EvilLurker

Well, I don't know either of these guys personally, but it sounds like Andy got a low-risk lesson in how to run a DZ and I expect that he's going to come out of this just fine. Sometimes it costs you some pain and effort to get established and it sounds like Andy's gotten through that phase and is ready to go it alone. If you look at the positive side of it, SD now has a decent DZ (facilities wise, at least) and a new DZO that wants to repeat the process. If the hatin' ruins all that effort, the skydiving community is the loser. If the local jumpers want to sacrifice it all, so be it. The future may be that Buzz runs SSD into the ground and it folds while Andy starts a new DZ and prospers, or they could both do well. Good luck to both of you is my opinion.

One big help in getting back from a long spot is making the frontal area of your body as small as possible. Sit back in your harness, get your knees up and keep your elbows close to your body. Partial brakes might help, depending on your canopy. I got the best glide when flying downwind with about 1/4 brakes, but I'm sure it varies. Getting "small" is what really helped me out, though, and I've gotten back from some loooong spots (every time, I never did land out). I throw my PC at 3500, also, which is a huge advantage.

If it passes it's self-test, it's safe to jump. There's a big safety margin built into the CYPRES, give it a last day of service and a decent burial.

I bounced off the tire with my knee once chasing a 3-way out the door while doing video. That sent me spinning like a top. After I got stable I got some real nice long-range video of the jump (you could almost make out that there were 3 of them at a couple of point, even). They were underwhelmed at my skills. Nose to the step sounds bad, glad you're okay.

Me too, but what do you bet we're in the minority?

So, did you watch the plane as you left? Have any trouble staying stable and on-heading? Congrats!

In my experience, the most dangerous type of "turbulance" is gusting winds, when your canopy is surging forward and dropping as the relative airspeed drops. That got me once, and there wasn't a thing I could do. I'd say an airlocked canopy is superior in that type of conditions since you don't get as severe depressurization, but it's not a cure-all for gusts or rotors. I started sitting out days when the wind is "gusting and quitting", it's too risky and all the experience in the world won't remove the risk if it happens when you're low on final.

Watching the plane after exit is a tool that can help you develop good form while on the "hill". After you get a feel for it, you'll be able to perform a nice stable exit without watching the plane, it will just "feel right". I do know it helped me a lot on my first 30 or so jumps. After that, they were all dive outs or RW chunks, but I could maintain heading and stability due to the "watch the plane" practice I had done. I'd recommend it highly as a learning tool.

If you keep jumping thiose Cessnas you'll learn how to spot. There's just no substitute in the turbine world for acquiring that skill. No kidding. Take a look at the VVI and when it's at 200 FPM you're about ready to get out, in my experience. I never jumped a turbine until 100+ Cessna jumps. It was quite the eye-opener the first time I lined up with 20 other people and started marching towards the door. Yeah baby!

Well, if you're under your reserve, it means you chopped your main, so you lost about 10 pounds. I'm jumping a 170 main and a 160 reserve, so the wing loading should be about the same. I weigh 150-155 without gear, so that's not in any way a highly loaded reserve, in my opinion. I figure I could survive landing it without a flare, or unconscious. (Until it put me into the river or high-tension lines, with my luck). Choosing a reserve that requires a high degree of skill to land safely always seemed risky, so I gave up some "sleekness" for peace of mind. Personal choice.

If you don't get any points, though, you'll remember that forever. I know that from experience.

Sounds like something I'd do, not that that makes it "right". Glad it worked out okay. One foot from the peas, huh? Heh..heh.

I went through IAD instead of static line (your JM throws the pilot chuts as soon as you release from the strut). We did 5 of those, then went straight to BOC deployment by the student. I never jumped a static line once. 5 IADs then 5 second freefall, if all went well with your practice pulls.

You get a tension knot if you twist a line so that it has "tension" in it, then when it goes slack, it wants to twist on itself and loop. When this happens, it can loop around itself and get a loop trapped in it when the slack is removed. That's why you chase your steering lines out and insure they're untwisted when you pack. Take a piece of any kind of rope or line, stand on one end and twist it up, then release the tension and watch, you'll get the picture real quick.

I think you have that backwards, 200 grit is more agressive than 400 grit. Or am I missing something?