beeman

No shit! Although 4 miles out with "strong" winds is hardly a cross country. That said if a 20 jump wonder sank a reserve into a small back yard that is impressive. Chopping a main above 9k is not however. What kind of mal at that altitude on a student canopy needed to be chopped? I assume at the very least it cost him a freebag/pilot chute. A student with a spinning mal on a 4 mile sunset cross country with strong winds. Good on him for not riding the damn thing down, to me. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Know what I'm doing next jump. just cannonball it straight out the door, hang on to your knees as tight as possible and see how long you can hang on! it really depends who does the flips, I'm a light ass and you won't see me lose any altitude relative to someone else in a quick backflip. if we have a 4 way with a backflip involved i have to slow down my flip so i can sink with everyone else. My first solo jump was this at the suggestion of a few people. It was pretty damn fun. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Been in the sport about a year and a half and just moved out of college to Arizona. Looking forward to meeting folks out at Eloy this Saturday for Safety Day. Can't jump til later this month cause my gear is still back east, but should be fun just to come hang out. See you guys around. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Scored a 42. Did not expect to be classified as high risk in anything, but looks like currency and number of jumps really nailed me. That being said, I've jumped quite a few makes and sizes of canopies, and the ones that I got a few jumps in a row on I could set down just about where I wanted to. Yay rental gear! I've also landed one with a stand up in a tight spot with tall grass when the winds really kicked up during the plane ride. *shrug* I'll continue to be careful I guess. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Yeah definitely. I'll do that too, especially if I'm doing a dive that I know is going to be a challenge. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Why until 9,000? I disagree. A 16 man and 18 man caravan are responsible for the majority of my jumps. The others being a C-182 and a King Air. All of them are tight and I've gotten multiple checks (3-ring system & RSL, handles, chest and leg straps, and helmet) without too much problem. And on all but the 182 I've seen a vidiot walk all the way to the back of the plane to interview tandems. YMMV I guess. Looks like most people take naps on the way up either way. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

good thinking. Never know when one might come up well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

and a lot of things come with relaxation. In 59 jumps I've seen an alarming number of them - thankfully (and regrettably) only one of those with direct, serious consequences. I've been guilty of some dangerous mistakes myself. But that's kinda why I asked. To see if people more experienced consider it a problem. I'm not going to change what I do, just curious. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

If this has been discussed before, sorry for the double post but a picture I saw recently (not the first time I've seen this happen) got to me. I'm obviously still fairly new to skydiving, but I can't imagine the desire to sleep on the plane ride up. It seems to be more prevalent with experience (to a point, past that some people seem to know better). I can think of several good reasons not to - vidiot walking through the plane knocks your (or anyone's) hacky loose, you waste opportunities to check your gear/monitor weather and traffic, lost awareness of spot until the last second, and aircraft emergency are among them. So I'm honestly asking the question: for how many, particularly more experienced skydivers, is this an acceptable addition of risk? How many consider it acceptable after "a few good gear checks"? Why? well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

I think I get what he's trying to say, and if I'm right then I agree with Nigel. There's a third option - do an insufficient gear check. What I mean is things like tugging on a chest strap and calling it good. I agree with Nigel and think it's entirely possible to misroute it and have it pass that test. Two seconds of looking carefully at the adapter and you KNOW it's good. That said, I actually do both, many times before I leave the plane. How many people that normally gear check have you seen throw a rig on for a now call and glance over everything without a pin check? How many of those people slept most of the way up? I've seen at least a few in 54 jumps. How many don't check handles before the door opens? The notion that your brain is capable of filling in some pretty big gaps is absolutely correct. Bringing it back to the original point, the mindset difference is carefully to do the entire gear check, multiple times because you know the assumption that you caught everything and nothing has changed can very easily be wrong. it's pretty much the same as saying your mindset is DO a gear check, but there is an attitude there, even if a simple one. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

To be fair, I don't go after a lot of "high risk activities". I love skydiving in spite of the fact that there's risk involved. However, having talked to a fair amount of people about it, I actually know very few who are afraid of it. The common sentiment for why they don't do it is that it isn't something that interests them. Plain and simple. Sure a few of them are afraid, but other than that it's generally cost or that they just aren't really interested by the idea of skydiving. As for what they say to me, mostly it's just "that's awesome" or generally supportive of me going after something I love. The "oh shit" responses are more like "just be really careful" at which point I explain to them that I am. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

May they and their families find peace. Blue skies well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

congrats dude. nice jump. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Hey at least take me to dinner first well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

I thought I was the only person that thought this... I get that it's a distraction, but as cautious as I am this is one thing that I actually enjoy. I would never do this on jumprun or bother an instructor or their student when they're working, but before jumprun and done lightly (i.e. not doing it to someone who's checking their gear or being insistent about it) it's cool just to relax and wish people a good jump. Then again I don't get on the plane not ready to jump, and I alternate between getting the altitude picture and checking my straps, routing, 3 rings, handles, RSL etc. continuously. I also don't take off my helmet (personal choice because I wear glasses with a full face and don't want to have to bail without being able to put my helmet and glasses on in time if I ever had to) so I guess I never really thought of this as worth considering as a dangerous distraction. If you start out safe before you get on the plane and don't do silly things like stop spotting or gear checking to do it I still think it's a cool gesture before a jump. I guess that first part isn't always true unfortunately. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

