mattjw916

Not really. Just because a DZ dies somewhere doesn't mean they're going to start dropping like flies. Just look at the victory Oceanside pulled off getting a dropzone a few minutes from the beach in a densely populated area (in Kommiefornia of all places). Plus it's not like you can't drive up the road to Longmont and jump out of an Otter/King-Air/C206 or whatever they have flying lately. Based on the population dispersion towards the coasts/metro areas soon you'll be able to get a swath of land in the mid-west for nothing and can do whatever the hell you want out there (like the olden days) because there will be little/no one looking over your shoulder. While you're at it you can become a pioneer in running planes on biofuel with all that excess land. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

There's your problem right there. The libtards in Boulder don't use rational thought. At the risk of stating the obvious, Boulder is never going to be a good place to try to open a dropzone. Take your money and effort somewhere else. This whole thing is akin to trying to open a gun store in the middle of San Francisco, next to a daycare. Good luck! If there's one thing there isn't a shortage of in Colorado it's open space... seriously, go somewhere else and let the dirty hippies have their pot stores, shitty parking, poor freeway access, and unplowed streets filled with stranded Priuses. Part of being a successful business owner is location selection... if I wanted to open a used bicycle shop or buy some rental property to lease to trust-fund babies and liberal-arts majors at ludicrous rates, I'd choose Boulder. Otherwise, that city can suck-it IMO. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I've jumped Nitrons at 1.2ish to 1.5ish when wearing weight... simply great at everything. Ditch the Fusion and don't look back IMO. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Yeah, I'll have to revise my earlier comment a bit... I saw some innovative tunnel practice out there in Eloy recently including tandems in the tunnel, tracking, and apparently an MMA cage match involving about 8 people. Cheers! NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I was on staff duty in Korea and a friend was talking about something called a Stiletto and someone who hooked it in and hit a truck and died... that was around 1999 or so... years later my brother did an AFF jump at Perris out of the blue and called me and told me I had to learn to jump too... remembering all my friend's cool stories, this thing called the WFFC I had to go to someday, and never one to be outdone, off to Eloy I went since I didn't have anything else more interesting going on at the time... that was about 10 years ago. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I'd recommend Perris or Eloy if you want to bang out lots of jumps and learn something along the way. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

What state is this in? There are a lot of "Middletowns" in the US.

most places it's generally just "50 jumps" that you need (and I don't think anyone's ever asked to see my logbook before getting in the gondola, lol)... not the B unless you're jumping from a balloon into water or something anyway, Eloy does regular balloon jumps and you could easily knock out enough jumps there to reach the minimum in a few days if you were really motivated remember, on a balloon jump you will be landing out so you need to be solid on your canopy skills, adept at choosing a safe improvised landing area, judge wind direction possibly without a windsock or any flags around, and have decent accuracy so plan accordingly... personally as a freshly minted A, I'd focus more on building skills rather than adding complexity until you get a few more jumps under your belt... recommended minimums are there for a reason NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

an unstable/unconscious body would end up back-to-earth and often in a flat spin NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

There's always the SIM as well: http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Man_SIM_2014.pdf Plus you can find just about the entire ground school portion on youtube as well as AFF jumps from about a thousand people. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

stick the coordinates into google and switch to satellite view to see

yeup, a fully charged glow-face on a Galaxy is more than bright enough for night jumps... probably brighter than my back-lit Viso in fact. a tiny sub-$20 LED bicycle light will charge the crap out of a Galaxy in moments (and pull double-duty taped to your helmet) and unlike my Viso is basically indestructible, won't ever need batteries, and will probably still be working decades from now... also, the most frequent question I hear as I prep for night jumps is "how do I turn on the backlight on my XXX" which also isn't an issue NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

