davelepka

I'll repeat, the only thing a tandem canopy can do suddenly is collapse, or be cut-away. For that matter, the only way anyone can spiral down in front of you is if you let them. There are a limited number of canopies out there, and if you can't manage to keep track of them, and sequence yourself in, then you have no business swooping on an everyday skydive. Do hop n pops or high pulls until your swooping skills are such that you can devote your attention to traffic managment during your canopy ride, and start to think about your swoop as you reach for your riser. Not directed at JJ, but more of a general statement.

Wings or no wings, the key to climbouts is to not let go of the plane. Here's another idea - Practice climbouts in the hanger with the actual plane you'll be using. Find the right sequence of moves that makes sense to you. Start from where you'll be when the door opens, and if you really want to go all out, gear up so you can see how much room you need for your rig and camera, and maybe how for you can reach with your swoop cords on.

I hate to burst your bubble honcho, but alone or with a group of 20 of your friends, you always have the same amount of time. For the record, you have plenty of time to complete the tasks, and you'll do most of them on every jump you ever make. It will be better on your next jump, provided you listen to your instructors, relax and slow down to admire the scenery.

First off, it's not pointless. If you charge $5 for a closing loop, and replace 100 closing loops a year, that's $500. But that's not even the point. The point is that if you provide and install a closing loop for a guy, the guy should reach for his wallet, no questions asked. If you choose to let it go, and say, 'No problem' that's your choice, but the guy should be ready willing and able to pay. It's the guys who will just try to say 'Thanks' and walk away with just that, or when you say 'That's $5' give you a hard time. That's the problem. If you want to give away everything you own, and work for free all year, that's YOUR choice, as it should be. When a guy just wants stuff for free, he's trying to make it HIS choice, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone make those kinds of choices for me, let alone help them with anything. Shit, I wouldn't piss on that guy if he was in fire. Actually I would, but I would make sure it wasn't enough to put the fire out, so now he's on fire and covered in piss.

You may not be hung up enough on jump numbers. It seems that you and me have differing ideas on the subject. The good news is that one of us right, and the other, not so much. Seeing as you don't know what it's like to have 500 jumps, and I do, and seeing that you don't know what it's like to fly a Stiletto, and I do, who would the smart money be on to be the winner here? Seriously, your feelings aside, you have to admit that my credentials look good on paper. A jury of my peers might even consider me an 'expert witness'.

Back off her dude, she was just answering the question that I potsed to the PD guy. A question that I fully knew the answer to when I posted it. 500, 600, even 400, it could be any od those, and the onlt thing they have in common is that they are all more jumps then you have. We already know that the canopy itself it unchanged since 1992. What is it about you that is different from jumpers in 1992? Regardless of what you may think, the answer is nothing. Use great care in your decision making regarding canopy selection. Open canopies have been involved in the majority of deaths and injuries in skydiving for many years now. It's not a game.

Yeah thats about right. Let him see a busy day at the DZ, and the people going up and coming down happy. Have him talk to first timers at the DZ before and after they jump. Let him speak to an instructor of whatever. I'm pretty sure that once he sees it's not Patrick Syawze yelling instructions at you in freefall, he may ease up a bit. On the other hand, if you're a good earner for the bookie, maybe your dad gets a visit......

Thats awesome that your dad doesn't want you skydiving, but has no porblem with you associating with and doing business with bookies. I'm sure he's using the same logic in approving of the bookies that he's using to disapprove of skydiving, so good luck working through that. Really, if you think about it, maybe you shouldn't jump. You may end up getting a visit from a 'friend' of your dad's, and getting your knee caps relocated to the back of your legs.

Have the factory reccomendations for previous canopy experience and overall jump numbers changed for the Stiletto since 1992? Do you happen to know what they were then, and what they are now?

Your examples all involve you offering to do something. This thread is about those who ask for something, and expect it for nothing. Often times working skydivers give far more back to the sport than fun jumpers. Do you always see it? Not likey, if yu are a weekend fun jumper, you're there during the busy days, where the staff is busy with a full workload. Try spending 7 days a week at the DZ. See how many staff members will jump in to help fill a load, and end up organizing whoever is around. Maybe during a time when they're not trying to make back-to-back loads, then they offer to help quickly finish off a pack job to get the plane flying again. Or on a quiet Tuesday afternoon, they will take the time to let a newbie sit in on a reserve pack job so they can see what goes on in there. These are all things that most jumpers don't get to see just due to scheduling. If you're only around on the weekends, all you see is the staff pre-occupied with their own business (it's called making rent, or putting food on the table). Keep in mind that each of the professional skydivers started out the same way you did. They took it far enough, dedicated themselves to it enough, and had enough help from others to make it a lifestyle. Also keep in mind that you NEED these people. Who are you going to see when you need rigging done? Who takes your buddy on a tandem once you talk him into showing up at the DZ? Who takes the video and stills of your buddy? What happens when you need advice on how to freefly/swoop/fly a wingsuit? This is where you need a guy who has done nothing but jump for 10 years. amd can set you straight, and save you time, money, and possible injury. If everyone before you didn't come through with cold hard cash, that guy wouldn't exist. He'd have 500 jumps instead of 5000. He'd have a few ideas about how to freefly or swoop, but he wouldn;t have th expertise to properly guide you. So pay up. Ask a professional for professional level service, and bring your checkbook. Thats how it works. We're all still friends, but a guy has to pay the bills. You pay the DZO for his services, pay the others staff members for theirs.

