LearningTOfly

I built a ghillie awhile back just for fun. They're very very fun items to crawl around the bush in, although I haven't had the patience for them lately. Anyways, congrats. Edited for stupid spelling

3 drives in 2 months... wow man, that's really frustrating. I did try the freezer trick, but to no avail... thanks for the advice, though. Now I do have a 40 gig external... relatively small, yes... but enough to hold the important stuff. I think I'll back that up with another external once I get the cash to buy a second. Just thinking about it- it's like a reserve for the reserve....

My hard drive bit the dust the other day... since then I had it replaced under warranty, but the computer doctor says that he can't salvage a thing from the old one. Argh, how that's frustrating... the pictures and videos (all skydiving and flying, of course) and other irreplacable files are gone forever- and I was just planning to back them up, too. Bah... pout.

Speaking about flipping... here's my story: Went down south for vacation and jumping. I hadn't jumped in five months and was jumping a new rig at a new dropzone... links in a chain right? Well I took a look at the winds, the layout picture, thought about my experience and decided that the risk was acceptable. My canopy skills tend to be much better than my freefall ones, so I thought that a h&p would be last risky. Risk being the chance of having to deploy on my back or spinning. Anyways, I get the (semi-reluctant) okay to go, gear up, get a gear check, and board the plane. It was built for 14 or so jumpers and there were six of us- four of those were tandem assemblies. The ride up was fantastic- no pressure at all- mostly due to the lack of a nagging jumpmaster or coach (this can be a good thing othertimes, though). It turned out that I couldn't get out low because of traffic above the airport at the time, so I was 'stuck' going to the top floor. Heading through 7000' I realized "Hmm, I guess this means freefall time" At that point I thought "Eh, f-it, lets have fun" and the nervousness was gone- totally. I knew I was going to botch the exit anyways, so I decided to try a backloop exit... actually, no... I can do a perfectly fine stable exit, I just love doing backloops on exit and watching the plane as I fall away- even though I've only tried it twice. The video afterwards showed a not so graceful half loop half roll flail out the door, but that's not the point- the point is that I didn't worry before going out the door and it turned out to be my best jump yet... fifty seconds of stability except for the part halfway down when my goggles flipped up and I tried to put them back on... unsuccessfully. The landing was un-eventful and stood up... I could have put it in the peas even, but I was told specifically to shoot for the student landing area, and so I did. My advice would be: arrange to do a fun jump- don't put any pressure on yourself by trying to do planned turns or loops or whatever... it'll be ugly, but lots of fun, and a confidence builder- and that's the point of this sport, no? (Just make sure it stays safe)

I recently flew to the states via Air Canada, and carried my rig onboard. Heading out of Toronto I was selected for one of those random searches... talk about timing. Well after the body search (which wasn't bad, nothing offensive) another guard unzipped my duffel and saw the rig. She didn't quite know what to make of it- she poked it and asked "Is there something inside this bag?" I said "Yep" She asked "What?" I said "Two parachutes..." It seemed that she didn't quite catch that (english wasn't her first language) and asked with a confused look on her face "Sorry, what?" So I responded "Two sport parachutes" This time she got it alright and her eyes went wide as she said "Oh! Wait here, um, I need to talk to my supervisor" and she walked off. I took it that they didn't see rigs on a regular basis. She retured about thirty seconds later and said "Okay, you're fine to go" And that was that. On the return trip from the states, the guards were much cooler- I'm sure that they see a few rigs go through every week, as it was in Florida- instead of giving me a hard time about the rig they tried to hasle me about the size of the duffel, but that was short lived. If you fly with your rig, take your alti along and watch it... on takeoff, you'll descend about 400' Your cruising altitude will be 6500'

No... but what if quitting meant the difference between buying the farm next week or twenty years from now after tripping on the sidewalk, knocking yourself unconcious, and drowning in a puddle? (also quick and easy) I've reasoned back and forth on the topic a bit. I figure in the end it's just odds that determines which side of the fence we land on We improve the odds by staying safety concious... pack relatively neat, keep the rig inspected, and if worse comes to worse it appears that the solution to a reserve baglock is to reel the sucker in and hand deploy it (dump high) After that, you're subject to flying yourself into something, bad luck, or structural failure of the harness... the latter of which is my biggest concern. Back to the origional topic: I'd quit if I knew for sure... I'm still a kid and while the future is blurry, it's there none the less.

I've had two of those three of those type dreams before... two were watching, one involed myself. Funny thing was that everybody got up and walked it off afterwards. Wonderfully strange things these dreams are...

