skydived19006

Because the UPT system is still designed to use brackets as opposed to links? Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

The FIDO / Paratelemetry System is a standard feature on all PLEXUS TANDEM SYSTEMS. What is FIDO (FInding Deployed Objects) / ParaTelemetry? Didn't notice anything regarding the jump counter. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

List price for a Plexus H/C $4973, student harness $780, both $5763. List price for a Sigma H/C with student harness $5340. Though pricing with for the Plexus as opposed to Sigma with new canopies is $1641 less. Plexus complete minus AAD $11,349. Sigma with canopies (no AAD) $12,990. Then there's the discussion regarding main and reserve preference. My thought now is that what may lean me more toward Plexus as opposed to Sigma is that I currently own five Precision TR375 reserve canopies. http://www.plexustandem.com/pricing.html Edit to add: Here's "The Book!" http://www.plexustandem.com/images/pdf/PTOMv1p9d.pdf Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

http://flycompassrose.com/jump-aircraft/ Compass Rose Aviation (CRA) is your jump plane conversion specialist for the popular brand of Cessna aircraft. Rose’s Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) covers the installation of in-flight doors and jump steps for most 100 and 200 series Cessna airplanes. Modifications include roll-up doors, flip-up doors, steps, backrests, seatbelts, yoke removals, carpet kits, weight reductions, gross weight increases, wing extensions, engine analyzers, and high performance engine/prop conversions. Finally a way for frustrated dropzone owners to get the quality jump planes they require without the hassles of trying to get a field approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or paying thousands of dollars for a Designated Engineer Representative (DER). Pulling from the experience of the Air Capital of the world, Rose has everything covered! CRA is down the road from the Cessna factory and conveinantly located in the center of the United States for her customers. CRA jump plane conversions come with extensive approval data from three quality aircraft structural engineers who are also DERs for the FAA. Even Rose’s mechanic is one of the best! He is thoroughly experienced in multiple facets of the industry and his sheet metal skills like no other. Every CRA product and service is top notch which you will see in the final product. Let Rose help your business get the jump plane it so deserves. Don’t have a plane to convert…don’t worry! Rose is also recognized by the FAA as an Aircraft Dealer and will do everything possible to find you the perfect plane. Kansas is an aviation friendly state and there is no sales tax on aviation maintenance and modifications. For specific information, feel free to contact us. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Ok, so this is a bit of a rant. The SIM and possibly the IRM piss me off at times! A skydiver asked me if he could tag along on a tandem this coming weekend. I thought that I'd simply cut and paste the suggested jump requirements for that from the SIM/IRM, but God danm if I can't f'ing find it! It could be a bit more user friendly! Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

BUMP This thread came up in a search for the above mentioned web site. Aparrently, he let his registration expire, and now it rolls to "Hatley.com" which is pajamas and kids clothing. Silly thing is that this URL is still advertised in the most current Parachutists, July 2014. Anyway, I'm in the process of talking with Ralph regarding a bit of obsolete tandem gear (Eclipse). We'll see where it goes over the next month or two. Martin Edit to add: And why the hell would a kids clothing retailer want to roll that URL to their site? Edit again to remove comment regarding children's underwear. Momentary lapse of memory regarding the strict prohibition of that type of humor here. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Hopefully he'll live another 10 years. I'm sure the 100th B-day jump will prove to be even more interesting!!! Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Interesting on many levels. If I did a jump like that, the FAA would qualify it as a demo, and the landing area sure didn't look like an "open field". Guessing though that this one would have fallen under the "DOD exception", DOD is exempt from all that FAA shit! TI could have 100 jumps total, land it in a half acre back yard lot, and hook that bitch in for a nice swoop over the crowd. I'd guess that the low exit was due to cloud cover. Also, looked like the TI was a little bit zealous in landing accuracy as opposed to nice landing with the break surge. Not that I've never done a break surge for a touch more speed, but it's easy to screw up. A little low and you're still diving, a bit high and you end up at the slow point in the recovery arch. Neither end well. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

We train our 182 pilots by putting the right seat in and having skydivers climb past. It's funny to me how so many pilots look at flying skydivers as no bid deal, simple. Just climb up, let em out, fly back down, 'bout like doing pattern work. That is until they get in the seat and learn what's required. As do all of us, we try to always consider keeping our pilots happy, nourished, and hydrated. If it's not happening, the pilot needs to speak up, shut down, etc. Martin Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I run a DZ in Kansas, so not in the same boat as someone in Florida! Nobody in Kansas earns their living solely from skydiving, not even the DZOs. There are only three DZs in Kansas (fourth one gearing up), and we're spread out enough that we don't really compete. We tend to corporate as opposed to trying to cut each other's throat. For the last 10 years, no DZ in Kansas has been so short sighted to "feed the beast" that are the third party boiler room booking agents. Nor have any of us agreed to do what we do for a fraction of our posted prices, by engaging in daily deals. The last conversation I had with a Groupon sales lady I asked her a simple question. "If your boss offered to double your working hours, and pay you the additional hours at 1/3 your normal hourly rate, would you do it?"

