Flyer2Diver

Like my bb curve on verizon. Typing this on it now, drunk in a cab on the way home from the bar :-) _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I went to SkyVenture NH and did two sessions of 15 minutes. Each was like $200 or thereabouts (including coaching). They rotate you with other flyers, so you do that time in smaller chunks and rest/think in between. It's a lot of fun - I highly recommend it! _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I figure that I'm slow at packing, don't really enjoy it very much, and the packers at my DZ have been excellent. I'm happy to pay for the service, and like to contribute to the "DZ economy". _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Tandem jumps are statistically safer than sport jumps. reference: Tom Buchanan's excellent article on skydiving risk. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I'm not sure it's good to boil it all down to wing loading and jump numbers, since at the end there's a lot of judgement (and advice from an instructor who understands your canopy skills) that needs to go into it, but here's my personal experience: I tip the scales at ~195 w/o gear, ~220 with gear. 1-8: Navigator 280 - .79:1 9-31: Navigator 220 - 1:1 32-now: Sabre2 190 - 1.16:1 I bought a 190 new and plan to jump it for quite a while until I can fly the s@!t out of it. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

One big component of personal responsibility is not blaming others or making excuses for things you can control. If I pay a packer and have a mal, that's my responsibility - I chose to jump the packjob. If there's a problem with the spot, I could have stayed in the plane, etc. I think too many people these days blame others, or "bad luck" when things go poorly - that's not personal responsibility. You've got to admit your mistakes to learn from them. I find skydivers tend to be very good at being honest with themselves and others about their screw-ups. That certainly hasn't been my experience in the corporate world! Blue Skies _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I stubbed my toe on landing once, got some minor bruises too. Other than that, nothing so far. Trying to keep it that way! _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

lol - same experience here. My canopy is very new and some of the best openings I've had so far have been after wrestling with the damm thing and stuffing it into the bag. Not on heading, but buttery soft. (mine's a 190, loaded at ~1.15:1) _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Congratuiations! Quite a feeling, isn't it?! Have fun and be safe _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Airtec supplies a card which shows what the Cypres looks like installed in a rig through an x-ray machine. The idea is, you can give it to the screener and it will explain what they are seeing on their monitor. Mine's not quite as big a bitch (a G3 with a 190 main and 176R in it), but it fit easily in the somewhat small bin on the MD-80. I was expecting problems too - so I showed up at the airport 2 hours ahead - I ended up breezing through security in 5 minutes and surfing dropzone.com for an hour and a half before boarding the plane. Hopefully it'll go as smoothly for you as it did for me. Blue Skies _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Yeah - I'm with you completely on that one. I can't stand Trading Spaces (sometimes I think I'm the only one!) or American Chopper. I actually like motor making shows - like Horsepower TV on Spike TV, but American Chopper is more like a soap opera for guys - all that damm whining and arguing is so annoying. Just shut up and build the dammed bike! There's good stuff on the Science Channel and Discovery Wings, but most of their shows are pathetically old reruns. I've seen almost everything on Wings 10 times over. I've ended up watching more of the National Geographic channel, History Channel and Court TV (Forensic Files rocks!). _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

My experience (YMMV) I was traveling to Rantoul two weeks ago and put my new G3 with Cypres2 installed in a gear bag, and put it right on the x-ray machine at LaGuardia Airport - the TSA guy didn't even bat an eye - not even a secondary screening, and he didn't ask to see my cypres card (I did have it, and a printout of the TSA page on parachutes just in case). On the way home at Champagne airport, they obviously had seen plenty of rigs come through - no cypres card needed there either. I carried it on both times. It fit easily in the MD-80 overhead bin, but not in the RJ, so I used the "valet" gate-check service. I didn't want to let it out of my sight for too long. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I was there - mostly hanging out at tent three. Did my 100th jump too! Here's a pic of me, after getting tossed into the swoop pond for my 100th on Saturday night (after the marshmallow fight). I'm the one in the black sweat shirt, looking like a drowned rat! _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

