gimpboogie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdxA_G6pgLQ with CLIFF To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

interesting idea. considering i must wear those same motocross pants (they have a panel at the crotch sort of like the pheonix fly tracking suits) purely just to keep my legs from falling down towards the ground at the hips level-the air catches that to keep my legs 'horizontal from hip to knees-and the knees are locked into a 90 degree angle. these braces are really on their last few dives digging into my legs leaving bloody stab wound looking things each day-as i must weare the stuff all day if i plan to jump more then once-which i usually do every day i jump (i moved to live at the DZ just for this reason) now, can you think of ideas i can add more drag/material for the next pair of pants that we need to make. (after 3 yrs of sliding on my butt to land-only way i can wether its blidn man or not-the material is so thin now that one good passing gas moment and i'll blow a hole right through them) other modifications we did to the pants were to add zippers from ankles to knees so that the essential service of draining that leg bag is possible without dragging the pants etc. all right off. thus velcro at the ankles as motoross pants tend to be 'tighter' at the ankles. I dont know what skydiving suit company would make something tough enough in material to both withstand the constant butt slide landings AND be strong enough not to tear at the knees. I have seat belt material sewn onto the knees, and from there they go up to my chest harness to clip them up there after deployment, but in FF the straps are inside pockets sewn on top of them-so I do not have extra material flopping around in FF to potentially interfere with my 'ooh sh*t handles'... as when I pull up the legs the pant material must be strong enough to not only with stand holding to all the hardware under them-to keep my legs in place.(and I'd still have to have a rigger to sew all these mods) the drag addition to the legs seems interesting to try. a tunnel trip is not in the budget this winter, as I'm trying to get to Zhills and will be at bridge day next weekend-both huge commitments financially for me. but I'm encouraged o get some options i didn't think of myself-the drag onl egs. i tried with a webbed glove in the tunnel, and to my surprise it was horrid-not good at all for me, while another paralyzed fellow uses one still perhaps-i should check up on Dale and see if he still uses the glove... but it just shows how different each paralyzed skydiver is. another, who flies on his back, has his legs tied together (like I used to in the beginning I'm not sure if Dale still uses his same set up as he started with-having the straps similar to mine but ist again quite different type of set up, and only goes to show how each of us need to modify things literally individually. When I first started here, we followed Tonto's teachings (his legacy for teaching Peter to fly remains, and continues to be modified upon-that man was brilliant) so we trudged along and once I started flying, Dale showed up, and picked up this quickly (as he also had been skydiving a little pre injury and was a jump pilot if i recall) which al may help in that you at least know how its supposed to be done if your able bodied. the came Pookie in Zhills, who is trying out a variety of ways, but gelerally has been flying in a style tuck-last video i saw of pookie was back flying, but the depoyment seems to need some fine tuning-I think he also will 'make it' (better to hold faith then the opposite), then PackingJarrett (sorry if i miss spelled that no disrespect meant), and he picked up on this all fastest out of us all-perhaps due to his extensive experience over the years (and probably everyone knows that well before any of the rest of us is Lonnie-he then actually is truly the 1st pioneer in flying as a paralyzed fellow Lonnie can stand with some aid-leaning on something, being held up by friends etc so in the one video i saw of him skydiving he's absolutely awesome-better then many with no such injuries.... yet Lonnie is sort of in a class of his own, like comparing lance Armstrong to the neighbour who started biking and is entering his first race LOL. I am comfortable enough with the skies now with a few hundred jumps that I am willing to experience with some stuff in the skies as well... ive had to doa few 'interesting' moves up there-like the day my helmet started to slowly lift-i just gabbed it while my body was barrel rolling, and was able to tighten the buckle before my roll was becoming dangerous side spin.... i LIKE THE THING OF THE DRAG ON LEGS balanced out with arms. i wonder if 'mini' wings like video flyers use-could help. 0nly way to know is to try to sew some with a decent cut a way system in case something drastic is happening. please have a look at my other video and see if you can offer pointers any further. its important for me, although I can fly 2 way on belly with folks but i wont be able to join tracking dives until figure this out. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

