dirtbox

ironically I wrote a WS policy for the DZ I work at earlier this year in the hope that it would prevent incidents from happening and keep the DZO off our backs and the part of the sport I like progressing locally. I feel most the problems stem from the 'teachers' and organisers. Too frequently those teaching horizontal flight don't include an in-depth look at the pattern, its importance and how it effects everyone on the DZ. Organisers are not selective enough with participants or jump plans (i.e. not slot specific/no real plan, minimal briefing, no dirt dive). Poor instruction combined with poor organising is always going to end badly. Bottom line is instructors and organisers need to do a better/proper job or someone will regulate these disciplines and then everyone loses. Dave D31759

I have really only jumped aerodyne canopies (pilot 168, tri 150, pilot 124, 117 and 111 and a sensei 91) and all the canopies I have had have needed longer brake lines (I am 175cm/5'10 170lb with 22inch risers 'normal' arm length). My pilot 117 is 3 inches past stock and I still get tail drag on right hand 270's, my sensei is 2 inches on stock. I have also found the canopies land much better if landing with rears and then toggles than straight toggles

not really... sigmas have a window, why don't microns? ... one of my biggest gripes with my micron is the aad placement...

I don't have a problem with a sign, I just wish they used proper English. UPT puts a warning sign on the back of the harness in two languages yet no one hates on that. Every handcam I do I film the top left connector to show (as best as I can with a handcam on in a 182) we are connected before exit. Perhaps "Are you connected to your tandem instructor?" would of been better.

Just did the same thing went from a 111pilot with 20lb of lead to a 99vx to a 91sensei (@ 2.0:1) crossbraced in the space of a week. At the time I knew it was stupid but was told I'd be fine and did about 50 jumps on it. Then I worked a small back drop zone over the winter where I couldn't jump the 91, came back to where I worked last summer and decided I need to upsize and go back a few steps and slow everything down to learn more ..so on the flipside the is a canopy for sale :P

and teaching abstinence prevents teen pregnancy... I do hear what you are saying and giving someone all the information at once is dangerous (i.e. you don't introduce a 16yro to hardcore porn but you explain safe sex and then impact being sexually active can have on your life) but giving enough information to prevent injuries/ fatalities can only be a good thing. That said who wants to be the gate keeper of that information? I suck at/am very new to CP but no one has ever told me I will die either, probably because some very nice very experienced people have been kind enough to give me the information I can handle as it was needed. 0.02c ... Flame on

I don't know - theres no one here now :S I probably still suck

touche, I had seen that though looking for more input/real world experience. I.e. that looks like PD factory team possibly on a peregrine as opposed to something like AXIS w/Alex. I guess what I am asking is does it have the ability, like the X3 to float with highly loaded X brace canopies w/out trim tabs as opposed to prototype canopies possibly with trim tabs?

I spent just shy of 6 months bouncing around the US in 2011/2012 and when you worked out the costs of transport, freighting stuff around, the hassle and everything else it was cheaper to buy a car and a tent. I picked up a 2003 Santa Fe for 4600, sold it for 3900 when I left. insurance was only a few hundred for the 6 months and gas was way cheaper than any public transport and I camped for most of it at dzs and national parks. Just my two cents :)

negative as far as I am aware, other than the liability insurance that comes with your membership. That said get insurance advice directly from the APF or USPA or someone suitably qualified, not an online SD forum :P Dave USPA D31759, APF E2809

Anyone got any info from an XRW point of view? the X3 still the go to or is this working for that as well?

check with the APF but I believe they offer insurance on gear (i believe it is an option and covers gadgets/cutaways... more or less everything skydiving related). I could also be wrong.

