Need some ideas ~ asked to do a talk.

[airtwardo 6]

I was jumping Oshkosh a last year when a reporter from Houston tapped me for a quick interview...done TONS of them over the years.

However ~ the guy I spoke with there, is also a wig with the local fly-guys...he kept my number.

I got a call yesterday requesting me to give a presentation to a local EAA chapter ~ 'local boy is performer at the big show' kinda thing is what sparked the interest it seems.

I explained I'm a skydiving performer not an experimental aircraft builder or pilot...they still want me to talk.

I need some ideas from the brain trust on how to make 20-30 minutes interesting to a non-skydiving, aviation oriented audience...that won't bore the shit out of 'em.

Any thoughts??

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Amazon 7]

Quote

I was jumping Oshkosh a last year when a reporter from Houston tapped me for a quick interview...done TONS of them over the years.

However ~ the guy I spoke with there, is also a wig with the local fly-guys...he kept my number.

I got a call yesterday requesting me to give a presentation to a local EAA chapter ~ 'local boy is performer at the big show' kinda thing is what sparked the interest it seems.

I explained I'm a skydiving performer not an experimental aircraft builder or pilot...they still want me to talk.

I need some ideas from the brain trust on how to make 20-30 minutes interesting to a non-skydiving, aviation oriented audience...that won't bore the shit out of 'em.

Any thoughts??

Therre I was, this is no shit, I thought I was gonna die.

[airdvr 197]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH9kaxWQjfA

Worth a try

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[airtwardo 6]

Therre I was, this is no shit, I thought I was gonna die.

To a bunch of people that fly airplanes they build in their garage...I don't that's gonna cut it.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[ryoder 1,381]

The chalkboard part of this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8F5MkP484E

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[ryoder 1,381]

Quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH9kaxWQjfA

Worth a try

You want Twardo to pack a rig wearing a bathing suit?

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[NWFlyer 2]

Assuming you'll have the capability to show video, definitely work some video into the presentation. I've found my whuffo friends definitely dig the video.

Gear is something else that non-skydiving audiences seem to find interesting. In this case, you might bring a rig and show some of the differences between your gear and a PEP, since it sounds like much of your audience will at least be kind of familiar with a PEP.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[Phillbo 11]

Discuss the qualifications required to jump demos. Pilots love qualification requirements.

[StreetScooby 5]

Maybe you could demonstrate how we breath through our skin in freefall?

We are all engines of karma

[quade 3]

I think it would be an excellent opportunity to educate them about flying near drop zones. Pull out a sectional, point out the little parachute icon near an airport and ask folks what they think it means and where they think they ought to be looking for skydivers.

Then, explain what it really means is they might have the world biggest bird strike, capable of taking out an aircraft, anywhere below 15,000 msl and within five miles of the icon.

Follow up with a number of examples pulled from the FAA accident database.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[StreetScooby 5]

Excellent idea! Some new sectional maps failed to show the Ranch as a dropzone. It is interesting to see a Cessna flying down the flight line when people start opening. Very much an "Oh, Shit" moment for everyone. Have seen it happen twice now.

We are all engines of karma

[pchapman 261]

I think most audiences will respond well just to learn about all the different things that can be done in skydiving today. So many different disciplines, whether in competition or out of it. It isn't just falling. Some will know of squirrel suits, big formations, maybe head down or the surfboard thing, but don't really have a good overall concept of what skydivers actually get into on a regular basis.

It is clearly nice to have a bunch of different short videos cued up to demonstrate different forms of skydiving. Not hard to find ways to download youtube video so you have the videos stored locally. Throw in a raft dive video or something and they'll know we're all nuts.

When in a couple talks I showed video of RW, I also tried to show a little 'beginner RW', or AFF, to show that it takes some work to maneuver properly. That then puts really good RW into context. Formations don't just magically come together.

Pilots are wary about the idea of abandoning a perfectly good airplane. Forget the control cables, ailerons and all that. We become the airplane. (Even if our freefall glide ratio sucks.)

Since it is an aviation audience, they'll respond well to more details about gear, technology, materials and speeds in freefall & under canopy. We may not have the speed of a Pitts under canopy, but under a small swoop canopy we generate some impressive sink rates and poor glide ratios.

You might not waste time trying to get a larger group to crane their necks to see exactly how a 3-ring works, but one can still for example get across the point of how interlocking rings allow force division, so that pulling a cable under low force will jettison a main canopy.

I guess one has to watch for being overenthusiastic and using skydiving terminology that others don't fully understand -- stuff as simple as 'cutaway', 'main', or 'DZ'.

Not as exciting, but useful for pilots, is a brief discussion about rules for separating pilots from skydivers -- what should they anticipate if flying into an airport with a parachute symbol next to it on the map? Plenty of confusion when those in one activity don't understand another activity.

As for safety, some of the stats I've worked through suggest that for fatalities per 100,000 participants, skydiving comes off somewhat safer than homebuilt aviation - that can come as a surprise to the pilots.

