jcecil

Skydive Kentucky at Addington Field (EKX) in Elizabethtown, KY

Sabre2 opens just fine when getting out hopnpop or terminal. On mine anyway pulling the slider more in front of the nose (instead of quartering) slows the openings down considerably, though even with a quartered slider they are still a comfortable 500-700 at term. I've bailed out many times at 2000' with either way of stowing slider, and never been scared of a cypres fire, usually have a full canopy by about 1800'.

Last I was out in E-town SkydiveKY had a King-Air. Great group of people out there, though you may have to wait on loads throughout the day. It's worth checking out. It's a new DZ, but most of the staff and jumpers have been in the area for years and are transplanted from another DZ that had been open 40 years before it closed last year. Mostly belly flyers, but you won't have any trouble finding someone to free-fly with. I haven't been to many of the other dropzones in the area, but several friends (friends who live in Versailles actually!) have started going to START and they all say nothing but great things about it. Edited: for more detail.

I, along with the usual rowdy crowd from KY, will be there yet again! Looking forward to it!!

Show up to most places with a cooler full of PBR, you don't have to worry about everyone else drinking your beer! Local bar has PBR on tap, 22 oz for $1.75, the next cheapest is any 12 oz domestic for $2.50! I'll give you one guess what beer I stumble home full of when I go there

The closest I've ever come to blacking out in freefall was when a rodeo passenger on my back fell off to one side but didn't let go, putting us both into a fairly violent spin (it is on video, we were spinning a complete revolution in less than a second, maybe even half a second). No matter what I tried I couldn't stop the spin or eject my passenger, finally after about 5 seconds she let go and was flung across the sky. My vision had started graying out and tunneling, and I distinctly remember pins and needles in my fingers. Once she let go I stopped the spin after about half another rotation, took a second to let the blood return to everywhere, then continued the skydive. Gave me a healthy respect for how quickly things can go wrong!

I've traveled with my rig a couple of times in the past year or two, and never had any problems carrying it on. The closest thing I've ever had to a problem carrying it on is when they see it on the x-ray machine, they usually wave several other screeners over to show them what a parachute looks like! On the flight to Eloy last year the people I was traveling with and I occupied the flight attendents almost the entire 3 and a half hour flight showing them skydiving videos on our cameras

That is correct, lines were stowed in a tailpocket. Jacob

I've watched a BASE jumper freepack his BASE canopy into a skydiving rig and pull. . . around or below 1000' before after exiting at 9500' . . . funny thing was he was a light guy with a big parachute on a hot day, most of the people who opened at normal altitude beat him to the ground!

I've always heard that the decreasing wind experienced by the canopy as it loses altitude (almost always wind speed decreases gradually the closer one gets to the ground) can make the canopy turn on its own, although slowly, as the canopy 'sees' this as an slightly increasing wind from the opposite direction the wind is actually blowing. This is more theoretical than usually seen, I think, because the effect would be very slight and easily overcome by something like an uneven harness.

2000' (or slightly lower depending on clouds and airspeed!) doesn't bother me at all, but it is interesting to note in my case both times I've had to cutaway my main and land my reserve were jumps from 2000'. . . . not related to exit altitude (pretty sure same malfunction would've occured from a terminal opening) I don't think, but interesting anyway.

Something so broad as to cover all jump planes will not happen. There are many jump pilots who will never fly a turbine, much less a twin-turbine such as an Otter, KA, or Skyvan. Even then, flying a KA with jumpers is very different from something like an Otter, which is far different from flying a 180 or 182. In my experience, government never gets it right anyway when they try to set rules or standards. USPA if I'm not mistaken already has material on being a jump pilot.

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The only thing I could directly transfer from my experience jumping to my experience flying was keeping my head on a swivel. Outside of controlled airspace, the other airplanes don't have to have radios, and even if they do many pilots won't talk on the radio, relying on you seeing and avoiding them. My CFI actually commented on me spotting the other traffic MUCH quicker than her other students. Other than that, enjoy it! It's different and rewarding!

