brianfry713

I get the occasional bad reading using the lastest sofware V2.6.0 and above. If you look at the version history http://www.alti-2.com/neptune%20owners/neptune_version_history.htm they changed: "Jump log speed calculations have been improved to prevent turbulent airflow result in wild velocity readings." I actually think the old algorithm was better and gave me more accurate measurements of freefall speed. At least I didn't see occasional values like 350 mph. Note that if you use Paralog the graphs should be accurate, it just seems like the values displayed on the Neptune are sometime way off. I've let Alti-2 know about this and hopefully they'll fix it in the next software release.

Has anyone else just thought of putting a little colored dot with markers on the different tabs to identify A,B,C,D, and steering lines? I know it's usually said here not to apply foreign chemicals to your skydiving equipment, but the loose fabric on the outside of the line attachment tabs doesn't seem very critical or load bearing. That way you can buy whatever canopy flies the best and still have color coded tabs. I also try to recolor my kill line so I can see if it's cocked after the color fades out during use.

My BASE canopy, a CR Ace 280, has black dacron lines. The steering lines, center C, and center D lines are red because they are placed inside a tail gate when packing and that makes them easy to find. Some BASE canopies have only the steering lines red for easy identification in the case of a line over. The black lines were an option at an extra charge, and I was told they are slightly stronger than the white lines.

I stick my Neptune in the ear hole with nothing holding it in there except my ear and head. I was having trouble hearing it, especially when freeflying, so I duck taped all the holes in the helmet. I also taped a little bit of extra stuffing in the ear hole to put the Neptune closer to my ear. I also always align it so the speaker hole is right up against my ear. I still try to take a look at my visual altimeter when I'm getting low. I lost a pro-dytter when my girlfriend with her small head borrowed my helmet for a jump.

In an airplane, car, or roller coaster you can experience various g loadings including negative (floating up, being pulled down by the seatbelt), zero(weightless), one(normal), and greater than one(being pushed into the seat). On initial freefall exit from a BASE jump you experience weightlessness or zero g's. For the next ten seconds of freefall or so you gradually accelerate and the relative wind speed builds up. After you accelerate to terminal the force of the wind is equal to your weight, so you experience one g. On opening, your body is slowed by the harness and experiences a g loading greater than one. A skydive is similar but you do not experience much of a zero g weightless feeling if the aircraft is already moving fast through the relative wind. So if you describe the roller coaster feeling as negative g's, you don't normally experience that on a BASE jump or a skydive after you've left the airplane. You do experience postive g's similar to a roller coaster going through a loop during the opening.

Try giving the Parachute Center in Lodi a call if you can't jump at any of the SoCal DZs.

It feels like you're freefalling. Unlike most skydives you can feel the wind pick up as you accelerate. You may experience negative g's on a rollercoaster or in an airplane, but in initial freefall you're experiencing zero g's, until you reach terminal velocity and are back to one g due to the forces of the wind. You also experience one g when you're standing on the ground or in level flight.

Try contacting Skydance, they usually do one or two 30k jumps a year. I haven't heard anything about one this year yet. http://www.skydance.net/sd/highj.htm

That was a fun 100th jump, it was nice meeting and jumping with you. Skydance is great.

I did a night in the drunk tank for a DUI. It was only about 6 hours, but it seemed like forever as I didn't sleep and couldn't see the clock.

1 more year to go. Congrats Steve.

You could try a bigger liner. The Z1 shell is the same size, but it may fit better with the audible in a bigger size liner.

FAR 105.43(c) If installed, the automatic activation device must be maintained in accordance with manufacturer instructions for that automatic activation device.

The Discovery Channel. Try #182 at 7pm or 11pm Pacific time on dish network. It's on channel 29 on Comcast at 10pm where I live.

Most bridges don't require you to push off hard. It would be good practice for future BASE jumps though.

Sounds like he didn't do enough tracking. Suicides off jumpable objects are bad for BASE jumpers.

