ryan_d_sucks

I'm there too, but I'll probably fuck it up unless its an easy docked exit and I'm in the base.

Most definatley. I'm not really upset about it-- I jump, I have fun, I try my damndest to stay safe and that's it.. I'm just interested to size myself up and see where I'm at compared to where most are/were.

I'm trying to stack myself up against other jumpers of the same experience. To put things in perspective-- I have 80 jumps, have accumulated 29 minutes of freefall, was taught via SL at a small Cessna DZ where I still jump and 9500 are the highest jumps. That said, skill-wise I can hardly get into a 4-way. Pretty much the only way my jumps are successful is if we do a docked exit and there is no turning of points involved. I can sometimes to an undocked 2-way, but even at that it takes thousands of feet. I seem to constantly sink out below my jump partners, even though I'm wearing a huge 1980's baggy-as-hell jumpsuit. (I've tried hugging the ball and all that) So where were other people when they were at my jump numbers in terms of freefall skill? I think I might be a little bit behind.

Hey, I'm going to my first boogie here in just over a month in Richmond. I swear I saw an article on this site a while ago that talked about how to prepare for your first boogie. However, I can't seem to find it anywhere now... Anyone know the article I'm thinking of? Anyone have any other advice for me?

Hey all, I'm a shitty skydiver living in Indiana. I got my license back in March, and I really want to check out the Richmond boogie this year. It should be a couple hours drive from where I'm at, so traveling expenses won't be a huge concern. I also plan on camping out at the boogie.. The question becomes, how much money is enough? I'm thinking I can scrape together about $450 between now and then to just blow on this trip. Is that enough to make it actually worth heading out there? I want to jump my ass off and have a good time. At less than 100 jumps can I even get on the more expensive lifts (like choppers and balloons)? How much is enough to budget for a boogie??

This happened to me a few weeks ago. The deployment went snivel-snivel-snivel-snivel-BAM! The hard(er) opening sent me rocking like a pendulum in the harness, and I guess the inertia it created threw the PC over the top of the canopy. The PC was just sitting there, and the canopy started to buck back and forth. After 2 bucks I released the brakes to see if that helped, and on the 3rd buck it threw the PC off the center cell and back to its correct position flying behind the tail. I'm not sure why the PC over the nose created the bucking motion, but I wouldn't have landed it like that. It fixed itself before I got to my hard deck, but otherwise I was gonna give it about 5 more seconds. Actually, I was talking about it to a friend of mine with similar jump numbers who learned at a different DZ. He said in his FJC they told him that if that happens to unstow the brakes and perform a 90 degree turn to throw the PC back where its supposed to be. Not sure if that works or not..

Should I be though? Its a 1993 Raven 1- 181 sq. feet. On the warning label it says not to exceed 185 pounds in order to avoid serious injury/death. When I bought it I didn't exceed 185, but now I do and am pushing 200. Is it an issue of the manufacturer not wanting people to have a high WL on ANY reserve, or is it an issue of this particular reserve performing at such a wing loading? I plan on losing the weight that I've gained, but as someone wise said it isn't smart to bank on money you will inherit, weight you will lose, and experience you will gain. Why does the manufacturer recommend such a conservative loading? I don't like the idea of going against manufacturer recommendations on my reserve, but is this just a 'cover your ass' type of warning? For the record- yes I have talked to my rigger about this. He says he feels like it is still safe to jump the canopy. I'm just looking for others' opinions.

Weiner Circle They don't serve drinks, but I'm pretty sure you have to already be smashed in order to eat there.

Seriously, you may want to take a look at stepping away from your current DZ and finding one that offers static line (if yours doesn't). I too am a college student, and there's no way I could have afforded to learn to skydive if I went through AFF. There's a huge never-ending debate about which teaching method is better, but they both ultimately get you to the same place. Static line is just much cheaper, jump for jump.

This is a great DZ with a family atmosphere. Dick Money (DZO) is NOT all about the money. He keeps his prices low to keep people skydiving. Safety is paramount at this DZ- planes circle the airport burning fuel to wait for 1 student to land before dropping others, aircraft are well-maintained, and weather conditions are respected. This DZ really cares about the up and comming jumper. Personally I have received freefall coaching, packing instruction (and some pack-jobs), RW coaching and more, and nobody has charged me a dime even when I've tried paying them. This is a really fun DZ with great staff and great jumpers. Its got well-maintained aircraft and a staff that loves skydiving. There's also free entertainment/comedy if you stand near Dick Money and keep your ears open. I recommend anybody check it out who's looking for a fun place to jump.

I assume you're talking about the NCLEX right? I'll be doing that 1 year from right now.. Maybe you'll find this youtube video amusing-- I did. Maybe the army educates differently (I hope so). Does the NCLEX have any exam questions like the one in this video? http://youtube.com/watch?v=wxhK1kK7__E

This may be a fundamental lack of knowledge about physics, but why is it that this and joe kittinger's extremely high exits make for such fast freefall speeds? In other words, when we skydive we hit terminal at around 120 (on the belly), and stay that way until deployment. Why will Fournier break the sound barrier? Why do they accelerate past our terminal velocity?

...Wait, does that seriously not work?

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=xtreme_bullshit

Nashville, Tennessee

Somehow I'm hitting ~150+ on my belly. Recently I went up with a C-license jumper with the intent of just docking twice and hanging out until pull time. He spent the entire jump in a HARD arch trying to get down to me, and I spent my time getting as big as possible to get up to him. His protrack clocked him at 147, and he never even got close to me. I had on jeans and an underarmor longsleeve. The next jump I borrowed a friend's baggy 1960's jumpsuit and slowed down real nice to around 120 and the jump worked well. I guess jumpsuits make a difference.

Maybe a side note: Do you know of anybody else who has had their reserve packed by this rigger, or his apprentice? It might be well worth their time to contact them and let them know their reserve might kill them.. If you don't know anyone who has had a reserve packed by this guy, then you might want to tell the rigger he ought to notify anyone that had their reserves packed by his student or him recently. At least then the blood is on his hands.

Kallend, That is an interesting progression. I'm certainly not one to condemn anybody's canopy choices, especially at my level. What type of training did you do that with? I'd love to hear more about it. Did you jump those at an established DZ? While it may not be popular, I'm told that off DZ training, with a pilot, a jump-master and a field DOES exist.

As a student I'm often told not to fly over the runway.. Or at least I was when I first started. My question is why? Is it purely an issue of risking a collision with oncoming aircraft traffic? Or is there something about the way heat rises from the blacktop that will affect canopy flight? The reason I ask is because at my DZ the landing area is very close to the runway, and if the winds are out of the east or west you will usually end up close to, or wanting to cross the runway either on your downwind or base leg of your approach. Last season we had a canopy collapse at probably 20-30 feet (I'm guessing, I wasn't there) as the jumper flew over the runway on a very hot day (resulting in knee surgery). Does that collapse have anything to do with being over the runway, or might that just be coincidence? From my understanding she wasn't near the hangers or any other turbulence causing obstacles. So is it just an issue of other air traffic, or is there something about blacktop and heat that affects canopy flight?

I have wondered this for a while now-- What exactly is this scholarship? Do coaches donate jumps to help out students, or is it some type of gear pool, or is it a reduced cost AFF, or what? I like the idea of experienced jumpers giving back and helping out the newbies, something I hope to be able to do one day, but I don't exactly understand what this scholarship is.

Just wondering around what jump number people switched from flying the large student canopies to a smaller 'non-student' type of canopy. Non-student may be kind of vague-- what I mean is something that is considered a bit more sporty main than the student ones.. One you would consider buying to keep for a while. What was your wing loading? Did you downsize incrementally, or just in one jump? What training method did you use? Personally, I put about 23 jumps on mantas before switching to over to a spectre 190 loaded at just about 1.0. I went through the static line program. This was all done of course under the supervision and guidance of my instructors. DZO and S&TA. Just curious.

Just out of curiosity- where are you at now in your progression? I did not have any spinning issues either, until I started hitting terminal + a few seconds. Nothing serious, but still some spinning that needed to be ironed out with more jumps. So are you still on delays, or are you jumping from 'up top?'

Nice one dude... It only gets better. Those first few SL jumps won't even compare to the amount of fun you have once you get into a little bit of freefall. I remember after my first 10 second delay thinking 'HOLY SHIT THAT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN THE LAST ONE!'

I dont see what the big deal is... If a static line student who has made only 5 jumps can do it so can you.. I mean seriously-- the first time a static line student pulls for themselves is generally from 3500, and well before their 10th jump (unless they're progressing very slow). In fact, they've probably only reached for the ripcord or hackey 3 times, since the first 2 SL jumps are just Arch and Count. Arch. Reach. Pull.- thats it.

How long did it take you guys to learn to pack? I'm working on my A license, and I finally have my own gear. I have tried to pack it with assistance probably 10 times. I can never get it finished on my own, and to be honest if I work on it completely alone I don't even come close. I just spent an hour and a half on my floor wrestling the goddamn thing, and I didn't even get it into the bag.. My main problems: 1) I can't seem to figure out WHAT I'm looking at when I'm staring down in there. I can usually find the A lines and B lines, but the real problems start when I try to flake between C and D lines.. I eventually get it flaked, but have no idea if I ever got the D lines centered, or the material to the outside. I really have a hard time telling what I'm looking at in there, with all the lines, the material and the slider. 2) When I cocoon the canopy I can't get it slim enough to fit in the d-bag without screwing up the lines and pulling the tail off the slider. Whenever I try to tuck the edges underneath the canopy and make it slimmer it poofs back out on the sides when I lay down on it to push out the air. 3) The S-folds just turn into a fat wad of canopy that has no chance of fitting into the bag.. So how long did it take you to become proficient at packing? I've seen pack like a PRO, I have a 40 minute video from PD on my computer that goes step by step packing a sabre 170, and I've had people go through it with me at the DZ. I'm getting frustrated. Any tips?