Irony: so I call Ralph have a short conversation regarding Eclipse Tandem stuff. He says "Send me an email." So, two days ago I sent Ralph an email but as seems to be the industry standard, no response. No big deal at all, I don't really need anything from him right now, more interested in finding sources, and pricing. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I'll do that. I would have never thought of Ralph. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

The Vector 2 free bag will work, but it is shaped a bit differently. I think that Shoobi built the rig a little shorter top-to-bottom which moves the drogue attachment up a couple of inches. He also added a second drogue release, then later a third on the cut away handle. But in general yes, it is a knock off of the Vector II. Last I knew, Jess Rodriguez had the Eclipse TSO. I'm actually an Eclipse IE, and send paperwork to Jess. We keep copies of everything we send, basically to prove that we've complied with the FAR regarding "...Manufacturer training..." Otherwise from what I know of Bill Dause, he's a stickler for complying with regulations. No grey area with that guy, that's for sure. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I'd left a message with Mel earlier this morning. He just called me, I don't know if it was due to this thread, or just the earlier phone message, he didn't mention it. He's in the process of working on my mains, and indicated that he'd finish this weekend, and that I'd have them by next Tuesday. He asked if I needed the risers tomorrow, as he'd overnight them. Looks like shit weather here most of this weekend, so we're not doing that. He did offer as a consolation that he'll install a new line set on one of them for no charge due to the long wait. He indicated that he's been on a contract working in Canada since early January. Also, that there had been a close family death, dealing with the estate, etc. I'll likely still send work his way from time to time. As I indicated, he does excellent work, and is generally more than fair with pricing, and he's an upstanding guy. Just have to understand that he goes out of touch, sometimes for fairly long periods of time. With regard to service there are three considerations, price, time, and quality. You only get two at the expense of the third. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I figured that a little public peer pressure could only be a good thing in this case. Some people might dig in and get pissed about being called out in public. Lord knows, it wasn't my first option. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Sure Rover, I had that discussion with Bill Booth once years ago at WFF. Not that I didn't already know it, but he explained to me in no uncertain terms that the Eclipse was a Vector II knock off. Vector risers would work, but may not be totally "legal". I'll see if I can come up with Eclipse parts (who knows, maybe even my parts). If not, than I'll go from there. This was really more of a rant than anything. I thought a few may commiserate with me is all. At least a lot of people have seen it. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Hopefuly, posting this isn't considered inappropraite. I'm totally frustrated with Mark Lancaster at this point. I sent him two tandem mains last fall, I think in October for repair. I know that he can be slow, and at times a bit disorganized. I also realize that he tends to fall off the face of the earth for weeks at a time, some government contract work or some such. So, I figured that since I didn't need these two mains until March, that I would be safe. Let me also say that Mark has never screwed me, he does excellent work, and pricing is great. He's always been an upstanding guy. Anyway, I started emailing and calling him in March regarding my tandem mains, left multiple messages, and have simply not heard back. He's now had these canopies something like 7 or 8 months! My solution was to simply decide that it's time to replace them, and have purchased 2 more (purchased another new one last fall) new mains from NZ Aerosports. Just this afternoon, I received the 2nd, but I also realized that I'd sent both of these mains to Mel with risers, and now am sort risers, so can't even use the main that hit the door today! Now, I'm in the process of trying to buy another set of risers. Simple enough generally, but for the fact that I'm still jumping Eclipse rigs. Anyone know where a guy might find a set of Eclipse main risers. I sent an email to Shoobi, and will go to Jess Rodriguez if Shoobi can't help me out. I know where a couple of sets are in Buffalo SC, but... I searched him (MasterRigger1) here, his last post was mid April. Just looked, his web site has even gone down. Does anyone know if he's been injured, or worse??? Martin Previewing this, I noticed my tag line at the bottom. Seems that I'm getting "experience" through all of this. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Two of the Sony AS100 cameras sitting side-by-side in a hand cam set up would provide pretty darn impressive video and stills I would think! I wonder if 200 stills with the 13.5mp camera would fit on a CD.

