Zoso

JET! JET! JET!

I just got approved for $100,000 as a skydiver (non-professional skydiver) for $31.46 per month. It is from Banner Life who I learned about from USPA. [url] http://www.skydiverslifeinsurance.com PM me if anyone has any questions. Gary

Dave, I don't have any instructional ratings but I do have a fond memory of a drill dive someone did for me. The dive: I was to exit stable and hold my heading. He (Doug Sprauer) would dock on me for a 2 way star. Next, Doug would let go and backslide 10-15 feet, make sure I was holding my position, then wave for me to approach and dock on him. Then he would cue for me to let go, backslide, wait for his cue and come forward to dock on him again. The Jump: Jumping from a C182, Doug surprised my by docking while still on the hill. He let go, backslid, and indicated for me to approach and dock. I approached and docked. Here's the best part. As soon as I docked, Doug yelled "YEAH!!!!!!!!!!" loud enough that I heard it in freefall! I was the happiest skydiver in the world at that second. I let go, backslid, waited for his signal and approached for another successful dock. Again I heard him yell "YEAH!!!!!!!!!!". I was stoked big-time! I will never forget that jump. The drill itself made perfect sense but the encouragement and excitement of hearing him chear like that blew me away. Many people have helped me in a similar fashion (most, like Doug, for free). No one, however, has fired me up quite like that. And it was so simple.

In May of 2006 I ordered a "standard suit" (RW) from Michigan Suits. I requested their express service because I needed a proper fitting RW suit for tunnel training I was to receive in June. Everything turned out perfect. The suit arrived before the promised date. It fit perfectly (especially the booties) and the quality and design have proven to be excellent. I previously had an RW suit custom made by one of the most well known manufacturers in the industry. I was even personally fitted by the owner of the company. Now that I have this Michigan suit I realize that the booties on the other brand suit didn't fit well at all. The booties on my Michigan suit have just the right amount of tension between my toes and my knees. Needless to say I highly recommend Michigan suits.

Interesting factoid I recently learned at Skyventure Arizona: Because of the venturi effect of the tunnel, the air you fly on is thicker (compressed) compared to the same air outside the tunnel. Therefore you need less actual airspeed than normal for any given body position.

Excellent. Thanks everybody! Dawn: You use a trampoline at a pool!?! Seriously though, could you elaborate - especially about the gyro. Gary

I've paid my deposit for an Airspeed Tunnelcamp in Eloy (June 18-20). Of course I'm excited and want to do everything I can to get my money's worth. I plan on doing cardio work and moderate weight training with stretching thrown in closer to camp time. I guess my biggest concern is getting muscle soreness bad enough to spoil the training. Any advice would be appreciated, especially from people who have attended an Airspeed camp or one similar. The camp includes 1 hour of tunnel time over 3 days with optional tunnel time in the evenings that I will probably go for. My only pryor tunnel experience is 30 minutes at Flyaway Pigeon forge a few years ago. Thanks!

It's obviously past Christmas but oh well... Bird Man by Leo Valentin - Must read for history buffs The Yorkshire Birdman by Harry Ward with Peter Hearn - Outstanding, my favorite so far Sky High Irvin by Peter Hearn - Must read for history buffs The Long, Lonely Leap by Kittinger and Caidin - haven't yet read, had to pay a fortune for it on ebay Any birdman historian will want to read Bird Man and The Yorkshire Birdman one after the other.

Sad...and senseless. If you read all the available info you realize that the killer had major mental/personality issues. As one person that knew him said before the tragedy, "he's like those Columbine kids". Musically, I considered Darrell to be a freak of nature. I'm not into the typical vocal styles of modern metal but I do own 3 Pantera CDs because I like Darrell's playing so much. Very intense, very unique and highly skilled. As a musician myself, I feel for Vinnie Paul not only for the obvious reasons, but for the fact that he will never be able to play with his brother again. Rest in Peace Dimebag and all the others who have fallen.

