crutch

What you think John, you look good in teal blue skies, art

Just wanted to get this back to the top of the forum blue skies, art

If I make it there, how about a tandem onto the beach, in your bikini of course. blue skies, art

No, in fact, right now with the "orange alert" status of the country, the military teams are the only ones who can jump into events with 30,000 or more people. What gives, I don't know becuase all the requirements that the civilian jumpers need to have such as pro ratings are also thrown out the window. The military jumpers are expected to police themselves even more than us civilians, yet things like this have happened more than once to the military teams other than the Golden Knights (two years ago a Navy Seal was killed jumping into Raymond Jmaes stadium in Tampa). blue skies, art

Andyman, chunking twenty-ways out of the Otter does cause a stall. It happened several years ago at Perris if I remeber correctly. Was not a pretty site. Becuase you have gotten away with it doesn't mean it hasn't happened or could happen. Ask the pilot how much extra work he is doing when you launch that twenty-way chunk from the Otter, you may change your mind about how "safe" it is. blue skies, art

I have no problem telling people how I feel about them. As far as the people who know me feel, most of them respect me for it. If someone whines to much, I tell them, it is up to them to deal with it. If you jumped here, you would problably not be one of the people who got invited on demo jumps just because of your attitude. I captain one of the most professional skydiving demo teams in the area. We also run a small instructional school (tandems and AFF) and you are the first to accuse me of being unprofessional. My fellow skydivers all know know how I feel about whining, just shut-up, do it and don't worry about it. I believe you have taken my calling some people whiners a little too far. If you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Don't drag the rest of us having a good time within the rules (very good rules, I might add) down because you don't like them. One more thing, the beach jumps were done in conjunction of a festival at the beach. Due to the size of the landing area, the insurance waiver mandated D-licensed skydivers only. And yes, someone's comment of D-licensed people sometimes aren't capable. An AFF instructor almost hit a small child outside the landing area when she decided to be "cool" and do a swoop landing. Although she didn't whine when we told her she was done for the day. blue skies, art

I agree totally with you, the well rounded skydiver is the one I want at my DZ dooling out advice to the newer ones. As far as me having an attitude as an S&TA toward whiners. The USPA makes the rules very black and white, but it seems most of us want to bend them to fit our needs and desires (for some it may be fears of night jumps). Most of the people in these forums started jumping in the last few years (less than 4). You don't realize how much safer the sport has become in the years I have been it. When I did my first big load (100-way in 91), a woman who was one of the best skydivers in the world was not allowed on unless she turned her AAD off. To most of ya'll this is unthinkable in this day and age, but back then when AAD's went off for no reason at 13,000', maybe you could understand the concern of people diving after her. The USPA has done a very good job of raising the safety level of our sport, I am proud to be a part of that. But for all you whiners out there (the AFF course is too hard, why do I have to do night jumps etc.) maybe we have made it so safe that you have survived longer than you were suppose to. For example, years ago a guy snag his cut-away handle on exit and it got pulled out. He didn't do anything till his AAD went off. We asked him to leave our drop zone and not come back, is that so wrong. Yeah the sport is safer now and he got to live, but if he wasn't going to save himself, why should we risk him jumping with us. So back to night jumps. We do them all the time down here. There is a breifing for everyone involved, no matter how many you have. We put two cars in the field with their lights on to indicate wind direction more than anything. And must of all everyone is required to be safe and have a good time! blue skies, art

When you learn to drive a car, you need to learn to parallel park. How many times in your life have you parallel parked? The whole thing about a D-license is that you have been trained in and experienced "most" skydiving situations. Do we dilute the level of the program to make a 'few' cry-babies happy, I hope not. Dave brings up the best point of all. How many times is the last jump of the day delay for one reason or another and it ends up being a night-jump. More often than any of us really want to admit, so what is the big deal. For all the whiners out there, take up another sport, like bowling, but then you would problably whine about them waxing the lane too much! blue skies, art

Here, here! All you cry babies that don't want to do a night jump will just have to be happy with your c-license. As an S&TA I am about fed up with the whining. We have a beach jump, D-license required (insurance reasons), I never heard so much whining in my life. We have standards for a reason. The requirements are tough and stringent for a reason. If you don't want to do, don't and keep your mouth shut, you have no reason to whine! blue skies, art

This doesn't work well on vectors (sigma not included) because the drogue collapses completly when the ripcord is pulled. At sub-terminal this makes for a very long openning. Mike Maguire (mad-dog) once told me the the story of him doing this once. So exit, throw the drogue let it inflate, then pull. blue skies, art

I have to say something here. I have made well over 2000 tandems over the years with all of the major manufacturers (strong, vector and jumpshack) and own a Sigma. I have been in sidespins in all but the jumpshack rig, but i have the fewest number of jumps on it. One, all of the sidespins (6) I have been in were with smaller people (110 to 145 lbs). But this maybe due to the fact that I had a different attitude towards the exit with them (more relax, less worried). Luckily they were all drogue up sidespins, but I still think that if I ever get into one with the drogue down, the drogue is coming out before the reserve. I have argued this point with several people, but spinning on your side and deploying a reserve definitely is the last resort in my mind. If you are worried about the drogue wrapping up on you, what do think the reserve is going to do? Second, I have had no malfunctions in all the years I have been doing tandems. I pack for myself 99% of the time and according to the manufacturers recommendations. Most of all though, I keep my gear in great condition, don't wait for the next repack to fix even minor damage. Well that is it for all that it is worth! Art blue skies, art

"which picture of my boobies am I going to post on the internet tonight..." Geez, you guys in Texas aren't doing anything for a nice young lady like this....I am starting to wonder about you Texas boys!

Take your time, keep the lines straight and don't worry about it!

Here is a very nice stadium jump into Alltel Stadium

This is kinda like trying to save a drowning person who keeps trying to take you down with them. Anyhow, I have often thought about this, although abet, with a pilot who doesn't have a rig in the airplane. Attempt a Mr. Bill deployment, a good number of this smaller canopies do have very soft opennings. Then, here is the tricky part, if there is no soft landing area, i.e. water, freshly plowed field.... Have him put his arms through the risers and cut-away. You now have your reserve, and his chances of surviving have dramatically improved. Alas, if people would learn good habits, checking their gear and everyone around them also, we would never have to discuss this!

It's funny, years ago we seldom had a door, much less seatbelts! Times have definitely changed for the better!