whiterabbit

I moved to San Francisco from New York a short while ago, and I've been out of skydiving for the better part of a year thanks to an MCL injury I got while snowboarding. Damaged knees take way too long to heal. I'd like to get back in the sport, but I need a few things first: a reserve repack, and a new pair of balls. After being away for so long, just thinking about jumping out of a plane gets me all nerved up :) Are there any riggers in or around San Francisco? (My email address is [email protected])

I'm in San Jose for a business-related conference, and I'm staying the weekend to jump. I guess there are several dropzones within about a 30-mile radius of the city -- any suggestions on where I should go? I'm an RW jumper with about 140 jumps.

This question has been asked before (according to a forum search I just did), but not since 2004, so I thought I'd check to see if the situation had changed. Are there any riggers in or near New York City? I'm in need of a reserve repack for an upcoming trip out-of-state, and my rigger lives near my "home" dz -- which is 2.5 hours out of the city. Getting a repack done on short notice would involve at least two trips to his house, for a total of (at minimum) 10 hours of driving.

My last skydive was just about two months ago, and this weekend I finally have the opportunity to jump again and stay current. My previous two jumps have been on my used-but-new-to-me equipment that I bought when I came off student status this past summer. One of the many features of this rig that wasn't present on the student gear I used during my AFF training is a collapsible pilot chute. Recently, I noticed that the little pilot chute kill-line window did not show a colored thread (after my last jump I paid to have the rig repacked). Did the packer screw up and forget to cock the PC, or is this something that could have happened over two months of unuse? (I took the PC out of the BOC a couple of times over those two months to help demonstrate to family members how parachute deployment works). More importantly, does my parachute require a repack, or is it possible to cock the PC without taking everything apart? The chute is a Sabre 190 with the original bridle/PC.

Are you sure you don't mean "the taste of chicken?" ;)

Chris, Deland bigways... I owe you a beer

I mean, I'm sure you're already considering what I'm about to suggest, but just in case -- don't stop with just the main canopy size. For complete rigs (for example), you're going to almost always want to know the DOM for each component, the number of jumps on each component, the size of both canopies, the battery life left on the AAD, etc -- these might as well all be part of the classified form that you fill out when you post a new ad. This would make the ads infinitely easier to search as well.

Your wife is Arabic and her entire family is from the middle east. Presumably she has relatives over there, and you advocate "unleashing holy hell on these people" -- people who might be part of your family? Can't you see the hypocrisy in your words? You are claiming that this entire region of the world is "sadistic" and "blinded by their views" while blindly calling for sadistic measures to be taken against all of them.

Why is it then the majority of Iraqi civilians greeted our troops with open arms? Why is it the only opposition that we originally came up against was the iraqi military? Why is it the Iraqis were seen celebrating the downfall of their govt in their streets? Sorry, but we have lost many lives for the sole purpose of saving iraqi lives. We stepped up to save a country that was being destroyed by a dictator. A nice thank you would be appreciated But instead, our troops have to worry about whether or not that civilian walking down the street is going to shoot them the second they turn their backs. I still vote for unleashing holy hell on all those fuckers. funks, every time you or somebody else repeats your position that we need to "unleash holy hell on all those fuckers," you are essentially legitimizing the actions of terrorists such as those that flew airplanes into the WTC. Your experience with the entire country of people who you would commit genocide against is likely limited to what the media has shown you. By refusing to distinguish between terrorists and civilians (the latter greatly outnumber the former), you are claiming that those "fuckers" are SO EVIL and the threat that they pose to us is SO GREAT that no price is too high to pay to eliminate them. What do you think is going through a terrorist's mind when he makes the decision to sacrifice his own life for what he sees as the betterment of his country/religion? How are we different from these people when we condemn the actions of the 9/11 suicide bombers and in the same breath justify the deaths of 10,000 innocents? I am not making the claim that we are necessarily "no better than terrorists." Civilian casualties are a terrible, terrible side effect of war, however, and we can not afford to be nonchalant about that -- or we really are no better than those who cheered when the towers fell on 9/11. It's ok to be emotional about things like terrorism, but don't let emotions cloud rational thought. Those who would see the US reduced to a smoking hole are real people with real emotions who have allowed themselves to become blinded to the fact that there are better ways to solve problems than violence against innocents.

1. My thoughts on the huge disparity between the level of cultural development between the west and middle-east aren't centered on what has happened in the last 50 years. 2. Rule by religion based dictatorships is probably a big stumbling block for them, but I doubt race is much of a factor. Which is why the US spends billions on smart bomb technology, and doesn't intentionally target civilians. Regardless of whether the US intentionally targets civilians, we know that many civilians have died in Iraq. The purpose of my post wasn't to draw attention to the mistakes the US has made in our war against terror. Rather, it was to draw attention to the fact that many peoples' feelings about situations like the one being discussed in this forum are likely quite similar to the feelings of those who perpetrate terrorist atrocities against countries like ours -- "kill 'em all." It's absolutely vital that we understand what makes a terrorist a terrorist, lest we unwittingly create more enemies for ourselves.

