davelepka

Many rigs that were 'built for' a certain sized canopy are still very tight. The factories tend to offer a range of canopies that each rig will hold, and if yours is on the 'tight' end of the range, then it's going to be tight. That aside, your pack job is mis-shapen, and that appears to be the problem. Note in your picture of the open container that the bag appears to be less rectangular and more like a trapazoid, with the wider end being where the lines are stowed. Now even if it was a perfect rectangle (aka, the shape of the container it's going into), adding the line stows on top will make that end a little bigger. It appears that your pack job is already too big in that area, then you add the line stows, and now it's way to big on that end. What you end up with is a rig that won't close up nice, and is bulging out where the 'fat' end of the bag is. When you said that stows to the backpad gives you a cleaner pack job, that's why. The fat end is down in the pack tray, and the flaps can close cleanly over the small end of the bag. Here's what you do - work on making the bundle (after you S-fold) roughly the size and shape of the bag. You want to shoot for just a hair larger so you have to 'squueze' it in there, but that will ensure that it will fill out the bag. Just make sure the cocoon is a hair wider than the bag, and that the S-folds are just deeper than the bag, and it should work out just fine. It will take some practice, but you need to move forward from just 'folding' the canopy to 'shaping' the canopy to fit the space you want to put it in. It's like packing luggage, if you fold your clothes like you put them in your drawer, they might not all fit in your luggage. You have to fold them bigger and flatter so they use the space the bag better, and you can fit more in there. It's worth the work, though. This is your rig, so develop a system for exactly how to fold the canopy to fit the bag/container, how many lines stows to make and how big they should be to leave just the right amount of excess line, and how to lay the exacess line in the bottom of the container so it all fits nicely. If you can fine tune the system to your rig, you'll pack faster and cleaner with better results. By the time you have 10 or 20 pack jobs on the rig, they should all look the same every time. Don't change your line stows at all, they're fine. Every canopy has lines, and the rigs are built with them in mind.

Also, don't forget about insurance. Basic liability insurance is required by law in most (if not every) state in the US. If you get caught driving without insurance, your car will be impounded and you'll be in a heap of trouble with substantial fines and court appearances. Along those same lines, whatever you work out with regards to your license, vehicle registration and insurance, make sure you have every document you can think of in the car with you at all times. You might even want to make copies of everything and keep an extra set of them stored in a different place (in case of water damage of otherwise) and leave a set with your girlfriend so she can fax them to you in case you lose everything. Cops in the US are a mixed breed. Some are cool and just looking for people who are really doing something 'wrong', but others are dicks who are looking for any reason to bust someone, even if it's on a technicality. The more documentation you have, the less chance they can find to give you a hard time. You might have a huge advantage if you have an international drivers license. When you whip that thing out, it seems like the majority of cops would rather just send you on your way than try to make heads or tails of that thing.

Just check autotrader and craigslist when you get here. Good used cars tend to sell quick, so all that matters is what's available when you get here. Go for petrol for sure, diesel is not as common in the US. It's available everywhere for the trucks, but as far as finding a mechanic if you need one, it's more of a challenge if you're broken down on the side of the road. Hondas and Toyotas are known for reliability in the US, so higher milage isn't as much of a concern. Over 100k isn't always a bad thing. Keep in mind that if you're looking for a car to travel around the US for 6 months, you're only going to be putting 10k miles on it as most, so you don't need to worry about long term maintenance. Any car that you look at that passes your personal inspection and test drive MUST be taken to a mechanic for an inspection before you buy. The easiest way to do this is to locate the nearest dealer for that brand, and go there. They know the cars well, and it's generally under $100 for a used car inspection. Keep in mind that every used car purchase in the US is 'as-is', meaning there's no warranty of any kind. The car can fall apart 5 minutes after you buy it, and you cannot go back to the seller for anything. This is why the inspection is so important. (Some used car dealers will offer a warranty with a purchase, however, the service usually needs to be at their location, so if you're going to travel, the warranty is useless to you). The last thing to consider is registration and titling. I'm not sure how it works with visiting foreigners, but you'll need to title and register the car to someone. They might have a way for you to do it in your name, or they might require a permanent address, so maybe using your girlfriends name is as easier way. Maybe contact Aggiedave on this site with questions about Texas title and registration questions because he's a cop in Texas and should know the rules inside and out.

