grasshopper

VSG, CB, Michele, since it may be slow on wed., do you want to change the plan to friday? I will be there anyway, and the otter will be flying for a couple of teams. ________________________________________________________ Abbie drove me to Idaho and all I got was this lousy sigline

I thought this was worth repeating. it can be a very humbling experience shooting pro-accuracy on a high-performance canopy, but it sure is fun (and challenging,but not boring).

I also have hop'n'pack tickets available for a trade, or I could trade a couple of pack jobs for the picture. let me know. ________________________________________________________ Abbie drove me to Idaho and all I got was this lousy sigline

yeah, I like it too. if I am not too computer illiterate it should be my avatar. and would you consider trading a jump ticket for a 8x10 of it? ________________________________________________________ Abbie drove me to Idaho and all I got was this lousy sigline

what is a season? I am from s. california and I have never heard of such a thing. or do you mean those clouds we had saturday?

yep!

Anyone know if any of Wills instructors are goin with him to Cal City ?*** I haven't been to will's place in a while, so I am not sure about all the instructors. george, jim, and chris have surfaced in the perris/elsinore area lately. I've heard tom is getting out of the jumping business for his latest project, which has been going on for a while. shauna (sp.?) is a mystery to me at the moment. I don't know where she is, but if anyone sees her, tell her I said hi. btw, this was all air adventures west (previously owned by sherry and shelly jones), located about 5 miles from the town of taft. around 5-6 years ago dave crouch opened skydive taft at the airport in town. as of last reports, he was just flying cessnas.

sherry and shelly jones sold the dz to will renfroe almost 5 years ago. after talking to displaced staff/fun jumpers, it appears will had a disagreement over the terms of his lease with the landowners. the buildings have been removed, and as of the last report will is buying slots at cal city for his students.

like I said, with both technique and altitude awareness. I have gotten out of being on my back with a velocity loaded almost 2.0:1 a couple times in the past 6 months. it can be done, but it takes more than just kicking.

come on, with technique and altitude awareness, you should save it. if you don't have both, pray you are lucky enough to tell your story. reserves aren't guaranteed either.

*cough* *cough* I don't rate high enough for an (dis)honorable mention? that hurts. I'll forgive you this time, but only because you were kind enough to introduce me to cora

but is that also with less than 500 jumps on the batteries?

maybe he didn't use the toggles because it was a rear riser swoop?

is anyone actually having their batteries not last 2 years or 500 jumps? we have seen this debate many times and it looks to me like one thing that just doesn't matter either way. we are talking about wear by shutting it off, but some people have to cycle their cypres off and on every jump (lz not on airport like at monterey).

