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I did my AFF on September 1st of this year, and was taught the 45 degree rule. In fact, it was only when I decided to come on here and do some posting and reading and research that it really came to light how much of a failure the 45 degree rule can be..... Talking about these things on here helped me. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Keep it up.

You know, when I decided to get into skydiving again after a 9 year hiatus, the first people I contacted were a booking company.... I can't find the number again to confirm whether or not they were skyride affiliated. Anyways, they gave me some package options and prices, but did let me know what locations they had available (and the 3 dropzones they gave me prices for are all valid, existing dropzones)... As a precautionary measure I decided just to head to the DZ and buy my deal there, and if I ended up paying a little more oh well, better safe than sorry.... well as it turns out, just going to the DZ and booking everything was several hundred dollars CHEAPER. I take it this is the type of scam that skyride operates, although after having looked at some of their websites (as linked in this thread), I can see that they not only are a financial ripoff, but that they are clearly attempting to mislead and victimize people. However, in the spirit of this thread, I was kind of upset to find BOTH of my local, beloved DZ's on that list of DZ's that accept skyride bookings...... I understand that running a DZ is tough enough as it is, and not very profitable.... and any business that you can bring in is valuable..... and so its hard for me to really hold it against them, especially since they may in part be blind to the scams that go on that some people here are aware of. Let me ask this.... what do you all think a DZO might do if he simultaneously received 100 typed but pen and ink signed letters from skydivers with well thought out and composed reasons that he and his DZ should STOP accepting skyride bookings? I mean, as corny as it sounds, look at the NRA... very successful in some ways at what they do, and they FREQUENTLY send out pre-typed letters to members, hoping that those members will in turn agree, sign and date, and mail the letters to the intended recipient (and I am NOT defending all of the practices of the NRA...just think this one has its uses, and can be very effective).... If the spirit of this thread is truly to figure out and do something about the skydiving scams out there, and not about simply venting anger, then perhaps we all can organize something to this effect? I, for one, can personally attest to being nearly victimized by a booking scam, and would like to see my home DZ's removed from that list.

I can't say that theres much for skydiving you can do, but I will say that the normal recommended activities are always healthful!! Particularly of note would be some good walking/jogging... I have no idea what shape you are in, or what you specific age and health condition is, but something to get you're heart rate up and keep it there is always good. You will probably get a seriously increased heart rate with you're jumping, and so you want to make sure that you're body is good and used to that. Also, if you don't have a strong lower back you can get some soreness from arching, especially when practicing on a creeper... this kind of thing is best worked out with a proffessional trainer who can evaluate you individually. Bent over dumbbell rows are great for that, but can also be risky depending on you're overall strength. Glad to hear you're getting into this and all excited about it!!!

well its a good thing that you aren't going into competitions with people with less than 20 jumps then... you'd be screwed by those 2 points!! Not all of us start out good enough for competition.

I bet some of these guys have seen a Cobalt 105 hurt or kill somebody though... or at least a comparable canopy. Probably somebody who said he was good enough to fly it, because he was a "natural" Do you really think people get hurt flying canopies that they think they AREN'T good enough to fly? EVERYBODY that gets hurt said 'I'm good enough to do this!" Some had done it 2 times, and everyone told them they shouldn't be doing it, and they didn't listen.... Some of them had done it 1000 times I'm sure, and most folks would have agreed that they were good enough.... but they got sloppy....or maybe they got cut off on final approach by a crazed babboon under a bath towel that didn't know how to regain control of his airborne Ferrari.

Maybe this is just the instructor then, but we were taught that if you bail out on you're reserve you have a handle on the reserve ripcord... if you bail out on the main (higher altitude) then you bail out with you're hand on the PC. I guess this isn't taught that way everywhere then?

Well, I can see you're point there. I know that when we did my groundschool we discussed emergency exits, and when exiting on the main we were taught that you leave with you're hand on the PC, ready to throw it as soon as you are clear of the plane... I guess that goes along with what you were saying? Because the Hop & Pop as they are called at my DZ don't have us do that. It's more of a quicker skydive from 5k-6k feet.

Wow, I got an email just like that, only mine was in like South Africa or something... and it was exactly that, an "unclaimed inheritance." To be honest, it was actually a pretty convincing email all in all. I never responded... just a little too wierd for my blood. I wish there was a convenient and effective method by which to check the legitimacy of you're source, OP. Wanting to buy that many rigs and not knowing anything about them sounds pretty sketchy to me... I mean even if it is some rich hooligan that has his bean-counter ordering 50 parachutes regardless of price, wouldn't you think he would have gone to a manufacturer? I dunno, be careful with this one dude. There are places and people who specialize in checking these kinds of things out.

I recently did a hop & pop and did a nice, relaxed clear and pull that took about 3 seconds total, it was stable and all. BUT... I wouldn't have been able to do that a month ago... I mean on my training hop & pop you couldn't have said anything to me that would have really helped me learn how to stay stable on exit.... I just had to do it and do it again to figure it out, all the while looking like a winged tie-fighter until I got a grip on the airstream (yes, a Star Wars reference, so shoot me, lol) Although I'm more confident and capable now, I'm glad I had the extra altitude. Knowing that I only had 5 seconds was stressful enough without the confidence to say "I can do this, no problem!"

This is an interesting one... I have not yet had a reserve ride so I really have no idea about landing my reserve in a tight spot... is there sufficient reason to assume its radically different than the main? I'm on a Spectre 210 with a Tempo 210 reserve.

As far as downsizing goes, I have no idea really, I just take the advice of the majority of the experienced guys and THEY are all saying its too fast in Chris' case. As far as the advice he's getting, many people here recognize certain behavior for what it really is, and realistically amounts to... similar to someone who decides he hasn't had too much to drink to get behind the wheel, or someone who is too macho to have a spot on the freeweights... And the same answer over and over again and not moving on comes from those people who have had to feed their friend baby food because he can't chew or use his own arms anymore, or who have seen the look on a mother's face when she learns her son won't be coming home anymore. Some people don't want to spend the rest of their lives wishing that they had said or done more to prevent a rash decision from killing somebody... especially in an activity where you can kill somebody ELSE with you're mistakes.

Isn't this thread a "What do you predict will happen" scenario? Of course nobody knows the exact probability... but theres enough experience rolling around to say that rapid-downsizing increases the risk greatly.... so what is the benefit that outweighs that risk? A better flare is the only answer I can find that was given, and most people have shot that one full of holes.

Perhaps I could have been clearer in my original post... from what I was taught, alti's can and will read somewhat differently, and should not be adjusted in flight... however the same brand of alti is usually what I check against and usually don't get that far off of a reading so it raised a flag... and as it turns out, that flight got cut short by clouds and we landed with the plane. On the ground the woman came up to me and showed me that her alti was reading about 500 feet. So the extra 250 would just have been difference between the two alti's, however in this case hers was off on the ground (maybe the wheel got hit or something? who knows.) I guess this is why we check every time as soon as we sit down on the plane, right?

Someone who works at one of the local DZ's, an instructor who is also in charge of the DZ gear shop... I was shopping for a canopy and related things, and the subject came up about collapsible pilot chutes and I said straightup that I had no idea what one even was. She took one out and showed me how it worked and how to cock it and check that it is properly cocked.. specifically the 3 methods were inflation (drop it or swing it and check that it catches air and inflates), color (check for the color band behind the main pin), and exposed line (check at the bag for how much white line is coming out). Perhaps she stuck with the "wear & tear" reason in the discussion because I was shopping for a canopy or something... I have no idea. Either way its good to be able to ask things like this here. Thanks for all the info. And on that subject... are there different types/brands of collapsible pilot chutes to be aware of? I mean do some work differently than others?

Interesting point. I would feel awfully dumb if I undid someones flap for a pin check and had to ask someone else how to retuck it.