hokierower

You need to do this: http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/ but with a rig instead. Get a backpack, some 550 cord, an old calculator with the words AAD written on it, and a painter's dropcloth, rig it up, hike up the price so the guy has to pay a shload of import tax, and sell it to him. Oh, and post the whole thing for us to read.

Cheers.

I know the creation/expansion of the ADIZ around DC following 9/11 really didn't help small/sport GA. It was a great job working for that club though. Learned a lot, got to hang out on a sweet airfield, and watched the Marine IFS try and learn how to fly. EDIT: For nostalgia's sake I just looked it up. Turner Field, Quantico VA. If you look on the east side you can see a curved access road. The fire station is the large building and next to it there's what was two taxiways and the parking ramps for the aircraft. Looks like they tore down the quonset huts and fuel tanks but kept the hanger. You can even see the yellow half-circle which denoted the grounding requirement during fueling.

Don't know about military parachute clubs but I do know that military flying clubs were having a harder time of doing business. I worked at the Quantico Flying Club in high school and as I was transitioning to college the airfield kicked the club off to resurface the runway (designed for C-130s but they started landing C-17s on it which shortened the lifespan). The club moved south to Stafford, VA which was conveniently outside the ADIZ but it was a longer drive for all of the club's members. The temporary move turned into a permanent move when the airfield wouldn't allow the club to move back on-base. Last I checked, the club had closed down because it's user base didn't want to drive an hour and a half. I don't know if that's the case all over the country, but when I was working at the club the word on the street was most military flying clubs were running into similar issues.

Colonel Fox was a deputy commandant for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets from 93-01 and was supposed to be a pretty avid sport jumper back in the day. He's a highly decorated Marine and as an alumnus I think it would be awesome to jump with a man like him however I don't think he jumps anymore (I could be wrong though). Did any of the older jumpers, particularly those from the Mid-Atlantic region, ever jump with him?

You sir, are a giant douche AND a turd sandwich. What fucked you up so bad that you constantly need to whine and draw attention to yourself?

I'm still new at all of this but I remember to smile right before I get in the door. It helps me to relax and it's also part of the "fuck it, time to have some fun" mentality. I also like to close my eyes starting @ 6k and imagine the whole dive. My AFF jumps 1-6 (before I went to the tunnel) I practiced things so many times on the ground that when I jumped I just went to autopilot got it done. Breathe Smile Shake out the arms Jump Plan the dive, dive the plan.

Takes me about 20-30min and I come out of it sweating like crazy. I can flake and get the canopy on the ground pretty quick, but getting all the air out, cocooned nicely, and then in the damn bag/container takes a while. Spectre 190

Stop whining like a little kid. I can't imagine having to put up with the usual user's complete incompetence when it comes to all things computer/electriconics based. The fact that they put up with dipshits like you on a usual basis because you can't comprehend simple things like company internet use policy is mind boggling. Do your work and leave the porn surfing to your home computer. I appreciate my companies IT people, especially with our type of setup.

Attached are the Dutch Rules For Canopy choice. You might want to look though it. Sparky Sparky, after reading through the document it would seem that these are definitely rules and not a certain manufacturer's guidelines. Who is responsible for enforcing the rules and what is the penalty for someone who doesn't adhere to them?

Gents (and ladies?), I apologize for my tone. I'm not trying to challenge or dismiss what any of you have said, I'm just trying to explain how I see things. These ideas of mine are based off of observation of others landings, reading whatever I can from this website, and my own VERRRYYY small amount of personal experience. That said, I agree that the majority of what I have said has errors in it, but not because of stubbornness or dismissing what others have said, but because I do not know any better. I am just entering this world and my experiences have been limited to a single dropzone where I see the same people land every time I visit. There are no small outs anywhere because it's in Texas farm land and the fields are massive. There is no practical experience or even a basic sight picture to help me comprehend what some of you are saying. I have to imagine what I can and hope that's what you're trying to convey. I appreciate those of you who are trying to help me by poking holes in what I've said and then explaining to me why you've just deflated my knowledge parachute. And to the rest of you, yes, I will be taking a canopy control course as soon as I can, however that is based off of my work schedule which is currently in a transitory status. Unfortunately, this thread has branched off more onto my viewpoints and how they are wrong versus the original post and I apologize for that. If anyone would like to pursue the matter further, please PM me.

You really don’t know what it is you don’t know. As Ron said you canopy size may be alright but your understanding of canopies can get you killed on any size canopy. In most cases the bigger the canopy the less pain for any given screw up. Sparky Fine then, please explain what it is I don't know.

