angrypeppers

Ok then. But Seriously...if you say you're getting a group of 10 college friends together to go skydiving, in all reality, you will have maybe 2 or 3 if you're lucky. =================== That was true when I did my tandem. The guy organizing our tandems had 11 or 12 people sign up, but only two of us jumped. I tipped my TI, but never felt that I *had* to tip him even with the "tips are appreciated" signs all over the place. I was just stoked about the job he did...now I need to buy him a case for getting me started! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

You forgot #5: Pets...swap it with #3 and you're good... Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Calhan's listing in the dropzone's page has been updated: "Due to lack of support and seven weekends of snow, Elaborate Skydiving closed on March 1, 2007. Please see the website for refunds. " Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Nothing official, but I suspect that the seven or eight weekends of snowy weather with the Caravan coming on line at the same time didn't help much. Just crappy timing. Too bad they can't operate with just the 207. Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Happy birthday, Julie!!! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

The home page on their website has a note stating they closed on 01 March. Glad I got to jump there once, but was looking forward to a lot more this spring/summer. Bummer... Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

One very fun jump on Saturday, and got some more signatures on my A card! Congrats on the pack job!

The chop was strange in a way for me. It was my first jump on a 230, and after a standup landing the 218 reserve, the 230 is no big deal! The reserve was a very good experience for me. Like you said, it boosted my confidence big time. Plus, I got the dreaded first one out of the way early. No matter if the next one is on the next jump or in ten thousand, I'll be much better prepared when it happens again. I can still hear the sound of the rings letting go! Thanks... Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Did you buy that Wings rig from Joshua??? Nice score. If so, I was next in line in case you decided you didn't want it. Glad it went to a good home! Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Bridget... Take a look at the sizing charts here: http://www.sunpath.com/stock.htm Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

What drives me crazy? 1. People who think it's OK to dump their ashtray in the street in front of our house while waiting for their little yard apes to get out of school. 2. People who think it's OK to go through a redlight if they are three cars back when the light turns red. Asshats. 3. People who don't watch out for motorcycles while driving. Luckily, I can out accelerate most of them, and I ride like my life depends on MY paying attention...it does. 4. People who care more about Brittney, Lindsay, Paris, and the rest of Hollywood, than what's going on in their family, town, state, country, world. Oh, and throw in any rap and hiphop "artist" with that group too. 5. That there's still people in the USA without even basic health/dental insurance. 6. Schools / teachers are easy targets for budget cuts. 7. The price of diesel fuel is about the same as premium gas... still waiting on a good answer why this is so. 8. Rolling Rock brewery is no more. I can handle (somewhat) that they were bought out by Anheiser Busch, but did A-B really have to move the brewery out of Latrobe? And every time I see "Rolling Rock Brewery, St. Louis, MO" on those painted lables, I can taste the bile in my mouth. I'm down to my last case. Bummer. 9. One hit wonder bands. And boy bands. And girl bands. Anything you'd hear Casey Casem talk about, or whoever is doing the show now. It's probably Ryan Seacrest (see #14 below). 10. People who drive like they are the only ones on the road. Even worse is seeing said people driving like idiots with (usually unbelted/unseated) kids in the car. 11. "anything" - American. African American, Italian American, that kind of stuff. 12. Professional athletes who are considered role models. 13. Plastic surgery for anyone with a non-medical conditions. 14. Ryan Seacrest. He may be worth bank, but I'd rather chew my own leg off than watch him on the color horror box. 15. Reality TV. Can we please move past this genre and bring back some creative programming? Like Married With Children, Soap, or Buffy??? "This Old House" can stay, however. 16. Genetically modified foods. And cloning anything, except maybe if doctors could create organs for transplant. Even that is a little creepy. 17. Hunting shows on TV. I really don't need to watch animals being killed on TV. I don't mind hunting, used to go myself, but I just don't need to see it while flipping through the channels. 18. Parents that don't parent. 19. People in general. If you're here, you're probably OK. 20. Lawyers. I don't have Mesothelioma, and I certainly don't need James Sokolove's help with anything. Lawrocket is OK though. OK, that's a good start. Thank you, I feel better now.

Start here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/page.cgi?d=1 Happy shopping! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Congrats! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

One jump, a few firsts: 1. New DZ - Calhan, CO 2. First jump from a C207 3. First landing in a cow pasture...had to watch out for all of the pies! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

http://www.questaircraft.com Click on Kodiak, then Gallery. Looks nice! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Here you go... Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Interesting question, and timely for me, as I had my first chop a week ago on jump 13. I posted a write up already, but basically, my left toggle was tied in place and I couldn't get it loose. I've been beating myself up over this ever since, but have decided that I did the right thing for me and my experience level. This was my first jump on a 230 (Sabre2), and my first with a non-student rig. However, I don't have a lot of canopy time, I have never landed on the risers before, and didn't really want to make this my first time. I had time to play around a little bit to try to pop the toggle, but nothing worked (it was still tied in place when the main was retrieved), so I cutaway. I've had people tell me that having a controllable (even only on the risers) canopy is much better that risking a reserve mal. Others told me that if I wasn't comfortable trying a riser landing, then chopping was the right thing to do. I didn't, so I did. Maybe I'm too conservative right now (probably true), but I didn't get hurt, the canopy was retrieved and is useable, and I'm a little more experienced now. I'm happy with my decision on this jump. Actually, I'm happy that I decided on a plan of action and followed through on it, even if I had to cutaway. I'm NOT happy with all the beer I had to buy though! Cost me a jump! Bottom line for me is that if something similar happens again, I'll decide what to do then. But I'm still extremely new to skydiving, and I'd rather be too cautious. I probably could have landed safely on the risers, but why risk it? I figured that the chances of getting hurt from a riser landing was greater than a reserve ride injury. But now, I'm going to practice riser turns every jump till I'm comfortable with them. Might not make a difference if I have a problem on the next jump, but it probably will if I have a problem in ten jumps. Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Thanks, Julie. I suppose I'm just a little too competitive for my own good sometimes! I was really suprised how good the kids were. Precise, stable, and fast! Fearless, too. Their little jumpsuits and helmets were cool too! Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

I had a blast, even though I didn't do all that well. I made some friends there too. Those kids are amazing...wish I had control like that! Thanks to Rusty and everyone else who made the Challenge possible. I'll be there for the next one. Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

The instructors who saw it were great. Some talked with me casually, and two of them talked to me in the rigging loft away from the others. We all examined the main and saw the problem with the toggle, and figured out how it could have happened. I knew the procedures inside and out, at least with the practice vests and in the hanging harness. But when it happened, I stopped after cutting away. It's a good lesson for me: practice more and know the procedures so well that you don't have to think about anything. Like you said: automatic. I must have re-lived that jump a hundred times between yesterday and today. I was nervous about chopping, but at the same time, I knew what I had to do, and followed through. I'll be better prepared for the next one, whether it's the next jump or a thousand from now. Thanks! Chris PS. Thanks for the link, Headley! I'm not packing my own canopies yet, but I'm keeping that doc in my gear bag... Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Find a fly shop in your area and talk to them. Buy a quality vice...I have a Renzetti rotary vice, and have no complaints with it. For the trout flies I tie here in CO, it's been great. It's sturdy, stable, and holds a wide range of hook sizes. The rest of the stuff can be bought fairly cheaply, but I think the vice set me back about $175 or so. BTW, I prefer to buy from local shops rather than over the interweb. Once they get to know you, you'll find that they are a great source of info on streams, patterns, and other info for local fishing spots, including "secret" spots. Plus, I like to support the local businesses whenever possible. Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

