ninjaswooper

I realize this post will probably just be deleted immediately as is the case with anything antithetical to the establishment at dropzone.com, but I can't help it. How obvious it is that this thread found its way to the front after the recent fatality. Is the rating too easy? Should the instructor be able to get to the student 100% of the time? Are these really the questions you people ask? Skydiving is not safe, and it isn't the responsibility of gear manufacturers or instructors to make it so. If that were the case their jobs would be impossible. If you jump out of an airplane, you have a certain likelihood of dying. If you don't do what you are supposed to, said likelihood increases exponentially. You make that decision, you are responsible. Instructors are merely enablers. Even if they do everything safe and by the book, a student can still kill themselves. It's your choice to throw yourself at the globe, take responsibility for it. Stop trying to blame it on someone else, please.

You mean he does a blindman before he touches a front riser and before he starting his dive? Wow that's either impressive or plum crazy (maybe both!) If indeed this is what the poster was referring to, initiating a 180 degree line twist prior to executing your hook-turn, in effect doing a blind turn and in fact inducing a malfunction, then depending on the timing he may not have been the first. I know a person who was doing this on a regular basis at Skydive Spaceland when I first started jumping there in '05. Sick shit, you thought he was gonna bite it everytime. I don't know if anyone did it before then but it certainly is possible.

I've actually seen this happen to an SA2 at a similar loading. In this case I think the guy went from a hard flare into a hard right hand turn which caused a monetary collapse, followed by spiraling line twists which he had to chop. To his defense, he was a good bit higher than our little buddy here.

So this would be.... in our dreams. Grass doesn't turn green without water though!

i've packed a 365 into a micro sigma before... it's a bitch, but doable.

Here is a place that may jump you, I have known them to take people your size. www.skydivespaceland.com DONNY!!!! Can you say HANS??

So by your definition everyone currently occupying the government is a liberal?

I'm very happy for Ron, wish I could afford to contribute more to his campaign than I already have. I'd also be inclined to give more if he'd consider and independent run. I think Ron actually has more independent or even democratic support than he does within the Republican party. Still I'll vote in a Republican primary for the first time ever because of him.

The day of my second AFF jump (this was in late December and the dropzone wasn't a very lively place) I met a fellow skydiver. When he asked what my plans were for the evening and I told him to grab a bite to eat and stay in the bunkhouse, he said that I should come with him. Really it was my 3rd jump but this guy welcomed me into his home, simply because at that point, I simply wanted to be a skydiver. This is how the community should be... I got a home cooked meal, entertainment for the evening, beer!, and got to work my first ground crew. All he asked of me is I do the same for another brother of the sky someday. And that's the way it should be.

Hmm, let's see, we don't like the service or regulation from an organization that is at the very least arguably self-chosen, so we're gonna go and ask the federal government to take charge? Yeah, cause that kind of thinking has done everyone so much good in the past.

ahah, that is good clarification todd. yeah it looks like hitting the gates is critical. oh yeah, is everybody competing considered rookie class or what? no pros in the tx district?

Exactly, before I had 500 jumps I was jealous of the people who passed before me who got their Ds before the change... Since hitting a grand, I start to sometimes doubt that even I, d licensed and instructor rated, am qualified to be called "expert". To me, reducing the requirements for the license is ludicrous. What priviledge do non-night jumpers hope to receive by qualifying for d-licenses anyway? Are those avoiding "excess" danger just dying to be tandem instructors or do they want the bragging rights of holding the highest license in their sport? If it's bragging rights, in a sport for those with big balls, non-night jumpers have some growing to do. If your night vision is bad, that's one thing, otherwise, get a sack!

Well I've got some work to do, hope to be ready for Houston at the end of the month! I know my velo is looking forward to more air baths. Any info on what folks were flying... wingloading etc.?

Holy crap! Was there some insane wind or what?? I don't get it... the distance rounds seem hella short... Tell me it was terrible wind, otherwise my ego is growin'... I gotta get to practicing cause i think I could go big. Holy crap I say again.

Same difference. I just want to know why either way. You basically just have two different, though similar solutions to the same problem, how to keep the reserve in the container. I can logically see arguments for and against eack system... 2 pins equals half the risk of a premature deployment and twice the risk of a hard reserve pull. Maybe not exact but it is a logical flow. No real reason to pinpoint that I can think of other than manufacturers having unique solutions to identical problems.