Jeth

Of course you pick a place on the completely opposite side of the country to me! "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

It was this day in 2004 that I did my first jump, on my birthday.

Okay, I've got a 4-day weekend for the 4th of July. Thinking of hitting a boogie I haven't been to before. Any suggestions? "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Hi there, I saw in the dz directory that SDSD has RV hookups, but I don't see anything about that on their web site, and I don't remember seeing any when I was there. So can someone tell me? Do they? Does anyone stay there? Thanks!

I have been jumping a Pilot 168 for about 200 jumps. I have always liked my canopy, but I am under-loading it and decided it was time for me to experience a higher wing-loading. Wow, it is fabulous!! I went down to a Pilot 140, and am in love with it!! The responsiveness I am getting at the higher WL is awesome. The turns are so much quicker, and with less input. The flares are awesome! I am having better landings with less input. I landed it in fairly high winds with no problem, and also on a no-wind day I got a great flare and ran it out. On the bigger canopy I did not get very good penetration into the wind. What a difference on the 140! I am able to get much better drive, and I actually get some penetration on final instead of coming straight down. Another thing I really like is that it recovers really quickly from turns. I can whip a 180 and it comes back up really quick - it's so much fun! I demo'd some other 150's (Safire 2 and Pulse), and those were totally sluggish in comparison. A half flare on the Pilot was way better than a full flare on the Safire. The Pilot is truly a great canopy. The openings are always on-heading and quick, but still soft (the way I like it). At a low WL, it is very easy to fly and forgiving. And now at a higher WL, I am really getting some sweet performance out of it that is really fun. (And I am still very conservative at 1:1.2. I imagine it only gets better as you increase.) This canopy rocks!!

I recently demoed a Safire 2 149. I was looking to downsize from my Pilot 168, which I've jumped for about 200 jumps. I found that the Safire was not what I was looking for. People say that the openings are super soft. For me - that means way too long and no feedback. I like to pitch and feel the tension in the risers right away, and I did not get that with the Safire. It also sniveled way too long for me. There is a difference between quick and hard. I like a quick opening which is still soft. The canopy also didn't really perform like I wanted. The Safire was sluggish in turns, and I had to bury the toggles all the way down to get a good flare. I previously demoed a Pilot 150 and it was much more responsive. I was previously under-loaded, and was looking for better performance at about a 1.2 wing-loading. I did not get that with the Safire. I think this canopy would be great for beginners, or possibly at a much higher wing-loading. But for WL around 1:1, looking for a little more performance, it did not deliver.

OMG that is some serious hardware in your leg! I just got inducted into the heavy metal club on Monday. I now have 3 screws and 1 plate in my ankle. Wish I would've turned to avoid that tree a little sooner... "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

I agree with you. I already said it was my fault. However, not necessarily the part about knowing the surroundings 5 miles away. I have never gone out that far, so I wouldn't know. But I was aware I wouldn't be able to spot, so thats why I trusted the organizer to get us into a good spot. At least the right direction. On my normal skydives, I always spot the load. I don't just trust the guy in the door. (Even if he is my teammate. ) But this was a "special" jump, and I was expecting to trust that it was organized and executed correctly. But as I mentioned, I had a feeling that it wasn't organized and executed correctly, so then I should've pulled off. I am definitely more familiar with the surroundings 3 miles to the southeast now! "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Good job on saving your life!!

Yes, well said. This is exactly what I was getting at. I think the overall message here is that for WHATEVER reason, if you have a strong feeling that you should ride the plane down, then ride the plane down. I know I will next time. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

LOL nice! But ya, yours doesn't count. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Hey this guy U are dissing for not jumping without an alti has barely 100 jumps. He just graduated AFP like 2 month ago. He has not been jumping long enough to be able to judge altitude with his eyes alone. I think he definitely made the right call riding the plane down. Yes, of course, someday his alti could fail and he'd have to land without one. But for him to put himself in that situation when he has a choice - that sounds stupid to me. Skittles - good job on deciding to ride the plane down.

Nick - that was another part of the problem. All of the people near the door were not from this dz. There should've been someone near the door who could spot that load. As a matter of fact - at the last second the organizer asked a local jumper to spot the load, but as we were all loading, she ended up in the back, so there was no spotter. Thanks, everyone, for your encouragement and for also sharing your stories. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who has thought of riding the plane down. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Thank you, that is excellent advice. I might've gotten to a better out if I hadn't been fighting the wind the whole way. I think I was concerned that we were already several miles away, and didn't want to get even farther in case they had to come look for me. But I definitely would've taken a bigger landing area over being closer. Another lesson learned. (I know - "land safe, not close". ) "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Yup. That was the exact rule that my friend quoted to me when I told him what happened. Definitely hard to follow sometimes. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

I wanted to post about a jump I did last weekend as a reminder to all jumpers about safety. Let me start by saying that I know that ultimately I am responsible for myself. So even though I think a lot of things could've been done better by many people, I am not blaming anyone specifically. Sorry about the long post, but here is the story - This jump was a total clusterfuck from the beginning. It was a sunset cross-country. It was supposed to take off at 7:45pm. Well at 7:45 all the people signed up for it were just starting to assemble. The organizer of the jump was trying to give a brief on how it was gonna go down. (This was at a big boogie so it was very possible there were first-timers on the load, and many out-of-towners.) So then as he is in the middle of trying to organize the jumpers, the pilot comes over to ask him about the direction. The pilot and plane were not from this dz. To add to the confusion, in addition to the cross-country jumpers, this load also had on it freeflyers, tandems, and CRW. There were many people shouting about how far out they wanted to be. The CRW didn't want to go out as far as us. The organizer was trying to tell the pilot to take us 3 miles west - that would've been upwind of the dz. There were ppl arguing whether it should be 3 miles or 4 miles, and some wanted 2. Well by now it is past 8:00, and manifest says we need to get the plane in the air. So we are all told to gear up and then come back. We are all confused and not feeling good about how this is going. But we get geared up. Then we come back, and the organizer is trying to line us up in the right exit order. He's trying to get everyone's wing-loading, but lots of people are moving around, asking questions, etc, so it's very chaotic and confusing. Then manifest says we have to go load the plane now. We are soooo not ready to load! We are all totally confused as to the exit order and where the hell we're going. What also compounded the issues is that the load organizer was not going on the dive. So we all pile on the plane, in whatever order. I end up way in the back near the pilot. (Plane was a CASA.) My friend is not happy about the exit order because she knows her canopy sinks out fast, and yet she is in position to be the last one out. In addition, we are losing daylight fast. We took off about a half hour late, and the sun is barely still in the sky. The plane was fully loaded, and took forever to climb. The pilot dumps the freeflyers and tandems, and then we are still going. Now I am starting to get really nervous. Everyone was. People are making comments like "well, we're gonna be landing in the dark on this one." The pilot calls out to us and says he's gonna give 3 green lights. We are trying to shout that to the people near the door. I get nods from some people, but not everyone. We are still going, and I am now getting more nervous, and am thinking about staying on the plane. I have no idea how far out we are, and I know it's going to be dark soon. The guy next to me goes "Ya, this is totally fucked up. Ya know, if you wanna stay on the plane, you should. It's your call." It was as if he was hoping I would so he could do it, too. Well then, despite my gut feeling, we see people in front of us getting up, so we follow the herd out the door. Damn, that was stupid. As soon as I'm out and deployed, I look around and see that everyone is scattering. There is no leader, and no one has any idea where the dz is. I am scanning every direction looking for it. I see canopies dropping way below me. (I am very lightly loaded.) At around 11 grand I finally see the airport -- and I am totally shocked to discover that it is UPWIND of me. Immediately I realize we are fucked. No one is going to make it back. I was getting no penetration. From 11 grand to 8 grand I moved maybe a foot across the ground. But what I am really shitting about is that it is getting dark FAST. By now all the other canopies are gone. They have gone other ways, or are much lower than me and I can't see them anymore - I am all alone at 8 grand. What I really want to do is just spiral down, but I am over a big industrial complex, and beyond that is the Interstate. So I have to keep going till I am over some outs. I am tucking up to try to get more forward drive. Finally around 5 grand I am across the highway and over some farms. Now I am looking for an out. It's hard, though, because all the lights of the city and highway are on, which makes the dark spots darker. I have landed in the corn before, and am not scared of it. But I was worried that since it was dark, I may get lost in there where they couldn't find me. So I decided to aim for the yard next to the corn. I was basically coming straight down. I thought I had set myself up pretty well. I was into the wind, and I had positioned myself a bit into the yard, away from the road, in case I ended up going backwards. Well then when I was at about 100 ft or so, I started driving forward. There was a line of trees between the yard and house, and I was headed straight for a tree. I pulled a toggle down to avoid the tree. I ended up pounding in on my right side. My canopy came to rest right next to the tree trunk, so it was close. I rolled my ankle and smacked my head. It was definitely an "oh shit" moment. I was pretty shaken up but happy I was okay. Then I realized my nose was bleeding and my ankle hurt. But I was okay. A very nice guy had been watching me come down, and was there to pick me up within 5 minutes. He took me back to the dz, which was a good 15+ minute ride. I knew the whole load landed off, and I was just hoping everyone else was okay. I was so pissed that I had gone. It turned out my teammates landed in a golf course, some other friends landed at a race track. The guy who had been next to me on the plane landed in a little patch of grass near the highway, narrowly avoided power lines. He was very freaked out. Everyone was. The whole load was upset at how poorly things turned out. And it was damn scary being up there with so little light left. Fortunately, they managed to find everyone by about 10pm and no one was seriously injured. I was just so pissed at the whole thing. Pissed that it wasn't organized properly, pissed that I didn't listen to my gut and went anyway, and pissed that I couldn't judge that landing right and injured myself. So this is just my very long-winded way of saying LISTEN TO YOUR GUT, PEOPLE!! This could've ended worse for a lot of people. It was too damn dark, and the pilot went the wrong way. (There was some speculation that he was actually doing a go-around but the people by the door went anyway. Who knows.) Whatever the case, the bottom line is that I didn't have to get on the plane, and I didn't have to get out. But because I did, now I am sitting here with crutches. And I may miss the last 4-way meet of the season. Definitely not worth it. Yes, I need to work on my accuracy. Yes, I should've done a flat turn. I didn't think of that at all. It was a split-second reaction. I definitely need to practice flat turns more so hopefully if there is a next time it will be automatic. But I really hope there isn't a next time because the next time my gut is so strongly telling me to stay on the ground, I WILL!! Hope this story helps someone to make a better decision. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Great story Peej!

