I3uller

Word. The Ranch is open on the weekends in the cold season. Joe has already switched the operating hours but I'm not sure what they are at the moment since it's been rather mild this week. Does the Ranch regularly operate that Bell or is that a special occasions kind of thing?

All of the requirements are done minus the 25 jumps. Got out and did some hop and pops today so I'm at 21. I'll have my A before the weekend is up because I'm trying to get to the Black and Gold week but I will for sure have my A by this boogie. I'm just excited to jump a CASA with a real parachute on. Last time I jumped one it was with a t10 round.

If you don't murder me for my prior stupidity I'd love to jump with ya. Count me in.

I've only got one so far.... -you develop a love for the smell of turboprop exhaust.

Haha see, what changed between then and now that you need so many jumps? Just curious...not trying to start anymore drama.

Curious...does the ignoring of others begin before, or after you tell em' to kindly fuck off? Just asking.... t'is a small world out there...and the ground isn't any softer no matter where you skydive. Lol well the ignoring would most likely come after the fuck offing...because if I was completely ignoring you beforehand I wouldn't know you were calling me a moron in the first place haha. I understand the skydiving community is small. I'm not trying to make enemies anywhere. Skydiving is supposed to be a fun, bonding experience and when all I get is that I'm a moron without any advice to un-moronify me then I'm not going to be very receptive to you and probably act like a jackass towards you. Once I got good advice I acted on it and thanked them for it. I understand the whole new people doing dumb things. I've been in the Army a while and when we get a new guy that does something stupid and endangers other people...of course we call him a moron. But we tell him what he did wrong, and how he can fix it, and the reasoning behind why what he did was stupid. The sugar coating thing I understand might be a pain in the ass, but if you tell someone something is wrong, they probably will still think that its not wrong and do it anyways. Especially thick headed people like myself. Even idiots will understand that its wrong but won't know why its wrong and when someone else asks them why its wrong they won't know. If you explain why its wrong to them they will understand that "hey, this is really wrong." and they won't do it anymore because they know what could happen if they do. I guess I would have rather gotten a brief explanation on why its wrong in the first place instead of just being called a moron. Is that too much to ask?

It seems like the only posts you focus on are the ones where I didn't know any better. I took your advice, and have been following it. I havn't jumped the camera, havn't done any freeflying, and have been talking to my coaches at the DZ since I got the advice. I came here with a concern that I might be doing something wrong so I figured I would ask people about it and all I seemed to get at first was a face full of flaming. Once people started giving me real advice instead of just calling me a moron I followed the advice, and was thankful for it. I don't really know what else you want?

You can actually get people riled up in real life too. But it's immature and pointless, and cowards choose to only do it on the internet. If you give me good advice I will gladly take it, follow it, and thank you for it as I have done with the real advice that I had gotten. If you are just going to call me a moron, be it on the internet or not, I'll likely ignore you and tell you to kindly fuck off.

Oh but isn't it the most delicious garbage you've ever had though?

HOLY SHIT I'M A BIG WARTY GREEN TROLL THAT LIVES UNDER THE BRIDGE OF DOOM!!!! So awesome how you can get people so riled up on the intertoobs.

if you are only on your way to the private license, you are way unqualified to drop people, both legally and skillwise. you need a commercial license, and you need to know what you are doing. I believe the $230/hr gets you a 2 seater with a very light max gross weight - which mean you will have somebody exiting asymmetrically to the CG , a pretty big weight and balance shift. Be ready to hold on to the cyclical with white knuckles. seriously man, what's the rush ? decide if you want to go out freeflying or flying rotorcraft. Lol I'm not saying I'm going to go up tomorrow and do it. This would be something far down the line after I'm done doing my CFII jobs and have some turbine time anyways. As for the weight shift, even if they jump out with gusto it wouldn't rock more than a decent wind would and at that altitude its not really a factor. Remind me again what the cyclical is? I kinda know what a cyclic is but not sure on the cyclical. Pardon me for not taking advice on helicopters from someone that refers to a cyclical. Whats so wrong about freeflying and flying rotorcraft? Besides doing them at the same time. That might be bad. And I'm not sure on the legality of dropping jumpers but I do know that if the helicopter costs 230 dollars an hour to rent and someone pays you 230 dollars for an hour of flight, that is legal under a private license. As long as you arn't payed anything over the cost of operating and arn't making a profit you are good with the private. Are you sure you are ready to take constructive criticism ? You sound like an anxious know-it-all. Kind of like a kid who I met in college. He was an expert on skydiving, dispensed lots of advice and made sure that you knew that he was "as licensed skydiver" within 30 seconds of meeting him. Too bad he had 8 jumps and passed AFF 3 years ago. PS while paying them xxx/hour for aircraft rental, are you still not bound by the rental agreement and/or insurance restrictions aside from your license limitations ? Yes I'm a stupid 10 year old child that knows nothing about flying helicopters, skydiving, or life in general. I'm stupid. You know far more about anything related to rotorcraft flight because you have a CFII and 10,000 hours in them. I've never flown and don't know at all what a shift in weight feels like...or perhaps a total loss of power. I've lived in my room my entire life and know nothing about anything. Happy? Jesus I could post that I like tomatoes and you jackals would find someone to dog on that too. Get off the e high horse. You say I'm stupid and reckless when I'm sure you know people that do Mr Bills and stupid shit like that. Shit over 60 percent of skydiving deaths were D Licensed jumpers. Chill the hell out. I'm stupid, you win, I'm giving up skydiving and flying and everything in life because I'm reckless and retarded. I'M A TROLL I'M A TROOOOOLLLL OHHHHH I'M A UNDER THE BRIDGE TROOOOOLLLLLL!!!!!! Adios.

