ChrisD

It's most likely me, but this error message: Category 'Detailed/Miscellaneous/1970 ' does not exist. I was trying to correct / fix a duplicate posting, what did I do wrong? In the my photos section. Thanx C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

In the past I have done this with overweight inspectors and other pilots, and all at considerable altitude. I am not recommending that you actually wind up the aircraft, especially those that are not rated for intentional spins. The slow flight and stall spin entry are generally sufficient to wake up any pilot that hasn't experienced this first hand. The rapidity of the wing drop, the sluggishness of the controls, and the ensuing altitude loss are so different as compared with "normal" , this is why I persist with this topic when and where I can. It seems that until the individual pilots actually experience this for themselves, they do not believe... The first time I actually did this in a 182 I was shocked that this aircraft, which beforehand I had always considered to be very predictable, acted the way it did. Night and day don't come close to describing this difference. This is why such a little training goes a long way. Most pilots will understand the phrase about landing "straight ahead." But they don't always understand why? After some actual practice at or near gross, you will understand why. This is my point. I would never recommend or even suggest loading an aircraft with a load that could shift, when the Army trains their helo pilots they use filled jerry cans to simulate operation at full loads, jerry cans that are individually tied down with 4 attachment points as an example. Nor am I advocating intentionally loading above gross. I am advocating practicing slow flight, and what is considered normal items for a flight review but with increased frequency and fat instructors. Perhaps next time yo might focus upon how the aircraft performs at the edges of its envelope as compared with trying to bait me with how to load an aircraft. This is the point, how the aircraft performs and the relative lack of recent experience, or any experience, operating under those conditions. IMO , not these endless side debates. In the interim, every skydiver has the right to ask "how long has it been since you practiced any of this kind of stuff" to any pilot! And if the answer is in years, then I might think twice about boarding that aircraft. Most pilots I associate with are proud of their unusual attitude recovery skills, time spent leaning and teaching conventional skills as well as structured, additional, yearly aerobatic skills. They realize that this is a skill that needs to be practiced to be proficient and they find this instruction and ways of funding this as well. But this is just my opinion and real world experience. C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

NO, everything else is not BS! Y all talk about W/B and equivalent weight, but none of you talk about how these aircraft fly! The only BS here is from the hundreds of armchair pilots that have never flown a Cessna at, near, and above gross and have something happen!!! Nor do many of you have a clue as to how they react for slow flight practice, stall, spin practice!!! (At these higher weights.) Until you have been in one of these and actually experienced this, well I feel sorry for those that think they know what their speaking about, trust me you don't!!! And this goes out especially to the hundreds, if not thousands of Cessna pilots that have never practiced these maneuvers at or near gross and who are not current with same. You have quite a wake up call coming you way,.... IMO many need to be current and practice this skill, it's not too much to ask!!! As "consumers" of skydiving products asking AT the VERY least if our pilots have practiced stall spin recovery, till they throw up, within the last 90 days is something that everyone should ask of their pilots before they board the aircraft!!! This is a skill and needs to be practiced!! And in the grand scheme of things is cheep money to spend. C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

Personally, IMO, I would give them a call, indicate you want to speak with them face to face, at their expense, round trip air first class, at the Red Sea Spa, at their expense, for two weeks, at their expense, all meals included, again at their expense,... Good luck C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

Not always. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QqQIoADAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Forleans.wickedlocal.com%2Farticle%2F20140124%2FNEWS%2F140127651&ei=v-P4UvqxKKSHygHWyYCADA&usg=AFQjCNFfqe99uCHq9ZpPBC6AvAfWCKr4cQ&sig2=3vpXl71rJ3fVTFSGL4ayOw&bvm=bv.60983673,d.aWc Thanks for taken the time to post the link! C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

I actually do think that there are some quantifiable differences in the skydiving population as compared with the general public. And each and every one of them positive in the best possible way! For some strange reason I have it in my head that with the increase of solitary activities, like Nintendo, TV, and such, with so many people spending large amounts of time at work, isolated,... that skydivers need to form a community, look out for each other, spend time together in close quarters, cramped aircraft, they may not start out with this quality but to be successful in skydiving is also to be successful in forming relationships at the dz. In other words skydivers embody many of the positive qualities of a well functioning community in a larger environment that favors solitary activities. It certainly feels that as a role model there is a lot of truth that skydivers lead the way in a world that has forgotten how to communicate and relate to each other! That's just my two cents on this subject. Or how it feels to be at a dz as compared with a supermarket on Saturday for example. I dread going to the supermarket. I start making like Pavlov's dog at the thought of seeing some of my skydiving peeps! C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

Could be? But I think it was more like: Not carrying a license, No gear, and stating to manifest: "I haven't jumped in a while." And I don't remember if they even had "coach" jumps as much as just wanting to keep an eye on you. Anyways who ever was checking me out generally asked about recency and currency when we were in the plane. Or close to boarding. I kept my mouth shut and had more money then,... so most of the time I did in fact enjoy the company. And the extra dz orientation. I was in fact silent and very quiet, if you can believe that. But thanks, with everyone's help,...well I can learn. WELL Thanks!!