1. If I find myself in a bad spot with a series of very confined outs, I don't see how a larger canopy would help me other than keeping me aloft for a little while longer. While that may be enough to get me out of the situation, it may be enough to keep me from landing because the canopy keeps flying instead of sinking into my landing area of choice. I'm also a dumbass for not checking the spot before I jumped. 2. If I'm flying my simple pattern and a pilot almost flies into me, my canopy has nothing to do with the situation, it's my lack of heads up. The only way the canopy size would come into play is if it prevented me from seeing the other jumper. Does that mean I should choose a smaller canopy to reduce my blind spot? Worst day & situation planning is good, but at what point is preemptive planning going overboard? An initial assessment of the situation on the ground, made with the help of instructors/coaches I trust, will help to prevent me from ending up in the worst case scenarios. In addition, choosing who I jump with and what kinds of jumps I participate in will help to ensure that I stay as safe as possible. To wrap it all up, the items you quoted is not my reasoning, but the steps I plan on taking to keep myself alive.

I did not know that I would fall into the advanced category when I picked the canopy, however I did talk to multiple instructors & coaches and after specifying my canopy of choice (PD Spectre) and asking if a 190sf canopy would be appropriate, they said that based upon their observations of my canopy flying ability it would be an appropriate first chute. I believe that a failure to properly separate myself from other jumpers in the pattern and performing aggressive manuevers at too low an altitude are the biggest risks I face as a low-time jumper. My solution is to restrict myself to flying a very "simple" pattern until such time that I can take a canopy control course OR have accrued enough personal experience that my skill under the canopy increases.

Hope is not a strategy. True, but it is an observation about the minute differences which can result in either life or death

Based on PD's wing loading chart, I (40 jumps, no canopy course...yet) fall under the advanced category for my Spectre 190 with an exit weight of 210. It flies much faster and is more responsive than the 230s & 210s that I used as a student but I have yet (knock on boner) to have any problems with it.

I was in a very similar situation a little less than a month ago. I had planned on completely finishing my A license just before I moved and buying gear once I got to my new DZ. Well, weather changed, I got lucky, etc. and I ended up finishing my A-license with at least a month left. My two options were... (A) To rent gear for that entire period of time @ either $30 for a jump or $60/day and have to compete with students for the rig I wanted, or buy a used rig. 8 jumpable days would have racked the total up to $500 in money that I would never get back. (B) Take out a personal loan for money that I WILL have at a later date but not right now and then pay it back. I chose option B and it's worked out already. For $3k (including setup fees) I bought a well used Wings container, a lightly used Spectre 190, a lightly used PDR 176, and a Cypres with 1.5yrs left. The rig wasn't made for me but it fits and feels a lot better than a student rig. I would recommend finding something that you can fit into and borrow the money and pay it back versus renting gear and spending money that you will never see again.

The DZ that I call home now lets out Tandems @ 10.5k and funjumpers & students out @ 13.5k. The extra 3k feet of climbing gives everyone pretty good separation and the students get out last and pull high which gives them a clear pattern (9 times out of 10). When I got off AFF & AFF coached jumps @ 15 jumps, I was a little nervous about the loads with lots of fun jumpers. After a couple of jumps I'm a little less nervous but much more edgy and keep my head on a constant swivel. I make sure I don't spiral and even watched a guy get chewed out this past weekend by a couple of older jumpers after he spiraled in the landing pattern.

Everything. I only have 28 jumps so there's a shit load to learn. It'll only take time to get better.

At least you got one jump in. I showed up Saturday morning to blue skies but winds blowing at 10-15 gusting to 20-25. Sat around catching tandems until about 1pm and then went with some friends to float one of the local rivers and drink beer. Woke up Sunday morning to the same winds and the same blue skies. Switched to slinks on my risers and did a repack and then rode home on my bike. : 0 : 0

I just bought my first rig using a variation of this. I bought a main from one guy and the container & reserve from another. I had the two guys ship everything to my DZ and to a specific rigger who took custody of it. After the main was fully inspected I sent that seller the money. When he received it he called the rigger and said it was all good. After I had the container & reserve checked out and packed I sent the money (check) contingent on a demo jump. Now that I demo'd the container I've released the seller to cash it. The components have always been in the hands of a intermediary with no connections to either party so if I didn't want to go through with the deal they could send the parts back or if the seller cashed the check before an ok was given, the rig would be in my hands. Good luck.

It's supposed to take me an hour to get to the DZ from home or work. On my bike I can manage it in about 45min .

I know that for my 7 AFF coached jumps (8-14), the cost was $100 and covered my slot ($22), the coach's slot ($22), the gear rental ($30), and then $10 for the coach. The rest ($15-20) went to the DZ. I'm only at 20 jumps but I'm looking forward to getting my coach's rating. It's the same way when I was a rowing coach, seeing the look on a kids face when everything clicks and they feel great about themselves. Mucho thanks to Khawk & Marion for my coached jumps.

Dining hall on campus was like that and the experience is called the Shultz Shits. 4 hours after ingesting it comes out and your insides are sparkling clean. Never failed in 5 years. I use corn to track the speed of my digestive system. It's a good indicator.

I'm still new but the 2 times I had a packer pack for me I definitely tipped. It's kind of like the movie "Waiting", you don't fuck with people who handle your food...you don't fuck with people who pack your chute.