funks

Quote..Well written... ..I declare this thread now dead...[/reply Couldnt have put it better myself. No hard feelings here.

This many people voicing their concerns? Comments like this distort the facts...There have been maybe 3 people mentioning my attitude that were actually there that day. So far out of those 3, I only recall having a conversation with ONE of them that particular day. My opinion (and yes it is just my opinion) is that this is your typical case of a buddy backing up a buddy backing up a buddy. People who know me know I do not have a poor attitude. Please do not comment on my attitude unless you were there that day or know me personally.

ostrich...just so you dont miss it, i wanted to point out in my last response that all of my responses to your points are mixed in with your quote...i didnt separate all the quotes...just wanting to make sure you read it all

Yep, and you by far have an awesome attitude. Who knows, I may jump there again, I may not. There are a number of people I enjoy jumping with there. Who knows....I know the majority of the people at this dz are very very cool, like i have said before, i have been jumping there for over a year now. No offense to those people, I hope you know who you are....Ostrich, you made many mentions of my attitude...I may be 100% wrong here, but i bet if you look around you would find plenty of people who have an issue with your attitude in general. I do hope I come back there and jump, because i spend a shitload jumping, doing it everysingle weekend, and i would hate to see this DZ lose a steady paying customer because of one bs incident....oh yeah, i was wondering...the first load that i forgot my goggles on and rode the plane down..when i got down the chick i was with came up to me and said "What a dick, he walked by calling you an asshole for forgetting your goggles" Yep, you are an awesome dude with an awesome attitude....

I find it unbelievable that this thread is still going but since it is I guess I will post one more time...A big issue has been made about how long i said i spent under canopy, could it have been 20-25 minutes, possible, did it feel like 45..under a 288 from 13k, hell yes it did...Why didnt i spiral down, like i said before i was giving it every chance to fly back to the dz....I never said no one came looking for me, I think we have confirmed that 2 people did come look for me, my buddy and one other person. Another post mentioned i landed at mcnastys and the pickup point for mcnastys is his gate at the end of the road and that is where everyone who lands there gets picked up, well, that is where i walked to, I did not head for the DZ, I climbed over his fence at the end of the road, there was no car there waiting for me so i walked along the road until i could cut over onto the airport...oh and btw, i wasnt trying to impress the chick i was with, she begged to come and check it all out, though it did suck having that happen while she was there, i even laugh about that..... this thread has gotten a little nuts...i am not pissed, perhaps i was heated for awhile a week or so after it happened, but i am not pissed....every lesson is a lesson learned.... I noticed someone from the dz called this weekend, i wasnt home...feel free to call again...if whoever called doesnt have my number handy feel free to pm me and i'll send it to you....

. Simple then. Take your business elsewhere. There, see how easy that was ? Yep, Screw it, if a DZ doesnt do something right, fuck em. Go somewhere else. I am sure all the DZO's in the world would really love it if that is how everyone decided to act. I guess the underlying message here is DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING FROM ANY DZ UNLESS IT IS YOUR HOME DZ AND YOU KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. Sad, but appears to be True.

What if my buddy did not go looking for me? I may be wrong but I have a very strong feeling no one would have. Dan..question for you...if you would have landed way off do you think a lot of people would have gone out looking for you? I have a feeling the answer would be YES. In my mind that is wrong. Just because that is your home DZ but not mine does that justify that fact...Not to me it doesnt. I never expected the plane to shut down..and you say "everything that happened was essetially my own fault" Sorry dude, but thats a pretty poor attitude...Hey, next time I see someone femur themself I will be sure to take the same attitude.

Who spotted? The spot was not that bad. If I was under my 170 it would not have been an issue. However, as everyone knows, the winds at 13K are a hell of a lot stronger than at 2500...the second I was open I had the wind slowly pushing me back. Winds don't affect your decent rate. Your buddy came looking for you in a car, right? That's one car. Why would the DZ send another? They did not come out in a car, they chose to go out on foot through the woods. Derek

just got an email from someone who was there and has been following the thread...here is his email pasted word for word on his take of the situation...pretty much sums it up.... "You should tell the whole story of the day. Why you were off for 5 months, your date WASN”T one of the people to go look for you. You were originally going to do a belly jump but you forgot your goggles (I don’t know why that is a big deal), high winds up top, they were paging you to manifest (according to your woman) before you got back (which by that time it was dark) just because they wanted you to fill out your check, another load did go up while you landed out, etc. admit that it ultimately is your responsibility what happens to you on your jumps but you were disappointed that more of an effort wasn’t made to come pick you up and that you will chalk it up to experience and won’t expect much from fellow jumpers anymore…"

Damn this thread has attracted alot of attention..so here we go.... Yes, I have my own gear..Sabre 170...rented the 288 because i have been grounded for 5 months due to destroying my knee in a motorcycle accident july 4th Took 45 minutes due to winds...couldnt spiral down because the spot wasnt that hot and I wanted every chance to make it back to the DZ Yes, 2 people came looking for me. My buddy and one other person, however..due to the distance and I guess because of what i am use to I would have expected at least one car out to pick me up...Thats what we do at my home DZ Sorry, but I guess I am just use to different reactions when someone lands so far off...I personally dont think it is to much to expect a group of your fellow skydivers to be concerned and come out looking for you.

Maybe I am spoiled then. At my home DZ, whenever ANYBODY landed off, it was a priority to find them no matter what. I have gone out looking for people that i had never spoken word one too. I think it is pretty sad that some peoples attitudes are "just deal with it" Sorry to say but that is how people get hurt. It is one thing if someone lands 100 yards off. But for a jumper to land 2 1/2 miles off and not one person be concerned is pretty pathetic in my mind.

I dont think the issue is how the jumper deals with landing off but more so the DZ itself. What good will a cell phone do if a jumper is unconsious? Or his arms are broken and he cant use it...In my mind there is NO excuse for a DZ not going out to look for people landing significantly off.

yes, it was a 45 minute ride because it was a student 288....did i say i was pissed about landing off? No. I brought up the issue of no one coming out to look for me. That is a pure safety issue...what if I was in a tree with a broken back? What if i was in a field unconcious?

yep, my sentiments exactly...it was total bullshit as far as i was concerned.

If you have been grounded for 5 months, come back, decide to rent a student parachute to ensure a soft slow landing on your first jump back, have a premature deployment at 13K under this student parachute, take 45 minutes to get down, land 2 1/2 miles from the airport and nobody comes looking for you except your buddy you have been jumping with for 3 years and one other person who had to be coerced into looking for you? Assume this is not your home DZ but you have been jumping there for 1 year and you are a very familiar face. So, would you be pissed?

on more occasion than one...first time it was humorous the 10th time she started getting pissed. Well, whatcha gonna do....

as in "Altitude Induced Divorce Syndrome" Yep, wife couldnt deal with the lifestyle...bitched and moaned that the only weekends we spent together were rainy ones...and when we were together I felt compelled to talk about nothing but, yep you guessed it...jumpin...I think what pushed her over the edge was when she offered to try a new position for the first time i told her she had to buy me a case of beer...oh well.

OK, I will buy the beer, I will even be a nice guy and buy some fruity wine coolers for bastard son zettler since he doesnt like the taste of beer.

See I called my buddy a bastard but that is only because his father left him at a very early age. Which is why I think there is a lot of resentment coming from him and why he is perhaps so needy. So using the term "bastard" is acceptable if it is an accurate statement...correct?

I say it is his turn..Who is right?....On top of that he wants me to drive an extra hour to a DZ that is further away just because he is broke and has 4 jumps on credit there...To make matters worse he is trying to extort umpteen cases of beer out of me that he claims I have never purchased....he is a demanding greedy little bastard.

250ish jumps and the damn tetrahedron still confuses me every now and then...

Get Dial 7's CD (think you can get it from Amazon). They do a couple of the songs that are on the Good Stuff video ... also Motley Crues "Kickstart my heart"....Skydive naked from an aeroplane....

Shitloads of DVD's but no Scarface??? How can you have a collection without Scarface??

Something else to consider if you have the surgery which not all doctors will tell you about...you have the choice to use a cadavers parts or your own parts...pros and cons of each... Cadavers: Pros - Quicker recovery, not as painful Cons - Not as strong when repaired, chance for infection or disease Your own Parts: Pros - Much stronger repair, No chance for disease or infection Cons - Longer recovery period (they had to break my kneecap and pieces off of my shin to use my own parts for the repair), Beginning part of recovery is excruciatingly painful. Once again, I recommend you do it and use pieces of your own ligaments. You will thank yourself years down the road.

I totalled my motorcycle on july 4th and destroyed every ligament in my right knee. Had surgery July 14th (I had to have surgery because my lower leg was basically just hanging there with no ligament support). Surgery sucked, recovery sucked and I am still grounded. My advice to you is...Have the surgery. If you dont you will regret it and there is a good chance you will do more damage. If you have the surgery you will baby your knee for 6 months to a year, if you dont have it you will have to baby it for a lifetime. trust me, I speak from experience...have the surgery and get it overwith.