5:5:0 5 packjobs on my nearly new sabre2 - some of the sloppiest ever, yet some of the best openings I've had. Go figure! 5 jumps - including 2 where I went way low. Aargh! Some nice exits, all the jumpswere fun with great landings every time. No firsts, but B license coming soon once I do water training. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Check this out - sectional charts are public domain, and you can download any of them from this URL http://aviationtoolbox.org/raw_data/FAA/sectionals/current/ Our tax dollars at work (for the charts, not the scanning and web hosting) _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

They did something like this to snag spy satellite photo film from Corona - the first spy satellite. Only they did it with airplanes (C-119's and C-130s) not helicopters. I think it's amazing that they were able to even see the dammed things, much less catch them in mid-air! http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/SpaceRace/sec400/sec432.htm Would be kinda neat to have this sort of option to snag careless canopy pilots. Cut me off on final? Yoink! _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I jumped it and liked it. As a step up from a Cessna, I think it's a winner. I liked the seating setup, big windows, and low noise level. After the skyvan, the quiet was most welcome! I don't think it compares favorably to an otter from a skydivers perspective, but if the choice is between the pac and a cessna, or the pac and an otter that won't fly because not enough people are around to make profitable loads, it makes a lot of sense. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Article on what defines a stall. The entire wing doesn't necessarily stall at the same moment. On most wings, the shape is not uniform over the span (eliptical canopy, brake lines/risers distorting the shape, etc.) - this can manifest itself as a mild/docile stall as only some portion of the lift is lost. I think the distinction we're drawing here is full stall (where the canopy folds up like a sideways taco and stops flying) and partial stall (where it keeps its shape and continues to fly, but significant lift is lost). I believe the term "deep stall" is most often used relative to t-tail aircraft - it is possible for the elevator to be rendered ineffective by the turbulent airflow from the stalled wing at extreme angles of attack, making recovery difficult to impossible. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Damm, now that's an obscure movie reference. Mr. Mom! LOL _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Lowest I've pulled was about 1800 after a helicopter exit from 3300 at Rantoul. Probably not the smartest thing I've done! Generally, I prefer to dump by 3k - I like flying my canopy, and would rather have some time to sort out a mal before being forced to chop it. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

IMO, there can be value/learning when newbies jump together. Personally, I prefer to interleave coaching jumps with practice. Coaching alone gets expensive, and there's more pressure to perform. If I'm just doing a fun jump with another low-timer, the pressure is off which helps me to learn . I found this to be a very productive and fun way to fine-tune my belly-flying skills. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

Highest: 23,000 from Mike Mullins King Air at WFFC this year Lowest: 2,600 from Alouette helicopter - again at WFFC. My pro-track yelled at me for that one _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I did it twice - first time a long skyvan spot had me landing in the spectator parking lot, second time was next to the bleachers. Both times kids asked for my autograph - quite an ego boost, that's for sure! Next year I'll have to bring pull up cords or something to give out. _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006

I had a fantastic time. My time at the convention - will definitely be back next year! Vivid memories... - Bi-plane jump through hole in the clouds - simply awesome! - Helicopter jumps from Sikorsky & alouette - 23k High-altitude jump from Mullins King Air - CASA high-speed pass. Wow! - My 100th jump - organized thanks to Scott, Daryl & Anita

A few months ago I saw nearly the exact same thing - except it was two experienced jumpers doing a 2-way freefly jump. One had a cypres fire and two-out, which put him in the hospital. My point is, this isn't just something newbies do - it can happen to anyone, especially when learning something new. It is easy to be so focused on learning some new skill that you forget to check altitude. I don't think the answer is to require newbies to jump with experienced jumpers only. I'd much rather spend my energy trying to educate students on the causes of loss of altitude awareness. Personally, I never felt the slightest bit unsafe doing jumps with other newbies, as long as I considered them to be "heads up". Just my .02 _______________________________ 30005KT 10SM SKC 23/05 A3006