I don't spend much time in these forums these days, so wasn't at all aware of this until I received an email earlier today. I did search the forums and only found the thread in the Incidents. I didn't read every post there, but did get the feeling from moderator responses that a discussion of the USPA response was inappropriate in that forum, hence this thread. I've cut/pasted the email I received from Tom Meyers (no idea who he is) below. Also talked with my Regional Director on the topic. He indicated that he is quite knowledgeable on the subject, also that the BOD pulled a "non disclosure" (terminology?) and that he was not allowed to discuss the subject with me. Seems that the Executive Committee has take the subject off the Full Board table and is dealing with it. The whole thing kind of reminds me of the Executive Committee's handling of another volatile topic, can I say it, SKYRIDE. Please discuss. Or delete if this is redundant and I just don't know how to search well enough to realize. Martin Are you aware USPA National Director Rich Winstock swooped a spectator area and hit a spectator putting her in the hospital for 6-7 days? Are you aware there is a very good chance USPA may be sued over this? Are you aware this is not the first time Rich Winstock has disregarded safety and swooped spectators? Are you aware there are other safety incidents committed by Rich Winstock with no consequences? Are you aware Rich Winstock is the Chair of USPA Safety and Training? REALLY?? Are you aware there were calls for him to step down from his position as the Chair of Safety and Training from both inside and outside of the USPA Board? Are you aware the president of USPA Sherry Butcher is attempting to cover it up? Are you aware Sherry Butcher stated she feels it "was unfortunate" and "rich regrets it"? Are you aware sherry wrote that the membership does not know or care who is on the board or chair of any committee? Really? Are you aware that Sherry decided to keep Rich as Chair of the S&T Committee as if nothing ever happened? WTF? She even stated she would do the same for anyone let alone a Board Member. What? A Board member gets extra consideration? Especially a Board member???? OMG! Rich should have stepped down immediately instead of begging Sherry to keep him as Chair. And Sherry should have taken action rather than trying to cover it up. The time for him to step down from the Chairmanship has come and gone. He now needs to step down from the Board. And while we are at it, Sherry should step down as well. Her poor handling of this and her attempt to cover it up is inexcusable. Sherry should also make public the e-mail she wrote regarding this issue. Why would she not do this? Call your Regional Director and the National Directors or e-mail them and tell them enough is enough. Here is where you can find their e-mail and phone numbers: http://www.uspa.org/AboutUSPA/USPABoardofDirectors/tabid/140/Default.aspx Don't let the cover up stand. TAKE A STAND!! A simple e-mail or call will send the message. PASS THIS E-MAIL ON. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I'll update this thread a bit. I purchased 5 pagers on Ebay, ended up with 4 Motorola Minitor III, and one Minitor IV. The Minitor I, and II require crystals for the frequency change, the III and up are programmable. Minitor V would work, but is the newest generation, so at the top of the price range. I choose to go with a UHF model with a frequency range split that covered the General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) frequencies, and ended up buying them for $50 to $75 each. I found another guy on ebay who did the programing for me, I think for $30. They're set up with no "tone frequencies", so when turned on, they'll act as an open monitor for the programed frequency. I just ordered a 2 watt output Kenwood programmable radio, and will program one of the frequencies to match the pagers. We have not yet tested them in the real world. One thing that I likely should have done was to go up on a jump with a radio, and played with various frequencies to see if any had traffic. There's a chance that the frequency I picked will have other traffic (construction crews, fast food drive through, etc.), in that case, I'll be looking at reprogramming. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

New BSR: Effective May 1, all first-time skydivers in the U.S. must be 18 years of age. Since age has nothing to do with safety "Basic Safety Requirements", maybe the BOD could write a new BSR to eliminate boiler room booking operations!! Ohhh! Has it been long enough that we can even joke about that?? Well, of course we can, this is a dropzone.com thread after all. New Basic Safety Requirement: The use of any extendable or fixed-pole camera mount, attached or handheld, by a tandem instructor or tandem student is prohibited. I have a picture clipped out of Parachutist from the late 80s, or early 90s of a tandem pair with pole mounted 35mm camera. Kevin Knoll and Damian Hrdlicka were tandem instructors. About time this practice was eliminated! Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I miss going, but can't really justify the $800 to $1000 a meeting it was costing me to go. Amazing that the BOD hasn't embraced the virtual telepresence that's been demonstrated. Oh, I respect the cost of dollars and time required to attend. I only attended once, and had a few items that I was particularly interested at that time. It was a nice learning experience, but pretty much seen the elephant at this point. Jen Sharp did email me a few points. I may give a third hand info post from what she wrote. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I miss Diablopilot's play by play on the BOD meeting. Anything interesting this session other than the min age and lifetime membership changes? I did hear rumor that there was a Kansas Skydiver or two there who may have made an impression. Not consistent with or to be considered stereotypical of Kansans in general! Martin Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

Possibly because the USPA has become more of a trade organization than an individual membership organization. Skydiving is not a sport or leisure activity, it's a business and this trade organization will act to protect that business over the interests of the individual. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ

I wonder if a current 16, 17 year old licensed skydiver will be grandfathered in. Is it now going to be breaking a BSR to allow a skydiver who is trained and potentially licensed to jump at a USPA Group DZ? My Regional Director called last week asking for my opinion on this topic. I would have rather had it stand at 16, and would allow my sons when of that age, and possibly other children of licensed skydivers jump at 16 on a case by case basis. Now, we'd need to go bandit to make that happen. Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else. AC DZ