mdetrano

It's not everyday you watch someone go in... and then come out again.

If no one got hurt, and no one *almost* got hurt (due to careless behaviour), I consider the jump successful. Truth is I still find falling through the air, seeing the view, swirling around under my parachute and landing it successfully to be such a rush that feeling "disappointed" for me after a jump is nearly impossible. I've only been at it for 19 years and 1300 jumps, so I assume I'll eventually grow up and get serious, but it just hasn't happened yet.

This is why I like the Fandango scene. Even though it's joke-y (hilarious, in fact), it still comes off as more realistic than most movie/TV skydiving scenes out there.

On a related note, a friend of mine once said he met a guy who claimed to have been a tandem master. He asked him what was he rated on. His evasive response was all he needed to hear to know they guy was full of it.

There is a club and static line school called Desafio Vertical in Costa Rica (I am a co-instructor there). Its been running since 2008, and you can check out the website or the Facebook page for more info. Its not a "dropzone", but we do manage to get out once or twice a month and make a few jumps from a Cessna 206.

The Airvans I have hired in the past were not ideal jump planes, I'd sooner use the 206. Two advantages: comfort, you can't put many jumpers in it due to weight limitations; good in-flight sliding door. The owner said that landing with the door open would void his insurance, so one seat was used for a "door closer". Not sure how that works out for other operations. Slow climb...we had to keep to 7500 ft, sea-level drop zone, in order to stay under .5 for a load of 5. Rate was higher than for a 206, I assume because it is more costly to operate. This is only my experience using Airvans that were generally intended for tourism activities. More experienced jump pilots using one as a dedicated jump plane may get better performance out of it.

"You gonna jump that?... You sure?... okay........"

Hey, nice project. Had not seen it before. I'd like to add this simple .kmz for Canton Air Sports.

Flight of Icarus -- Iron Maiden Great refrain and riffs.

Try telling the voice its the fear that is irrational, not the activity. I often worked out these pre-jump jitters (ok, ok, I often *work* out the jitters...) by telling myself that the more I relax, the more reason I have to relax. You perform better and safer that way... staying cool gives you the edge. All things considered, your case sounds NORMAL to me. Jumping frequently will most likely desensitize you from the fear.

( Good list rehmwa ! ) How about: - You've got 2000 jumps, 5 hours accumulated freefall time.

* On at least once occasion, your ride to altitude was a pickup trick and a tether with 3-ring release.

Winter often works out better than spring if you are on a grass strip runway. Can't use it soggy. I made quite a few snowy jumps before I moved to where the snow isn't. The real question for me is: Which gloves? You need your hands to skydive. If your gloves are too thin, the fingers can lose feeling and strength in that 120 mph windchill. Too thick, and you lose dexterity. Pulling a little higher is certainly my recommendation, but has anyone found a pair of really warm, really thin gloves?

Ha, I remember jumping Bruffey's plane back at CAS (the one true Home). Hope you guys are keeping that plane full and busy! Maybe he'll stay on a few more weeks before that Ohio winter sets in. For those complaining about the dag-nabbed Cessna...at least you always have it. I am reduced to a rented 206 once a month. Its all relative.

This "safer than driving a car" statement should probably just be thrown out entirely. Driving a car and skydiving are different things, so why compare them? Many people use a motor vehicle to get to their jobs and feed their families, so NOT driving would expose them to the hazards of poverty. Skydiving is more likely to KEEP you in poverty. The stats. on that are always suspect anyway... they should be calculated per unit of time spent doing the activity, in which case I highly suspect (I am no expert!), that skydiving comes out much worse than driving. Yet, we got people in the sport with 10K+ jumps, decades of experience, days or weeks of accumulated freefall time...which I think says a lot for your ability to make the sport "safer", by acting responsibly. You must be as defensive skydiving as driving, if not more so. That not only means watching out for others in the air with you, but not flying with pilots who can't (learned that one the hard way), staying on the ground or in the plane when things look wrong, etc. As for the risk to reward ratio...for most this is entertainment, so its personal. To me its worth every ounce of risk and every penny, because I take away something that I know makes me a better person. But that's subjective, I just hope everyone can have a similar experience.