Airgump

my brother just got back from iraq, and many of my military friends that i have jumped with have served in either afghanistan or iraq, many more than one tour. from an old artilleryman, thanks my brother, for keeping the faith, and serving for those of us that have finished our time in the service. blue skies and look up johnny gates when st. peter opens the gate for ya! gump

I have no doubt that St. Peter is busy trying to fit our muff brother with his halo and a set of wings. I'm not really sure if heaven is quite ready for him, but I definately know it will never be the same with him there. Thanks Johnny for all the good times at the muff trailer and in the sky. I can't help but think we have an asshole in heaven making sure we don't screw up the skydive. muff, muff, asshole! gump

okay, you want a reality check, go to this link and at least spend the time reading the post that i spent searching for it. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=2179797;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25; this jumper at the time of his posting of the event had far more camera jumps than i do right now. i have several mentors in the sport of skydiving that i can go to and discuss various things i plan to try. when i was around the 150 jump number and was chomping at the bit to mount my ole panasonic camera to my helmet, i spent some time getting advice from all of those around me. everyone of them told me to wait for that magic number before even thinking about doing it. when the numbers were finally in the log book, Dave Little and Johnny at Skydive Dallas helped me to mount my first camera to a used helmet with a composite bracket. one of the first things i had happen to me in freefall was having the chin cup pop loose in freefall on exit from a DC-3. at the time i was doing a 2-way R/W jump and instantly had to grab hold of my helmet (with both hands) and try to remain stable. to say the least, it was very interesting at deployment time. shortly after reading piisfish's post, i bought a new optix illusion from bonehead with a camera box, and used a crap load of gaffer tape to make sure any possible or imaginable snag point was taped up. i then put a little over 100 jumps on the helmet before i ever mounted the ring sight that crazy larry initially drilled the helmet out for. as one of my mentors put it, "when you are skydiving you are actually doing a juggling act while you fall. the fist ball you are juggling is the basic skydive. now when you add more pieces to your skydive it equates to adding more balls to those that you are currently trying to keep in motion." (additional weight to your head, less clearance between your helmet and risers during deployment, and an additional snag point that wasn't there before) the number of balls being juggled increases when you start filming groups instead of using your camera as a "in-flight recorder." now you have added a camera suit, ring sight, and now have to focus your attention on the group your filming. you also stand a fairly good chance of someone jumping the exit count and colliding with you as you step off the aircraft. at first you will loose a good amount of your peripheral vision. never mind you can't be scanning your altimeter on the dive either. take a new cameraman's advice: 1. wait till you have 200 jumps. 2. in the meantime save your money and buy a good camera helmet with a cut-away system. 3. have an experienced cameraman/woman (mentor) help you set the helmet up. 4. practice your emergency procedures with each new piece of gear you add to the equation. 5. always plan for unexpected events, for they will crop up when you least expect them and you will have little time to react to them.

can i be on your ash dive? no shit, really! i switched DZs and went out to skydive dallas and was told 200 jumps or find another DZ. tell ya what, blow off all the advice here and i promise i'll video your ash dive for you for free.

black is damn hot for a jumpsuit color, especially if ya jump in cali or AZ. i've seen many change from black to a gray or simular color. new camera suit was made of winter camo and silver cordura

When I was working out of the Dallas area, I helped Mike, Skydive Dallas cheif pilot, change out both engines on their otter, and helped out doing 100 hour services on other jump planes that came out for repairs. I'm pretty sure that it's like packing parachutes to a degree.......as long as you are working under someone that has the correct type of ticket for what they're doing.

below is a response from the editor of the AV rag that posted the article. The editor didn't even have the couth to sign his or her name. i really like how the press can work off these 'imperfect' wire reports and pass along the disinformation that they know nothing about. editor's e-mail is editor@aero-news.net ------------------------------------------------------------ Dave. We're working off wire reports, as imperfect as they may be. but before you get REALLY insulting and truly create a negative issue rather than a conduit for info, why don't you give me a call. if you can be polite about it. I've gotten three notes about this story. a fairly low number for any story, all from jumpers and they've been nasty, threatening and insulting - one was threatening. hardly a proper endorsement for rationality and sensibility for the skydiving community. ----------------------------------------------------------- forrest, forrest gump