How about you ask them what they thought of their experience at Start, because that's really all that matters. Believe it or not, the DZ is there it service it's customers, dealing with spectators is an afterthought. Get over yourself. It's a busy DZ with 100+ customers on any given day, and if all of them bring spectators, crowd control becomes a real issue. By far the easiest way to do that (and how it works in most of the world) is to restrict people to the areas where they are either qualified or needed to be. Nobody cares if you're a pilot, or have friends who are jumpmasters, or can read the FARs. It's a place of business where people are trying to work, and fun jumpers are trying to enjoy themselves and don't need to worry about non-jumpers wandering around them and their gear. Want access? Pony up the cash, and get an A license. Then you can go anywhere you want.

I don't know if it's common, but with SL and IAD you're commiting to a deployment when you have no idea what body position the student will be in. Regardless if they roll or tumble off the step, the canopy is coming out. With AFF, you have an instructor(s) to hold the student stable, or at least facing the right way, for the deployment. As far as training and procedures, I'm not sure there's anything you can do, as the events are so random. What part of the body, entangled with what part of the main, and in what way will have a lot to do with the 'best' course of action, and I'm not sure you could cover all of them. I would say that continuing on with the EPs is probably the best advice. If a hand is trapped, or the cutaway is handle cannot be reached, I would stick with '2 tries, 2 seconds' to fix the problem, and then just move on with the EPs. You might also mention that you can pull either handle with either hand, so if your right hand is trapped, they can reach across and pull their cutaway with their left, and then go to the reserve. Again, any of these EP 'modifications' should be done with the proviso of '2 tries, 2 seconds', at which point you move forward with the procedures. So if you cannot reach across to cutaway, 2 tries 2 seconds, then skip it and just dump the reserve. The real solution is proper training and impressing upon the student the idea that the canopy is coming out, and they can do a lot to make it happen properly. I've always been a fan of a super solid demonstration video, where you get an experienced jumper to make an SL exit, and they exaggerate each step of the climb-out, check-in, and exit. You might even shoot it from a couple of angles, like POV on the JM and maybe a Go-Pro on the strut. Make it very clear what is spoosed to happen, and train the students to do the same in the mock up until they have it down pat, and can run through it just like the video. They'll still screw it up, but that's probably the best you can do.

There's a difference between relaxing and going limp. What you're looking for is balance with the wind. Not enough pressure with your legs, and the wind will blow them out of position, easy to understand. The flip side, however, is different. You can lock your legs into the 'ideal' position and tense your thigh mucsle to the maximum and the wind will not move your leg, but it's not right. What you're looking for is 'just enough' tension in your leg to hold your leg in position, but too much that it causes you to tense up. Think of it like the suspension of your car. If the shocks are weak, the car will bottom out and the tires will rub the body. Not good. Now you can stiffen up the shocks and keep the car from bottoming out, but if you go too far, the ride will be stiff and uncomfortable. The car won't bottom out, and the tires won't rub, but it's still not right. You want the middle ground, where the car doesn't bottom, but the ride is still smooth and comfortable.

What might be worse than shuffling around the rigs is being out the cash from 5 pack jobs. I might be tempted to charge a late payment fee on that basis. The problem with charging any of those fees is that if you don't disclose the fees upfront, people could rightly complain that it's unfair. One solution is that you provide every customer with a 'work order' when they drop off anything. Detail the items being dropped off and the work being requested, so there's never any question as to what you have and why you have it. Include language on the bottom that states the 'grace period' for storing equipment, and the fees beyond that. You might even have an 'end date', where you sell the equipment, subtract your rigging, storage, and selling fees, and the customer gets the rest. You print your own forms from online templates, or just print your info onto a two-part form from Office Max and pen in the details such as the date, gear, and work required. On the one hand, rigging can be looked at as a 'relaxed' business between skydivers or pilots, but on the other hand you're dealing with equipment valued anywhere from $1000 to $10,000. If you have a non-payment or other dispute with a customer, you may end up holding their gear as collateral, and in that sense, paperwork is a good thing.

