Orange1

hang around the DZ a while and chat to the more experienced guys. I had a stage when I felt really despondent because I wasn't getting everything done in the minimum # of jumps - till I started realising almost everyone seems to go through some point where they have to repeat. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

same 24 hour rule for us too - maybe the difference being our last 3 consecutively have to be "uber perfect"... our student fatalities are quite rare but mostly seem to come later in the progression when they do happen. most students here still learn SL. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

ok - i admit to being extremely biased here cos i've just come back from the DZ having made my first free-fall on the SL progression... yeeeee-haaa!

From the USPA website: USPA Clears the Airways for Parachutes (12/19/02) Due to cost and personal security of a parachute rig, many skydivers prefer to carry their rigs onto commercial flights. At this point, USPA knows of no U.S. airline that prohibits parachute rigs as carry-on items. However, jumpers may find it easier to carry their equipment in a protective equipment bag. It is always advisable to present a good profile to inspectors, who are trained to observe numerous external passenger traits and characteristics. At USPA's request, the Transportation Security Administration is providing information to its screener agents about rigs and computerized automatic activation devices installed on most parachutes. This information should reduce the necessity for a detailed, hand-inspection of a rig, which otherwise could include the opening of a reserve container. (Most skydivers are not authorized to reclose a reserve parachute.) It should also reduce instances of a jumper with a parachute being turned away from the gate area. Checked Item Beginning January 1, the TSA requires all checked items to be inspected before being placed on an airplane. The TSA is advising passengers not to lock checked bags so they can be opened for inspection. Tests involving USPA and TSA officials at the TSA facility in Atlantic City verified that AADs do not trigger explosive detection equipment used by airport security. TSA officials assured USPA that a hand search of a checked item should not occur if the item successfully passes through security systems that airports have installed. Skydivers should be prepared, because isolated problems getting parachutes through security may still occur, typically requiring better communication with airport security personnel. Jumpers should carry and present USPA membership cards and/or FAA rigger certificates in the event their parachute is flagged. USPA advises jumpers to remain patient, cooperate and to provide USPA with the date, time, airport, and details of the problem, including whether the parachute rig was being transported as a carry-on or checked item. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

what about skysurfing then? are there not instances where the boards (is that the correct term?) have to be jettisoned? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

wow - i never heard of anyone using a foreskin as defense

There's a pic on the CT website with them playing with something in the air... dunno if that's a spaceball? Somewhat off the original thread but yes - I do now understand why some people get grounded... though am still not convinced it is always appropriate... but that view may change with more experience Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

thanks tdog and peej... so are they banned on most DZs then? (no, i'm not planning on trying to play with one anytime soon

Your cats never go outside??? well... ok... you're sure in their lifetime they will never be outside? if you move? if you give them to someone else for some reason? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/122/40/ not sure if the "clicky" bit will work Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Declawing cats is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. A friend of mine inherited a declawed cat. Which got chased by a dog. Without claws, the cat could neither climb a tree to get away nor even try defend itself, and ended up in strips on the lawn.

newbie question... what's a spaceball? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Ditto too. Unless we can also have a "DZ hunks" site

i'm assuming he watched the same video I did - with the guys skydiving with a car (and I'm assuming the video was genuine...) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

probably a dumb question, but aren't things like cars very unsafe both for the skydivers and, um, the people on the ground, especially if their movements through the air are so unpredictable? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I've seen some posts here that talk about grounding people for doing stupid (read: dangerous) things. Question: what is the purpose of this? Punishment? If someone is grounded at one DZ that does stop them jumping somewhere else? More importantly, if the mistake they made was due to low currency (as sometimes seems to be) doesn't grounding someone make this worse rather than better? Shouldn't the correct response be to require the person to undergo some kind of rebriefing? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

you shuold see our beaten up little "airplane" trust me its feels safer getting out than it does staying in. lol - reminds me of when i reached the point (somewhere around jump 4 or 5) that I started breathing easier after 1000 feet cos I knew I could jump out if something went wrong with the plane Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Thanks guys... Phillbo don't worry not planning on trying it. Just saw in one thread discussions about unstowing brakes at hard deck... semed a bit dicey to me... Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

The object of paragliding is flying - an elliptical canopy attached to a harness. Launch off a mountain/cliffside etc by inflating the canopy into the wind and then running off the side, so you don't get the adrenaline rush of a free fall - more like just running till you're running in the iar (not UNexciting though!). A number of disciplines incl cross-country flying, the record has been set in South Africa for a few hundres kilometres - can't remember exactly. More potential dangers than skydiving especialy from "rotor" (unstable wind patterns around mountains, etc) - I know too many people who have found themselves slammed into a mountainside. If you look at a paragliding harness you'll see it's very different from a skydiving one - designed to protect back and butt from impact, which alone tells you something. I used to think skydivers were the safe guys and paragliders the reckless ones, until I started hanging out here Don't flame me for that last sentence please! I know there's a huge emphasis on safety, but there are clearly also the guys who disregard it Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Hi, as students we are taught first thing you do after checking the canopy is good is release brakes and do a controllability check, but from reading posts here it seems more experienced jumpers sometimes/often (?) elect to leave brakes stowed for a while ... why is this? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Hi Squid, welcome - sounds like you and I are about the same level

My $0.02 on getting scared... is I found the more you get aware of conditions etc, the more scared you get, at first. My first jump (these are all SL) I was eager as a beaver, my 2nd and 3rd were fine. Time for my 4th... and i was feeling really freaky. The whole drive to the DZ (1.5hrs) I was thinking "I can't do this, I can't do this" (self-fulfilling, yeah?)... got there, kitted up, conditions were slightly gusty but the JMs were happy to let the students up... I was the only student with more than one jump on my load... watched 3 others jump, a gust of wind hit the plane, and I just freaked. (On my first jump I wouldn't have even noticed the wind, I don't think) I turned to the JM and said "I don't want to jump". His response was ultra-cool - an immediate "that's ok". he dispatched the last student, then checked a couple of times "are you sure?" and then he rode down with me, and he was really cool about it - gave me a talk about "listening to the voices", some anecdotes about experienced jumpers also just not feeling right, etc. I think if I'd been treated like an idiot, that would've been the last I was at the DZ. I kinda knew I shoulda felt like an idiot when all the other students made it down fine but - I didn't. Anyway, after that, I went back over my mindset, read the Skydivers Handbook again, reminded myself that fear is normal because jumping out of an airplane is not, and was back at the DZ jumping the next weekend

but neither does a canopy that's been deployed by SL. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

A newbie question... as far as I understand, a reserve has right of way over all other canopies. I used to be under the impression (till I arrived on dz.com) that all reserves were white, but they obviously aren't. So, question: how do you know if someone else is under reserve, if it just looks like a normal canopy? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.