Beachbum

Great topic ... have a few questions, then opinion/idea time ... When you mention accident #'s relative to air time comparing skydiving operations to other operations ... is that really a fair comparison? It seems to me that: 1) skydiving operations involve many more takeoffs/landings per flight hour, and from what I understand (not a pilot) that is the most dangerous time in each flight??? 2) having people getting out of the plane a pilot is flying is in itself dangerous to both the plane/pilot (and everyone else still aboard) for many reasons which I know you are WAY more aware of/knowledgeable about than I am, such as premie deployments, jumper strikes on control surfaces, etc. Keeping that train of thought in mind, are the accident #'s really that bad? I (as I'm sure any jumper) would like to think that pilot training is the least of his worries when riding up to altitude. I would certainly favor some sort of training program for jump pilots. But I also agree with many of the posts that mention the various problems with instituting such a program. One way might be as (think it was Mark?) suggested .. a more public method, such as possibly a jump pilot's association (perhaps under the USPA wing?) which could assist in this. I think the idea someone mentioned about you, and other very experienced jump pilots putting together a program is very doable. I also expect that ya'll are quite capable of determining the level of someone's expertise (I recognize that it can't be based solely on flight hours) to be able to elect, appoint, or whatever ... "training officers" or whatever you may decide to call them across the country so that there are enough available TO train/certify willing pilots. I also agree that for smaller dz's any REQUIRED training could present difficulties, and that many dz's could fight hard against it. A way to help alleviate this might be to make it something that IS USPA associated, but not mandatory. Then a dz could use it as an additional safety attraction, much as saying they are a USPA dz ... "We fly only USPA rated jump pilots" or some such. I know that several posters on here are jump pilots, but don't have a feel for how many .. those who are .. would you be willing to participate in a program such as this? I feel you would be doing a great service to skydiving as a whole!

oh NO Clay!! ... what ever will the sheep do without you?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

not as funny as that one ... but to go along with the other post about Texas stuff ... we have one named Cut and Shoot ... NOT the place to get into a brawl ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

toasted pumpkin seeds ... GOOD stuff!! ... just salt ... or other seasoning??? hmmm ... 2nd pic ... slightly demented look ... now we know where some of those floaters down on the riverwalk came from!! ... and she SAYS she just covers the news ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

welcome! ... looks like you've met a large portion of the group on here ... and now know more than you'd ever want to about some as well ... LOL ... altho Clay may like sheep, he IS a master of post whoring, and can teach ya a lot about it (tho you have a good start yourself ... 27 the first day is impressive!!) ... lots of good info, opinions, and laughs to be had here ... and they even semi tolerate old farts like me! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I wouldn't necessarily say that ... there is a cop that jumps at the dz I go to and he fits in just dandy ... tho I'm sure people ARE a bit cautious about certain things when he is around ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

Ditto the sentiments about the incident . I hope ya'll are able to use it as one more motivation to get the jump done ... you ladies be safe ... and GO! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

you're right about that ... it's all relative ... down here, we pull out the long johns when it gets below 40 ... LOL .. and that is still shorts weather for a lot of you folks up north ... but then ... you probably think 85 is hot ... and that's barely lukewarm to us ... back to the question ... I use a ProTek, and wear a neopreme ski mask that covers my mouth and nose if it gets THAT cold, but have only needed it a couple of times even during our "winter" As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

All good advice, but for those with low numbers, it is much more difficult to know what your canopy will do under each of those conditions. I try to play and experiment with mine as much as possible, but to quantify, I need to make some jumps where I am in the air near another canopy. I can't yet judge just how much room I need for a flat turn versus a toggle turn, etc., or whether it glides better with stowed brakes or what. How much altitude I require for turns, I have a general feel for from watching my alti while doing these things, but even that is still hard to guage if faced with a low altitude situation, since I still don't have the best ability to size up relative distances in the air. I have had one instance where I JUST got back from a long spot and needed to do a flat turn to get at least partially into the wind ... watching alti the whole way and ended up stopping the turn before I got all the way around so I could level off prior to flaring (I'm not comfortable enough to start my flare in a turn just yet). I intend to try to get someone to pull high with me just to work on these things with another canopy nearby to use as a reference point ... any suggestions as to exercises to help me with that are welcome!! As for landing off ... and that "fore" above ... LOL ... I had my non-second off landing on my last jump ... and did land on a golf course. I had turned back to the dz using risers prior to collapsing the slider (was taught to always do this), and tried flying in partial brakes ... didn't buy me enough and I realized it with plenty of room to spare, so picked a fairway that nobody was teeing off on or in the middle of and in I went. Surprising how much turbulence trees can generate even with fairly light wind! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