Show and tell with a rig works, to demonstrate all the parts to the opening sequence, opening the main, as long as the crowd isn't so big they can't gather around to watch.

One friend of mine who is an aerobatic and glider pilot did some skydives and remarked afterwards about the differences in cultures. Lots more of the youthful exuberance in skydiving, although not always to the benefit of safety. But the focus on planning for emergencies is there both in skydiving and the rest of aviation.

It'll be easy for you to fill 30 minutes. Hell, you could tell there-I-was stories for 8 hours straight.

[airtwardo 6]

Pull out a sectional, point out the little parachute icon near an airport and ask folks what they think it means and where they think they ought to be looking for skydivers.

Quote

I like that, in fact I'll use the 'local' dz as an example on a sectional.


I do have some airshow performing vids, but I would imagine a little of that would get boring pretty fast to a wuffo.

I have literally thousands of pics of all kinds of aircraft I've taken over the years..thought I'd add some of those.

~ ~ I think this is just a relatively informal 'featured speaker' type of thing at a monthly chapter meeting.

I asked what they would like me to speak about...'anything within your area of expertise'
~I almost said 'Hookers & Blow', but I gotta represent.

I asked how many people would be in attendance..."between 3 & 300"

I guess i COULD just fake it with old jump stories etc., but I've probably done enough harm to the sport already!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[aphid 0]

Quote

I think it would be an excellent opportunity to educate them about flying near drop zones. Pull out a sectional, point out the little parachute icon (snip)

The guys still use Sectionals????? Hell, most I know have their noses buried in a magazine while they let the co-pilot "Auto" do the en-route flying stuff.

Having said that, I think that's a great suggestion!

[wayneflorida 0]

You downplay why they would be interested in your presentation. I think it will be the opposite.

I've been to lots of AOPA flight instructor refesher courses over the years and anything different from the old Regs, weather, medical, and etc. stuff helped keep my interest up. I think a lot of EAA meetings might be the same.

They will be like putty in your hands. Ole boy we got us a crazy ass skydiver here.

[airdvr 197]

I'm gonna venture a guess and suggest it might be the 'fools and birdshit' mentality. Might be interested in seeing how we deal with all types of malfunctions.

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

Quote

I guess i COULD just fake it with old jump stories etc., but I've probably done enough harm to the sport already!

Let's see...

How I almost blew myself up in midair.

How I almost fell off the roof of a skyscraper.

How Gayle Sayers saved me from an Illinois state trooper. (yes, that Gayle Sayers)

Maybe the importance of staying focused while perfoming (leave the GoPro on the ground).

Maybe the cameraderie of the sport - you know as well as anyone that sport/homebuilt pilots are as close-knit as we are. Maybe the story of how your parents were more popular than you at the DZ.

Just a few thoughts.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[jackwallace 3]

I did this twice. The first one I worked their emergency rigs into their emergency procedures. Second one I took a bunch of gear. B-4, early conventional, early pig, leg hand deploy, newest littlest stuff. Opened stuff, let them pick it up to see the weight change, etc. They suffered through that first one, second one they actually seemed to give a crap.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[theonlyski 3]

Quote

The guys still use Sectionals????? Hell, most I know have their noses buried in a magazine while they let the co-pilot "Auto" do the en-route flying stuff.

I'd venture to say many of the pilots that build their own airplanes probably don't do so just to let some computer 'gizmo' fly it for them.

But what do I know? I get to fly an experimental almost every weekend and am building my own.

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

Hi Jim,

I'll follow on to what Jack Wallace posted.

My experience is they 'usually' have some old, well worn military rigs for their emergency bailout gear.

Get an old B-4 and a newer, modern PEP rig and show them how much safer they could be.

As for the BS-type of stories, I have no worries since YOU will be doing the presentation.



JerryBaumchen

PS) keep us posted on how it went. Maybe some of here could learn a thing or two.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Show them pictures of boobies for half an hour. Pretty sure that'll work...

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[trinitycsi 0]

I vote for a blends of boobies and flight operations around an active DZ. Many pilots have a misconception that all jump pilots are jerks and the meat missiles are not much better. I have had discussions to fellow pilots about the air operations around a DZ and they were very interested in that. If you go that route I would say definately leave time for questions b/c they will be asking you some.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Get your good lookin' wife to model the gear. I see if Vskydiver can loan her one of the shiny black jumpsuits. . .

[kallend 1,623]

I give a talk to high school kids on a fairly regular basis. Also gave it to the local EAA chapter and to an engineering professional society.

I can send you my Powerpoint and videos if you like.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[oldwomanc6 38]

Quote

I give a talk to high school kids on a fairly regular basis. Also gave it to the local EAA chapter and to an engineering professional society.

I can send you my Powerpoint and videos if you like.

Twardo,

Homework: done!
The prof will give you answers to the test!



SCORE!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9