chuckbrown

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Everything posted by chuckbrown

  1. I've heard that a DOT physical is acceptable. Anybody else heard that this is the case?
  2. Hey all, The Maytown Crew will be holding another beginner CReW Camp May 31 - June 2. Friday night will be a safety briefing and equipment check with jumping on Saturday and Sunday. The goal of the camp is to get beginners to do 1-on-1 jumps with an experienced instructor and then progress, skills permitting, to 4 stacks and 4 way diamonds. As always, Safety First. If you've never done CReW but are curious or even if you've done some CReW, don't miss the chance to learn something from some top-notch Dawgs. We'll be jumping Lightnings in the 1.3 - 1.4 range but will work with those who prefer a lighter loading. If you're interested drop me a PM or Terry Ross an e-mail: [email protected]. Let us know your exit weight and your jump experience. If you have your own Lightning let us know what size. Cost is $50 for canopy rental plus the cost of the instructor's slot $18 to 10K. The class will be limited based on the number of instructors we have, so let us know ASAP. If you don't know where Maytown is, we're about 60 miles north of Baltimore and 80 miles west of Philly. Beautiful farmland with no McNasty's. Chuck
  3. For how old it the book is, its actually pretty good, although the techniques for higher level CRW have progressed, i.e. competition/world record stuff. I read it years ago when I was teaching myself to do CRW (in the days of 1:1 F-111 canopies). You should stick to your friend who has CRW experience (CRW under ZP canopies, even those designed specifically for CRW, is much faster than the F-111 canopies - and much more unforgiving). If you're really into CRW, I'd suggest contacting Wendy (the moderator) to get on the CRW Dog e-mail list to find out where the Dogs are getting together to jump (and who's running CRW beginner camps). Dogs are very welcoming to Pups, so don't be shy. Grab some nylon!
  4. I'm sure someone else has said this later (I haven't bothered to read the whole thread), but it's called trespass. He can sue you for landing there, but he's going to have to proof damages, i.e., your landing on his property has caused him to lose money. If the cops don't particularly like you, they can possibly bring criminal charges for defiant trespass. The "emergency landing" could prevent criminal charges, but will not limit your civil liability. The fact of the matter is that his property is private property and you have no right to be there. My suggestion would be to not land there and at the same time try to make amends with the farmer; that way when someone does land there by accident you might have a chance at him not causing you problems. I jump at a rural DZ with farmers all around. We work VERY hard at being good neighbors, and its paid off. If we land on someone's property, we immediately go to the house and apologize and offer to pay for landing there.
  5. Considering that an arch is the exact procedure to follow when a student is upside down, this suggestion may have some merit. Never done it, and not sure it's the thing to do, but the idea is interesting.
  6. Aww man..... I did enjoy the pics. I was just glad they weren't pictures of a bad wrap and triple cutaway or something. Those seem to be the most popular for people to show. top No kidding. Although I fully enjoyed the Lightning CRW jumps I did with the crwdogs, most of it in the diamond formations, the most fun I had was with my close friends all jumping Triathlons with the trailing pilot chutes, banging out the 4 stack rotations, with microlines even. I had maybe 180 jumps doing that and never had a pilot chute get caught on anything, but that potential is always there of course. I've seen pilot chutes entangle with retractable bridles; the potential increases exponentially with non-retractable bridles.
  7. I love seeing CRW being done with trailing pilot chutes. Just wait until they tangle (and they will). The GK should do CRW, but they should spend my tax dollars and get the right gear. Reminds me of 2006 Nationals when I was on a load with the GK. I asked why they weren't competing in CRW. They said "Our CO think it's too dangerous." My teammate at the time was on the short list to command the GK and definitely was into CRW. If you're gonna be "on it" doing CRW, get the right gear. You'll be glad you did.
  8. I hope that's just your subjective opinion, because this is an extremely important topic. Good for you for wanting to learn more about it.
  9. I've used pull up cord. It's also been years since I put my feet below someone's slider.
  10. The Maytown Sport Parachute Club is located at the Donegal Springs Airpark (N71). It's about 20 miles SE of Harrisburg, PA and 15 miles W of Lancaster, PA. Beautiful countryside with lots of outs.
  11. OK, CRW Pups & Puppettes, jumping season is just around the corner here in the Northeast (at least for this cold weather wuss). That means the Maytown Sport Parachute Club will be putting on another beginner CRW camp. Dates: June 1 - 3, 2012/ Raindate: June 8 - 9, 2012 (Friday night will be a safety seminar while Dave DeWolf's army of riggers hook up Lightnings as needed. Safety seminar will start around 7ish (cost is beer and pizza for the group); even if you've been through one before, if you're a relative low-timer, it's HIGHLY advisable to sit through another one). Saturday & Sunday will be one-on-one jumping with progression to larger formations based on skill sets. Goals for the camp will be safe jumps with newbies earning their 4 stack awards. Last year we had newbies even getting their CCR and CCS awards. If you're a Pup/Puppette and want to come play, you can either let Terry Ross know directly ([email protected]) or send me a PM. Let us know your jump numbers, including any CRW, and your exit weight. We'll plan on providing Lightnings in the 1.3 - 1.4 wing load range unless any student is uncomfortable with that loading (in which case we'll do our best to accommodate you). Cost will probably be in the $50 range for canopies & we'll keep you posted about the charge for the instructor's slot (don't worry Maytown has the cheapest lift tickets outside of Lodi $18/10K). Don't miss out. This is a lot of fun. You'll learn a lot & have fun doing it. Hope to see you there! If you're an experienced Dawg (meaning you've competed at the Nationals/World Record level) and want to come instruct, your slot will be covered. Terry Ross has sent an e-mail to the List, so interested instructors can respond to him directly. Chuck
  12. On the other hand, if you're going to do it, that's exactly how to do it.
  13. Wind proof fabrics. Very light weight/low bulk.
  14. Because if you haven’t completed all the requirements you haven’t earned it. What is it about that you don’t understand? Quit whining. Sparky Occupy USPA. Shit, this isn't Speaker's Corner.....
  15. Not hiring someone because they skydive is not discrimination. Not hiring them because of age, sex, race is discrimination. Skydivers are not a protected classification. In the end an employer can just say that they don't consider some one who jumps out of a perfectly good airplane to be some one with good judgment. That's not the case to be sure, but it will protect an employer from discrimination liability.
  16. It most definitely needs to go into Parachutist, and should also be sent out as an e-mail from USPA to members.
  17. I wish the turbine DZ near me did this. My little Cessna club-owned DZ would pick up LOTS of new students. Oh yeah, the policy sucks!
  18. At the 2010 Nationals the winds were 30kts at 6. When one of the other jump planes landed (while we were in the air), it reported 65kts at 1,500 feet. Needless to say I landed off. Way off.
  19. Your main landing on his property is not trespassing, and I'm pretty sure there's state law which says he's not entitled to keep property that doesn't rightfully belong to him (this is similar to finding bag of cash -- the law is not "finders - keepers" - at least not in Pennsylvania - you have to make a reasonable effort to find the owner and return the property). I'd suggest offering the farmer what you would have paid the lawyer to get your property back. Be nice, and tell him that you can pay him or you can pay your lawyer. Either way, you're getting your money back. P.S., landing on his property is trespassing. The emergency nature might protect you from a defiant trespass charge, but landing on another's property without their consent is simple trespass. There's nothing the FAA can do; it's a matter of state law.
  20. It's better to have canopies that are closer in size. A 160 will "eat" a 126 more readily than a 143.
  21. I am not sure what you mean. Sparky example: Following the Chuck´s post, he is now aware of the effect that the time slows down in the critical situations. Next time he experience the similar situation he might think that the time slows down again and he might be doing the same things slower... and loose more time. btw. it´s generally accepted theory that during the critical events humans react quicker and because of that might think that the time elapses slower. They are of course not aware of this effect during the event - but afterwards - as Chuck described in his post: he was aware of it while watching the video footage of the event. The fact that one has good responses in high stress situations should not change how one responds to those situations. If something's not right, it's wrong & can kill you. When shit hits the fan, you do what you need to do to resolve the situation ASAP. Never rely on an "internal clock." Work on the problem while maintaining altitude awareness. When you run out of working altitude, go to Plan B.
  22. You go as far as you need to based on the individual jumpers needs. If someone demonstrates that they "get it" save your breath. If they act like this sport can't kill them, you need to politely remind them of the consequences. I love the "Can you teach me to swoop?" cartoon. I swear whoever made it came to my DZ and watched one of our newer jumpers interact witht the S&TA. Despite our attempts to help this guy, he ended up breaking his back after he screwed up an approach. And this was after I watched him drop a toggle on a previous landing the weekend before DSE dropped his toggle, and reminded him how lucky he was to have walked away. The broken back seems to have finally gotten through to him.
  23. Well that would have saved the girl in Perris.... I can think of quite a few others off the top of my head that died thinking they could fix the problem. How about the "Time seems to disrupt while knee deep in shit" angle? Do you think the people that chopped at 500 feet thought they were that low? Or is it more likely that they kept trying to fix a problem they thought they could get a handle on until they ran out of altitude? When in an emergency situation time distorts.... It is very easy to spend what you think is a millisecond on a problem only to find out that you have spent a great deal more time on the problem. Have you done this? Have you had a mal yet? I have. I broke a line on a CRW deployment at 13K. A control check found that I could achieve straight & level flight only with one toggle buried. I decided immediately that I wasn't landing the main. I also decided I was riding it down since the area I was jumping had LOTS of TALL trees off the airport. No way was I chasing the main. I flew the main down to 3K and chopped. Got all my gear back. I evaluated the risks and determined there was no greater risk if I chopped at 13K or 3K (other than losing gear). If I'd had a spinner, the risk calculation would have been different. Each situation is unique & needs to be analyzed as such. I think I owe beer for disagreeing with Ron. Edited to add: the Temporal Distortion effect is real, only it works in reverse for me. I've been in CRW wraps where it felt like I was spending LOTS of time on a problem. When I reviewed the video, only seconds had passed.