QuoteWhat would you do if: 1. You showed up to the DZ early, before the pilot. The pilot calls and tells the DZO he is running a little late. A load has formed, geared up and is waiting on the pilot. The pilot arrives, jumps out of his car goes directly to the airplane, and without a pre-flight, starts it up and tells everyone to get in? theoretically, find a new dz. really, I'd jump. 2. You know that the pilot bail-out rig being used in the aircraft is out of date? take it as an indication of how the dz is run. see answer to #1. 3. Your friend's reserve is out of date and he wants to go make a jump with you, and use his out-of-date rig (you don't have a spare available for him top use)? out of date reserves are not automatically unsafe. hope he doesn't do anything stupid to warrant the faa to notice. 4. One evening you witness the DZO forging a 100-hour inspection in the jump-ship's logbook? find a new dz. I have done it before. 5. The pilot tells you the DZO has disconnected the tachometer to prevent the meter from showing that the 100-hour inspection is past due? see answer to #4 6. You become aware that the pilot's medical has expired and they are still flying jumpers? not jump with that pilot, or find a new dz. 7. The battery in the aircraft is bad (leaking) so the DZO removes it and "jump-starts" the aircraft for each load? find new dz. tell the dzo why he is losing my business. 8. The winds pick up in the afternoon and jumping stops. A few people have started drinking, including the pilot. The winds calm in the evening and a few of your friends want to make a sunset jump, and the pilot agrees to fly? not go on the jump, and keep a close eye on the pilot from then on. 9. On jump run, your are in a cloud, nothing but white in every direction, the pilot, turns and yells for you to go? unless the wings are falling off, stay in the plane if I can't see ground. I used to get out anyway, but I am wiser now. 10. Your rigger returns your rig to you, but did not replace you AAD batteries that have expired? find a new rigger and get a new repack asap. talk to the rigger to let him know why he is losing your business. 11. You become aware that the pilot is not calling Air Traffic Approach before dropping jumpers? spot for traffic. 12. You witness your DZO pack a reserve for a local glider pilot without a rigger's ticket or the supervision of a rigger? talk to the dzo, and probably find a new dz. 13. You witness a rigger pack a Seat bailout rig, but does not have a Seat rating, only a Back rating? talk to the rigger, and not give him any business. 14. You land off, in a tree, 20 feet above the ground? on the canopies I jump, the impact would likely kill me, but if I was stuck in a tree, wait for help. 15. At 500ft you initiate a hard toggle turn, and your steering line breaks? I don't do hard toggle turns ever, and don't toggle turn low often, but I would do my normal front riser approach, and do a rear riser landing. hopefully, I won't try to transistion to toggles out of habit. 16. During taxi, you notice two jumpers without their seat belts on, or only draped over their leg? at most dz's I would ask them to buckle up. at lodi, I left because most people didn't use seat belts. I won't be going back to lodi anytime soon. 17. During take-off you notice the cameraman in the back of the airplane is not wearing his camera helmet and it isn't secured with a seat belt? at my home dz, ask him to secure his helmet. at other dz's I usually just ignore it and hope for the best. 18. Your friend "pencil-packs" his reserve when he discovers it is out of date on the first day of a big boogie? I don't worry about it. if he dies, the faa should recognize the pilot was shown proof of a repack, and lay blame on the jumper.

I guess I have no understanding of pack volume. my first rig was built for a 135 main. my second rig has a bigger main pack volume even though I ordered it for a 120 main. since then, I downsized to a vengeance 107 that packs as big as a 120 spectre, and also used it for a velocity 103 and 96, which also pack as big as a sp. 120. so I guess I have done 4 downsizes. if you count that I have had a 135 in it, that would make 5 downsizes, and I keep a really tight closing loop with all sizes.

how long is the lineset on that think?

I am partial to the freedom jam at skydive oregon. I think it is the second weekend in august. it's a low key boogie, great facilities, awesome pond, fun competion for every discipline, and some of the nicest/coolest people I have ever met it the sport.

the skyhook looks very cool, but there is one thing I don't understand. with the rsl activation, how does the reserve pin get pulled? does the rsl lanyard have a "y" junction? ________________________________________________________ Abbie drove me to Idaho and all I got was this lousy sigline

it depends on the dropzone. so far in january, we have managed to lose 3 mains and one freebag. in all of those instances, they happened to be packed by the person jumping it. in the past year, 2 of the packers lost a main they were jumping, but I don't think we have had any losses packed by a packer for someone else. if you lose it, you pay. the packers do their best, but are not held responsible when shit hits the fan. hell, the last person to chop one of my packs actually bought me beer

who will be coaching? it seems for it to be an advanced canopy piloting course, it would make sense to have someone who is in good standing on the swoop circuit coaching. someone who understands the highest wing-loading is not the key to success, and someone who knows you can swoop further with a carve than a snap-hook. if you have someone like that coaching, that is a great price. otherwise, I don't know how advanced it will be.

I know I am not alone when I say I think the split main d-bag is a major hassle. I understand why they did it, but I don't like packing it. for those that have not seen one, it has 5 grommets, which seems like it is just asking for a bag-lock.

on my third jump of the year, at about the same time of day as you: pulled about 6000 on a velocity 96, spun it up, under open reserve at 4400. also landed next to my freebag. I don't know if I lost a toggle, because I lost the main even though I spent the rest of the day looking for it.

I have always packed like that, for several thousands of pack jobs, and tend to not have many problems/complaints except for people watching me pack and getting worried because they don't know that style of packing.