Divalent

Congrat. Sounds like you made the correct decisions and with plenty of altitude. And glad you got all your stuff back. I haven't had to chop yet, but I worry most about mals like this where something just ain't right, but is potentially landable (and so the decision to cutaway is not immediately obvious).

You've listed things that are known and quantifiable with time and/or use of gear. Just thinking a bit more afield, you could also add an estimate of the risk due to less certain events: - stolen (without insurance, or cost of insurance to insure) - possible loss of value to a main after a chop (damaged in recovery, or lost for good) - possible loss of PC and freebag in a chop. Obviously these would be hard to quantify and space out over time and jumps (and I don't know, for example, what fraction of mains and FB/PCs are irretrievably lost after a chop), although taking the insurance approach might help. I can't imagine they would add too much (although the loss of a main, if it happened, would be huge).

Did you try clicking on the word "Dropzone" in the blue menu bar near the top? You then move the map and zoom in on your home, then select a distance, and click search. There are a few odd balls in there (like a closed DZ with a Littlerock, AR address located in LA), but its a good start. (looks like a number in TX) Here's a 300 mile search centered on Crowley: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/dropzone/finder.cgi?search=addr&lat=30.20211367909724&lng=-92.362060546875&rad=300

Technically, you only owe beer when you graduate AFF (then again when you get your A license, and then again for various other firsts). But bringing beer before that is not prohibited (and I'm sure if you poll the folks at your DZ, it would be unanimously encouraged). BTW, the green vs brown debate is a red herring. IMO, "green bottles" is a sure sign of low-to-middle brow taste (hieniken, lowenbrau, {yuck}). No worthwhile beer comes in green (although a lot of crappy beer does come in brown). BTW, in any event you might keep mum about bringing it, and what you brought, it until its over. Here's what happened to the last guy who brough shitty beer before his first jump (the guy in red was really pissed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwK8zwf3Leg&feature=player_detailpage#t=48s

Sounds like it was a good accident to have had.

If this was the cause, what's the theory to account for what you experienced? Is it that you had a slowly clearing bag lock (due to the stows) which delayed things a lot, and then by the time you decided to look, the stows had just cleared (so it just about to open), but you chopped anyway thinking that what you saw was what it had been stuck doing all that time?

That story reminded me of this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8-8WJxA-cI

But I think he stated the bag was out, so the PC did pull the pin. But is it possible that the force was too high, and that perhaps what really might have happened is that he had a temporary pilot chute in tow, which eventually cleared itself, and that he just so happened to look back right at the time the lines extended (and erroneously thought they had been extended for some time)? (Just trying to come up with some scenario where the closing loop length would at least appear to affect extraction from the bag.)

not a physician, so ... Doesn't seem to me a good sign that 4 days out is when you are thinking about doubling up on the pain meds. I mean, it seems to me that by day four minor stuff should be getting a bit better, yes? If you were my daughter, I'd haul your butt down to the doc and have them look it over. It could very well be just minor bumps and bruises, but then again it could be something small but kinda serious that could become big and very serious if ignored. BTW, lots of stuff on the A card that doesn't require doing actual jumps, so a non-jumping weekend could be very productive in moving you towards your A license. Good luck. (oh, and read my sig!)

damn, that motorcycle was haulin.

The short nose twin otter they had on Saturday had "Deland" painted on the outside.

Something you should know is that as a student tied to an instructor, you are higher priority, since if they have to make you wait, they might have to also sit an instructor (who needs to jump to make money). Same goes for access to rental gear; if you need it, you will get it. All this changes when you are cleared to solo. Pretty much you have to learn to fend for yourself and be assertive.

Thanks to PopsJumper for organizing this friendly competition. There were 9 entrants, and a fun time was had by all. (I.e., no broken bones; and in my book, any jump where you eventually arrive safely on the ground without a broken bone is a fun jump.) I didn't make the podium, although I did get one jump within 10 meters, so I did accumulate one more target landing for my B licenses. More importantly, it was a great opportunity to learn, review, and practice techniques for better accuracy, and to discover my weak points. So very beneficial (even if I didnt make the podium ).

