DJL

'Sup Jon? "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

This is why you keep the DZ "malfunctions" video under lock and key. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Not to steal the thread but are there even any more canopies made with F-111? Even all the CRW jumpers are going all zp. If I were in the market for a canopy I'd pass on a good deal for an F-111 canopy, even a hybrid. It's not just that it would rat out quicker, you probably couldn't even give it away if it had more than a few hundred jumps. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Nope, we were still ahead on the A-bomb and the entirety of Europe would be a garbage heap. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

I PM'd virago to see if he's be interested in my canopy (too small for him) and thougth I'd post my respond on the forum instead of over PM to bounce off of everyone else: So, do (semi)ellipicals result in more line-over malfuctions? "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

I think we should quit the joking and just invade. We KNOW they have weapons of mass distruction. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Anyone find something on this besides "Smoking Gun"? "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

No. Just funny that he was dumb enough to get busted. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Ok. I'm buying one of those for each of my guy friends who doesn't have a girlfriend. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

I pose another conundrum. Would it be unethical to pull his reserve before he could load? Pull his main PC and run it out to line stretch? "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/2413/law.html See rules for Florida. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

That's some pretty impressive thinking for a student. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Rule #1 Get it started early before everyone drinks too much. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Please anyone reading this just do a DZ.com search or Blinc search on site naming so this thread can get back to the question. It's all there. The question: The landing area...? Proceed. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Don't give in to peer pressure. My, so called, "friends" all tried to get me to stop drinking. That was when I knew that I just had to leave them behind. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Oh shut up and turn on the green light. "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

I think that's "The Skydivers" playing on the screen at the drive-in in "The Outsiders". "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Time to switch to PM's and get back to keep this as a supportive thread. -Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Ok, who's this guy using Thomas' login? What's up Mr. Positive? Nice to meet you. -Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Here we go with a response given to me by the most experienced free-flier at my home DZ. 1) Establish a dive flow. Freeflying does not mean 'fuck off in the sky'. Dive flows make it more fun, but more importantly, it makes sure everyone is on the same page. Be sure to establish a dive flow that everyone can achieve or attempt safely. Be sure to address exit, breakoff, and speed changes. 2) If you are a newbie, openly and honestly asses your skills to be on that jump. If it is over your head, say so. Maybe an easier (safer) dive flow can be structured that allows you to join in. If not, jump by yourself to work on your skills, or work with a different jumper/group to establish a more-sane dive flow (for examples, we can have an afterhours chat some weekend with the freefliers ). Perfect example was my question to a jumer this weekend "Can you hold a sit the whole jump?". His first response was "Maybe". A Maybe is a NO. So, we restructured the diveflow so that if he wasn't with us, his jump was up and had to clear the airspace. That still had risks to it, but they were a bit less than if we blindly believed that everyone was at the same skill level. 2b) Stick to the diveflow. This is more and more important when jumping with people you havent jumped with before -- you don't know what they might do. 3) Exit - be realistic in your exit so that you give the best chance to the group for staying together. Put the low timers where the more experienced can see them. It is the experienced persons responsibility to avoid the low timer. (In Anne Timpany's and my collision, it was clearly my fault for aggresively shadowing her. She changed directions quickly and drastically, and I wasn't in the proper position/distance to avoid her) 4) Small groups. I can't stress this enough. I would assert that a bunch of lowtimers going out together is moronic. Not only is this a safety risk, but it is next to impossible to learn on these jumps ("Is he moving, or am I??"). Think back to the RW jumps described by Anne Melera and crew ("Hang on til it hurts".) Same issues. Because there is no reference, often people are trying compensating for each other, and it is difficult to determine what is going wrong. Best jumps are with someone (or two) more experienced freefliers. Let the others asses your skills. Heck, I jump with lowtimers a lot, working on specific dive flows to work on individual skills. Pretty much I am willing to jump with almost anyone if they ask -- even more so if they cover my slot! I have jumped with most of the freeflyers/upcoming freefliers -- if you ask my opinion about who should/could jump together, I will give you my honest assesment. 5) Situational awareness. You need to know (or have faith in your other jumpers) where people are. This allows you to keep yourself from getting in bad situations. This becomes more important as breakoff time comes. 6) Breakoff requires more time and more care. Speed changes can kill (or at least rupture your spleen). Situational awareness. Keep speed up, and slowly bleed it off into a track. Again, the smaller the group, the easier it is to know where everyone is. Breakoff high. it is a better margin for error in altitude awareness, and gives you more time to slow gently to pull altitude. 7) Flightline - I would say that if your freefly group is coming down through an RW group, or beat an RW group to the same opening location, then you are a jackass and need to have more separation between groups. If you have broken high, you should have a better margin for error if you do find the two groups getting close. 8) make sure you slow down before deploying. I think brad (?) broke several of his lines on his canopy because he didnt adequately slow down before dumping. Why stress your gear like that? 9) Always debrief. Suprisingly, I almost always do this. Mostly cuz I like to watch the video. :) But, it is a great tool for keeping each other safe. I know a lot of people listen in to my debriefs, and hopefully the drivel I spill helps them learn and stay safe. be honest in your assesment of what happened. 10) hmm..lets see what else.. as for high pullers, you need MUCH more separation between freefliers and bellyer (who are following). There is a visual representation of this somewhere on the web. If that doesnt scare you into lots of separation, then you are an idiot. -Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Thanks, I'd love to participate in the Zhills boogie if I get the nod that I'm up to par. At least I'll be able to listen in on some stuff to learn. I'll head up there and see if I can talk someone into jumping with me. I'll email you about the "Freeze Your Buns Off" Boogie so I can get on the info list. Thanks, Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

I just got 10391. This a great accomplishment of my life and I need to save the screen. Hmm, will probably just take a digital photo. -DJL "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Doing the same for Z-hills. Will be at Lake Wales the whole week previous. Doing wind tunnel the previous Sunday then jumping throughout the day. I assume I can find some people for CRW jumps at Wales. I think my mentor is coming down but I'm too light for his 160. In the meantime...lots of pullups. -Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Hey, bumping this to the top. I searched for Freefly Safety and look what I found. I'm a low-number jumper and have been doing more free-flying than I should and wanted to look up safety issues concerning freeflying. Aside from discussion about how to transition from a freefly position to a track, would this be a good summation of the timeline from airplane to landing for low time jumpers in small (4-max) groups: * Jump with experienced jumpers. * If there are high pullers behind you make sure you tell them to pull where they say there gonna pull so they aren't flyng through your space. (Should really be accounted for through proper horizontal separation? But I guess vertical separation is at least better than none.) * Upon exit make sure everyone is accounted for. * During the dive keep everyone in view. * Don't cork (if you can). * If you're high on the formation your skydive is done, track away 90 degrees from the flight path. Go solo next time. * Maintain altitude awareness. If you're on the exterior of the pack, break first track hard. * Don't go belly to earth at break off too quickly. -In a sit. Look up to make sure you won't cork into anyone. -Head down. Transition into a track. -Use quickest method to get into a track. * Track like a SkyBytch. * After deployment don't fly up or down jump run because you've beat the belly flyers to deployment altitude and if you open and fly up or down jump run you might lose your spleen. Thanks, Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

Hmm, gonna be down there that week...hmm. -Doug "I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher