GoGoGadget

Sent my Bonehead Aero in to them to check it out and see what could be done. They installed a Zeta liner and ear cups made for a flight helmet. The Zeta liner fits decently and seems a bit more impact absorbent. But the earcups make it a little harder to get on and off. When I pulled the ear cups out and re-installing the OEM ear pieces, their was an overlap between them and the liner that created a hotspot that I think would quickly become very uncomfortable. I could cut the OEM earpieces down to fit the new liner, but decided it was not worth the cost for what little I was getting. The problem is that the shell is simply not large enough to have any significant impact protection between it and your skull. So I returned it to original spec and will be sending the Oregon Aero stuff back.

Had a less than pleasant landing last weekend. I am 3rd in the pattern watching the two ahead of me on the downwind leg. They both go past where I would have turned in for my base leg. I am flying a lightly loaded Pilot 210 9cell. So I move slow which is good for a newb. I did not turn in on my base leg fearing I would be cutting across them when they turned in on their final. I really don't want to be THAT guy. So I went longer on my downwind than I wanted, following the number 2 canopy, but was a little high and thought I could make it work. I screwed myself in the process. I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to follow her all the way. My flight characteristics were greatly different and I was losing altitude. So I turned onto my base leg and made it a very short base leg and headed for the landing area. It looked like I was not going to make it back so I started looking at our nearby outs. I put it down in a tight spot right at the edge of the landing area. Got some turbulence as I was coming past the hangar so I was making course corrections all the way down and did not get a good flare. I slid it in on my butt which would have been no big deal except for the manhole cover that tore my hand up and left me a pretty good bruise on my hip. I screw up and get hurt, I can deal with that. I screw up and get someone else hurt, that is much harder to live with. Was my fear of cutting them off valid given vertical separation between the base leg and final leg? Should I have just turned in on my base and let them work around me if it came to it? Maybe I was other thinking it. I guess if I am on my base leg and see someone approaching on their final with an intercept course, I can just turn on my final and I will be ahead of them.

Sounds about like the one at Zhills. I can't see it from jump run, but definietly can see it from a good ways up.

Let me know what they say as I suspect I was at the same safety day. During my AFF I was told conflicting rules by different coaches.

A few jumps ago after checking that my canopy was there and square, while collapsing my slider and loosening my chest strap and sliding my leg straps down a bit, I thought to myself, “Ok self. Why am I turning to the right. My canopy is not mad at me, but it seems to want to go over that way.” So I am double checking my canopy to see if I missed something when I realize my left brake had released on opening. New jumper so I am loaded at 1.1 It was a gentle turn, not the violent spin one would get on a highly loaded wing I guess.

Since many of the dropzones listed are tandem only, it would not be an accurate representation of jumpable DZ’s unless you plan to do tandems at those locations. Plus it would be outdated before you a dent in the list. I would say just get a nice looking map and start putting pins in the places you jump.

Congrats. Maybe I will see you at Carolinafest.

Wow. What a PITA. I am glad we do it differently here. Although I guess I probably paid a lot more for my A license. I had various AFFI's or coaches assigned to me for every jump unitl I got checked off for my A. After that, I just needed the extra jumps to get to my 25 needed and still had a coach assigned to double check my gear and throw me out of the plane before jumping with their student.

Not a lawyer, but in the circumstances you described, I doubt he is under any obligation to keep or report anything. Accidents happen. If he recorded something a reasonable person would construe as evidence to a CRIME, then I think he could be prosecuted for destroying evidence if he deleted the recording. For a CIVIL matter, if he deleted what he saw as nothing of importance, or viewed it as simply a shit happens thing vs gross negligence, you would never get anything punitive imposed on him. Now if a lawyer subpeonas the video for a civil trial, and THEN he destroys it, he would be guilty of destroying evidence. IMO.

Student only landing area at SDO. 800'x1500'. Even being that big, students sometimes still miss. You fly your entire landing pattern over the landing area. Other than the bushes along the ditch, you are not over anything you need to worry about while flying your pattern.

I tried to do this earlier, but it did not work on my iPad. So now that I am stateside on a real computer I can. I know you already decided on SDO, but for anyone else who stumbles across this and is deciding between the two... The landing area for everyone at DC Skydive Center. Fun jumpers, tandems, swoopers, students, etc. 150'x700' Trees on one side and buildings on the other. Both cause turbulence if the wind is coming from that direction. You fly your downwind and base leg of your pattern over shit you don't want to land on.

I think we should be consistent. If you have to be 21 to buy a gun, then make it 21 for everything else. Enter a legal contract, join the military, marry, etc. The 2nd Amendment, just like the rest of the Bill of Rights, does not grant anything. It is a list of restrictions on the government. So if we are going to ignore that for a false sense of security, let's do the same for the rest. It is our reverence for the 4th and 5th Amendments that allows many dangerous people to run amok. Our reverence for the 1st allows the press and Hollywood to glorify violent acts encouraging nutjobs to replicate them. When someone is suspected of being a nutjob, maybe house a few soldiers in the spare bedroom of the McMansion to keep an eye on them. Some common sense restrictions on the 3rd amendment would surely increase our safety. Maybe loosen up on the 8th amendment a bit. Televise horrific executions of these nutjobs and maybe they would rethink their admiration of previous acts of violence? :D

They do, and they have AFF instructors. I still recommended SDO. It is good to jump other places tho. You appreciate SDO more for having done so.

And yet a parent will sign the hold harmless agreement for a minor child for motorcycle training, motorcycle racing, auto racing, etc. and sign the agreement to allow a 17y/o to join the military. A parent can certainly sign a hold harmless agreement. Since the minor does not have the ability to enter into legal contracts or make other decisions, it falls to the parent. And you are not giving up your right to sue. You are acknowledging the risk and agreeing not to sue. Which means if you do sue, you cannot plead ignorance. However, you can sign all the forms you want, but if the DZO engages in gross negligence, you can sue and win easily.

Add in the landing area for DC Skydive center is a narrow strip next to the hanger where depending on wind, you get turbulence from the trees or the buildings while landing in the same area as the sport jumpers who may or may not be flying a standard pattern. The student landing area for Orange is 10 times as big and student only so other traffic is greatly reduced.

I will second Skydive Orange. Very professionally run and they put the student first. I jumped DC Skydive Center once. Night and day difference. Go to Orange.

So he did not assume that it was a universal constant, and this concerns you? Ok.

https://uspa.org/Safety-Training/Resources/VR-Malfunction-Videos

The people recommending single stows, do they have as much research and testing behind their recommendation to do a single stow as PD has behind their recommendation to do a double stow? Here is another vid that shows them recommending double stows and why. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbyYbXFpMQg I will take a company's recommendation with a grain of salt if they profit doing it one way over the other. Since PD is not selling proprietary double stow rubber bands with an embossed PD symbol on them when they make this recommendation, AND they test jump more in a year than I will probably get in a lifetime, I will go with what they say.

Here ya go. http://bfy.tw/GKBw

Yep. Good stuff too. I have a ballistic helmet with their upgrade kit. I was actually looking at their site yesterday to see what they offered that might work with my Bonehead Aero. I am going to contact them to see if I can send them the liner and have them cut foam panels in various thickness to the same template.

I am a new skydiver, but long time motorcyclist and motorcycle instructor so very familiar with helmets and their capability. You are right, the full face helmets out there offer almost zero impact absorption capability. The foam liners in there are for comfort and sizing. The cheap ProTek skate style helmets offer more, but are still designed for relatively low impacts. WRT open face vs full face and fatalities. The face is actually a very good shock absorption system to protect the brain. Assuming you do not suffocate due to facial trauma, the mouth and sinus cavity makes a pretty good crumple zone. For motorcycling, a full face is still better as you can avoid some pretty significant facial trauma and walk away sore instead of needing plastic surgery. But ultimately the open face vs full face does not make a life and death difference. For skydiving, I can see the full face offering enough protection in a collision, think glass jaw syndrome, to keep you conscious if another jumper's head smacks you in the chin.

Skydive Cape Town looks like a tourist tandem factory. I don't see anything about fun jumpers.

For the PASA C license, do you actually have to do a live jump into water, or is it water training in a pool the way the US does it? C Licence 200 free fall descents. Hold a valid B licence. One intentional night jump. A planned water jump briefing by his CI. Demonstrated his ability to his Safety Officer (SO)/CI to spot safely and competently. Have passed the C licence test as administered by the CI. Have complied with the C licence minima in a recognised discipline.

Thanks. I appreciate the info. Yeah, I was poking around on one of their websites and saw the DZ elevation mentioned. I will pick my mentors brain about procedures for landing that high after being used to mostly sea level stuff.