AndyMan

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I refuse to believe that my dead friends have nothing to teach. If "shit happens" is the cause of a fatility then how can we avoid it in the future? Everyone wants to think their crew is safe and that some outside force, "shit happens", just swooped in and took away their friend. I know this feeling from experience. If we use the "shit happens" excuse then we can go on making the same mistakes and never having to shift our world view to see that we are fallible. If we learn from the people who paid the ultimate price for their mistakes then we will be honoring their passing.

I disagree with the premise. I think of 'Shit Happens' as a way of dealing with the fact that you simply can not control everything.

There's a theory running around in the corporate risk management world right now - TBD : "There Be Dragons". The theory, in a nutshell - says that as soon as you think you can control for all known risk, some new unforseen risk will pop up in a place you never expected.

I think this is true of all skydiving. The difference with Base jumping is that you have even fewer tools like time (altitude), space (landing areas, unobstructed flight paths), and tools (reserves) to handle things when an unforseen risk pops up.

And trust me, an unforseen risk WILL pop up, it's pretty much guaranteed. As soon as you think you control for all risk, one will introduce itself.

_Am

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Im getting a 135 main, and was looking at a 126 reserve, so I can down size to a 120 main, at a later date if I choose to. which would even things out size wise.

There is no reason why you can't jump a smaller main than reserve. I jump a PD143 reserve, but a 120 main.

The logic that they should be the same size comes from some very old military testing, and is no longer given the credence it once was.

Two out canopy malfunctions are exceedingly rare, especially if you keep in mind your AAD firing altitudes and open well above that. Even if a two-out malfunction happens, it is easy to deal with regardless of canopy size. On the contrary, landing off the airport under a small reserve can be quite taxing indeed.

_Am

I haven't. It's part of the agreement I have with my wife - I tell her that everything I do, I can say with high confidence say that I'll land safely every time, and she lets me do whatever I want. This agreement has let me do a lot of things - Demo jumps into very tight landing areas, 100-way+ formation skydives, Tandem and AFF instruction, even jumping a highly loaded canopy - the works, even a bit of CRW.

But, there is simply no way that I can keep this agreement with my wife while BASE jumping. There are simply too many risks that I can not control. In short, it is far too dangerous for me to keep this agreement with my wife.

I would consider one of the 'bridge day' events - but haven't yet made this happen.

_Am

Where's the drogue attachment? Same place as DH? Does throwing the drogue cause the pin cover to open?

_Am

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There's no way I'd willingly allow my girlfriend, if she happened to become both a skydiver and become pregnant, to jump while carrying my child. No way

Umm... Wow.

That's all I'm gonna say.

_Am

Some pictures my wife took of the jumps: Spectacular!
https://picasaweb.google.com/chicagoandy/TransformersPics#

_Am

I would not pack an original Swift parachute, but I do not have any problem packing a Swift Plus as long as it's in good condition. The original Swifts were 5 cells, but the Swift Plus is 7 cells.

Unless the manufacturers specify a service life, I don't know many riggers that choose to enforce one on their own. A better idea is to have a design standard - for example, I refuse to pack the original Swift because it is a 5-cell reserve, and I believe the design is simply too far out of date.

Hope that helps,

_Am

The only time that 'Skydiving is not for you' is simple to tell - it's when you can't make a commitment to doing enough jumps that you maintain currency.

You're hardly the first person to make these mistakes, and some of the people who've come before you and made similar mistakes have gone on to become world-champions.

The difference between you and them, is that they made commitments to keeping current, doing lots of jumps, and improving on every jump. If you can also make these commitments, then you too can progress into an excellent skydiver. If you can't make these commitments, then you may be right - skydiving may not be for you.

_Am

Of course, everybody has the RIGHT to ASK for donations.


And likewise, I have the right to choose not to donate. I'm very willing to help my friends in a variety of ways.

First, one of the ways I help my friends is by encouraging them get medical insurance before they get hurt.

Second, if a friend does get hurt, I'm more than willing to help them financially, as I know sometimes there are costs beyond those covered by insurance.

But, there have been times in skydiving where people have made a long progression of poor choices, and I've chosen not to help out financially.

Of course they have the right to ask, and likewise, I have the right to sink back into the crowd and move onto a different discussion.

_Am

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But in practice, it is good courtesy if as a rigger one can try to inform one's clients of new bulletins affecting their gear.

Agreed. :) I've already put notices on my Facebook page.

_Am

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So one might interpret this anywhere from grounding a lot of UPT gear right now, to letting people say, after immediate inspection, 'it's not seriously damaged, we can work on it at the next repack'.

The JUMPER is requested to inspect their own gear, before their next jump.

The Rigger is requested to repair the gear, if necessary.

Riggers are asked to consider this stitching during their normal inspections.

I don't see many riggers grounding these rigs unless - 1, the jumper requests them to inspect it, and 2, the rigger finds something wrong.

_Am

Echo what 'twardo said,

For you, and your specifics, this is something you should discuss with your doctor first.

But, you certainly would not be the first skydiver on SSRI's. There are many. Talk to your doctor because there are different formulations and each may have different psychological effects. Ultimately, none of us here know what we're talking about so you should go talk to someone who does.

_Am

There's a long list of DZ's I would recommend before Lodi. Recent FAA fines for poor maintenance are just one example of a safety culture that has long been criticized.

Low prices should not be a top consideration when picking a place to learn to skydive.