Or, you call the still-in-business factory, and order a new set of legstrap pads. Include your serial number, and tell them what color you want and how much padding. Wait two/three weeks, and have your rigger install them on your harness. Problem solved with factory components. It's done, and done right, and the rig doesn't look like it was built in someones basement. Don't try to engineer your gear. That's someone else's job and your life on the line. Study and become a rigger, and rig for as long as it took to get through engineering school, THEN you can engineer your own gear.

There's an easy way to mod the ball and band set-up so it's not 'connected' (by much). What you do is sew a channel along the yoke of your rig. This can be tubular nylon, or any material folded in half to make a channel. Sew it to the binding tape along the center of the yoke. Next, take a standard ball and band, and cut the band opposite of the ball so you have two free ends. Fold the last inch over, and create a loop by sewing the end to the band, do both ends so you have two loops. Run one end through the channel and pull it out the other end. Now use two wraps of red seal thread to tie the ends together. Now you have a ball and band with a breakaway feature, so if you pull hard enough, the seal thread will break and release the canopy. The final step is to tack the linked ends to the channel so the whole thing doesn't rotate in the channel. Simply use the same technique you use for tacking slinks to a riser, just make sure the supertack goes only through the loop of seal thread, not any part of the band. If the supertack goes through the band, you're back to being connected to your canopy.

This is a bit of a misconception that some people seem to have about new rigs. The vast majority of new rigs are just factory selected combinations of existing sizes. For example, a Javelin J-1 is a container size, and all J-1s are the same size. Each size fits a range of canopies, and you pick the size that meets your needs, but if a new J-1 will hold your canopies, so will a used J-1. Harnesses are largely the same. Sticking with the Javelin talk, a C-17 harness is a C sized yoke with a 17 inch main lift web. So if your shoulders are within a certain range of widths, you get a C yoke. If your torso is within a certain range of lengths, you get a 17 MLW. One C-17 is almost the same as another C-17. Note I said 'almost' because they can tailor the laterals to your size, and if you happen to be more round than falt, you might get a longer lateral. They can also tailor the legstraps to your thighs, and if you're a beanploe, you get the shorty legstraps, and the fattys get more strap for their container-buying dollar. However, those differences are generally slight, and as mentioned upthread, if the buyer is of an 'average size' one C-17 is the same as another C-17. At least half of the 'custom' in a custom built rig is the colors, fabrics, and the options. 90% of the container and harness sizes are standard, 'off the rack' sizes determined by your needs falling into one measurement range or another.

Gear doesn't make you a better skydiver. Skydiving makes you a better skydiver, and if paying for new gear (any of it) effects your ability to make as many jumps as you have time for, or attend any boogies you want, then you've spent your money in the wrong place. Consider this, get any student rig from the gear romm at your DZ, and hand it to the cheif instructor. The rig was not built for him, it probably has a high number of jumps on it, and the canopies are both twice the szie of what he usually jumps. Think he'll have any problem turning points or landing exactly where he wants? The container is the worst thing to buy new. It's the most personalized peice, and thus the hardest to sell. You have to find a jumper just your size looking to jump the same size canopies as you, who happens to like the same colors and options as you, and happens to have money and be shopping for a rig at the same time you're selling. No problem, right? Canopies, at least, only have the color option. Other than that, they're all the same. Reserves go one stpe further, with the color not even being a factor. In the end, as others have mentioned, unless you're pretty far outside of the 'average' size, used is the way to go. Once you buy the first one, you can sell and buy different gear with little to no additional cash outlay. It let's you jump different rigs and different canopies and see what's what.

