dgrabowski

If someone had asked me (I have an engineering degree, somewhere) if this would even be possible, I'd be inclined to say "nope". Tunnel motors draw a ton of power, and the cost of the batteries to supply that power, plus the cost of the inverters, would be staggering. I'm super impressed - actually, almost bewildered - to read that this is happening.

I think that since the dropzone converstion to the new format, some things like embedded files got broken. Here's the sizing chart. ICON Harness Sizing Chart.pdf

I can't comment on the AFF program at Sebastian, as I've never seen it; that said, Sebastian has a great reputation and I would expect that its student program would follow. I simply chimed in to this thread because I happen to be a big fan of Spaceland's STP. Thirty minutes of tunnel isn't much, and how you perform in the safety of the tube may or not be relevant as to how you do in the air (with additional significant mental challenges as well as 25 pounds of gear in a restrictive harness). It doesn't matter how great you are in the tunnel if you are not altitude-aware, fail to follow instructions, or fail to deploy your own parachute on any AFF level; you'll have to repeat the level before you progress. We can get away with lots of things in the tunnel; there's no room for that in freefall. Your AFF instructors are in the best position to gauge your progress and ability to move along; your 'feeling' is not, especially before you even start. At the start of AFF, your instructors will most likely not take your tunnel time into account, and as you move along, they'll allow you to progress at your own pace. It's certainly not unheard of to combine the goals of two higher levels into one jump, but it's extremely common for students to repeat levels because they didn't perform satisfactorily. Whatever you do - stay safe, listen to your instructors, and jump as often as you can.

The Skydiver Training Program at Spaceland (all of them) is, in my opinion, by far the most well put-together AFF training program I've ever seen. My experience with STP is at the Mothership (Houston) as an AFF-I candidate; the same program is used at the other three Spaceland dropzones (Clewiston, Atlanta, Dallas). I base my opinions on four observations: 1. When I got my AFF rating in 2012, I chose to do it at Spaceland Houston, because I had already seen how well the program was put together and I wanted to get my AFF-I training based on that program. I knew it would make me a better instructor. Just take a look at the student manual that they hand out - it is ridiculously well done, with great photos and spot-on to-the-point written info. 2. Because the program is so well put together, the instructors have a clear template to follow. Combined with excellent instructors, this produces a better end result. 3. Many dropzones have student gear that is "one size fits none", and is old, beat-up, and doesn't hold together well (i.e., that "one rig that always has the floppy main flap"). Conversely, Spaceland's student gear is top-notch, new(ish), and very well maintained. 4. The end result is that the freshly-minted AFF grads who I see at Spaceland Houston really know their stuff and are ready and eager to learn more; they're solid in freefall, and even more importantly, they're solid under canopy. BONUS: Spaceland's "Mentor Program", which I believe is also at every location. New grads with less than 100 jumps get to jump with a coach (a "mentor") for NO EXTRA COST - just pay for your slot (and rental gear if you don't have your own). I've watched newbies come up through STP, through their mentor jumps, and now they are mentors themselves. STP in a week is fantastic; saw a bunch of students doing exactly that during the long holiday weekend. One of the often-overlooked factors to student success is currency; making more than one jump per day and jumping for multiple days in a row eliminates the necessity to "re-learn" forgotten skills as it just continues to reinforce them. I don't know what the end-of-the-line price is for STP, but my gut tells me that considering what the student gets out of it, it's probably worth a lot more than what you pay for it.

Bring it up higher on the front of the bootie (think about kneeling on the floor in the plane) and you need a much thicker layer on the bottom. Put shoes that you jump with in the booties so they'll cure in the right shape. Put the goo on outdoors (those fumes are "bad" or "good bad" depending on your disposition) and then leave your jumpsuit out overnight so the goo can cure. After it cures, follow up the next day by filling in any spots that you missed. I use appx half a tube of goo for new booties. Touch it up as needed. Don't put your booties on until you're in the loading area, and take them off before you land. (Assuming you're not busy avoiding other canopies, etc - safety first!) With this, the booties are fairly bulletproof, but I usually end up with stitching or elastic wearing out within a year or two due to so many on/off cycles (400+ jumps/year plus lots of tunnel)

