DanG

I don't think "not as brave" is the point. People have different jobs. The person firing rockets from miles away one day may be ordered to go lead a direct assault the next. Or he may be ordered to go blow himself up. The combat pilot in Afghanistan bombing Taliban fighters from 10,000ft. one year may be called upon to fight against advanced North Korean anti-air defenses in the future. Anyone who signs on to defend their homeland is, in my book, worthy of respect. When you refuse to give your enemy the respect he deserves, you are surely going to be beaten. - Dan G

You assume that whatever is not "courageous" is therefore "cowardly". Doesn't follow. (BTW, there are no llamas in Afghanistan or Iraq. They use camels, and they hardly ever ride them.) Combat pilots are not cowards, even though they may not be facing the same threats as ground troops. The ground troops don't consider them cowards, and are damn glad to have them on our side when needed. This coming from a former ground troop who has had his bacon saved by "cowardly" pilots flying at 10,000 ft. Oh, and I also respect the courage of a suicide bomber who attacks a military target. They are not cowards either, even though we may not agree with their position. This also coming from someone who was nearly killed by a suicide bomber. - Dan G - Dan G

Two significant digits seems to be the norm. That's what I use, but I don't round up due to a silly superstition. This makes sense, since the more experience you have, the more jumps it takes to improve. In other words, there might be an experience difference between someone who has 25 or 26 jumps, but not much between some who has 2025 and 2026 jumps. - Dan G

I think I do understand the terminology and you are right, what he said is semantically correct. I think the important word in the sentance is "through". Parachutes, and other aircraft for that matter, should not fly through a pattern. Should they be permitted to fly "near" a pattern? I hope so. What worries me is how this statement could be interpreted by non-experts. People like myself and, say, legislators. To people not as tuned in as you to terminology, it sounds like this official believes parachute operations cannot be conducted at or near uncontrolled airports. - Dan G

I have to disagree. Like a poster pointed out above, aircraft will be using either side of the runway depending on the landing direction. Quade, you seem to be saying that dropzones should only operate at privately owned, single use airports. I hope I am misreading you. If this happens, many small and medium size dropzones will be put out of business. BTW, Skydive Orange has been operating at the Orange County Airport (uncontrolled) for over 25 years without any traffic problems on landing. Our infrequent and minor traffic problems come from passing aircraft not listening to unicom for jumper announcements. - Dan G

I wholeheartedly agree. She did not go through her AFF at our dropzone. I don't know where she did it. She has been strongly encouraged by the staff to do a few hop and pop's, but is resistive. Maybe they should force her to, it is not under my control. - Dan G

I think a mix of S/L and AFF is the best way to go. I did straight static line, but I may have picked things up faster if I had competent instructors with me on long delays to assist and observe body position first hand. I like the flexibility of the ISP in this regard. You can switch disciplines to meet certail learning goals. If your student is having difficulty with canopy control, put them out on low cost static lines with radio assistance. Freefall troubles? Transition to AFF or Tandem. Our dropzone recently noticed that we were having fewer and fewer people graduate the AFF program. They decided to reintroduce static line at a low price and guess what, a bunch of people signed up for static line jumps. Many decided to transition to AFF after only a couple of S/L jumps, but I believe that having the lower cost option available helped people enter the sport without fear of wasting money. BTW, I knw a young jumper (~75 jumps) who has never exited an aircraft below 10,000 ft. She is too scared. Not good. - Dan G

Hey! That's not nice. I'm having Keeper bite you the next time we bring him out. And in answer to the first poster. Bring him/her to the DZ on a leash regularly, and show them what is right and wrong. They need to be acclimated to the environment, or they'll end up like our dogs who freak out and misbehave when we bring them out. - Dan G

I know of a Cypres firing off the back of an AFF instructor, and master rigger, at 11,000ft during a Level 1 jump. Not "in the door" but certainly a positive failure. Upon inspection Airtec found a very small ding in the unit, possibly caused during packing. - Dan G

Thanks for all the great info, everybody. To answer a few questions, I am about 6" BE, so I have a moderately good lever arm. My elbow mobility is not very good right now, but I'm working on it. A right side cutaway handle would not be reachable by my prosthetic, but hopefully I will get to the point where it will be. We'll see. Anyway, thanks again, I really appreciate it. - Dan G

Hello everybody, I recently lost my right hand in Afghanistan and am recovering at Walter Reed. I am only five weeks out from my injury, so I still have a long way to go. I have not yet started the process of being fitted for a prosthetic. One of my most important goals is to get back in the air. I know I will have to modify my equipment, reduce my wingloading, and retrain my emergency proceedures. I have a few questions that I hope someone on here can answer: 1. I don't want to go to an SOS system, since I fly video. I was thinking about having both the cutaway handle (probably a soft loop) and the reserve handle on the left MLW. Any opinions? 2. What type of prosthetic do arm apmutees, specifically BE, use for jumping? Do I need to make sure to get a specific type, or will I have to have one modified? 3. Any problems keeping the arm on during freefall, opening, or canopy flight? Any special precautions? 4. What type of wingloadings are people flying? Keep in mind I have over 1400 jumps, with more than 600 at above a 1.6 wing loading. 5. Any other advice specific to rehab or prosthetic training would be appreciated. I will gladly respond to PM's, but there seems to be a lack of information here for arm amputees, so I think public posts might be useful. Thanks, Dan G

For the one listed above I arched like a mofo. One way to go realy fast on your belly is to fold your arms across your chest (like the tandem safety position) and put your feet on your ass. It takes some practice to still be able to fly like that, but you can go really fast. I have more control in that position than I do in a sit, which is something I need to work on more. - Dan G