interesting comment-I didnt ever hear of this Italian style- now that was my 1st attempt out the 206, so we had only 6,000 f to play with, the next video i post -the video guy was so far above me that you now can see that i do have forward movement on that one-as i had to turn around and go back to jump run to deploy a little closer to home as I have a video 'winds, turbulance and trees' which im pretty sure my DZO would not like to see a 2nd episode of (I just thought it was good BASE practice to try to sink that big bus i was flying, into a hole in the bush the size of our packing room-no seriously I made the mistake on geting in the load in the first place-when tandems are standing still due to winds I WILL fly backwards, (and I also opened high, to play around, then ended up with trouble rigging up my leg straps that lift my legs for landing-as i cant do a darn thing with them-they are total floppy death traps if not braced up like I wrote in the post to the other person replying about what a body cast i wear under all those clothing).... so anyways, thanks for the info-as i am trying to balance it out, between figuring out how to GO FAST (my love is to become proficient one day in atmo-its all i'm interested in currently for skydiving asides from the tasks required for my next licence -as I've tried sit-not work so good and back flying is fun but i like to go faster then i can on m back-so learning to go fast on my belly is first) but DESPITE my love to try to go fast, i MUST also be able to stay with a group. not just sink our on them all. Much appreciate your thoughts. please check out the second video im posting to tell me if you see any differences-although im so far away from the video guy that my body position is not very evident, but you can see the distance i go before i turn around to come back to jump run. i think that one worked better-but we also had 10,000f to play with that time. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

i cant wear loose-Angus (my AFF instructor realized (and its been proven in the air as well as the tunnel) that as soon as I put on even a long sleeved cotton sirt, the extra 'floppy' material creates so much instability that i flop around like a rag doll. well maybe not that bad-but bad enough that I cant deploy in a safe body position as I have no idea what position i will be in, by that time With no control of my body under all that body armor (i call it my body cast) as I literally am locked into position under neath TONS of very tight layers under the motocross pants there are the hard metal braces for mets-then several layers of tensor bandages and other materials to keep all the metal in place - [i told my DZO that i need to start doing blind man landings consistently because its the only way i can ensure i wont break myself one day-if i time my flare just a little wrong-in the too low department, or if the ground is not smooth enough or grass not cut so i cant see the contours of the terrain where im going to land-my heel can catch the ground first-and thats it-there are no joints above it that will have any give-everything is locked into place. so anyways I do trust Angus when it comes to skydiving, with his30+ yrs of experience (world records, and truly being the only one in Canada who could have taught me to fly-except perhaps Mario -re team evolution)... and in the tunnel- i did toss up a few months back my tunnel RW camp video im wearing a long sleeved shirt-you see me potato chipping constantly. I'm used to it, when it in the tunnel-its safe there no issues to be concerned about deployment. infact, when recently i was doing some 2 way work, with the huge layers of tight clothing (right now its -5 at top floor-so everyone else is wearing tons of layers as well-or hoodies under jumpsuits a few pairs of long johns under there tossed in) and was without trouble doing between and 9 ponts but one day i forgot to tape up the sleeves of the tshirt i wore on top of those layers for warmth-as i used to duct tape the sleeves against the tight layers so even the short sleeves would not flap around, i was not able to get 3 points,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBvgkCgj1hg Here's one of my sunset tracking dives (with Andy, a tandem video flyer and one of only 2 guys here who can keep up to me -yeti) This was a fun sunset load. We decided to take the old door-less 206 out and get some 'race you to the bottom' going down, seems my fall rate is so fast (well over 150mph on belly and tracking 180+ now that I've started practicing Atmo the Vigil tells upwards of 200 and neptune says 190-200 range whats up with that?)our video flyers need to catch up in head down =whats with that? is that the case with the other paralyzed fellows around here-you fall fast? I mean I'm not the skinniest girl around, but we sure have some much bigger/heavier guys (and gals) around and I haven't yet found someone else who falls like a HOUSE! whats up with that? To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

that was a boring jump=lets face it but i had a lot more fun on this one,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8k1wXqOo_k probably my the most fun landing Ive had in the skydiving world. Surprised a lot of people that a canopy this size, and type can be sunk so steep into a yard no bigger then my house -surrounded by thick bush on all 3 sides, and that field with the bull in it was no an option i was willing to trade for this dudes yard. that last ditter been was 200 f still on the opposite side of the highway, hydro wires and... that damn bull.... so this dude got a suprise visit from the gimp. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