36.939847,-116.724088 this must be the plane if anyone's interested... NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Liquid Sky Comet tunnel suit and a Cookie G3 get my vote. I rotated through a lot of gear over the years and these are tops IMO until something new comes along. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I bet you lost almost everyone now... so here's some assigned reading for those that never took a college level philosophy course and don't get the Plato reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_priori_and_a_posteriori#Early_uses NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I found 2 audibles to be obnoxious, even with different tones. I prefer to keep it simple now, use only one, and set tones to break-off, pull, and stop dicking around altitudes. I'm not a fan of setting them early or 500ft high since the purpose of the sound is to trigger a warning or reaction in my mind... hear first tone: turn and track... hear second tone: brakes and pull... if I even hear my third warning (occasionally): is my parachute scaring me? I played around with a lot of settings over the years but have settled on this now. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

that's a pretty general question without any specific info as to what type of suit you have or want to fly in you can use almost anything in the tunnel really that fits right and won't blow open in sustained winds some things to consider: zipper protection: a flapping zipper can tear up your neck and can come unzipped (gaffer's tape can help) amount of drag: lots of flapping material can cause chafing that feels like a sunburn (wear under armor to prevent this) condition of cuffs/spandex/velcro: secure? I just used the free suits at the tunnel for a long time until I decided what style/features I wanted. Eventually the baggy suits at the tunnels became a nuisance and I opted for something custom. I had over a dozen hours before I just couldn't stand the thick, baggy suits anymore. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I don't think the average 16 year old understands what their getting into, if you leave it to the parents, what parent doesn't think their kids are much more mature than the average kid. I know of course that I'm in the minority on this issue, I also think it makes the sport look a little flaky.You do realize that a 16yo has sailed around the entire earth alone, right? That's a bazillion times more complicated and dangerous than falling out of a plane and pulling a handle before impact. Hell, I joined the Army at 17 and was already blowing shit up barely past my 18th birthday. This nanny-state bullshit and helicopter parenting trend is ridiculous. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

I know people on their 30s that shouldn't do any of that, so what? Arbitrary age is arbitrary... NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

15 a week would be my preference NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Well, I guess I'm sorta safe then since I built my current rig in 2006. All kidding aside; I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything but the sample size for skydiving fatalities, especially when you narrow them down to a specific type, is fairly small (which is good obviously). Sometimes shit just happens... call it "the rule of threes", a coincidence, or just Bill Booth's aphorism that "the better gear gets, the more ways skydivers will find to kill themselves in it" just manifesting itself. I don't know, maybe the next generation will be making fun of us with our "black death" reserves and such... whatever happened with the pierced bridle issue while we're at it? Was that really a widespread problem? I literally don't hear a soul mention it in the "real world". Will this end up the same way? Time will tell I guess. Cheers NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

Reserve size is actually a pretty easy choice for an average sized person. Anything 170ish and larger loaded under 1.2 is quite forgiving. By the time you get enough experience to pick out something smaller you should have learned at least enough to know how big a hole you're digging for yourself if you run into trouble under the sportier options. But, if you're relying on the most minor of differences between the handful of low-aspect ratio seven cells to come between you and the reaper, you're in the danger zone. Simple answer, get the biggest PDR you can tolerate. If you're really anal borrow a tersh setup, go right to silver at terminal, and if you aren't seeing stars due to getting smacked, see for yourself how quick it opens with your main still in the tray. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

The recent double Cypres-fire incident didn't even involve an Optimum... it was a Smart and a PDR. No one knows what happened there AFAIK. But logic dictates that one or both of them were unstable at the time the loops were cut and it's also just as likely they were honking-in at high-speed. Regardless of what gear I'm wearing you couldn't pay me enough money in the world to go head-down followed by a somersault or two approaching 750ft and simply count on my Cypres alone to save me. Wanting to believe your gear can save you with a 0% failure rate in the event you ate a bowl of dumbass in the morning before you hit the DZ, or simply had an accident, isn't realistic. I'm quite certain even way back in my FJC I remember being told that having a Cypres might just mean you die at line-stretch or inflation instead of having nothing out at all. NSCR-2376, SCR-15080