tdog

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Posts posted by tdog

  1. Another low tech option... My DZ has the hanging harness... It worked well... But - every time we showed up for AFF we had to put on a dummy vest with the handles and show the EP NOT hanging before we could jump...

    Well, on one day an instructor sneaked up behind me as I was pulling and scared the s*&^ out of me as he grabbed the vest and spun me around... While trying to maintain balance on my feet, completely caught off guard, I still found the handles in the right order... It was then, and only then, that I knew I could do it when I had to... The hanging harness did not give the the confidence because I EXPECTED them to throw me around... Just an example of how thinking out of the box worked good for me.

  2. Quote

    Though i agree insuring a rig is a good idea, i fail to see how it would help in this matter. Dusty sent the rig to someone and the person just never paid for it. My insurance wouldn't cover that.



    Exactly right... We had a employee take the keys to a company car and take it out of state. The police had to recover it, and he was arrested - but since he was an employee at the time and we willfully gave him access to the keys - the insurance said, "sorry" and would not repair the damage unless we could prove it was caused by an accident with another object... But since the engine was damaged, it was not an accident.

  3. Quote

    Definately an "inside" offender,



    One of my non-official hats I wear is "director of security" for my company... I have access to high end covert hidden cameras that we use for inside jobs... We purchase them wholesale - have digital recorders, etc... $600+ computer buys a two camera system. PM me if you need a connection so you can catch the guy when he returns..

  5. Thanks all for the advice... I have received a few PMs too... You can keep them coming if you want, but I wanted to show my appreciation by saying thank you now…

    Quote

    I would recommend a structured camp, you have that camp comradeship -> you'll have a ball



    I work at a company owned by my mother and I... I told the guys I might be going to "camp"... They changed my outgoing message on my voicemail to: "Hi, I cannot come to the phone right now, I am at camp. If you need anything, you have to call my mother.":P;):)
    Quote

    Someone else said don't forget you canopy skills, you can't do a bunch of jumps if you pound in and your about to make a big investment in you.



    This is a recurring theme... Yes I know to spend energy on the canopy skills... I am a little farther along in my canopy skills since took a lot of coaching in flying another parachute-like ram-air wing, a paraglider - and have, as Brian Germain calls it, "learned from the greatest teacher, Incredible Physical Agony" while under my paraglider. I was lucky not to be broken when I should have been dead. Faced with the same scenario last weekend under a skydiving canopy, I landed safely on my tip-toes, proving one lesson learned, one trillion to go.


    Thanks again.

  7. Ok – so here is the deal… I searched this site for comments about the different tunnel camps – but most of the posts were “so last year” before the new tunnel locations were open… So, I am looking for fresh information.

    As you can see by my profile – I have 16 jumps… Not a lot… But my AFF went real smoothly, and post AFF I have given myself learning objectives to practice on every jump that I have nailed without feeling frustration… I am gonna be working with coaches at the DZ on tasks to get my A – but I think I want intense tunnel coaching soon…Two reasons why:

    1) If I was to fly 1 hour (60 jumps) at the DZ with a coach, I think I would be broke. It would cost over 3X as much, and the ground school would be inferior to the curriculum I see on the different tunnel camp websites. Ad the video, and I would have to rob a bank. Plus, some of the guys at the DZ said I should do tunnel time, because logically, “the tunnel does not lie, if you sink, you hit the floor”…

    2) I am finding myself learning “new tricks” that may be actually “bad habits”… For an example – on one of my last dives I turned 180 degrees very quickly (like, boom I am there) and nailed the heading I wanted… But then I thought, “wow, did I just do that with my feet??? Or did I just use my whole torso? Whatever I did, I did not use my hands, and it worked, but I wish I had a video to know how I did it…” If I continue to allow my body to find new ways of accomplishing the same tasks, I am sure some of my self-learned tricks I will have to un-learn…

    For a frame of reference of my goals – I want to hone my belly skills to the point that my skills will be respected and I will be invited to jump with somewhat experienced jumpers… Nothing competitive, something like, “On load 13 we are doing a…. Wanna join?” After I get this goal accomplished – then freefly…

    Without making a plug – the Arizona Airspeed camps in Feb/March look intriguing…

    Thoughts? Do my reasons to get tunnel time make sense? Structured camps vs. tunnel time with coaches? Realistic expectations for a 1 hour fly time camp? Pay more to do 1.5 hours – or is that just too much in three days? If I was to get another 20 jumps in before the camp, what skills should I nail in the air with local coaches to make the camp most rewarding?