great! To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Thanks Pilot-One. Here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R5JUAewg-0 is a video that I taped with my foot mount GoProHERO, I tossed it up on youtube/ We filmed one of the skydiving scenes during this jump. its a 'boring' jump to me at this stage in my progression (flying on my belly and trying to slowly circle around as the videographer did the same around me, so we were able to catch decent scenes on the sun in the backgroun, as we had done the previous jump with similar conditions, at a similar time of day-sun angle being the same. The first jump was a high hop and pop so we just played iwith canopies swooping around each other-until we had no choice but to land. We did get some awesome footage with the sun during that dive as well, so fingers crossed that all 3 editors will like the scenes filmed, (well first it has to pass the producers requirments(. I HAD NO IDEA making a short 45 min. or so movie can be this much WORK! seriously we've all been filming hundreds of hours since Feb. weekly dedicating 2 days purely to filming this documentary, and now there is 3 editors in 3 countries, and 2 composers all of whom will then present their ideas/version of their vision for this film and the one the producer likes is what we go with-or start again with other editors and composers... dang! i NEVER want to be a 'movie star' thats one thing i learned doing this... now we only have two more scenes to film and then its a waiting game for me-till the opening night- I hope i live that long. I just read a story of a guy who had a documentary made of him (he also has ALS) and he died as they were getting dressed ready to go see the premier of his movie.

good luck! hows the fundraising going? hoping well. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

yes, i know a guy i talk to on Omar's HUGE FORUM site (skydivingnetwork) This fellow, Jim tells me he has a friend in his DZ *in northern states somewhere) and this guys been jumping with one arm for years. he doesnt use his prosthetic while jumping (from what I understand) and he uses risers to turn aloft and finally at some point when he determines, he uses his toggles to flare and always PLF (both toggles in one hand), He's been diving like this for years. IF you want, I can try to reach Jim to try to get more detailed info on how this fellow does this-although it may take time since he doesnt really go to Omars forums too much so I'd have to get some other way to find him To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

notice at :42 seconds or so, I'm flying Peter Hewillt's custom made parachute (which he was kind enough to send to me for a REAL STEAL OF A DEAL!-thanks again Peter, you helped me fly my own gear, and the logo WAS great suprise ) THE LOGO: is basically P snd H (for Peter Hewiltt) incoropated into a design which also is a WHEELCHAIR. with the yellow 'head' (the loop of the P) and the BLUE WHEEL of the chair I'm sitting on -as a stick person (the skinniest you will ever see me) To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

