Master_Yoda

x2 & good hunting!

You only have 3100 jumps in 23 years!!! You don't jump often do you? I purdy much wouldn't let you DIRT dive with me after a comment like that. This sport is supposed to be fun. Guys like you were always a bummer on the DZ.

1st - Don't get me wrong. Your absolutely right that it is his sandbox. The DZO is the man in charge. That said, if what he wants and what I want are two different things, I can always hit the "high road". No problem. And that's my point as well. There are plenty of dropzones in Texas. And plenty of Instructors with far more experience than the knucklehead skygod who posted above you. 2nd - The BSRs specifically say "should" not "must" in their descriptions of what a license holder should do to get current. I have no issues with sitting in on a ground course or even spending time in a harness showing him I know where my handles are and when and how to use them(EPs). What I'm talking about is having to go thru ground school, then 5 S/L jumps with 3 DRCPs, 1 C&P, 3- 5 sec delays, 3- 10 sec delays, 3- 15 sec delays, 3- 20 sec delays and 3- 30 sec delays before an instructor is willing to sign me off! I will simply go somewhere else. And that DZ would lose my business. So It really is a two-way street. A DZ could try and soak me for student jumps now or they can rake in my money on regular lift tickets later. Now THAT is exactly what I would expect. And no less. Which is why I plan on hiring coaches. The "olden days" are like yesterday to me. You know, back when they were snot nosed kids, jumping out of school buses! Sure training, procedures and equipment have changed. That's what ground school and a recurrency jump or two is for. Then it's the coaches job to make me a better skydiver than I was 20 years ago. Gravity and the relative wind haven't changed a bit. So at least there's that. Take care Chris

162. I used to have over 500 when I was playing mafia wars but I finally got over that addiction.

Don't think of it like they're dying. Think of it like they're healing... like they're being saved! That said, the disinfectant smell is overwhelming.

Lets get her exits down first, then we can work on bigger projects... Happy Birthday, Sky Hippie Girl.

I'd rather flirt at the DZ, despite the competition! But like someone just mentioned, women outnumber men 10 to 1 in hospitals. And that's likely where I'll be working soon.

Has it become expected that licensed jumpers hire someone at the DZ to pack their gear for them??? I kinda am not liking that idea. I'll pack my own, thank you very much.

I only had to join the military for 4 years. I got my S/L jump progression for like $125 and once I completed it I paid the 82d ABN parachute club $10 per month membership and got to jump out of military aircraft(Blackhawks, Hueys, Chinooks & SkyCranes) every weekend for free. But that was 20 years ago. Now I'm gonna have to PAY for my jumps. And I'm gonna have to wait until I finish school and find gainful employment in my new career... or get a hell of a lot of student grants. I'm lucky in that my education is 100% PAID. But I'm not allowed to get a loan so as I said, grants are it. My goal is to save enough for a used rig, altimeter, jumpsuit, head gear, etc, plus enough cash for the first 100 jumps and some extra cash for coaching THEN show up at a DZ with all my gear, food, several cases of beer and a sleeping bag. And see just how fast I can make 100 jumps getting familiar with gravity again. Dreams are good. They'll get me thru math!

I don't necessarily disagree with this, but there may be some DZs that might have a strict, inflexible policy that he'd have to go thru every stage of AFF at full freight no matter what his skill level turns out to be, while other DZs might have a more practical approach of tailoring a recurrency program to fit him individually. A couple phone calls ahead of time might help him decide which DZ(s) to visit in person. B I N G O !

I only jumped in Puerto Rico once. Unfortunately it was a military tactical jump from about 800 ft with a T-10 so I didn't get to see much. But Puerto Rico was gorgeous! I'd like to be able to go back someday for a boogie.

That's more or less what it seems to come down to. Interpreting the BSRs is up to both the DZ S&TA, the instructor and me. There was a well meaning instructor from a DZ a few hours away (who shall remain nameless ) who said in a PM that I should re-take the entire first jump course with all the subsequent levels. I can purdy much asure you that THAT ain't gonna happen. I've read the BSRs and the current license requirements and have come to one conclusion. I have a D license and once I have made ONE jump, I am, as far as USPA is concerned, current. Technical issues aside I'm smart enough to know that one jump isn't gonna bring all my skills flooding back as sharp as they were when I was 23 years old. I plan on getting canopy coaching immediately and maybe a little flat rw coaching and a bunch of free flying coaching. I'm NOT gonna go looking for the first 20 way and say "Let me play!" Ummm... NO. Blue skies my friends and thanks for all the kind and thoughtful advice. I appreciate it.