You too? I was fortunate enough to be raised on a static-line at a small reciprocating DZ, so I laugh a little at the children of turbine AFF when they mention the fear of getting out "low" (5000' and below). Anyway, a visiting recent AFF grad was amazed that the price list in manifest had a listing for 2000' ($9), and said they'd never seen anybody get out that low before, didn't think it was safe, blah blah blah. I was planning on just a H&P from 3 on the next load, so I told them I'd get out at 2000 instead to show them it wasn't really any different, aside from a little less available freefall time. So off we go in the plane, pilot lines up on jumprun, we get over the DZ right at 2000', and out I go. Take just a second to clear the plane, open the parachute, and BAM! . . . a nice slow speed malf that my best explanation is tension knots in the left A lines (slider passed down over it and was at risers, but the entire left side of the canopy would not fully inflate, and the left A lines looked tangled up. Had the exact same identical malfunction just 2 weeks prior to this on a terminal deployment, also resulting in a reserve ride. This prompted me to finally put new lines on the Sabre2. They only had about 800+ logged jumps on them at this point :-D,it behaves and flies much nicer now) It wasn't square, it was only partially steerable, and I wasn't planning on letting it lose its questionable stability 15' off the ground. I tried a few seconds to clear the tangle, shaking and pulling and un-tensioning said lines, sweet talking them, promising I'd call, kicking, all to no success. When after 5 or 10 seconds of this and no progress (it looked like it would clear itself at any time, what a tease!), I cutaway and deployed the reserve, had a fully landable canopy even with the malf and trying to clear it by about 1200'. AFF grad does their jump, lands, walks over and says "If you'd got out at 3 or even 5, the same thing would've likely happened. I still don't plan on intentionally getting out real low, but I don't think I'd be afraid to anymore after watching you just now". Edit for spelling

Worst "out" landing I've had was in Eloy. Luckily it was February so it was only 85 degrees, but I ended up landing a little over a mile out in the desert, and had to walk the whole way back (the entire load except the first group landed off, and I was the only one that didn't get a ride back ). Was right off the end of the runway though, so I took some great pictures of the Otter on short final and taking off as I walked back

Well, I survived (I think). Had an absolutely great time again this year, made some great jumps, met some great people, got covered in some great whipped cream, allowed some great protective equipment to expire unused, heard some great special announcements over the PA, threw and dodged some great peanuts, was repeatedly mistaken for a great DZO that sent the Twin Otter this year all weekend, all around a great time! Had a blast on the round jump, and didn't land farthest out

If you can land the canopy crosswind, mild downwind, into the wind, can make a turn during your flare, and still stand up the landing consistently and accurately where you decided to land before you even got on the airplane, then downsizing to the next smallest size shouldn't be a problem. If nothing else make your first couple of jumps on a day with a nice 5 to 10 mph steady wind to slow the landing down. Why be in a hurry though? There are plenty of things you can do with your current canopy to speed the landings up, if that's what you are looking for.

I'll be there tomorrow evening. Our advance scouts (Jeff and Shawn) have been there since Tuesday, and some more from our crew likely arrived today. See everyone there, I can't wait! Jacob

Put me down for a round jump as well! Just one thing. . . you do have a legacy harness that will fit a person 6'5" enough to make a jump, right?

How I pack my Sabre2 190 -Good line check -Quarter slider -Flake/Clear stabilizer -Open nose on center 3 cells, don't touch the rest -2 wraps of tail, lay down gently -Normal S-fold in bag, keeping symmetrical as possible -Jump! On deployment, I throw PC, watch horizon, as soon as I start to rotate I lock my feet together, and don't touch the risers until the slider starts to come down. I have my hands by the risers in case I need quick input, but I can't steer the canopy til the slider starts to come down anyway. This sequence results in soft, on heading openings probably 80% of the time, with no more than a 90 left or right the rest of the time. End cell closure every time, and I usually have to work to get the slider all the way down (I only load it around 1.25 or so). Before I installed the new lines, the old lines had 750+ jumps, and every opening was a crapshoot. Some would be great, soft, on heading, others would spin me 360+ sometimes. Since the new lines, this canopy is my favorite, I like it better than the Spectres I've jumped.

The former Greene County Sport Parachute Center in Bardstown, KY. Formation loads didn't happen very often anymore there, and it was actually closer than it looks in the picture.

We managed to get 12 jumpers together this weekend for a 12 way formation load. The two aircraft were a DHC-2 Beaver and a Cessna 180. We only went to 9500' (normal altitude), but still managed to get the first point, and would've got the second point if it hadn't funneled at the last second. A neat picture, thought I'd share.

It is! I didn't recognize them until our DZO pointed it out that's who it was.

I was looking over the 100's of pictures hanging in the hangar at my home DZ, and noticed this one. It was taken in 1990. . .who can guess what famous father and son this is?