this is a short clip of the 'filming of...' "FLYING IN THE MIST" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvB4VsF7JQE a documentary about skydiving with disabibility -paralysis-and about ALS. This film is mostly about my life, as a paralyzed ALS patient and skydiving is onviously showcased in the film. It is in the final stages of filming now -only a few scenes left to film-and editing. The composer is currently making the music for this film, so Im guessing it will be ready for television viewing by end of this year. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Hi ThOneBigMike, Well not necessarily the 'wrong' thread-as you say, 'obeisty' in some circumstances IS a disability (http://genetic predisposition towards it, like some other 'situations' people find themselves in, such as heart disease, diabetes, or MS and many more). So lets go with the fact that you have a disability, as it is what you state http://(and who are we to disagree with you, on wether your condition is a disability or not). Now to the two other statements that are important in your first posting. 1) you have a lot of determination/will power when it comes to things you want to get done. 2) you are physically fit for your size of a person. to address those, i will honestly take the 'devils advocate' position, so you can see the whole picture and not just from your position/perspective as we all tend to do, especially when we are new to a situation/activity as we do not know what is necessarity involved in that activity. FIRST of all, as has been mentioned, there are 'rules' the tandem masters (instructors) follow, and these are two fold. a) set out by the skydiving governing body they belong to -wether that is USPA, CSPA etc. AND FAI, FAA http://(yes we are also bound by aviation industry rules, so FAA or ministry of transport in canada are involved and have rules for us also to follow) SECOND, the rules support the restrictions of weight on gear as well as jumper's weight (with weight restrictions on the gear-as mentioned sport gear-what you would be using once youve acquired solo status and are out of 'student' gear-as well as tandem gear, there are weight restrictions that must be adhered to-or the dropzone can have their 'right' to use some manufacturers gear if they do not follow that manufacturers rules regarding this gear=this is especially true with tandem gear.). Safetly does not only include you, as a skydiver, but the plane, pilot, other skydivers, (instructors included while you are learning) and spectators (if there are any). Some things which we do not know about, prior to becoming skydivers are things such as the weight restrictions allowed on the back of the plane during 'jump run' (the stage you are at the door=rear of the plane-ready to jump) This is for the safety of the pilot, plane and other skydivers. As the plane will stall if there is too much weight at the exit area-(back of the plane) If that isnt scary eough (to think one person, or a couple if they do not know these rules) could potentially take down a whole plane full of skydivers or at least get them all to evacuate the plane, including the pilot and allow the plane to crash alone-either scenario is horrible-one just does not involve loss of life. Now during your training stage-regardless of wether you have the $ to buy special tandem gear just to fit you in it, or not-you can not skydive at this weight, regardless of how fit you are. You can be a world class athlete in some sport where your size is an asset, and be physically fit enough to participate in this sport, you still are not necessariy "ok" to skydive. It's been said more often then not, that skydiving is "99% mental and 1% what ever" type of sport=physcial fitness did not enter that equaion. Clearly you must have some fitness abilities-even to easily lift yourself in and out of the plane, get gear on etc. Then there is the aspect that a Tandem instructor MUST be able to manage your and their weight (not only themselves physically-be able to lift you, with their own strength, to adjust the harness prior to jumping) This is one aspect of the reasoning why each tandem instructor has their own 'weight limit' they will take a passapger. I know one tandem instructor who will take a person up to 270 lbs-which is more then any of the other tandem instructors in our dropzone-who limi theirs to 240lbs. This is purely due to the fact that the guy taking the 270b ones is a very fit, strong (yet little in physical size) instructor as well as extremely experienced and happens to be the tandem instructor who takes on 'special' jumpers such as those of us with paralysis, MS, and other disabilities. Having said that, I hope you can see that it is NOT because we do not want you to participate in our sport, or that we do not want to help you find a place to jump we are trying to help you by telling you the various factors affecting the reasons why you can not jump safelly a that weight. I hope you will be able to overocme your disability to the point that you will be able to either deal with the consequences of your choices when you are of jumping weight (generally that is determined by the gear-what size is available as well as the comfort level of the dropzone you go to. Surely we want every peron to have the option to try out the sport, but some individuals just are not able to do so, in their current life situaiton. another example may be a blind person firmly believing the can jump-well who is going o take the risk of teaching this person to jump safely?-not many instructors in the world may be willing to give that a try. The will power you have, perhaps you can dedicate the next couple of years into figuring out how you will be able to deal with the weight, get some of it reduced, weither that is surgical stomach reduction, or other measures dedicated to those individuals for whom they are appropriate, or wether it is doing some excertize that is safe for you, until the weight starts to shed offl] yes its true often the weight comes back again, if we 'diet' but if you want to get a tandem jump in, and see what this sport is like, then decide if it is worth if for youto loose the weight, even for that one jump, then if you gain it back, you allready know what it is like to jump and hopefully that feeling, the desire to do it again, to get to the point in skydivng that you will start to seriously learn the sport and will require more individual attention as you are learning. These are some thoughts for you to consider. I'm sorry to tell you, that I do not see any possibility for youto skydive at that weight. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

