crutch

Jacksonville, FL, home of the dismal Jaguars blue skies, art

One, the canopy was made special for the jump (Wachovia was the sponsor) and purchase through the RWS (as they are the only people you can buy a Sigma canopy from). There were several people there who knew full well what the canopy was for and supported us through the process. Second, the FAA has some definite hurdles to go through in order to jump into the stadium since we are not a DOD team. Oh and now there is the TSA approval for the pilot and skydivers. Third, the USPA issued a waiver to the BSRs that pertained to this jump. There were added restrictions that were self-imposed such as ceilings and wind-speed. The waiver process is quite lenghty, but this being the second year we have done it, it seemed to go through the system without much trouble. Lastily, the passenger (mascot) is a C-license holder with many practice jumps amongst us. This was not a fly-by-night operation and took months of planning and practice for it to go as well as it did. So, would I recommend this to anyone, hell no. Jumping into the stadium with a tandem is one of the toughest jumps I have ever done, everything is different once you get inside the lights. Wind direction, thermals, distractions, nothing is predictable. We have made about 30 jumps into this stadium now, and I can tell you, none of them have been the same. blue skies, art

John, you will have to talk to Carolyn about that one, you know she thinks I am way underpaid for carrying Jaxson into the stadium. Heck, what do you want, I bought you dinner and had champagne delivered after the jump. Maybe next time, you do the jump and I will be on the ground. Anyhow, thanks for your help, and we won't tell anyone about Michael in the plane. I will take all of ya'll out again when I get the check and we will divide it up. blue skies, art

$25 with the drop zone's rig $10 to pack it $55 if I use my own rig, which I almost always do, Sigmas are much nicer than jumpshack rigs blue skies, art

Thanks, yes I remember several jumps wondering what the hell I was doing wearing that costume. Carolyn made me promise not to jump with it on anymore, so this has been the compromise. It all worked out well Sunday night, but not with out all the help I received from our team. Everyone (Bobby, Patty, Ronnie, Joyce, Christan and Shane) on the ground did a wonderful job working around the communications issues, Michael with the TSA and FAA, John in the plane helping me with the rig and leading us in. And of course we had a great jump pilot (Tom Harvey) who kept it all under control before we got out. Hell, the easiest part of the whole thing was the jump itself. blue skies, art

Dave, you need to get a waiver from the USPA Board, not a hard process, but sometimes it is like dealing with any of the red tape that goes with demos nowadays. This year went much easier than last years, luckily the president of USPA (Glen) went with us last year and was supporting our application of waiver. So, yes they can be done, but you do have a process to go through. Oh, the jump usaully ends up be the easiest piece of the process. blue skies, art

Yes, it was the ESPN game last night, Bucs at the Jags, and believe it or not we won! blue skies, art

Can't that be reported as a gift? blue skies, art

Yes, I have fulfilled my contractual obligation and it is mine, all mine! blue skies, art

Hey all, this is what we do for fun down here on Sunday nights. Hell, it is much easier to get into the stadium, nobody checks your bags! blue skies, art

Christina, are you going to do one of your "tandems" with Gary this year? blue skies, art

World's first two-point 100-way, Deland, Feb., 1992. We held the second point so long (about 20 sconds) everyone knew we had and started screaming in freefall. The energy going through all of us was something that has never been dublicated. blue skies, art

Would love for you to come by! I promise to everyone out there, if no one trys to kill themselves, I won't stop the skydiving to chew everyone out! Everyone's favorite a**hole. blue skies, art

Having jumped numerous costumes, the biggest thing is do lots of practice handle touches on the ground and in the plane. The other thing is to trying and go through as many scenarios as possible for the added risks of the costume. Gloved hands for example, something as simple as a costume glove having a different "feel" may cause alot of problems at pull time. And lastly, do several practice jumps at the DZ with the costume on before the actual event. blue skies, art

Well, since I very seldom wear a helmet, I guess I don't have it on for take-off. I will say the few times I do wear helmets (video and freefly), I wear it for take-off any landings. blue skies, art

I have done it both ways. I prefer what you call the "Canadian" method, jumpmaster to with his/her back to the dash. If you ask some pilots, even they perfer this as it keeps the weight forward, especially when you have to reposition everyone for the second student. The other reason is that I can see everyone in the plane when my back is to the dash. As a footnote, we have changed our AFF exits from the cessnas to reflect this somewhat. The Main side jumpmaster sits with his back to the dash. It makes it much easier for the reserve side JM to get and maintain a grip during the climbout and it also lessens the chance of any thing getting snagged during climbout. blue skies, art

What about that S&TA who chewed everyone out for landing in all sorts of different directions? Is he coming again this year? blue skies, art

QuoteAnd if I had a DZ and you had one fire....You would not be jumping there again. Ron, one day you and I are going to have to meet and have a beer, we seem to think on the same page. My two cents on AAD's. I have two dear friends who may have been saved possibly had they had one, but I still do not jump with one. It is a personal choice. If you feel you need one or you can't jump, like Ron says, take up golf. By the same token if you fire one (as the girl in Ron's story) because of stupidity, don't ever show up at my DZ again, you won't be getting on a load. If you can afford one get it, peace of mind, if you can't, don't give up jumping, just be safe. Which by the way, doesn't mean be stupid if you do have one, there is a big difference. blue skies, art

