JCulver

According to the response from Airtec, the unit was activated at jump 183, but they didn't receive the unit until after jump 343. Is it possible that the cutter didn't completely sever the reserve closing loop?

Kinda sitting here twiddling my thumbs at the moment too. I'm due for a repack. Not sure if I'm going to pull it and start jumping again, or sit on it for a couple more weeks and see where this thing goes.

I had been trying to meet up with an old friend for some time. Due to work conflicts, we were unable to get together on the weekend to jump at my home DZ. Start was the only place open on a Monday afternoon in the Ohio area. So, we made the trip down from CMH. Upon arrival, we quickly found that it was one of cleanest dropzone we've ever been to. Staff members pointed us to the waivers and manifest. We got signed up and manifested for the next load. I don't own gear, so I had to rent. I thought the rental prices were fair at just $10/jump. The gear was all brand new. A staff member asked what size canopy I wanted and quickly brought me all the gear I would need. I have heard that this place was kind of cliquie. I didn't see that at all. Everyone we ran into took a minute to introduce themselves, talk skydiving and just BS. We were given a walk around of the dz, including landing zones, patterns, aircraft policies etc. The aircraft was the Fastrax Caravan. It was very clean with a nice big door. (I guess everything is big coming from a cessna DZ). It climbs like a bat out of hell too. We were only able to get 1 jump at 10.5k due to approaching weather. But, we will be heading back next week.

I've been looking for that video for some time now too. I think that happened in 1995-96. I was on the load right before it happened.

I had a non-skydiving shoulder injury on September 20th. Sat around for 5 weeks before I decided to go see a Orthopedic surgeon. Got a MRI done 2 weeks ago and the results show a labral tear from a partial dislocation. Currently, I don't have full motion in my shoulder. Surgery is scheduled for February 6th. I hear it's painful...with a 4-6 month recovery process. The Doc says the surgery will give me my range of motion back plus tighten the muscle/tendon group for better stability. I hope he's right! Edited to add that you also may want to try a tunnel too before you get back in the air. I know I will go to a tunnel after my surgery.

3rd degree burns from that one...

Relax bro....like I said...it's a hypothetical situation. This DIDN'T really happen. I'm trying to get information on what to do if it does happen.

Newbie here....simply hypothetical situation. You are on a RW jump and notice that one of the other jumpers left 3 ring assembly is not connected to the risers. There is an RSL connected too. Knowing that as soon as he deploys his PC, the RSL is going to fire the reserve into a spinning main....more than likely causing an entaglement. How do you fix the problem? Do you communicate to them to pull reserve only?....or do you approach him/her and pull their reserve for them? Forgive me if this is a stupid question...but, trying to learn.

Welcome.....what part of Ohio? I'm east of Columbus. You'll have fun!

Condolences to you and your family. I pray that God gives you peace and comfort.

I was in a similar situation as you. I was just out of high school when I made my first jump. My best friend from grade school once held the record for the youngest solo skydiver....at that time. (Don't know what it is now) He had done 15 tandems and solo'd on his 15th birthday. His father owned the DZ...that's always nice. I wanted so badly to participate in this activity with him...but I had to wait until I was 18. By that time, I was into girls pretty good and as a senior in high school, I was more worried about what I was going to do with my life. I picked a college and started after graduation. My parents were never the kind to give anything to me. They showed/taught me what hard work was and how to achieve those goals. They didn't really have a whole lot to give either. I was on my own for school. I saved money and was able to make 45 jumps in 3 years. It helped that my friend was now a Tandem Instructor by this time and gave me the jumps at cost. But, I bought some gear thru hard work....waiting tables at some shitty restaurant at night while going to class during the day. Graduation day was here and the 'real world' was now upon me. My student loan repayments were going to start in 6 months and I needed to concentrate on getting my life together. Sold my gear, started a decent job that was going to lead to my career path. I found a woman who loved me as much as I loved her. We wanted to build our lives together and start a family. After 11 years together, we have a wonderful home, a beautiful baby girl (10 months old) and after a 9 year lay off from skydiving, I am JUST NOW at the point in my life where it is both financially/emotionally possible for me to start jumping again. I just made my first jump 3 weeks ago for the first time in 9 years. Let me tell you something, there is no shame in putting this on hold. Get your life together. Family is the most important thing one can have. They will always be there for you when skydiving isn't.

A little off topic here....but how are you financing your own gear? Are you doing it thru a bank or will one of the manufactures hold the account for you? I've never heard of this before.

Fresh Walleye and Perch from the depths of Lake Erie.....Mmmmm so good! Beer battered of course!

Doesn't bother me....I want to be next to the door....if something goes wrong with the aircraft, I want to be the first out.

What is the typical hobbs reading on a load? .4?

