EZSundayAM

Sounds like you're living in the right spot, came to the right spot, and you already have plans to head over to the right spot to hang with the right guy. Not a bad start for your ridiculous pipe dream :) I'd say at this point it's highly unlikely you'll avoid at least becoming a skydiver. Multiple tandems plus a proven record of not getting killed during questionable activities? Unless you have some rare gene that prevents you from rocking solo then it's probably too late for ya there! Like most skydivers, I've met all kinds of people who've done and are doing various versions of what you're planning. Skydiving and the Dropzone environment attract free spirits and (better yet) conspire to convert lots of nearly-normal people into wandering happy-people. The latter happened to me, so I had plenty of real-job cash to get licensed and equipped, the price of admission I guess you'd call it. As for long term jumping, the thrills never end, and one can't master even a subset of the sport, so I'm hooked for life. It not only lived up to the hype, but continues to exceed. Much richer/deeper than I expected. I'm in transition to nomad, recovering from a non-skydive leg injury (funny!) and my career-thing (computer programming) translated to internet based freelance without much trouble. I love programming, don't need much money, and don't want the responsibility of instructor status, but most people do as you mentioned, make a living as instructors/camera. I say "most people" because you'll find out pretty soon that your dream is solid. Hell, you'll probably share an apartment or three with similar souls in the future. I've seen houses, apartments, tents, buses, lots of RVs, vans, etc. You name it and somebody somewhere is living in one and jumping daily. Beats the Atlanta-traffic corporate-career office BS no matter how I look at it. If all your answers aren't waiting at ZHills, I'd be surprised if you weren't able to learn a couple other places to just spend a few weekends and meet a dozen people jumping around Florida on a dozen different versions of your dream. It would be good to see a variety of DZs anyway, as they each have a distinct flavor, but ZHills is a great "home dropzone" and it's nearby so you're already in a great spot. Having an alternate income source is common, and is especially nice if a minor injury, hurricane, or big economic downturn changes the game for a time. On the other hand I know several guys working/jumping full time (a couple of them still doing this in not-cheap Hawaii) who started as packers right out of high-school. No real job skills, no money, no plan, and no big desire to jump. In hindsight they never had a chance :) So, in my view, you're on a great path with realistic expectations and plenty of options, more options than many. If you and solo jumping fall in love and get married, as is likely, then you'll definitely make this happen and it probably won't require sacrificing everything to eat noodles in a tent the rest of your life. And the best part?! The people! Skydivers rock. Dropzones differ, but in general you'll find people from every walk of life, minus the stick 'n rear, and plus a good vibe thing that is as awesome as the freefall you'll share. Apologies for rambling and/or lack of proofreading, let me blame the leg and pain meds. Hiking is dangerous, don't do it!! LOL.. Good luck! Blue Skies! edited to remove multiple self incriminating comments. or spelling

Very cool that we share this rare experience brother! Didn't mean to hijack your thread with my long post, glad to see you understood where I'm coming from. I'm sure you understand the enthusiasm, I was (and am) so stoked to hear of your incredible success! "A journey back to life", definitely. A perfect way to put it, I'll be adding that insight to my list of quotes. And hell yes it would be awesome to get a few jumps with ya! Another great thing about skydiving is Boogies! Big skydive parties, tons of fun jumps, and a chance to catch up with old friends who've moved or people you know from online! The weather is getting better, I think that tandem jump is calling your name!

Your tandem will be everything you expected. I'd done every crazy, fun, illegal, dangerous, stupid and/or fattening thing I could think of prior to my tandem, but skydiving is the one thing that lived up to the hype. And every single tandem I've met who wanted it like you want it landed with a huge silly grin that lasted hours. Especially ME! At 344 pounds of unhappy fatness I saw a great skydiving scene on the bigscreen and it flipped my switch. I documented my eating, started exercising, gradually ate better, and after "doing it on my own" for 45 pounds I then joined weight watchers online to automate all that junk. 14 months later at 250 pounds I brought a few friends with me for a tandem and it blew my fragile little mind, I was F'ing hooked in the first 5 seconds of freefall. I told the tandem instructor I'd be back when I lost more weight, he was very cool about it but thought to himself "yeah right". (How do I know he thought that? I jump with him now!!) At 225 pounds I called the DZ on a Tuesday, surprised the guy by saying right away "I'd like to sign up for AFF first jump course on Saturday". Took him a minute to realize I'd already thought about it for a little while ;) Like 2 damn years. Skydiving has been everything I dreamed and 10x more. The sky isn't the limit, there IS NO limit, no end to new things to do, ever. So save that money you aren't spending on crappy food so you'll have it for AFF (and the beer you'll happily buy for your big firsts). Haha there used to be so many normal things I couldn't do, now I always smile when I run up stairs or I land my canopy in a pile of dust and look up to see all the nervous tandems and spectators who couldn't even imagine doing what I can do. Skydiving gave me the confidence that years of being fat had taken away. Every jump pushing me challenging me, until I was forced to recognize that I wasn't the 344lb guy anymore, I was a skydiver, I did things I once thought impossible. Been 7 years now. The other nutjob skydivers that are now my family, well that's the best bonus ever, I never saw it coming. You'll fit right in, the kind of people who decide pay a lot of money and work hard to start jumping from F'ing planes (at our age!) have all got a cool point of view and usually a story or three. So bring that "get it done" spirit, the positive attitude, some love and good vibes and join us, feel the power of the dark side! Either way you ROCK and there is so much to enjoy even if you don't become a regular skydiver. Sure, skydiving is awesome, going to Africa is cool (can't really do that at 344 lbs) but being healthy is like being another person and it's FREE, even saves money! Not many people get to live as a different person! Edited: to be less stupid after I read the whole thread..