Excellent dropzones with outstanding student programs are all over the US, including - in no particular order:

Illinois - Chicagoland Skydiving Center, Skydive Chicago
California - Perris, Elsinore
Texas - Skydive Spaceland
Florida - Zephyr Hills, Deland, Sebastian


_Am

One from last October - weather still sucking in Chicago this year!

Also, one of Sydney Owen, columnist at BSM on her graduation jump . This one was published.

_Am

I always liked it, giving great visuals to the student was very helpful.

_Am

Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Rochelle has a full line-up of Mirage RTS rigs in various sizes, never more than 3 years old. Each student rig has a PD Navigator and PD reserve in a size appropriate for the harness. The older ones have Cypres's while the newer ones have Vigil II's.

CSC also has a small number of 'conversion' rigs available for rent. These are intended to be available for those who have finished AFF but haven't yet acquired gear of their own. The only difference with these rigs is that they have Saber2's instead of Navigators.

As an instructor who often teaches using this gear, I'm very happy with it, and am even happier that I can tell my students with a straight face that we have some of the best student gear in the world.

I don't know the price the DZ pays for this gear, but the DZ is a big Mirage dealer so there's probably a volume discount. It also seems like these rigs have good resale value so they're easy to unload after a few years of use.

_Am

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One was Gus Wing a camera flyer, and the jumpship he had exited from earlier. He was under parachute and the A/C clipped and killed him.

The other I can think of was a pilot doing a sunset load flyby, and managed to put an Otter wing through a guys parachute at about 60 feet. He lived.

A third in Wisconsin just a few years ago, a Porter clipped a swooping jumper on landing, the wing hit the back of the jumpers rig. Jumper landed, but the Porter crashed and was destroyed.

_Am

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The PIA president chairs only the PIA Executive Committee. The Technical Committee is chaired by Dave Singer (Sunpath), and the Rigging Committee is chaired by Terry Urban (an independent rigger and DPRE). None of those individuals has banned his competitors products, and the PIA has not banned any products.

It still smells bad. The PIA published what they did without even looking at the cutter?

I'm shocked. Really, seriously, shocked.

PIA needs to publish a retraction, or the results of further investigation. Quickly.

_Am

All these warnings notwithstanding, the fact that the chairman of the PIA leads a committee that bans his competitors product? Only to find out later there was basically no investigation first? It stinks. It smells bad from a great distance away. Deleting threads where guys are asking questions just makes it look even worse. Conflict of interest? Maybe. Appearance of conflict? No question!

The only way to make a conspiracy grow? Become part of the conspiracy by trying to hide it. (or at least presenting the appearance of, which trust me - you are)

Of course I don't think you're trying to hide it, but from a distance, it sure does look odd and I really don't blame the man for wondering WTF people are doing. Seriously? Deleting threads just makes you all part of the problem.

Everyone aught to shine some sunlight and make this problem go away.

_Am

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lets hope some thought is put into action here and not knee-jerk responses.

If "knee jerk reactions" had been done years ago, we wouldn't be here.

Thanks to the USPA for putting it out. Lets all put pressure on our DZ's to implement their part, and take note ourselves for doing our part.

_Am

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Lesson learned on many fronts.

Sounds like you did the right thing! The priorities at pull time are very simple. In order:

1. Pull.
2. Pull at the correct altitude.
3. Pull at the correct altitude, while stable.

Pulling at the correct altitude is more important than stability! Spinning on your back at pull time? It's time to end the skydive, so PULL! Far too many skydivers have put themselves in grave danger by taking time to 'get stable'. If it's pull time? PULL.

If a skydive is already starting to get more interesting than it should be, don't make it worse by opening lower than you should.

_Am

Whats going on with Archway? There were rumors of being sold or closed down. Are they opening this spring?

_Am

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It looks like you went and picked up that engine in one of your U206s. I really think that these airplanes will be a big hit around the skydiving community! And I look forward to seeing one fly at my DZ someday in the not so far future!

I LOVE the 'can-do' attitude of hacking this together.... But I am a bit curious about the business case.

A C-206 is somewhere north of $200,000.
A PT-6 is also somewhere north of $200,000.
Add in a big whack of labor and paperwork, and you're somewhere around $500,000.

Compare that to the cost of a Porter, older Caravan, or even a PAC.... I dunno. Seems expensive for a small plane.

Still, very cool...!

_Am

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Pilot chute in tows ARE preventable

I'd say most, but not all. I saw one where the pin punched through the bridle.... Never saw that coming and there was nothing we could have imagined to prevent it.

Of course I would say most malfunctions are avoidable, but not all.

Those are preventable, proper slack on the bridle and correct routing.

I personally don't believe the industry completely understands the cause of that specific malfunction. Fortunately, it's rare, and dealing with it is straightforward.

While the advice given is good, I don't think it's been proven to solve the problem.

_Am

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I'm the student. Persnally, I think I should be the one to decide if I can jump or not. If the results aren't good, then I am the one to live with the consequence, right?

Nope.

I've got a simple test for a lot of things in skydiving. I imagine myself sitting in a witness stand, being grilled by a lawyer about anything I might have done with a student. If I can tell the truth with a straight face, then good.

In a situation like this? Sitting in front of a judge? Trying to tell the judge that even thought I saw some guy wincing in pain with basic motions, that he was fit to jump? Nope, couldn't do that with a straight face.

So I wont' do it. Easy decision.

_Am