I can only offer my limited experience too, but here. I've jumped solo, with newbies, and with experienced jumpers. Solo is fun when you want to work on skills alone or just have an easy jump if you're coming off of being inactive for a bit, but can kinda suck when you just can't find someone. I do hop n pops now for those times. Jumping with newbies can be fun and frustrating, and can show you much more clearly how you're moving in space, partly because it's multiplied by two people varying fall and closure rate. It's also nice because there's less of the "well I'm sorry I sucked" element to it because you both are trying to get better. That being said, I know I've learned significantly more on jumps where experienced jumpers chose to jump with me. An early coached jump that didn't go so well turned into a huge learning experience because she was very friendly about it and helped me learn, in addition to having been encouraging from the first day I showed up. Two other jumps that are some of my favorites (still made some rookie mistakes) were a coached jump where we turned simple points, and my first licensed jump on a sunset tracking dive. In both cases, the jumpers were really friendly and taught me a lot. The first about a type of exit and good technique for RW and turning points as well as tracking and other stuff. The second group about good tracking position and controls in a tracking position, among other things. Both jumping with newbies and with experienced jumpers is a lot of fun, and each can teach you something different. I've learned to compensate and problems to avoid from newbies. And I've learned a lot more specific stuff from experienced jumpers like refining body position, good ways to control your body, good ways to spot, additional items to add to gear checks, exit positions, etc. I don't expect anyone to jump with me and I'm not upset when they have their own thing to do or anything like that, but it's always fun to go up with someone or a group. And I don't know if a formal framework would help or is necessary. Just good coaches or organizers makes a lot of difference. A framework might help that. Either way it's a great day when you learn a lot and get better. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

I suppose it would end something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1GadTfGFvU That being said, I hate bees and that would suck some serious balls. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Like 'em all, esp. since Nirvana was a local band. Dave Grohl still does a great job with the Foo Fighters. Chatted with Krist Noveselic the other day as he flew his Cessna thru my sector. But to each their own. . .

Granted I don't loosen chest strap or collapse a slider, but the little housekeeping I do (putting up visor, etc) I do with brakes unstowed and not in my hands clearing the airspace before each task. If there's a reason for not doing that then let me know. I also unstow the brakes almost immediately after it's inflated as I check for traffic, but I'll keep in mind checking the airspace and using rears first for next jump. To popsjumper from earlier, his description says he blew through his hard deck whatever it was before he noticed the ground. I suppose you don't really know how you're going to react in that situation until you're there. For me at 1000ft it's fabric, hope, and ask why the hell I'm there. Honestly I didn't think of pulling the fired toggle (I will now), but his biggest mistake to me was just altitude awareness. In this case, it could've bought him more altitude to find his reserve handle. If he had been able to find his reserve handle below 1000ft (his account sounds like he made the decision to cutaway knowing he couldn't) to me it's just a preference at that point. Although is there something to be said here for risk of entanglement being higher due to the spiral and fired toggle? Trying to learn a bit from this, so if I'm wrong anywhere by all means let me know. I could use any extra review/information I can get before I get back current. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

as stupid as this is going to sound, the first thing that put the idea in my head was watching the scene in Pointe Break when I was about 12 years old. I researched skydiving like hell for the next few months and learned about AFF and all that, and knew well the flaws in the scene. I looked forward to the day that I turned 16 so I could maybe ask my parents about signing a waiver, and 18 so I could actually jump. As it was I didn't jump until I was 20. It was actually because I was working particularly hard day after day at my job that I finally said "fuck it, it's time to do this". Scheduled AFF 1, did 2 in the same day, had a blast but was uncertain about it I think just because I wasn't used to it. Jump 3 was amazing and I love it now and plan on continuing for a long time. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

I've also seen it where if you don't have the decimal and you want to show that it is 5 sig figs then you draw a bar over it. Then again, I've never seen that done in practice. At any rate I would prefer to write it as 5.2000 x 10^4. A lot less ambiguous. I only see the bar in text books I agree with the scientific notation method being better. lol exactly :P. Never seen anyone use that in practice, even in research. If they really felt like even bothering with sig figs they did scientific notation. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

I've also seen it where if you don't have the decimal and you want to show that it is 5 sig figs then you draw a bar over it. Then again, I've never seen that done in practice. At any rate I would prefer to write it as 5.2000 x 10^4. A lot less ambiguous. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Bolding mine. I don't see any reason to deviate from one of those two +1 well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

well, if there's one thing you have with a pilot chute in tow, is lots of time to deal with it /sarcasm. definitely. best part about a PCIT. And while I am a very low time jumper who hasn't had a chop, what in the world FJC rules are you referring to that shouldn't be applied in practice? I'm just curious. My understanding is that everything in the FJC is based on more experience than any one person will have in this sport. As are the emergency procedures. And what is your alternative to those things? Those rules are drilled into you so you have a plan hopefully without having to waste altitude thinking about what you should do. Are there "fixes" like trying to free the bag manually, sure there are, with a fair amount of added risk in most cases - not the least of which is loss of altitude awareness trying to "fix" a malfunction on the part of a low time jumper. An experienced jumper might feel comfortable and have the skills required to do something like that, but it's a different ballgame with low time. If it's pilot chute hesitation then sure a look back and rolling side to side IF ALTITUDE PERMITS are the appropriate action but so is going to the reserve by decision altitude. For any jumper. He should help look for the gear at a minimum. Without a doubt. Share financial burden if that's the DZO's policy. But what's the use not chopping so you won't have to pay or deal with people giving you crap if you make it down alright? well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.

Figured I'd put one more update in this thread. After fighting for time to jump (and some wind) I finally got my A license during Dirty3some at the Farm. :) time to start learning some more. well...I was going skydiving anyway. let's go. Earn your pancakes.