Hi ThOneBigMike, Well not necessarily the 'wrong' thread-as you say, 'obeisty' in some circumstances IS a disability (genetic predisposition towards it, like some other 'situations' people find themselves in, such as heart disease, diabetes, or MS and many more). So lets go with the fact that you have a disability, as it is what you state (and who are we to disagree with you, on wether your condition is a disability or not). Now to the two other statements that are important in your first posting. 1) you have a lot of determination/will power when it comes to things you want to get done. 2) you are physically fit for your size of a person. to address those, i will honestly take the 'devils advocate' position, so you can see the whole picture and not just from your position/perspective as we all tend to do, especially when we are new to a situation/activity as we do not know what is necessarity involved in that activity. FIRST of all, as has been mentioned, there are 'rules' the tandem masters (instructors) follow, and these are two fold. a) set out by the skydiving governing body they belong to -wether that is USPA, CSPA etc. AND FAI, FAA (yes we are also bound by aviation industry rules, so FAA or ministry of transport in canada are involved and have rules for us also to follow) SECOND, the rules support the restrictions of weight on gear as well as jumper's weight (with weight restrictions on the gear-as mentioned sport gear-what you would be using once youve acquired solo status and are out of 'student' gear-as well as tandem gear, there are weight restrictions that must be adhered to-or the dropzone can have their 'right' to use some manufacturers gear if they do not follow that manufacturers rules regarding this gear=this is especially true with tandem gear.). Safetly does not only include you, as a skydiver, but the plane, pilot, other skydivers, (instructors included while you are learning) and spectators (if there are any). Some things which we do not know about, prior to becoming skydivers are things such as the weight restrictions allowed on the back of the plane during 'jump run' (the stage you are at the door=rear of the plane-ready to jump) This is for the safety of the pilot, plane and other skydivers. As the plane will stall if there is too much weight at the exit area-(back of the plane) If that isnt scary eough (to think one person, or a couple if they do not know these rules) could potentially take down a whole plane full of skydivers or at least get them all to evacuate the plane, including the pilot and allow the plane to crash alone-either scenario is horrible-one just does not involve loss of life. Now during your training stage-regardless of wether you have the $ to buy special tandem gear just to fit you in it, or not-you can not skydive at this weight, regardless of how fit you are. You can be a world class athlete in some sport where your size is an asset, and be physically fit enough to participate in this sport, you still are not necessariy "ok" to skydive. It's been said more often then not, that skydiving is "99% mental and 1% what ever" type of sport=physcial fitness did not enter that equaion. Clearly you must have some fitness abilities-even to easily lift yourself in and out of the plane, get gear on etc. Then there is the aspect that a Tandem instructor MUST be able to manage your and their weight (not only themselves physically-be able to lift you, with their own strength, to adjust the harness prior to jumping) This is one aspect of the reasoning why each tandem instructor has their own 'weight limit' they will take a passapger. I know one tandem instructor who will take a person up to 270 lbs-which is more then any of the other tandem instructors in our dropzone-who limi theirs to 240lbs. This is purely due to the fact that the guy taking the 270b ones is a very fit, strong (yet little in physical size) instructor as well as extremely experienced and happens to be the tandem instructor who takes on 'special' jumpers such as those of us with paralysis, MS, and other disabilities. Having said that, I hope you can see that it is NOT because we do not want you to participate in our sport, or that we do not want to help you find a place to jump we are trying to help you by telling you the various factors affecting the reasons why you can not jump safelly a that weight. I hope you will be able to overocme your disability to the point that you will be able to either deal with the consequences of your choices when you are of jumping weight (generally that is determined by the gear-what size is available as well as the comfort level of the dropzone you go to. Surely we want every peron to have the option to try out the sport, but some individuals just are not able to do so, in their current life situaiton. another example may be a blind person firmly believing the can jump-well who is going o take the risk of teaching this person to jump safely?-not many instructors in the world may be willing to give that a try. The will power you have, perhaps you can dedicate the next couple of years into figuring out how you will be able to deal with the weight, get some of it reduced, weither that is surgical stomach reduction, or other measures dedicated to those individuals for whom they are appropriate, or wether it is doing some excertize that is safe for you, until the weight starts to shed offl] yes its true often the weight comes back again, if we 'diet' but if you want to get a tandem jump in, and see what this sport is like, then decide if it is worth if for youto loose the weight, even for that one jump, then if you gain it back, you allready know what it is like to jump and hopefully that feeling, the desire to do it again, to get to the point in skydivng that you will start to seriously learn the sport and will require more individual attention as you are learning. These are some thoughts for you to consider. I'm sorry to tell you, that I do not see any possibility for youto skydive at that weight. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

