napalmboy

Well, crap. Not even getting to Georgia until Sunday morning. Looks like I'm going to owe in a whole other state for a while... Well, the door was open...

Well, it looks like it's come down to The Farm or SDA. With my relative packing times making fast loads kinda useless to me , I think I'll be picking The Farm this time around, but I promise to visit SDA the next time I go to Atlanta. Thanks for the advice, everyone! See some of you on Sunday...what kind of beer do you like? Well, the door was open...

Amen! Why exactly is ASC your last choice? So far it's only gotten one recommendation on this thread and two "I'd go there if every other dropzone in the country shut down" votes, which isn't exactly what I'd call an endorsement. Well, the door was open...

Sorry, I've got another party to be at on Saturday night...but maybe I'll make a special trip for the next one. Well, the door was open...

Beginner RW, with a little extra emphasis on beginner. I guess what I'm looking for is a place where people won't care that I'm only going to be there for a day and will be willing to have fun trying to teach me a few things regardless. I know that's really general, and maybe it describes all of the Atlanta dz's, but I don't know anybody from that area, so I'm making my appeal here to find out if one clearly outshines the others or if one is clearly to be avoided. If it comes down to "They're all great" then I'll end up rolling dice to decide. Well, the door was open...

Hey folks. I've got one day in Atlanta this coming Sunday with absolutely nothing to do, so I'm packing up my rig and going jumping. Only question is...where should I go? The Farm, Skydive Atlanta, or Atlanta Skydiving Center? It looks like ASC is having some kind of free organizing/coaching, which is good because I could use coaching . On the other hand, The Farm is advertising a boogie, so that could be cool... Distance and direction from Atlanta really isn't an issue, as I've arranged for transportation. And I'm guessing that costs will be similar...so do people out there have a preference? I'll see everybody on the 15th around 1PM. Well, the door was open...

Okay, so it sounds like the consensus is that the canopy should be starting to inflate by "six." This doesn't mean completely inflated, but it definitely means no longer sniveling (as that would make it a streamer). If I pulled on time and know what altitude I pulled at, the most I've fallen during that count to six is about 1,000, and if the canopy is starting to inflate at that point, things have slowed down considerably (although this is where I need to consciously keep altitude awareness, especially if it's opening into a different malfunction). This weekend I'll work on watching to find out exactly how far I'm falling during these snivels, and I'll talk to an instructor to see what he thinks about it all. Thanks for the advice, everybody. Well, the door was open...

Heh; statements like that worry me. If I went completely by the book to say that I should chop anything that wasn't inflated by "five," then I'd have (at least) three reserve rides at 38 jumps. And each of those times, as I reached "five" and began to think, "Crap, I'm going to have to cut this" the canopy inflated by the time I was arching in preparation for emergency procedures. I guess it comes down to things being fuzzy; these particular jumps had a canopy that snivelled for slightly longer than I'd been told canopies should open in, and they all opened correctly within two seconds of that tolerance. Part of this could be a memory problem; I honestly couldn't tell you if my count that got up to "seven" was just opening at "seven" or if it was already partially inflated at "seven." This is something for me to look out for next time. Follow-up question, then; if "five" is the upper limit for a count, do you want a landable canopy at "five," or is one that's just starting to open good for you? (Anticipated answer: Don't go through your hard deck without a landable canopy.) Well, the door was open...

Something that Jan Meyer said here made me think about my own opening habits and whether I should change them. (Yes, yes, I'll be asking my instructors, but I'm interested to see what everybody here does.) Right after pulling, how do you maintain altitude awareness? I've been taught to just count after a pull and look up over my shoulder, in part to be able to look at the parachute and in part to help clear the burble. During AFF, I was told that if the canopy isn't open after counting to five or so, chop it and go for silver. But I've had more than one six- or seven-second snivel on a very old Sabre 190 and a seven second opening on a new-ish (200 jumps) Safire 189. They both opened fine and were landable. What really promts me to ask is that the more I think about this, the more I realize that while I know how long these caopies took to open in time, I have absolutely no idea how much alititude I dropped. These days I'm pulling up at 4k to 5k, so I'm not really worried about hitting the ground at this point, but I understand not being altitude aware during snivels (which are potential malfunctions, if they never decide to open) isn't going to work as I start pulling lower. And while looking at the canopy deploying leads directly into checking if it's okay, it doesn't help if I were to pass through my hard deck just watching it. At the very least, I've decided that I need to get into the habit of looking over my left shoulder rather than my right, so I can watch my altimeter during deployment. Is there something else I specifically need to practice? Do you guys count after pulling, or do you watch your altitude? Or do you just glance back and forth between them? Safety Day at the DZ I'm going to these days is Saturday, so I'll bring it up then. But I've learned a lot from reading thoughts of people older and wiser, so bring on the knowledge. Well, the door was open...

Yeah, that's a valid point, and if you're only going to have one procedure, it should involve silver. I think (

Yeah, I'd say so. My instructor told me to glance at my altimeter on my way to the door in the case of a bailout, so I'd know which handle to go for how soon. Under, at, or very near to my hard deck (for me, 2500) means silver after 1 second. Within 1000 feet of my hard deck is silver in 5, and anything much above that can be main at intended pull altitude. (With my numbers, I'm not comfortable with an intended pull altitude under 4000, and I even kinda think that 4000 is pushing it. ) So, not to give a dz.com standard reply or anything, but talk to some instructors, figure out what you want to do, and know what it is when the time comes. Well, the door was open...

Found it, thanks! Well, the door was open...

Yeah, me too...I just got a used Wings, and I have no idea where the card is supposed to be. I've looked under the reserve flap, but it's not there...any hints? Well, the door was open...

"Someone from manifest"...does that mean that there will still be people there periodically? The phone message says "Open in January" but that you can still buy gift certificates if you leave a message. I'm asking because they've got my rig in to replace its risers, and I want it. It's my...uh, pre-second rig. I left a message this morning, I guess I'll just see what happens. Well, the door was open...

Haven't had my first cutaway yet, but I was taught to hold onto my handles until I've got a nice reserve over my head for exactly this reason. Afterwards, drop the handles if you want, but don't let anything get in the way of your last parachute delploying cleanly. -Michael Well, the door was open...

As someone who just finished his FJC, I only know one emergency procedure: feet together, arch, look red, grab red, look silver, grab silver, pull red, pull silver, arch, check. But my FJC manual also instructs me to never cutaway below 1,000 feet, because by that point I probably don't have enough time/altitude for my reserve to open safely. Although I can see a student getting things mixed up, is one caveat to skip the "red" steps under 1,000 feet that much? Maybe I'm more serious about it than other students (I don't think I am), but I try to know what could go wrong and what to do when it does down cold so that I won't get confused if and when something does go wrong. So while I haven't even heard the words "canopy transfer" before reading this thread, I know that I'm not supposed to cutaway a main under 1,000. I don't feel all that confused by it...but I'll admit instructors would know better than I what most students can and can't handle. Well, the door was open...