There is also some good information regarding typical jump aircraft here: http://www.utilityaircraft.com/acbuyercomparison2008-9prices.xls Although, this is from the PAC 750XL webiste, so it may be a little biased and errors may exisist. But, it should give you a rough estimate.

Well, I did my recurrency jump yesterday. After a month of reading the SIM and getting caught up on terminology and EP's, I finally went down to the dropzone. The coach went over the EP's for about an hour and I relearned how to do gear checks, landing patterns, canopy control checks etc. My AFF instructor landed with a tandem and we went over the dive flow. On jump run, I called "door", spotted and called for the cut. Climbed out to the strut and felt the wind on my face again.....and it felt good. My intructor gave me the nod and I gave the count. I was a little unstable on the hill but recovered nicely after 3 or 4 seconds. I got stable and immediatley did a altitude check and was at 9000. The instuctor gave me the nod and I initiated a practice pull. Came back for another altitude check. Did a 360 to the left and another atl check. 1 more practice pull and atl check. Then did a 360 to the right came back around and locked on to my altimeter at 5000. Rode it down to 4500 for the wave off and deployment sequence. Under a good canopy at 3900. The gear I was renting had a Falcon 265. It was a nice opening canopy and sniveled for 3 seconds. The rig actually fit me better than my own rig back in the day. I played around with the canopy and couldn't get the thing to stall. The flare sequence seemed to take a while. I thought about the timing and knew I needed to flare a little higher than I was used too but completely forgot about it on landing. I flared where I always did on my own gear but that wasn't enough time for a stand up. I hit my feet and went into PLF mode. I was only on the ground for 1/2 second and stood right back up. Overall, I was pleased with myself at how fast it came back to me. Obviously, I need to work on getting stable quicker and if I rent that gear again, flare a little higher. It felt good to get back and my training for my A license should be complete within the next month....barirng no issues. Blue skys

I saw that same deal in the classifieds. It was for a Mirage G4/Spectre 210/Cypress with 5 or 6 years left. I sent him an email about it. I knew it was a fake because he only wanted $2100 for brand new gear. Sorry to the OP that you got taken.

Jump #45: August of 2000. Doing a accuracy comp for novice jumpers (under 100 jumps). Went out at 4000ft for a 5 second delay. Opened nicely and landed 1/2 meter off target. When I got back to the hangar to de-rig and noticed my chest strap was routed wrong and completely loose. I shutter to think what would have happened if I was at terminal. It scared me bad and I quit. Sold my brand new rig and walked away from the sport. I was pissed at myself for letting that happen. After a 9 year break, I'm coming back. (I did WIN the comp though and got a cheesy trophy out of it ) 1st day I got my rig. Rigger inspected it and did a repack on the reserve. I flat packed that PD210 the way I was always taught while my coach looked over my shoulder. Went up and had the hardest opening I've ever had. Broke 3 ribs. (They were on my left side, so I guess I wasn't quite belly to earth symetrically) That put me out for about a month. Never forgot to roll the nose after that one. I don't know how I didn't break any lines. Canopy flew good though and no visible damage. I remember looking at my altimeter and I was open in 100 ft. at terminal.

Welcome... I have been up your way a few times for duck and goose hunting. You have some beautiful country up there. Should look nice at atlitude.

Hello, I am a rather new poster…..have been registered for years though. I, too, am trying to get back into the swing of things. I have roughly 45 jumps on an F-111 PD 210. I haven’t jumped since the summer of 2000. You know how it goes….got married, got a real job, bought a house etc. In fact, I actually sold my rig to put the ring on her finger. I am sure that is considered taboo…but, I was in love and still am. We have a beautiful daughter at 8 months old. Student loans are getting paid off and I might actually have some money to throw around. I am from Columbus Ohio and the DZ I was jumping at had all sorts of political issues with the airport board of trustees. They eventually closed up shop about a year after I got out of the sport. Reading the boards, I can’t believe how much it has changed. The days of flat packing are over and it seems that everyone has gone to the ZPs. I have a lot to catch up on. I might have some issues though with getting back into the sport. I never did send in my application for my A license….I can’t find my log book…but, I have several pics of me in flight and under canopy…..and my tandem instructor is still a great friend of mine. (I don’t know what the rules are making up a duplicate logbook off memory alone) I’m thinking they are going to want me to go thru the entire training again. Maybe that’s a good thing…..I get heartburn thinking about the costs again. Jump tickets to 10k were $13 back then…13k was $18. Prices on fuel have added to the cost of jump tickets too. At any rate…that’s enough about me. I look forward to learning more as we go along. BTW: I have been trying to find a video of a Casa that stalled and rolled on its back at the Richmond Boogie back in….let me think here…..96 maybe? I was on the load right before that with my first tandem. I remember seeing the video that night…watching the experienced jumpers spit out the back, but have never seen it since. Anyone have a link to that video?

DCA is the only GA airport that doesn't accept part 91 or 135 trips. They only accpet 121 carriers.