sure dude, as soon as you go jump with someone that when they barrell roll changes direction and doesnt know it, let me know if you still think the same thing. AGREED, *caveat-whqat do I kow with such low jump #'s & low yrs in the sport....* yes EVERYONE should KNOW HOW TO barell roll, as long as it is considered a useful skill, and necessary for licensing purposes in your country (like in Canada it is necessary for the A license to do a series which includes a barrel roll) ALSO everyone should be AWARE of their 'time and place in space' at all timesI 'pull time' or not, as for combining the barrel roll into ANY aspect of the deployment sequence, (as a 'ave off', altitude and surounding areaa... YET, i agree with jbag in 'try it yourself' with several others in a 4, 8 way and see how well it worked for you in a group .... sure before doing it, and encountering some of the 'not so great' sides to this manouver at deployment time, it sous in theory like a great idea (like lots of things do-initially- you ask a coach-'what would happen if i...' questions. good topic to open up for discussion [/url]\p o occasion for it[url] To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

I've been working with Joseph from Article19films.com for the last 8 months working on this documentary. It is close to being finished, but this is a small trailer.. some of the last scenes that we filmed. The documentary is mostly about the 'strength of human spirit' to 'overcome' adversity- by following my life, from various hospitalizations (4 of them in 8 months) and my life at home, living alone in the dropzone and heating my home with wood-constantly gathering firewood, etc. and working at the dropzone grounds keeping (yah thats the 'gimps' job here-to keep the grounds nice and clean). and finally ofcourse the adaptive skydiving that we now do. As tis is sort of 'new' to the world, to see- paralyzed people skydivng. this film should be available on television stations in the late year, as it still needs to go through its final editing, and the composer is not done with the musci completely for this film. here is the "trailer' we currently have for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvB4VsF7JQE&feature=player_embedded To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

TizzyLizzy, nice article, as many of them are. interesting gift you have, and the interest to go with it. you have a talent for getting folks to open up, who otherwise may not so much. it can be a great asset. thanks for sharing the link. Lonnie, true character as ive seen it-Lonnie is an exceptional individual because, (the LITTLE that i know of him) he is truly KIND (my experience-i speak from knowing he has gone out for me in a way that few know, yet came to my hospital bed one afternoon for a few moments at a time it propably was the last thing he wanted to do-i respect a man who can do what he did) and thinks well his choices. i respect him, purely for those things, above his accomplishments, rarely can i say this. Good to know his vision is accurately keen on his purposeful future, and what ever else about personal life matters not revealed for public scrutiny via this media, truly IS personal. Say what you wish, but reality is, we all survive, thrive, and serve a purpose in various ways, with various people and places. Not everyone we meet and greet will (or should even -perhaps?) remain eternally. to ALL, Tizzy. Spitfire, ???, Lonnie, me, BASE# XXX, FBA, GM, etc, etc, FLY free, follow your path, and share that miniscule TIE that does keep us not alien from one another. A CANOPY. skydivers, BASE jumpers, paragliders, ground lauchers, cliff hoppers, test jumpers, paratroopers, every-fre(kn one whom i forgot thats got a canopy over your heads to get to the ground with,... we ARE different from the rest, but we share that. can we sometimes just have a case of Heinie for THAT? To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

I would talk to the SCI forums and ask about this as well. I have a feeding tube,and it is exactly where my chest strap is. Once they changed it to the type with a balloon inside, it lasted 7 skydives and burst. tube came right out. the wait in ER to get the tube back in kept me from going that night, so they had a harder time getting in over 24 hours after it fell out. Thus, the doctor gave me several tubes that i can doctor back in myself, at least to keep the hole properly open, until he surgically replaces the tube with the previous type (no balloon just a hard ball inside). The previous type I had lasted over 150 skydives, while this new one lasted 7. So yes, talk to folks with these tubes, find out how did theirs come out, if ever, what were they doing etc. Risk is always involved, I accept that i may have to do some field medicine and insert new tubes regularly until they fix this problem. Otherwise, you may wish to have your instructors have a look a the tandem harness developed by Mark Procos and Jay Stokes (its a pants/harness assembly seen on Parachutist May 08 issue) It IS important to remember, as the article says : "not every tandem instructor will be able to use it-it offers qualified instructors who take special needs tandems a means to do so." The device not only controls the legs during freefall, prevents them from hitting the person -or worse getting caught in lines etc. during hard openings and also allows the TM to control the reduction in possible injury during landing. Which is where all the paralyzed jumpers that Ive seen break bones, happened, was the landings. Twice Ive seen another paralyzed person break ankles out of the 4 different paralyzed people I know of whove done a tandem (seen one of these breaks myself as it happened-and both of the men who broke ankles were very strong upper bodied individuals who were not able to pull up their legs nigh enough for the landing so their ankles caught). anyways, the moral of it all is, if your concerned about the tube, talk to all SCI forums you can find, research that aspect, and then also research the places where you may be going to. What plans do they have for you, for the landings? That's what worries me the most, after seeing those two men. Otherwise, I can see it a possibility, reading that article and seeing the pictures certainly a C5 can do this. I am now an incomplete C6 and diving solo after a long road to get here, but now I fly confidently on my belly or in steep track -atmonauti style. So much is possible, with patience and lots of thought put into it. Not saying you may be flying solo some day, but certainly i can see it possible to keep this tandem desire burning brightly. dont give in .... let it come to you safely and you will be SO GLAD that you may not be able to wait to do it again. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

