Gators1240

Perris and Elsinore are both great but I would also recommend Skydive DeLand in florida. I did my AFF and A license there and it couldnt have been better. They have some great AFFI's as well as there is a tunnel close by to help out with too. And as a student I liked how the landing areas for students are laid out better then out in california.

Yeah the skyvan is pretty awesome, You should consider taking a ride over to zhills sometime and jump it. Its not too far of a drive from deland and its a great dz as well.

Ive noticed that somewhat myself. I am also in the military and a lot of people ive met/jumped with have either been military, ex-military, or reservists.

Thats pretty cool. Unless they have changed around which planes they normally use at deland since the last time I was there in the end of september then I would say they set up something special for him since they had the otter out. When I was jumping there back in september they only ran the PAC's and the skyvan was down at zhills. Too bad he didnt come down there when I was jumping at deland. On the other hand I did get to meet about 100 guys from the Qatar air force at deland while they were there doing their AFF.

Yeah I ran into the same issue.

+1 AND if you dont want to buy it they offer a free online version on the USPA website

I look forward to doing both and will probably get a shit ton of snowboarding in this winter. Just found out my family owns a cottage up in Big Bear so if anyone is interested in some trips up that way this winter let me know. Still working on getting the keys right now.

Yes they all count. I mean after all anything you performed during those jumps cant be taken away from you just because you had instructors to witness it happen. I had a good portion of my proficiency card done when I finished my AFF. If you havent started yet it might be a good idea to look at the A license proficiency card before starting AFF to know what kind of stuff you will be required to do for your license. On the other hand some people have a hard time with just meeting the TLO's during AFF so make sure you are concentrated on what you have to do for each jump before worrying about other things.

I just moved out to Ventura and will be spending some time at iFly Hollywood on weekends that I cant drive down and actually jump. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good tunnel coach in the area. Right now I am mainly focusing on RW skills but would like to eventually transition into freefly. Thanks

If you are planning a trip to Perris make sure you check out Elsinore at some point too. They are both great DZ's and are only about 15-20 minutes from each other.

+1 My AFFI's had a radio and landed and then talked me down. But due to the radios we had there I think 4 or my 7 AFF jumps the radio accidentally got switched off during freefall somehow so I was alone anyways and did fine. Same thing happened a few weeks later to one of the Qatari's that were going through AFF there and he just waited to hear the radio and kept flying straight. Somehow he managed to stay on the airport (barely) but ended in the middle of the runway at the end of it

As well as blue skies had something posted on facebook about it

Might just be me, but I would never "guess" about something concerning my safety. If I were you I would check on it before getting in the plane.

Olly, I think this thread has kind of gone away from what I originally intended it to be. I have no desire to create a whole software suite and try to market it to any dropzones at all. I am not a professional software developer, I simply do it as a hobby. While I could potentially write something like this and eventually market it, I simply dont have the time required to design, code, market and install/implement it myself. I was really just thinking of ideas and what going to start writing one as a fun little side project to help improve my design/coding skills and was just curious what was already out there and what had not been done. As far as joining your network of partners, I would love to help out with what I can. If you guys need anything feel free to contact me.

or central florida for that matter. I grew up in orlando and about 5 hours before any tropical storm/hurricane is supposed to hit its a mad rush for everyone to go to the grocery stores/walmart and buy all the batteries, lights, canned food, water etc... to prepare for the storm. You would think that living in a place that gets hurricanes regularly you would already have that stuff well in advance. Its not like the stuff goes bad in a few days

http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/mysterious-ufo-lights-explained-18565#18570

Welcome to the sport and the forums. Now I have never jumped at Lodi so I cant say as to how they operate things there. But the FAA is fining them $664,000 right now because they have flown more than 2600 flights without doing repairs/inspections that were needed on their planes. Take a look at this. The decision on where to jump is up to you but I personally would not jump at a DZ that would do something like that.

0:3:0 All 3 were group tacking dives, the 2nd being an 18-way and 3rd a slot specific track.

SKYDIVE DELAND.

DeLand is a great place and yes there is a lot of RW loads. I did my first jump through my A license there about a month/month and a half ago. They have a restaurant on site as well with pretty good food which is always a plus(in my opinion) for a dz. I never saw anyone doing any CRW there though. During the week they are pretty busy and you should have no problems logging some jumps. They are open 7 days a week and during the week I think I was getting about 6-7 jumps a day in. I could have got more but im a slow packer or was waiting for someone else to pack for me and missed a few loads throughout the day. Not sure if they are still doing it right now but they had like 100 guys from the Qatar air force there doing aff right as I was leaving.

Perris or Elsinore are both great. I was kinda in the same situation (I just moved out here when I had 35 jumps) and started jumping at a new DZ. Elsinore has a "Seperate" landing area for those with an A license and below thats huge so you should have no problems landing there (They were doing AFF jumps during the last boogie there with no issues). If you decide to head out here to cali let me know, im usually down there on the weekends.

no I wasnt at the party, unfortunately I ate the teryaki chicken saturday afternoon and got food poisoning so I ended up leaving

well I can tell you one way obama is cutting down the deficit. Normally the miltary gets anywhere between a 3-4% annual pay increase to try and match the private sector. This year he is proposing a 1.4% increase instead. I'm sorry but thats a huge slap in the face for all the things you go through being in the military. http://www.navytimes.com/benefits/pay/military_2011_pay_raise_020410w/

Yeah the skyhook is crazy fast. I had to chop on jump 35 and im telling you before I could even get a hand on my reserve handle my reserve was coming out. Ended up making a normal landing too (light winds that day so I wasnt really off at all).

You really cant go wrong with Perris or Elsinore even on weekends as a student. They were doing AFF jumps during chicks rock which was a pretty big boogie a few weeks ago.