strop45

Not sure if this is a repost, but well worthwhile reading

http://womanwidowfriend.com/2015/08/13/surviving-death-online/

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Just tell them that more jumpers get hurt or killed doing stupid stuff on bad weather days or around the bonfire after jumping is done than are actually hurt jumping. I don't know if that's actually true, but it sounds good.

The most dangerous piece of equipment on the DZ is the...

Golf cart.

Really? How many of your skydiving friends have actually been killed doing non skydiving activites versus the number killed skydiving? It doesn't matter how you cut it skydiving is a high risk activity with a real chance to die.

You could always look at the website - email addresses are there?

Another issue is that the article does not consider the rates of participation - of course there are more head injuries in car than on bicycles – most people travel many more km and spend much more time in cars than they do on bikes. Misusing statistics like this would lead you to believe that driving cars is more dangerous than base jumping as more people are killed on the roads than base jumping.

Squeak

most angle jumps i have been on leave 1st, we move away from jump run off the door, and leaving 1st reduces the risk of off DZ landings

But increases the risk of serious injury or death if the group tracks back onto the flight path. Having given a tracking group 12 seconds exit gap, I was in a 4 way RW group where the cameraman from the tracking group ended up opening in between us as we were tracking away, i.e. we all passed him (mind you he was an aussie) under canopy on seperate sides.

davelepka

I'm not sure of your experience with this, but I have been pulling my slider past my toggles for 1000's of jumps.

Yip and so had Liam. This is an interesting discussion and its not clear to me whether unstowing brakes before or after collapsing the slider is "safer", what is clear is that you need to do it as soon as it is safe to remove your hands from the rear risers, so that if things go south you have time to react.

Worth reading and and thinking about

http://www.deepseed.com/d-spot/blog/liam/inside-no-pull-cypres-save-0

Thanks to everyone who has replied, after further discussion with the company I'm visiting, it looks like it will be Skydive Dallas this time - it works better with the site visits.

kia kaha

Kia ora

I'm coming to Texas for work and will have the weekend of the 8/9 June free. I'm flying into Houston and out of Dallas - Any recommendations for a good friendly DZ to have a few jumps? Wind tunnel?

Rental gear? Its a long way to bring my rig from New Zealand for a weekend, let alone issues with TSO rig needing repacking before jumping in US.

cheers :-)

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Doesn't a written warning put the DZO on record that they were complicit in letting a known safety risk continue to jump at the risk of others? Maybe I am just weasel adverse, but I don't want anything that can be subpoenaed during discovery. "It says here that you identified x number of saftey problems with Joe Blow Hooks through the Pattern, can you explain why 2 months later you allowed this jumper to board your aircraft for the jump when he crashed in to and killed my clients deceased son".

I don't know why a written warning is needed? You have the keys to the sky at your little slice of airspace.

Explain to them exactly the expectations, and then don't let them jump from your planes if you don't think they are demonstrating that they understand, or care to understand, what you expect of them.

Talk about throw the baby out with the bathwater. lets not stop/warn or record the person who is unsafe, cause when he/she has an accident, you might be liable. Remind me to let you drown if I ever see in trouble in the water - much better than saving you, only to have you sue me for not doing something 100%.

At the end of the day, having a system to try and record unsafe actions so that you can do something about it, should count for you, not against you and if it does count against you, then the legal system needs a rethink :-)

IMO, far too many people are more concerned about the legal position than fixing the problem.

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How colds it get over there at altitude? Should I be dressing for snow conditions?

When snowboarding, snow is a good thing.

For skydiving, a few layers is all thats needed in NZ. early in the morning it might be below zero on the ground and say -20C at altitude, but a couple of layers and all's good :-)

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We've already saved 160,000 sheets of paper at Skydive Hawaii. At 20lbs a ream, that's 3 metric tons of paper. (which no longer needs to be stored for 7 years).

Sounds great!! Not too sure about your maths though. A sheet of paper weighs about 5g so 160,000 sheets is 800kg or 0.8 metric tonnes.

http://www.skydiveauckland.com/

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So you suggest that I not read, view, or discuss on a forum anything about skydiving whatsoever, yet wait till I get to the DZ to commence any learning about the sport? It's already been established here in this thread that I've learned not to buy any equipment until I've completed 30 jumps or so. I'm not getting this idea that you can't learn anything on the internet. If that is the case all newbies should be banned from this site. I think answering a newbies questions with bonified reliable information, as some have already done so is best. Not sure what you are offering here other than differences in how people choose to learn. If you have difficulty in learning things on the internet then that does not mean everyone else has that problem.

Since you asked what I'd suggest is that you read/listen/think more and comment less.

The size of the main you will first jump will actually be determined by the instructors at the DZ you go to, not the comments on dropzone.com.

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I learned how to pack a chute on the internet. I learned how to take off the side view mirror of my mercedes from the internet. I learned how to make sticky buns off the internet. I learned how to fix the registry in my computer that allowed my cd drive to function from googling error 19!

How hard can it be!

Yip, you can learn lots of things on the internet, but where misunderstanding what's on the internet or using an inaccurate source might lead to your death, its not a recommended way to learn.

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No hate dude, just a desire for people to actually try to take some personal responsibility, for both their actions and their learning.

+1 why do some people expect others to do everything for them ?

My next floor covering for bathroom

http://www.gather.com/viewImage.action?fileId=3096224744548711

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You have a 2% chance of dying in a motor vehicle accident every time you get on the road.

I mean 2% of licensed drivers will die in a motor vehicle accident each year. That's based of the number of licensed drivers vs fatalities per year.

Really? These statements say different things.

2% is far too high. I think the number you want is closer 0.02%.

Not every road fatality is a licensed driver
Most skydivers spend more time driving than skydiving and yet I still know more people killed skydiving than driving?

Great work, another option is to use the wireless remote which shows GoPro screen on your wrist. I've used it sucessfully.

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I have a CX100 in a Cookie cage turned on with the charger plugged in. I just felt an electric charge coming off the cage when it touched my forearm - can't feel it through my fingers, but thinner skin I could definitely feel something coming off it.
Anyone had a similar thing happen? Should I be worried about this?
There's currently a lightning storm above my house too but I felt it just before it started.

Could also be static - your forearm has hair and is much more sensitive to static. Going near an earthed screw if you are charged will create a discharge/shock. Best way to check if probably to test yourself against something else earthed - if you have metal pipes in your house, then a tap will work. Same effect, you are charged.....No effect then get an electrician to check out your wiring..

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Amore important question is which precision instrument are you using to determine your number(s) and what is you criteria for the starting and ending points ?

I am betting that statistically speaking the validity (consistency) of the data in this thread is pretty much useless.

varies 500-800' - based on observed height on Altimeter at waveoff (as recorded by GoPro) and in the saddle height as recorded by Altitrack and GoPro

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Education isn't like it was in our day, eh Mike?

So you're saying the standard of teaching has gone down since you were a boy...

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There are gradations of ellipticallness. .

An ellipse is an ellipse is an ellipse.

Shape <> size.

I think that the point was that there are canopies with faster turn/dive rates/trims for the same size...Safire vs Crossfire vs JVX

Size isn't everything, performance and stability also vary according to design/construction not just the overall classification of canopy type.

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Heard of this "rule" being recommended by a very experienced jumper just this year.

And when someone of my limited experience tries to explain the facts, its amazing how many 'experienced' jumpers argue that its does work and that they have been using it for years.

I guess 'experience' isn't always all its cracked up to be.

You can also make linux boot from a USB drive see http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/