chips26

Anyone hear of any word on the Ion yet? The last I heard it was supposed to be out beginning of this season (supposedly same last season) I'm in the market for a new digital, at this point I'm starting to not see the value in waiting much longer for it...

I demoed a buddies 149 a couple weeks ago on a high pull, should get my 139 here in about a week. I have nothing to compare it to in the same size I flew but a Pilot 150. It was better in every way. Faster, longer recovery arc, way more responsive on harness input. I can throw more in after I get mine and fly it for more than 1 jump.

Looking at getting some paintball smoke to use on some track dives here for one of our big turbine events coming up. Specifically looking at the Enola Gaye brand of cold burn paintball smoke, anyone have any experience with this brand? Any special dyes to worry about staining my jumpsuit? Does it show up well in freefall? Any and all comments appreciated.

This is the cutaway mount my buddy is developing specifically for G3s. He just finished doing some test jumps with it at the dropzone this weekend. [/url]http://www.collettetech.com/[url]

Digging up an old thread, but has anyone flown a cookie fuel with a chincup and a speed with a chincup? I'm thinking of trading out my Fuel for one. I like the Fuel but the chincup is huge for my chin, and im not fond of the tight chin strap either.

My buddy was coming back from Dallas pretty recently and got swabbed. Tested positive for explosives so they made him pop the reserve. Our guess is that he slid a couple landings in on the grass and had some traces of fertilizer on it.

If youre in Iowa, I suggest Des Moines Skydivers. I went through their AFF program and our instructors are top notch. We also have a really large fun jumper crowd and the vibe there is one you wont find anywhere else. Since its getting late in the year I doubt we have another FJC coming up, but keep in touch in the spring when we have some coming up!

I felt that "embracing the air" moment on my 3rd solo jump off of AFF status. I stopped fighting and reacting against the wind and just let it do its thing, and man what a difference does it make! I wouldnt concentrate so much on waiting those 5-8 seconds, because once you are out of the plane, you wont think about counting. What helped me when I did mine was stick my dick in the wind and arch towards the prop at the door, and just let go. Once you see the tail of the plane....pull. Its really that simple.

Deep breaths when youre on the step or in the door, right before exit sequence. Visualization of the dive helped a great bit on the ride up as well. I had to retake my level 7 because I freaked out on exit and ended up in a really uncontrolled tumble for several thousand feet. I was able to stabilize and pull on time, but it did scare the shit out of me. I repeated the dive a couple of loads later after settling down, and I ended up killing it and graduating. Looking back I'm glad I had to retake the dive and had that scary death tumble experience, it gave me the confidence that I could get out of it if it ever happened. DO NOT think about what can go wrong with the jump, messing up..etc. Focus on killing it...everytime, and you will.

fascinating... I did my first 6 and then stopped (the jump 7 was my original tandem). And now I sit around thinking "why the hell didn't I just go do it". for the life of me I can't really see why you do 6 and they all go great and then suddenly you're more afraid than jump 1. Psychology says it should be creating extinction over time. Though there was nearly a week or 2 lag between each of those jumps EXCEPT 5-6 which were same day. Maybe had I not done it I would have held true. Any thoughts on why fear goes away then seems to creep back up in most folks around this time? My guess is because your 7th jump is completely unassisted. The instructor is just there to watch you perform. They dont help you exit or with any of your dive, you are indeed completely on your own. This is what scared me the most about my 7th jump and the fear ended up taking over and sending me on the death tumble ride of my life. That dive shook me up pretty good, but it also gave me the confidence once I saw the video that I COULD get out of a nasty situation like that before blowing my bottom end. In retrospect I'm glad I failed that jump, it helped me cope and get past my fear of being totally out of control.

I was super nervous when I did my cat E with a diving exit and had to repeat because I psyched myself out and ended up going into some ragdolls on the way down. Ended up getting stable a few times and pulled on time, but man did that scare me. I repeated the jump with a floating exit and just tried to relax on the way up, and then ended up acing the dive and having a hell of a time doing it! My first jump of the day usually gets my nerves going pretty good, after that though its usually smooth sailing from there. The nerves do get better.

