Beachbum

I'm wondering ... and this would likely apply almost solely to those on rental/student gear, since it's not tailored to them ... if some of those cases are situations where the person finds they can't quite reach the loose line readily, rather than not knowing to just release the one that remained stowed? I've seen students hanging in gear where they could reach the toggles to release them, but not a lot above that point without some contortions. It might not occur to them to pull down on the risers to bring it within reach. I can also see where a person with really low #'s might look up and just see it is not in place, and not see the line trailing the toggle behind them for them TO grab. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I'm sure no expert, but I've had 2 extended layoffs due to health issues. After the first (and longest) I went back thru emergency procedures and such, did a recurrency jump, and then some solos just to get back "into things" ... worked on turns, did some flips, worked on landing pattern and execution, etc. ... before jumping with others again. The 2nd one wasn't as long, and when I went to do my recurrency ... it got turned into an SCR attempt ... LOL! (the instructor knew danged well I'd been staying abreast of things and not totally out of the skydiving frame of mind) I think the "what should I do?" ... depends a lot on what you have BEEN doing. If you've kept skydiving in your mind so that things aren't totally gone ... maybe need a less stringent refresher ... if you let it go completely ... then you might want to VERY thoroughly review everything from basics/emergency procedures on up (maybe a quick read thru the ISP would be a good start?). I'd definitely make a few solos belly flying ... before getting back into the freeflying since those jumps go so much faster ... make sure you are maintaining alt. awareness and still recover stability ok, etc. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Would have to be a 4-way at Lost Prairie one year done with a good friend (the guy who got me into this!) who is no longer here, another ex-Aggie, and Bob Sinclair ... and it turned out to be my friend's last jump. Being a floaty sort, they sent me out first, but somehow I STILL managed to be above them by the time we were coming off the hill ... LOL! BTW ... if you ever get a chance to look thru Bob's scrapbooks ... a great many pieces of the history of the sport! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

ok ... first thing BEFORE all the explanation, etc. ... my take would be that yes ... he ought to be good to go if it's been that long. Now, a bit of explanation as to why I feel that way: Thanks to the below stuff, I've done a lot of research into collapsed lungs and jumping. I had a total collapse - left side - in the fall of '03 ... spontaneous (which I've since learned really means they just don't know enough to pinpoint the cause ... any collapse that isn't the result of a puncture or severe chest trauma is called spontaneous!!). They just did the typical thing ... put a suction tube in between the lung and the chest wall to reinflate it (and for those who thought otherwise ... no ... they do NOT blow it back up!). My lung doc (the specialist at the hospital) told me skydiving was definitely out for good. I wasn't willing to accept that, so I waited about a year (until near time for the AOT memorial boogie) and started looking for other opinions. I was fortunate enough to talk to a guy who works with NASA and helps train their flight surgeons. He told me that if I got a detailed CT scan done and it came up clean, that I should be ok. I did that, and did a few jumps then ... no problems. THEN ... late last year I was working over in N.O. processing Katrina claims as an adjustor ... was in too many moldy houses (another matter !!) and started to experience shortness of breath and coughing ... just before christmas it collapsed again. The docs told me that since it had done it a 2nd time, odds of a 3rd were over 90% (check online sources, and they'll bear that out), and that I would have to get a procedure done to keep it from going anymore. I started checking into that ... before I GOT it ... the 3rd collapse happened ... so it became NOW. Surgery in march ... I was back in the air in May ... the recovery after the surgery is much less than if you do not have it. I've got 12 jumps "post surgery" ... and so far ... so good!! The thing I really learned from it was that you need to find the right doctor. The guy I had the first time in ... very conservative, cover-his-ass type ... wasn't willing to say I could do much of anything afterward. The doc I had this time had a much different attitude, and we discussed jumping ... he said as long as the surgery worked I should be ok. But ... he DID keep stressing that I still have to be concerned about my other lung possibly going ... LOL ... I told him to stop bringing that up and it'd be just fine! If you let me know when he will show up to do it, I'll come up to lend moral support, and discuss it with him if he would like. Any problem that might take place would most likely be on the ride to altitude ... when the air is expanding due to the drop in pressure. That is when any blebs (the little bubbles in the lining of the lung) that are weak could be a problem. Freefall is ok, since you are coming back down and increasing the pressure once again (which would shrink any blebs). As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Truman is a trained duck dog ... I figure he was more thinking ... "Wow ... look at the size of THAT one ... I sure hope they don't expect ME to bring it back!!!" Thanks for posting that pic!! I liked the video I saw that day too ... could actually see Truman getting what he thought was out of the way before he figured he was safe and went back to check it out ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

hmmm ... the way I heard (and relayed it) was more like "goofy guy with the big wings" ... I thought he should know and appreciate the fact that you'd annointed him an angel ... And about those CPC videos ... I was a little disappointed there wasn't footage of the dog running away when it thought SOMEONE was about to roll into it (I think there was the start of that tho, but I wasn't sure) ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I got some good laughs out of the Skyfest quote thread ... this was a smaller boogie ... but still ought to get some decent ones (and ... hey Turtle ... where were ya??) "It's so much easier to go down than it is to get back up" "What? ... another preemie?? ... throw it out and get another one" As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