V1 has been out for a while. Look for BASEline Flight Computer on Google Play. It's pretty slick, and looking forward to v2! Man that app looks NICE! Screenshots look VERY clean and sexy! Will get that after work tonight, if I get it now I won't get any work done. Will be running on a Samsung S3. Don't know how I missed your reply. Must have a forum setting done wrong, just another programmer who can't figure out a checkbox on a webform! Aha, now I see the *Send Email on Reply* one inch below. Duh. Good luck with the app, Blue Skies!

Real life get in the way of your app?! I'm running the Samsung S3 now and have a very ugly battery killing app that gives me glide ratio under canopy. Also gives a pretty good guess at wind direction if you fly without any toggle input for 5 seconds, turn left 90 degrees, and fly straight again. Haven't had time to do anything else. Lots of cool stuff could be done! I still want to give someone money for a cool app!

I like duct tape, but it seemed a lot safer to put it on the mudflap using .08 Kydex (plastic that holsters are made of). Bonus is HD video or pix from under canopy..

That is just the sort of thing I'd also like to have. Be neat to have rate of fall audible like the FlySight and maybe a flashing red arrow to show backsliding/tracking. I'd almost certainly keep my Neptune in the helmet as a backup though. Android is a lot more stable/reliable than Windows but I'm not sure I want to toss out the proven audible just yet..

Rock on! Will be first in line to buy your app when it's ready!! I played a bit with the data from the simple accelerometer my Droid2.. I hoped to build something quick n dirty that might use the GPS as a cheat to get the big picture, then use accelerometer/magnetometer data for real-time FlySight style feedback. Tried to filter the accelerometer/magnetometer data from simple phone movements across the kitchen table and realized I should stick to my day job. Best of luck with your app!

1 second could be fast enough for a regular altitude alarm like you mentioned. Not super accurate but could be useful. Should be easy enough for software to predict when you will hit the set altitude based on the last few data points, and sound the alarm even if it doesn't get that last GPS fix. That being said, I wouldn't give up my Neptune/Ditter to trust something that important to my cell phone. Sorry if I got off topic or highjacked here. I was speaking more of advanced/cool stuff like the FlySight. I want to know exactly what is going on in real time. In that case, the more data the better for sure. I've jumped a lot of GPS devices and downloaded the logged data to play with later. It's nice to be able to throw out 10% of the data in the first place, you do get plenty of garbage. Then, the more data you have the more you can do. Its exactly like having more pixels in a photo. Just makes everything much more clear. For example, when I've taken a video of myself on my belly, and syncronized it to a GPS 5 points per second sample rate (5Hz) I can see how my rate of fall changes during the short period during moving my arms back into a tracking posture, before I start tracking. Can even see changes during deployment and calculate G forces at different points as the slider comes down. Not that I have anything useful to do with that data, but its fun!

I'm a programmer but I don't do much Android. 6 months ago when I looked into it I was disappointed. At that time the Android OS on a couple of phones would only give me GPS data every 1 to 1.5 seconds, couldn't force a higher rate, probably to keep apps from crushing batteries. Not nearly fast enough IMO. I was told you could bypass Android and go straight to the device drivers but that isn't easy, not for me. If an experienced programmer can get 3HZ or better, please build something eith audio feedback and a log and I for one will pay!

Then please explain why chuteless jumps are not much more common? They have been done, they have been done by a few people, they are repeatable. Fact is only time will tell, but I don't see this being anything more than a stunt and I very much doubt it will become a "reliably repeatable activity" like the other poster mentioned BASE. Time will only tell, but my money is on no. Cardboard boxes (and Youtube) are free in the US. When do we see someone proxy fly with no rig and end into into boxes or a net or whatever? Soon I think.

If you make em I'll buy one!

Maybe a device that fits into or replaces the hackey? You manually activate it and leave it on (like CYPRES) Could program to only transmit below a set altitude to conserve battery. Not perfect but probably cheaper to produce and much easier to integrate into rig. Also more likely to be used by super cautious jumpers who don't want anything "extra" on their 3-Ring..

Haha well in that case I had to go ahead and help them out. Gotta look out for my fellow mediocre jumpers