Woohoo! I have a chance!!! (I mean in general) doh! Time heals all...

1. Whats your name? Mike 2. How old are you? 19 3. Why did you decide to start jumping out of airplanes? "If riding in a plane is flying..." ...I love sky 4. Are you single or taken? Married? Single 5. Do you have kids? No... don;t scare me like that 6. What do you drive? 99 ToyCam 7. Have you ever done a kisspass? Nope 8. Where do you live? The other London... 9. Do you have any pets? Two Australian Sheps 10. How many jumps do you have? 28 11. What color eyes do you have? Hazel-ish 12. What is your nationality? Canuck 13. Have you ever dated someone you met off the internet? No 14. Favorite Movie? Top Gun... but I don;t watch many movies anyhow... the stupidity in the few I see now and then usually turns me off for months between. 15. What do you do when you arent skydiving? Study and work... ...and fly things that make lots of noise, play guitar, work on my Dr-107, daydream about being in the air, muse about things I should or shouldn't do 16. Have you ever BASE jumped? No 17. If not... do you want to? Not at this point 18. Do you have siblings? One little sis 19. Where do you want to travel to the most? B.C. 20. What's your favorite color? Blue is pretty cool right now 21. Where was the last place you flew to ( not skydiving )? Florida... incidentally, I did a little skydiving there too, but that wasn't the focus of the trip.

Or the dreaded orange farts? blech ...stink a dog off a gut wagon

Okay, there's all of these photons flying around during the day, and at night too if a light is on... now we can see things only because these photons fly into our eyes and trigger whatever receptors are back there- but our eyes never increase in mass or anything like that, even though bazillions (technically) fly into our eyes every moment. How is that?

Drugs or engineering school... I haven't decided which is worse yet...

I just thought I post my story, partially because I don't get into coversations on this forum often enough, and partially because I want to know if anyone else out there has experienced the same. Three nights ago I had a fairly strange dream. I don't know where it was, but I was on a tracking dive with some other jumpers. I didn't know at all who they were, but we all seemed to be enjoying ourselves rightly, so I didn;t think anything of it. Anyways, we exit I was leading the flock, belly to earth to begin with, then about halfway through, I flipped onto my back to watch the others. The wave off happened as usual, and I flipped back over and tracked a little more just to ensure I was clear. I dumped at what felt like the normal altitude. Then the strange stuff began- I was stood up, but I didn't feel myself slowing down. I quite calmly decided that it was either a baglock or a streamer and directed my gaze upwards to verify for sure. I look up to see that it is in fact a baglock, but curiously, the bag is falling at about the same altitude as my eyes were, with the lines outstreched above... sort of like a horseshoe-baglock. I go right to my EP's ...chop, pull silver... but I still do not slow down. In my head I'm thinking that this situation is becoming a bit more hassle than I was interested in. I look back up to see that the main apperently didn'd release properly, and now the reverve bag is entangled with it. In the next scene of this dream I'm standing on the ground, embarassed as ever, and wondering what sort of reprimand I'm in for once I get back to the DZ... I figure that I might as well untangle the mess for them, and begin to extract the main's pilot chute through a large ring that connected the reserve bridle to the reserve bag- I figured that that was the problem that prevented the deployment. Then, out of embarassment of landing without an open canopy, I pulled the reserve out and spread it over the ground in front of me (maybe hoping no one would notice). And that was the end of what I remember of that dream. Strange enough... but then, the very next night (night before last)... I had another dream that I was on a dive and went low... I figured that I was about 1000' agl when I reached for my main, then stopped and thought "that cypres is going to go off any second, might as well go straight to the res" and so I did- straight to silver. I was stood up going through 700' I would say, and I looked up to watch the canopy snivel... and snivel ...and snivel Then, as I knew I was getting really low, I grabbed the front risers and pulled down to try to present a better angle for the air to inflate the cells with. The next thing I know I'm at treetop level, with a partially inflated canopy, but moving forwards with a tremendous amount of speed (for a partially inflated canopy) The rest was fuzzy- I don;t recall what the 'end' was like... Anyways, after each of those dreams, I woke up feeling surprizingly refreshed...

Thanks all for the info... and also for that link (very helpful). Blue Skies LTF

www.surclaro.com is pretty good... and I think I've seen a skyvan there, too. Apperently there is also a 'skydiver' effect out there that drops a static line jumper out of the aircraft...

