flailchick

Miklos was quite the character and a good friend. I made a couple of jumps from 24,000' with him. He is missed.

Everyone will have their own opinion, and a right to voice it... That said. The Parachute Center at Lodi would probably meet your needs the best. Bill Dause, the owner, is committed to getting jumpers in the air. It has been many years since I was a staff instructor at Lodi, but many people have learned to safely skydive there. I believe that Lodi is open for jumping every day which will be important if you have a short window of time. Lodi is not affiliated with USPA, but that does not mean that it is not a great place to skydive. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Can you make me a Girl Scout Cookie??

RIP my friend. Miss you already.

Wow. Heartbreaking. Cliff is one of the first equipment mfgs that I knew in the sport. I won a Sweethog at Freeport and jumped them for many years. A true loss to our sport. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones. What a horrible black weekend...

I remember getting the phone call. Bungee was on staff at SkyDance when I was an instructor there. We were told that his body was found away from the wreckage in accordance with the "legends". If you believe that what is reported in the newspaper is exactly what actually happened then you have never been involved in anything news worthy. My experience has been that even when you yourself tell the reporter the details, there are errors in the story.

Thanks for posting the pix, Rick. I havent seen the freefall photo - hopefully someone will post it.... It was a very moving afternoon.

My heart is breaking. I don't know Bob very well but considered Danny a good friend. I knew him through PIA and other industry events. I dont even have words. Condolences to the families. Lori Kraemer Clark

Well, they just rescheduled me right out of the boogie. I was off work the original dates, now the boogie will be right in the middle of my tour of duty. Oh well. Shane probably couldn't have come anyway. You and Star would have spent the whole week babysitting my little angels.... Hugs,

Whatever!!! (Diamondbacks fan)

Firefighter/Paramedic - 8 years with city of Tucson Fire Dept - 2 years as EMT prior to FF in Sacramento. My sister was on the FD first and encouraged me to get my EMT cert and to test. She and I are now on the same paramedic company, PM13, on different shifts. We actually are each others relief person. We work a 5/6 schedule, 24 hours on, 24 off for five shifts then we have six days off. Yeah for six days off. Our little city is growing. Our department is not growing as quickly. We get pretty abused on the busy nights.... Adam did make it into our fire academy. However, due to some weird technicality (paperwork thing) he and several others didnt make it through. He was doing great and looks great! He's working at Square2 for the time being! We have two skydiving chicks firefighters on our dept... I was hoping for a dude to join us....

I like the family restrooms that alot of malls are going to. It gives dad's with daughters and mom's with sons more options. I agree with whoever suggested M, F, & "?". If you have any gender identity issues just choose "?". Side note, many years ago, I was in a ladies room in a restaraunt. Several "ladies" were in there with me. Turns out they were cross dressers or something along that line - I was very VERY uncomfortable about them using the women's restroom. Now, I'm just a conservative mid-west girl, so it was a bit of a shock. Just didnt seem appropriate at the time.

Great post. I'm a peopleist. I've thrived in male dominated fields and sports my whole life - because that is who I am, and not to prove anything about women. I'm a firefighter with nearly 2000 tandems in my skydiving history. I do make the same money as my male counterparts because of the field I have chosen. I believe in people's rights, not women's rights above all others. Just my thoughts... (And I'd love to be a stay at home mom - but I make too much money and I'd go absolutely crazy without adult stimulation in my life!)

I breastfed both of my daughters for a little over a year each. Wearing clothing designed to make breast feeding easier, most people did not know that my babies were nursing. As a dz organizer, I actually organized loads while feeding a little one. No one at the dz complained. Of course, they'd seen it all before.....

What type of camera do you use?

Well, I drive right past Marana on my way to Eloy every time I jump. Last fall I had wanted to make more jumps so I decided to go out to Marana during the week and make a few since it's close to home. I was promptly reminded why I don't jump there on a regular basis... granted this was a weekday, but there was NO ONE to jump with. It cost me $19 to go to 9000 feet with a tandem in a cessna. And then the clincher, no packers. If you are a social person, and like to jump with other skydivers, Marana is probably not the place to go play unless they're having a special event. Of course, if your family is a ready made 4way, it might be perfect. Yes I'm spoiled. I hate packing for myself. I'd rather go to 12,500 or higher in an Otter with a group of fun flailers than do a solo from a cessna for the same price. Checking out all dz's and making your own decision is great advice. Try to check out Marana early in the morning so you won't have wasted too much of the day by the time you get to Eloy.... Hope to see you at Eloy...

Yeah!!! There is a whole lot of empty desert out there for landing in any other direction... That landing area is too narrow for fast canopies with lower experienced pilots to land east to west anyway!

Hi Midge. I was at Bob's memorial service and had visited him a few years prior. Sherry is my best girlfriend from California. I was on the jump with Sherry when she was injured 10 years ago, and took her on her last jump, a tandem in Lodi. I live in Tucson now. I'd love to hear stories about Bob and the old days at Ryan field as well. Sherry and I saw a couple of videos that Bob had put together from those days - what a step back into history! I worked with a now retired fire captain that had made 800 jumps back in the day - Dave Ballinoff. I doubt he's on line, but Sherry can hook you up with his phone number if you want to get his memories.

Ron, I've enjoyed the exchange that this post initiated. Whether folks want to admit it or not, the 100 - 300 jump wonder is a very real phenomenon at every dz in our sport. After 21 years in this sport, 17 of them as an instructor (and I'm a baby skydiver compared to some of you guys...) I've seen it over and over again. I once saw an S&TA hand a blank fatality report form to the current 300 jump wonder. Boy Wonder was told to fill out the pertinant details, and that we would just date the report later. The S&TA said that it would be alot easier on himself, because he hates having to get that personal information about his friends after they've bounced. BoyWonder actually straightened up for a while. I think he had about 800 jumps when a new fatatily report was completed on him.

A tandem jump is the most dangerous jump that you can make as an instructor. It is also the safest way for a person to make their first jump. A tandem instructor chooses to accept the responsibility of a more hazardous jumping environment in order to provide that safety net for the first time jumper. Wow. If you're doing it for chicks or just money, you'll probably burn out fairly quickly. I can honestly say, the whole "chicks" thing was never an issue with me. Flirting with a cute hard body during the jump process was a bonus, but never enough to be the reason to do it. I made one board jump many years ago. People always asked why I didnt stick with it. I would tell them that if I was going to strap something to me that could kill me, it might as well be a tandem student because at least we could bond.

Hi! My first square parachute was a Viking. I put a couple hundred jumps on it from 1984 to about 1986 - in an old wonderhog of course. I did my first four stack as well as all of my initial CRW with that canopy. At 120 lbs, I was always base because I had no forward speed. Even did a few downplanes with it. And quite a few exhibition jumps. Of course, now I think, "what on earth was I doing on a demo with that low level of experience!" It was a different world.

My favorites: "My kid beat up your honor student..." "Visualize Whirled Peas" "Save a tree, wipe your butt on a spotted owl..."

We own several hunting rifles and hand guns. I have a .22 long target rifle that I have owned since I was 10 years old. My father taught my sister and I to target shoot as children (as well as gun safety and proper care). I hunt with my husband and his family and plan to pass this family tradition along to my two daughters. We are also NRA members... Lori

There are things that you can learn on here - like if you are not trained in EMS, please do not touch the patient. Immediately call 9-1-1 or make sure that someone has already called. Find out if someone in the area is trained in first aid or EMS. Most large DZ's have a first aid bag and designated staff on hand. Make sure that manifest knows that there has been an accident so that they can alert the emergency care staff. The best thing you can do for your self and your buddies is take a firstaid and CPR class. Especially if you base jump in remote areas where a simple limb fracture can be a huge problem. Most cities offer classes through the Red Cross or Parks & Rec. If you're at a small dz, where everyone helps with everything - talk to the dzo about your emergency plan. Make sure you have a plan, who to call, who has any type of medical or first aid training. Make sure you have a plan before you ever need it. Just my thoughts on this whole tragic turn of events... Lori Paramedic for a large city fire department, first responder at Skydive Arizona, CPR instructor

My mom made a tandem when she was 66 years old. She went with my then husband and I docked on them. She patted my face and gave me a kiss in freefall! I've taken two of my sisters tandem and two neices/nephews. Now that I've retired from tandems some of my younger nephews really want to jump. My mom visits for the winter - and babysits at the dropzone while I jump. Can't get much more supportive than that - well, unless I can teach her to pack my main....