Snowflake

Hertz Doughnut https://myspace.com/gravityrat_27/video/nutcracker/15371303

It was a well planned, well choreographed, well executed stunt. As in Hollywood movie stunt. Greg and Joe (Jennings) have done a lot of stuff over the years. This is (IMHO) one of their better ones. Hint: Do you think that segment was all done in one take? Or maybe they did a couple of different jumps with different harnesses so that they could show you what they wanted you to see. Don't forget the possible money bringing can of Mountain Dew. Oh, they left out the second half of that segment in the video. I love footage from whatever that heli mounted camera is. In fact I almost like it better than the jump footage.

In the six or seven years that I jumped a lot. I was the only first timer that continued at SSM. On average I saw maybe 10 tandems and 1 or 2 AFF's a year during that time. Since then I have seen one continue at SSM, one at SDT, and read of one at Lexington. My first tandem master was African American(Corey you rock). Unfortunately there are self imposed cultural barriers to a lot of sports. I won't even try to have the discussion on this board, but the psychology is interesting to say the least.

EXACTLY!! You can't swing a dead cat in Florida without hitting an African American skydiver. Hell, the practically run the industry! As this is a site owned and operated by an African who previously lived in America, I think it's preposterous to use the "african american" term at all to refer to black people. Again, ones race, color, or creed has no bearing on whether or not they choose to jump out of planes or if I choose to partake of the activity with them. I am great friends with a lot of black skydivers. I am ALSO great friends with a lot of white African skydivers who happen to live in the USA. Chuck I always find this interesting. When you ask a "white" person what their ancestry is except for Italians you usually don't even get American appended to it. Why isn't that preposterous? It's the same thing. Using a continent instead of a country is because most "African Americans" don't know which country in Africa they came from so they resorted to using the continent, because can be pretty sure of that fact. The funniest thing about this nonsense is that both sides omit the European in our ancestry. Is it silly? You betcha, but so is the hypocrisy of acting like Americans of European descent behave in a different fashion. Edit to add that Humans love to play Star Belly Sneetchs. and this is what you end up with. I'm sure America is not the only place that has to deal with this self created conundrum.

Jump 21, it was a no show and it was awesome!!!! They turned a point so I got a badge for that too. I have a big smile on my face thinking about it

I would be very interested to see how this works for larger sample of students, if you get the chance ask your compatriots and find the people that have been taught in a fashion similar to yours. I really would like to see how this is working with a larger sample. I started with a "2 stage" flair not because I was taught that way, but because I wanted to see how much the flare would slow me down in relation to the ground. I was taught that if I flared early to stop and wait till I was lower and finish the flare. I decided that was what I was going to do so I could get a feel. The long and short of it is that I started with a "2 stage" flare and didn't really do a 1 stage flare until the winds picked up in the fall and I was well past student status. What I observed during that time is that in no wind landing a one stage flare is much harder than landing a 2 stage flare. People who bitch about landing in no wind usually use a 1 stage flare. On a no wind day go out and watch. Look at how they flare and the resulting landing. Watch long enough you'll see the pattern(Don't use swoopers as references in your observations). I've always felt that it should be a license requirement to demonstrate a "2 stage" flare on a no wind day That being said if you can learn a "2 stage" flare as a student your much better off IMHO. It's much easier to go from a "2 stage" flare on a no wind day to a 1 stage flare on a windy day. Finally, the right tools for the right situation. 1 stage flares are great for when your coming straight down in wind, but not so good on a no wind day, and vice versa. (edit to add) In general with a two stage flare you add a little speed, but you flatten out and the second stage is used to bleed of speed by trading lift for speed. Hopefully someone will come along explain it better than I just did

High probability it's a four way. Here is what I think happened. Two people leave as the base the other free fly the exit. Guy number 3 decides he's just going to pretend he's on a solo jump. Guy #4 fixates on #3 for a few seconds and then realizes what's going on and chases after the base. You see him go hauling ass past #3. #4 at least gets in sight of the base and when they break off he has to track back towards #3. No matter what if #3 had tracked perpendicular to the jump run the whole situation could have been avoided. If it's not a four way there are a few issues that probably need to be addressed at that DZ.

What I truly find amusing about all this is that go pro was only mentioned twice on the first page and that had nothing to do with the discussion at hand. All other comments referenced a camera in the context of the jumpers skydiving skill set. Then somewhere on the second page someone who probably didn't read the whole thread calls it a "go pro hunt" and everyone is off to the races, too funny!!!!!

I didn't say the camera had anything to do with it did I? Did I say or imply that he shouldn't be jumping with a camera when he doesn't have the basic survival skills to jump with a group? You betcha!!!!

Agreed, Jackwagons turning me into a crusty old jealous of mad skillz even though I haven't jumped in a year h8r. He fuckin watched the "base" and I use the term loosely go away and he turns perpendicular and acts like they never existed. Then he watches the fourth person go by him and he acts like he doesn't exist either. I'm talking about basic survival skills here. Someone needs to take the camera from him until he learns how to skydive. I knew better after AFF. What the fuck are people being taught today, and I really resent having to come off sounding like I'm some old pro when I'm not

It started going wrong before the plane ever left the ground. Plan the jump. Jump the plan!!

I've always thought that demonstration of canopy skills should be a part of the licensing process. I haven't thought about it beyond that. For example I've seen people with D licenses on no wind days try to land with a one "stage flare". You can see them tighten up and start to swing their legs forward for a slide or put their feet together for a PLF. My opinion is that if you have a D license you should be able to at least have the ability to judge the wind good enough to choose the proper flare for the conditions your landing in. Force people to demonstrate their mad skillz to get a B,C, or D then tie license requirements to allowable wing loading. that's my 10 cents.

On AFF jump 7. That's when I started noting beginning and ending altitude for various inputs up high. I added the following moving forward to jump 100 reading as much as I could about canopy control spotting accuracy pattern crosswind downwind brake turns If you wanna swoop you should master the basics first. That means you should have a clear idea of what the basics are and how your going to go about learning them!!

Holy Shit!!!! his description of going from freefall to canopy is almost verbatim what I said 10 years ago. It's also how I got my skydiving nickname.

What the others said. Go in and introduce yourself. Ask for Jeff Hindman(He helps run AFF) tell him your situation and goals after you tell him that Snowflake sent you. He would rather you came in and talked to him than have you sit in the parking lot. Good Luck!!!