Ummm...that, too. I wish to hell I could bring my descent rate to zero....I'd stay under canopy forever! It can be done, but only temporarily (so no perpetual flight for you!), and at the continual expense of forward air speed. You can even cause a negative descent rate. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzTumzpJ1hY&feature=player_detailpage#t=145s and (later in same video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzTumzpJ1hY&feature=player_detailpage#t=242s I am certainly no landing expert (as you very well know!) but it seems to me you that on a windless day you have to flare longer and deeper to bleed off forward speed before touching down (to get your ground speed down), whereas on a windy day less of a flare is sufficient. The key seems to me to be that you get the speed and the depth of your flare timed exactly right for the conditions of the moment. And I suspect that requires a lot of practice and experience in various conditions to master (I'll let you know if I ever succeed!)

Ah, then that would 'splain it. ... Next time I'll get em down a lot lower and see how they work. Yup, that did it! I just wasn't pulling far enough. Even just pulling down to my ear level gets it in a nice hard smooth turn. Completely different feel and behavior than on a student rig. I now have a whole new area of flight to explore. Thanks for the advice.

#3 lots of situations where your honor depends upon buying beer.

Probably 25-30 minutes for me at this point. Most of that is trying to make a "neatish" cocoon, and then destroying all that effort trying to man handle the beast into the bag. Also, if any one knows what the secret is for having your line stows look all neat and even and just perfectly arranged without twists or stray loops and with perfect rubber band double loops that lay down right on top of each other, please PM me the recipe. (I've paid my dues, so please now let me in on it. I promise not to reveal it to anyone with under 50 jumps. Please?)

If I were concerned that my rigger might fail to route the closing loop through my AAD, I'd be WAY more concerned about other errors made up to that point. Afterall, this error did not make the reserve useless. (So if I were concerned he'd make *that* mistake, I would probably just find another rigger that I could trust.) Having said that, if I asked a rigger to let me watch the whole process, and he said I couldn't under any circumstances (assuming I'd accomodate his schedule and the requirements for his work area) I also probably find another rigger.

It's worse than that: they want to sue the bolt manufacturer for failing to have a sensor in the bolt that alerts the consumer that the bolt wasn't tight.

All this talk about requiring a sensor is just plain stupid. A sensor might make sense if a loop could get dislodged once properly installed, but that is not the case. If the loop is properly routed throught the cutter at closing time, a sensor would be pointless beyond that time: any information it would tell you would be fairly reliable information about the functioning of the sensor, not whether the loop is still in the cutter. Right now the most reliable sensor that could possibly be used to confirm the proper routing of the closing loop is already being used: the human visual system and brain. It ain't perfect, but it is orders of magnitude more reliable than any electronic component will every be.

@AggieDave A quick question from a noob (since you brought up some suggestions on CRW skill practicing): where is the burble of another canopy, and how far back should you be mindful of it?

Ah, then that would 'splain it. On student rigs getting it down 6-8 inches would generally get the canopy turning (but they were hard to pull without a loop so I probably never exceeded that), and I'm sure I was only going about the same distance on my own rig. Next time I'll get em down a lot lower and see how they work. And thanks for the advice on the brake lines.

Need some help/advice/thoughts/etc from you canopy gurus: I have a pilot 188, loaded ~ 1:1. Have been spending a lot of time getting familiar with it (and I like it alot). It seems to behave fine (flies straight with no input; toggle turns are responsive; seems to flare fine, etc). One minor issue is that I think my brake lines are a bit long: probably ~8 inches of play before they get engaged. Fully extended I can't stall the canopy (but it can fly really slow). I may get them adjusted in the future. The other issue is I am not able to get the thing to turn on front risers. Not because I can't pull them down (that's not a problem), but it doesn't seem to do anything when I do so other than just speed up the whole canopy. Okay, maybe it turns a little bit, really slowly; more of a very slow drift in one direction starting well after I hold a riser down for a while. Pulling both fronts down clearly gets it diving immediately, and it picks up a lot of speed. Any thoughts as to what might be the issue? I really don't have a clue. (And could the loose brake lines be related? Somewhat as an aside: I tried to predict what front risers would do before I did them back in my AFF days, and my predictions was wrong: I thought the change in the canopy pitch on one side would have it go opposite to a rear riser pull, and I still don't know understand why it also turns the same way. (I mean, why would a both an increase *and* a decrease in the canopy pitch on one side lead to the turn in the same direction?) Makes me think that perhaps a front riser turn requires at least a bit of brake engagement (or is helped by it) and my brakes are so loose that they never get involved. Anyway, that's just my ignorant speculation.) All thoughts/speculations/solutions appreciated.

Don't forget the beer!

Awesome! Congrats!