If I understand what you're saying here correctly, a coach at Raeford set up a 2-way between two non-licensed skydivers ? Yea I thought it was kind of strange as well.

if you are only on your way to the private license, you are way unqualified to drop people, both legally and skillwise. you need a commercial license, and you need to know what you are doing. I believe the $230/hr gets you a 2 seater with a very light max gross weight - which mean you will have somebody exiting asymmetrically to the CG , a pretty big weight and balance shift. Be ready to hold on to the cyclical with white knuckles. seriously man, what's the rush ? decide if you want to go out freeflying or flying rotorcraft. Lol I'm not saying I'm going to go up tomorrow and do it. This would be something far down the line after I'm done doing my CFII jobs and have some turbine time anyways. As for the weight shift, even if they jump out with gusto it wouldn't rock more than a decent wind would and at that altitude its not really a factor. Remind me again what the cyclical is? I kinda know what a cyclic is but not sure on the cyclical. Pardon me for not taking advice on helicopters from someone that refers to a cyclical. Whats so wrong about freeflying and flying rotorcraft? Besides doing them at the same time. That might be bad. And I'm not sure on the legality of dropping jumpers but I do know that if the helicopter costs 230 dollars an hour to rent and someone pays you 230 dollars for an hour of flight, that is legal under a private license. As long as you arn't payed anything over the cost of operating and arn't making a profit you are good with the private.

We definitely had a guy land himself about 40 feet up in a pine tree today. Literally the last pine tree before the DZ grass started too...soooo close.

The gear question I talked to a coach about and he said the rigs I am using are fine for freeflying. I wasn't using any dolphins as I have heard they are not suitable for any freeflying at all. The point on having the camera stuck in the risers and then the malfunction and it not cutting away is a good point. The chances are really slim but the chances are still there for sure. Good point on that one. I havn't been jumping the cam since I posted here and all my flying has been belly flying. I've definatly noticed in my last couple jumps that I am being much more aware of other jumpers. I'm taking note of the jump run line and orienting myself to it, I'm spotting and taking glances at the jumpers above and below myself, and just generally being much more aware of the people around me and how they can affect me or vice versa. Doing the checks helped me notice another student jumping behind me a couple jumps ago not giving me more than 2 or 3 seconds of seperation and I tracked 90 away from the jump run to make sure nothing happened. He still opened level and about 200 feet away from me. The tips on the jump run and knowing where people around me are have definitely helped me be more aware of everything during the fall. So a big thanks for that for sure. I talked to a coach and he set me up with another girl with 21 jumps to do some RW work and it was much more challenging than the coach docks. On exit she jumped a good second after me so I had to get big and then when I got to her she fell decently faster than myself so I had to pretty much fold myself in half to stay with her and was having trouble rising up when I tried moving towards her. We got within a couple inches of docking but I got too hasty and reached far and subsequently shot 20 feet above her haha. We didn't get a dock in but it was a really good learning experience. Just wanna say thanks for the tips...I don't think I had to proper guidance to go off of and was kind of doing my own thing and when shown what kind of dangers it could pose to other jumpers it helped me get back on track. Thanks guys.

I'm on my way to my rotary license right now and have been considering doing this at my local DZ in California. It costs roughly 230 dollars or so for a Schweizer for an hour so if I could get payed enough to just break even I would really enjoy dropping some people off at the DZ. I don't think anyone would mind paying a little more to get a helicopter jump.

Ya I actually did have a really good time just doing belly RW with my coach today. Since I've done that stuff with the coach and got my A license check dive signed off should I be able to start jumping some 2 way RW with other experienced jumpers or stay with the coach for a while longer? I'd like to just be able to pair up with someone thats going up anyways instead of buying another ticket.

From what I understand is that you shouldn't fly a camera due to the distraction of it. Mine I just start before I even get on the plane and forget about it. If you don't have the mental control and can't just forget about the camera then I fully agree you shouldn't jump with one until you are far more experienced. I just turn it on and completely forget its even there. I'm not trying to film anybody and not trying to do anything with it....its just there. The camera doesn't come into my mind at all during the jump so I don't see how it would be a distraction.

Haha yea I think the last thing anyone wants is somebody trying FF in a group and flying all over the place like a rogue bouncy ball.

Update: Today I went out to the DZ and as usual asked for a coach but today I actually got one! Definitely a great experience with the coach. First jump was a 10 second track, 180, 10 sec track back and 2 separate docks with the coach. Everything went without a hitch and afterwards my coach (9 year D licensed guy) said my jump was great and my flying and control in particular was really good. Jump two was him exiting first and me chasing to dock twice. I fall very slow and couldn't arch down to him so I did a head down dive right to him arched out to the belly and did 3 docks. Again he commented on the flying being very good. He told me that right when he was thinking that I should go head down I was already putting my arms back and diving down so he was really stoked on that one and he had no doubts on taking me to do my A license check dive. Check dive went really smooth, albeit a 3 way opened a lot higher than expected so we had to open higher accordingly but the canopy ride was good and I landed about a meter from my chosen target. Best accuracy I've had yet...I mean the chute fell on top of the target panel. Having a coach to judge my movement in the air was a huge help and it settled some of my nerves about tracking all over the place without wanting to etc. I think that my previous attempt at freeflying helped me out a ton when it come to the coach jumps and maintaining my decent speed etc. Now that I know the danger that I could pose to other jumpers though I will be making sure to do it the right way. I just had never been told about the dangers of moving up or down the jump run and hadn't thought about it due to my inexperience. All that's left is get 10 more jumps and do a pro pack class tomorrow morning and I've got my A license. As for the freeflying I was curious how guys that do solo FF know if they are tracking up or down the jump run? Especially guys just learning and starting out with it? Do they just jump with an experienced guy and use them as a reference? I'm also confused about the person that talked about my helmet camera catching my lines being a safety issue. What about the guys that have 8 pounds of camera equipment strapped to their heads? I figure a thumb sized camera attached by velcro is much safer than a huge Camcorder attached to the side of your head along with an uncased DSLR camera on top. I imagine if my risers or lines catch my helmet camera it will just be ripped off the velcro and hang by the cord. Am I missing something?

I definatly appreciate all the advice here. The coach thing is very important I know, but if I can't get one and still want to dive what are some things I can do in solo belly flying that would help me out besides just maintaining a heading and checking my altitude? It seems like without a coach there isn't much to gain by just belly flying the whole way down. As for the camera, I understand the part where he said that you fly different with the camera. However, I use it to show me what I'm doing wrong. Like the last guy said I only gave about 4 seconds of seperation on that video and I never would have even thought about that if I hadn't had it on video. Now I can take a look at it and say "Oh, I jumped about a second too early back there so I'll be sure to correct that next time and count off my seperation in the future." I think its a great training aid for my diving.

Honestly, after trying sit flying I've learned a huge amount about control in freefall. I feel much more in control and I know a lot more about what will happen if I do this with this leg or that with that arm etc. After going back into a belly position I just feel much more in control than before I tried sitflying.

I appreciate you actually explaining this to me and not just saying I'm retarded like other people. I've noticed in my extremely short experience in the sport that there are people like you that are helpful and teach me the things I need to know and other people that just say "you are a moron", don't actually explain why it is dangerous and why not to do it, and just dog on somebody. The elitism is ridiculous. Instead of just calling me retarded explain why I'm retarded. I wasn't thinking about tracking underneath people jumping after me because I'm inexperienced. I definatly understand the dangers of going up or down the jump run now. The only thing I could think of being dangerous would be losing control and not being in a good pull position. Now that its finally explained to me I understand and will be altering my methods. I've tried scheduling but it always seems like I'm told to just come in and grab a coach if you see one.

Lol at the troll comments. Its a tiny bullet helmet cam. Bout the size of your thumb and I don't see how that would affect anything at all. I haven't done the A license stuff because every time I've been to the DZ its been too busy for me to get any coaches and most all that stuff requires a coach. I'm also still confused as to how solo freeflying is so dangerous to where nobody would be allowed to do it?

I'll go ahead and start off by saying that I only have 12 jumps and I don't know anything. With that out of the way, I had gotten kind of bored with just doing 360's on my belly so I decided to try out some new stuff on my last two jumps. Head down and sit flying looked cool so I went for it. My first attempt was nothing shy of horrendous (mostly wobbly back flying) but it showed me that I can get into some very unusual positions and get right back onto my belly. Video proof of my failure here ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxkp49ZIO8M ) My last jump was actually really successful though and I was holding a pretty steady sit flying position for a good couple thousand feet along with a pretty stable head down position as well. I had a D licensed guy at the DZ sign my logbook and he saw that I was free flying at 12 jumps and gave jme a strange look and asked why I was freeflying so early. I know I still have a ton to learn when it comes to belly flying, particularly in RW stuff, but since there havn't been any coaches and I don't feel experienced enough to just jump a formation with other people I just went for freeflying. Is that something that should be avoided? Thanks for any advice.