WTF is this visitors procedure you imagine? I've not seen it for a current, licensed jumper at any of the dropzones I've visited in the current century. The original poster is a licensed jumper who will (presumably, based on her description) be current for her license level when she shows up at a dropzone. So long as she shows up with a license, signed logbook that shows currency, and in-date gear, I can't think of a single dropzone that'll require her to do anything other than sign a waiver, get a dropzone briefing, and plunk down some money before she's allowed to hop on a plane. Lodi won't even require any of those except for the money (though I've found the locals quite willing to provide a briefing upon request). Of course, the last time I was at Lodi was a whole 12 days ago when I was judging a scrambles event there, so I suppose my info might be a bit out of date. But what do I know, I've only gone to 25+ different dropzones in the most recent 9 years, while racking up 1200+ jumps and I have never once had to do anything more than what I described above - prove I'm licensed, prove I'm current, prove my gear's in date, get a briefing, and give 'em some money. (BTW you were doing really well with the read more, post less thing for a few days there. What happened?) I was referring to what the experience is like to travel with out gear to many, many, different drop zones. My experience in the late 90s'. I found that many places I visited just pointed to the "rack," and then your on your own to manifest and such. As you point out. And just as many other places had a more intensive hand holding attitude. Many places, at that time, doing a low exit, with the rental gear was a prerequisite before "they" let you jump with others whilst using "their" gear! Other places wanted you to demonstrate a jump with a single AFF rated jumpmaster. A few places wanted a level 3 jump with 2 AFF rated instructors before "they" would set you free so to speak. Sometimes I thought they were just looking for the extra cash. But I can understand when a new face show's up and you don't know a thing about them, such as it was back in the day which didn't seem all that long ago. 20 years ago we called each different category "levels" as compared with the current nomenclature of categories. Not being snarky with the name thing here, some don't know that we used to call student jumps level 1 through 7. What is still current, especially mid week jumping, IMO is that most everyone knows who the Out of Towner is. This is a good thing because although traveling frequently has a downside just about everywhere I went everyone was wonderful. And unlike dropzone.com communication in person is about 1000 times easier and without the many different misunderstandings. That said, the downside of my travels to many different places were the hassles with gear, you never know what's inside some times, I learned to dump the main and then repack, as a rule, but that's just me. And the fact that racking up solos as compared with jumping with others was better than not jumping, but it was dictated by circumstances beyond my control, but on the other hand in this day and age it's just something I wanted to point out because now, today, we have more choices. Visiting new places can be a daunting experience, speaking from my personal experience. So I am trying to answer your question, is what I'm doing here at the moment. So the use of the phrase "Visitors Procedure" was my lumping my experiences of yesteryear as a traveler, sorry for the confusion. But I was trying to point out my experiences and history. In a sense you have also raised the idea of a LO at many different places. To me, this points out the benefits of traveling and having a LO. But subject to the locals: who is the LO, how do they operate, is there a LO person midweek? Stuff like that. Are their people to facilitate newbies to get them to a LO? Or are they just left to wander around for themselves. This is also something I wanted to bring to Chelseas (The OP.)s attention. Because IMO some places do a really great job at this as compared with others! So cheek in tongue so to speak, what's the "Visitors Procedure" at your dz? I see now how when I used those exact words they could be perceived as some sort of edict or experty opinion: "Many drop zones have a "visitors" procedure..." It does look like more of a "statement" as compared with an opinion, I'm sorry it was just an opinion, I'll try to rephrase when I'm doing that.... and see it, thanks to the anoumous person that my writing style sucks, but sincere thanks for taking the time to point out the actual words I used that are perceived as tone! No tone intended.