The fact that they aren't, as you say "nearly as intellectually or culturally developed as "us"" has nothing to do with their race. It has everything to do with their situation. If any of us were to grow up in a place where 10,000 of our countrymen were "civilian casualties" in a war started by a country way over on the other side of the world -- a country that Iraqis/Afghanis/etc don't even have the OPPORTUNITY to have a fair and balanced opinion of -- we could very well become terrorists as well. Some of the members of this discussion have seen this video (I have not) and concluded that Iraq should simply be wiped out. Imagine that you are an Iraqi, and the people you're seeing slaughtered aren't strangers on video -- they're your family and friends, and they're in your neighborhood, in your house. Imagine the blind rage you might feel towards the country that caused you so much grief. The attitude that terrorists must be hunted down and punished for their deplorable actions is just and right. The attitude that this punishment can be meted out without thought or care to innocent bystanders will only ensure that there will be another generation of terrorists to replace those that we eliminate. Yea, so they're people. But "they", meaning people of the middle east, are not nearly as intellectually or culturally developed as "us", meaning people of the west. Not even close.

I'd definitely love to get to a wind tunnel, as dropping $250+ on each AFP jump is a _lot_, especially when you don't pass... I'm in Rhode Island for the summer, but I'm willing to travel to get to a wind tunnel. Can anyone recommend any -- closer is better, I guess -- that have experienced staff who can teach skydiving basics?

Last summer, I drove quite a few hours with a close friend of mine to a dropzone a few states away. I had always wanted to skydive, but assumed that it would be something I only did once or twice, just to see what it felt like. My friend had already done three tandems at this DZ, and since we were both just out of school for the summer, I agreed to go spend a week skydiving with him to see what it was like. I knew nothing of the sport at the time, and when the DZ recommended I go through the AFP program, that sounded fine to me. My first ride up in the plane was terrifying, and the first freefall (tandem) wasn't as much fun as I had hoped -- turns out I was facing the ground the whole time, thought I couldn't breath with all the (relative) wind rushing up at me, and got a bit queasy from the spins my tandem instructor did. But it seemed silly to give up on skydiving after one mediocre jump, especially since I was to be at the DZ for a whole week, so (after ground school) I gave it another go that day. My second tandem was great -- I had a much better idea of what was actually going on in the air, and I remembered not to look down the whole time. The following day I completed my third tandem, and followed it up with 8 more (non-tandem) AFP jumps over the course of the week. I really thought it would be cool if I got my certification that first week, but it didn't happen, because I _just couldn't get my form down_. My exits were always decent, and I never freaked out in freefall, but I would always go into a spin that my AFP instructor would have to correct. Apparently I wasn't arching hard enough, and my right leg was dipping below my left. I practiced on the ground with my instructor, and while in freefall I _really felt_ like I was mimicking what I had practiced, though clearly that was not the case. Strangely, the only time I had a really solid skydive and managed to stay spin-free was after a rather harrowing experience on my 6th or 7th jump. Due to winds that picked up after the plane took off, I was blown a ways away from the DZ. After my parachute opened, I looked down and realized I had no idea where I was. I finally figured out that I was way downwind of the landing area, but since I had no radio contact with my instructor, I decided to fly directly into the wind to get back to where I was supposed to land, rather than find a suitable area off-course. In retrospect, it was a very bad decision, and one that I wouldn't make again, but I simply didn't understand the capabilities of my parachute at the time. I ended up just barely making it over a road (and power lines) and landing in a tiny backyard, making minor adjustments to my chute to avoid hitting the roof of the house on my left and the big tree on my right. I wasn't sure if I was going to ever jump again after that, but a few hours later I did, and managed to avoid spinning. That night I got pretty drunk at a party at the DZ and was hung over the next morning. I jumped twice, wasted a lot of money, and actually regressed in my AFP training -- the instructor suggested that I go back to a previous level and work on my body position. It was disappointing to end my first (and so far only) week of skydiving on a bad note. I was happy to have completed 11 jumps in my five days at the dropzone (having gone in expecting to make only a couple, and only as a tandem student), but I was down on myself for having had such problems with something as basic as an arch. That was all a year ago. I've just now graduated from college, and have spent the last 12 months thinking and dreaming about skydiving. Though I've spent probably no more than 11 minutes in freefall, I can't stop obssessing about the sport. I remember how I almost cried when I was under my first canopy all by myself from the beauty of the experience. I remember the sweaty palms and tight throat that I always experienced in the plane on the ride up -- the anxiety that seemed to crescendo as I stood at the back of the caravan, with my feet only halfway in the plane, preparing to leap backwards out of an airplane at 15,000'. And I remember the rush I felt after having exited the plane, the anxiety replaced -- or at least masked -- by the sensation of freefall. If it isn't clear from this lengthy introduction, I'm really interested in skydiving. I'd like to resume the sport this summer, and work towards a license. It's on my mind _all the time_, and I figure I'd better do something about that. But I'm worried that I just won't be able to get it. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I'm a reasonably athletic person and am in good shape, though I'm pretty inflexible (can't even come close to touching my toes). My friend suggested that my problem might have partially come from my complete inexperience with skydiving, and the fact that I tried to cram so much into so little time. I'm really not sure what to think, except that maybe I'm just a slow learner. I'd love to hear others' thoughts and suggestions about my situation, if they're willing to share. I think I failed like 4 of my AFP jumps because of my spinning problem, and I'd like to stop throwing my money away. Thanks for hearing me out, Tim