nigel99

Boys don't know yet, only daughter does. If I'm too much of a heathen for her, I don't know where you would score on the scale I'm not at the dz this weekend, but I'm guessing your not either. I'll be on Michaels canopy course, and then Jurien boogie (packing not jumping). Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[Beer] I know already planning on putting a carton on Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

No the skydiving is just the symptom not the cause. Things aren't straight forward, and I'm not going to bore everyone with my dirty laundry I'm not looking for advice in this thread (if I wanted it, I would have posted in the womens forum). I've offered counselling and had that option turned down. We're both tired of the work that the relationship needs. This thread was my way of blowing off steam and getting some good old humour into my life, as right now I need it Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Sure it's a long time, in Europe I would have been out 8 years ago with good behaviour Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Is this a "Deal Breaker?" I'm not quite sure why you associate SkyDiving with "Beer drinking heathen" When the 2 don't have to go together. There doesn't have to be any tough times ahead. It's never too late to seek help from a higher entity. It's free, doesn't costs anything but a little of your time. All you have to do is ask. Best- The religion isn't a problem for me as such, but it makes it very difficult for her to reconcile our world views. The beer drinking heathen comment was largely in jest. But realistically I enjoy the dz atmosphere and she hates it. We've discussed counselling and to be frank, neither of us really want to put in the work that it would involve at this point. It's not an easy decision, we've been together 18 years. We've stuck together through some pretty tough times. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Well after spending most of my adult life with the same person, we've agreed that it is time to part ways. It's amicable and we aren't in a rush, and ironically the atmosphere at home has lifted considerably since we came to an agreement. She's grown more religious over the years, I've turned into a beer drinking, skydiving heathen. I'm sure there will be tough times ahead, but for now we are both pretty relieved. So another one bites the dust, due in part to skydiving. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

3,2,1 let the conspiracies begin.... Sorry to hear about his death. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Spend your money on jumps

I forget the format. But anyway: 8:3:0 8 jumps, 3 Notable events, being first jump with Vader, a rocking hybrid and another tandem jump. I'm married the last number is un-necessary PS - thanks Vader for the 4 way videos

Maybe it's because I'm an engineer, but I like the hard and fast numbers John puts out. Sure in the same way that car fuel efficiencies are subject to test conditions, gear will be the same. But it allows people to duplicate the testing, and more importantly allows for the evolution of the testing as assumptions made during testing are found to be inadequate or wrong. I really hate the vague, touchy feely approach, that don't have test data to back it up. Ultimately we the buyers are the problem, we simply don't ask the questions. I think the reserve pc extraction force and appropriate reserve sizing are one aspect. But when we choose our cool mini ring risers do we know that we are trading off mechanical advantage and the increased risk of not having the strength to cutaway? I know the figures for the two sizes of 3 ring are published, but how many people look it up or ask? People have stopped thinking about the functional requirements and have focused on the aesthetics. Based on my experience of jumping a pop top, if you go that route be prepared for a lot of ribbing about jumping out dated gear. On a more serious note, seriously consider and look at pop top rsl routing and options. On the tear drop, I think it's horrible and I don't have an rsl as a result, I don't know about the racer. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

you do realize this is your first in the sport so you owe a few people some beer (namely your instructors, staff, and those at your DZ,,oh and me). It seems the Lone Ranger is dredging old threads. Goon I think you owe beer for answering a 10 year old thread Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You pick your wing with this in mind. Whatever you can safely fly in the above conditions is a 'good' choice for any jumper. The other aspect is having the judgement to pass on jumps when the conditions aren't right. If it's you, the weather, or something else, there comes a time when the risk is not worth the $30 or $40 you stand to make. I really hesitated about using the word 'have' to jump, but left it in as in most cases you'll see tandems still churning when the wise old timers are sitting it out. I agree with your view though. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

A friends recent injury on a work jump, got me thinking. Almost without exception my AFF and Vidiot friends jump smaller (120 or less) elliptical or crossbraced canopies. On one hand staff jumpers are super current, especially as everyone I know works at full time dz's. I can see the attraction of the sportier canopies. On the downside, work jumpers have to jump when tired and conditions get sketchy. Without focusing on specific individuals I'd be interested in hearing peoples thoughts. At a personal level I am working as hard as I can towards being a weekend warrior work jumper, so its relevant. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