Question from a 27 jump wonder: Is there any advice against reaching around and pulling the pin by hand? I've heard that uncocked PC's supposedly have enough pull force to unstow lines fairly well...

I was wondering to myself today... is there a possibility of the x-rays used by airport security messing up some of the computer hardware within the cypres. Have any detrimental effects on the cypres system's integrity been found (in the past) after travelling via the friendly skies with a rig?

The 206 we use dosen't have a door... in winter it's a bit chilly, but I love sitting next to the door on the ride up and sticking my hand or foot out into the propwash. There's really no way you're going to fall out unless you try to, so I never worry about it. On my very first jump, I had a blast, no worries... then between my first and second I read up on the accident stats and was scared stiff for the next ten or so jumps. I find the worst part of the jump for fear is the taxi to the runway... it's where you're body says "You can still turn around...!" Once it's wheels up, you're not thinking one bit about landing with the plane. I got the strongest taste of adrenaline in my mouth from jumps about 10-27(now)... oh man, I loved it! Stupid winter...

It's stuff like this that I really hate to hear about. When you're packing a canopy, you're arranging someone's first line of defese against doing battle with the gound at high speed. "Oopsie, I forgot" shouldn't cut it when a packer is experienced (say 100+ jobs) It should be a 100% effort and concentration task. ...speaking of which, I should take my own advice and get back to studying calc But before I do I have to ask: what's up with messy pack jobs? And does anybody ever take note? (at smaller dz's) I know some DZ's hire kids to pack... it's cool to introduce them to the sport... but I wouldn't jump their job for a million dollars... they have material everywhere, the lines going to the sausage are spread over a 12-14 inch area. I think sometimes that because the kids are kids, they don't quite understand the responsibility that they are given, and the grave results that can occur (no pun). I say this coming from being a packer before I could jump, so I have a little insight... It took about 30 packs to realize how much my job mattered, but throughout that time, and even now, no matter who I pack for, I pack one of the neatest and most critically examined jobs you'll see. and you guys who say "Don't worry...it's not a reserve.." can go bite a cowfish. End half rant on messy packing.

I wish I had this kind of time... and uh, yea, what about Top Gun? It only has the best opening scene, like, EVER!

The way to start is to hop in the car or whatever means of transportaion is available and visit the nearest small airport with a flight school... I know of a good school in Lantana, but that's more south than central... any school will do, though. (If I were in your shoes, I'd find a school that operates a tailwheel aircraft- they're just as easy to learn on, and once you know how to fly a tailwheel, nosewheel control is a no brainer... or no- footer, as the case may be.) Once you find a school, and like what you see there, arrange for an intro flight. It costs $60 or so and you'll get all the hands on flying your instructor is comfortable with. After that it's only a matter of scheduling your next lesson... When all is said and done and signed, it will cost approximately $6000 to go from pedestrian to pilot. This will cover aircraft time based on course completion in close to minimum time, instructor time, and groundschool. (Btw, I work in Canadian dollars, so values given may need adjustment) One word of advice that I will give is: When you do begin training, know that you will have the time to fly at least three times a week. Otherwise it's pointless... going a week or two between lessons makes both lessons a waste of time and money. Finish the license in a minimum timeframe, and you will finish in minimum time (flight-hours wise). And don't be afraid to ask silly questions... you'll have to learn the answers somehow, and learning the hard way in flying sucks. Best of luck to you...

LMAO... ..it's true- Vday is the one day of the year when prostitition is legal... here's some flowers, sleep with me... ...

There are a few good books out there... I came across one called "Pre-Calc in a Nutshell" a few years back. It did a pretty good job of covering the basics. Try you local Barnes and Nolbe for books like that. Some school text books are pretty helpful once you get going, but others are just not worth a cent they charge- my "calc for eng['s]" for instance uses stupidly complicated phrases to describe simple operations. Have fun with integrals when you get there... they're a blast... Best of Luck

I feel that, dude... I'll say that I wouldn't be disappointed in the 'blaze of glory' style- via an aeroplane might be nice. Totally better than going out in a car crash, or something stupid like that. ...knock on wood... I've wondered about what comes next sometimes, though... I used to think that there was some sort of afterlife or something, but now have changed my views a bit... Now I think that it'll be more of a poof- black type thing... which brings up and interesting wondering- when it does go black, that might mean that whatever we did back in life would be worthless. Much like life is during sleep... kind of depressing to think about- but motivating at the same time...

...you find your self sitting at your desk nodding your head back and forth while thinking 'ready, set, go'