GLIDEANGLE

Before you go to Skydive South Texas on Mustang Island check out a satellite photo of the DZ and surrounding area. It is a fine place to jump if your canopy skills are good. If your canopy skills are weak, be sure your swimming skills are good. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

1. You have no idea how expensive! It can cost you all your free time, it can cost you your friends, it can cost you your romantic partner, it can cost you your job.... it goes on and on. 2. When budgeting, remember to allow ~$1000 for gear other than your rig such as: helmet, visual altimeter, audible altimiter, jump suit, etc. How much you spend for this stuff can vary TREMENDOUSLY based on what you get and new/used. If you go low-end/used you could get the non-rig stuff for way less. However, you could easily spend at least $1000 on this stuff if you go high-end and new. For example, I know two new jumpers who each recently bought high-end & new: G3 helmet ~$350 N3 visual altimeter ~$350 New audible altimeter ~$250 Custom Jumpsuit ~>$300 Of course, there are lower cost new choices and a wide array of used products to choose from. 3. Beware of "skydiver crack" and your budget... wind tunnel time is incredibly addicting. It is a very useful tool, and tremendous fun, but you can easily fly through ~$1000 of tunnel time in a day! Welcome to the sky. Good Luck and Blue Skies. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

The TWO friends of mine who had the "pierced bridle PCIT" thought it was a problem. 1. I think that the problem was massively UNDER reported. If I know of two friends who had that happen in my tiny corner of the skydiving world, it seems likely that it happened A LOT more than was ever reported. 2. I think that the manufacturers generally have done a terrible job of responding to it. I know of at least one manufacturer who "approved" the bottom-up main bridle routing.... but didn't bother to announce it. WTF was the thinking behind that? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Since you haven't filled out your profile, it limits our ability to answer your questions a bit. I cannot speak for other countries, but here in the USA your training jumps all include the rental of the gear. Thus, the gear issue isn't too relevant while you are doing training jumps. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I learned my personal hypoxia symptoms in an interesting way, at only ~14,000 ft above sea level. I was team training and found myself unusually grumpy and hostile at altitude. On jump run I am usually happy and excited, on this particular weekend I was angry at the pilot on jump run, thinking "Is this Bozo EVER going to give us the green light? What is he DOING?" A week later I discovered that I had been walking around with a spontaneous pneumothroax (collapsed lung with trapped air between lung and chest wall). Presumably, as we ascended the trapped gasses expanded compressing my lung. The combination of the low ambient oxygen tension and the comprimised lung probably resulted in transient hypoxia which would explain my unusual grumpy attitude. A trip to the hypobaric chamber would have been a much better way to discover this... and would not have left a scar on my chest! With the lung treated .... I am back to my happy/excited self on jump run. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I wear a visual altimeter which is my primary altitude reference. From the bottom up: -My third alarm is set at my canopy decision altitude. If I hear it and don't have a good canopy.... it is time to EXECUTE. This is the same altitude for all jumps. -My second alarm is set at my "flare & wave" altitude... a bit above my desired pull altitude (~500 ft). This is usually the same altitude from jump to jump. The most common exception is on larger group RW jumps where I may be assigned a different pull altitude. -My first alarm is set differently for various jumps: .....-For fun jumps and coach jumps it is set for break-off. .....-For AFF jumps it is set for the student's pull altitude. Of course, the ultimate back-up is looking at the ground. My brain is pretty good at recognizing the ground image for my typical pull altitude The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Use this skill checklist to help determine if your skills are ready for a smaller canopy: [url]http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=47[/URL] Highly suggest that you read all 22 pages of the following before you decide. Many of these drills can be helpful to you. [url]http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf[/URL] The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Nice scenery in Las Vegas? Really? What am I missing? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I have used them. PRO: I find them MUCH easier to insert than foam. Con: I was not convinced that the ones with the tiny holes really provided sufficient noise reduction. The ones without the holes were OK. Neither was super comfortable. (However the black ones were IMPOSSIBLE to keep track of in my helmet, gear bag, or when dropped) Several of us at the DZ really like the do-it-yourself "custom" plugs at Academy Sports store. Unfortunately, I don't recollect the brand. They are two pieces of plastic like "play dough". You blend the two (roll together in your fingers) and place in your ear. The plastic "sets" in 10 min and you have custom, comfy, plugs which seem to work well. I can hear my audible just fine with these. I can hear most nearby voices OK too. BONUS: mine are baby blue.....MUCH easier to find if dropped. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ~Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

My crystal ball is broken today. How about you tell us what the label says? If there is no label sewn on the canopy, look inside the cells for infor stamped on a rib. Give us that info and we can make some progress. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

If you buy good quality used, you can flip it for a good price when you need to downsize. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

inside outside top bottom DOM:11/06 The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

It is not uncommon. It happens to me on EVERY full altitude freefall. The cure for me is to CAREFULLY blow air back into my middle ears... AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. If I wait too long the tissues in my ear start to swell and the obstruction becomes a multi-day affair. Depending on circumstances, I can often clear my ears undedr canopy. Sometimes, I have to wait until I am on the ground. There are multiple ways to clear your ears... Google for "clearing ears" to learn techniques. Gentle is the key.... strong or sudden efforts can injure your ears. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Consider the nature of the jumps. 500 similar sloppy belly or freefly jumps landing "somewhere" on the DZ are not the same as 500 jumps distributed thus: 100 4-way belly team training 100 freefly team training 100 classic accuracy training 100 CReW team training 100 "none of the above". I would expect the latter to be the better jumper for two reasons: 1. Breadth of experience 2. Performing against measurable standards The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Not all courses will be listed here, but it is a good place to start your hunt: http://www.uspa.org/tabid/158/Default.aspx?Category=Coach Since there are jumps in the coach course, they are typically scheduled when good jumping weather is likely. Thus, the NE is not likely to have a course until Spring. Good Luck! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

1. Call the factory to discuss this. 2. Based on my experience... get the bigger helmet. 3. Based on my experience and my wife's experience... it is a great skydiving helmet. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Regardless of what reviews may say.... buying a rig with no local support is like buying an orphaned* rig. Getting parts and support is going to be expensive and likely painful. Caveat Emptor * When a manufacturer goes out of business, but rigs remain in service. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

It appears that it MAY be TSO'ed. http://sws.aero/en/products/fire/certification/ The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

It took less than 20 seconds to find the web site for SkyWideSystems: http://sws.aero/en/? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Stiletto NOT recommended for new jumpers: http://www.performancedesigns.com/stiletto.asp Typical new jumper canopies in North America: PD - Sabre2 - Pulse - Spectre - Silhouette Aerodyne - Pilot - Triathlon Icarus - Safire2 Here are 22 excellent pages of relevant info about canopy size and flight. http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

This is unconventional advice, but worth a read: http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Canopy_Control/The_D_Point_by_Brian_S._Germain_725.html Remember.... collision avoidance is way more important than landing on the target! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I jump regularly with a jumper who has Type I (insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus. Yes, there are risks... but he has managed it safely for a VERY long time as a jumper. He has probably >5000 jumps with this condition. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Almost every rigger I have met considers booties to be a huge hassle and pain in the A##. That price may reflect only the time necessary to build those damn things, OR it may reflect time plus a "I REALLY hate working on booties" surcharge. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Certianly matching canopy size and container size is critical. Other than that, a flippant but quite accurate reply is to FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS. Yes, there is a lot of leeway for the rigger in some regards... but in other regards, the instructions are often quite specific... such as how and where to fold the reserve bridle or how to stow the pilot chute fabric. These issues can influence getting the reserve out quickly. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!