Abedy

+1!

Went vice versa with me. One of the students of the form I had been form teacher with for 6 years was a skydiver (you can start at 14 in Germany and get your licence at 16) and he persuaded them to cough up the money for a tandem jump as their "Thank you for being our teacher" present. I was overwhelmed, excited and very very grateful. Really nice students, still in contact with some of them. They came to watch me jump so I had to (just kidding). I had seen parachutes in the air before but having grown up behind the Iron Curtain parachuting still was the sport of young, bold, strong and extremely healthy men to me. I had thought about tandem jumps, but considered them "too expensive". I was a little tight with money at this time so the present came handy, so to say. Well, so I entered the AN-2. I didn't like the freefall that much (instructor stood in the door for about 1 minute with me awkwardly hanging in the pax harness, yelled "Head up!!!" into my ear when I wanted to look down in freefall and the opening was a cracker - got me bruised all over) but I liked the canopy ride. Folks there told me that everyone could become a skydiver nowadays (provided this and that) and so I got hooked up. Had to hassle with my GP (parachuting with ASTHMA?) and had to beg to get into the "mini course" (2 S/L jumps) because they wanted me to wait until next year to start a "real course". Did 5 S/L jumps with a round so I'm still pretty good at doing a PLF but I changed the club once I got to know about this AFF thing Spent money worth a Beamer (but like my Skoda Octavia) since and had a lot of fun. (Pain, too. But that's another story ) Edited for typos and elaborating The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Apart from what's being discussed... Handle checks? I know, has been debated before. I know TI/Es with several thousands of jumps doing handle checks each and every time, so I do stick to it, too. Just so to say... The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

OTOH it could have done considerable damage to your Eustachian tubes. Could, yes, but you can never be sure you're not the one who gets bitten by statistics... That is why German DFV set a limit of 10 years (and a lot of DZ won't let kids jump who are under 12) The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Nice to hear. And that it is what "unstable exit" and "rolls/flips" are mainly thought for: To show you regain stability pretty fast, instinctively at best. After some jumps you can/should trust your body - it will do the right thing almost without you deliberately thinking "Oh, I'm on my back, now I gotta do... humm..." but simply registering: "Ah, belly-to-earth again, nice!" Sounds you reached that stage, great! BTW: Looking forward to your next cartoons. I'm collecting duck stuff (figurines mainly) so I really appreciate skydiving duck stories. One day they might even make it into a book The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

The name of such a jerk should be placed on a black list available on all dropzones together with his mugshot. His bad if he dares to turn up somewhere - that's begging for a good spank then. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

I am deeply impressed, congrats! I also watched your "Doing flips and stuff" video on youtube. I wouldn't have imagined that turns, flips etc were possible for paraplegics. Once again, congrats and all the best to you! The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

You owe me a new keyboard, d00d! Just laughed my bum off The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Ouch! Glad there aren't any eagles around my DZ... The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Anyone knows whether the GoPro 2 allows to playback videos continuously (until you stop it)? It's simply much more convenient to plug the AV-cable into a TV and watch from a vid you choose and do not need to click for the next vids to come. Also allows for using your good old DVD recorder instead of hassling with a DVD-edit-and-burn programme on a computer (which needs a lot of RAM and a fast hard disk...) Tnx in advance, Carsten The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Broke right humerus (was a compound fracture) and shattered my right scapula due to premature deployment while freeflying (right after I finished a cartwheel). Needed a revision operation coz the first doc wasn't that talented, to put it politely. Took some months to build up muscles again and get everything moving the way it's meant to be but after 7 months I was back in the air. Scapula is still in (the last stages of the) process of remodelling (takes a lot of time) and my buddies will have to look there won't be any titanium parts scattered in my ash dive, but it's not too bad. I can do 9 or 10 tandems a day w/o problems Have a look here. First row: X-rays 3 months after 1st operation, second row: X-rays after revision operation. BTW: If you got operated on your metacarpals, take care the osteosynthesis material will be removed soon enough. If you turn up too late they won't be able to get it out without unnecessary high risk. Happened to a friend of mine - came back for "removing implants" after 6 months: "Too late" they told him. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

The cheapest (and simplest) one is the Epsilon. Look here. 40 Euro-Bucks at the moment. I dunno if it's also available in America. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