    To prevent this forum from getting to commercially endorsed, I welcome PM on the subject if you rather not post…

    Thanks,

    T.

  8. Quote

    Given the similarities, perhaps cooperation would work better than confrontation.



    Very good point... I know little about BASE jumping other than I respect it a lot more now that I have jumped out of a plane. My line twists today would have killed me if I was base jumping as I burned 1000 feet kicking out of them under a mildly spinning non-landable canopy…

    The press and main stream reputation about BASE jumping is that it is done by rebellious people who use bolt cutters and other tools to BASE without permission - and that, in a way, is what makes it cool.

    Whereas, paraglider pilots go out of their way to make sure what they do is approved by whoever has jurisdiction... If you fly off a site without permission from the owners, other paraglider pilots will make sure your ratings are revoked. If you fly when a FAA NOTAM is in place, you will get kicked out of the sport. (as they don’t want FAA regulation) They just (at least the locals I knew) don't tolerate anyone who has the attitude, "do it now, ask for forgiveness latter." The last thing they want is a rebellious or illegal activity reputation. I think this is EXACTLY what BASE jumpers must face when they have a legal site used by the community. One BASE jumper breaks rules – the people who control access to the site start second-guessing their decision and want to close it down…

    Quote


    I'm going to go dig around the USHGA web site, and see if I can join...



    I know you can! Just like you can be a non-rated USPA member, you can be a non-rated USHGA member... You will get a cool magazine with incident reports and stories of cross country flights, and articles on how to do fancy maneuvers like wingovers.

    But, why don’t you take a few weekends and learn and become rated??? Even at P1 - you will learn hours of basic wind information to learn when a hill is safe to fly and when it is not.

    The paragliding class is very similar to AFF, but much cheaper. I paid $1000 for LIFETIME training - I could just show up any day I wanted and get instruction... You will do a lot of ground school with and without gear, then fly off a little mountain the same weekend. Then you have your P1... After a few dozen flights, you fill out a proficiency card, and you get a P2. There is no gear rental fee while you are working on P2, and there are no slots to buy in the plane for yourself, instructors, or coaches. The most complicated sites you need a P3 or P4 to fly, which takes about as much effort as a C or D skydiving license...

    I think skydivers could teach a lot of paragliders a thing or to - and the other way around. I am SO thankful I have the cross discipline experience. If any skydiver came up to me and said, “how can I learn to fly my canopy better (not landings) I would say, consider taking paragliding lessons from a school like AirPlay.

    There is a medical reason (my knees dislocate when running down hill, thanks DNA) that I quit paragliding. But, I have to say, if I could safely re-enter the sport, I think I would fly a skydiving rig off a mountain for the fun of it. I would have worked with the local club to make it possible, and I would have started with something loaded .75 to 1.


    If you want any info about schools, the ratings, where to learn, how to learn, etc - PM me...

  9. Ok - so I was a paraglider pilot - and now am learning skydiving... No BASE experience other than watching the Go Fast Games this year at the Royal Gorge. Take my opinion for whatever you wish...

    Quote

    Paraglider pilots generally do have more knowledge of winds and weather than the average skydiver.



    I would agree in that I was taught much more weather in Paraglidng school than skydiving school. And – I don’t see the experienced guys talking about weather post AFF either.

    Quote


    (paraglider) likely little experience dealing with malfunctioning canopies.



    Hmm... In my first 12 paraglidng flights I had to correct more dangerous (read pending death) situations (deflations, knots, stalls, turns into hills on launch, etc) than in my first 12 skydives. I had to work hard to keep my paraglider over my head, and I landed in spots smaller than a McDonalds parking lot when I could not make it to the normal spot… I can say ground launching a paraglider was much more difficult to learn than skydiving. A friend of mine died doing it.

    In skydiving - you pull somewhere high enough you can fire your reserve. In BASE you have some distance (greater than 4’) between the ground and you to get the canopy flying overhead and controllable. In paragliding you build a wall, inspect your canopy, and pull it over your head and run down a rocky hill. There is a point of no return where you are flying even if you don't want too... I have seen people not have time to react to knots or line twists. And there are days when you run half way down a hill missing trees as you go where aborting would be simple.


