jumpingjoe

Welcome to the insanity. I bought, well ordered a new rig at around 40 jumps. Paid it off in installments. Bought a used canopy and now I am jumping my own gear at about 70 jumps.

There was lots of talks about a wind tunnel opening in NJ. Does anyone have any additional information about that? It was suppose to open in January but here we are in February now.

For those of you who want to read this: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/JianHuang.shtml Interesting stuff here. Blue Skies

Well if someone has pull with the being upstairs, don't forget about the Northeast. 22 degrees and wind gusts to 15mph. Boy was it cold getting out at 5000feet.

It is great when you jump and the ground is snow covered. It takes a few extra moments to figure out where the DZ is since it all looks the same. Key to jumping in the cold...NO EXPOSED SKIN...oh yeh and extra layers! We got lucky last weekend....it was 27 when we took off.

Dude, There are few people from the city that carpool to Sky's the Limit in NJ. http://www.skysthelimit.net JumpingJoe

Here is the follow up to the original article. This one was posted online Monday morning: By JEANNETTE SCHEIN Herald Staff Writer Although a court order by an administrative law judge was issued on Thursday revoking its license, the Sky’s The Limit skydiving business may continue operating, according to the state Department of Transportation. Much to the chagrin of some nearby residents, jumpers took to the skies again over Newton Airport on Stickles Pond Road on Saturday afternoon. According to Carla Kostelnik, the first jumpers landed about 1 p.m., Saturday. Kostelnik is a member of People Against Airport Expansion, a grassroots group of residents who live near Newton Airport and have complained about the operation. “We heard them fly over about 12:30,” Kostelnik said. “It’s a familiar, distinctive sound. We took videos and photos. They waved at my husband.” “I guess there’s some people who think the law doesn’t apply to them,” she said. “It’s inexplicable. It’s absolutely remarkable with the hubris involved.” Andover Township Police confirmed Saturday afternoon that they were called and responded to the scene, but said the airport is not part of its jurisdiction. A police spokesman said the information that skydiving took place on Saturday was passed to the state, which has jurisdiction over the airport. Anna Farneski, a DOT spokeswoman, said Saturday afternoon that DOT Commissioner Jack Lettiere has the administrative law judge’s decision and is reviewing it. “But in the interim, they are allowed to jump. The judge’s decision wasn’t an injunction,” she said. “The commissioner has the decision and is reviewing it this week,” Farneski said. “He is well aware of what an important issue this is and he wants to do what is best for the community and the airport.” Farneski said Lettiere has a meeting scheduled this week to discuss the issue and expects a decision on that ruling to be made in the next few weeks. Sky’s the Limit had no comment on the issue Saturday. The skydiving business has long been at odds with township residents who have complained about noise from its low-flying airplanes and incidents where skydivers have landed in some people’s backyards. Township officials also objected and said skydiving is not a permitted use in the township. On Thursday, Judge Thomas E. Clancy issued a ruling revoking Sky’s the Limit’s temporary operating licenses. In his ruling, Clancy said that the executive director of the state Division of Aeronautics made a mistake by issuing the first temporary license back in April of 2000 because much of the important paperwork and necessary information was missing from the application. Clancy also ruled that the first temporary license was not in compliance with the state Administrative Code and its original license was “corrupted, illegitimate and void.”

VANS!!!! I have worn VANS throughout the years for everything else. Now they are skydiving with me. Love them. Beat them to hell over and over again and they keep coming back for more. Maybe Jimbo bought knock off VANS called VENS...just kidding Jimbo. But I never had any problems with them. JumpingJoe

All....I am a jumper at the DZ in question. Here is some local information about the airport. The town has been fighting the airport since 1962 give or take. Long before the DZ was there. The skydiving center shares the airport with ultralites, home built planes, and a very large Helicopter (old Military issue). The west side of the DZ is 1/4 to 1/2 mile from a main road, the north side is a Christmas tree farm, the east side has a big pond and High voltage power lines, and the south side, you try to avoid at all costs due to residiental area with lots and lots of trees with no visible outs. The person who is quoted in the article is Mike Kostelnik and he owns a sheep farm just over a mile away from the Airport across the main road on the west side. The DZ actually has the sheep farm circled on the ariels and they specify on the paperwork and verbally not to land there. It just seems like right now the skydiving center is the easy target even though the fight to shut down the airport has been going on for years. Blue Skies JumpingJoe

