hudsonderek

I'm sitting here watching terminal Velocity and am wondering what happened to the commonly known hollywood movies where skydiving was a major theme? Seems like the only time a newer movie has skydiving in it is when an agent jumps into his destination, I want a good hollywood movie with skydiving as a major theme. the 80's seemed like a booming time for jumping, I think some films might have made skydiving more known.

okay, everyone: she's a really fantastic woman, I wouldn't be engaged if I didn't think so. we don't share my debt, that's my personal business, we share the rent and utilities. She's not asking to spend a lot on herself, and the "extra" money was due to christmas. Yes Andreea: I did just buy a new canopy but I also sold my old one to pay first and last months rent so we could move into our place. I put the canopy on my CC (so I increased my personal debt, that we don't share), and also made a little money in the transaction (bought a cheaper canopy). I've just learned that I should shut up about the finances or I'll let it drive me up a wall and ruin my relationship.

so, my fiances of three months and I just had an argument involving the finances. She makes less money than me, but works hard as hell, but just can't seem to make ends meet with the bills, so I take up the slack. that's not the issue. the issue is, she happened to have a little "extra cash" this month and wants ot go spend it on clothes instead of picking up the slack on her bills. I make enough to cover us, but have loads of debt I'd like to pay off and other financial obligations. I don't mind allways being the one to pay when we go out to eat, or what not. But am I an asshole for thinking she should spend her "extra" money on taking up her slack in the bills instead of buying clothes?

I fought with my sibling and made my mom cry. ahh family time during the holidays.....

Just bought a canopy off of this guy, great service, awesome product and makes good on his word. anyone looking to buy something off of this guy, don't worry and hurry up and buy it!

So I bought a new to me canopy, and the fedex tracking information said that it was out for delivery today, but it's past 8:00 and it hasn't arrived:( I'm a little bummed, I waited around all day and they never came. what sucks is if they left it at the shipping facility near me I could have driven a half hour and picked it up.

and not in a good way either. anyone else in the northeast looking forward to a an early spring?

here's a better idea, if you are in a place where people are still jumping through the winter months, why not go the a DZ pack fun jumpers mains and get paid for it? by about the 50th pack job you should have the hang of it, and you made a little cash in the meantime. I know some professional packers that still suck and have thousands of packjobs, so don't worry about it, if people are particular about their packjobs they'll use another packer, or they'll pack it themselves (like me:)

20 loads in a day isn't that hard at all, I didn't start flying until about 10:00 one day finished an hour before sunset and got 16 loads done. ohh and we only had four rigs and every two loads I had to pack two while the instructors each packed one. Pilots need to speak up and stop taking this "we're building time so it's okay the pay is crappy" bullshit, if they're not any pilots, there's no jumping. and yes, the pilot is the least paid, this summer I made about $3,000 in three months while both of the TM took home over $8,000 in the same time. Pilots spend lots of time energy and money getting their 250 hours and commercial, they deserve to be paid accordingly.

I'm talking flying pistons, C-182's/ C-206's. to fly a turbine at a DZ most DZO's require at least 1,000 hours and time in type, that's not far off from part 135 minimums and with those you can get a lot of jobs flying turbines

tandems packjobs 5 to 10$? not from what i've seen. airtime is valuable, but at the same time some pilots don't need the flight time, and again, you MUST have a pilot to have a dropzone and claiming you are "helping them out by providing flight time so theyu can move onto other jobs" is strictly bullshit. Pilots get taken advantage of, big time.

So I just finished up working for a small cessna DZ this summer, as I look to my bank account I wondered how and why certain people get paid their certain rates in skydiving and what seems fair. Lets take a busy weekend and assume average pay for each person in their respective jobs. lets say that at a cessna DZ there are 80 tandems for the weekend, leaving 40 a day and 20 loads per day. in that weekend a tandem master would make $1,400 (40 tandems @$35/per jump), a packer would make $1,200 ($15/ per packjob) and a the pilot would make $800 ($10 per load) lets ignore manifest for the time being. It seems odd to me that the pilot is the least paid out of the whole bunch, a dropzone can still function with one tandem master and no packer, but it ceases to operate without a pilot. to be a packer it requires no specific education (12 year olds could learn to do it in a two days) to be a tandem master requires a little more financial commitment and time, but as soon as one becomes proficient at jumping you can start to make money flying camera and subsidize your 500 jumps with that. but the pilot, the pilot is required to have a commercial rating which on average cost anywhere from $25,000 to $40,000. if you try to argue "well the tandem instructor takes much more risk", I'll agree their job has inherent risks, but being a jump pilot is no walk in the park. Generally as a jump pilot you are flying old airplanes with high time engines, the airframes have been close to redline airspeed by many inexperienced pilots and therefore probably overstressed. you're often taking off past max gross weight with a rearward CG, and lets face it, the maintenance is often neglected. seems pretty risky to me, ohh and one more thing, people are jumping out out your fucking airplane with big inflatable things that can easily get caught on the tail. so why is it that someone taking a huge risk, having lots of time money and energy invested in getting where they are, treated like the low person on the totem pole? please explain to me how this makes sense? I agree every person is required to have a functioning dropzone, I just feel that pilots seem to get the shit end of the stick.

I had one and thought it was some custom job someone did and I was the only one with it out there. I didn't mind it, never had any troubles thought it was a neat idea, but I like the neatness and simplicity of the regular pin/bridal. I downsizedand got another container with a different D-bag taht didn't have the retractable pin. I found that my PC never full collapsed, could have been related to the pin, I don't know though.