I videod a tandem pair at over 140mph in drougefall one time. Big, tall male tandem master and big, short, female student. It didn't help that the drouge was old and worn out and the TM held it for longer than normal out the door. What really sped the pair up was when the student got scared and returned to the safety position with her arms across her chest. I could barely keep up. It's been a few years, but the number 143mph sticks in my head. It sucked. The video was not so great, either, to be honest. - Dan G

On my old four way team we were all over six feet and between 190 and 230 lbs. (without gear). No Cessna rides for us. There are plenty of big folk out there. I'm currently 6'2" and 200lbs. - Dan G

I used to be a legal assistant working on intellectual property issues. Patents are very complicated and arcane. Most attorneys don't know the first thing about patents, you need a specialist. Short answer, for the US, prepare to spend a few thousand dollars just in filing fees, not attorney costs, fees with the Patent and Trademark Office, and at least a year of your time. If you have a patentable idea, find a patent attorney and discuss it with him or her. Don't waste time, since your priority depends on how early you file (generally, the law has tons of caveats). Most patent attorneys will at least sit down with you and give you a quick evaluation for cheap, if not free. Keep in mind, I am not an attorney and cannot give you any legal advice! - Dan G

You can argue with John. The fact is that the activities of Afghan farmers will never feed the world's cocaine habit, since they grow poppies in Afghanistan. Poppies are used to make opium and heroin. - Dan G

I'm going to go out on a limb and disagree with the illustrious billvon. I've only cut away twice, and on one of those occasions I did look at my altimeter. It was a line-twist malfunction that I tried to clear for some time. Having the altimeter available let me know how much time I had to work with the problem. I ended up cutting away, but if I had been able to work out the problem before my hard deck, it would have been prefereable than going to my last chance. It would have also been preferable to a repack and new freebag. In response to the inevitable "you should have looked at the ground and been able to tell how high you were" I say that it is easier said than done when turning and over a densely forested area south of the usual opening area. Also, we do, in the FJC, tell students about their hard deck and that there are certain malfunctions they can attempt to clear, if above their hard deck. Having an altimeter in the case of a line twist, severe end-cell closure, or slider-up malfunction can be the difference between landing a main and landing a reserve. So, in short, I would tell Orange1 to, first, consult with her instructors, but that if she loses altitude awareness (which is what has happened if she has no altimeter and can't visually determine how high she is) she should end the skydive and pull. If this happens right out the door? Sucking it down is an option, but if she is concerned with backsliding into someone elses airspace, pulling higher is better than pulling lower. If you do not have horizontal separation right out the door, then you will certainly not have it at 5,000 feet. - Dan G

I'm sure with well organized groups big ways can be relatively safe, but I don't like the culture of low pull as standard. At LP one year I was watching a known organizer putting together a 20 way (or maybe 30 I don't remember). Breakoff did not start until 3,000. He pointedly told everyone that he didn't want to see anyone pulling above 2,000 and flippantly made some remarks about how people who pull higher than 2,000 weren't welcome on his jumps. How you manage a safe 20 way breakoff in 1,000 feet is beyond me. Maybe I'm all messed up, but my 4-way team doesn't break off that low. - Dan G

I've pretty much decided I don't want to do big ways for safety reasons. The biggest I've ever been on was 40 and there was a lot of poor tracking and canopy traffic. Being in the base made it scarier. I had to pull low at least once that weekend because I didn't have clear air. Add a malfunction as simple as line twist to the equation and I decided big ways are not for me. - Dan G

I avoid pulling low unneccisarily, as the OP asked, but I'll pull low occasionally if safety warrants like LuvToFly said. I have not pulled below 2,000 in recent memory except mayeb once on a big way when the air wasn't clear and one hop 'n' pop in which I exited below 2,000, but let's no go there. I usually pull at 2,500 or higher for RW and 3,500 or higher for camera. Any lower than that and I get scared real fast. - Dan G

Middle finger only if wearing gloves (RW), middle and index if not wearing gloves (camera). - Dan G

I think you all are over-generalizing PETA members a bit. (What, broad generalizations and unsubstantiated attacks in Speakers' Corner? Say it aint so) There are a lot of PETA members who are completely normal. Just like there are a lot of Catholics who fuck and curse, not everyone who belongs to an organization believes or practices every part of the doctrine. I am not a member of PETA, I eat meat, and I own a dog who eats meat (and eveything else she can get ahold of). On the other hand, I believe in the ethical treatment of animals. Just keep it reasonable. I know someone who works for PETA. She owns a dog, and brings it to work with her every day. The people at the PETA office don't have a problem with her owning the dog. Don't assume that vegetarians (my girlfriend is a vegetarian and her dog eats meat-based dry food, and everything else he can get ahold of) are all weirdos. Most that I know are really quite normal people. - Dan G

I don't know where you are shopping, but the cheapest new 300D I could find was about $600. I found a used one for $450. I bought a 350D for $720 as posted above. In my math that's $120 more, not $400. I'm hoping the higher burst rate (go to dpreview.com for an in depth analysis, but in 30 seconds the 350D can take over twice the number of pictures a 300D can), the higher resolution (8 vs. 6 MP), and the size and weight (there is a size difference and dpreview provides a neat ovarlapping contrast), will make it worth the extra money. We'll see. - Dan G

If your reserve doesn't open you just say, "Buhhda, Buhhda, Buhhda." Please tell me I'm not the only one here who knows that joke. - Dan G

Beware, the link you posted was for the Sigma 15mm lens with a Sigma mount. The link for the same lens with a Canon mount is http://www.tristatecamera.com/LookAtAll-1wvvusc1-SIGAF15C-1-00260073-0-store.php.html - Dan G