You can see the stunt junkies clip here, scroll down to the correct episode. http://dsc.discovery.com/beyond/player.html?playerId=203711706&categoryId=208816812&lineupId=164950249 Episode 18: AIRPLANE HANGAR SWOOP Joao Tambor would like to execute a hangar swoop. For this stunt, he will perform a skydive and then open his parachute to swoop end-to-end through an airplane hangar. Joao will have to gauge his line exactly right to fit into the hangar's entrance, as his clearance from the doors' edges will be extremely tight in all directions. He will then have to maintain his course in order to successfully exit through the hangar's doors on the opposite side. Adding to this stunt's difficulty, Joao must sustain flight (in a precise line) without any current. At any moment Joao's canopy could collapse, crashing him to the ground, or any miscalculation could send his canopy into dangerous objects. Joao has never successfully accomplished this stunt as he has always had to touchdown within the hangar, but with determination and precise timing Joao may finally make his once-thought-impossible dream come true. Premiere: Jan. 29, 2007

Some BASE jumpers are selfish, they want their objects all to themselves. Others enjoy sharing the experience with people they think are ready. I kept asking to go to a local object to GC, but wouldn't be allowed by the people I was asking until I had my own gear, took two FJCs, and made a few jumps at legal objects. If you don't have a mentor (hard to find these days) to give you detailed instruction, a FJC is much better than the 15 minute brief you might get the night you do your first BASE jump. You'll get much more respect from the locals after you get home and might actually get invited along and shown some objects when you get home, as long as you're not an asshole. Personally, I won't jump anything unless I have someone to show me the object and tell me about it.

I agree that TF is a better place for newbies to jump than BD. Less pressure, less object strike potential for PCA's, a bigger landing area, and more time to make more jumps. I disagree that having first times at BD is fucking retarded. Many people make their first, and sometimes only BASE jumps at BD without incident. If the LZ is not something you're comfortable with, there's always the water and 4 rescue boats. Plus in low wind conditions I think the land LZ is very doable on a lightly loaded BASE canopy for someone with good accuracy skills, attainable in a few hundred skydives. Not everyone is going to go to TF or Norway for their first BASE jumps. A legal day jump off a tall S is better than a night illegal jump off a more unforgiving object where many people do their first BASE jumps. Some people enjoy the circus of BD and others don't. And Tom, Bridge Day is BASE jumping, even if there's a lot of skydivers jumping old skydiving rigs off a tall bridge.

Interesting story and avatar pic Mike. And Ficus, congrats on the 200th. Glad I could be a part of it. The trouble makers kicked ass. http://www.skydanceskydiving.net/images/TroubleMakers2ndPlace.JPG

What helps to split up the landing areas with the example of places like Byron, Elsinore, and Skydive Oregon is that there is something dividing the HP and regular canopy traffic that no one wants to land on. If there is something like a pump-house, lake, road, or runway dividing the LZ people are way more likely to stay away from the middle of the two landing areas. I think several of the Eloy collisions were caused by the merging of a left and right pattern in the middle at the no fly zones. If the no fly zone, if there is a no fly zone, is just a grassy area, it would be a lot more tempting for someone who botched the approach to cross into it or land there, eliminating the separation between the split LZ and causing a potential collision hazard between the different patterns. George, there are DZs that don't allow fun jumpers. The money is in the tandems and students. It is a business, and the treatment of fun jumpers and policies will vary among dropzones and events. Some boogies raise jump ticket prices and charge registration to pay for the planes, food, beer, organizers, and the rest of the event. Some DZ's don't really have any events or boogies, and just focus on money doing tandems and student jumps. Lodi's prices are great, but they have to do a lot more jumps for the DZ to make as much money as most other DZs. Despite the significantly lower prices people still chose to jump at the nearby DZs for whatever reasons. Bryan's explanation of how H&P's and swoopers are not economical for SDAZ made a lot of sense.

Most groups of RW experienced jumpers break off at least by 4,000 feet and FF by 4,500 feet at a minimum. By 3,000 feet, there should be enough separation to pull and not hit each other under canopy. That is if everything goes according to plan, as it should, and of course you have a plan. Sometimes things don't go as planned. If you lose altitude awareness and find yourself around 2,000 feet with someone directly above you, it could kill both of you if you pulled at that moment. If you are facing someone and are close together, if you both pull at the same time you could have a canopy collision and the results could be fatal. If you do a normal breakoff and then pull too low, you could also die. One other situation that comes to mind is what do you do if you're at your pull altitude and you see a canopy deploying directly beneath you? Usually the best choice then is to track and pull when you are assured that you won't hit them. It is a decision you need to make quickly and it depends on how close people are, how much of a collision risk they are, how much altitude you have, what's the LZ like underneath you, what gear you are jumping, your current freefall speed, experience levels, and other factors. If you still have time to turn 180, track for a few seconds, deploy your main, execute EPs if necessary, and avoid an AAD fire, then that could be the best option for avoiding other jumpers and the ground. There may be a situation where you have to go lower and go straight to your reserve. All of these scary situations are avoidable if you maintain altitude awareness, plan the jump, and stick to the plan that assures adequate separation before your pull altitude.