Understandable, I'm not the easiest person to get along with. I mentioned instruction as kind of a nicer way of pointing out for a newer jumper that the idea of just banging out jumps to rack up your numbers, may not be without some controversy. But it's her life. I also have to point out that jumping, to me anyways, isn't always about the number of jumps you have, it just seems that the emphasis is on that as compared with skill building and enjoying being outside, under canopy, stuff like that. I got all confused about this thread being about Alcampo and what I think the OP was speaking about as two different things. In some of her other posts she lets on a little more about her goals and desires, I hope Chelsea realizes that there are many people that will help her realize her goals, but I forgot that based upon this thread only, some may not know what she has said elsewhere. I wanted to find out more about her goals, that's why I stuck that bit about instruction in, since it seemed that no one else had asked yet ?? One of the other reasons I ask is that I know of some very fair and balanced individuals spending the winter in NZ. They have every rating in the book and thousands of jumps if ever she or anyone wanted to have a candid discussion with a full time jumper, I mean a person that makes their living jumping in the states, or she or anyone is free to find them on their own all she has to do is ask? As a suggestion. But if she is jumping in NZ she probably already knows some of these people, but If you don't ask how do you tell? I think he's working at a place called Fox (something) just wanted to put that out there,... I am also really big on asking the OP's some questions to tease out more information. I like the feedback and by doing so we all can reduce some of the misunderstandings that exist here from time to time. I see asking about ANY particular drop zone as a separate question as compared with the statement of wanting to make a lot of jumps. To me these are two distinct questions, and either one is deserving of lengthy deliberation. That's also a question for anyone to ponder? I've seen some very long multiple posts that go on and on, but the OP hasn't provided any feedback. To me getting some feedback when it seems appropriate is a better way of communicating, does this make sense? Apparently I see communication as a kind of loop, I'm not very good at this but I'm trying. I'm sure she wants to get experience. And in the past I have seen too much emphasis on numbers, but on the other hand I think Chelsea has a little more in mind, but that's just me guessing again, I don't really know until I ask??? So now there are like three topics here, where at first there seemed to be just one?? Am I making sense? And of course she should know IMO that a hundred, or whatever she has planned solos wouldn't be a path I would use to learn to fly camera. All I can say at this point is that during the 90's I traveled a lot and did a bunch of jumps across the country, most were solos. I regretted this, but jumping solo was better than not jumping at all??? Many drop zones have a "visitors" procedure: and then there is the problem of multiple gear, as well as proving that you can jump, many places wanted level sevens or hop in pops, some places wanted level 3 jumps, expensive, but understandable. By the time you went thru this procedure, and every one knew you were wearing the local "rental, or student" gear it was always difficult to interrupt the locals who assembled midweek to jump together. So speaking from personal experience and racking up a hundred or so solo jumps sucks! C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

http://rivernewsherald.org/lodi-skydiving_6-29-2011.html I'm only commenting on the fact that he has successfully navigated a lot of turmoil, stiff competition from many other drop zones, and continues to run a successful dz that a lot of people enjoy going to. Bill did that with hard work. What have you done? The parachute center continues to put more aircraft and more loads in the air than any other dz in the area! There is a huge selection of student gear. He is on the record many times and in many videos that he leaves the teaching to others, if you want to continue to defame the character of one of the hardest working guys in the business that's your business. If you want to help Chelsea out, that's your choice as well. But you can either help, or not, that's your choice??? C You speak with the tone of someone who knows Bill. Since you don't skydive, I'd wager you've never met Bill let alone visited Lodi. I *do* know Bill, and I'd also wager he wouldn't give you the time of day. Bill doesn't take kindly to bullshit. To the OP; Lodi is an option if you know what you're getting into. It's not as scary as some say it is, it's scarier than others think it's not. There are some issues there, but I jump there occasionally and enjoy it. People that start there as students are not the same sort as people that start elsewhere and then visit Lodi. Find a local mentor there, and that will help you navigate the waters much more easily. Go with a plan. Go with a goal of having some identifiable, specific skills when you leave. Jumping by yourself simply because the slots are cheap do no one, especially yourself, any good. You won't be better, smarter, safer; you'll merely have more exits and landings with a few minor knowledge gains as a part of the process. Seriously, identify what you'll leave Lodi (or any other DZ) knowing after you've invested the time/$$ into the effort. If you do this, it really doesn't matter much where you jump. Do me a fav will ya Dougie?????

http://rivernewsherald.org/lodi-skydiving_6-29-2011.html I'm only commenting on the fact that he has successfully navigated a lot of turmoil, stiff competition from many other drop zones, and continues to run a successful dz that a lot of people enjoy going to. Bill did that with hard work. What have you done? The parachute center continues to put more aircraft and more loads in the air than any other dz in the area! There is a huge selection of student gear. He is on the record many times and in many videos that he leaves the teaching to others, if you want to continue to defame the character of one of the hardest working guys in the business that's your business. If you want to help Chelsea out, that's your choice as well. But you can either help, or not, that's your choice??? C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

Assuming you are not a ChrisD clone: 1. Pinchecks can be (and are) done both before and after getting on the plane. A teammate of mine had me check his pin before every jump, around 11,000 or so. 2. What does a pincheck have to do with routing a chest strap incorrectly? Did you watch the vid? Did anyone else see him make the correction, pull his strap tight, and then as he is in the door the strap appears to immediately loosen up again??? Just a question?? C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

Mark, How much is this fido thing in US cash? That looks nice as well.! thanks,... It's my understanding that for 25 us bucks you can purchase two of these tiles? and you must have a blue tooth phone? Why doesn't someone just try this out in the woods? Just a thought? I mean we could wrap the thing in a bit of plastic, if you thought the thing was going to leak? I don't know? I mean it almost looks like it would snug right into the space between the front and rear risers? Don't have a clue if this would affect safety or not? C But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."