I was in shock when I heard that the community was attempting to prevent skydiving in that secluded region of New Jersey. As a long term resident of the state, 30 years and counting, I have been to many areas of the state from the beautiful shores to gorgeous mountain regions. I have partaken in various activities to help me personally enjoy the state for what it is. I have grown up surfing the Jersey Coastline, rock climbed in Allamuchy State Park (as well as other areas in the USA), Kayaked some of our lakes and streams, snowboard our ski areas, as well mountain bike and hike to areas that most people can only dream about. So as you can see I am quite adventurous and safety plays a large role into how I live my life. Which leads me into the issue at hand: skydiving at Sky’s The Limit. I am proud to say that I am an AFF program graduate through Sky’s The Limit. This program is designed to teach a person the element of safety within a sport perceived dangerous. I chose Sky’s The Limit, after researching other Drop Zones in NJ. Sky’s The Limit made me personally feel welcome and safe long before I ever left the ground. I took some time to visit them and sit with the instructors to ask a large amount of questions regarding the safety aspects of this sport. Their commitment to the safety of the skydivers is among the best that I have experienced thus far. They stand firm regarding the FAA rules and regulations governing them. The individuals that make up the community at Sky’s The Limit are head and shoulders above the rest. In fact, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, many people, including families from the community, come to simply watch and enjoy the grace of the skydivers. Everyone is always welcome at Sky’s The Limit. Which is surprising since the community would like for them to leave. When I made my first AFF jump, many skydivers that I had met waited patiently while I made that inaugural leap late in the day. I felt a sense of support and belonging that was like no other feeling I have ever had. So they are concerned with low flying planes. This compared to other airports also located in the same area; Aeroflex being a full service airport and Trinca, which has low flying practice planes that take-off, circle at low altitudes and land. So how much of the taxpayers money is going into this and how open is the town in sharing that fact with their citizens? Blue Skies JumpingJoe

OK...I got one more....Picture this....a beautiful blue sky day in NJ. At the DZ it is safety day. We just finished lectures about canopy landing patterns and all that fun stuff. So this person goes up on her first jump off student status. She was never fully comfortable under canopy and as she is coming in, you can tell that she is landing off. One of the guys takes the 6 wheeler out to go pick her up. After a long delay he comes back with her and she is soaked and muddy, puzzled everyone askes where she landed. Well, she discovered a swamp that most of us never knew existed. She manged to get blown throw the narrowest of areas avoiding sticker bushes and trees. The 6 wheeler went back to get the gear and now is stuck in the mud floating in the swamp. So a couple more of us head out. The safety guy who only got to the DZ a few days ago is with us and starts heading out into the muck to get the gear. As he steps down he sinks to his neck in thick black muck. So now we have a safety guy, and a 6 wheeler stuck in the swamp. The safety guy manages to get himself out and get to the gear. We get the 6 wheeler unstuck as well. So off we go...so we thought. The 4x4 pickup truck that we were all in is now spinning all four tires. So now that is out. So after about 2 hours of playing in mud getting things unstuck the day is good. But not for this poor girl. She decides to go to the liquor store to buy beer for everyone and at age 35, soaking wet and covered in mud...they won't sell it to her because they believe her id is fake. After all that, and a Scott Miller canopy class, she is doing awesome as a skydiver. Blue Skies to all and to all a drunk night!

Ok...here is one about myself. Level 6.2...yes I failed the first time around. Well my JM said that he wanted me to do a superman exit on this go around since my exits were going great. Well we are at altitude my JM steps outside on the step, I look at him look down, and take a step backward. My JM is waving frantically for me to jump, I hear him screaming c'mon, c'mon. I look again and back up again. He then SCREAMS JUUUMMMPPPP!!!!!! I closed my eyes and rolled out the plane. The worst exit I ever did. Now I love them!!!!