Do a MR POTATO HEAD!!!!!!

0 : 1 : 1 Crappy Midwest weather = only 1 jump. It really sucked since it was the MWSL meet on Saturday. Damn strong winds!!! But I did have a great time being part of the meet, and doing the 1 jump with my team.

That is awesome!

Wow!! Sunshine did a jump and I missed it!?!? I am so bummed. 2: 2: 0 2 good drill dives for me on Sunday. Inbetween the thunderstorms the weather was beautiful. Crazy midwest weather... "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Summerfest ROCKS!! I jump at SDC and I think it's pretty damn nice. The hangar is the bomb - so much padded packing space, huge tvs to watch your vids on, couches, lockers, etc. And when it gets too hot, you can step into the air-conditioned lobby to cool off. There is also a huge landing area with lots of outs, a swoop pond, and a cafe. Normally we have 2 otters but for Summerfest they bring in a lot of other aircraft. I think this year they're gonna have a Casa, King Air, and a Pitts. Maybe a helicopter, too. Don't miss it!!!

4 : 0 : 0 Well no jumps for me due to the damn thunderstorms and strong winds around here this weekend. And I also missed going out with my friends at the dz for my birthday. But still had a fun birthday with some whuffo friends. And I caught up on my movie watching during the storm. Fingers crossed for better weather next weekend!! p.s. Grannyinthesky -- for your first cutaway! Glad to hear it went fine. Sounds like you had quite a few firsts this weekend.

I think it's totally cool! But I'm confused. I saw it a few days ago as an ad they did in Spain. So did they do the jump again for this "live" ad in the UK? I saw the plane was from skydiveLilo so I'm thinking it's the same jump. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Thanks, guys!