I'm going to say fuck that! they better figure some shit out for me (us) too. well put. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

great plans, idea and hope it works better then previous tries. i love the concept, and thought others would also-thus 2 yrs in a row, i publized on the web, via the charity itself, (through their fundraising 'campaigns' i.e. "walk for ms" -I changed it to "JUMP FOR..") BOTTOM LINE, NO ONE CANE, OR GAVE A PENNY After the shock wore off, I felt like that was just , that out of all of that, not ONE PERSON, actually donated anything. i couldnt help but be that all who jump with me, and say they are friends, offer smiles, hugs, high fives, fck U fingers with smiles as I exit the planes before them- are (were?) a part of my "friends" and acquintances here at the DZ, in the greater skydiving community, OR in the community of the individuals that i was raising $ WITH. like you, im paralyzed (check out my journey to learn to skydive, as a paralyzed woman-in this forum), and thought that others who'd donate to the 'cause' of funding for a cure to my condition, would be interested in having me jump not only tandem as i used to, but a solo jump (the 2nd yr I tried-this year) as well. so, I TRULY WISH for you, and for the REASON that this jump is for-IS LOOKED AT SERIOUSLY ENOUGH BY EVERYONE to DONATE, and think of what you'd like IF THIS WERE YOU? damn it sometimes makes me mad when i think of it in those terms, and think, how could a person not want to give something? to try to help create a potential future cure, or assistance to make it better in some degree-what ever it is, paralysis, ALS (these are my issues) there are those with MS here, heart conditions, people worrying about jumping after, with these... they ARE REAL THINGS THAT ANYONE CAN HAVE HAPPEN ANY MOMENT, ... Sorry- im so hoping that this willl raise itself off the ground (literally and figuratively), and become a immense country wide campaign for when i'm dying i will like to know, that it had happened, someone was able to turn a fundrasing campaign for spinal cord research, or what ever 'situation' they are facing, through a skydivng event. its time. we as skydivers, get on board and support this stuff. leahcaprice-I WILL GIVE to your campaign-just tell me how, and when, and where, and its there. as for WHERE? IF you could get to some place like ZHILLS i think its worth it. for the fact that you CAN have VERY EXPERIENCED staff with your spinal cord inury needs, as well as it is a huge enough place that in the winters its 'hopping' with folks, if you can find a way to get the media involved, across your country, then i can see this becoming an annual large scale event. but starting with a 'paraplegic friendly' dropzone,/facility, which is fairly large and populated by various folks coming and going, is a great place to find for doing it. THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS.

my apologies I did not know Sierra, and what happened to her, but Ive lost my room mate this month under a canopy, and understand somewhat the realm of such a loss... but never (hopefully) that of a mother loosing her child. i just wanted to say that this is truly a beautiful thing to do.... the planting of the tree especially. i happen to be living at the dropzone where i jump, and have ALS, (fatal) so I am planting perennials, and some bushes/shrubs and trees around. so they will be here for those who are my friends, when i am gone. im so glad to know, that there will be a tree for Sierra i would hope every DZ whove lost a loved one, could be beautified in their environment by planting of perennials, bulbs, trees etc in the honour of those whove weve lost. May your life be blessed with vivid beautiful memories, and enriched wiith much love and care in the future for you. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