See ... that's where you went wrong ... all that cold beer (well ... the presented excuse for such anyway) kept the mosquitos OFF of us ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

ok ... it's a Yamaha 6 channel (but 2 channels can handle 2 inputs apiece) ... EMX 66M. It's got the amp built into it, and he has the speakers to go with it (nice stands for them too, btw!) Dunno what you're up to ... but I've got a cheapie 4 channel tape system that works well as a mixer for it's price ... welcome to give it a trial run sometime if you want ... just let me know. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Friend of mine had an 8 channel Peavy setup that was really nice, and easy to set up and use ... it's long gone tho. One of the guys I do open mics with now has a pretty nice setup ... will ask him what it is and get back to ya. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Yep ...

Thanks ... was good to see you again! I think I met a lot more folks from on here than I knew at the time ... especially since I haven't been staying "current" on here while I was grounded ... lots of people that weren't here when I was more of a regular!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Hey Walt ... you were on the SCR load with Sarah and I ... guess we didn't get introduced. I am the one who came into the auction tent with the tye-dye shirt (I put that on partly in honor of the now defunct dz at Wharton where the shirt came from and I started jumping, and for you since everyone told me you normally always wear tye-dye to jump in) ... thanks again for helping make my SCR happen! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Ditto lots of the original post ... met a bunch of DZ.commers that were new to me ... got my SCR done (the thanks for putting mine together go to Mark and Turtle, tho) ... and even had a fellow dz.com "maggot" on my SCR ... so two of us got it together. She wasn't at ALL sure about the ceremony tho ... .. I guess folks on the east coast don't do them??? Also many thanks to the people on the load ... I long ago realized that in most cases, the SCR is more their achievement than that of the "victim" ... ... if it wasn't for Mark latching onto me right away, I'd probably have floated so badly that nobody could have dragged me back down in time! And AggieDave ... good to see you get out of town and have a chance to let your hair down for a while (well, so to speak, anyway ... LOL). As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

humidity at Lost Prairie? ... I am sure it is quite low, especially compared to the Houston area where I normally jump. I have also considered the fact that driving up there thru all of the constant elevation changes may have somehow helped in some way .... who knows? I agree with one of the others in this thread ... wish I had a better understanding of the ear and it's processes!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I have to agree with the several posts that advocate taking responsibility for decisions yourself. NOT that I think a dealer should pull shit like that ... far from it. But, I would think that anyone with a lick of sense that is buying gear would be sure to research enough to ensure that they are getting what they need, and that it's safe for them. I got my rig right off of student status, but you'd better believe I drove all the JM's and everyone else working at the dz, as well as the folks that got me started in the sport (one jumping since the 70's) and other jumpers I had gotten to know who had more experience CRAZY with questions. THEN I started calling dealers, etc. ... and asked another round. As mentioned in other's posts ... some were very helpful when I told them I was a newbie, and took time to carefully go over my choices and reasons for them ... I SURE appreciated those folks. As for the dealer in question ... I've been around the sport for a bit over 4 years now ... and tho I've not dealt with him, I've heard a lot of the same types of stories I read here ... he'll never get a call from me. It is worth a few extra $$ to me to give my business to someone more reputable. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

No ... thru the eardrum ... from what he told me, it's pretty common these days to do it for little kids who have chronic ear infection problems (that is why he knew about it ... his kid). It lets the pressure equalize as you go up and down, so you don't get the fluid buildup. And yes ... tried all the OTC stuff, sprays, pills ... and a few prescription things as well, including a steroid inhaler thingy ... beconase, I think was the one. Nothing so far has helped. BUT ... discovered that it doesn't seem to ever do it up at Lost Prairie ... think that their higher altitude ... don't fall thru the last 3'000 like here, and that is where the greatest pressure difference is. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I can definitely sympathize! My right ear does that after every jump ... and it's not just a sensation of fluid ... it IS in there ... can feel it slosh around, and the doc confirmed it. I was told not to jump until it's gone, so I've been getting one jump each visit to the dz the whole time I've been doing it (usually takes 7 - 10 days to go away) ... sucks!! Anyhow ... I did the specialist thing too ... he did a ct scan of my sinuses, even stuck tiny cameras up my nose to look around ... never did figure out what is causing it. I blew over $3500 on it ... and no help ... THEN I talked to someone at the dz who has kids and told me he'd had a similar problem ... did like they do with kids and put a tube in that ear and his problem was fixed. Wish I had known about that before ... could have saved most of the money I spend trying to get it diagnosed (he said it was about $500 for the tube insertion)!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I seriously doubt you will damage it, but no sense taking chances ... email Aerodyne! ... I got this address from the gear/rigging forum ... Aubrey at Aerodyne ... he'll answer you one way or another. [email protected] As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