WooHoo! Pre-determined. I like that. I do too, but note that there is a provision implied that it can be changed if necessary. This should not be a problem if the indicator is readily seen from above say 1,000'. Absolutely it can be changed if necessary. But there is a process in place. It's not up to anyone to randomly decide the direction. Generally the CI or DZSO set the direction, but there are a couple of people who occasionally get delegated to look after the arrow. So common sense is applied, it may change between take-off and exit, but its not suddenly changed mid-pattern You can easily see the arrow from 5k. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

We've got the same thing except it's red. It works well and allows holding areas etc to be determined very early on, usually before boarding. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Just to point out that working jumps do not cost money, rather they earn you money so he wasn't "spending" money on jumps. Anyway as Cyndi requested there is another thread for that and this is a well intentioned thread that she started for those who'd like to help. I'm happy to start a thread in safety and training as to whether AFF instructors and videiots should jump conservative canopies. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Wanna bet it's something much smaller than a 170? My point was that he isn't on a cross brace canopy at an inappropriate jump number, like so many people who are injured are. I always expect Andy's injuries to be from Base though. I like Andy and hope he gets well soon. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I assume this is the same Andy Copeland who used to post here all the time, shitting all over anyone who made any comments regarding safety or making conservative choices when it comes to things like canopy selecytion and BASE jumping, right? So he ends up having two canopy collapses, severe enough to land him in the hospital in the course of one month? Go figure..... Dave, Andy is shit stirrer. My last jump with him about 18 months ago he had circa 700 jumps and was on a 170. My limited experience with Andy is that he loves to get a rise out of people. I don't know his current jump numbers or canopy type though. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Those are good points. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Firstly I'm not sure you can draw that conclusion reliably. Certainly a self test can't fix anything, so I don't see a link. Secondly, despite the 12 and 20 year lifetime statements, both AAD manufacturers assume a very light usage. When you take the use into account both are pretty poor, compared to automotive or medical products. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Greg, quite simply there is a tolerance and allowance on any aad firing altitude. They already fire between 750 and 1000 ft. Raising it another 250ft means it would be 1000 to 1250. On formation skydivers it's not uncommon to be.pitching at 2000 ft, as a result the chance of an unwanted AAD fire increases. You need to see the whole picture, we trade off safety for fun all the time. If we wanted to be totally safe we wouldn't jump just post about it on dz.com Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I decided a while ago to do a Masters (coursework) part time, as work is very low stress. Holy moly, even though I'm only doing 1 unit, it is nearly 20 years since I was in a learning environment. Added to the fact that the Uni time table sucks resulting in my spending 5 hours a day in the car, working 40 hour week and doing 10 hours at Uni a week. I am physically exhausted, I enjoy the learning but the timetable and travel sucks On top of that skydiving kicks off at 7am on Saturday, and it is a 2 hour drive from home. At least that is fun, but boy I wish the organiser wasn't such an early bird /rant and off to bed nice and early. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Give a Sabre 2 a try. Not sure if you will like it, but it is a completely different animal to the Sabre 1. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Chris, Regarding the people using the DZ offset features to raise their firing altitude. It is unfair to expect the manufacturers (Cypres and Vigil) to document the details of misusing a function. The dz offset is not intended to add margin, rather it is to address a specific issue. I do agree regarding the quality of the documentation in general. Ultimately though people aren't looking at the whole system. Robin Heid (from memory) was detailing how free fall speeds have picked up and the influence that has on reserve deployment altitudes. John Sherman also has a very valid point regarding the reserve deployment process. Add to the fact most skydivers couldn't survive a landing under their tiny reserves anyway IF they had a genuine AAD save. All this complexity and tradeoffs for smaller more freefly friendly rigs is definitely redefining how we should look at things. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Personally I think that AAD's are the most complex piece of equipment that we jump with. One of the side effects of complexity is that unintended behaviour can result. I don't like the fact there is no industry oversight and independent verification of AAD functionality. When a manufacturer says an AAD fired within it's design parameters, there is no real scrutiny with the expertise to challenge it and say perhaps the design parameters are wrong. It isn't about honesty, I don't for a moment think that any of the major AAD manufacturers are either dishonest or incompetent. However it is impossible for the designer of a system to envisage all the failure modes. It is why good engineering always separates the design and test departments/functions, ideally with as little overlap as possible. Everyone gets very defensive about their brand of AAD, in my opinion this is bigger than the brand and is an issue that should be addressed by a body like the FAA with a TSO standard for AAD's introduced. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.