fencebuster

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Everything posted by fencebuster

  1. Hey, guy! Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures is your place. We are down I-81 at exit 264. We are offering a free -- YES FREE -- AFF First jump course (ground training) this Saturday (May 7), so your first AFF jump would be $265 (normally $395). You can call 540-450-6070 to schedule. I think we are your closest DZ that has AFF and plane larger than a Cessna 182. Come jump with us at the most scenic DZ in VA. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  2. We do IAD at Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures in New Market VA. We also do AFF. Either way, we are more than willing to train new skydivers! Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  3. I know what you mean. That is 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. People really have a difficult time with the supremacy clause -- FAA controls the navigable airspace, airports and the airspace necessary to land at those airports. Trying to impose local limits on lawful aviation activities is a waste of oxygen. But, Kimmie continues to serve as an oxygen robber. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  4. Well, that would be my position too. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  5. Not to mention, those boots are big and clunky and if you are doing RW and kick someone by accident, you may disable them in free fall. Skate shoes, a pair of keds high tops or the like are a much better choice IMO. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  6. I am a big guy and I demo'd a 230 last weekend. It had a very nice opening and it was snappy in turns and generally fun to fly. At 1.2 WL, in no wind, I felt like I was swooping and ended up sliding in. People watching said they thought it looked really fast on final and sounded like I was swooping. I felt like I couldn't get it to slow down, so I decided not to jump it again. I love the Pilot, but Pilot7 scared me. My normal canopy is a Sabre2 260 or Silhouette 210. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  7. Cubby Broccoli died years ago, FYI. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  8. Brilliant response! Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  9. ^^^ This! Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  10. Not replying specifically to riggerrob, but this has been the rule at my DZ since we opened. How would I enforce it? I am the DZO and I get to say who jumps at my DZ. Our rule, posted in manifest and on the wall in the hangar is "No wingsuit flybys within 500 feet of an open canopy. Period." Violate my rule and you get to go somewhere else to jump. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  11. Actually, the 2015 statistics are available as a download on the USPA website. Search Safety Day and you'll find the power point presentation for 2015. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  12. Wow. I am speechless. A bridle entanglement would really make for a bad day. That's all I have to say about that. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  13. Just replying generally here. In the military we used to follow "12 hours bottle to brief (for the flight)." That is a pretty good rule, IMO. One drink can affect your judgment and given that what we are doing is on its face dangerous, it is much better to be safe than stupid. At my DZ if you have a drink during the day, you are done until tomorrow. No complaints so far. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  14. A few miles down I-81 we do it similarly. If we're running a Cessna, it is one jumper per pass (4 minute go around) for IAD. So that usually puts the first student on the ground by the time the second student exits. We use names; e.g., "Billy, turn right 90 degrees, now." If we had a mal shortly after exit, I would consider telling the single student in the sky to "execute Emergency Procedures". In our training, we stress that as PIC, the student must make these decisions. We spend more time on EPs before every student jump than has been my experience at other DZs and the training so far seems to have worked with a single exception. If we're running the Navajo and multiple AFF students on the load, I would not make a radio call for fear of having the non-problem student take unnecessary corrective action. We have had three student malfunction issues in 3 years; two properly executed emergency procedures without radio prompting. The third, who was on CAT E, inexplicably and contrary to his training, waited for his AAD to deploy the reserve after his right shoulder separated in freefall and he could not deploy the main with his right hand. He had an approximate 5 second canopy ride, was OK except for the separated shoulder and decided skydiving was not his thing. BTW, Bob Mehl is doing a Coach Course at our place on 3,4,5,6 March if you are interested. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  15. We fly with gear down in our PA-31 on jump run. It is most stable in the landing configuration and it gets the tail up and out of the way. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  16. Safety Position: Hands on main lift web of student harness, elbows in, head back, legs tucked under airplane; arch on exit. Good questions, all. We started with one 182. We added a C-U206 and still needed additional capacity and we are a mostly weekend only operation. So I looked for a step up -- the Nav allows us to put 4 tandems in the airplane at a time plus a video or fun jumper; it climbs fast and is much more comfortable than a 182 for the TIs. We alternate loads of tandem with AFF/Coach/fun jumpers loads on busy days. We do not have the capacity for a turbine yet, or we'd have to change to a 5 day per week DZ for a season the way we are set up now to generate the traffic to support a turbine. Most of my skydiving staff are happy to jump weekends only as they are mostly gainfully employed outside skydiving, as am I, and my wife, who owns the business with me. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  17. I run a Navajo at New Market, Virginia (Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures). We allow 3 outside, max. Jump run is about 90 mph. TIs love it -- slide to the door on your butt, safety position, and roll out on count of three. No question it is expensive to operate, unless you compare it to a turbine. Small DZs general can't afford to keep a turbine running all day and starts get to be expensive. Not to mention that the typical turbine is minimum $400 per hour dry (PACs more like 500-550) or over $1M to acquire. We take fun jumpers and solo students to 12,000, tandems about 10,000 unless the loads are mixed, then everyone gets the higher altitude. 9 jumpers per load at about 20 gallons 100 LL per cycle. Just like any other airplane, you need to provide it with regular maintenance both preventative and recurring. It is a logical aircraft for tweeners -- not enough business to support a turbine but more than enough for two 182s. Plus we can still run the 182 on slow days or add it on busy days. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  18. ^^^^ What he said. "AFF" gets you only to self supervised free fall. "A License" is what you should be shooting for. Compare prices for the "A License" program. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  19. http://main.aol.com/2011/09/21/skydiver-removes-chute_n_973584.htmlWTF? Anyone have any info? Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  20. I have Vector SEs with skyhooks and adjustable MLW and laterals. Good rig. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  21. Apparently, the file is too big to upload. But here is the link to it, if you'd like to read it for yourself. http://ftpcontent4.worldnow.com/wmbf/pdf/Part%2016%20decision.sm.pdf And here is the link to the SC Circuit Court decision denying SDMB Motion for Injunction to enjoin its expulsion from its hangar/operating facility on the airport. http://ftpcontent4.worldnow.com/wmbf/pdf/Judge%20Hyman's%20Order%20-%20SDMB.pdf Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  22. I thought I attached the report. Here goes again . . . . Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  23. Here is the Report. It is dense and a long read. But now that I have had a chance to read it, I reiterate my prior comments about operating at a towered airport. Tower personnel documented numerous runway and taxiway incursions by skydivers as well as the DZ vehicle. On a controlled airport, you must call the tower before moving a vehicle on the surface; it appears from the ATTC inputs that the DZ repeatedly failed to comply with this requirement. In addition, the ATTC reported that the DZ dropped jumpers at the beach without obtaining prior permission from ATC, the DZ taking the position that they were not required to do so, notwithstanding that the beach was approximately 5 miles away from the identified on-airport DZ. I don't know whether USPA was involved in this case, but I think we should have been at least consulting with the DZO to help him avoid antagonizing the FAA via the local ATTC, which appears to me to be the straw that broke the camel's back. The DZ had a problem with new airport management. While that problem alone may have been one that could be overcome, once the FAA says you have a safety problem, it is really going to be an uphill slog to survive. The DZ problems with Horry County and how the County attempted to restrict operations at the airport are an issue we as an organization need to be aware of and prepared to address. These problems are encountered by numerous DZs. In my view, a good start is always opening a dialogue and educating the "other side" about how the DZ can safely operate in the vicinity of landing and taxiing aircraft. What seems to have complicated the issue in this case is when skydivers land on the ramp, taxiways and actually cause taxiing aircraft to have to shut down out of fear of having a prop-skydiver incident. Operating a DZ at an airport requires willingness to compromise and communicate with airport management, even if you believe the airport management doesn't want the DZ there for unreasonable reasons. This report is instructive. I am somewhat concerned that nowhere in the report does it indicate that USPA was in any way involved. That was a missed opportunity, in my opinion. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  24. What Frank said. Operating at an airport with a tower means that you are constantly under examination by the FAA or contractors working for the FAA. Things that would be considered de minimis at a non-tower, non-FAA employee heavy airport are more likely to be considered "problems" with constant "supervision" or examination. At my DZ, we might have one jumper land off once a month. If you have an FAA guy there, he's likely to report it as a "regular" event -- happens "monthly" or "frequently". I thought about trying to operate at a towered airport and I think the downsides greatly outweigh the positives. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures
  25. Well, if you keep voting for the same people over and over, you get what you vote for -- as a membership. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. You change the culture on the BOD by infusing new blood. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures