NIGHT JUMPS!!!

[skyhighkiy 0]

woo! so, I just found out from my D.Z. that we're havin night jumps tomarrow (wednesday)

I'm really excited, first night jump...I mean...did I say 1st? uh...uh...

anyway, I guess this post is mainly cause I'm excited and wanted to get it out that I'm doing a night jump.

but does anyone have anything particularly cool for me to try that's awesome to do on a night jump?

any tips for being able tot watch my canopy on opening? ( I heard you can't see it)

L8az

BE THE BUDDHA!

[WFFC 1]

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any tips for being able tot watch my canopy on opening? ( I heard you can't see it)

L8az

I always take a small flashlight and wear a protec helmet. (small as in one of the 6" 2 AA ones). Take two large rubber bands and knot them together, repeat so you have two. Thread them through the protec and attach to each end of the flashlight. Right before exit, turn the flashlight on. When I say right before exit, I mean your head is out the door so you don't blind anyone behind you. Exit. Now, where ever you look, the flashlight goes. It's bright enough to be useful for a canopy check, but not bright enough to be a nusiance.

-----
~~~Michael

[Tonto 1]

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does anyone have anything particularly cool for me to try that's awesome to do on a night jump?

Yes. Something you're very comfortable with and have done several times in daylight without incident.
Now get your SIM, read the section on night jumps and listen to the briefing before the jump.

Be extra altitude aware. Wear a Dytter if you don't already. Make sure your Alti lighting system doesn't interfere with your alti or other equipment.


Open 1000ft higher than normal if briefed to do so. Look out for other canopies. Don't fixate on your landing area.

If you see a dark canopy near/below you as you're about to land DO NOT take evasive action.

It's your SHADOW. That's bitten more people than I can recall.

Have fun.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[ZoneRat 0]

I like to just relax and enjoy. A nice slow 360° to look at the city lights, then a few seconds on my back to check out the sky.

On a night jump one of your main senses is reduced, so you tend to use your other senses a little more. My first night jump, I was suprised by the temperture change of freefall. I'd never noticed it before. That was a nice moment.

For the group jump, should you do one, a fun no pressure dive is to form a round, then break it into a line and howl like animals at the moon. The louder you howl, the better the beer'll taste. (Form a round again prior to break off so you have a center to turn from).

Had one of the most enjoyable dives in a long time last sat night. I was afforded the honor of participating in a good friends first night jump. A fun little 3 way. We didn't howl at the moon, but we turned 14 points. Even hit the peas.

Yep. Still smilin' a bit from that one.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

[maxmadmax 8]

Visibility to others is always a night jump concern.

I found a xenon strobe at Radio Shack for $20 and it's not bigger than a D cell battery.

Have a great night jump!

Don't go away mad....just go away!

[skyhighkiy 0]

Heye, thanks a lot for the responses and tips guys, you've told me a lotta things I didn't know. I'm really excited!

L8er!

BE THE BUDDHA!

[Pendragon 1]

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any tips for being able tot watch my canopy on opening? ( I heard you can't see it)

You'll see it. Actually, you'll see a lot of things you probably thought you wouldn't. (My 2 night jumps so far have been hop 'n' pops because cloudbase was about 4,000ft, so no moonligt nor stars... )

You might get a bit disorientated; as already mentioned before, opening slightly higher might be worthwhile as it will take you longer to get your bearings...

We all attached glowsticks (which we activated just before jumping out) onto our chest straps; the idea being that you should never see another one (and if you were to, take immediate collision avoidance action!)

I never saw my shadow (no moonlight!) so cannot comment on it, although I was told similar.

Oh, might be useful to have a mobile telephone with you (switched off) just in case you land off and don't know where you are... We had a rule whereby all jumpers must be accounted for before the plane could land. So even if you're not hurt, and just can't find your way back (this is probably unlikely, but it's good to be prepared!) a quick call makes you popular again!

Have a good one! They're great!

(real subversive feel )

--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13

[riggerrob 558]

Chilliwack recently changed their policy to make cell phones mandatory for night jumps.

It seems that some newby always panics, follows the wrong lights and lands a mile from the DZ.
This seems to be a recurring theme, so bad that Perris Valley insisted on a few dozen daytime jumps - on their DZ - before allowing people to do night jumps there.
The funniest was when a Canadian Army Sargent Major followed the wrong lights and landed near Sun City!
Hah!
Hah!

[Reginald 0]

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Had one of the most enjoyable dives in a long time last sat night. I was afforded the honor of participating in a good friends first night jump. A fun little 3 way. We didn't howl at the moon, but we turned 14 points. Even hit the peas.

Yep. Still smilin' a bit from that one.

Still smiling about hiting the peas on a night jump are ya?!?

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[skyhighkiy 0]

don't think landing off will be too much of a prob for me, all my jumps were made at this D.Z. and I've jumped when it was almost completely black, but not "technically" a night jump because we went up when there was still a little bit of light

suggestions on how to keep a cell phone from flying out?
zipper pockets on pants maybe?

BE THE BUDDHA!

[malboy 0]

yeah id say take a cell phone secured somewhere easy to reach if you have a crappy landing, and glow sticks [or psi looms as you yanks call em] can be fun

