jheadley

I'm not a rigger, I'm a Nylon-American.

I'm an AFF instructor at a DZ that allows your first jump to be AFF. When I started I was skeptical of how well the students would do but most of them actually do very very well. I'm a believer now that it's not a big deal to do AFF first provided they have decent physical strength, flexibility, and mental capacity. If you want to experience the real thing, do AFF.

In my experience and observation, I find this is only true if you active try to get better. Jumping out of a plane a lot of times won't naturally make you a better skydiver. I've seen some people who jump like crazy just for the sake of upping their #'s and it's embarassing how bad they are. They won't take 5 minutes to plan or debrief a jump because it means they'll miss the next load. With no plan, you never learn anything (or learn very very slowly)

I have a PC109 that hasn't worked for a year, any time I put a tape in it, it gives a "Please reinsert the cassette" error message. This happens with any tape, and I've tried the "whack it really hard" method of fixing it. (This was actually the remedy that turned up on multiple searches) I quit doing video but am thinking about getting back into it. Should I send it to sony to get it repaired, or should I buy another one off of ebay for 400-500 dollars?

Oh really? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwB9-h_NrlA Any 00 is pieable in my book.

FWIW, I'm a relatively new jumper and new rigger and I had no problem doing an I&R on a 21 year old Raven II and certifying it as airworthy.

I worked at a full time DZ as a packer for a season. About 90% of my income came from just Saturday and Sunday. Your best bet is to get a real Monday-Friday job (or college), and only work in skydiving on the weekends.

Sounds like you'll enjoy learning RW (Relative work, formation skydiving). You have a plan and a goal on every jump.

Umm I don't know WTF is going on but I must have some glitch or something. I've hit two bombs and the power meter level has been well over the bar so I've gotten 188,000 height (that's not a typo) and so far 320,000 distance with no end in sight... Edit : Finished, I'm at the #1 spot now hehe...

I got pied at 120 jumps for my 100th. My friend Woolly got pied within seconds, maybe one second, of landing from his 1000th. And then he was attacked with pies again 20 minutes later Then he was attacked with pies again a few hours later... http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2970

I actually met one person last weekend who was afraid to jump in no wind conditions. One thing that I found interesting in the article was that he said the flare out to the side method was less effective than just flaring straight down, and flaring out was just for show. Is that true?

We have students wear an inflatable floatation device in a pouch that is belted around the waist. If you want the brand name, I'll check this weekend.

Damn... I thought I was slow! Here's how it goes for me 15 minutes moving furniture out of the way and vaccuming carpet. 20 minutes reviewing instructions and looking for service bulletins. 1 hour or so of inspection (if I don't find anything wrong) 1-2 hours of packing (1 for Javelins, 2 for pretty much anything else). 30 minutes of doing paperwork, sealing the reserve, hooking up the main canopy, lubing cutaway cables, flexing 3 rings, replacing main closing loop, counting tools, moving furniture back, etc... Be nice to your rigger, we do a little more than just a straight reserve I&R.

Just search for "21829". if you include the first parts, the search comes up negative.

We jump year round in Virginia. Just dress warmly, it's honestly not that bad.

So this whole lap the stabilizers into the middle after you've flaked them business doesn't work to help keep lines in the center when you've got the cocoon down on the ground and making the cigar shape from the triangle? I think it may help some. That's how I was taught and I've done it for 2500+ pack jobs with no lineovers. Of course, there are plenty others out there who don't do it and they don't have lineovers either. In fact some even say that it increases the chance of a lineover. Everyone's got a different opinion of what works.

I'm much more impressed by a good canopy pilot under a large canopy, than a mediocre or shitty canopy pilot under a small canopy. Good for you!

In his current version, both folds are folded down. I'm curious why he changed it. However, if one were to even use Dave Dewolf's method of flaking and bagging a reserve, that would be against the manufacturer's instructions. This is what drives me nuts about rigging. We all know the golden rule is to follow the instructions to the letter, but it doesn't really work like that in the real world.

And what if the manufacturer doesn't specify?

I don't like the idea just for legal liability reasons. I don't think 18 year old's abuse alcohol any worse than regular skydivers.

There seem to be many ways to make the width reduction folds when packing reserve canopies. Some take each fold seperately and fold under, others fold the AB fold up and the BC fold down... I've even seen everything from the A-B fold to part of the tail folded under all at once. Which method do you use and why?

Use the cypres line pull up cord to get the loop through the cutter, after that, switch them out. I use one made of 1000lb spectra fingertrapped in the middle.

There are rough graphs like this in The Parachute and It's Pilot that show how each input affects your glide in different wind conditions.

Categories F, G, and H have lots of canopy control drills in them. How to adjust your glide, flat turns, reverse turns, etc... Some very important parts of the student program. The rating courses don't teach you everything you need to know. For example in the AFF I rating course, you're just tested on Cat C and D dives but an AFFI can obviously teach A-E.

Here's a fun puzzle game http://iso-infected.freeonlinegames.com/ I can get 15 gems but can't get the last 7. Can anyone figure it out?