darkwing

I expect to be there. We have team practice. I know that there are a good bunch of tandems scheduled, and some AFF too. We have a full time twin otter now. See you there! -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I am puzzled by the removal of the 3 second rule. Now you can take a grip on the way by while you are funnelling it and it will still be a record?? I'd love to hear the logic for its removal. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Not the first world championship, but before that was the first world cup of what would be considered modern sequential 8-way in 1976, held in South Africa. The US 8-way team was Cleareye Express, from Seattle. I'm pretty sure they won. I was there. I have a magazine which has photos of all the teams. The members were: Craig Fronk, Tim Henneghan, J. Collen, S. Reeder, B. Lockwood, Tom Classon, Jim langlow, S. Jensen, and Rocky Kenoyer. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I just looked mine up. It was in October 1973. Did a 4-way out of a C-180 from 7500 feet. Opened it to a line. That was pretty hot stuff for us then. I got a dead center under my ParaCommander main. I had a 24-foot surplus reserve. I get scared just thinking about it now. I had 40 minutes of freefall time as of that jump. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I just gravitated together with other people who were similarly inclined. Start talking it up and you might be surprised at who else is interested. It is the best way to make skydives, improve your skills, and minimize hassles. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I think that harness grips of any kind are a sign of someone who doesn't know how to exit and goes for muscle instead. Edit --Let me rephrase that, as it is harsher than I intended. I think a good exit should be designed and timed such that harness grips are unnecessary. I realize that such design and timing aren't often possible on fun jumps, especially at boogies with lots of strangers jumping together. Still, a tension free exit is the goal. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I started jumping long ago in Idaho, and jumped year around, although not as much in winter as summer. These days I jump pretty much every weekend, making about 200/year. I did have a gap of 6 years, and another of 3 years, both pretty much covering the decade of the 1990's. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

As a College club advisor, I'd strongly recommend you stay out of the insurance game. Once you are in, your school will start requiring it, and upping the limits, and wanting to be named as an insured..... -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Am I the only one bothered by the big lump that is his pilot chute? I generally expect that the pilot chute more evenly fills the pouch. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'm an old timer, and I remember the original 10-way speed stuff, and recently have dabbled in the current version, which I like immensely. We are going to practice it about every third weekend at our DZ. It adds a little variety to our routine of 4-way practice. (which I also remember from the old days.) I was surprised at the reception 10-way got at my dz late last fall. I'm glad to see a resurgence of interest in it, as I have always remembered it fondly. It is even common for us to do 10-way speed type exits when we aren't doing 10-way speed. More flying for everyone. Interesting "speed" exit movie. That method wouldn't have occurred to me. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Lost Prairie. WFFC is too big and drunk for me. I have been there though. I guess it is the sort of thing that everyone should do once in their life. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I never charged to train a rigger, although recently a guy I spent a lot of time with very kindly bought me some jumps and a dinner. I was surprised, and certainly didn't expect it. I always considered free training a fair return to the sport that has given me so much. I am not critical at all of a rigger who does charge though. I figured that creating more riggers just freed up my time to do weirder rigging stuff (like designing/building canopies...). -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I consider it my ethical duty to say something like, "You are crazy to jump that. You will likely kill yourself, and ruin my day, and lots of others. On the other hand you may live, and thereby encourage others to do the same, and they will surely die. Show me that you can handle a Zoomie 190, and come back with a few hundred jumps and then I'll say go ahead and jump a 97." I'd also tell the STA and the DZO that I think they are being irresponsible, and encouraging unsafe progression. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Note that the PD 25/40 rule is for evaluation,not necessarily to establish end-of-life. They may say it is still good... A few years ago we drop tested a silk 24-foot canopy that had been packed and sealed for just over 50 years. It worked!!! The drop test dummy (not me) was not heavy, and the airspeed was not fast.... Impressive nonetheless. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Yes, really. Don't get me wrong. I suspect that most of the time there is , in principle, an identifiable cause--body position, sloppy slider during packing, inherent to the canopy design, etc. But absolutely, they can happen due to no fault of the jumper or packer. The consequence of all the turbulence around the canopy at deployment is that openings will vary, even when pack jobs and body position don't. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Yes. I'll try to be more constructive than some posters... exits: make sure you can present yourself to the relative wind from a variety of exit positions, and that you can present in a variety of attitudes--heading uphill, downhill, sideways... Subterminal turns: after you present in the desired position, do a quick 360. body position: experiment with body positions, especially mantis-like positions, and asymetrical postions. Look at some video and photos of good skydivers doing rw. Practice those positions and turns, slides, etc. Tracking, as mentioned above. It is still more fun to do rw with someone, but a crappy rw jump with a partner is probably less educational for you than a good, well planned and executed solo "rw". -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Sometimes they just happen. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Just last year I went through a flock in freefall, as I recall about 3,500 feet. In 30 years of jumping I have never heard of a birdstrike, until reading the link above. I think that generally a person in freefall is going slow enough, and making enough noise, for birds to notice and avoid us. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

yes, we have quite a few safety related seminars and exercises. I highly recommend it. Also, there are door prizes, a free jump or two, t-shirts.... -- Jeff My Skydiving History

easy solution, assuming that they actually did it -- have the jumpers give them a free jump. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'd recommend you talk with local riggers or even upholsterers, but not dressmakers and the like. You need a simple, but sturdy machine. I bought a used machine nearly 30 years ago and it still sews great using E thread and not too many layers of cordura, etc. Forward, reverse, and zigzag.... -- Jeff My Skydiving History

don't forget to mention why jumping in the rain is so uncomfortable.... You run into the pointy end of the raindrops. If you look down and see blue, turn over. The phrase "throw up" takes on a new, more literal meaning. No such thing as a "perfectly" good airplane -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I may be off base here, but the typical "highly zoomie" canopies have very small openings at the cell mouths. I think that a very low wing loading may make them significantly more susceptible to collapse due to migration of the stagnation point away from the cell mouth. Lower loadings make a wing more sensitive to turbulence. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

This is a well known theme in science fiction novels. The basic physics is fine. The holdup is materials science. I'd have to check the numbers, but it may be that nano-tubes have the required strength to make it real. I am not commenting on the economic aspects though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Remember, when your rig is on you in freefall there are different forces on it than when it is just on a table or the floor. I suspect that the tension in the horizontal back webbing when the rig is donned will make a big difference in the extraction force necessary. -- Jeff My Skydiving History