fencebuster

Bob Mehl is a master rigger and manager at Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures. He lives in Arlington, VA. The DZ is in Shenandoah Valley in New Market. He can be reached at [email protected]. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I made my 100th and 200th naked. Both jumps were during the summer. Don't tuck anything under leg straps; let the stuff fly free. Tie a pair of gym shorts to your leg strap in case of an off-DZ landing; you don't want to get arrested for indecent exposure if you land off. Stand up the landing . . . . Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I pay $25 per jump for coaches, except for CAT F; in CAT F, all the coach does is put the student out, so I give them a free jump. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I made my first tandem at 50. The second jump is the one that hooks you. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I'd like to know if the two were on an instructional/Coach jump. If it was a coach and a student, one of the three gear checks the Coach is supposed to do with a student should have caught the PC hanging out. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

+1. Get ground reference points with an operating altimeter and then calibrate your eyes and brain. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

Great advice. You should follow it. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

IMO, if you qualify for a Class II Medical in the US, I think you should be able to fly jumpers. And, as long as you hold a valid Commercial Certificate and Class II medical, there is no FAA limitation on a pilot over 70 years of age flying jumpers. I have a part-time pilot that flew my C-182 with jumpers last summer. He has in excess of 30,000 flight hours. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

A good pair of comfortable kneepads. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I run a C-182/C-206 DZ. We average just over 8 gallons per cycle to 11,500 MSL (10,500 AGL) on the C-182. You might get less than 8 gallons per cycle with 1 tandem on the plane. As for leasing a turbine, PM me and I'll let you know what I found after several months of trying to get a turbine for year 2 of our operation. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I made the majority of my AFF jumps between December 13 2007 and February 27 2008. Yeah, it was cold -- it was -27 at 14,000 for my check dive. 3 layers of under armor and a good pair of neoprene gloves and I hardly noticed the cold. I still jump through the winter. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

All of the above, plus sit and watch for a while before you think about getting on a load. I always find a good place to watch a/c loading, people under canopy, how the winds are affecting the landings, and who looks like they are heads-up jumpers. I keep my eyes and ears open. I also look for those that may not be quite so heads up and note their canopy colors. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

They pay for the ride up. If they choose not to jump, the dz still collects the fee and does not pay for a pack-job. I cannot understand why ANY dz would force a tandem passenger to leave the plane. The TI still gets paid. The video guy still gets paid. Why force a non-consenting student to jump? stupid, IMO. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I rode the plane down on a hop and pop load when the plane was limited to 2500 due to clouds. I set my non-emergency exit limit at 3k before that flight and chose not to break my rule. At the time I had about 500 jumps. Since then, I have brought tandems down when I felt the clouds or winds were sketchy or out of my personal limits. I am the dzo, so I take the hit for my conservative choices, but I hope my instructors will follow my example. Student safety must be paramount. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I was throwing drogues at a DZ other than my regular DZ a couple of years ago and was told by another TI on the laod that the DZ had been fined $10K for a TI busting clouds. So, I was the last TI out and of course the hole where everyone else got out was behind the airplane, so I ended up deploying the main at 8,000 so that I would not bust the clouds. I don't know whether the fine story was true, but it got my attention and a 20 plus minute canopy ride, which the passenger loved. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I doubt the pilot "ejected." Installing even a rudimentary gun seat in a 727 would be a pretty big engineering job. I am guessing he bailed out and the writer is one who knows nothing about airplanes or parachutes or ejection systems. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

The brain bucket may save my life in a hard landing. Yeah, I know it doesn't look as cool as the guys that go without, but FUCK THEM, I 'd rather not die from a head injury in a hard landing. Let them roll away in their wheel chairs. And I put a frap hat on the student so they don't head-butt me on exit. I may not be "cool" but I think I'll live. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

DSE: Is it a record or not? Tell me what you say, because I don't believe I can trust the USPA in this circumstance given the previous posts. I see what i see and I see that it does not appear to meet the criteria for a record. I am not a WS, so I rely on experts in the WS field. Why is it not a record. What is USPA selling that I should not buy? I need to be able to sell USPA to my students and fun jumpers. If there is a lack of integrity at USPA, that makes it a hard sell. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

In my student program, I limit students to 3 jumps per day, max (assuming they meet ground training minimums), until they are off AFF (Level 7 or CAT E), After that, it is 5 jumps per day, max, until A license. It may be somewhat arbitrary, but students are overloaded as it is and I think my limits are a reasonable balance between safety and student enthusiasm. And it is not a number . . . if the student is not prepped and ready, no jump. These are max's, not anything else. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I am not a WS flier but I am a DZO and I expect the USPA to have integrity. I see a problem here, and I hope someone at USPA HQ will tell me why I should not question the integrity of this decision. I have students and fun jumpers who rely on the integrity of USPA. Please? Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I have jumped at TJP, done tandems and AFF there for Cathy. There is no way a competent skydiver should land on the Navy Base. She has a thorough briefing, with video and photos telling jumpers that they are not to land there. 4 jumpers, C-182, there simply is no way a competent skydiver should land on the base, particularly with the "don't do it, or else" brief she provides. This is truly an unfortunate situation. She has a nice place; I modeled my new DZ on hers -- tandems, AFF and fun jumpers out of C-182 (to start), but it is also clear that the Airport Authority has a undisclosed agenda. The Airport Authority reminds me alot of the hillbillies in Deliverance. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I just saw on TJP's Facebook Page that they are taking their student and tandem operation to Palatka for this weekend. Sounds like this fight may be over for all practical purposes. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

I am thinking that putting a mention of it on DZ.com is not the best means of ensuriung OPSEC and maintaining the covert nature of the operation. Just sayin'. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

+1. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures

If you are a student, a USPA rated coach or instructor was (or should have been) supervising you and should have been spotting to make sure you were getting out in an appropriate place. Please have a conversation with your supervising instructor to let him or her know what happened. Charlie Gittins, 540-327-2208 AFF-I, Sigma TI, IAD-I MEI, CFI-I, Senior Rigger Former DZO, Blue Ridge Skydiving Adventures