Because poor canopy choice has led to numerous and highly publicized incidents resuting in death or serious injury. To date, a GoPro has not. Also, flying a fast canopy, or any canopy, puts the user directly in the middle of the risk. The speed and altitude are easily apparent to the user, and this invokes fear and self-preservation responses. This is why many people swear they'll never swoop or even fly a fast canopy. A camera, on the other hand, is fairly benign until something goes wrong. Until it creates a problem, it's actually an asset, providing fun videos for all to see. If a camera presented a real and tangible risk to your health or welfare on every jump, like coming in fast on a small canopy, fewer people would jump them. I would bet that the jumper in question, if the GoPro led to a loss of altitude awareness or snagged part of her canopy on deployment, would stop jumping a camera immediately and not reutrn to camera flying. Once the risk was apparent to her from personal expereince, it won't seem like so much fun anymore.

I don't think it's a scam. I didn't look at the video, but it sounds like a person who doesn't speak english as a first language. They do state in the beginning of the email that they're not even sure you're the right person to contact. Also, there's no mention of a payment type or sending an overpayment with you returning the difference etc. Scammers usually get right down to business with the scam. You might still be a virgin, and not even know it.

I have about 1000 jumps out of one. It's loud, and the door is kind of small. We used to run two loads per hour, which included time to shut down and refuel inbetween every load. I think carrying enough fuel for two loads plus reserves ate too much into the useful load, and slowed down the climb for the first load, so they just kept it light with fuel for one. Overall, a piston twin with retractable gear is going to be a maintenance problem. You're talking about cycling the gear ten times per day, and climbing hard for 75% of each flight. Chuck is right, a pair of 182s is the way to go. You can turn just as many tandems, but you can also run just one plane when you can get by turning 4 tandems per hour. The advatages go on, from being able to keep flying when a plane goes down, to being able to stagger maintenance calls so while one plane is in for an annual or 100-hour, you still have the other one flying jumpers. It's also easier to run your operation, becasue you'll have 4 loads flying per hour compared to two. Your packers and instructors will have an easier time as they're not all trying to make the same two loads every hour. Worst case scenario, you can sell one if the business slows down, but still be able to service the customers you do have. Do I even need to mention the pilot issue? It's not tough to find a 182 pilot, and in terms of jump planes, it's hard to find an easier plane to fly. None of the above can be said for the Twin Bo. There's a reason that Twin Bo's are so cheap, it's because you need a pile of money left over after you buy them just to run the thing. That said, I still think they're cool as hell, and would love to jump one again, but none of that has any effect on their practicality.