There's a tunnel up in Perris, not to far from San Diego. If you want to try the tunnel then go, it should be fun. As far as your AFF goes, most people have to repeat a level or two. It's completely normal, and nothing to be worried about. Ease up on yourself, and go make another jump. Pass or fail, as long as you have a good time that's all that really counts.

If you can't manuver around a tandem canopy, then you need to be landing well clear of everyone, off in the outer edges of the landing area. Additionally, the low canopy has the right of way. If this is due to spiraling, then so be it, but the rule still applies. Along the same lines as my first comment, I'm not sure how a tandem could 'over power' a sub 100 canopy, and spiral down below them. Most canopies loaded at 2.0 or above will come down faster in straight full flight than a tandem will with enough spirals to make the pax puke. One last point, you said it's a busy commercial DZ, and lets face it, money talks and the tandems paid way more than the fun jumpers. If the management was going to side with anyone, it would be tandems mules, becasue they haul the most cash, and at this point in time sub 100 swoopers are the current 'bad guys' on the DZ.

Aerodynamics

Just do it. They'll get the message. They may never learn about safe canopy selection, but they'll learn not to run their mouth in your direction.

Do us all a favor, pack up your stuff and family, and leave. Cross state lines ASAP, and don't come back unitl I put your kitchen back the way it used to be.

I agree. With new parts available, as well as updated components and systems ( the glass panel for example), an updated old Otter becomes a more attractive option for operators with deeper pockets than most DZO's. I still think bigger DZ's will keep flying Otters, but as the fleet ages, the operational costs will push the smaller DZ's into other AC.

Just another quick point, all those who have chimed in with what THEY like, or what TMs like need to understand that those factors mean close to nothing in choosing a jump ship. Maybe in markets like CA or FL, where there are a bunch of year-round DZ's, what the jumpers want might mean something. If you don't like the plane at one DZ, you can easily go to another and jump what they have. In other markets, the jumpers jump what they are given. A little smaller door, or little longer climb won't keep jumpers from their home DZ when the nearest alternate turbine DZ is hours away. Purchase price, operating costs, and parts availability are the driving factors in jumpship selection. We all know that the majority of DZ income is from tandems and students, and they don't know one plane from another. We jump a Super Otter at my home DZ. Nice paint, nice interior, no duct tape anywhere. More or less the nicest jump plane you could ask for, and you always hear the tandem studetns, "We're going in this little thing? I hope it gets off the runway, make sure they wind up the rubberband all the way".

With a low wing, and the air intake under the wing it's open to rocks or gravel getting sucked into the engine. Also, a King Air needs a touch more runway than an Otter or Caravan (or PAC I would guess). It's not a STOL aircraft, and many grass strips are just not long enough.

Yep. I didn't say it was cheap to operate, just that it was still in production and widely used for jumping. If you want to see what we will be using in the future, you have to look at what being made today. As far as the purchase price goes, you can get a cheap King Air, but it will be old, and high time. If you compare the cost of the same year King Air and Caravan, with similar times, the Cararvan will be less.

Desptie what some jumpers are saying, the Caravan is a significant player in the turbine jumpship market, and it will become increasingly more popular as time goes on. There aren't alot of 'light' utility aircraft being produced these days, and even fewer with a large enough production run to keep parts available and 'affordable' for the next 20 or 30 years. Leaving out the new Otters, the King Air is one of the only other popular jumpships still in production, and those are of little interest to DZ with grass or dirt runways. Even with Otter production ramping up, and parts becomgin more available, the older the fleet gets, the more or those parts they will be needing, and I can't see the new parts costing less than the used parts currently available. Single engine, lots if them around, great safety and reliability record, parts readily available, and friendly on a grass strip? It really is an ideal jump aircraft from an operators standpoint.

I get that not everyone comes to DZ.com. Thats a fair reason why we didn't see a post about this right away. What's odd to me is that a poster who claimed to know the DZO well, was told by her over the phone a story that appears to be far less serious than the one the FAA is putting together at this time. It just doesn't look good.

Thats not true. If you do use one, mount it with nylon screws so it can break away easily in the event of a line snag. Then snap it off with your hands and throw it in the garbage.

I'm not sure what you're asking, but the answer is no. There is no easy way to do anything to an airplane in the US. It's always complicated and expensive.

Really? Badly lurking tandems and shooting video under 200 jumps? Not holding back one bit, huh? Personally, I would have been embarassed at my lack of good judgement if I was involved in that tandem. What could possibly be the purpose for three jumpers plus a video to be lurking a tandem? All of that without mentioning the lack of general experience among those lurkers. Take a deep breath, and slow down. For your own sake and that of those around you. Just jumping out of a plane is hardcore enough, you don't have to push the limits of good sense to make it cool. Ego never won anyone a gold medal, got anyone a cover shot, nor won the respect of their peers (or those in a class above you).

If my buddy was 40 feet up, it might have been exciting and a cool rescue to boot. I shit you not when I say his feet were 10 inches from the ground. After a ten story rappel, he was that close, and stuck. I was 3 AM, in the middle of the Miami U campus so it took the same ten minutes to get the scissors as it would have taken to find a chair for him to stand on, so we just stood there. The next day, somebody asked why we didn't get under him, and have him sit on our shoulders to take the tension off the rope, and get his hair out without cutting (or the ten min. wait). I blame the drugs.