LOL! No worries. No one has ever seriously accused me of being a "skygod" before. I think it's kinda funny. At Lugoff, S. Carolina in the late 80's, the only people who wore helmets were students!

Just a little story about my first cutaway. I had about 130 jumps at the time and was jumping a club loaner rig. Can't remember what the container or main was but the reserve was a 26' lopo. I deployed at 3ish and a low speed spinning malfuction... no big deal. Look, reach, look, reach, pull PULL. I had a reserve over my head at about 2000 ft. BUT my Pro-Tec helmet had been knocked off during the reserve deployment. What I believe and what was the popular theory by everyone else was that the spring loaded pilot chute caught the back edge of my helmet and pushed it off my head as it sprung out. The buckle was what caught a piece of my cheek and cut it. Yes, it WAS buckled properly. And I had blood all over my jumpsuit... I ended up landing in a small opening in the forest on the edge off the dropzone doing a plf on a decomposing log. It was actually very soft! Lucky me. I ended up with a bunch of stitches across my face and a good scar to remember it by. It has faded quite a bit over the years but it's still there. I guess the only point here is that a frap hat wouldn't have come off like that. But I also admit that it COULD have been any number of things that cut my face. A riser edge, maybe a piece of the three ring assembly, or maybe a wayward cutaway cable all could have conceivably done the deed.

Hey Jimmy, looks like we got our D licenses about the same time. You - D12122 Me - D12016

Army jump school at Ft. Benning in Oct '86 then learned to skydive at Ft. Bragg in February of '87 with the 82d ABN Parachute Club.

Are they in business anymore? I couldn't find them on a web search. Last I knew anything they were operating out of Perris... I think.

Provided I was able to make the call, I would too. Hell, 2 grand is high for them! Yup. Normal altitude for tactical static line jumps is 800 ft... and usually at night.

COOL! I'm 44... qualified for POPS. Does that mean I'm an "old fart" now? I want to feel the relative wind in my hair! Oh wait... what hair?!?

Interesting thoughts. I guess I'll find out when I get to the DZ and see what's going on.

One thing I've noticed in pics and videos these days is that frap hats seem to have gone away in favor of hard helmets. I can understand using them for camera flying or maybe speed star but for everything else it seems like they'd be overkill. I kinda liked my old frap hat... but no helmet is even better when jumping with people you trust aren't going to cream you in a no-lift dive. So what's the deal today? Is this just a cultural safety thing gone excessive or are DZs requiring helmets? WTF, over???

Interesting requirement for AFF grads to only jump with coaches or D license holders with an S&TA waiver. Times have changed. No big deal. I just figured not many license holders would want to do a simple two way.

I wish I still had that rig. I sold it many years ago. The funny thing is I dreamt about that rig all night last night. It was so vivid I was convinced that when I opened my eyes it would be sitting in the corner of my bedroom waiting for me.

Not unreasonable at all considering the time. Nah. But a clear & pull using my own rig is acceptable. I'm quite confident I could show a clean poised stable exit and do the RT, LT, BL, RBR, LBR, FL & track to achieve 100' separation from the reviewer and pull to clear the first of the A license requirements. And a few two way jumps is not unreasonable either. Though I think that can be done on my own with a recent AFF grad or whatever. No instructor required. Review of EPs is never a bad thing. As I recall I reviewed them in my head before every jump. But formal review like you mention seems a bit much. My plan so far is to show up on the DZ and get some canopy coaching at basically the same time I get current. So any canopy control issues will be taken care of then.

Good question and something I've been considering. I was using an ROL deployment on my Talon and had no problems with it. And I liked that I could always take a quick look at it if for some reason I couldn't find it at pull time. But I never did have to look for it. It was always there. However after looking at a few pics recently I realized that in a belly to earth arch the location between an ROL and BOC is only inches apart. It really shouldn't be much of an adjustment. And after reading about the gear requirements for wingsuit flying, it appears the BOC is a must. There is also the issue of the bridle coming loose from the velcro when free flying. So doing the math is pretty simple. I need to get a rig and wear it around the house doing occasional DRCPs to get my muscle memory trained on where that handle is before coming out to the DZ.