$14 to 9500 ft

Please help. You have no idea how upsetting this is to me. Thank you, Tyra

Grandpa, First of all, I commend you on having the balls to admit your fear publicly and request help. Some people say they have never been nervous at all. Those people annoy me. I remember asking others about nervousness early on and it was great to hear them tell me about their experiences. One person said she used to get diarrhea during jump days, then I realized I had a little bit of that myself. I hadn't made the connection until she said what she did! One interesting thing about this thread is reading about the different times/places that new jumpers report getting nervous AND when the nervousness goes away. I would have assumed everyone had the same pattern until I read all of these posts. Personally, I used to begin getting nervous the moment I turned off of the interstate going towards the DZ. Nervousness would build greatly on the 20 minute ride to altitude ("Why am I doing this?"). Then the nervousness would go away the instant I exited the plane. It took ME about 50 jumps for the nervousness (and mild diarrhea) to go away. For what it's worth, I learned via static line and had to find a new drop zone midway through my student training because my DZ closed un-expectedly. Everyone talks about this at one time or another but I've never seen a term for the transition from fearfullness/nervousness to excited anticipation. I hereby deem it "LIBERATION". When the transition occurs, all of that energy you are dealing with will still be there - but it will be a positive energy instead of a negative energy. You will be liberated and the excitement and anticipation will enhance the experience. It will make skydiving every bit as exciting and fun as you have always thought it should be. Then you will be able to really enjoy this incredible sport. Nervousness will still occur from time to time, but it will be performance anxiety regarding the task you are about to execute. It will no longer be fear of uncontrolled flight or a malfunction or landing properly etc... I'm not offering advice because everyone else has covered that. I'm simply offering moral support and some hope for the rewards you have to look forward to once you overcome your nervousness. Best regards, Gary

"Massive Headwound Harry" - Dana Carvey "Ride the Snake" - Jim Carey "Cheesebarger, Cheesebarger, Cheesebarger..." Akroid, Belushi and others I laughed so hard at Massive Headwound Harry that I pooped my pants (as far as you know).

Evelyn, Tell me about this demo program. You must hold the record for most jumps on rental gear! Congrats on the new gear. You'll feel liberated.

I know what you mean. About a year or 2 ago I read somewhere about a state that had no dropzones at all. The writer was sending out an open letter noting that his/her state was needing a dropzone. Indiana isn't the Mecca of skydiving but at least we have 5 dropzones.

This year I decided I wanted to jump at least once at every DZ in Indiana just for the hell of it. I had a good time at every one. Thought I'd share a few comments about each one... Skydive Fort Wayne (Angola, IN) DZO AJ Hudson is as nice a guy as you'll ever meet. His website is right when it boasts of having one of the midwest's most scenic DZ's. There are too many lakes to count. AJ said two fellow skydiver's have C182's which sometimes run formations with his 182 so that they can do 8 or 12 ways. Indiana Skydiving Academy (Goshen, IN) Bo and Paula rolled out the red carpet for me and my fiance by letting us stay in their RV instead of a hotel as we had planned. We were also treated to pizza and some fine booze along with some of the DZ's regulars at Bo and Paula's home. My cup runneth over. Their DZ hanger gets my vote as the coolest layout for a small DZ. You can sit on a couch on the back wall and see jumpers landing. Step out of the hanger and you have the obligatory picnic table sitting on well kept grass. Very inviting, open and convenient. The airport taxi-way passes right along the hanger, just beyond the grass, for a chauffeur-like pickup for your load. Appropriately skilled jumpers can land within a short walk and students have an enormous landing area with a pit from which they are picked up in a truck. This DZ has 2 widebody C182s and is well worth visiting, just like Skydive Fort Wayne. Skydive Greensburg (Greensburg, IN) Everybody knows Bob Doherty (Think "Bob-Way" at Rantoul) so I'll let his notoriety speak for itself. Bob was very hospitable and gave Linda and myself the grand tour of his excellent facility. This guy has one fine layout. Not only is the layout great but I couldn't help but notice how good his signage was explaining all of his rules and training/progression info for students. Lot's of DZO's could take a lesson from Bob in this department. Of course their Caravan merits acknowledgement - enough said. lastly, Bob does a great job with his weekly emails to everyone about current going's on at the DZ. Oh yea, be sure to check out the tree growing out of the top of the courthouse - it's freaky. Skydive Wayne County (Richmond, IN) Everybody knows about Richmond (THE Boogie). For those that don't, Richmond hosts the 2nd biggest boogie of the country every year. They have a Caravan on weekends and a small Cessna during the week. Sister Co-DZO's Jamie and Amy Stewart were both very nice as were all of the jumpers that I met that day. Rookie jumpers from small drop zones will appreciate this next observation: I did a solo from 13000 or 13500 and was struck by the fact that the airport took up almost my entire field of view while in freefall - it's HUGE. Not as big as Rantoul, but still huge. Jerry's Skydiving Circus (Franklin, IN) My home DZ and my skydiving family. The fun starts with DZO Richard Money. He's a character and everybody loves him. Richard now has 2 C182's for jumping and an excellent atmosphere for my favorite hobby. It's fun and it's safe. My fiance doesn't jump but she has been treated like family since day 1. This DZ has many experienced jumpers who will jump with new jumpers and help them free of charge. It makes you want to do the same whenever you can. I know many jumpers who could easily jump elsewhere but they are loyal to Richard and it's obvious why. That concludes my report but I also want to mention Skydive Indiana in Frankfort (now closed) where I did my first 20 jumps. This was a great DZ and I'm still bummed I wasn't yet qualified to jump out of their King Air before they closed. And for sentimental purposes, I have visited the site of two closed DZs that many friends have told me about. Morresville, where it all started for many long time jumpers in Indiana, and Anderson - home DZ of my friend "Crazy Dave" Marsh. Dave did his 150th jump there shortly before they closed and hasn't jumped since. Anyone have any Crazy Dave stories? (They called him "Malfunction Man") Maybe someday I'll visit the old site of the other closed Indiana drop zones. If I do, I'll have a moment of silence and a smile while I imagine all of the good times.

