Deuce

Gotta get the jump numbers up. One day Connie will tap me on the shoulder and tell me it's time. Until then I have to try to remember which side the hackey thingie for the little parachute that goes first is on. Dude our tandems are chewed up and spit off the property by 4 at the latest. It's like puttin the kids to bed, then the partyin begins. I got a second rig coming, so when it gets here...LOOKOUT! I'll be jumping like a jackrabbit on crack, monkey, pitviper, whatever jumps a lot when it smokes crack. Sunday! (monster truck-rally voice) BE THERE! Vidiots, Meathaulers, Training wheels, packmonkeys. My kind of zoo

Those are the guys that own the casinos, right?

I thought you had the freefly pud-handled throwout? Or am I confused? Whoops, your right. I pull my BOC pilot chute out of the cordura pocket with the pud handle attached to it that tucks under the flap, so no bridle is exposed at all.

You see, J, eager young beavers like us screw things up for the big dogs. If it's gonna be a Joe Jennings duck drinking coke thingie, you gotta hammer 'em and get residuals. Frankly you need an agent. Q's right. Dude always is. I guess it would be like somebody replacing us on the rotation to shoot tandems with somebody who'd do it for free, or just for the jumps. Thanks to Sangiro, we have access to the group to keep us from stepping on it. Keep us posted, I'm curious how it works out for you. Maybe you can get your SAG card and stuff. Good luck!

Jairo, what a dillemna. A decision involving friends, a job that you love, and money. Yick. I'd ask for the compensation you're losing by not doing tandems or AFF that day. About $150-250 plus the jump tickets? Subtract the revenue the exposure will bring you. If you will be doing many, many more paid jumps as a result of the commercials, comp it. If they put a tag line on like "aerial photography by jairo.com, call 1888 luv camera, you should pay them

Nah, it's on purpose. All part of the strategery.

Oh yeah. WAY off field, near power lines, into a corral full of cows. Marty Martinez drives over while I'm on the way down, he's on the radio has me do a couple turns to set up for the corral, I'm coming down into the cows, they stampede out of the way, "Arms up, feet together JP, don't f*ck with those cows, FLARE!" Squish! Ankle deep in cow sh*t. I DIDN'T DIE! I loved my first jump, C206, line twists, partial linover that cleared itself, stampede. It was great!

Hi Brent! Thanks for the low-profile freefly ringsight mount and my ringsite! Working fine!

God bless the Paramedics. The gallows humor of emergency service workers is lost on just about everyone else. Stuff is funny to the emergency room people that just isn't funny to anyone else. ER docs and nurses, paramedics, firefighters (pancake eating weightlifter pooftas) and cops giggle at stuff that makes other people faint. My favorite "joe" story was a "joe" that got drunk, climbed into a tree, passed out and fell onto a wrought iron fence, impaling himself through-and-through the tops of the bars. The firefighters got to cut the fence apart and take joe to General Hospital for interns to practice their surgical skills on. He recovered and was found later that year dead in a portapotty with a needle (go needle exchange!) in his arm. It used to bug me, but a grizzled vet explained that the surgeons got to hone their skills on the joes of the world so that when I got ripped up in a knife fight, they'd know what they were doing, and could save my life. When you find that lost kid suffering from hypothermia knocking on death's door, you'll save him, cause joe taught you how.

I just ordered a second Wings. Very freefly friendly, very comfortable. The customer service is absolutely fabulous. I got the freefly pud handled pullout and love it. Mirage people seem to be just as happy, but I don't know about the customer service. I recommend the Wings, and have somebody knowledgeable take your measurements. Hey Judedre! Great picture!

Michele, do you have a copy of the video of you jumping with me, Seb, Matt, TOM, Nathan, and Gary? If you don't, I'll send you a dub. If you don't jump, you don't get to smile like that. If you don't jump, you don't get to have that look in your eye. If you don't jump, you don't get to do "tippy-toe" landings and laugh at the sky as your canopy falls to the ground around you. The guys on these forums have way, way more jumps than you and me. I'm still new, so maybe I remember being really really new more than some of the grizzled veterans. On my AFF 1 I was amazed that I could remember to do three practice rip cord touches and look at my altimeter. I remember that after I landed I looked at my altimeter, but couldn't recall what altitude I was at. Sensory overload. I'm still in it. Now while I'm flying my cameras, I do my best to fly, but there's lighting issues, artistic stuff, and remembering to take stills and get the customer to smile and thumbs up. Everybody can get better. There's always new stuff to learn. When you've identified the pattern look at the ground when you're facing the wind. If the ground is coming toward you you'll land past it, if it's moving away, you'll land in front of it. Do some left and right turns to clear up that you're going to touch down in a wide, clear area. You're about 600 feet up. Find that spot on the ground that's not moving either toward you or away while taking deep cleansing breaths, check the horizon. When you're on the first floor balcony, start your flare. Tippy toe the landing, or PLF. And do it again. It's fun.