OK...I have a couple but I will start with this one. An AFF student comes to the DZ. He manages to piss just about everyone off within his first jump class. A real attitude. During his AFF he would call the DZ to find out the weather, but live 1.5 hours away, then yells at manifest because the weather changed and he can't jump. On level two or three he was under canopy and listening to radio, the instructor was attempting to guide him and told him to flat turn to his left a little (DZ is on his right but he was high) for a couple of quick s turns. The guy makes a HARD left. Nose dives a bit and lands in the tree line. He was high enough that no one can reach him. The DZ has a resident Tree Expert but unfortunatly he was 45 minutes away. So up in the tree he sat. Once he got down, he yelled at the AFF instructor for telling him to turn. Explaining to the AFF instructor that the instructor did not understand what he was doing. The instructor tried to explain what was going on and the student just made a comment that the instructor just didn't get it. Well hanging in a tree for about an hour could not have happened to a nicer guy.

I am from Jersey and jump in the northern part. Sure the weathers been cold but dressing right works well. I was told by experienced jumpers that the key to jumping in winter is "NO EXPOSED SKIN". It really has not been to bad though.

I have a friend who has been a skydiver for about 12 years or so. When I started AFF, he was really excited for me but told me not to take it personally if I felt like he was ignoring me. He wanted to let me take it all in from my AFF instructors first. He left the advice to the instructors. After I graduated though....he has been very supportive as a coach. Me being a newbie myself, I share with others what has been shared with me. But I know that I am by no means qualified to be giving advice. One thing that a few of newbies did do is challenge some of the experienced guys knowledge of the AFF tests. It was quite amusing watching some of the all knowing struggle.

I make a mean baked ziti. Great now I am hungry!

Happy Birthday Ivan...Eat plenty of birthday cake so when we jump you will actually fall instead of float into the atmoshpere.

Yes that would piss me off. I am usually one of many that go looking for people. One hand washes the other right? Well here is one for you....I was out looking for someone who landed about 2 miles out after tracking away during a 16 way. I had a radio from the DZ and my cell phone. I was racing through the trails in my truck pinned into a dead end that I had to back out about 100 yards....I was out for a good 20-30 minutes when I finally called the DZ on cell phone since no one was answering the radio, to tell them that I just can't find him. They proceeded to laugh and say that the guy got back a while ago. I did not particularly think that was cool. I laughed about it later but at the time I was steamed. At least I got to do some off roading in an area that I would not have been allowed into any other time. Blue Skies

I had a pilot at my DZ that was great. (bummer that he left...Tommy we miss you) I was the last one out the door just doing a solo. I was enjoying watching the place fly away when all of a sudden I saw the pilot waving to me. I thought that he was just doing something in the plane until we got to the ground and he walked up to me and said "Nice Form!, Good Arch" I guess I never gave my pilot enough credit.

Yes...I was looking at a triathlon. Any advice?

I am currently in the market for used gear. I have about 55 jumps now. Everyone points to PD for canopies, and was just wondering about peoples opinions on Aerodyne Research, especially as a first canopy.

I did my AFF mostly with the same JM and when I was done did a few coach jumps and a lot of solos. Learned a great deal from coaches. Now I convince the JMs to do fun jumps with me, and well, they still feel the need to critique. So I feel like I am continually learning. In fact the picture that you see is me and a JM doing my 50th.

I went and did it alone, in fact this girl I now know went and drove two hours to do a tandem by herself, loved it and signed up for AFF that day. She is now on level 6 and has been doing alone....well not alone any more with all her new found friends....and me her new found boyfriend. Good luck with it. Blue Skies Jumpingjoe

Ok...I happen to know who CrazyIvan is talking about as well. And here is my 2 cents....I currently rent gear and being the nice person that I am, share with others. When I asked her to jump the rig next she got all pissed off and went to another DZ, but there was an air show going on so she came back. When she saw me, she said "your still here, well I am manifesting so I am jumping the rig", I informed her that I was already manifested and involved in a 3-way. She told me that I should take myself off of manifest so that she could jump. Any thoughts on that?

I have not checked this site in a while. I am very happy for you. Keep jumping. It is only going to get better from here on out.