artard

Nice video but I gotta say I was quite disappointed when it turned out to not actually be an 8 point hybrid I was expecting to have my socks blown off

I love the crazy tree distortion a little after 2:35

I heard a rumor about a Groupon for this

How many skydives do you have? Are you already an instructor in your home country?

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What's the point in reading it?
All canopy collisions are murder-suicides. How can I say this? I have talked to enough hotshots, pirates and mad skills people to know that it is absolutely safe to mix any type of canopy pattern and landing direction in the same space.
All you have to do is look before you do it. So, there really is no problem here.

Yeah just clear your airspace bro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

I think this is relevant reading and is what I was referring to when I said as a newbie you lack the proper "mental framework." Even if you are a smart responsible person you can make incorrect conclusions because your overall knowledge is incomplete or flawed. As they say, you don't know what you don't know.

I just called to confirm, it is indeed $28/$21 now

Holy shit are you kidding me they just raised prices a couple months ago. Is Mile Hi the most expensive drop zone in the US?

I saw the numbers (which I haven't gotten permission to re-publish, yet) and the DZO is making FAR less with the new program than he did with the old coach jump structure, even accounting in the increased number of coach jumps that will happen. So I'm convinced that this isn't about profit.

After a PM exchange I realize now I was wrong to accuse this new policy of being "profit-driven" and that definitely is one thing it isn't so I take that back. Sorry for the false accusation. However I still think it's a terrible policy.

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I strongly suspect that many of the complainers have simply had their ego bruised because a kid with 125 jumps can jump with these students, but they cannot.

Do you think that's really relevant to this particular case? I think most of the people outraged by this specific policy care more about how it seems to be purely profit-driven and will probably greatly reduce the number of students that get licensed and is contributing to the overall decline of the fun jumper culture at Mile Hi.

That site hasn't been updated in like 2 years. Also jumps are $27 now.

Fortunately the Ft Morgan DZ opens in a couple weeks and I know quite a few local jumpers will be voting with their feet

Right and that's another reason beginners shouldn't be taking anything literally on this forum and running everything by their instructors. They could be taking advice from someone with 50 jumps and 5000 posts, or someone whose profile says they have 5000 jumps when they actually have 50. And when you are a total beginner at something you don't have the mental framework to determine what is reliable information.

I'm not going to name names because I don't want to be accused of making a "personal attack" but the fact that there are people on this forum with a couple dozen jumps and THOUSANDS of posts (many of them in skydiving-related threads) is exactly why new jumpers should avoid taking any sort of advice from DZ until they have enough experience to know whose posts to ignore. New skydivers are overwhelmed with information and resources and may see a post by someone with 5000 posts and assume that gives them credibility when they actually don't know shit about skydiving.

I mean helmet, altimeter, logbook. Maybe also an old ugly jumpsuit. I would definitely suggest some tunnel time during AFF, it will make a huge difference in your confidence in freefall and you will breeze through the levels. Right after AFF 1 is a great time to do 10-15 minutes of tunnel, with another session later on in your progression (maybe between 4 and 5 or 5 and 6). Where in Colorado are you at? I jump at Mile Hi Skydiving so come say hi if you make it up here!

I always tell my friends who are considering getting into skydiving to set aside about $3000 to get their A license. This is a general figure to cover the cost of AFF, coached jumps, basic gear, solo jumps and some tunnel time. You can do it for less but I think that's a good number for planning purposes.

I wrote an email to Groupon support

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How can you possibly allow Skyride to continue running Groupon deals when they have been clearly shown in the past to be a completely unethical organization that breaks laws and books skydives at drop zones without their consent? In addition, they run thousands of dummy websites for fictional drop zones designed to clog up SEO rankings and to direct potential customers to buy vouchers that are almost always more expensive than dealing with the drop zone directly.

For example, the Groupon for today is $159 for a tandem skydive and can be redeemed at Skydive Boulder. Did you know that tandems regularly cost $150 at Skydive Boulder? Are the people who are buying this coupon which (falsely) states that it's up to a $294 value aware that they are actually paying more by going through Groupon than if they bought this deal directly? How does that reflect on Groupon's image as an ethical business, to not only allow a scam company to run numerous Groupons in several regions, but to allow their own customers to be tricked into thinking they got a "deal?"

The Skyride/Sportations organization is single-handedly lowering the level of quality and discourse in skydiving and adventure sports in general. Every time they are allowed to run a "deal" like this on Groupon, Living Social, or any other deal site, they are raking in enough cash to keep their operation running a little longer. And with those resources they can fight drawn-out court battles with drop zone owners, advertise their services in violation of local and federal guidelines, and continue to run their network of websites to hijack legitimate business away from drop zones. And every customer who has a bad experience as a result of their dealings with Skyride is one less potential skydiver. And one less Groupon user if they purchased their voucher through you guys.

For a parting thought, I question what the policymakers at Groupon would think of running MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) deals as Groupons? What if you could get a set of Cutco knives for $99.99 or some Acai berries that melt off that belly fat for only $39.99? How would that reflect on Groupon as a website and organization to allow such a deal to run? This is essentially the same image that is being cast on you by allowing Skyride to run Groupons.

Links:
http://1800skyrideripoff.com/skydiving/skyride/
http://funjumper.com/skyride/
http://www.skydiveorange.com/scam.htm
http://www.hotairballooning.com/skyrides.php
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=606

http://www.groupon.com/deals/sportations-denver-1/posts

Here's a link to the discussion where a skyride representative is already on the defensive when being asked questions about the specifics and locations in case you guys had any questions of your own for him

http://www.groupon.com/deals/sportations-denver-1

This popped in my inbox today

Good eye Pete

So I just noticed this today. I have a big stack of my old issues of Parachutist on one of my bookshelves. The 2009 and 2010 issues all have stuff written on the spine like "Women's 181 World Record" and "Happy Holidays!" but so far the 3 issues of 2011 Parachutist have nothing written there. Instead, there appears to be a picture or message that spans multiple issues but I can't tell what it is yet. There is a lot of blue involved so I don't think it's a USPA logo. Speculation?

I'm not sure if my DZ knows that "safety day" actually exists. I heard 3rd hand (as in, from a jumper who heard from another jumper on the trailer) that we banned hook turns over 90 degrees except over the pond. Nobody in manifest or any of the other staff seems to have bothered to actually tell anyone though. Someone on my last load got grounded for a month for doing a 270 and it was the first time he had ever heard about the rule. Also they apparently raised jump prices by a dollar and offered jump packages for a 3 day window beforehand but didn't actually advertise it so almost nobody was able to take advantage before the jump ticket hike. Must be nice being the only turbine DZ in the area and not having to compete or provide good customer service to retain jumpers... Who needs safety day anyway? Our last fatality was way back in December and I'm sure just implementing an unannounced blanket ban of >90 degree hook turns will suffice

We've had this thread several times before, and everyone agreed that the Safire2 is the best canopy

Yeah, as a guy who builds Magento websites for a living I give props to whoever built their new site, I would have done it almost the same. It's my favorite online gear store now. I was actually thinking about emailing them and offering to build a new site in exchange for store credit right around when they launched the new store
My only criticism is they need to figure out their product images. Either they have them misconfigured or need to upload higher res pics because on many products when you click to zoom in it just shows you the low res pic zoomed in and pixelated