freakflyer9999

It was WFFC 97. I didn't get to jump it, but I saw it turning loads faster than Mullins.

I just had the complete harness on an older Javelin replaced by SunPath. Their pricing is about $450 re-using the hardware from the old rig or about $100 more to replace the hardware. I actually had the harness updated to 4 rings for about $750. I've also done the same with an old Vector in the past.

There are 4 pages of comments already on this topic. I'm only adding mine because I've been there done that. Yes it is possible for heavier people to skydive. I was 265 on my first jump. I didn't realize at the time that the DZO was allowing me to jump gear that wasn't rated for my weight. Skydiving did motivate me to lose weight and less than 6 months later I weighed 185 lbs. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to maintain it and even exceeded my original weight significantly over the years. I have made jumps weighing as much as 315 lbs + gear. Exit weight was really close to 350 and I was jumping a military rig with 350 sq ft canopies. Of course at that weight I flew base for the freeflyers and even they could have trouble keeping up with me. I did find that swoop cords were my friend and Tony Suits was able to build me a suit that slowed me down reasonably when I weighed in at the 230-250 range. I have again lost weight (gastric bypass) and though I'm not skinny, I'm not much different than many of the other jumpers out there. I've been surprised to hear some of the thinner looking jumpers tell me that they outweigh me now (215). Fall rate is still an issue though. I do own multiple jumpsuits and I'm actually planning on buying another slower one. To wrap all this up, it can be done. I wouldn't trade my 21+ years in this sport for anything. It has been a challenge at times, but it was worth every moment. If you can safely help a larger jumper get started then go for it. Yes, there will be obstacles and yes there are higher risks. I would suggest that you give the jumper an incentive before his first jump. Tell him, if he loses 25 lbs, you'll help. Maybe even make him get on the scales before every jump day and he must not have gained weight in order to jump that day. Just an idea, but give him some motivation to lose weight.

There was one in the classifieds last week. Not sure if it is still there or not but do a search for Dolphin d6

I'm not so sure that your problem isn't in your head as much as it is physical. I personally have never felt a falling feeling when exiting an aircraft, even on my helicopter and balloon jumps. If I unexpectedly step off of a curb while walking I experience a falling feeling, but the relative wind in skydiving seems to provide enough positive feedback to my senses, that I simply don't feel like I'm falling. I do have a slight sensation of going down a slide. Maybe this is what you're describing as falling. BTW, it is natural to experience fear when jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. We all have experienced it. When I was a student there were other students at my home DZ that had pretty severe cases of fear. One rode the plane down on his 7th or 8th jump and never came back. A female jumper cried before each and everyone of her student jumps, but she finished the program and stayed with the sport. I personally still get butterflies in my stomach on the way to the DZ and on occasion I have stayed on the ground when everyone else was jumping even after 20 years of jumping. Not necessarily because it scares me, but sometimes it just doesn't feel right and I take that feeling seriously when I experience it. As you yourself and several others have suggested, the solution may simply be to go jump. All most everyone I've ever talked to seems to agree that around 50 jumps the fears tend to go away. It is at that point that you develop confidence in your training, your skills and your gear. Some hit it earlier and some later, but 50 jumps seems to be the magic number for a lot of people. EFS

If you are just reading what others have said, then any paper that you might write won't be your own but merely a summary of what others already have said. The only real way to research skydiving is to put a rig on your back, open the door and exit. If you just want to regurgitate what somebody else has said, then google Brian Germaine.

Yes. I have been jumping one of Larry's pilot chutes for several months. Great quality. Works as it should.

Just had a thread about this on Facebook. Apparently there is a group that jumps in Galveston on occasion, however, there isn't a regular DZ there. Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon is less than an hour to the north west. Just got back from a mini boogie there. It is a great DZ.

Skydive 35 about an hour south of Dallas/Fort Worth does 17K jumps.

I had less than 50 jumps when I did my first 27 way. I had no business on that jump, but some very experienced people put me in the base, and explained my slot to me including exit. I survived. 20 years later, I'm still hesitant to do 20 ways, because of a number of factors, but mostly because I primarily jump at a Cessna DZ and I'm just not used to that many jumpers in the sky.

Come meet new friends n share air with old friends on a low key laid back traditional TEXXAS 20-way competition https://www.facebook.com/events/781101325257180/?source=3&source_newsfeed_story_type=regular Tony Albano is forming a 2nd team (his first team is full) to compete in the Texxas 20-way competition on June 14th. Practice jumps at noon on June 13th at https://www.facebook.com/spaceland2 Luke short from sunny California oldschool very competent organizer /skydiver will b Flyin in with his crew to captain this new 6th team of the competition.