+1 On 26-Jul-2012 someone submitted their contact information in response to your ad in the Dropzone.com Classifieds. Please reply to this email to contact the person directly. Username => karry112 URL => http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=130462&d=1 Name => kenneth hines FromEmail => [email protected] City => Vancouver Country => canada Comments => Hello,i just wanted to let you know am interested in your Javelin J1KL with PD143R,that goes for $2000,i was actually browsing through your and saw it on there and decided to contact you to know if its still available and in good condition... Am from canada,and i will love to know how much you are actually giving it out for,and whats your best offer for it and more details about it...... Thanks Ken

Biplane - landed in a tree in a forest. Details (and plenty of criticism - gotta love dz.com) here: www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1157059

Ranch Fallout, an advanced-class 4-way team from the Ranch, is looking for a like-minded 4-way team to join us to do 8-way (most likely Intermediate) at Nats this year. No practice beyond one or two jumps after 4-way comp is over, to figure out exit slots and fallrate. Interested? PM me.

11 and 18 can be done in a 12-footer, but you need to be very aware of what's going on as you're learning them. They can turn into painful mayhem very quickly. Best to start out by having 2-ways practice their moves separately before putting all four together. Targeting is super important - mistakes that would be harmless in the air the air (i.e., separation of pieces) will get ugly. 21 can be done, but it's very different from how it's normally done in the air. We've done it so many times that I think that our in-air-21 now looks like our 12-foot-tunnel-21. You can also do 22, but again, it's pretty funky. I was stunned the first time we tried it and it worked. The solos gotta get the hell out of the way (up) and the 2-way better turn on center and stop where it's supposed to. If you cut down to 3-ways, you can also train parts of 2, 4, 8, and 19.

Show up at the Ranch on April 5th for the 4-Way Social. Make some jumps during the day, then socialize with like-minded jumpers in the evening. We're recruiting all skill levels, video folks, and packers... Informal coaching will be available throughout the season on most weekends from experienced 4-way jumpers. Plans are in the works to put together some more formalized coaching, as well as organized tunnel trips to SVNH to work on both solo and 4-way skills.

Like many, I often keep a few dollars in a jumpsuit pocket. In a tunnel session at Skyventure New Hampshire this summer, the zipper on said pocket worked its way open. I wasn't aware of it, until the tunnel rat took the time to hop into the tunnel to pull stuck shreds of dollar bills from the netting. It was rather hilarous. Yes, we have video.. I'm not quite sure how much flew out of my pocket that day, but I did end up with most of a dollar at the end of the session. More than half of a dollar bill counts as a dollar, so it was part of the tip for dinner that evening. A month later, we returned th SVNH for more training, and I was told that the week after we left, they found additional shreds scattered around outside. Turns out that all the pieces matched up rather well. Image attached. So, SVNH does indeed give you YOUR money back.

I completely agree with everything Goran said. It was a great time, it's a great tunnel, and Rob and Laurie were awesome hosts; they made sure that we had everything we could ask for (except for flush toilets; warning: the little basin in the porta-potty is NOT a sink, and the little pink thing is NOT soap). Judging by the number of looky-loos who drove down the street and pulled over to ask, "What is that thing?", they're going to be plenty busy with both skydivers and whuffos. I can't wait to go back in September with my team!

4-way competitions are based on a 35-second working time, not a breakoff altitude. You should be able to break off at 4500 feet -- those 35 seconds will most likely have already elapsed. MHO - don't compromise your feeling of safety (whether real or not) for your team. If you're not comfortable with the breakoff altitude, that is what will be on your mind during the skydive, and your performance will suffer. If I were you, I would ask the meet director if my team could exit from full altitude instead of competition altitude. You'll have extra time in the air (you could pull at 7000 feet if you wanted to). It won't count towards the competition, but you might learn something with the extra airtime.

Going to Nationals next month. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who needs to stay connected. What's available at Perris? Dial-up? Kiosks? Wireless? Nothing at all? I sent them an e-mail a week or so ago... no response

What for?? From the PD dual square report: "Intentional cutaways from biplanes showed that the main had the possibility of engangling with the reserve 11 out of 11 times" We are taught to NOT chop from a biplane. I can only guess the experience of your friend as being somewhat similar to yours, so this training was probably fairly recent. I think that your friend got lucky in this particular incident, and that he should probably speak with an instructor or S&TA to review what the proper procedures are for dealing with two out.