shit!!! ... and I've always felt pretty safe not locking my stuff up constantly up there ... ... I take it this musta happened while people were around, or some rigs would be on the list as well??? ... scratch that last part ... just found the other thread about this ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

we'll all be pulling for ya'll ... as I'm sure you know ... and we STILL want a pic of you in the Pepto suit!!! .. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

that was one of the first things I was taught about packing ... stow those buggers when you land to help prevent twists and messes on the way to the hangar ... I don't "set" them there, just tuck the tabs into the keepers ... and I check for twists every time I pack (alway myself) as a part of my routine ... forces me to actually pay a bit of attention to the lines instead of just walking up them from the container. The only time I don't do this is if I need to move quickly from where I landed for traffic or other reason. As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

definitely NOT ... LOL ... I'm a native ... and I can't stand that stuff ... tastes too much like carbonated prune juice to me!! water, juices ... and PEPSI .. !!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

yep ... born again ... and again ... and again ... maybe one of these lives I'll get it right!! I think I musta been a fish in my last life, much as I like water related sports ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

one of my favorite locals was a similar one ... light burned out on a "d" in Lady .... so at night it read "President's First Lay" health spa ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

now now N2 ... how do you expect this to do Clay any good ... you didn't include an address for him ??? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

I went to the Sunpath site and checked that out (it doesn't show how the remainder of the bridle is handled) ... other than that, is very similar to the way I was taught (also supposed to help avoid bunching) ... difference (way I was taught) is that the flaps are folded in from the sides first ... then the whole thing is folded in half ... then the bridle is folded back and forth on itself on top of the folded pilot, leaving enough out for the tuck into the boc, and instead of rolling the entire thing, each side is folded/rolled in toward the bridle, such that the excess bridle ends up inside the cylindrical bundle you create in the process ... so far, at least ... have had no problems with it ... good method, or no??? It seems to me that bunching may be more likely to happen on older pilot chutes?? Mine is so slick, hard to imagine it catching on itself enough to do so unless you really did a bad job of stowing it ... As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

guard it carefully ... if it's good stuff, Pop is liable to try to steal it from ya ... seriously tho ... have fun!! ... and take pics! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

what are you using to work on it with?? ... if you can't get it ... email it to me and I'll shrink it for ya on Image Composer ... just tell me what size you want it As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

some of those are pretty funny ... LOL ... how did you manage to FIND that site ?? As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

for crying out loud ... at least post whore in a language SOMEONE on here can read ... LOL ... I tell ya ... let someone get their pic in a magazine ... and see what happens!! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

well ... I knew I was hosed PLENTY high, so picked a fairway with nobody on the tee or first section of the hole ... came down about 100 yards behind the only group on that hole .. was kinda funny tho ... started walking back ... faintly heard a horn honking .. (you know my ears after a jump!) ... somebody had come to pick a couple of us up, and he'd been sitting there honking quite a while before I heard him, apparantly ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

... when I can AFFORD it, that is ... LOL ... long spot, and landed on the golf course on the first load this morning ... was surprised by the amount of turbulence those trees can generate in even a light wind! As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

those things are pretty cool!! ... watched a couple of folks playing with them at Lost Prairie several times ... one afternoon was windy enough that they were being dragged across the landing area by them ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?

my dad's name is Herb ... not sure anyone but my mom would want him tho ... LOL As long as you are happy with yourself ... who cares what the rest of the world thinks?