    Quote

    and I ran into a paraglider and I got to talking to him a little. The dude wasn't rude or anything, but he had his own attitude and misconceptions about Paragliding and Ground Launching and I could tell just from his words that he and his friends are not going to like myself and anyone I bring to the Ground Lauching site.



    Ok, so here is the deal... Paragliders fly off of publicly or privately owned lands, not drop zones. I know it took years of meetings to get a few local sites opened, and only one mistake for one to get closed down a few years back. These are not commercial operations like Drop Zones - you don't pay a fee to enter. You are guests. And since paragliders often fly the same site 5 times a day, they hope to fly the same site more than once.

    Just like the USPA has insurance for 3rd party accidents, the USHGA has the same. Membership is required at most launch sites in the contracts between the landowners (like cities, ski resorts, etc) and the local clubs. Also, just like the USPA says a student can't fly when XXX - the USHGA and local clubs have rules to self govern the sport.

    Knowing a bunch of paraglider pilots - if you showed up to a site with a skydiving or base rig and said, "I am going to fly" - I think they would call the police on you and have the power to do so granted by the landowners. They would see you as a threat to everything they worked for and the landowners would see you as trespassing. Now, if you learned paraglidng in the same way they did, and proved you knew how to fly close to the ground and on ridgelines, knew how to kite your canopy - and then brought the skydiving/base canopy to the site - I bet they would respect you and welcome you with open arms... Perhaps even ask to try your canopy too and invite you to the bar to learn from you. They have seen just as many people die paraglidng as experienced skydivers have in our community – and they take it very seriously.


    Quote

    Apples and oranges my friend, apples and oranges.



    But they are both fruit. I learned nothing about skydiving freefall in paraglidng - but once the canopy opened, while other AFF1 students were trying to find the toggles, I was trying to find the stall point...

    Here is my opinion… Learning to fly a paraglider is like learning to drive a big truck. Learning to fly a skydiving rig is like learning to drive a car… Once you know how to drive one, the other is easier to learn… But, I would never BASE jump without some freefall experience in a more forgiving environment, like in skydiving… Paragliding only cross trains for the second half of skydiving.

    T.

  10. Quote

    as I watched my old friend, HP deskjet 5550, burn in and explode into pieces.



    In case you would like to try your instruction skills one more time to see if you have better results, I have a Lexmark E312L that is deserving of your training skills and wants to do a BASE jump.... It has a nice arch on the top, so I think it will be stable as long as the exit is good.

  11. Say, I am putting together my Christmas list. (Yep, you got it, all the presents I am giving myself this year.)

    I am putting together what I think my first rig should be if I had unlimited resources... I have to pick a container for a 6’3” 205 pound guy... I have solicited a lot of advice from the guys at the local DZ – but time to look out of the box and see what you guys think.

    I have reviewed the gear reviews online - and as expected - everyone loves the gear they own... (Have you ever found a parent who admits their newborn baby is ugly or stupid?)

    The brands that keep coming up from people I ask (in alphabetical order):

    Mirage Systems Mirage
    Relative Workshop Vector
    Velocity Sport's Infinity

    Recommendations from people who have flown or rigged more than one brand, sent via private messages or posts would be very much appreciated.

    NOTE – Knowing that all three are probably pretty darn good containers, comparisons would be very helpful – like “XYZ does this better while ABC does that better.” Or – “I have seen ABC rig fail when… That is why I like XYZ.”

    I thank you for your help.

  15. Quote

    An experienced jumper at my DZ said that I should work on tracking perpendicular to the flight path of the airplane on exit. I'm not exactly sure why, so I plan on asking an instructor about it.



    The reason I know of:

    Gives more separation between you and others. If you track the same direction as the jump run, you could end up over or under someone. If you track perpendicular - you get away from everyone else.

  16. Quote

    Figure in my student training and everything else I had spent about $25,000 jumping. Thats a hell of a downpaymet on a house or car I could have made.



    Considering a new car costs $25,000 over the same 4 year period - would you say that you enjoyed jumping more than you would have enjoyed driving a new car??? I used to be too cheap to jump - then I said, "shit, I spend $500 a month on my car - and it just gets me to work and back." Now that it is paid in full and I plan on keeping it for a while - this became a no-brainer, and my monthy spending will not even go up...