i attached a glow stick to my alti so i could see what height i was at [i didnt have an audible] its bright enough to shed light without ruining your night vision.

also glowsticks on the back of your helmets halp you see others under canopy and on the grips of your jumpsuits help with night fs
E

www.ewancowie.com
www.facebook.com/ewancowiephotography

[ZoneRat 0]

Still smiling about hiting the peas on a night jump are ya?!?

[altichick 0]

You'll love it I just did my 1st (ooops - beer!) night jumps last weekend and, apart from my torch breaking on the second jump, all was good
I could see / feel that my canopy was ok even without the torch, in fact I was surprised how well we could see in freefall. I did a 2 way for my second jump and neither of us had our grips lit up (although we were in light colored clothes) and it worked fine.

Can't wait for next time now

Don't sweat the petty things... and don't pet the sweaty things!

[airtwardo 6]

The cell phone is a good idea ~ Just In Case.


Another is to wear a really loud whistle on a string
around your neck...
keep it tucked in until you open.

If you look to be having traffic problems
...they can hear you better than yelling.

And if you might happen to get hurt off in the toolies
on landing it helps direct rescue toward your location.

Remember...
legally you are supposed to have a blinking light
on you when you're open.

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

[skyhighkiy 0]

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and glow sticks [or psi looms as you yanks call em] can be fun

psi Looms?

I'm a yank and I"ve never heard of that...lol, sounds way too technical. we stick to "glow sticks" over here

thx for the advice guys, if anything significant happens I'm sure you'll hear about it

BE THE BUDDHA!

[winsor 187]

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and glow sticks [or psi looms as you yanks call em] can be fun

psi Looms?

That's likely "Cyalume." My guess is it comes from "cyano," as in cyanide, but I haven't investigated quite what chemical reaction results in light emission.

I would, however, advise against eating the stuff.


Blue skies,

Winsor

[skyhighkiy 0]

NICE! so NIght jump was f'ing awesome!

got two of em in, (people were complaining cause it was too cold so we couldn't do NE more) it was 10 degrees fahrenheit (or around there up at 11 grand....sissies :)

first jump was just a little jump from 6 w/ a landing just outside of the lighted area (everyone landed out there cause cars were too close to the hangar)

2nd jump was a little R.W. with our S&TA. we only planned 6 points and we were done by 7500....I tried screwin around w/ him (cupping to get away and spinning around) but he's too good to spook :)

2nd landing was nice and in the lights, nice little 10-15 ft or so surf.

Night jumps...wow ;)

BE THE BUDDHA!

[bch7773 0]

night jumps kick ass! since you have to do a solo on first one, make sure to roll over on exit to watch the glowing, blinking plane fly away.

make sure to give A LOT of exit spacing. I did my night jump out of a pac750, and they spaced it out pretty good... 6 people per pass. some people forgot to turn on their strobe under canopy and so it was a damn good thing we had enough spacing.

MB 3528, RB 1182

[mjosparky 3]

I like the whistle idea. You could practice with it during the day on big ways.

Chem lights or glow sticks will not meet the light requirement.

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§ 105.19 Parachute operations between sunset and sunrise.
(a) No person may conduct a parachute operation, and no pilot in command of an aircraft may allow a person to conduct a parachute operation from an aircraft between sunset and sunrise, unless the person or object descending from the aircraft displays a light that is visible for at least 3 statute miles.
(b) The light required by paragraph (a) of this section must be displayed from the time that the person or object is under a properly functioning open parachute until that person or object reaches the surface.

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[somethinelse 0]

Personally don't have 'nough jumps to do it ths year, myself, but went to watch last night.

Very COOL watching them exit, and counting to watch the seperation of each jumper outa the cessna.

They did real good last night.
There was 6-8 jumpers last night. Fun to watch...Maybe next year for ME!

[whatever 0]

looks like they use Hydrogen Peroxide and some Ester, from this:
http://www.omniglow.com/experiment.html

they claim it's non-toxic too:
http://www.omniglow.com/faq.html#toxic

here's the REAL interesting stuff, though:

BOVINE BEACON!
http://www.bovinebeacon.com/

isn't the internet great?
cheers

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and glow sticks [or psi looms as you yanks call em] can be fun

psi Looms?

That's likely "Cyalume." My guess is it comes from "cyano," as in cyanide, but I haven't investigated quite what chemical reaction results in light emission.

I would, however, advise against eating the stuff.


Blue skies,

Winsor

soon to be gone

[mattjw916 2]

how about doing it without lights and just play a game of high-altitude marco polo...

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[skyhighkiy 0]

water marco polo

guy that's it: Marco
everyone else: Polo


Skydiving marco polo

guy that's it: SSSSHHHFFFFFRRRRR
everyone else: SHHHFFFRRRRRR

BE THE BUDDHA!

[airtwardo 6]

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Chem lights or glow sticks will not meet the light requirement.

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That's why I always use 20,000 candle power
magnesium flares!!

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

[mjosparky 3]

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Chem lights or glow sticks will not meet the light requirement.

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That's why I always use 20,000 candle power
magnesium flares!!

Now that should satisfy even the FAA, but I bet the Fire Marshall hates to see you coming. Can I buy those at Lowe's?

Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals