GLIDEANGLE

Mike: As we in the Navy would say: Bravo Zulu (Well Done)! You are setting a high standard, to which other DZOs can rise. Thanks! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

ROFLOL !!! Thanks! It was a long day at work and I needed the laugh. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

You could send your Cypres to Cyprus and see how that works out. Cyprus The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I would posit that the greatest threat to the well being of student skydivers is NOT: Gear Instructor quality Plane Pilot The greatest threat to the well being of student skydivers is .... STUDENT SKYDIVERS! This sport is not rocket science, but there are a few things students have to LEARN, and APPLY. The failure to learn &/or the failure to apply what is taught about how to skydive safely is the greatest risk you will face. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I began skydiving at twice your age... so I know a thing or two about poor flexibility. The following stretch was taught to me by one of my freefall coaches. I find it very helpful. 1. Lie on floor, belly down. 2. Position hands on floor, as if to do a push-up. 3. Slowly push shoulders and upper body from floor WHILE LEAVING PELVIS AND LEGS FLAT ON FLOOR. 4. The key to this is to RELAX and allow your body to arch. You may hear the term "arch hard". I think that this is a poor choice of words because "hard" implies "stiff". A stiff body postion is bad. I much prefer the term "arch deeply". Think about relaxing and "oozing" into position. Once you have the above stretch figured out... add squeezing your butt muscles during the stretch. This is exactly how you will deepen your stretch in freefall. Note that I have said nothing about arm position... most beginners stand and attempt to arch... with great emphasis on the arms. I found it far more effective to relax into a deep PELVIS arch with the above exercise ... the arms then naturally positioned themselves. By the way, I suspect that if you use the term "superman" you will cause confusion. The only time that I have heard the term used in skydiving it has referred to a position which is almost the exact opposite of what you want to accomplish with your arch. (The superman that I refer to is a de-arched slow fall position with arms extended overhead and legs out pretty straight.) The big secret to skydiving is a paradox. The secret is both very simple, and often the opposite of what seems proper.....RELAX. Yes, relaxation is tremendously helpful in freefall. Don't forget to smile!!! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

0:7:0 For those of us who are willing to dress for the weather... it was a great weekend. I even got to play on a jump that yielded 2 SCRs and a SCS ... while poe62 watched us from the warmth of the hangar. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Ron: DZ.com vocabulary: -- To land a ram air canopy one must pull the breaks to flair the canopy. (Of course I would prefer to land with flair and without breaks!) -- The PC is connected to the D-Bag by the bridal . -- The to jumpers moved too the door, and I wished I could jump two. -- Your going to like it when you have a custom built harness of you're own. I find dz.com best read with a beer in hand. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I was nervous too. Re: loading order... In the loading area, before loading the aircraft, ask the experienced jumpers "I am doing my first solo and intend to open at #### ft... Where do I belong in the exit order?" I would be astonished if you got anything other than helpful replies. For my solos, I worked on the skills I would need for my A-license check jump (to the degree possible without another jumper as point of reference.) I didn't do a lot of solos. I paid for a lot of coached jumps... and they were worth EVERY penny. Jumping with others is what a novice needs to do if the goal is to develop sufficient skill to jump with others well. Be sure to ask for a gear check in the loading area before boarding... it will do two things: It will re-assure you, and it will force you and an experienced jumper to talk. My first solo is when I understood for the first time how beneficial RELAXING was. Since I had no evaluator... I felt less performance pressure in freefall... I was able to relax. Relax, have fun. :) The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

All was well until jump 13. At that point I developed trouble with SERIOUS instability at deployment time when coming out of a track. This was scary for all involved (me and my coach). It took a number of jumps including some with video to get over this hump. I have continued to struggle with micro accuracy. The "macro" accuracy of getting back to the DZ, of landing in the part of the LZ that I want...I had that nailed quickly. However, getting those 2 meter "micro" accuracy jumps for my C-license is my current quest. Yes, I have been to a canopy control class...and I have another one booked in a couple of weeks. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Alternate plan... celebrate your speed: Anvil Brothers The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

That is funny!!! If my wife required that... I think I would do a full altitude H&P and call her from under canopy. I bet that would bring an abrupt end to mandatory phone calls.

to guarantee clear airspace? I don't think that animal exists. As I understand it... FAA does not make a hole in the sky for jumpers. A NOTAM will advise other pilots of the hazard, and ATC will advise the jump pilot of known traffic in some cases. But it is up to the pilot and the jumpers to only jump when they have determined that traffic is clear. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

When I read Service Bulletins I often wonder three things... How was this defect discovered? How was the defect created during manufacturing? (New employee? Equipment out of calibration? etc) What will it cost the manufacturer to repair the affected rigs? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Previously Eagle Flight Skydiving in Granbury Texas was at an airport where a medical helicopter was based. That skydiving operation has recently moved to Hillsboro Texas, and is now known as Skydive 35. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I have the perfect road trip for you. Go to Skydive Temple in Salado, Texas. The DZ is only about a mile from town. The town is the perfect "bed-and-breakfast-go-shopping-all-day-way-too-boring-for-guys" destination. She can stay in town and you can jump over the town. Bonus... There is lots of CReW there and Wendy is eager to infect others with the CReW virus. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

My wife does not jump (yet). She has been to the DZ once, to gain a context for where I hang out. She likes that jumping gets me "out from underfoot" when she wants to rest after a hard week. She has been remarkably tolerant of my jumping. That said, she is not fond of wingsuits, and is not happy that I am eager to buy one. As long as I use an AAD she is tolerant of my jumping. She has WAY too much faith in my AAD. Our son is grown up so The "Daddy Death" risk is not an issue. She says that she would like to do a tandem some day. However, she is hesitant to invade the world that makes me happy at the DZ. We shall see. We have been married 23 years...so a little time apart each week is not a big deal. Actually, I have more trouble with my dog. She loves to go to the DZ! She really hates it when I go to the DZ without her. She hates it when I leave her on the ground to jump. I bet that she would love do do a H&P. However, she is 65 lbs and my landings aren't what they should be... not a good combination for jumping with a dog. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

What a delightfully frightening list! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I need some propwash too. I have some nasty snipe stains on my left handed screwdriver, and propwash is the only thing that will remove them. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

That is exactly what I figured. Gee, I thougth that jumping out of perfectly good airplanes was addicting enough... this is possibly worse (there is more physical evidence of my addiction). Thanks for your reply. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

What a fabulous answer!!! Thank you! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

PS - can you explain why you felt that the last two threads you posted needed a fully capitalized title ? That is easy... Navy letter format... hard habit to break. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I am a rigger-in-training (aka: baby rigger). It appears that many riggers in the USA work out of their homes. I am curious about how these home-based riggers have arranged their rigging workspace. Please share both text and photos of how you have arranged your rigging area at home. Specific questions (please don't limit your answers to these): --Where do you find room to pack ram-air canopies on the floor? --If you pack rounds... how do you address the 40 ft table requiremenet (if in USA). --Do you have a frame for hanging ram-air canopies by the tail for inspection? Details? --How have you arranged your sewing area? --Do you work in your garage? If so, how do you keep the rigs clean? --Where/how do you store supplies (thread, fabric, line, etc)? --Do you have special lighting in your work area? --If you do not live alone, do you have friction with your significant other over the use of space for rigging? If so, what is the solution you have worked out? Thanks!!! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Y'All: I am a "rigger in training" (aka: "baby rigger"). I have been acquiring "retired" gear for me to practice working on. I have been doing this for a couple of months. My wife has discovered that I now have the following crowding out space in the "extra bedroom": --My rig (airworthy and frequently used) --One retired damaged harness/container that a local master rigger is helping me re-build. --One retired rig with about 1,000,000 jumps with a reserve. --One retired rig with main lift web damage with reserve. --A couple of retired pilot chutes and bridles. (Two of these rigs go back to the "rigger training gear pool" when I am done with them). --Of course, there is the Singer 241-12 too. --Is it normal to acquire an ever growing pile of gear? --How do I stop?... I feel like a gear addict. --Can I expect this to get worse? --What do YOU have lurking in your rigging closet? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Given the lipophillic nature of THC, it has dramaticly different wash-out time than alcohol. A good dose of THC the night before is NOT going to be all gone in the morning. Whether it will be enough to affect performance is subject to many variables. However, it will almost certianly be enough for the medical examiner's gas chromatograph to find during an autopsy. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

If all of us who did something stupid/scary as a student were told to go bowling... it would be damned hard to fill an airplane with jumpers. I suspect that it is not what we do, but how we think about it later which is the most important.... "Hey no problem, I survived didn't I?" versus "Oh damn, that was scary! I never want to make that mistake again! What do I need to do differently next time?" No, I am not a skydiving instructor. I am a nursing instructor, and there are strong parallels. For me, the student's response to their error is usually far more important than the error itself. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!