davelepka

Do you really care? Any sort of research would tell you what the majority of DZ.commers think about it. It would also tell you what DZ.commers think about starting to shoot video at under 200 jumps. It would also tell you what DZ.commers think about starting to swoop early on. You clearly did no research in either of those areas, so why start now? Let's face it, just by taking up skydiving, you're straying outside of what most would consider 'normal' or 'safe'. Granted, the average Joe citizen might be a little too conservative for your tastes, so you go to the DZ anyway. Once you get to the DZ, whi would you continue to stray outside of what the general (DZ) population would consider 'normal' or 'safe'. Clearly these people are far from conservative, they're skydivers, yet you continue to go against the norm, and push the limits of safety. Can you see how this might be looked at as stupid? You're involved in a high risk activity that can easliy put you in the hospital or the grave, but even in that setting, you seemed determined to take the 'fast track' to where ever it is you're in such a hurry to get to. Maybe wise up, take a note from those who have survived a few years in this game, and seen your kind come and go (sometimes the 'go' is in an ambulance) and try to 'toe the line' a bit more. You're already a 'rebel' and 'extreme' for just being a skydiver. Once you're at the DZ, how about dropping the ego, and just being a regular guy? The DZ is tough place to stand out, and trying to be a bad-ass in that crowd is a dangerous business. There's a reason that bad-ass skydivers have years in the sport, and 1000's of jumps. It's because that's the only way to get there. There are no substitutions or exceptions. Given that, it's clear that you will have to put in a shit-ton of jumps, and that it will take years to accomplish, so today, right now, slow down, and make sure you get yourself to that point.

Because it won't help your learning, and it will add weight and become several more things for you to think about in terms of making a jump. Your camera will need batteries, and a CF card. You'll need to make sure it's set properly, and that you start it shooting before you exit. All of these things will subtract from your focus on making a safe skydiving, and sharpening your flying skills. If you don't feel ready to activate the shutter in freefall, don't make your skydive more complicated while you're trying to learn.

I forgot to mention, don't worry about the wingloading right now. Get back, and get current, then talk to the instructors or the DZO about what size and what type of canopy would be good for you. It's all just guessing until you get back in the air, and they can see how you perform, and you can discuss your goals and try out a few different sizes and types of canopies.

Those numbers are the wing loading, and represent the number of pounds each square foot of canoyp has to support. When you read .08 or .09, it should really read ".08 to 1", with the .08 being how many pounds to each 1 square foot of canopy. If your exit weight, with gear on, is 220 lbs, then jumping a 220 sq ft canopy would put you at 1 to 1. If you downsized to a 110 sq ft canopy, your wing loading would be 2 to 1. Good choice on the new vs. used situation. Keep in mind that everyone who voted to by new right away has been jumping for 2 or 3 years tops. Everyone with more time in the sport voted for buying used, and that should say a lot.

Don't worry about your arch, or any part of your first jump course until you take the class. Let the instructor teach what they want, in the way they want. As far as your AFF I's are concerned, just worry about yourself there superman. You do your job, and they'll do yours. In truth, they'll do your job too, if you don't. In terms of drinking, the FAA requires 8 hours from your last drink until a pilot can legally climb into the cockpit. This a good rule to follow as a jumper. I would avoid drinking at all the night before any student jump you make, out of respect for your instructors. They have a degree of responsibility for your skydive, and alcohol in your system may impair your ability to do your part.

Get home and get current first. Once your back, a suitable used rig will be easy to find, and as others have said, it will last you for 100-ish jumps. At that point you;ll have a better idea of what your needs will be, and maybe new stuff will be a smarter investment.

I also would have packed for myself, but given the situation, that's about all you could have done. That really sucked when you got out of the spinning line twists, and found that tension knot. I What were you trying to do on that jump? How come the guy with the huge camera helmet and camera suit looked like he had no idea what he was doing?

That's the best description I've ever heard for your personality. The mini-Mike is coming along nicely.

When was the last time you looked at the stalk before turning on your windshield wipers? It didn't take long for you to figure that out, just put a little effort into this. Put your helemt on, and turn the thing on and off a dozen times. Repeat twice a day for a week, and you'll be all set. I gave up on indicator lights before the Cam-Eye hit the market. It's not a big deal, just turn the thing on and hit record.

OK, here's your easy answer. Send your PD canopy to PD for repair/service work. They'll fix what needs fixing, and they'll do it right.

