blacksha

"Quit your whining, and get ready to jump." Goes along with "shutup and jump"...

Some of my most fearful jumps were the best performing, and some of my least fearful jumps ended up being the scariest by the time I touched ground. Skydiving is an experience where one will continually learn over time how to use the fear in a more positive way, to keep you alive. Positive confidence is good, but over confidence and skydiving will put you back in check, fast.

RIP Paul! Lonne

Under what circumstances would someone with a leg disability be allowed to safely tandem jump? I understand that there is some sort of seat some drop zones have where they put tandem passengers' legs into? Example: What if the tandem passenger was older, say in their 60's, and had metal in their thigh from having a previously shattered thigh bone? The person can now walk, but not too well...would this meet the conditions for this seat-harness? I apologize if I should have searched for this, I'm sure the answer is in this forum already. Just wish the search function was more reliable like Google. I often do searches for something and it takes me a long time to come up with the right keywords to find what I'm looking for.

At a previous company I worked for, I was attempting to organize a group of tandem skydives for team building. Someone commented that there was a policy requiring that only n employees at a time could fly on an airplane together. Is this a pretty common policy with big companies?

Bummer man...don't even know ya but have read tons of your posts...Make a jump again soon Lonne

Wow. Great job... Won't get into the details of my high speed mal but the way you came out of yours is very inspirational...seeing now that I know the next one is coming only a matter of time... I've read and re-read many mal stories, and yours is one of a kind...

It sounds like you're a skydiver...but was 200 grand worth jumping out of an airplane for all of that? In the 70's and 80's? Probably you bet, to some people. Heck, on my 44th jump, I had one hell of an experience that none of my first 43 even came close... I jumped in thick thick clouds, rain, and freezing temps. Of course, it's always freezing up there. I'm sure that night it was much colder than when I jumped the other day at 4pm. But let's just say that sudden weather change caught me totally by suprise. And the winds were probably the highest I've jumped in. Should I have done it? Probably not. Do I have the experience to have done so? Probably not. Was it night time? No. But I could not see that's for darn sure. Of course my advantage was that clouds were high enough and there was still plenty of daylight that by the time I got out of the freefall in total clouds where I could not see a darned thing, I could see enough to land in my desired drop zone. But not being able to see in freefall? Wasn't as bad as I thought because I know how to arch and feel the wind. Technically you're always a student and I'm still a student even though I have my license, but I can see why they don't like newer skydivers to jump in that weather. It was scary as all hell and the rain sure as hell hurt. All my "attempted freefly" jump plans when out the window when I realized I needed to put my survival skills to the test...this is certainly the closest jump I've ever experienced to a night jump, but that has gotta be 10x worse because of not being able to see much on the canopy ride. I still think if Ckret and Sluggo went and did a tandem skydive, it would give them a fresh look at the case, even if conditions weren't similiar to how they were that night. It sure wouldn't hurt for them to go make a jump and it could only add to their investigative theories...Everyone's been doing it lately...Geraldo, Bill Murray...cmon guys

Thanks for serving. Sorry to give you such a rough time but we hope to hear from you soon.

I can't understand you. Could be punctuation, run-on sentences, or grammar. Can you re-pose your question?

RIP Maggot... Only met you once, but won't forget ya...

Talk about learning the hard way...I've: 1. Had a low turn first jump off radio. I was static line progression so this happend on like jump number 4 or something, can't remember exactly... 2. After being lectured on #1, was totally overcompensating on anti-low-turns...saw a friend under canopy in traffic, and worried about a collision, I turned the opposite way at enough altitude and changed my plan However, now I was on final, and just barely landed next to a tractor. Would have been a goner for sure. Never forgot tiny S turns to avoid obstacles after that, that's for sure. 3. Landed underneath a small Arizona tree by barely missing the landing area...main was all caught up in the tree. After jumping at the Ranch learned what a real tree is and decided I didn't ever want to do that again. Also learned alot more about what spotting is. 4. On a 5-10 s delay, like jump number 6, from 4500 or 5500 still didn't know how to get stable and had the parachute open while I was upside down. I remember seeing my legs in between the risers and pulling my legs out. 5. Had a reserve ride on jump 19. Jumping old ripcord spring loaded pilot chute main and most likely pilot chute was in burble all I had to do was look at it....didn't know that before the jump. Broke my wrist under reserve because I didn't PLF on landing. 6. Was out of the sport for 2 years. Didn't have my A yet, so did an AFF 7 on my recurrency jump then a solo on my 2nd jump back. Wasn't comfortable under canopy and due to a mixup in the plane jumped with my radio off. Had so much adrenaline under canopy, didn't realize I could reach over and turn the radio on, so I just made a landing plan and stuck with it. Landed downwind, but wow did I learn a valuable lesson here about having a landing plan and not changing it. 7. Jumping a student rig, didn't tighten the chest strap all the way. Let's just say on deployment, the chest strap was all the way to my neck and there was like a 3-6 inch gap above my shoulders to the nearest over the shoulder webbing. And some people said the chest strap could have decapitated me on opening. Let's just say I like making sure my harness is on very well now... Safe jumps and Blue skies...