Erica, find a fellow skydive who is well off (has more than one rig/extra chute) and borrow it. Not to be chauvanistic, but a woman can make many a man give up somethings with the bat of an eye blue skies, art

I have been jumping off and on in Deland for over sixteen years. At one time, I even considered myself one of the locals. I only get down there two or three times a year now, but have always had a great time. I will say though that I am at a great advantage versus many of the other people who show up there to jump. Everytime I go, I see old friends and we always have a lot of catching up to do. Also, for me to get on a skydive is very easy, as again, over the years I have been able to meet quite a few people. I will say that most of the time I go there though, I do solo jumps, not because I have to, but because I want to. I have made many memorable skydives there, my first 100-way, the world's first two-point 100-way, a seven-point 20-way, my wife's first 12-way and a 14-way with a FAA examiner that punched a cloud in freefall. But for me Deland changed when Tommy died, and it hasn't been the same since. blue skies, art

I am there!!!

Have a plate and seven screws in my ankle (from being stupid). Jumped with the cast on after four weeks of twiddling my thumbs and packing for everyone else on the drop zone. Did a tight demo, six weeks after the "accident" with my cast on, great front page picture in the paper (luckily my doctor doesn't read the paper). The only problem with jumping with metal in you is, if you break it again, it will be worse than if you don't have it. Go for it and be careful! blue skies, art

With a new jumper, 7500'. They were told beforehand though, getting to altitude was going to be a problem, so they had the choice of going or coming back another time. With an expeienced jumper, 5000', doing a demo into a stadium. Due to time, weather and FAA constraints, that was the way it had to be. In the saddle at 3600' with a slow opening (sub-terminal). For those of you who don't know, just a note, DO NOT pull the drogue release on a vector system before deploying the drogue, you will get a slower opening. blue skies, art

Hey, why aren't you listening to any ideas other then the ones you put forth? Here ia an example of your logic, if you are making a 100 paid demos a year for twenty years why do you have only 2500 jumps? See, that doesn't make sense to me, but who knows? Using your logic it seems you have made only about 25 practice jumps a year and what about the five-hundred jumps you needed to even get your pro-rating? Okay enough of that, let's get back to the real discussion and quit trashing other people's suggestions. I would like to see where the USPA is subsidizing the pro-program. They may be subsidizing the insurance, but looking at my renewal I am paying extra to have my rating renewed. I do understand we subsidize a booth at the airshow convention every year, but our team doesn't benefit from that, just a few select teams that the USPA members in that booth represent, is that fair. Since we don't do 100 paid demos a year, should our team bear a larger per demo burden than yours which makes 100? I don't think so! John is right, we have too much red tape already, we are losing demos laft and right to the quasi-military teams because of it. What is the USPA doing about that, beats me? There are enough rules, we need to enforce them, if you know of someone having their rating "pencil-whipped" how come you haven't stepped up to the plate and called them out? We have plenty of rules, but the USPA, DZO's and other jumpers tend to look the other way when they are bent. That is what needs to happen, creditability and accountability needs to be put back into the program at its roots. As far as claims go, if the jump wasn't on the up and up, a claim shouldn't be paid, why isn't the USPA doing anything about that? As far as I am concerned, throwing money at this problem isn't the best solution, if you do 100 demos, your cost is maybe five dollars extra a jump. We do ten to twenty, so our cost 15 to 20 extra dollars per jump. So, passing the costs on, is a lot easy for the teams in the demo business. But for us smaller guys (who I believe don't put on any less of a show) are being run out of business. Our team is subsidized by our tandem business, so it is already difficult to make the demo side of it even cover its costs. One last thing, if you raise the price of a pro-rating to 250 to 300 dollars, how many people will not renew. If you lose 70% to 80% of the renewals (which is highly likely), won't you be back in the same boat? I believe, I have tried to throw out ideas, other than raising the price, whether you are opened minded enough to listen, well I doubt it, but they are here. blue skies, art

Dave, the first one was done before the change to the FAR's. The RWS helped me get the necessary paperwork for the FAA and it was approved. The second one was done after the FAA changed the rules, so it was "legal". This is where the USPA got to step in and that create another level of work that I won't get into in this thread. Bottomline is that although it reads that way in the manual, everything is possible. Although, I will say it is getting tougher and tougher the more USPA gets involved in it. As far as people offering ideas, what about DZO's and their planes. We nned to make sure that the people getting on the planes to do demos are qualified. The DZO and the S&TA at each drop zone should be doing this. If they are not, thenwe as jumpers need to say something. We all have a stake in this thing. We lose insurance due to unqualified people jumping, we all lose. The USPA does little to regulate who gets insurance, trust me I have paid thousands of dollars over the years and very few questions are asked. I whole hardly agree with Ron in saying that when the insurance benefit of the USPA (demo and group) is gone, it will be very hard to justify staying a member. Lastly, what does the money that we pro-rated jumpers give to USPA go. I have heard many scenarios over the years, none of them justifing the added expense of the rating. There shpould be a large sum of extra money just from the pro-rated jumpers. Shouldn't this be used to help offset the curreny cost of insurance? blue skies, art