I had my first chop today. I'm still processing everything, but here goes... The morning started out great. Looked to be a great day to jump. The temperature was rising, the fog dissipated, and I was able to get on the first Otter load of the day. I had jumped last week (recurrency jump), and the plan was to just do a fun jump: some turns, practice my leg extensions a bit, pitch at 5500. Nothing tricky at all. The winds were light, and I was feeling pretty good about my canopy skills. I picked up the rig: Infinity, Sabre2, and as I would find out, PD218 reserve. Since I hadn't jumped the Infinity before, I must have checked the hackey, cutaway, and reserve handles a dozed times on the ground and in the plane. I even remember thinking how the pillow and d-ring seemed a little farther outside than I'm used to with the student gear. The plane ride was uneventful, and the mood was relaxed. Nice! Finally, it was time to go. Freefall was great. Not too cold, and the turns went fine. I pitched at 5500, and the canopy opened up on heading. Cool! Grab the toggles, and the left one wouldn't budge. That was my first "Oh shit" moment. I looked at it, and tried to get it loose, but nothing worked. I did a riser turn to head towards the landing area, and worked on the toggle a bit more. No joy. I decided to keep trying till I got to 3500, if it wasn't free by then, I'd cutaway and go to reserve. I could turn using the risers, but I didn't want to try landing that way. Sure enough, 3500 came up, the toggle was still stuck, so I cutaway. "Oh shit" moment #2. It was really just like that. No panic, no hesitation. No sooner had I cutaway, than I saw the beautiful white reserve overhead. I did my controllability check, and headed towards the landing area again. In my haste/excitement/nervousness, I never did pull the reserve d-ring. I'll get to that in a minute. The approach, pattern, and landing were one of my best so far, and I did my first true standup landing. I gathered up everything and headed towards the trailer. I hadn't a clue where the main ended up, though I did try to look for it one time. Luckily, someone else followed it, and it was picked up a while later. Everyone was asking what happened and giving me props for getting down safely. Once the main was brought back, we could see what happened. There was an extra wrap of line around the toggle, and the tension from the deployed canopy was locking it in place. Of course, today would be the day that I forgot to bring my camera! After everything settled down a bit, two instructors sat down with me to go over what happened. They brought up the fact that I never pulled the reserve handle, which is directly against my training. I agreed. I think that once I cutaway and the reserve opened, I didn't even think about the reserve handle...I already had a canopy overhead and just wanted to get down on the ground. But that's not how I was taught, and it bugs me that I didn't follow procedures. Luckily, everything turned out OK this time. Lucky too was that this was a fairly low speed cutaway. I had time to try to sort out the toggle, and was able to decide on what my harddeck would be. I was in controllable flight, at least on the risers, and wasn't spinning or otherwise unstable. One of the guys asked if I remember the sound of the rings letting go, and I do! The entire cutaway was kind of surreal. I looked at the pillow, cutaway with both hands, heard the rings go, and next thing I know, the reserve was deployed. Lessons learned: 1. Procedures are taught for a reason...I need to practice them more, so that next time, I'll follow them completely, even if the reserve is already deployed. Following procedures can save your life. 2. Stay calm. Once I discovered the problem, I had time to try to sort it out, and decide when Plan B would be implemented. Once you decide on a course of action, stick to it. 3. Maintain altitude awareness. I'm pretty good about this, but was even more so today. I must have checked my alti every other second. Once I hit my decision altitude, I cutaway. All in all, the jump ended well. I got my first chop out of the way (on my jump #13!). I also know that I need to practice more so that I do the things I've been taught without thinking about them - muscle memory. I'm also VERY appreciative of all the folks who gave me encouragement, and helped to figure out what happened. And especially to the two instructors/riggers who talked with me afterwards. I got down safely, but not following procedures could have a much worse outcome next time. After this jump, I owe so much beer, I think I'll just bring a keg to the DZ next weekend! Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

Today...jump 13 (natch), fourth jump off AFF. Left toggle problem. I'll have a more detailed write up tonite. Chris Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.

42 Burn the land and boil the sea, You can't take the sky from me.