What about your canopy? A portion of your lines sit inside your canopy once it's packed. Do you want the silicone spray on your canopy? This is just a bad idea in general. Maybe take your clues on how to care for your new canopy from the manufacturer, and only the manufacturer. Also, I would seriously question any other advice you've gotten from this rigger. It doesn't take a genius to pass a riggers exam, and simply passing the test doesn't make you an expert. I'm not even sure how much coverge Vectran and HMA lines get on the riggers exam. If this person took their test any more than 4 or 5 years ago, I'd be willing to bet those line types didn't appear anywhere on the exam.

I am only here for your tears. Give them to me, or I will TAKE them.

So far 15 people have admitted they are outside of the TSO on their gear. Of course none of them posted a comment, and identified themselves. I'd like to ask those 15, how many of you are freeflyers? Or even freefly occasionally? Part of the TSO is based on speed, and big guys freeflying will easily top those speeds, so not only are they overloading the gear, they are overspeeding it as well. Even though I know it's not an apples to apples comaprison, it's surprising how many people think nothing about overloading their gear, however they will be up in arms if an aircraft is overlaoded or pushed beyond VNE.

That step is not to alter your gear. The step is cutting out the part of the jump where somebody's foot gets near your handle. While your at it, keep their hands away from your handles too.

Anyone else see the connection to DZ.com? We too have had low timers insist that their actions were 'safe' and that they would be 'fine' despite the warnings of people who knew far better. Our low timers have also ended up dead. What's erie about this situation is the time line. That kid was posting all the stuff one day, his final post indicating that he would be posting pics the next day. Before sunrise, he was dead. Very similar to what we get here, but just compressed into a 12 or 15 hour time period.

I'm not so sure about that. They may have designed it to replace the Vengeance, which was also step up from the Stiletto, and eventually put out of production. Throughout the production of the Vengeance and Katana, the Stiletto remains available. The Sabre for example, was clearly replaced by the Sabre 2, as the name implies, but more so because the Sabre is now out of production. Also, I think the Katana was aimed more at the X-fire then the Stiletto. The X-fire is a more divey deisgn than the Stiletto, and PD needed a divey, not-Velocity, canopy. As far as the OP goes, I'm way more interested in what you and I are talking about than another dude who's looking for a HP canopy at 200 jumps. I'm sure he thinks he's special for his own reasons, I would use the word 'special' in a different context.

Until the NTSB sends out a guy to investigate the wreckage. Maybe not, but pretty close. Our engines have a TBO (time before overhaul) but it's not enforced on skydiving. Generally, I think it's a little higher than 1500 hours, more like 1800. Regardless of the time, you can always get an overhaul, and you don't lose anything if it's past TBO.

Nope, but thanks for playing. OK, really though, you're almost right but not quite. The Stiletto is a fine canopy, and it performs exactly as intended. The age of the design, or the current state of technology has nothing to do with that. This is a mistake that many make. As the top end of canopy performace goes up, people seem to raise the level of the bottom end to match. This is incorrect because even though the Velo and JVX have pushed the perofrmance level through the roof, the newbie jumper is the same newbie jumper we had in 1990. A 90's guy with 200 jumps still has the same number of jumps as a 2008 guy with 200 jumps. My opinion of the Katana was it was a big step up from a Stiletto. When you call it 'replacement technongy', you make it sound as if the two canopies are intercahngable. There are many jumpers I would put under a Stiletto who I would not like to see under a Katana.

Parachutist is limited by the fact that it's the 'official' publication of the USPA. It will never be 'good' because it will always be connected to the USPA, and it's agenda. I don't mean this in a conspiracy theory way, but it is essentailly 'propaganda' in that it's a publication printed by the ruling body. Skydiving Mag, on the other hand, is a much better publication because they print whatever they want to print. Often times what's interesting is not what the USPA wants printed in their magazine. At least ten years ago, Skydiving did an interview with Al Frisbee, an old timer from Perris, where he was quoted as saying,'The problem with skydiving today is that we're selling people Disneyland, and delivering Death Valley'. This is something that has stuck with me for all these years, and this is something that Parachutist would never print. With the limitations of the USPA in place, Parachutist is like Christian rock. It sounds like rock, and feels like rock, but it's not quite all there. I do want to hear about the stupid things that jumpers are doing, here and abroad. I also want to hear about BASE jumping. I want to read articles that are critical of DZs, manufacturers, and organizations. I don't want to see 16 identical tiny little pictures of people getting awards for every 50 jumps they make. I don't want to a listing of 100's of names of every license that was given out. I don't need to see a printed list of every GM DZ in the world. Hello, we have the internet for that now. So if Parachutist could go ahead and remove the above items, it could go back to being what it is, a full-color brochure for the USPA, and what good ole, aw shucks, family-style good time skydiving is.

