mpuettman

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Everything posted by mpuettman

  1. Why only 5 to 10 feet? Weight of the rig still on your back? The way it was explained to me, if I remember correctly, is that your main is creating drag prior to being cut away. And so when you cut away, you lose that drag and your upper body is no longer being pulled back. And when your upper body no longer has that backwards pull, you could easily lerch forward from the waist up and do a face plant in the water -- which could cause significant injuries such as a torn aorta, if the cutaway occurred at a significant height... It's a bit more simple. You may misjudge the altitude over the water, and cut away way to high. I have 1 intentional and 2 other water landing without cut-away. True...the explanation is as simple as you put it. However, everyone should be aware that there are real and inherent dangers associated with cutting away too high. I've wondered just how high is too high. I've done 40 foot jumps off a cliff into a deep water lake. My mistake was thinking my wife wouldn't flinch when we attempted to jump off it hand-in-hand. I hit the water at an angle on my front, and she splashed in just inches away a second later. I was okay after 15 minutes, she didn't feel good the rest of the day. I hadn't thought about the physics of human flight following a cut-away from a forward driving parachute... Prior to the demo jump, I hadn't thought about the physics of a cutaway either...I am glad that I had good and knowledgeable friends who were willing to take the time to point out the dangers!
  2. Why only 5 to 10 feet? Weight of the rig still on your back? The way it was explained to me, if I remember correctly, is that your main is creating drag prior to being cut away. And so when you cut away, you lose that drag and your upper body is no longer being pulled back. And when your upper body no longer has that backwards pull, you could easily lerch forward from the waist up and do a face plant in the water -- which could cause significant injuries such as a torn aorta, if the cutaway occurred at a significant height... It's a bit more simple. You may misjudge the altitude over the water, and cut away way to high. I have 1 intentional and 2 other water landing without cut-away. True...the explanation is as simple as you put it. However, everyone should be aware that there are real and inherent dangers associated with cutting away too high.
  3. Why only 5 to 10 feet? Weight of the rig still on your back? The way it was explained to me, if I remember correctly, is that your main is creating drag prior to being cut away. And so when you cut away, you lose that drag and your upper body is no longer being pulled back. And when your upper body no longer has that backwards pull, you could easily lerch forward from the waist up and do a face plant in the water -- which could cause significant injuries such as a torn aorta, if the cutaway occurred at a significant height...
  4. I remember. There were a lotta bad decisions on that one, the chain of disaster was / should have been obvious. I think I remember reading about a demo gone wrong in the Knoxville, TN area. One guy was doing a water jump into the Tennessee River and decided to cut-away and go splash. Only he cut-away a tad too high and tore his aorta on impact with the water. I was on that demo jump in Knoxville (10 of us jumped) and I was the last one to be picked up out of the water. They (the TRWA) told me that they would be back to pick me up in a few minutes. I didn't know what was going on at the time, but they wanted to deal with the incident first, so I remained in the water for about 10+ minutes with my rig on and my main slowly sinking. And even though my rig was definitely water-logged, I didn't have trouble treading water for that long since my rig didn't seem to feel very heavy -- I guess the adrenaline was still pumping from jumping in front of about 20,000 people. I had thought about doing an intentional cutaway before I hit the water, but several of the more experienced jumpers and the DZO very strongly advised against it saying that there was only a very small window of opportunity (like 5-10' above the water) to cut away safely and that depth perception is often a factor on water jumps not to mention that this demo jump was at dusk (right before a huge fireworks display) which also plays with your depth perception.
  5. I used to work with him -- seriously... And we had a paging systems with loud speakers outside...guess who all the new receptionists were always asked to page...
  6. University of Tennessee - Knoxville GO VOLS!!
  7. imo, the only reason a college degree (outside of science, medicine, or engineering) improves your chances of success, is that it has become a baseless requirement for many jobs. I have both a BS degree and an MBA and personally, I do not see the value (time & money invested) in either. I got my undergraduate degree straight out of high school because my parents expected me to go. I received my MBA when I was 40 and I pursued it only because it was a policy at work that a masters degree was a requirement for further advancement – and the sad part was that it didn’t matter what the concentration was (mine was finance)…the only requirement was that you had that piece of paper. I could have gotten a masters in some obscure field of music and I would have still met their requirements even though I was working in the natural gas industry. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Book learning is a whole different ballgame than actual work experience, practical knowledge, and street smarts. Just my opinion…
  8. I was on a balloon jump one day and someone called 911 to report that people had fallen out of the balloon... When the fire dept and the police got to the balloon, they were amused and nice enough to help the balloon pilot carry some gear.
  9. I, too, have always felt that I should give back to the sport -- at my own expense. After all, I had plenty of people who helped me (at no charge) along the way. And that is one of the many things I have always liked about this sport – the people I have met have all been friendly, positive, and willing to help each other without expecting anything in return. Then along came USPA with another way to boost its own revenues…
  10. Get her using the ergonomic keyboard, then she can't leave you because she won't be able to use the regular keyboards anymore...
  11. I have used one for several years and they're great -- it takes a while to get used to them, but they do wonders if you have carpal tunnel or if you have bursitis in your shoulder!! If you're getting the ergonomic keyboard, you ought to try a mouse with a track ball, too.
  12. Skydive Smoky Mountains is a great place to jump -- it's on a small private grass strip airport with great people, a great DZO, and a beautiful place to jump! And a good mix of belly fliers and free fliers. BTW, since Remote Area Medical has formed an airborne division a few years ago, they have done a few demo jumps around the Knoxville and Scott County area. I don't know if you're old enough to remember the TV show "Wild Kingdom", but Stan Brock (the guy who used to wrestle the wild animals) is the guy that heads up RAM. Welcome to Knoxville!
  13. I've also subscribed to both Flying and Plane & Pilot for years...and recommend one or both.
  14. What about - no air conditioning in cars or houses - go-go boots - no TV programs on after 9pm
  15. I must, I must, I must increase my bust! By the way, it's a sham! Along the same lines...how about the pencil test?
  16. mpuettman

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    GRANDDAUGHTERS?!! no way.... Thank you!! They both love to watch skydiving and the older one has the arch down pretty good and does a pretty good exit off the step of the 206 (on the ground, of course)! Now if I just knew a good-looking available skydiving grandpa...
  17. mpuettman

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    Me and my granddaughters at Skydive Smoky Mountains
  18. A good price comparison site is www.nextag.com (sorry, don't know how to make it a clicky). Be sure to enter your "ship to" zip code and it will calculate both tax and shipping. Like someone else mentioned, the people at B&H Photo are really knowledge...and although their prices are not way out of line, B&H is rarely the cheapest but they are very reputable. Also, if you want some read some reviews on digital cameras, go to www.dpreview.com or www.imaging-resource.com
  19. Anytime...I love doing hybrids... Are you going to Richmond?
  20. According to my ProTrack and Neptune, I've hit 173 in a hard arch from 12K. On my HALO jump from 31,500, I hit 254.
  21. Do they wing walk with that plane? That is on my want-to-do list. Do they give lessons? yes they do wingwalking and yes, i hear they do give lessons, but i'm not gonna walk out on a wing w/out a parachute Can you pm me with the name and phone number?
  22. Do they wing walk with that plane? That is on my want-to-do list. Do they give lessons?