As far as double fronts, I would shy away from that at first. The trim is so much steeper that full flight will be about as fast as your Sabre after you give it the double fronts. I'd suggest starting out flying your pattern in 1/4 to 1/2 brakes to better mactch other traffic. Once on final, let it fly, and just come in at full flight. You should get a nice swoop just based on a steady full flight apporach. Once you are comfortable with that, experiment at altitude with the double fronts at altitude to see what kind of height you need to safely add the fronts on final approach. This will also be much different than your Sabre. I think the basic idea is to recognize that this is not your Sabre, and the things you've mastered with your Sabre you'll need to re-learn on the Katana. Your current skills will help you learn quickly, and it may only take five or ten jumps to make the transition, but there is a transition, and you need to recognize and respect that.