Glow Sticks for Night Jumps

[rendezvous 0]

Ok ! may be this is a silly question, where do you get glow sticks for Night Jumps. Is there a particular type of store I need to look in.

[AggieDave 6]

Wal-Mart, K-Mart, any sporting goods store or out doors store...

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[jlmiracle 7]

I've seen them at my local convenience store. The ecstasy users like to play with them.

If you have party stores (costumes and stuff) they usually have them or check out the camping section of your local Target or Wal-mart.

Good Luck!

Judy

Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

[rendezvous 0]

Thanks. I'll have a look around.

[AggieDave 6]

You need a strobe light too, for night jumps. Glowsticks don't fill the FAA's requirements for lights.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[PhillyKev 0]

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You need a strobe light too, for night jumps. Glowsticks don't fill the FAA's requirements for lights.

SIM recommends steady on lights, not strobe b/c strobe will really screw with your night vision.

[bkdice 0]

When we did our night jumps last week, we had two colors - red and yellow. We all taped a red one to our left foot and a yellow one on our right foot. This way if you did happen to be near anyone under canopy, you could tell if they were coming towards you or away from you.

Another thing I learned on my first night jump that I did, was put your strobe on a leg strap - on on your hip (securely of course). Otherwise, under canopy the light will be so bright and will affect your night vision.

Just some cool stuff I learned this past weekend. Maybe it will help someone else out.

[kitof1976 0]

If you are looking for some glow sticks, go on Ebay and type "glow sticks"... You will find all the glow sticks you need at incredible prices...
I bought 200 of them for 20 bucks shipping included.
You can sell them or give them out to some of your buddies. Or you could use all of them for yourself and look like a skydiving christmas tree
here is another website for glow sticks
[gotglo.com]

"We see the world just the way we are...

[pilotdave 0]

When I did a night jump most of us only used glowsticks. They are DEFINITELY not very bright (i guess we werent either, huh?). I wasn't worried about collisions with other jumpers because of the amount of separation/staggered opening altitudes we were using. But what was scary was that the people on the ground couldn't see us until we were about 30 feet off the ground and getting into the headlights lighting the landing area. Each time someone landed it was like a surprise out of nowhere.

Sure was fun though!
Dave

[flyingfrog 0]

all scuba shops sell glow sticks

[kevin922 0]

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You need a strobe light too, for night jumps. Glowsticks don't fill the FAA's requirements for lights.

SIM recommends steady on lights, not strobe b/c strobe will really screw with your night vision.

This is true, however glo sticks don't meet the requirements for distance.. strobes do, turn the strobe on under canopy and point it away from you

[jbrasher 0]

Walmart used to have a personal strobe (used by joggers) for under $20 w/ a velcro strap.

Red, White and Blue Skies,

John T. Brasher D-5166

[LouDiamond 1]

There are many different ways to skin a cat but the easiest and safest way to do this is to always mount your strobe light on top of your helmet with it facing backwards so that it doesn't affect your vison. A healthy amount of tape will afix it to any head gear. green chem lights should be afixed to the back of the jumper either on the back of the helmet or on the back of the container if possible, a minimum of two should be used for visability. Red chem lights should be afixed to the front of the jumper, usually on the chest strap. A green chem light should be attached to the altimeter via rubber band and placed so that the face can be read easily, tape may be substituted. Chem lights can be cracked on the A/C during the climb or prior to exit. The light given off from the chem lights will not cancel out your night vison, I hear people scream that shit all the time and it's BS. It's dark outside the A/C anyways so what can you possibly hope to see? By the time your under canopy you either can see stuff or you can't. If you can't see a flashing strobe light and chem lights your hurting and probably shouldn't even be skydiving at night to begin with. Strobe lights should only be turned on once under canopy and only follow green chem lights when in close proximity to other jumpers.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[kevin922 0]

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Chem lights can be cracked on the A/C during the climb or prior to exit. The light given off from the chem lights will not cancel out your night vison, I hear people scream that shit all the time and it's BS.

I totally agree with you.. i cracked all mine before I got on the cessna for the night birdman in raeford.. you can ask blair700 (as he was the only other one on the load) but I don't think either of our night vision was f'ed up.. i think at my dz everyone would jump all over me for that.. i think it is crap as well.

BTW i just bought 15 glo sticks off ebay for 2.25 :)

[TheMonkey 0]

got any advice for them on how to find the airport?

bettina's necessities for night dives:

glow sticks
strobe
a monkey to find airport for her

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Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!

[bkdice 0]

hey now - i just wanted to make sure i knew exactly where it was. it was not lit up nearly as bright as i thought it would be. so - definitely take a moment to locate the airport and it's surroundings before leaving the plane. and never be afraid to ask someone for help - even if they are a monkey.

btw, think about what you eat that day. like monkey and other first timers you will be nervous and it will be known on the plane. though, it increases your wanting to jump out of it.

[TheMonkey 0]

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like monkey and other first timers you will be nervous

laughing, it's a good thing you were there to hold my hand, else i might not have jumped....

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Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience!

[Zennie 0]

Since the vast majority of my jumps are at night anyway , we go through glowsticks like crazy.

Then we found the LazerBrite and I haven't bought a glowstick since. An electronic glowstick... why didn't someone think of it sooner? Plus it can convert to a flashlight in seconds.

This would be really nice on the plane. No more cracking glowsticks 5 mins before jump run & worrying about blinding each other. Just turn it on right before you go.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

[kevin922 0]

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Since the vast majority of my jumps are at night anyway , we go through glowsticks like crazy.

Then we found the LazerBrite and I haven't bought a glowstick since. An electronic glowstick... why didn't someone think of it sooner? Plus it can convert to a flashlight in seconds.

This would be really nice on the plane. No more cracking glowsticks 5 mins before jump run & worrying about blinding each other. Just turn it on right before you go.

That might be good for a dz who is nice to have on hand.. but i only do maybe 10 night jumps a year and don't think it would be cost effective with how many i use (now that i do night wingsuit jumps i use 8 of them in my wings one on my chest at least one on my back)

[ChileRelleno 0]

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If you can't see a flashing strobe light and chem lights your hurting and probably shouldn't even be skydiving at night to begin with.

Strobelights and "bright" (visible 3 miles) constant source lights are the only way to fly.
Hell, in my opinion glo-sticks are almost completely worthless anyway, unless your on level, really close to the other canopy pilot and already aware of his location. Usually by the time you see a friggin glo-stick in a canopy avoidance situation its almost to late.

ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414
Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868

[mjosparky 3]

This is true, however glo sticks don't meet the requirements for distance.. strobes do, turn the strobe on under canopy and point it away from you

You must display a light visible for 3 miles, 360 degrees from exit to landing.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[mjosparky 3]

Every one on the load kick in a few bucks, go to the local rental yard and rent a light trailer. It will come with 3 or 4 real bright lights. They can be pointed in a downward angle to light up the landing area and are easy to see when spotting. Much safer than car light.
Sparky

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[Samurai136 0]

My parents bought me a LightMan (xenon strobe) from Para-Gear for christmas. It comes w/ several different mounting adapters. One is a perfect fit to slide on a legstrap.

I used it last weekend and ground observers said that it back lighted me nicely.

There are many kinds of glow sticks. The high intensity glows sticks (orange or yellow) will screw up your night vision. You will have temporary night blindness if you look at them. Buy red regular party glow sticks. They are handy for observing your friends who are in reasonably close freefall proximity.

Ken

"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

[JohnRich 4]

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Chem lights can be cracked on the A/C during the climb or prior to exit. The light given off from the chem lights will not cancel out your night vison, I hear people scream that shit all the time and it's BS.

That brings up a pet peeve of mine when I see people preparing for night jumps. They always seem to want to wait until just before exit before cracking their light sticks. Well, if it doesn't work when you do that on jump run, then you're screwed for the dive. And when light sticks get old, the often fail to work. I've seen up to about a 20% failure rate on a batch.

I think the better technique is to crack them on the ground before going to the plane. That way you know you have guaranteed light. Use the "long life" variety of chem-lights that burn for six hours, and you don't have to worry about your light fading while on the climb to altitude.

Then to solve the problem of "blinding" light in the plane, do this: Carefully slit the light stick wrapping open with a knife, running lengthwise down one side. Attach it to your helmet, or whereever. Then you can snap the light to activate it, and cover the light back up with the foil packet that it came in. This way all you have to do on jump run is rip off the foil covering packet as you head out the door. You will have no unpleasant surprises when it is too late to do anything about it.

Voila! Problem solved.

Oh, and while I'm at it, if you get the light sticks with a hook on one end, cut that damn hook off too. You don't want that hook sticking out to snag a deploying reserve line during a night cutaway.