unclbennie

Someone emailed me about a gear bag and I can't find the email. So if it was you, contact me again, you said your girlfriend was interested. Thanks Karen

I have read it, and its all true!! Rita is a friend of mine, and she writes like she talks!! It's a fun read of her experiences learning to skydive, and eventually suffering a very serious accident from which she has recovered Karen

OK Frodo, this did happen to me during my student progression. I did AFP so its 15 jumps and only one jump master. On one of the jumps the exit is, JM in front, student pretty much leaning on the JM's back, as the JM exits, the student just follows them out. So, in the door, READY SET GO!! Out goes the JM and I'm still standing in the door, I look behind me and a TM leans forward, over his tandem student and screams JUMP GOD DAMMIT!! So I did, (he scared me right out the door). So, there I am at 14,000 feet, no JM, I think, well they tell ya if you lose your JM pull, but there is no way in hell I'm pulling at 14,000, hmm, this is my first solo!! So, at about 5000 feet I see my JM, he must have worked like hell to get big, and I had a pretty good fall rate. I'm still above him, he waves me to come closer and I shook my head no, waved off and pulled :-). Landed with no radio help (I think the JM was pissed at me or something) and stood up the landing. So there is a real life example, I guess I could have pulled at 14000, but it was cold up there. I did fail that level, and when I repeated it, I was the first to exit. Oh, yea, the JM was Roger Nelson. Karen

Josh, I don't usually post here, but feel I have to. Do NOT quit taking a long term medication without a doctors supervision, preferably the one who prescribed it. You can get off Paxil with minimal side effects if you follow a wean program that is right for you. Not all wean programs are right for everyone, so CALL your doctor. For future reference the best thing to do when a doctor hands you a prescription get answers to these questions: what is it for what should I expect to happen what are the common side effects what side effects should I seek medical care for how long do I have to take it how will I be weaned off of it how often do I need to see the doctor while on this med are there any blood tests that need to be done while on this med and are there other treatment alternatives besides taking this medication other questions may arise depending on the answers to the above questions. Be an educated consumer, don't just "do as the doctor orders", make sure you understand the treatment and the hoped for outcome. Good luck Karen

damn!!! I'm not going till 2062!! I'm going to be OLDER than dirt!!! Karen

Hello everyone, Most of the time I just lurk this website and I have noticed that a lot of time is spent referring to breasts. Well, since so many of you have an interest in them, I'm going to ask you for a donation to help preserve them. I am a skydiver but I'm not good enough or experienced enough to participate in jump for the cause. BUT I am able to participate in something called The Avon Breast Cancer 3-Day. I am going to walk 60 miles from Kenosha Wisconsin to Chicago Illinois. I have agreed to raise $1900 in donations by May 17th. The money raised in this event will support the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade's mission to fund access to care and find a cure for breast cancer with a focus on medically underserved women. I am asking that anyone who is able, to help me raise the $1900 or more dollars. Its a good cause. If you would like to make a donation toward my fundraising effort, you can do so online at www.BeThePeople.com. Go to Make a donation online and my ID number is 7277. If you use this number I will get credit toward my goal. Thanks in advance for your donation. Many of you know someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, we have seen how it affects their lives and our. If you or someone you know has been touched by breast cancer, send me the name, yours, or someone else's and I will print it on a pink ribbon that I will pin to my hat and I will carry that name with me thw whole 60 miles. Thank you for your support, and at the end of the walk I'll post something here to let you know how it went. blue skies all!! Karen Kirby-Hall email the names to me at: Unclbennie@aol.com

Go for it!! I quit December 16th 2000, haven't had one since then, I did improve my fall rate a bit, but working on that now, and its so nice to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without sounding like a ran a mile!! Karen

Chris, Stick with it, I quit one year and one week ago, after 25 years of a pack + a day. If I can do it, you can too!! The patch helped ALOT, keep us posted Karen

Kelly, So far no real injuries while I have been at the DZ, but last week I trained 7 JM's and fun jumpers in first aid and CPR, we had fun and they where glad they took the class. I'm hoping to run another class in the fall. During the class some interesting questions came up such as what to do if someone is wearing a full faceshield helmet and you suspect a neck injury and they vomit? Get the face shield open. If its a fixed shield held in place with velcro, try to unfasten the velcro while someone stablizes the head. I would say don't remove the helmet if you suspect a head/neck injury, just get the face shield open and clear the airway that way. Once EMS is there and has imobilized the neck spine, let them take the helmet off. Any other thoughts? Karen

I spent a bunch of time trying to convince my family that this was less dangerous that alot of things I have done. Finally I just said "your right, its dangerous, there is absolutly no good reason to jump out of an airplane. But... when have I ever needed a good reason to do things?" Karen

Last issue of parachutist had some information in it. Comments where due to HCFA etc., by April, they will review and probably make recommendations soon, then if its not in our favor, everyone will have to write to their congressperson/senator to see if it can be changed. I did get hurt skydiving and the ER doc just put that I was hurt in a fall. Didn't say what I fell from. Insurance covered it. Karen

Well, I had my first (Beer) mal packed for me on Sunday. Second jump of the day. I was taking advantage of the mothers day special (discount on the jumps for moms). Did a nice solo, opened at 3000, opened in a wicked spin, it was fast!! I don't know what was wrong, suggested by the rigger either a lineover or an unstowed break. The toggles were not loose,and I just thought, well, I can't fix this!! reached for my handles, my hands went right to them, peal pull punch, peal pull punch, beautiful baby blue PD 143 above my head. The RSL probably beat me to it, but I didn't care!! Watched my gear land a few fields over to the east, I landed on the main landing area and I stood it up!! Got all my gear back, held onto my handles. I had a spinning canopy a few weeks ago, but it wasn't my gear, I'm going to have someone jump with me soon and watch me deploy just to make sure I haven't picked up some bad habits over the winter. I have never had a problem with poor body position on deployment, but worth checking out. Karen

Billy, Yes there is a story to the Unclbennie name!! And yes the Good Sam law "should" cover you. But.. an atty see's that someone with medical training responded and they WILL try and sue you. Now, you are covered by the Good Sam law, but there are legal fees, time lost from work going to court etc. I agree with you about who I want with me responding to an emergency. I was helping a jumper who had a very hard landing, I was worried about a compression fx., a doctor who jumps showed up and wanted to move her to the hanger where "he would be more comfortable examining her". I kindly asked him to go check to see if 911 had been called. I will say that over the years I have become jaded, when I help in an emergency, I never give my name, or at least my full name, and when 911 shows up, I fade into the background. I will always stop and help, but I won't always give my name. American Red Cross offers a good class called "When Help is Delayed", it covers how to help someone when EMS is more than 20 minutes out. Tell your DZO's I'd be happy to come teach it, all they have to do is come pick me up!! Blue skies Karen

Billy & Kelly, The Good Sam act protects you to a point, if you are a licensed person, or a professional in the medical field an atty, WILL go after you. Say a skydiver lands hard, has face injuries, your DZ bought a suction machine, but everyone has been playing with it and now it doesn't work. (yea I know, we would all keep something like that locked up). Or they used all the suction tubes to drink beer the last time it rained. Anyway, now you have equipment that didn't work or was not properly maintained. The DZ by just having that equipment available and not maintaining it can be sued. You can be sued because you where the identified medical professional and you didn't ensure that the equipment was maintained. I know of what I speak, I review malpractice files for attys (defense). I've seen some pretty strange lawsuits and some strange ones settled out of court because it was less expensive. Anyway, as medical professional and a skydiver, I don't go to the DZ to be the identified medical person. Also do remember, all that fun equipment would be stored in the hanger, probably locked up. Most people who get hurt don't land right next to the hanger, I always seem to have to walk a bit to get to em!! (how inconserate of them!!!) I will help out to best of my ability if someone is injured, but I"m going to do it with whats available, and wait till the ambulance arrives. Then you are covered for sure under the Good Sam act. Keep helping but remember there are limits to what we can do and stay within your boundries and only do what you are absolutly sure of!! Blue skies and long weekends!! Karen