Skydive35 in Hillsboro, TX goes to 17,500 Call before you go to confirm schedule. Jump Prices for USPA license holders Top 2,500’ – 4,500’ AGL - $19.00 Up to 13,500' AGL - $25.00 Up to 17,500' AGL - $33.00

Except maybe, you know, an enormous loophole in the laws requiring background checks. There is not a Federal law that requires background checks for private party transactions that do not cross state lines. There are a few states that have laws requiring them, but at the moment that is the exception rather than the rule across the US. I have bought and sold several firearms without background checks. I have also bought numerous firearms with a background check and as long as I maintain my Concealed Handgun License, there isn't a requirement for another background check when I purchase from a dealer or across state lines. I do have to complete the paperwork on those transactions, just the dealer isn't required to do the NICS check on me. BTW, I also admin one of those Facebook groups though not a nationwide one. Our members are in the local area.

I've been trying to order one of those buttons all day. Nobody seems to know where to get one.

Thinking more is better and with the cheap memory available I ordered my laptop with 16GB. Unfortunately, the software really doesn't take advantage of it. When running video editing software, memory usage rarely goes above 3GB on my system.

Yes and no. The hybrid drive from Seagate has a slower hard drive. The documentation with the drive specifically states that it isn't recommended for video editing. Bottomline is that it wouldn't be any worse than a regular slower hard drive unless the algorithm they use slows up access even further when doing large sequential writes.

From my research the vendor literature recommends SSDs for video editing. The SSHD on the other hand specifically has a disclaimer in their documentation stating that video editing isn't recommended. The issue with the SSHD is that video editing doesn't take advantage of the solid state storage built in to it and therefore the task is relegated to the much slower 5400 rpm drive. The hybrid drive has an algorithm that selects frequently used data (I assume at the sector level) to place on the limited (8gb) solid state portion of the drive. Large sequential file handling is done on the hard drive. This morning I did discover a Western Digital drive that combines a 120GB SSD with a 1TB hard drive into one unit. It installs as two separate volumes with the OS, etc on the SSD portion. Not sure how much space would be available to perform video editing, but it should be doable. Of course there wouldn't be enough space to keep the final results there, but it would be simple to move it to the hard drive when done. I like this solution, but wish that the SSD drive were larger.

I bought an I7 with 16GB of ram, but didn't think about the hard drive. The drive that came with it is slower. Now I'm looking to upgrade the drive probably to solid state. I tried a solid state hybrid drive but then discovered that the fine print in the documentation doesn't recommend it for video editing (though there are some other advantages to the SSHD). I noticed that the video editing software doesn't really take advantage of the large amount of RAM that I have so I used some of the excess to create a RAM drive. This works fairly well, but of course at some point I still have to copy the video to another drive for storage. It also somewhat limits the size of the video file that I work on but for skydiving videos this generally isn't an issue. I still have some testing to do before I determine my optimum setup, but I think it will end up being a SSD possibly utilizing the RAM drive as well and copying the finished product to external storage. With all that said, I only do video for my own enjoyment. I'm not trying to shoot and edit video for tandem customers on the fly at the moment.

Just go watch the movie Cutaway. All the technical details are there including a relative newbie with canopy control issues landing on buildings and boats and all kinds of stuff as well as doing BASE jumps off a building while under fire.

You could have stood up that last round landing, you just chickened out.

I would suggest going to Florida, mainly because you will have so many choices. Pick one to start with, but be willing to move on down the road if it isn't meeting your needs or just to try something different. When I had about the same number of jumps as you, I had a business trip to Florida. I visited 6 dropzones in a week and found everyone of them offered something different and a different feeling/vibe. All were pretty friendly, though at the time I did find Deland to be the most intimidating as a newbie in the sport. The friendliest dropzone that I visited that week doesn't exist any more. It was in Umatilla. Z-Hills got my vote for #2 spot that week with Lake Wales and Titusville tied for 3rd and Sebatians winds were too high for me to jump. You seem to be pretty honest with yourself and this group about your skill levels. Pick up the phone, call each of the DZ's and ask to speak with a coach. After doing so, I bet one of them will stand out in your mind.

Absolutely not true. I watched a whole load of students getting out of a Porter holding their reserve pilot chutes in their hands because the pilot had put the plane into a dive that exceeded the firing parameters of their AADs. I personally never jumped at that DZ again because of this incident, since the pilot was also the DZO.

The last one (BSBD) is mine. It is posted somewhere on here I'm sure.

My only balloon jump was a bandit jump with a balloon pilot friend of mine. We had several whuffo's with us as well. The pilot had taken jumpers before and was experienced, so I didn't spend much time briefing him other then discussing how he wanted me to exit, altitude, etc. For the whuffo's I told them simply do not grab anything on my gear. If I slip and look like I'm falling as I climb out, that's ok. I was intending to fall out anyway. DO NOT GRAB ANYTHING. Have fun.

I weighed 265 lbs on the day of my first jump but lost down to 185 within the next 4-5 months. Skydiving was a great motivation for me as well. Unfortunately over the years I gained the weight back plus much more and lost it and gained it and lost it and gained it. Most recently I have lost 120 lbs and feel so much better. Obviously, it positively impacts my skydiving as well. With all that said, I was able to skydive even at my heaviest (310 lbs), I just had to use equipment rated for the weight and it does exist. Most DZ's simply don't have student gear that can handle the heavier students, but it isn't impossible. There are DZ's in the US that can handle larger jumpers. Of course, even they have their limits.