billdo

Can't seem to follow the link - is the site down?

Great video, but I most want to know, who sings the song, "trust your cape?" Thanks for sharing

OK, maybe I should defend myself? Well, I don't know if I have a defense... I do owe Dominic some smokes. I do owe beer, fair and square. I'll only say that I was taking some liberties with the landing area since we were the only team getting out at 10.5 and John lands first and my other teamate have much slower canopies. I'll also give credit to Elsinore's humbling landing area which requires greater accuracy than Perris for sure. In retrospect, I won't be violating the landing pattern anymore, even if it is just the four of us from 10.5 Basically, I humbly admit I fucked up. However, I do NOT make a lot of money as a Resident. I am actually quite poor! I pay for all my skydiving (unlike Dom - OK I admit, I'm jealous!) and I have to live in Orange County which takes up 50% of my salery in rent! AND, I work 80 hour work weeks! And the T-shirts are just for fun at the DZ. I live in a VERY conservative world at work and the DZ is my place to get away from that. I'm definitely not trying to offend anyone! OK, that's my defense. I'll bring the beer Saturday...

I started jumping right before second year and have averaged 350 / year since then (I'm a PGY-2 in Peds). It depends where you are too. I had A LOT more free time in med school than I do in residency, so I was able to make 350/year even in Milwaukee. Now I have 4 days per month, but I'm one hour away from Perris so I jump every available day up to 12 jumps per day, and was able to have a team that did 200 training jumps while getting 10 hours of tunnel and also completing big-way events. If you plan to skydive seriously you HAVE to get into a residency near one of the major DZ's with good weather. Because of limits on my time and my commitment to skydive whenever free I have very little time for anything else, even my dates with nurses have slacked off. You have to keep your priorities straight. You can pretty much bang every hot nurse in the first year of residency and then you'll be black-listed a "player" by the nurses, and you can get back into skydiving seriously. That's what worked for me anyway. Good luck

Can you wear a rig in a tunnel and deploy it? What happens when people do that? Sorry, being a smartass.

I've wondered about that because my thinking was to "let it fly" or even go to double fronts to increase the pressure, but when I asked a well-known xaos team pilot at Eloy he said to go to halfs if cought in a dust devil. ??

Well, what do true HALO spec ops jumpers deploy at? Over water? In a movie I saw once the jumpers begin discussing when to pull while in freefall at 1000 feet. Approximately 20 seconds elapses before the second guy pulls and he just opens before the water, so I'd say something like 500 feet

600'???? Where did that number come from? Didn't you mean to say "from a sight picture that you have learned to arbitrarilly designate as over 600' ?" Good one. Today I am reconsidering and thinking I agree with what you're saying also Alan. The alti CAN act as a guide just like people use trees and other structures to gauge their altitude. I guess it's people who think they need to use their alti to tell them EXACTLY when to start their swoop that's the prolem - I know you're not one of them. I still think it's good to rehash some of these arguments which have been done before because it keep people thinking and other's learning. Blue skies, Fast swoops

I have to so totally agree with Billvon and The Craddock here. Losing my second altimeter and not replacing it was the best thing ever - FOR ME PERSONALLY. My overall altitude awareness improved greatly since it basically had to. I realized I was over-relying on the alti - to judge pull altitude, to set up approaches, and, yes, to start swoop turns. Using one now would feel like landing by instruments instead of VFR. Remember how much better Luke did when he turned off his targeting computer and went with the force? Swooping, and when to start the turn, is all RELATIVE! Who cares what alti (the actual number of feet) you start your turn at. It's like who cares how much you bench press? Are you getting stronger or not? Is the weight heavy or light? LEARN THOSE SIGHT PICTURES! so that you know when to ease it into a carve, dive it harder, go to double fronts, or abort and finish the carve with toggles or go to a real bail out flat turn or crosswind landing to save your ass. It seems like you could definitely get hurt trusting the alti that said you started your turn at the right height (and it worked the last time right?) and so you continue to attempt to finish it all the way to the ground. NOW, that said, I really want to better understand this "don't learn to swoop with a short recovery-arc canopy." I'm jumping a cobalt loaded at 2 and am planning on possibly (once I jump it) switching to a katana of the same size. I understand the katana has a longer recovery arc than the cobalt or stilleto. If this is true then how is my having learned to swoop with a fast recovery arc going to affect me? You mean I'll start my turns too low if I'm not careful?

One comment, Definitely use small type bungee cord and not pull up cords to connect the leg straps. I see a surprising amount of jumpers use pull up cords for this, but I was warned by a jumper not to do this after he nearly LOST A TESTICLE ON OPENING from a non-stretch type cord between his legstarps

PD site seems to be down but I don't think the katana is offered in any sizes larger than 135

"A thousand feet - pull the ripcord now!!" "You first! I insist!" -Point Break "Always bet on 8 - 8's the fastest." -Cutaway

The way it was explained to me: Do any maneuver to create speed (riser dive, toggle snap, whatever) then pull both rears to get lift and nearing the top of that flare let one rear riser up. Barrel roll! Scary the first time. Don't do near the ground.

I understand the concept and everything that everyone says about line stows, but was surprised to hear Dan say it since he was the one who "taught" me to double stow my lines on my cobalt and it continues to recommend this on Atairs website. WTF? Dan, double stow or not?

Tell them the grippers are flotation devices in case of an emergency water landing. The booties on the suit are there to protect your shoe laces from coming off, then point out a jumper with sandals or slip on shoes who doesn't have booties (a freeflyer works well) and use that to continue the logic.

*** btw How are you liking Cal. Did you here about Tom?*** PM sent.

Why do you have break fires so often? Is your gear not properly maintained? First off, by posting this I think crapflinger has bought himself a reserve ride pretty soon. I mean, knock on wood or something man! Also, does anyone think it's kinda strange that he doesn't know by a factor of 1000 (or 25% of total jumps) how many jumps he has??? Anyway, I'm pretty much just joking around. I've learned a lot about how to handle spinners from this forum and the good advice on it, so I respect everyone's opinion, even Josh's, but still, you guys do come off like you're criticizing the guy for making a half second decision to cut away, but whatever.

This is THE landing accuracy trick as far as I'm concerned. However, you're wrong! Just kidding, but really, the point that isn't moving is the point you'll hit if you don't flare. You might have to account for the surf. That is, I see that point that is not moving and know that even in a straight in approach I will basically flare at that "magic" spot and then surf right past it, so I have to account for this. Good post though. I was scanning through this threac looking for someone to give this ultimate trick.

Spoken like a poet. I can't say it better, except to say that I will still occasionally use arms to the side (not so much arms in front). I think arms behind you, going for that "free" riser input, IS more difficult to balance. Basically you learn them all and then you have many different ways to control your canopy for different speeds and conditions of landings.

Switchblade?

I called my mom under canopy using a hands free cellular kit. She loved it! Have also listened to music but found it wasn't worth the effort. It was fun to do once though. Too bad that new Neptune audible isn't also an MP3 player. How about voice activated radios to use during freefall? Just have to have a very quiet helmet. There are tons of available radios that would work under canopy, still, it IS a distraction. Blue Skies

I never got to meet Roger or jump with him. "If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack. A glance from your eyes, and my life will be yours." - Thin Red Line My condolences to Missy and Rook.

Maybe he should get a Cobalt. Uh oh! Here it comes!

NO NO NO......not at all. Just re-read my post, didn't mean for it to sound too harsh. It's just that my opinion of Stillettos really has changed since I've seen what can be done with them in the right hands. I think it's a too-common opinion that a stilletto is somehow an "outdated" canopy, or not a worthy canopy to swoop with. I agree the controls are different than a ground-hungry crossbraced, but make sure you're getting everything out of your current canopy before you think you have to move on. Don't be like the amateur golfer who always thinks he needs the latest titanium NASA-produced club to improve his game. The stilletto can do virtually everything you probably ever want to do (unless you're looking to get on the PST - and even then maybe). Maybe you'll eventually need to increase your wingloading when you're ready, but don't think the answers all lie in a different canopy design. I know it might seem frustrating at times. Best of luck.

I was walking back from the landing area at Perris and happened to see what looked like a pullup cord tied around another jumpers reserve handle. I said, "What's that?" He looked down at it, didn't flinch, and said, "That's a pullup cord tied around my reserve handle." He basically realized his mistake, but stayed calm about it - the skydive was over and he had just jumped a single parachute system, essentially. Apparently he had just travelled on an airline with his rig and tied the pullup cord aound the reserve handle and main lift web to prevent an accidental reserve deployment while in transit. 1. No one on the plane obviously noticed it. 2. He had a 300-way patch on his jumpsuit. 3. The other jumper he had just jumped with had a 300-way patch on her jumpsuit. I couldn't believe it. I thought that was just a skydiving "urban legend"