Enclosed is the mayor's e-mail address. I think a good way of getting the point acrossed to the "powers that be" is to fill the mayor's in-box to capacity with e-mails from people all over the world that make the pilgramage to the "Mecca" of skydiving and include a gentle reminder of how much of our money goes to the local economy. vmayor@c2i2.com blue ones, gump

I knew someone would bust me for that comment, and meant no disrespect for it. However, you also can't get a union ticket for shooting RW or freefly outside of broadcast or film (Even though they should) Anyone getting paid to shoot anything is a pro, arguably. At the same time, being paid doesn't assure quality, either. I'll be curious to read your opinion of the HyPeye as well. So far, really liking it. I don't use a ring sight most of the time, and like that this can be farther away from my eye and still visible. I'm considering modifying an old Mindwarp to hold this in the actual helmet itself, just for giggles. forrest, forrest gump

first off dude, dust off the camping gear, the rest of the world of skydiving is like aggiedave points out is "hanging out," but the other part is staying the night. back when i was going to an AFF lesson drove right on by the DZ and went the hell home. just didn't feel the vibe there, and it took a dry run there to confirm it. fill out your profile and make some friends. staying the weekend increases the skydwelling friends you will make many fold and less time for the ground dwellers!

the only problem of a kurd state is that the rest of the country is wanting the cash that the mineral rich kurds have.

Looking at the success story of NASA and other government agencies (FEMA comes readily to mind) these days, and the debaucle that the middle eastern campaign has turned into, i doubt very seriously that our government had anything to do with 9-11. I do not believe that the same government could manage to pull off what the terrorists accomplished without 200 government agencies participating. much less keep the whole thing under wraps. My take on the whole sad series of event is that they are guilty of having their head stuck in the sand while ignoring all of the precursers that date back several administrations. forrest, forrest gump

you have perris valley (DZ and wind tunnel) and elsinore both with in a short drive from the beach. forrest, forrest gump

same day i inquired about prices............ sq1 had me lined out in no time at all. jp was back to me in about 2 hours or so, and helped me with all the problems a first time rig buyer could come up with. (my first rig) sonic at the Ranch Pro Shop found me my first down size in canopy and called me first when he found that PD was running a sale on shelf stock and saved me lots of dollars. (i have since bought two more canopies from him as well.) margy at sq2 had all my prices ready for me in a few hours when i ordered my second rig.

i must agree with ya. i already owned 2 bonehead helmets and was trying to get started using a camera as a "in-flight recorder" with a hand me down helmet from a buddy. i had a multitude of problems like at the holiday boogie in eloy when my chin cup came off immediately after exiting the DC-3. i bought a camera box and an illusion from bonehead and after crazy larry helped me get everything mounted, i can't imagine ever putting any other helmet on my head. my thanks to the gang for awesome headgear and to linda for dropping it by manifest at perris saving me from paying for shipping. no other helmet will ever out shine the products that they provide us.

i started skydiving at the DZ kevin is talking about and have seen some of the things going on that he is refering to. one 'incident' that comes to mind happened when i passed through this particular DZ after completing AFF out in perris and headed to the ranch in NY on Easter weekend last year. The DZO (also pilot of the 182), a static line FJS, his jumpmaster and myself were all loaded up in the aircraft in front of the hanger. on start-up the aircraft backfired several times resulting in a fire in the engine compartment. everybody un-assed the A/C with the FJS deploying his main canopy and he departed. all those that were in the plane ran for fire extinguishers located in the hanger while the DZO was pulling engine cowlings loose. not one single extinguisher was found to be in working order. i ended up putting the fire out with 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew. the next attempt to take the A/C to altitude resulted in the engine quiting halfway down the runway. (lucky for all involved that it didn't quit on takeoff or we'd all have been dead.) eventually it was determined that the DZO used a water hose to wash out an old steel tank he was intent on using for fuel storage (previously a steel 55 gallon barrel was in use for fuel storage) and didn't equip the tank with any kind of sump to trap/drain any water that could migrate into there. (makes me wonder what kind of pre-flight is being done on the A/C before jump activities begin.) that weekend was the last time i ever set foot on that DZ. this is just one instance that i witnessed while there. kevin, you're right to be upset about what is going on there. from jumping with you at another DZ, i know that safety is 'job one' with you. let your fellow jumpers know and do what you have to towards letting others know, then find a home DZ that cares about your basic safety. blue ones, bro! gump