    However, I do admit, paraglidng was very difficult for me after someone who trained with me died doing everything right. That still makes me think real hard before each drive to the DZ, knowing there are similar risks...

    There is, in my opinion, only one word that sums up this whole discussion: Priorities

  17. Quote

    Personally I would try and do AFF all at one time. (As was suggested to me by people with gazillions of jumps when I first arrived at Eloy for a couple tandems) I did them all in one weekend and it made it seem to go very easy for me. Partially I think because I did not have a lot of time to sit around and over-analyze every aspect of each level.



    Interesting thought... I liked doing my AFF over a few back-to-back weekends mixing in a week day or two when my job permitted - about two jumps a day... It took me I think 3 weeks.

    Between the jumps each day, the student-instructor conversation really was about the previous jump and the next jump... How to turn, track, etc... Nothing about emergency procedures, malfunctions, etc.

    However at the start of each day we had to have a safety briefing where we talked about and practiced safety and other ground school stuff for at least 30 to 45 minutes...

    More than once I got weathered out - but still got the safety stuff in since I showed up at the DZ. I learned a lot in those multiple sessions, and think the extra hours of ground discussions were priceless in my training... When I hear people say, "I got AFF done in 36 hours" I think, "did they get to be quizzed and briefed about procedures by five different instructors, over five different days, and have to answer the same core procedure questions until they came naturally and the reasons for the answers were clear too?"

    I liked my progression... It gave me more one-on-one time with my instructors talking about procedures not specific to the next jump - all for the same price. I also got to read these forums and books and bring a list of questions to ask them too...

  18. Morcyk,

    Quote


    2)???



    This question is about the cypres - right?

    Hey, I am just a student too - so take my comments for what they are worth..

    A student cypres has a yellow button that might say student on it. An expert has a red. Expert = does not really mean expert... The first time I saw that, I thought, "someone with a wing loading of 2:1 flying an insane canopy must use that - where is the "standard" that I will use??? It seems, in the eyes of Cypres, we become experts right after student. ;)

    It probably won't be a bad idea to read the Cypres instruction manual very soon, but make sure your instructors know what you are doing outside of the classroom...

    I read it right after I passed AFF, I wanted to know how the sucker worked... Or more specifically, I wanted to make sure I did everything right so it never needs to work.:P http://www.cypres2.com/userguide/CYPRES_2_users_guide_english.pdf

    (note - that link is for cypres2 - not the cypres1)

    I have taken note of if my cypres is a student model or expert model - because the rental rigs I have been using have both...

    Expert = 78 MPH at 750 feet.
    Student = less than freefall, greater than 29 MPH at 1000 feet - freefall at 750 feet.

    My instructors made me aware of the fact, per page 11 of the manual linked above, "that it is possible to exceed a vertical speed of 29 mph (13 meters per second) under a fully inflated canopy!" Why is this important? At 1000 feet, if you are doing some fast turns or anything that could cause your decent to be faster than 29MPH - you might end up with two canopies out, even though your main was perfect.

    At my point in progression, I don't see myself hitting 29 MPH below 1000 feet - but, I feel personally that it is good to know the design of the gear you are using in case murphy's law sneaks up to you...

  19. Quote

    Ever tried the racket game called "badminton". (In each case in holland we call it badminton). It's the game with the bal with feathers.. How does it come down. Red bal at the top or bottom?




    Got it... Perfect visual.

  21. Quote

    The pretty LITTLE girls are lots of fun but they will get you in trouble quicker than any other passenger.



    I clearly walked into the wrong room here with my experience level... But the discussion was interesting so I decided to eavesdrop and learn something along the way...

    If I was asked, I would have thought the bigger (and flatter) long arm/leg students with a lot of mass would be harder to control - as they have more surface area to catch air in all the wrong ways.

    Why is it the LITTLE people that take you for a ride?

    If someone has the time, just PM me or post something... While I will not be a TI for a long time (if ever), I like learning new things...

  22. Quote

    My only concern is I don’t want any federales shooting at us under canopy.



    One of our employees used to fly crop dusters down there... I asked him, "why did you not continue to fly when you moved to the US"... His response was, "do you think I have a license.":P

  24. Quote

    Pretty much a textbook PLF... though a round canopy. But a PLF is a PLF.



    Nice PLF - but the forward ground speed was near zero thanks to the round...

    Anyone got a PLF video of someone with more ground speed?