KevinP

LOL

Well, my inexperience shows in my doodling, I suppose. No slider, a 20-cell main, suspension lines EVERYWHERE. What's a dude to do?

And I hear you, Matt. I actually sat behind a desk for a while, kicked in doors for a while, now, I'll do the desk thing again. I mean, if I did the Scout thing for the last 10 years, what can I do besides guard or shoot more stuff when I get out. No thanks. :)

LOL You guys are brutal.
No, not an art class. A cyber class. Something about preventing Skynet from taking over, I guess. More of an information brief.

And I guess it's fair to point out that, at 43 years old, I've worked a couple of days over the past 30 years. This is a class to change jobs. I'm tired of kicking in doors, so, Heaven help me, I'm going to sit behind a computer until I retire.

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Should have clarified, the hour is in traffic, which leads to me wanting a comfortable interior and features for her. The actual mileage is about 15 miles, and any crossover is going to have reasonable well mileage anyways.

HOLY SMOKES! That's some serious traffic!

FWIW, my wife LOVES her 2008 Rav4.

We had a really boring class today. When the instructor made the mistake of saying the material wasn't testable, I entertained myself with a couple of pictures. :)

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"Bite" is something you do with your teeth.
"Bight" is a loop of lines stowed on your deployment bag.

Well that explains it. During my Army Airborne days, I always wondered why I wanted to get a bite of my static line.

Thanks!

Ah, if only my finance person was collocated with me. I almost feel bad. She is in Texas coordinating with the Army regarding the logistics of our move to Hawaii. My daughter is home on spring break and I tried to get them to come over here for a visit, but she rightfully cited gas prices. All I'm doing is learning a new job and skydiving.

Oh. Well I didn't know it could be that valuable. If I can find a sucker, er, an assistant to act as a camera person, I'll throw the video up.

Anyone going to Eloy on Saturday?

You don't have to worry about that. I have an innate ability to focus. Especially when my ankles, knees or a combination depend on it.

The camera thing will be the last effort. I'll get with the instructor on Saturday and see what s/he has. And I'll pay more attention to the sensations I am getting up top. It may be just skewed perception. Look for a report.

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Just ask them You got some good responses here, the one suggestion to add would be to ask if someone could video your landing, so that you can see for yourself exactly how high/fast/completely you are flaring... you'll be surprised how different things look when you see yourself from the way they feel in the moment and you'd learn quite a bit from that.

I like that idea. I do take my little crappy camera with me, but it does have video. I just need to find someone who is waiting around in the student area. Shouldn't be too hard. Good call.

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Oh, I don't know...maybe ask them directly?

AND

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Here's how you bring it up to them:

Say to them..."I feel like I need to flare earlier. When I flare up top doing the control check, it seems like it takes a little longer for the canopy to reach that slowest point than I have been given on approach. Let me explain."

That'll do it.

And a couple of others in between:

Thank you! As overly-simplistic as it seems, this is exactly what I needed.

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I'm not getting you wrong. Read my reply again and take it for what it's worth. Good luck

Understood. And you are right. Naturally.

And GP101, I jump again on Saturday. I'm hoping to get L3-L5 done (if my finance person will release the funds for all three).

And of course I'm going to talk to the instructors. The reason for this wasn't necessarily if I should bring it up, but the most tactful approach.

I underestimated the response, it would seem.

No no. Don't get me wrong. I'm not asking about the mechanics behind landing. I'm asking is being straight-forward about it to my AFF-I the best approach. It sounds crazy now, but I didn't remember that golden rule about "there are no stupid questions." I can be that guy, though, given the chance.

Thanks for the encouragement. When I get there Saturday, I'll bring it up.

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Oh, I don't know...maybe ask them directly?

That seems to be the easiest approach. I just wanted to bounce the situation around a bit here in the event that I was missing something. I'll talk to them, just wanted to make sure I was within my lane, so to speak.

Thanks

Hi all,

PLEASE don't let this be misinterpreted. I absolutely, unequivocally, 100% trust ALL the instructors I have worked with. I just have 1 simple question.

If I feel like I need to flare earlier, how do I bring this to the AFF-I? Let me explain. When I flare up top doing the control check, it seems like it takes a little longer for the canopy to reach that slowest point than I have been given on approach. Perhaps I don't know enough to fully appreciate the landing sequence. How do I bring this up to my instructors without coming across as questioning their direction or method?

Thanks.

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Are you based in the US Kevin? What is your cost you are paying for your training?

Here is what is listed on the Skydive Arizona website. I'm doing it a little differently (didn't have $2,000 up front), so I'll pay a little more. That tunnel time is a HUGE benefit. I mean, it makes it marginally more expensive than DZs without, but it's well worth it.

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Basic Package Phase I:

* 1 Tandem
* 10 minutes of tunnel time
* First Jump Course
* USPA membership (price will vary if foreign residency)
* ASP Levels 1-7
* 1 ASP rejump or Solo
* 3 Solo Jumps
* Packing Class

Price: $1906

Good luck finding a DZ soon! I'll be jumping Saturday. I hope to get L3-L5 knocked out. Last time out, two jumps exhausted me. Haha

Congrats!! It feels great getting that first one done and done right. The thrill keeps going up from there, I think.