Kelly, Good idea on the locker. Keep some kind of stock list so you know what you have and what you have to replace. Also make sure the DZO is paying for the supplies. The only thing I would have tons of are bandaides, seems like someone always needs one. That and gloves!! Good luck Karen

Lummy, I had one brake unstowed on opening, which started the spin, I wasn't going to stop spinning until I fixed that, the spin caused the line twists, so I unstowed the other brake, kicked out of the line twists and had a good canopy over my head at that point. I just didn't like how quickly that canopy used up altitude. I had a brake unstowed on my triathlon last summer and it opened in a lazy left hand turn, never had line twists on that one. (and no I didn't pack either one of those) Karen

as it was pointed out to me, once your past the lions, the next challenge is exiting and avoiding the prop!! Karen

I'm lucky, I have a brother who skydives and a cousin. It's all my brothers fault that I skydive. Three years ago he was signed up for static line, called me and convinced me to do a tandem. Well I did the tandem, he did the static line and I then signed up for AFP. He had to take a break due to other obligations. Last summer for his birthday my other brothers and sisters bought him the first two jumps of the AFF course. So now he jumps with me!! We have a cousin who lives out west who also is a skydiver. The three of us where able to get together in California and do a couple of jumps together, that was pretty cool to share the sky with my bro and cuz Smile Karen

Skymamma, You are not the only clueless one out there, I was thinking that on the safety page maybe posting a question a week and seeing what kind of response was generated. Just a thought Karen

Not to be a wet blanket, but this sport is dangerous, and not only can it kill you, it can permanently injure you. My family fully understands that I can do everything right and still die on a typical skydive. Or that a "minor" misjudgement on my part can lead to life in a wheelchair. But I see it as a calculated risk, one that on most days I"m willing to take. Blue skies Karen

I went there last summer for a weekend of jumping and had a blast. The outs are kind of tight, but the DZ seems friendly and no attitude. Go visit, spend the day and see what you think. Make sure you meet the burping dog!! Blue skies Karen

It is a Safire 162 (odd size I know, but she had it made that way), Wing loading for me was barely 1:1, and yes I counted em, after I released the brake and started kicking out of them I counted how many times I went around, (watched altitude also, the last two where at 2000 feet, and I know I dumped at 4000 cause my brother wanted to wave off high so he could practice his track, and I figured I'd pull high since this wasn't my canopy. It was interesting!! Made me dizzy. Blue skies and back to my trusty Triathlon!! Karen

A friend asked me to jump her brand new Safire today. She is unable to jump right now and she wanted to see her canopy in the air. I said "sure!!" since my gear is waiting to be put together it was a way to get into the sky. Did a fun two way with my brother, broke high as I wanted to open high (4000) and see how this canopy flared etc. Opened with one brakeline unstowed and went into a fairly fast spin. Reached up and released the other brake, grabbed rear risers and starting pulling as I now had about 17 line twists, started kicking out of them, glanced at my altimeter after kicking out of most of them and was at almost 2000 feet. This canopy ate up alot of altitude in a short period of time. I reached for the cutaway handle, as I still had a number of line twists, but spun out of the last few pretty quickly. The nice thing was, once the line twists where out, this canopy wanted to fly straight, The crummy thing was, I was unable to get back over the runway over 1000 feet, so had to land on the other side and walk back. Anyway, in comparison to my Triathlon, this canopy spun ALOT faster (had a brake come unstowed on my Tri, and it was just a lazy left hand turn). So watch your altitude when working on a problem!! Blue Skies karen

Lisa, my hubby was on the jury for a murder trial, they got sequestered. Make sure you keep some necessities in your bag, bring a toothbrush and clean underwear!! Good luck and hopefully it will go quickly Karen

This summer at Richmond, my cousins reserve opened on the Casa, he was sitting near the tailgate and the door was partially open. We had the pilot shut the door, my cousin took his rig off, and went and sat on it up by the pilot. The rest of us jumped. Not the same as a cessna, but thats what we did in the CASA. Then earlier this year he and I where on an Otter, someone kicked his pin on his main and opened his main up. He cut away, took the rig off and went and sat on his rig up near the pilot, again we all exited except him. Poor boy he missed two fun skydives Karen