There was a thread in Gear/rigging about packing Tri's recently. I had always been told rolling the nose would get you slammed on a lot of Tri's ... and a friend had one blow out on her (pretty new at the time too) when a packer did that on hers. Anyway ... I emailed Aerodyne about it since someone mentioned the video showing a method that did involve a manner of rolling the nose, but my paper instructions that came with mine did not show it. Seems their video has a different method on it than the manual illustrates. Here is part of the email I got in reply "The recomended packing method in the manual and video worked best in our experience, but as I said, is not the end all be all. I know that this hasn't been the most direct answer to your question, but just wanted to answer you honestly. In the question of rolling the nose, typically this slows the openings of most canopies, however I would only recommend it if you were having opening problems." They didn't really acknowledge that the video and the manual show different methods ... but other than that basically said that different canopies of the same model function a bit differently due to slight variations in fabric, tape, and lines. They further said that the bulk of a parachute can vary in size by as much as 10% even in the same size in model ... surprise!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I was off over a year thanks to a lung collapse ... and being a low #'s person, had to do a currency jump. We just got out, stayed within a reasonable distance of each other ... I made sure I was maintaining alt. awareness and still remembered how to stay in control, etc. ... and pulled fairly high. I had stayed somewhat in touch with jumping while out, but went over emergency procedures with myself a lot prior to that first one back just to be sure. Welcome back, by the say ...

Speaking from a student perspective ... I have to agree. Two times while in AFF I landed backing up ... and it IS quite unnerving for a student (2nd time I danged near ran it out backward and stayed on my feet tho ... LOL!). I also agree about the need for a gradual step down in size before going to the person's own gear. Where I took lessons, it was as you describe ... no smaller student canopies, so going off student status and onto my own rig I went from a 215 to a 160 Triathlon (right at 1:1). Everyone told me I'd be fine ... and I was ... but that first jump on it SURE had me nervous!! I had arranged a jump on a 190 first, but the borrowed rig didn't arrive and my new gear had ... may not have been the smartest move ... but I fly very conservatively (especially at 20 jumps) ... and was told to just do that and I'd be fine. I think that part of the decision was because I was afraid of landing backing up again, so wanted more loading to avoid that. Just something to think about!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

ok ... so if I do count the day the repack was done that means it IS inclusive ... which would make tomorrow day # 120 ... so based on the FAR using the wording "within 120" ... wouldn't that mean tomorrow would be the last day it is good?? (Yes ... I counted twice ... LOL ... Friday to the next one is 8 days ... then 7 for each week thereafter ... don't have a calendar with julian on it here ) With a little luck a rigger will show up at the dz so I can get their decision today ... LOL ... called before I started researching/posting on here about it and nobody home but manifest. thanks again!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Ok ... I looked thru old threads ... and of course have read the stuff in the SIM ... but I'm not totally clear on this, and it makes a difference to me this weekend (long drive to rigger's place ... opposite direction from dz!!). Here's the question ... 120 days ... is that inclusive?? My repack was done 7/09 ... is friday the last day it's good, or is saturday? It would seem to me that it should be exclusive, since I'm willing to bet not a lot of repacks are done early in the morning ... LOL! Anyway ... one of you riggers help me out here? THANKS! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Ok ... first qualify this with "I'm SURE no expert" ... only 52 jumps (but 4 years in the making thanks to ear problems, then a year + off due to a collapsed lung) ... but lots of time at the dz and listening / reading and trying to learn ... So ... someone will correct what I get wrong I hope!! (and fill in what I can't reply to) ... we'll see how well I've learned so far!! Rolling the nose ... keeps it from catching air as quickly .. I think this slows the overall inflation process since inflation seems to happen from the center outward (watch your canopy inflate sometime if you don't already) Rolling the tail ... slows the spreading of the canopy, so slows the inflation of the outer cells some Stow length ... not at all sure on this one ... but I think longer stows make the deployment take a bit longer Larger slider ... keeps it from coming down as quickly, so softens the opening (same with slider pockets) ... also covers some of the opening to the cells, so they don't inflate as rapidly (this also applies to the next question) Position of the slider ... see 2nd part of above, ... and effects how soon in the opening how much of the slider is catching how much air Psycho pack ... and slider to grommets ??? okay ... those with the real knowledge ... how'd I do?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?