I understand that those numbers are the 'common knowledge' of both arrangements, but those are the numbers of each deal when had seperately. If one DZO calls Groupon and wants to make a deal, one time, it might cost them $20/$40 per. If a DZO can clear $100-ish on a tandem, that pays the bills (but not much more). Ditto for a DZO dealing with Skyride. When they do a straight deal with Skyride, the cut might be $40, or even more, but the tandems are selliing for full price. In the end, the DZO ends up collecting (hopefully) more than the $100-ish break-even. But when you combine the two, and consider the volume that each business would see, I'm suggesting that the cuts are lower. Like you said, you can't take $80 out of a $119 tandem, and leave the DZO with $39. That pays the TI, end of story. No slots, no pack job, no rig rental, no office overhead nothing, all of those would be losses. I wouldn't imagine that either Groupon or Sportations would be willing to openly discuss their deal with the other. You might be able to call either one and get a 'price' on dealing with them directly, but that's not neccesarily a reflection of the pricing between the two of them. I can't imagine a DZO anywhere who would be willing to lose money on that many tandems. Keep in mind that when you drop below the break even point, and every tandem becomes and expense, volume is a bad thing, and 100's of tandems is a very bad thing. The idea between Groupon is to spur traffic and generate future customers, and that is a sound idea for restaurants, salons, and the like. Get someone in to 'sample' the goods at a discoutned price, and hopefully get on their mental list of 'I'd go back there' places around town. Things like eating and haircuts are repeat activities, so for them offering Groupon at a loss is a possibility. A DZO has no such luxury, and if they're not breaking even, they're throwing money out the window. Again, consider the size of the transaction as well. A restaurant that gives you a $25 gift card for $12 stands to lose, at most, $12. Chances are, they know that their check average is $33, so the odds are they'll lose even less, and hopefully make a return customer. In the case of a tandem, if the DZO does it for $39, or even double that to $79, he still stands to lose almost twice that of the restauranteur, with no (very little) hope a return customer. Again, not endorsing or supporting, just explaining. One of two things is happening here, either this is a fad in the skydiving industry and it will wear out it's own welcome in a year or two, or this is the 'new' face of skydiving, and we have to get used to it and find a way to adapt so we're not throwing money out the window into other industries. Everyone who wanted skydiving to 'mainstream', well, here it is. This is what happens when something goes from a cottage industry to a serious money making venture, the vultures start to circle. With the development of tandems, the media exposure they have, and advent of internet marketing and social networking, the need for change at the DZO level is greater than ever. Some of us recognized Skyride as being a raw deal for the industry, well now they have a friend, and two against one is even worse than before. It's the industry's fault for being complicit. How about after the top was blown off of Skyride and the lawsuit was in the books, that Proskydiving bullshit came to light and everyone drank that bullshit koolaid as well. of course the guy knew how to package it, and what not to say, Skyride laid out the template for what NOT to do, and he followed it to a 'T'. The simple fact is, and there's no way around it, this industry is based around the single operator dealing directly with their customer, end of story. Pricign models, pay, DZ infrastructure are all built around the concept of the $200 (more or less) tandem. For the indusrty to thrive and prosper, the DZO needs to collect that full amount, and this will keep him in business, byuing tandem rigs, paying TIs, and give him the lattitude to indulge fun jumpers and produce new skydivers. Cutting into that dollar figure, even once like Skyride, reduces their abaility to do any of the above, and that's going to kill the industry. Actaully, what it will do is kill the DZ. Profits will be down, reinvestment in gear will drop, and the DZ won't be able to afford break-even slots for fun jumpers, and those numbers will drop as well. It's an interesting paralell between skydiving and another industry. All of these 'marketers' are driving business to one location or the other, and upsetting the balance in the marketplace. if one DZ pulls an extra 450 tandems of the market, the other local DZs are going to suffer. If those DZs go out of business, the remaining DZ will grow, and what you'll be left with are fewer, but much larger DZs. If something should happen to the remaining large DZ, such as a lawsuit or mismagement that puts them out of business, we're left with nothing. Sounds like a carbon copy of the banking industry to me, but in this case, there will be no bailout.

I'm not a doctor, and don't know one bad back from the next. My adivice had nothing to do with your medical diagnosis, it has to do with your equipment selection. The Sabre 1 is a mixed bag. Some of the opened fine, and some were slammers. Most were good for a firm smack every now and then, and the big ones might have been worse than the little guys. You can dome the slider, pocket the slider, use a bigger slider, move the barke setting down a touch, etc, and come up with a pretty good canopy that will mostly behave. I would (and have) reccomended that option to many jumpers looking for a bargain priced used canopy. However, these were all healthy jumpers with no reason to consider an occasional slammer to more than a nuisance. I would not reccomend that path to any jumpers with a history or back/neck problems, any jumper much over the age 35 or 40, or any jumper thinking about jumping a camera. In those cases, the possibility for doing real damage exists, and it's easy enough to just not jump a Sabre 1 if you're in any of those catagories. It's just common sense. There are canopies known to open hard, canopies known to open soft, and canopies with no real reputation connected to their openings. Which one seems like the right choice for someone with back problems of any kind? If a Spectre is too hard to find or too expensive, the Triathalon used to have a good snivel, and I think Aerodyne supports them with repairs and linesets (can anyone confirm that?).

If they were post against the provider of the service, then it would hurt sales, and there's your reason why those posts would be removed. My guess is that the ability to post in a discussion was intended for people to talk up the item being offered for sale, discuss their favorite entree at a restaurant or favorite sylist at a salon. I would also imagine that if there was a legitimate gripe about the item/service, that was a little more clear cut then the situation with Skyride/Sportations, those posts might be allowed to stand, but for anyone lacking the in-depth, historical, and industry knowledge that we do, the lines between right and wrong (and the lines between Skyride and Sportations) get a little fuzzy. For most involved, they're just getting a cheap tandem, and could probably care less about the finer points of where it comes from. From the Groupon side, selliing 100's of tandems per deal at over $100 each has to represent one of the higher grossing Groupons they offer, so why would they want to screw with that? While we're at it, I can figure out what a Groupon is, even if it sounds like a north Atlantic fish. It's a 'group-coupon'. None of that explains what the fuck a 'Sportation' is.