agreed. ask around the sites dedicated to the issues you face, outside of the skydive. i have a feeding tube, which has been fine for over 1-- dives but last night it tore out of my stomach. nothing serious, i just cant take food/water/medications until I get a new one but its a pain in the .. to have to arrrange to go ge a new one inserted (i busted a part of it totally as I tried to put it back in, do a little back yard surgery,... no luck) SO ask around, and you propably know the best in what is involved IF it came out, i.e. how it needs to be replaced/put anew one in if it did come out, and -how critical time is, in reference to getting it back in fast, or is there time to do it... is it a 011 rush!? or?... -is it something that will cause you serious pain, and potential further injury, IF it came out, and then... you have some info to make a informed choice on it. wendy propably knows the most about these issues of anyone here, so listen to her, generaly in these forums. she has wise and mature perspective and advice. check it out with the SCI community, tons of para[s and quads do tandems and a few of us fly solo, buf his is something worth looking into it.. wha to o etc To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

so, it had to happen, the head down just never left my blood since I tried it, and now the idea is to see how low i can stay stable. eat up altitude insanely fast. a 55 second free fall became a 24 second one before the hard deck showed up, but free flying seems to interest me somewhat. if i have no one to do CRW with, practicing atmonauti is about the only thing I do in free fall these days. here's a video of my longest head down to date. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twSbS_yinsU To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

thanks humanfltem i recall you from the beginning onward it been a 3 year journey, and the tunnel was well over due, but there were gear to acquire, lots of skydives for canopy control -i cant be up there with 20+ others n the sky if i cant figure out how to be safe wth them. so that became the interest, for a bit, time and money wise, then there is the base side of my life. it requires all of the above minus the jump tickets, but potentially worse tickets. anyways, this tunnel, i hope will be noticed by others paras wanting to seriously try this stuff. personally for me, 4 way etc is not my thng. i will do it, if it is something am invited into for the experence, never a bad thing but i went to the dark side, well at the baby-hood of my scale of experience, its where always wanted, needed to go. now, skydiving is about the FF and, thus, i need to start learning atmo seriously,. that is my goal for FF, and accuracy for canopy control if some renegade will do crew with me, ii am iin for that absolutely, had a few of those, and that canopy collision during a doc i turned into, fast. yes i admit my idiocity when i know its there. but for those who like RW and are hoping one day to be in big ways, etc. they are the ones who are going to like knowng that they are able to learn ths stuff, f they work at it for 3 yrs. yah, thats a long time, but i do not feel so bad, as my buddy who started when i did just got his 100th today. perhaps am not as terrible at ths as i sometimes think i am. regardless. the worst of it all, is dragging my butt around after i land, i can end up going long distances dragging myself on the ground wth the canopy, n gear. now, my canopy will soon be switched over o the stratocloud with the CEW risers, it oacks looser then my current one, which is tght, and is a 7 cell down size, but not vented like base canopy s-from the plane, i will hop n pop that later ths summer. the tunnel camps are great, awesome experiences, and i must admit, i would become a tunnel rat if i was not a gimp. persue it. addictive it is. 2 hours=coached privately for less then half its real cost would think, was a great help, and only way to make t possible, knowing many live in countres wthout tunnels, and none close to get to... but if YOU WANT TO LEARN WELL PROPER TECHNQUE AND QUCKLY THE TUNNEL IS THE PLACE for ths. its amazing that i was able to learn thngs no one believed i would ever learn. so, if you can GO TO A TUNNEL iif your ever near one. To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works

here is one video. i edited out the people in between, as to me they were not relevant to this excervise. this shows its possible to learn basic RW skills without the use of legs. by usng only the arms, hands, and head. head was for controlling levels (not to de arch, but to rase or lower head only), the hands were essential. wth the palms i controlled moving forward and back, towards the perso to dock wth, and away. when docking, well you can see my elbows rase, i begn to fly wth the elbows to keep level -head, and elbows to maintain proximity and stationary for the dock. it has been a great 2 tunnel sessions i been to, and both i learned way more then ever believed, or expected. so id say ts a success. that t s possible to teach paralyzed people to side slide, and other skills necessary for 2, 3. 4+ way's safely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmaEwsTCDgg To become active member in the Bonus Days Club you must very narrowly escape eternal freefall ... one exciting time.)-Pat Works