I've got the Hawkeye LT, and a PC120. Nikon N70 on top. I'm happy with it. More importantly, my customers are happy with it. Figure out where you are regarding top versus side.

Skymama, thanks for the pic. Gross. But thanks anyway. When I'm 80, I'll still want to play with them, just not with the chicky-mama's teeth sitting on them. Never thought I'd have to lock the door against my own kids, either.

[reply(i.e. Cypres fire because you were knocked out). This happens often while skydiving with Lisa, a good hearty Bytch-slap and you're glad you bought the cypress. I'm about your weight, I just ordered a new rig with a PDR 143. Only a small handfull of my jumps are on nine cells. I would not go any smaller. I only have a few more jumps than you. My new main is a Spectre 150. If I ever go to a 135, the 143 will still be a good match. JP

Yepper. And there's no methadone for skydiving. Supposed to be some grand parties Saturday night. I'll be having cupcakes with my daughters and their friends at their "under the sea" themed 6th birthday. Have extra-adult fun for me!

Damn. I found this thread too late. I'm having the worst Monday in a while, and I'd love to kick somebody's ass for a friend. Oh well, at least you like watching him work.

The beer is free and plentiful once the last plane goes up. Going to Davis to pay for it isn't going to motivate me. The freefly camps do, though. Byron is a small DZ. C206 during the week, King on the weekend. It'll be big enough this weekend green-hornet-monkey! Sunday afternoon, right?

Yeah, I like the DZ to make money... On the other hand, we'll have beucoup lift capacity and jumping will be limited only by how long it takes to pack! We're confirmed for two King Airs and the Van so we'll be jumping like monkeys on crack! I plan on working the video concession all day Friday shooting tandems until they're gone, then fun-jumping until sunset. I'll video tandems Sunday morning, but it's fun jumps all Sunday afternoon to the traditional naked sunset load. Well they did it last year, I think it's a tradition.

Get a nice used PC-9 if money is an issue. Since you're not in a hurry, try a lot of different helmets on to see what you like.

Yeah. Sorry about that. Little black cocktail dress, off-the-shoulder. I recall the shoes as being strappy 6 inch numbers with stilleto heels.

Yeah. B-squared top-docks my Enfuego 79 at 6000 feet, chops her main, and lays down on the tumescent-airlocked-cross-braced 12 cell. She peeks over the leading edge of the canopy and sings to me as I pilot us to a landing. I get a hundred yard swoop with one foot in the pond after a 360 degree toggle-hook and catch her in my arms laughing as I two-step off the edge of the swoop pond. Hey, I can do it, I've got a D-license. "We can fix it. My father is a television repair man, and he's got a killer set of tools."

Michele, darlin, hold my hand. You're overthinking this. It's fun. Say it with me. Funfunfun. You've been jumping pretty tired student stuff, and now you're gonna have your very own canopy, and you're gonna get better and better because it will be the same stuff every time. Remember to keep flying your landings, you're not done until the canopy is deflated on the ground. Never reach for the ground when you've got a toggle in your hand. Flare before you hit the ground. Learn from your experience. Remember that it's fun. Funfunfun. JP

Nah, some friends from Socal were up and described the night swoops as one of the coolest things they'd seen. Since the landing area is lit, you can't see the swoopers approach, but you can hear them set up and then SWOOSH they go by. It doesn't seem challenging enough, though. They should set up the landing area with dry-ice fog machines with fog about 6 feet deep just to keep it interesting.

No worries. Yeah, our DZ uses Vectors, and if you're level or just below, where you get good video, they drop about 6 feet below you when they dump. I like to move to the side to see them stand up and accelerate away. I scooted back and stayed out front on Saturday and that's when I had one of the veteran TM's tell me about getting clocked by the feet of a tandem if you're out front and too close. I had just not read about tandem-video collisions before, and it sounded like it was something that happened somewhat more than rarely. I tell you what, I'm digging flying camera. There's always something to do better. Better exit! Get closer! Closer and lower! Orbit! Clown the student! Oh shit, get the sun behind me. What's this thing in my mouth? Oh, crap! Stills! clickclickclickclick! Get paid to skydive? Who'da thunk it?

Technically, you can... if you're the boss or have a D license Oh. Well thanks Lummy. Youdaman.