Just floating the idea out there. He didn't mention any burnouts, or hard riding, so the milage seems low. Also, if he previously got better milage and then it dropped off with no change in riding style, it wouldn't be crazy to look at all possibilities.

Good luck with that. The same could be said for Skyride, and it has been, but it's not going to change the fact that both of those outfits drive serious volume to the DZs they deal with. While the DZ may take a huge hit in the profit area, if they clear $10 a head on tandems from those companies, that's $10 in the DZOs pocket and all the overhead and staff pay that a tandem covers before it turns a profit. A DZO can keep his aircraft, fuel, rent and untilities payments up to date, and keep his staff paid and on-site (want to lose staff? don't give them enough work jumps and they'll take a hike in a hurry) while cranking out tandems via Skyride/Groupon. Like it or not, this is what it's come to. People figured out how to market skydiving via the internet before the DZOs did, and now they have the upper hand. While it might seem like a shit deal all around, if you're a DZO with money tied up in your DZ, it's a way to get your money back. It's not fast, or the way you thought you'd get it back, but if you can make payments on your plane you're building equity, and when you close the DZ and sell the plane, you get your money back. On top of all that is the old Skyride ploy of, 'Either get with us, or your neighbor will, and he'll get all the local business'. It's getting to be the same with Groupon, where they move literally 100's of tandems in the course of a week. A local population can only support so many of those 'bonanzas', so if you're not the first DZO to make such an offering, you going to lose out. I recall one place sold 450+ tandems through Groupn. This was a 182 DZ, so more or less they secured all the business for an entire season up front, and got paid up front. They can still market and sell full price tandems all season long, but that Groupn hit is almost enough to buy a 2nd 182, or a new engine for your existing plane. Take a hit this season, get the 2nd plane or fresh engine, and go back to business as usual next year. It's hard to argue with those economics with a guy who's going to end up owning another plane or adding a ton of value to his existing plane. In terms of the pay from Groupon/Skyride combo deals, I'm sure they have negotiated reduced commisions for both parties based on the volume. They both are moving a huge amount of money working with each other, and I'm sure they're willing to make consessions to make it work. Keep in mind that most non-skydiving Groupon deals I see have a $20 to $30 dolalr pruchase price, so Groupon makes $5/$6 each. Considering that Groupon tandems go for $100/$120, even if they only took $10 each, it's still a higher dollar figure that most other deals, even if the percentage is down. Likewise with Skyride, they strike one deal with Groupn and move 100's of tandems at once for doing almost nothing. Again, if they took $10 each, that's $3k or $4k in the bank for doing nothing, who would pass that up? I'm not supporting or endorsing it, just explaining it.

Have you had the bike checked for alaignment? It sounds like your bike is eating tires, and it didn't used to do this and it's not a high horespower machine, so maybe the problem isn't the tires?

It can't be fixed. Replace it. Any canopy can open hard on any jump. 'Fixing' one that's known to open hard will reduce those tendencies, but not eliminate them. Jumping a canopy known to open soft, and keeping it maintained to factory specifications is the best way to mitigate that risk. Big Sabres have been known to break risers and snap femurs on opening. You can do your best to prevent that from happening, but with a big Sabre in your rig, the chance is always there, more so than with other canopies. I know your rigger said it was a great deal, but he was looking at a young college kid on a budget and cheap canopy with low jump numbers. Did tyou tell him up front that you have back problems and cannot deal with hard openings? I highly doubt it if the rigger still reccomended that canopy for you. Don't be stupid and hide behind the money issue. If you can afford to jump, you can afford to not jump and save up for another canopy, plain and simple. There's a ragged out Spectre 190 out there somewhere that you can pick up for a song that will open so slow you'll be going for your handles.

