Slickbrick

Go to chambersburg, PA. Tell JR that skip sent ya. chambersburg is a good DZ. safety conscious, quality gear, good plane, good people, no attitudes, plenty of altitude. good outs, good neighbors. highly recommended. I just used google maps, and chambersburg is 1.5 hours from you, straight up 81. orange is about 2 hours from you.

I did not intend to imply that you were a fool, or that you knew nothing, or that you should not be concerned. I took issue with your "someone's gotta do something about this" plea. To me, that plea is begging for a three or four letter entity entity to step in make "make things safe". They usually fail miserably.

2 canopies is FAA. the BSR's are recommendations. From the SIM: "the recommendations contained herein, unless otherwise stated (such as in the case of compliance with a Federal Aviation Regulation), are put forth as guidance and are not mandatory." Newbies should be already getting adequate canopy training... I know that I had it drilled into me all throughout my training. In order to get their A, they have been judged to have sufficient skills to not kill themselve by being uninformed. A formal progression? More requirements to meet, and probably more paid training. where does it stop? when do you say that a person is truly on their own? when are they free to make their own gear choices and not have them mandated? But I think we're kind of drifting to a different area. the swooper in question had plenty of experience. he made a bad decision, or made a mistake, and paid for it with his life. I am saddened by the fact that he died. I fully support his ability to make a bad decision, and be accountable for it. it's the cry of "*somethings got to be done about this*" that scares/disgusts me. it's the same as the "think of the children" cry, IMO

Freefly education isn't mandatory either. Granted, we're not seeing as many deaths from it, but it's pretty widely accepted that you should get some instruction before trying it. By instruction, I don't mean necessarily paid instruction, either. Why is it widely accepted that you should get some instruction? Because people realized that you could hurt or kill yourself or others, and they talked about it. I guess my point is that we (skydivers) have gotten away from mentoring each other. A return to the mentality that we are all responsible for helping out the newbies could go a long way towards preventing the race to downsize and the inadvertant and ill-timed low turns that dominate that fatality category. As for swoopers, they are responsible for their own training. You can go out today and buy a 150 HP motorcycle and drive away from the dealer, with the only requirement from the DMV being that you can pilot it at low speeds. No further training is required. It is strongly advisable -- but it is on you to seek it out. It's analagous to skydiving. A gear store will sell you whatever you want to buy, it's *your* responsibility to learn how to fly it. We are all responsible when a newbie makes a low turn on a canopy that's too small for them. We have failed by not impressing upon them the dangers of their actions. When a rider with 20 years of experience bites it in a turn on a fast bike, you can say, "they knew the risks". When an experienced swooper pounds in, I say the same thing. They knew that what they were doing was increasing their risk, and they were ok with it. We don't need to (and largely cannot) legislate common sense. You pays your money, you takes your chances.

What I'm getting from your post is a abandonment of personal responsibility. "Someone should *do* something to stop these senseless deaths" is a cry for regulation. Skydiving is a dangerous activity. Period. The end. That said, there are steps and actions you can take to help mitigate the risks, such as training and practice. Think how much more dangerous your first jumps would have been had you not had proper training. There are a number of canopy flight schools, and there are folks like Bill Von who share their knowledge and wisdom with anyone willing to ask for it. The onus is on the participants to understand the risks, and to take what steps they feel are necessary to mitigate the risks to their own level of comfort. I, personally, do not want "Someone doing something" to protect me from myself. IMO: What made America great is the freedom to make bad decisions. The destruction of this great nation is the absolution of responsibility from the outcome of those decisions.

130 jumps, 10 years in the sport.

Just wanted to say that i had a balst at Elsinore. thanks to MiniFly for the ride, and to Shark and Gawain for the jumps. Skip

It's still there, you just have to find the right people to jump with. Some people take the fun out of it. for me, the journey *is* the destination. Skip

my favorite dream was I have a normal jump, and I go to pull, and have a total, then i try to pull the reserve, but te handle is stuck. I keep fighting it and finally it coems out, but I have a total on the reserve. I'm reaching back, trying to get it to open, hitting it with my elbows, etc. at this point, I'm really scared, but calm. at about 100 feet, I can see everything on the ground, people pointin g, etc. my reserve comes out, opens and i crash/PLF in the peas. Skip

I have secured a ride. thanks for all the help! if you're going to be in Elsinore on Saturday, look me up. Skip

I cn understand your position. I'm about 230 and when i started, i had a lot of problems staying with people. I can't count the number of RW dives I watched from 100 feet below. get a big floppy jumpsuit, and it'll make a big difference. My JM's gave me the "slickBrick" nick after I nearly lost one on my Level 4 dive. :~) heck with it. there's plenty of fast fallers out there. If you make it out to the mid atlantic, look me up. I can hook you up wiht the fast fallers in my area. Skip

I hear a lot of folks talk about how fast they were able to do AFF, and how you should do it over the course of just a couple weekends. I'm not so sure that that is the best way to do it, and I know that it would not have been the best way to do it for me. I took quite a while to go through AFF (8 months), partly because of where I was jumping, partly because of an agreement I made with my wife, and partly because it was freaking expensive. I took it at a pretty leisurly pace, savoring each and every jump. In fact, I still do that. A "lot of jumps" for me in a day is 4 or 5. more than that, and they kind of blend together, I don't have time to write a little novella in my logbook about each jump, etc. The good side to the little novella is that I can go back through my logbook, and remember something about every jump. to me, that is more valuable than getting on every load... plus, this stuff is expensive! 5 jumps is nearly $100, and I can't afford to drop that kind of dosh too often. I do, however, have a goal for this summer. I want to get my D. With 10 years in the sport, I figure it's time :~) 70 jumps and counting down.

ROCK! I am a newbie, too... 130 jumps and ten years in the sport. you can hit me up on AIM if you use it, rr corpsec ss

sorry I wasn't clear... I am flexible as to: What DZ What time I leave Orange (though I think my 'work provided hotel' runs out friday. ( Is there a bunkhouse at Elsinore?) ) What time I leave the DZ my only inflexible is that I'm at John wayne by about 10 am on sunday.

pick up in Orange Friday evening or Satu morning, return to orange (got to get to John Wayne airport) by 10am sunday morning... trying to be flexible...