Like others said, listen to your instructors and dont sweat it. I'm halfway through AFF and had the same feelings about canopy flight. Hell I landed my first out this weekend and got a free ride in a gator. Under canopy you will have radio contact with your instructor and they will coach you in under canopy. All you have to pretty much do is find a clear area and PLF and youll be good. Canopy flight still makes me a little nervous but its all mostly learned with time and practice UNDER canopy.

Im gonna give this a try on my next couple AFF jumps, I had the most trouble getting my legs out during my jump and pointing my toes. Ive been doing couch drills a couple times a day just to get the whole arch down to muscle memory.

Keep in mind 2 things about flying a canopy: #1 - They put you under very large, slow & docile student canopies. They are pretty forgiving of the mistakes you will make. #2 - It's not very hard to do at least "sort of ok", as in well enough to get to the ground safely. There's two toggles (fabric loops that are the handles) at the end of the "strings." Pull the left one, you go left. Pull the right one, you go right. Pull both and you slow your forward and downward speed (flare). The "horror stories" are all very true. But they are the exception, rather than the rule. Well I did my AFF cat A last weekend and had a blast, unfortunately I wasnt able to play under canopy at all due to a long spot, but I feel way more comfortable about it! I have read a little bit of the Canopy Pilots handbook and its made the flight make more sense to me now.

See you on the other side But I have a sick sense of humor

That's the best thing about my instructors, they won't manifest me until I can prove to them without a doubt that I can dirt dive the entire dive flow seamlessly with no hesitation. Sure I spend most of the time on the ground, but its cheaper than the ride up and the confidence is there right when I step up to the door.

Crossing the runway on base leg is NOT a good idea if you want to stay alive in this sport. That I realize, and thats one of the things they taught me in my FJC. My instructor did say it was allowable depending on the circumstances as long as you continue your situational awareness. Even so its not something I plan on doing ever, seeing as we have lots of soft corn for outs

I just did my AFF cat A today and was grounded because of winds before I could make my cat B jump. We exited pretty far from the DZ and I had to crabfight the wind all the way back just to get into my landing pattern, burning up shitloads of altitude in the process. Ended up landing crosswind instead of doing my final and had a less than graceful landing but no broken bones, and demonstrated a PLF to my instructors Needless to say, landing did not go as smoothly as planned, given the same exit spot and winds, I wouldve done a right hand pattern instead and wouldve risked crossing the runway on my base leg. But at that point under canopy I was just reverting back to training and what we had discussed on the ground. I had some troubles with body position as well, but mainly because I would be focusing on memorizing my dive flow. Once you get the dive flow down you end up doing it automatically, and you can work on the body stuff from there. But dont sweat it, the more practice and repetition you do the easier it will come!

Take notice of any CORN fields near your DZ...... Knee High by the 4th of July turns into a very "interesting" place to land a square canopy by the time August rolls around and the ears are baseball bat size in diameter... :) Those fields can be a bit sporty as a place to land... think of the native americans gauntlet running Avoid the CORN Literally all of the outs to our DZ are all corn May have to invest in some pecker armor just in case That being said, the part i'm most looking forward to and most scared of is canopy piloting. I've read and heard of enough horror stories in class of what not to do thats making me super nervous about it. Plus here in Iowa a calm day is a complete rarity. But it was also the best part of the first tandem I did.

1:24... I melted.... Glad I know German!

Thank you! Just had my FJC this past weekend and I'll be doing my first couple of jumps out of a Caravan this Sunday! If it werent for my buddy's wedding I wouldve made it a weekend ordeal

Hey yall, New to skydiving from Ames Iowa, did a tandem a couple weeks ago before I graduated and it got me hooked. This coming saturday I have my first class down at Des Moines Skydivers in Winterset. Super stoaked about it and looking to finish my A by the end of the summer!