The newer ones to skydiving don't like it because its not modern... If you're a bit older and have a finer taste for older things in life, then it's actually kind of neat and is a lot more challenging to fly than the newer wind tunnels because you have a "drop off"... I learned how to belly fly there, and I recommend the place, I think it's cool...hey it's right off the strip So it's not modern...it's still pretty cool! Lonne

Nice I like it...!! Lonne

So what is the difference between: 2. Jumps for license and rating qualifications 3. Jumps to meet skill requirements Obviously I know what a license requirement is, but what is a skill requirement? Can someone give me an example?

The nervousness will hopefully never go away but some of it is what keeps you safe... Some days I'm alot more nervous jumping than others...Ultimately the key is to stay positive, and do the things you have to do to make sure you get to the ground safely, from noticing that each pack job is better than the last one you did, from staying altitude aware and pulling at the right altitude and stable, to landing in a clear area with no obstacles, landing straight (not recovering from a turn), and flaring for landing, most of the nervousness will gradually go away... Every jump practice your EP's becaues this may be the jump you use it, don't get too nervous about it, yes it is gonna happen its only a matter of time...I've heard people that never have a real mal until their 10,000th jump to me having one on the 19th jump...I was really anxious about hearing that to, and even had dreams about it (and dreamed positive, did the right thing) to when it actually happened I just did what I had to do without hardly thinking about it, then thought about it more on the ground like WHAT just happened?!?! As far as calming yourself down on the airplane...smile & laugh with other friends, close your eyes for a few minutes and take big deep slow breaths while you rehearse through the jump including pulling your handles if something goes wrong, it does wonders for slowing your heart rate down Initially I would get so nervous jumping that I wouldn't even drink coffee before jumps, but that's all passed now...the nervousness still isn't gone, but the confidence is there enough to reassure myself before I go out that door and there are no second thoughts...focus focus focus do not get distracted from the exit until you're standing on your two feet again Lonne

And that question was also for georger, sorry... OK. A question I have. Given the success of someone wanting to learn about skydiving today, a big part of which is dependent upon flying the canopy numerous times under radio instruction, what was it like in those days? How much experience can we assume Cooper had, if any, if he was comfortable to jump without radio? What was the success rate of students jumping without radio guidance in those days? Being that landing under canopy is the hardest part, although deploying a landable parachute a very important part...(and of course adding in night and weather, which adds an entire different level of difficulty) Lonne

To ckret, Snowman, & Sluggo... You guys are great...you have very interesting posts...and I've learned alot about what Cooper could have or could have not done... ckret--did we ever find out what happened to SafeCrack? We do need to take a chill pill and get back on focus...we all have different opinions and not everything is meant as a PA... it's sad to see some of you attack each other and/or get your feelings hurt on a forum--you could be jumping out of an airplane after all! And, i do wanna know, when are you guys gonna make a (tandem?) skydive (if you haven't already)? Night jump or not, sport rig or not (NB6), it's gonna teach you alot about what Cooper did and give you an idea was he successful or not... Lonne

This is obviously a little more important if you flat pack vs. PRO pack, but still important for both I think... And this may seem like a dumb question, but I'd like to hear from the knowledgeable out there... What are the best/worst packing surfaces for your canopy? Ranked from best to worse or other way around?

Very cool story and nice video. Impressive...! Lonne

Not directed at who I replied to, but more or less on the same subject... My personal feeling is, I wouldn't jump anything just because a container manufacturer or otherwise came up with it... I'd have to know everything or as much as possible about both systems, and personally would like it if Mirage offered both the SkyHook and their own... I'd like to see it test jumped (video is fine), and used in the field by many before wanting it on my own rig... I believe competition is a good thing for creating new innvocations on the market, but time proven when it's your life is also important... As a software developer, and a very good one, I know how easy it is even for me to have a bug in some software I wrote...now imagine that in an AAD...not something I would want...and I know my jump numbers are small but I've had a cutaway with a regular RSL...so I think the whole "SkyHook" market is very interesting... Lonne

I think that's a great gesture... On a different note, I'd like to ask if anybody ever found Alon's main near The Ranch because he's been looking for it forever ... Alon maybe you need to announce a tip offering and it will be found?

Goggles aren't a big deal. One of my instructors (9000+ jumps I believe) jumps often without them. Don't ask me how. Maybe he squints his eyes well and burned his eyes in by riding motorcycles at high speed... Lonne

Just an in general reply.... Aren't there any software programmers out there? As you can see from my jump numbers...my experience is pretty miniscule :-) But, I've been a software developer for 15 years. And as a result of that experience, I've noticed that no matter how awesome the programmer(s), and even no matter how awesome the tester(s), only time can prove a product... Definitely, competition is a good thing...problem is, it will take time for me to ever trust a new product on the market... Cypres...and...should hopefully have to never use it, but alot of times that depends on your role in the skydive and how long you've been doing it, or the occasional mistake.

And your reasons for that are....?