Spizzzzzzarko, Great info. I was familiar with wake turbulence but I wasn't knowledgeable about "coordinated flight" or the concept of the canopy not being as pressurized during half brakes. During this incident however, I was far away from everyone's wake. Gravity Girl, I may have end cell closure on 1 out of 5 openings. As for the exact type of braked turn, I believe I now remember starting in half brakes, then lowering my left toggle - which goes right along with what you said. Jeremy, How's it going? Yea, I remember catching some serious turbulence from someone's wake once. I don't remember specifically who or where but I distinctly remember what it felt like! See you soon. Thanks everybody!

Help me understand what happened to me recently so I can avoid it re-occuring. For our sunset load recently, myself and 3 others did a hop-n-pop from 6500 feet. My canopy ride was long and uneventful until I did a braked turn to the left just under a 1000 feet in order to give another jumper plenty of landing area. Before I had turned 45 degrees I had the sensation one gets if he does a hard toggle turn and ends up with induced line twists. (It felt like it dove to the left for a second.) I looked up and saw that my left endcell had collapsed. I flaired the canopy 4 times before the cell re-inflated. By that time I had just enough altitude left to set up and land safely. Pertinant info: Sabre2 170 loaded at 1.05 to 1 Ground winds were 0 mph Winds at 1000 feet were maybe 5 mph Pretty sure I was flying in half brakes when I initiated the braked turn. No canopy problems before or after. (I have about 80 jumps on this new canopy.) What could have caused this? Should I have responded differently? Thanks, Gary

Thanks to all for the help. Obviously I didn't read my SIM close enough - I thought a real jump was required. Archway has been on my "to do" list so I will probably give them a call as soon as I can. Gary

Sorry if I gave bad advice about balloon jumping. Unfortunately my only experience was watching someone do a balloon jump at Rantoul at about 6:00 a.m. with 0 wind, straight above the huge alternate landing area. The only hazard I thought of was morning due (?) on the grass. Gary

I was in your exact situation at about 50 jumps and went just to watch and check it all out. I had a blast and left knowing what it would be like the next year when I was more qualified. Simply watching how many jumpers land at the same time is educational if you have not been exposed to that environment before. I was lucky though, I only had to drive 2 hours to get there. Oh yea, you could go and jump solo out of a hot air balloon, thereby avoiding the landing congestion.

Can anyone refer me to a drop zone which offers complete B-license water landing training AND is willing to let me rent their equipment for the jump so that I don't have to get mine wet. I live in central Indiana and am willing to drive to a surrounding state. Thanks, Gary

This is a great drop zone to learn how to be a skydiver. They are safe, professional, honest and friendly. The landing area is large which is great for students and experienced jumpers both. The vibe at this DZ is particularly relaxed and friendly.

Personally, I'm tired of trying. I've tried and tried and tried. End result: 3 other people have jumped because of me. 1 jump each. I've decided to take a new approach. From now on, whenever someone asks me about skydiving, I'm going to say, "I don't recommend it - you could die."

50 jumps was the magic mark for me. Before that I was asking lots of people the same question. More than one mentioned getting diarrhea on jump days. That made me realize that my bowels got a little "loose" on jump days too. I'd always get nervous right as I turned into the town the dropzone is in. I'd ask myself the classic question in the plane - "Why am I doing this?" After about 50 jumps that kind of nervousness went away. I've loved almost every jump but my enjoyment definately has gone up now that I'm not nervous like that any more. I still do and always will get very keyed up if I'm under pressure to execute something I don't have mastered.