lowapproach

Anyone ever hear of them? I live near that airport and the only thing I have ever heard is Grimmie opening a place there. http://skydiveamericacali.com/

Just saw that I misunderstood a bit. The USPA site has good information available and, from what I understand, good people to help with those questions. http://www.uspa.org/GroupMembers/StartingaDropZone/tabid/105/Default.aspx Good luck.

FAR 105.25 pretty much covers it. Basically, I believe, you get permission from the controlling agency. http://www.risingup.com/fars/info/part105-25-FAR.shtml Check out a.2

As with everywhere else, it all depends on where in San Diego you want to live. To have any type of quality of life you will not be anywhere near downtown, the beach, etc. BUT, Skydive San Diego is located very south of the city in an area where you should be able to share an ok apartment with that much.

OK. I must be wrong. I was probably not in there.

I dont know about legal, I wouldnt want to call the FSDO to ask, but it is not smart.

This makes my palms sweat thinking about the ride up "in the hole" of a particular twin otter of a california drop zone (not a dig on the DZ, I like the place). I can barely make it through the opening when it is on the ground.

Sounds like fun. Kind of like skydiving into a 3 gun match. I would be down for this.

One of the best things about this sport and the people... we don't forget. Condolences for your friend.

Sick! Can't wait for lunch time jumps.

This is written as if by a fifth grader for a homework assignment.

More news: http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-headlines-in-national/no-foul-play-suspected-bachelorette-contestant-julien-hug-s-death Julien was a truly nice guy and a great flyer. Always one of the first to come up and say hello when he was at the DZ. He was smart and worked hard, his successes were not handed to him.

Sent you a PM. I am a local (Carlsbad) who would love a DZ near my house for the one or two jump days when I want to spend more time jumping than I have to drive. I hold a CPL as well, though I dont fly for a living, and know the sensitivities of the surrounding area there. Please let me know if I can help.

I asked a friend about this and he said that Navy helos would practice maneuvers similar to this for boats to drive in to. I think he mentioned they had done it on side door aircraft such as the hh60, but I found this video of a chinook doing a fast boat extraction. http://wn.com/Chinook_Picking_up_Navy_Seals Cool stuff.

I have done two balloon jumps with mine, never changing any of the settings and it worked perfectly.

...and ball bearings. Heyya! It's all ball bearings nowadays.

I spoke to a company that owns a couple and they said they get the parachutes from Strong, so you might try them.

I think it is a great idea for fixed items that are try and pass on, like canopies or altimeters. But doing the same thing for videos and books, etc deprives the people of income for their product as the product is the video. Once you have demo'd a canopy, you can pass it on to someone else and you are potentially helping the manufacturer. Once someone has viewed a video or read a book they really have "consumed" the product, even though it can be passed on, and therefore have no need to purchase it from the manufacturer. The argument could be made, similar to music sharing, that it would lead people to purchase more books / videos from the company if they liked it but I am not sure how I would feel if that were my product.

You can stick a nice Spectre 210 in there. http://miragesys.com/sizing-guide/

I am jumping a Mirage G4 M5 with a Sabre2 190 now... The 190 fits into the bag easily and the locking stows are no problem. it fits, however, pretty well in the container. Not sure if the 210 would close right.

I meant to start yet another thread about this subject a few weeks ago as well but I never got around to it. I needed a couple of small parts that I was having difficulty finding. I emailed L&B and Lars sent them to me right away, no questions asked. This company is the barometer to measure others against.

Just for giggles, if you were to buy your own aircraft, i searched controller.com for a decent training plane that could grow with you (and be attractive for a lease back to a flight school). Here are the costs (estimated) that you could expect. http://www.controller.com/listingsdetail/aircraft-for-sale/CESSNA-172N-SKYHAWK/1979-CESSNA-172N-SKYHAWK/1169495.htm This is a 160HP very high time Cessna 172 with no mention of damage history and a recently overhauled engine. It is IFR certified and could help you with additional training later on. Your fixed costs based on a $45,000 purchase price (these are guesses and can vary widely depending on where you are in the country). This list is not necessarily complete: Upfront costs Prebuy Inspection $500 Fixed costs (monthly) Loan payment (45K, 20% down, 10 year, 7.5% interest) $427.33 Insurance (this is a guess based on $1800/year, 1MM, 100K per) $150.00 Tie-down $150.00 Annual inspection (inspection only, est $1200) $100.00 Total monthly fixed costs: $827.33 Monthly flying costs (best guess based on total 150 hours flying per year) Fuel (8 gallons per hour @ 4.50 /gallon = $5400.00) $450.00 Engine reserve (based on $40k and 1800 TBO = $22/hour and 12.5 hours per month) $275.00 Avionic reserver (wild assed guess, $10/hour and 12.5 hours per month) $125.00 Miscl maint reserver ($10/ hour and 12.5 hours per month) 125.00 Total monthly flying costs $975.00 Per hour cost (12.5 hours per month) $78.00 Year 1 fixed (12 x 827.33) $ 9927.96 Year 1 flying (150 hours x $78/hr) $11,700 Year 1 total = $144.19 per hour of flying BUT, you own the plane. No scheduling problems (unless you do a leaseback) and you fly the same plane every time, great for consistency.

To add to the other advice... You are going to find a wide array of training aircraft available at the schools you check out. It might be tempting to learn on the glass panel equipped (technically advanced aircraft) due to all the bells and whistles, but I would learn on the "old fashioned" steam gauge round dials. The transition from round to glass is pretty easy, but I have spoken to people who learned on glass and they have difficulty being as proficient on round. Developing a good instrument scan with either is the most important and will make additional training (instrument, commercial, etc) that you do later that much easier. If you have the funds to pick up a good reliable training aircraft it is not a bad thing to do. Keep in mind your weight and the weight of your future instructor. Smaller aircraft have limited useful loads and if you are a bigger person you will be severely limited either by the size of your instructor or the amount of fuel you can carry. A Cessna 152 / 172, Piper Archer, or similar aircraft hold their value extremely well as thomas_crowe mentioned because they are in such high demand. If that is a route you are considering, and you have the funds, start your training first and fly several types or planes (high wing, low wing, etc) to see (1) if you are really interested in flying or it is a passing idea and (2) which type of plane best suits you and your needs. As with skydiving, find an instructor you are compatible with and seek their advice. Make sure you can find an instructor who will train in your airplane and consult with the insurance provider. There are two types of training you can receive, and both refer to the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) parts: Part 61 and Part 141. Part 141 is a very structured course including a syllabus that is pretty much followed in order. Part 61 gives you all the same training but the order can be changed around to best suit you. There are pros and cons to each one that an instructor can walk you through. All in all, flying is a great skill to have and is damn fun. Good luck.

I live in Carlsbad too. You are lucky that there are three great DZs all approximately the same distance from there. SDSD, Elsinore, or Perris. You can't go wrong with any of them. My personal preferences would be SDSD or Elsinore, but just because I have jumped at them more than Perris.

I agree that it is probably the antenna. I had a similar problem and the fix for me was easy. I took a thick barrelled screw driver and coiled the antenna wire around the barrel so that it looked like a spring. Once you pull that barrel out from the center of the coil, extend the length of the "spring" antenna a little bit. This worked great for me and gave me the best range I have had.