HydroGuy

I think skydiving is riskier than all of the above... I tell people that yes, skydiving has inherent risks. But through equipment, preparation and practice, we try to minimize these risks. That risk which is left over we have to accept, or find a more suitable activity. I find when you explain to people what an AAD is(because people always ask what if you pass out, get knocked out, or just freeze and forget to pull), reserve canopies (how they are built differently, who packs them and repack inspection cycles) and that you can actually steer the canopy, people become much receptive to the idea of skydiving. Would be much harder to talk to a whuffo about BASE, in my opinion. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

You're assuming strength (or lack thereof) has something to do with a dislocation. I am not an anatomist or a doctor so I don't know for sure; but I'd guess they are not necessarily correlated. I have known several very strong athletes who suffer frequent shoulder dislocations. Weak in design as well as physically weak...both is more of what I was referring to. In general, a person who is in better shape will be: 1. less prone to injury 2. heal faster when injured In reference to your very strong athletes who get frequent dislocations, this would show an old and recurring injury. And if they are "very strong", they probably hit heavier weights, which can damage tendons and ligaments much easier than say pushups, pullups, bar dips, swimming, surfing, yoga, a moderate weight lifting routine etc. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

See, that makes sense to me...but people hurt them in freefall with no collisions. I'm wondering if the general populations shoulders are just that weak, and skydiving exploits/exposes this weakness. Or is it poor body position..for example, maybe someone who flys headup with really wide legs and has to really stretch their arms behind their back to clear their burble. Maybe both? Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I read constantly on here about people having dislocated shoulders in freefall with no apparent contact or collision? Why? Makes no sense to me... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Most skydivers have hundreds or thousands of canopy landings...but I would venture to guess that the vast majority have very few small plane landings. Being apprehensive about a small plane landing doesn't make someone a "wuss". Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Yep... In college I only played polo though. I have never, ever seen anybody use water polo in an analogy or hypothetical comparison before now. Swimmers are pussies. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Ok there's been miles of discussion about number of fingers in toggles, so I think that's been beaten to death. What I'm wondering is why this happened to you at low altitude. Since this was a canopy that you aren't accustomed to, you should have made it a point to test its behavior up high. Did you deploy high and try all controls, including slow flares and fast flares, trying to see if you could stall the canopy? If you did these up high then it should have alerted you to the behavior of the slider,a nd you shouldn't have been startled when coming in for a landing. Yep, first jump on it was a clear and pull at 12.8k. Probably did 20 flares...fast and slow. Stalled it several times and then slowly let it return to flight. Had two nice landings prior to this one. Had four more good ones after it...with the exception of my first jump (which I was probably 15m long on), all my landings were within 5 m. Since I only make it to the DZ once or twice a week, I try to start every jumping day with a high altitude clear and pull. It's a chance for me to "become one with the canopy" again...not that I believe I'm a good enough pilot to be "one with the canopy", but I think you get my point...maybe bond would be a better description. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Has anyone ever seen a picture of plane wreckage at the Pentagon? Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

N/A

The dog will work but beware: once a dog starts killing chickens, they won't stop. It triggers some predator thing in their head and it's next to impossible to change their ways. Next thing you know the dog will be in the neighbors yard going after the chickens...and your dog will be shot I had a Rhodesian Ridgeback that wanted to kill everything - my dads chickens, the neighbors cats, possumn, rabbits, squirels... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

For those who are familiar: I'm interested in having a rigger install slider keepers on my front risers as per Brian Germain when my rig arrives. On the BigAirSportz website, Brian has a graphic showing the keepers being made of 1000# Braided Dacron (Double thickness). But on a thread I found during a search, Brian posts of using 500#-700# Dacron, finger trapping it inside itself, then zig zagging or bartacking it to increase stiffness prior to installation on the risers. Is there a difference between the two methods(like is one an update of another) or just two ways to acheive the same ends? Does this cause any hassles with stowing your risers? Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Swanson and Chiz use the in air-coms...probably others at the FMC as well. Works well for simple commands: check your feet, head back, drive forward. I want to try it next time I go in the tunnel. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

(31) headup freefly - including my first several 4 ways with some SICK flyers (13) full altitude hop and pops - I've never gotten to do any REAL cross countries because of air traffic around Perris (4) belly jumps (1) 3.5k hop and pop (1) tracking dive 47 of these were good stand up/run out/foot slide out landings, 1 was a foot slide that I tumbled on, 1 butt slide, and 1 mid-flare dropped toggle ground strike with a lucky outcome. My next 50 will probably be (20) head up freefly, (20) tracking and (10) full altitude hop and pops Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

It seems every instructor and coach at Perris (other than JP) that I know watched my little landing fiasco. So afterwards every one of them asked me WTF happened. Every one of them told me I need four fingers in the toggles, and use two for my dive loops (index and ring)...including Clint Clawson. Chiz knows two individuals who are no longer with us and one in a wheelchair because of dropped toggles on Hi Po landings... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

La Perla Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Seems to me that it would be awfully simple to design an AAD for swoopers or with a swoop mode that would turn off after a given period of time under canopy...it would be there solely to protect them from a door/tail strike. If they can make an AAD, they can make one turn off. How many people would actually buy a swoop-only AAD though? Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Tried a Safire 2 169 yesterday. Nice canopy, flew well, end cells didn't want to open. The risers it was hooked to didn't have slider stops. Came in on an otherwise uneventful landing. Flared. Canopy "bucked", slider came flying down past the links and toggle stows to my head and the right toggle just popped out of my hand. Canopy dove left, but I was slow enough and low enough that I just kind of slid on my butt. I had been previously flying a Pilot 168 that to me seems to have a super low toggle pressure. Because of this, I believe I had started flying with just two fingers in my toggles...you can be damn sure I won't make that mistake again. And I need to learn to stow that slider properly...will be my first priority next time I make it to the DZ. Jim Wallace had a great quote for me later, "You learned something new and didn't get hurt. That's good in this sport." Oh yeah, I got a 100% on my B exam. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

France Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Perris is 22 bucks to 12.5k - 13k. You can also buy a block of 55 tickets for 1000 bucks. Comes up to $18.18 a ticket. Basically makes every sixth skydive free. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I'll be there Tues and Wed...just to find Billvon...and to heckle Dan and Sean in manifest to let some fun jump skyvan loads go. I bought a JFTC calendar from Lori the first day she received them. Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I like to exit in a sit position facing rearwards...actually is a backfly exit in relation to the relative wind. As you round the hill, can backfly or just push down on the feet to enter a head up position. This was much easier for me to keep stable than a head up to relative wind exit. IMHO, I never "learned" too much from gorilla or train exits...the more experienced flyer can just compensate too much...haven't done them in a while...but they are "fun" Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I've yet to even try head down... Well, sometimes my back tracks go head down, but it's not intentional Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

I try Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Nordstroms gave me one in college for a STOCK position over the holidays...like, folding sweaters and making gift boxes required some special skill?!? Had some funny questions - ex: If you came across a vending machine and there was change in the change drawer that was not yours what would you do? What if you received two candies instead of one? Have you ever tried to kill someone? (Yes, this was an actual question!!!!) Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

Orange County/Long Beach have tons of bands that started here. Offspring, Sublime, No Doubt, Sugar Ray, Korn, Hed. I've seen all but the Offspring at various keggers when I was younger... Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary