freeatlast

I'd Email or Phone Chicagoland Skydiving and buy one of their Pro Passes (or any similar US drop zone that offers the equivalent). All you can jump for the season for $5199.00 (it was $4999.00 until 31st Jan) this leaves you $8300 for a trailer / food etc... Get all of your stuff for your trailer from Walmart and return it every 30 days for a full refund (that way you can have a trailer full of fantastic goodies and never have to pay for them)

There's some general info now up on the other thread

A late post I know - but we are planning some more balloon jumps this weekend - have a look at the post on the UK Skydiver website.

They turned down free beer? No way!! As everyone else has said - travel, visit other DZ's / Boogies etc and build a group of people that you can hang out and jump with. It's worth asking around because there might be someone else who lives nearby who also travels to another DZ to fun jump and then you can carshare and save some $$'s as well!

Perhaps if we had more swimming pools on DZ's we would attract more boobies like that?

Yes there is a secret number, but no, I'm not going to share it with you!!

PM Jerome (BKR on here) and he should be able to help you (he's the owner of Basik)...

There are Mars M2 units for sale from the ukskydiver and smartrigs websites and we will ship to the US if you want us to

Which Hotels were you going to suggest?? I'm presuming that the LA congestion is bad at 5.30pm then!!!

Thanks Airtwardo I'll take a look at that place

I'm not too fussed about seeing the LA nightlife, but would like a restaurant or two nearby so we can get some food and a beer or two... Budget - $200 max (it is the first night of our holiday, however, a nice $100 place is better than an expensive $200 place with no atmosphere)...

Good point and exactly the sort of info I was hoping to get. We're due to arrive at 16:05 so by the time we get our bags and pick up the hire car it's probably gong to be 17:00 - 18:00.

Hi Guys I'm flying into LAX for a holiday with my (non jumping) girlfriend. We're planning on visiting San Diego and will be picking a car up from Los Angeles airport and driving down to San Diego before heading to Vegas. I'm wondering if any of the locals could suggest a good place to stay somewhere en-route between LAX and San Diego. Thanks!! James

Approx yearly costs of a £2500 used rig (with cypres 2) would be £110 approx for the cypres (linear depreciation and services included at current rates) £70 for 2 reserve repacks (although if you only jumped April - Sept you could get away with 1 reserve repack). £5 for bungees If borrowing the money then any interest payments or if taking the money from your savings then the loss of interest (£35 is probably reasonable based on current interest rates if the rig is being purchased with savings). It would be prudent to factor in an amount to cover other perishables etc although if you only make a few jumps you might well get away without needing any!! All in all buying a used rig would probably be a good idea both financially and for other reasons such as:- The familiarity of your own equipment The ability to jump when you want The possibility that you might surprise yourself and do over 30 jumps The ability to spend time examining and learning all about your own gear This is just my 2p worth!!

Ha - well i could always reject him after approving his membership

Hello there We had a spate of spammers signing up to UKS which led to me changing the settings from automated approval to manual account approval. Currently there are 8 outstanding account applications and none are more than 4 days old, so i am unsure what has happened as you say your applications are weeks old... I have moved house and jobs in the last few weeks so my internet access has been more limited than usual plus Paul the other moderator has been on holiday!! I will ensure that all outstanding applications are checked and approved just now. If you are still having problems call me - i'll pm you my number... Regards James

Hi Raj This question gets asked a lot on the UK Forums. Have a look here http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/cms/index.php?/topic/19134-a-few-newbie-questions/page__p__206384__hl__%2Bnewbie+%2Bquestions__fromsearch__1#entry206384 for some recent answers to that question. Regards James

Well hopefully they weren't planning on trying to sell Bentley's to skydivers!!

Absolutely - no UK dz is in the same league for lift capacity per day except possibly Hibaldstow with it's 5 Dorniers (although I doubt that they generally run all 5 at the same time usually)... 3-4 lifts per day would seem a fair average although as stated it's definitely possible to do more at some UK dropzones but tandems etc do have an impact. Also there are some Boogies where you get the opportunity to crack out more jumps if you want to because of a higher than normal lift capacity and more people to fill the plane...

Hi Linn I'm all in favour of safety, but definitely not in favour of this kind of system. Why not use BG's chart or a max wing loading based on jump numbers using either total jumps or perhaps the total number of jumps made over the preceding say 1-2 years (to reflect currency rather than jump numbers which may be more relevant). Also you could simply categorize certain canopy types (such as beginner / intermediate / advanced canopy categories) and again depending on experience you are allowed to jump more categories. This way everyone with say 100 jumps and limited experience would be flying larger and more docile canopies whilst everyone with say 800 jumps would be allowed to jump smaller and higher performing canopies (if they wanted). If you also want to increase safety you could also make anyone jumping a higher performance level canopy undertake canopy training before they move onto the new canopy type and possibly ask them to attend a course each year to keep their flying skills current. On a completely different note, will these restrictions apply only to Norwegian jumpers or will visiting jumpers find these rules imposed on them??

Depends on the time of year - obviously the weather plays a part but there are several DZ's and some cool jumpships. These include Grand Caravan's, Dorniers, PAC 750XL, BEECH 90 and a Twin Otter!! Plus with wind tunnels number four and five in the pipeline it's better than ever

Jonathan Your exit weight is 158 - 163 lbs approx with gear. According to conventional wisdom a maximum wingloading of 1:1 ie 1lb per sq ft of canopy is the maximum that you should have at this time so a 160 - 170 is the minimum size that you should be jumping using this system. Brian Germain has a great downsizing chart see www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf. According to this an exit weight of 165 and your jump numbers would give a 190 as a sensible canopy to currently use (middle of range) and a 170 or 160 as the SMALLEST you should use depending on your canopy skills. I would strongly suggest speaking to your instructors further as they are the only people to have seen you flying a canopy (I certainly haven't)... ask why they have made their recommendations and decide honestly which you feel is giving you SAFE advice. Remember once you leave the plane - you're on your own until you return to earth so stay within your own personal Comfort Zone - no sense in rushing things only to get busted up!!

There's a couple in use here in the Uk. One of the University clubs has one as club kit and they posted the following in the gear section of dz.com This is a copy of an email sent from one of the guys who rented one from me in 2010 to a guy who was enquiring about them:- I am biased but have always found them to be decent rigs

Hi Jerry It looks like my stock photo needs updating!! I'll get the web monkeys on it straight away

There is another aspect to yelling at students through the radio... I was initially taught how to fly a pattern, but was given a radio and told to 'obey instructions'... On one of my early jumps the guy talking people down on the radio (there were three of us in the air at the time) had a problem with the guy in front of me... I was happily flying my canopy to the required holding point, when the radio guy panicked - he was concentrating so hard on jumper #2 (I was #3) that he kept screaming at me to leave my toggles alone and left me flying on full drive in a random direction - every time i tried to correct my course I was 'instructed' to leave my controls as they were... Eventually #2 landed and the radio guy (I hate to call him an instructor) turned his attention to me and successfully got me to crash land on one of the main runways (a long way away from the student landing area!!)... The result - total confusion for me, 1 dangerous landing, 1 messed up knee (I ended up seeing a surgeon later because of it), 1 radio guy who then tried to blame me for trying to stay in the holding area!! As a result of this incident I stopped training at that DZ went to another and did my AFF without further incident. IMHO - the radio did little for my safety that day... (I understand that in certain circumstances that radios are useful, but i wonder how often they contribute to incidents)... And before anyone else jumps on and says it - I am aware at that time i was an inexperienced jumper (student) and that this is just my interpretation of the situation and that there are two sides to every story... However without the radio, I would have flown my pattern and landed in the student area whereas with the radio and 'instruction' I ended up having a nasty landing and almost ending my skydiving career there and then... A radio is only as good as the person using it!!