it is what you make of it... you spend $3000 you did AFF, got some basic belly skills and belly jumpers would jump with you (just happens that most of them are old men) You spend $3000 again and learned about BASE and Base jumpers jumped with you You spend $2000, get a shin new wingsuit and do a FJC and wingsuiters jump with you... You spend 3000 in the tunnel and learn to fly head up and all of a sudden load organiser can put you in some head up jumps, other fun jumpers will jump with you on head up jumps, spend another 3k 6 months down the road on head down in the tunnel and you'll start fitting in there... I have put all my energy in WS and belly and just recently put some into freeflying (read I am at Eloy for 3 weeks learning head up stuff right now). I will happily jump with new belly and ws jumpers, just not all the time (I still want to progress my skills) and as someone just learning f=to freefly (hell I made my first few docks in sit the other day :D) i understand that I wont be included on every organised jump nor will any of the freefliers I have just met always want to jump with me... as a side note freefliers are just a kinda closed group, but they are a big group from what i can tell...ws fliers on the other hand...

the mass media link in the incidents forum links to the safety tab ...unless they are the guidelines and I am missing something :S

I used to skydive in a maplus s8 snowboard helmet (solid ear job, holds audibles and offers genuine head protection!) and was doing a tandem with it on one day...rocked out of the plane and felt my neck pull...Mother F*cker! helmet gone, ok through the drogue, spend the next 50 seconds laughing, open...curse some more to myself...land, laugh some more. Never was sure if the strap was undone or if the tiny crack just above the strap that I never worried about decided to fully explode, never found it (was last out over a corn field...never really tried)

I would love to see something about the skysystems c6 (I saw the skyshots vid) please and thank you!

Yeh I just got my ID...I am still, relatively speaking, green and Id rather be jumping than teaching FJC or DZSO (and there are other more experienced jumpers who can od that better than I)...that said, when I did my AFF rating being able to teach FJC was a part of it and we were assessed on it. I had also been doing part of an FJC at another DZ for a whole season once or twice a month so not being able to do that seemed like a step backward... One CI pointed out that it was hard for them too because if they employ a foreign instructor they can't use them to teach FJC/DZSO which is what it sounds like it happening to the person you are talking about (very experienced skydiver employed for reasons X, Y and Z but can't be fully utilized by the employer... eh maybe I am just a whining twat.... maybe im not :S (though I evidently have nothing better to do on a Friday night )

Break down of my costs (without looking them up) APF membership (valid for 8 months) $230? E lic application $35? Display D $60 Display B $60 Wingsuit crest $35? Startcrest $35? Foreign conversion exam/instructor ratings $99 total = $554 plus anything im forgetting and jumping expenses and time not working. The Display B rating I realistically had to earn (I didnt hold a USPA Pro rating or CSPA EJR to sign over) so fair enough. I dont remember if I had to fill in forms/pay additonal application fees for the processing of my instructor D or packer B ratings. I was allowed to carry over my FAA class 2 medical that was 20 days old otherwise you are up for that, not sure if there was a fee for the APF processing that. I have about 6 different plastic cards, each one adding one new endorsement at a time. There was also untold amounts of mucking around including 1 display into a golf course and 4 displays into a school, though they were fun and I did learn a bit from them. Regarding the time frame, I have communicated with the APF and leave that there (I also get the impression my circumstances were not typical) All in all my experience, and please keep in mind that this is just my experience, was a bit of an adventure. I was lucky that some people (CIs/DZOs/managers) really bent over backward to help for no real gain to themselves (so to those people, thanks). RE work in Aus- there seems to be plenty of work around though some of it is def who you know. The experience of staff here is very high (most of the staff where I currently work have more tandems that I have total jumps with all but three staff having 4k+ jumps) Also, and it is just something I heard from someone who used to live/work in NZ, NZ may not be accept skydiver as a skilled occupation much longer ...but consider that a rumour Dave

Depends on experience... Took me 2 months to convert my aff and tandem ratings over from USPa to apf whole process is a joke and terribly slow however they say it is under review, it also cost over 600 dollars... All I had to do was pay my money and sit an exam....

Where I work presently used to have 275 xbraced Icarus canopied. Evidently those who like them really liked the, they flew like a sports canopies, iniate turns with front risers but could also be conservatively. However they stopped using them, so I am told, because some people were not wanting to use them. We land on the beach with super tight landing areas and nothing really in the way of outs...