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Anyway, congrats of making it thru level one without the instructors using you as a fly toy. (Hi Kevin! )

Hahahaa! Fuuunnny!

What my friend is referring to is the first part of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-QssF1JRXU

Be safe up there!

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What a horrible disaster… lots of cities disappeared in a few minutes. I can't watch the news without tears...
But I do believe we will regain someday. Yes, we can!

I'm sure the entire country will recover! You better.
My heart goes out to those who lost loved ones during all this. The global community tends to overlook the personal loss when terms like "reactor" and "containment" start hitting the media.

You all are in my prayers!

Welcome, Andy! Your story sounds somewhat like mine, but it took me almost a year from tandem to FJC. My friends call me obsessed. My brother says I should have never been allowed to jump, since it's all I talk about now. Some people just don't get it.
Hope you get a date soon. It's worth every ounce of energy and the cost.

Clear skies!

Another nice video. I need to be more aware of my legs on exit and in freefall. And yeah, that hackey was moving around. SD AZ uses the standard handle (looks like a small piece of PVC pipe). I have no idea what it's doing during free fall, but it's where I reach for it.

I'm looking forward to Saturday! Gotta get back up!

Sincerely,
Kevin

WHOOHOO! Congrats!! I'll be there with you soon. I just have to juggle schedule with finances, but I'll get there! I'll be cool to do that first solo, I think. But I have a feeling I may look at it the same way I look at riding my bike. It's fun to ride alone, but more so when some other guys come along.

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They've developed their own Great Value knock-off brand of GS cookies.

NOT Quite AS tasty and at half the price...

Fixed your post.

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Well-crafted post.

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I think white supremacy is becoming what homosexuality used to be, something some may believe or feel, but keep it in the closet.

Ah. In that case, should white supremacists be allowed to marry?

LOL Well, again, at risk of my Christian credibility, I don't really care who marries whom. I have friends from all walks of life, sexual preference and race/ethnicity. If someone wants to marry a marble, it wouldn't bother me at all. Matter of fact, I'd invite the couple over for dinner. I mean, how much can a marble eat?

And thank for the comment.

I posted this elsewhere, but I'll say it again. I didn't realize how much skydiving takes out of you. I'm sure it's because it's draining emotionally, mentally and physically. I should have seen the signs when I did two minutes of wind tunnel back in December and was a little sore the next day.

EDITED for grammar. I hate when I do that!

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...or Catholic, Hispanic,or any other 'non-white'. They might not always use guns or bombs but they are quite adept at intimidation. That too, is terrorism.

As a soldier in the US Army, I can only speak from that perspective, so keep that in mind.

The Army defines terrorism as "the calculated use of violence or threat of violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or to intimidate governments
or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological." Reference Army Regulation 381-12.

That being said, the KKK (being southern, I have a story about that in the last paragraph) lost momentum when I was still quite young. There are pockets within our nation where the "Klan" is still influential, but to no significance. Recent history seems to indicate that the White Supremacist movement is a novelty at best outside of these very limited areas. They probably want to have a voice and spread their ideology, but aren't willing to jump straight to violence to do it. I risk some credibility as a Christian when I say this, but I think that perhaps Pro-Life/Pro-Choice groups come closer to fitting the definition of terrorist groups than do white supremacist groups.

"Muslim extremists," however, are a whole different breed. Classically, many members of these groups feel that it is a religious duty to kill those who aren't Muslim. On an individual basis, this isn't too great a threat to our national security. My unit lost three great men in Iraq our last tour simply because those doing the killing assumed they were killing Christians just because they were American soldiers (nothing further from the truth, but that's another discussion). Put a group of extremist together, give them some logistical support and you have another 9-11 waiting to happen.

My assessment is, from a terrorism standpoint, radical Muslims probably pose the biggest threat to our domestic security.

EDIT: Forgot my KKK story. When I was around 12 years old, my mom dated a Deputy Sheriff in Johnston County, NC. Sometimes, he was tasked to pull security at "Klan rallies." Once, I went with him to one of these taskings. What I heard was rather ridiculous, naive and immature, even to me at that age. Fast forward about 4 years. I worked at a fast food restaurant and was helping out at the drive thru. A customer handed me a card. Turned out that he was a local Klan leader and wanted me to contact him so we could talk. I told him no thanks and threw the card away. That was in '84. I think there was one Klan demonstration after that in the form of a march down Main Street. There MAY have been fifteen marchers. I was at work at that restaurant that day, which was on Main. VERY few even cared enough to spectate. I think white supremacy is becoming what homosexuality used to be, something some may believe or feel, but keep it in the closet.

Awesome video!!! That exit was textbook! SD AZ does a different two-instructor exit so I wasn't expecting it, but it looked great! Congrats! No greater feeling in the world! I can't wait for next weekend (L3 and L4 for me).

Clear skies!