Skyper

it looks nice :) i'd prefer single colour. Everything in black or everything in white.

I agree that body position and folding play important role. But I just cannot believe that those two (particular) canopies I used can ever open softly without significant modifications. Hard (ening f. up ;) from time to time is okay but hard openings as default mode of a canopy is simply not acceptable for me.

Untill now I had hard openings only with Sabre.

sabre1 - 190. first jump, master rigger packed. HARD opening. second jump, DZ packer packed. HARD opening. third jump, I packed with all advices I got for soft openings. HARD opening. sabre2 - 150. first jump. A friend of mine packed it for himself. Not as hard as sabre 1 but pretty hard opening. I'm convinced that I'll never jump sabre again except if my life really rely upon it.

how do you deal with hard openings with Sabre1?

cut the crap and buy yourself a decent canopy.

This one should be qualifief for Jeb Ass award.

if you wear a pin and leave boobies at home it's totaly different feeling.

is this real? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OoaHyNIgxY

what's wrong with pimp mustaches?

I don't think that would be possible. Cell phone umts network can in extreme cases reach 1000m (3000ft). In most cases the network signal is non existant above 300m (1000ft).

If unbiased, and proper and consistent data collection and criteria used, statistics can be very useful. some time ago I came across the statistical report regarding the fatal skydiving accidents in US. I cannot find it now, but what I can recall was: Chance of fatal accident per 1000 particpants: Motorbike driving 0,2% per year Skydiving 1,1% per year IMHO, one of the flaws of that report was the fact that they've calculated all registered motorbike drivers and not only the active population of them.

true, but she's not a skydiver

you mean something like this?

there was a "Myth Bastards" episode on NatGeo channel. They tried to land the Boeing 747 only by following the instructions from the ground. Of course they did this on the training model on the ground and both tries were successfull. I've also read in the news some times ago that one old lady landed some small aircraft after her husband had a hart attack during the flight. She had some previous flight experience however and was guided from the ground. But anywayz, I would consider consuming the pilot, prior the bail out @1.10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozlgei1-hWA

just send a PM and I'll push you for free. btw. doing a tandem to learn skydiving is like being attached to a swimmer to learn swimming.

Skydiverek, following this research earplugs rated class 3 and higher would be enough for 10 jumps a day. The intensity of sound is very high (up to 115dB), but the duration is very short. I've been looking for the values for that "class 3 rating" and it appears that it is about 19dB (only). 26dB damping, (which is very close to class 5 rating) would be more than enough, at least following the research results mentioned above. 33dB is usually worn if you work in very noisy environment (above 100dB) 8 hours per day... :)

Skydiverek, i use the ones with average of 33dB damping. But, there is one important detail: earplugs must fit well. In other words, if ear plugs are not custom made or made of very soft material which fits well it's damping power is lower than it should be. I consider now buying the custom made (very expensive) ones.

An interesting research about noise levels and noise protection in skydiving: http://www.myavaa.org/documents/JDVAC-2011-Presentations/Penman_JDVAC2011.pdf

this is one of the most philosophical topic I ever read on Dz.com.

Save your time and money by avoiding tandem. If you want some experience prior your first jump - take 10-15 minutes of the tunnel time for the same money of only 1 tandem jump. The first 15min of the tunnel time will be worth every penny of it. Regarding the gear - buy only the googles that fit well on your face and buy the clear ones so that instructor can see your eyes during the free fall. You don't know yet if you ll really like skydiving or not, so rent that basic gear for your AFF jumps and if you want to have more... buy your own.

since you lost weight you make more chance for survival because your wing load is now reduced.

guys thank you for reply. After I see you all with so many experience claiming that this might work in some cases I'll use the first chance I get to see it with my eyes. It's never to late to learn new things.