It would be easy to distribute the info to experienced jumpers. Parachutist magazine might finally have a prupose. All the space they use to 'advertise' for the GM DZs could easily be converted to space used for posting reports, or scores, or whatever. As for the tandems and studetns. maybe the USPA could learn a few lessons from the dicks at Skyride, and learn to properly position a web page to intercept some real traffic. We could create a separate site for the reports, and explaining the program and how it benefits the potential first time jumper. This is a good idea, given that the USPA wants to be member driven organization. If they want to remain an industry driven organization, then the inspection program will never fly.

Shameless bump in progress. We're still looking. Come on people, we've got a solid team started, who can finish it? It looks like we'll be doing some training in Skydive Chicago as partial participants in the Mandrin VRW project. This program is the ticket for anyone interested in VRW, and even though we can't commit to the full schedule, we're excited to participate in any capacity. So really, who wants in (or can think of someone who wants in)? Paid travel expenses? Gold medal freeflyers on your team? Where else can you find that?

I can't tell you what I wasn't doing. I can tell you that there is no 'power struggle' going on. I have no alterior motives. As I stated I have no personal feelings toward Kip, good or bad. I've also made no secret that I'm not a fan of the USPA. I don't really give a rats ass about who's the RD, on the BOD, or the EC. I think they're all misguided, and wasting everyone's time. However, given that I'm required to be a member to jump at any of my local DZs, I'm certainly going to speak up when I see actions unbecoming of a representative of the organization that appear to not have been delt with in a proper manner. After the fact, the man was a liability to the organization. The credibility of the USPA, and in turn skydiving in general rides on the actions and reputations of our elected officials. These are the people that we as a group have pushed to the front of the class as the best we have to offer. With this incident on his record, he no longer has the credibility or the reputation to fullfill his seat. In the case of any future incidents that he may have been a part of, his history would reflect very poorly on him in the case of litigation, but it would also reflect very badly on the face of the USPA, for initially having such a person in a position of authority, and for allowing him to retain his seat after the first incident. It's a CYA move for the USPA. The same USPA I have to send my $50 each year, the same USPA I will feel free to comment on whenever they drop the ball. Case in point, I have expressed an almost identical sentiment on the issue of Jan Meyer, and her future on the BOD. She does not run a competing DZ in my area, I don't think she runs a DZ anywhere. In truth, I don't even know what region she lives in. It doesn't change my view on the situation, nor my willingness to speak up.

Nobody else makes a canopy that will last for 2000+ jumps. Nobody else provides the customer service they do. Those two things alone explain why many professional choose PD. They last, and they can get them repaired/serviced quickly, and with excellent communication. If you're trying to make a living with a parachute these are key areas. I'll add to that personal experience with 99% of my jumps on PD products, The canopies and the company has always performed beyond my expectation.

Well, for starters, he's no longer a representative of the USPA. Furthermore, the scuttle-butt about his stepping down is that there are bad things going on with the USPA and the BOD, bad enough that he wants no part of it. Let's assume that this is true. So he steps down, but refuses to offer up the details. Things are so bad that he cannot see through his term, but not so bad that he needs to share these details with his fellow jumpers, the ones who voted him in as RD, the ones who will be affected by the horrors that now lurk on the BOD. We both know that if things were really that bad, and he was any kind of stand-up guy, he could certianly put together a synopsis of the situation, post it as a statement, and simply not respond to the thread in any way. By not sharing these details, he brings into question either their validity, or the quality of his character.

Nice try pal. Your assertions here hold no more water than mine. Yes, I may be based at a DZ that competes with Kip's DZ, and one could expect that all of my statements would lean toward the negative. Where you and your statements get bitch slapped is in your profile, where you reveal that you are actually based out of Kip's DZ. Much like in my case, one could expect that all of your statements would lean toward the positive. The end result is a stale mate, where your credibility in this case is no better than mine. We could go on for hours, or stop right here. In the end, the outside observer knows our affiliations, and will take both of our comments with a similarly sized grain of salt. In this case, politics played no role. I backed Kip to run for RD, and voted for him. I clearly explain my position on the legal liability of Kip remaining the RD in the other thread. I have no personal relationship with the man, nor any hard feelings toward him in any respect save for his judgement, as an RD, in this situation.