Food for thought - there are guys out there jumping with one leg, no legs, two legs with no use of either one, etc. I jump with a guy who's somewhere north of 60 and he's only got one arm. Give it a year. Get a kneebrace and bigger canopy, and limit your jumping to days with 10mph winds or greater. There are ways to make it work, it might not be as easy or simple as it is for others, but jumping is jumping, and some it better than none.

The first two questions are irrevelant. The rest of the questions can be accurately answered by a rigger after an inpsection, which is a must before buying any used piece of equipment. Between harness size, main canopy size, reserve canopy size, and various equipment updates and recalls, the chances of your friend just happening to have a used rig that will work for you is slim. Certainly hand it off to your rigger for an inspection, but don't expect much. When you say you finished your AFF classes, do you mean the ground school, and you only have 2 jumps? Or do you mean you finished all the jumps and just haven't updated your profile since you had 2 jumps? I ask because any jumps made as a student with an instructor will most likely have to made on the DZ student rigs. Even if you are done with your AFF jumps, the DZ may require you use their rigs until you have an A license, so check into that as well. At a minnimum, you will need an AAD in any rig you jump until you have a licesne, so be sure the rigger knows that you need a rig that will take an AAD. Some rigs are AAD ready, and others need to be modified to take an AAD, so if that's the case, be sure to get a quote on how much that will run. Actually, be sure to get a quote for any repair or updating work needed to get any used gear airworhty, and factor that cost into your budgeting. That said, skydiving is a terrible place to look for bargains on gear. You can pruchase a solid, modern rig that will offer you all the performance you need for about $3000 without an AAD, closer to $4000 with an AAD. If you buy at the right price, you can generally get 90% of your money back after a year and 100 jumps. Buying poplur modern components means that when you want to sell, you'll be able to move the stuff in short order. You can look at a used beginner rig as more of an investment than a purchase. It's an investment you're going to loose a couple hundred bucks on, but the fact remains that you can cash out and sell the gear at anytime. Even if you can find an older rig for half of that, you may have trouble selling it all by the time you're ready. So instead of jumping newer gear for $200/$300, you're jumping older stuff and it costs you $1000 by the time you find a buyer (if at all).

Just working with some round, conservative numbers, you need to spend $1500 on an A license, $3000 on basic equipment, and $5000 on 200 jumps before it's time to think about buying a $1000 camera helmet that you need to spend another $1500 learning to jump before you're ready to earn dime one as a paid videographer. By my math, that's a $12,000 dent in your wallet. That said, you'll have a license, rig, jumpsuit, altimeter, camera helmet and close to 300 jumps to show for your investment. At that point, you could actually make enough shooting video to pay for all of your other skydiving, provided you can find a DZ to work at where at least half of your jumps are paid jumps. You'll make enough to pay for the other half of your jumps (the 'fun' jumps) and maintain your equipment. Now you have an idea of what it will take, and I'm sure you can guess how long that will take you. With that in mind, worry about some of the more immediate concerns in your skydiving progression, as cameras and camera helmets literally change every year. If you can achieve all of the above in just two years, that will still be two generations of cameras and camera helmets from what's available now. For now, relax and enjoy the ride. Stick with the editing gig at the DZ, and try to get in on the packing work as well. Working non-jumping jobs at the DZ is the best way for new jumpers to learn about the sport, and fund their jumps/equipment. Besides, if you have to work another job to pay for your jumping, it might as well be one where you can make a jump on your lunch break (just kidding, editors and packers don't get a lunch break).

Revert to death by powerpoint, and talk about ways to learn to skydive. You can use still pics or video clip to illustrate the talk, and you can easily soak up 5-7 minutes with an introduction, a few min each on tandem, SL and AFF, and then a conclusion. It should hold their attention as it applies to them (non-jumpers), and you're only spending 2 min on each one. Non-jumpers don't find much interesting about skydiving. Think about how excited you were on your first jump on a 170, but if you explain that to a non-jumper, it doesn't sound all that 'special'. It's really the finer points of the sport that interest us, but without the deeper knowledge (or crippling addiction to jumping) the appeal of those details are lost on the non-jumping crowd. You might even have business cards or brochures available for your home DZ 'just in case'.