Nice looking helmet Man, I find using very fine steal wool in between paint coats gives you a nice smooth finish. this took me three days to do, putting designs on takes figgin time. as you can tell it's got some battle scars, things can't stay nice forever

Arizona

I talked to a rigger, not one I usually use, and he took a glance at the lines and said it looks like they need to be replaced. the canopy itself is crisp as hell, and the tag and labels have nearly no wear at all, so I believe the jump numbers. It's a crossfire 2 129, I forgot to update my profile, oops.

So i just bought my third second hand canopy, and for the third time I've gotten dirty lines, all the canopies have flown in trim, and open fine. One canopy had 120-something jumps on it, and the lines were dirty as hell. my most recent one has three hundred jumps and the lines are pretty dirty, the one in between had about 400 jumps on it and they were ugly as well. they seem to get a almost clay like grey substance on them. besides the 400 jump canopy the other two have had no "hairs" on the lines (little frays). why do these lines get so dirty so easily? how can you tell the difference between "dirty good lines" and dirty bad ones, other than if the canopy flies in trim? what's the policy on scotch guarding new lines? big no no? I heard someone saying when lines look dirty it's time ot replace them, but what if they're only a year old with 300 jumps on them?

there are people who will do it, and people who won't, it just simply comes down to that. I used to beat my head against the wall when people would make up excuses why they couldn't go skydiving. some people would say it's too expensive, then go buy a $5,000 snowmobile. I even bought a tandem for a friend who said he wanted to do it, but never had the time or money, he tried it once and has never come back. you either love it, or you don't. some people get their jollies from other things, we all can't be the same. Just so you know though, anyone who doesn't try skydiving suffers from an extreme case of pussyitus:)

We should be able to trust our riggers, but riggers are just people, and people are just human, so we're all apt to make mistakes. I say learn as much about packing reserves as you can, and watch your rigger pack it. I started doing that because I wanted to see how it was packed and get my riggers certificate one day, but just watching the packjob totally put my mind at ease when jumping. the riggers not jumping it, you are. if the rigger gets pissed that you watch, then find another rigger. I just got my rig back from a repack I didn't watch, it looked like shit (I posted on here about it) and didn't feel comfortable jumping it, so I popped it and took it out, the pull force was high, it had line twists and there still was a sales tag on the pilot chute with about a four inch string attached. That's the first and last time I'll have someone pack my rig without me watching. It behooves riggers to do a good job because it gives them a good reputation and more business, but remember, if they fuck up, it's your life. knowledge is power and peace of mind. safe jumping all!

what's the rig? I'll hold it for you, I swear I won't jump it seriously though some DZ's have lockers to put your stuff in, I'd try that first, and if that doesn't work talk with the DZO and see what they can cook up for you.

I thought you could do anything you wanted to your main? isn't it just the reserve that the FAA cares about? I mean couldn't I jump my rig with my main missing? and just use the reserve? and if that's the case, shouldn't I be able to fill my main tray with dirty laundry, rocks, fucked up main that I built with duct tape and tarp from the hardware store:) or what ever I felt like? just the harness and reserve are TSO right? ohh, and definitely talk with brain he showed me one of his sensei (sp?) prototypes and was explaining it and I was dumbfounded by the shit he thought of. cool guy I'm sure he'll be glad to help you out.

generally are riggers into helping people out and training them, or do most riggers look at it as a pain in the ass? I might be working for a DZ full time flying and was thinking on rainy days and such I could be working on the riggers certificate.

so, my understanding is you have to do 20 reserve repacks to get your riggers certificate and take a written and practical test. do you have to take one of these rigging courses, or could you just pack 20 reserves with a senior rigger, get a sign off and go take the test? the courses would be a lot more informative, but they aren't cheap, and I'm sure working under an very informative rigger can be almost as effective. I'm only interested in the back type certificate. also, do you have to pack rounds? or could you get a certificate with the limitation "only square reserves".

my parents bought me a tandem for my 20th birthday. a year later I started flying the jump plane for the place I did my tandem at, and there was a cute jumper there that kept telling me I should get into the sport. one of the tandem masters one day came up to me and said (how about you take that static line course? and a few hours later I was out on the step getting ready to jump waiting for the signal. that's where it all started.

I remember it was all about the free fall for me when I started skydiving. then my friend wanted to do a hope and pop in the Twin otter from 13,000. we did some no contact formation flying. after I landed I think the grin on my face was bigger than the one i had on my first skydive. case and point, don't write off stuff yet, you may like canopy piloting more than you think. wit hthat said, Brian Germain offers a canopy downsizing progression chart on his website: http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf Generally in the beginning no more than a 1 to 1 wing loading, meaning if you're exit weight is 200 lbs, you should have roughly a 200 Sq foot parachute or bigger, if you get too light though, on the wing loading, you might find yourself having a hard time controlling the canopy (like a .5 to 1). seven cell canopies, like the PD spectre, and icarus Omega tend to be good for beginners, but nine cells like the Performance designs Sabre 2, icarus saffire and aerodyne Pilot are good for beginners at light wing loading also, while at higher wing loading you get get some decent performance out of them. try not to get anything highly elliptical and definately go for ZP (zero porosity). also, if you buy new, unles you're a packer, you might have trouble getting the new material packed (the material is slippery when new) so buying used is not a bad idea for a first canopy. look for something with around 500 jumps and a recent line set. it should be much easier to pack and the price drops quite a bit with number of jumps (average is $1 per jump). if someone put 500 jumps on an $1,800 dollar canopy then it's probably worth $1,300 (though if it needs a line set you might be able to bargain with the seller and get it cheaper) again that's just a rule of thumb. well man, good luck with your search and blue skies