I love my REI branded pack (the 50L one), I also liked the ospreys but the REI ones were 100 cheaper from memory and unlike my buddies Osprey mine has taken a pounding for 18 months and it still in great nick

ok I am kinda bored right now so I'll lay out my career path with costs. You need 3 years in sport and 500 jumps to get your tandem rating. Having an AFF rating and camera flying abilities will greatly add to your income as will willingness to pack. 02/2009 I got an A licence in Australia, 33 jumps, cost ~3500 07/2007 - 07/2011 Worked in South Korea teaching English (degree in journalism), saved 45,000, did 25 jumps between Korea and Thailand, bought a rig, cost 4500. 08/2011 landed in USA with 55 jumps, above saving. Bought a car a jumped in TX, AZ and Fl. Learned 4 way how to wing suit. Got an AFF rating, did 460 jumps and spent ~30,000, earned $0 for the year. Total jumps 500. Lived in a tent. 02/2012 arrived in Canada and got a job at a big DZ on the condition I got a camera helmet and a tandem rating. Started out part time and then an opening in full time opened up and took it, did another 750 jumps in 7 months and made ~30,000. Lived in a tent. 11/2012 to present - landed in Australia (I am australian) and work for a dropzone here for a few months before returning to Canada. Earn about 1000 a week. Live in a shared house with another guy who travels like I do and jumps for a living. I have had job offers/applied for jobs and been successful in other countries but it hasnt always worked out visa wise or for other reasons. I have also been rejected/ignored by other applications. In time I hope to work in Germany and Spain and possibly South Africa and maybe even South America. I am not a very good skydiver but nor am I terrible. I am lucky that my parents have been very supportive and that I never got myself into debt and can manage money well. I will never get rich skydiving but 80k after tax, as an australian, a year is very achievable if you are willing to travel and work at it, so I certainly don't starve. I kind of fell into skydiving as a career but I am having a lot of fun and I like going to work but I also know I wont be able to do this forever :) Anyway that is just my journey so far and it is worth about 2c. Dave

having a background in this it is interesting at wasn't in the mainstream media... Long story short I think you will hear a lot of sorry but no real confession. In the meantime Armstrong is trying to buddy with/pay Landis so he drops the whistleblower suit for defrauding the gov (Landis could get up to 30% of what to gov tries to reclaim is successful, unless LA pays him off first and he drops it and the US gov doesn't get in on the suit). Also admission make him liable to civil cases (a few companies would like the money they had to pay LA back, some have already started proceedings) aqnd a few criminal charges. Most interesting have been LAs meetings with USADA - it seem like he wants to compete in ironman and to do that he needs to get around the lifetime ban (this also brings new income with a new deal with Nike, kinda like what happened with tiger woods and his affair where nike dropped and then re-signed him) so he rolls on the UCI and WADA....of course nothing will change there, some musical chairs and BS but nothing will change.... but what is really interesting is that this network of doping has been valued at 30mil euro and didn't just involve masseuses... no there would of been some very shady types involved and who would of made a lot of money and wish to protect that money, somehow I don't think anyone will be mentioning them... Just a quick bit on doping in general - it is in every sport, look into operation puerto - soccer players, golden league athletics, base ball were all involved in the ring too, cycling just has lousy PR. Why should we stop it? Because you end up with 16yro riders learning from 25yro euro pros what to take...because the bathrooms at junior nations is littered with pill packets and more... because junior athletes test positive for drugs often... because even joe average is using and before they know it the veterinary drugs they took are causing huge problems and they are in an ER having bits of their insides removed...and none of those people ever made any money from it, they just though it was OK and what every one did...

R bird - multiple flights above 3:40 (highest 3:56) from ~13,000 pulling between 2500 and 3000

Is the total number of jumps made in the US known? If so are they broken down into tandem/sport/student?