You ought to be pretty sure it will happen since you wrote "When" and did not start with "If" I don't think it will happen, at least not in Germany. Lawsuits aren't that costly here as they tend (are said?) to be in the US of A. IF Cypres (the only one I trust) got banned I would have to jump w/o one. But I don't think my rig's manufacturer would do so. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Meh...so you work in a two-car garage....meh. Lucky bastard. Well, not really lucky. He COULD jump but actually CAN'T. Must be hell, huh? BTW: There's "Tropical Islands" (clicky) in the state of Brandenburg, was an assembly hall for the "Cargolifter" Zeppelins that went bankrupt. They do legal BASE jumps there once a year AFAIK. 106 metres at least. not too bad. (I'd never do it, though ;-) Follow the light! The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

I got one of the first FreeZR helmets (FreeZR 1 nowadays) in 2006. I've used it more or less continuously since. (I have a frap hat for tandems.) I used it in a great number of jumps and didn't experience any problems. You need to adjust its inside size with the correct paddings. (But you can refuse to and complain about it being too small/large (*) ) The visor might bet cracks around the holes for the attachment pins, but only if you close your visor quite violently for a good number. But this isn't necessary as you may close the visor 30s before the green light shows - the visor won't fog up because the FreeZR is quite spacious in the area before your face. (*) Seriously: It's very important to read the instructions and correctly adjust the inside size with the paddings provided. I was lucky and Stefan Ertler himself adjusted mine when I approached him at the Paratec Stand at the WPC2006 in Gera The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

We have a good number of birds of prey at our airfield, too. Most of them are falcons and buzzards, if you do not count crows and magpies I had both a falcon and a buzzard sort of visiting, both when doing tandems. Well, not really visiting, they remained in a safe distance of about 15 to 20 meters. Both times it was female passengers, both of whom were really impressed. It's kinda majestic (and cute! ) to have these birds near you in mid-flight. I wish they paid me/us a visit more often The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Hi Shlomo, that's a fantastic number, incredible. Congrats! (Being a little envious) Shabat shalom, Carsten The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

It's a halo, resulting from dispersion of sunlight at ice cristals in the cirrus clouds (which came in with a cold front... but when it hit we had already withdrawn into our sitting room :-) The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Perfect view from our balcony on Saturday evening when we had supper, see pic attached. Just wanted to share... The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Did 9 tandems last Saturday, packed 8 of 'em. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Cute, especially the redhead. BTW: Last time I was in Oz I considered buying the dangerous book, but since my son is already a grown-up I made my mind up. It ain't useful for an old furt like me if ya don't have a boy to share it with. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Aussie friends of mine travelled the UK and complained about the controls for indicators and wiper being interchanged. Was a 1970s VW minivan At home (Carnarvon) they have a Range Rover. AFAIK the controls are the "wrong way" there as well, but I can't remember exactly. May ask them when I give them a call next time... But they also have a Holden Barina with the controls the Aussie way, so confusion is perfect The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

You're using auto-correct, right? I was just being obnoxious ;-) and wanted to play with words. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

No intention, have never even considered jumping without an AAD or an altimeter or without a helmet (or at least a frap hat). These are things that have proven they've done faaaaar more good than bad and thus I consider them useful safety-improving gear. I made checking my gear a ritual, never ever step out of the hangar without my leg/chest straps fastened, alti mounted etc pp. There may be cases a skydiver accidentally forgets their alti - they can then take the spare one we have in the plane. BOT: I was just being consequent regarding your thoughts. Never mind, though. The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks

Some years ago I student of mine told me she was also skydiving. I asked her where, about her rig etc pp. And yeah, she also started by just jumping out of the plane. "I'm jumping with my uncle, but mainly on my own." She told me, her uncle sometimes practices "Rescue jumps". "They throw dummies out of the plane and jump after them to catch them in the air, ya know!" Couldn't tell about the equipment of hers, nor the typical altitude or plane. Couldn't even read the altimeter when I brought it in class the next week. That was the kiss of death. Still wonder why she didn't like me and pulled a face in my classes... But at least I had to admire her stubbornness, she kept to it till the bitter end and told her classmates now and then that she had jumped with her uncle at the weekend, in Bavaria. (In German, one of the first words that gives the game away is "Reißleine". Only whuffos use it. It's "ripcord" translated literally, but the correct term in German is "Aufzugsleine". She used the whuffo word in one of her first sentences.) The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks