masterblaster72

Forgot to mention these. They're amazing and tons of fun to watch, not just bias toward my home dz. http://www.monkeyclaw.com/videos.html - 5-22-01 Stuey's Second Video - 1-23-00 Stuey's Video Part 2 - 1-12-00 Stuey's Video Part 1 Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

skydivingmovies: 1. (search for) Dutch Nationals Freestyle & Freefly 2002 (filename dutch_nationals_2002_frick.wmv) 2. (search for) Freefly at Crosskeys (filename) ck.wmv 3. ditto with above poster's Jeb Corliss Year in the Life 2003 4. http://www.dfly.it/gg2002.wmv Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I believe companies with 800 #s pay $.10 per call. So do what they say -- call 1800 Skyride....and do it often. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Exactly.It's the reason I go downwind early and don't go in far enough. Early on in AFF I had that off landing, and had to look around for a while for the out area (I was too far from the golf course). I'll just have to confront going farther downwind to get it right. Thanks for the reply. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I recently read a post regarding a game in which people bet on who's going to go in. I just learned a new term -- DGIT. It occurred to me that I might be worthy of a place on such a list, though I doubt my dropzone would have one. I've made the same mistake several times, even after being talked to about correcting the situation. I listen and thank the person who is giving me the advice, but I've made the mistake more than once. I definitely don't mean to. Over the weekend I made the same mistake I've made many times -- heading downwind too early, or not going far enough downwind out of fear of landing on trees, and coming in too early to the landing area and having to saché to lose altitude. The second time I made that mistake I got chewed out by another jumper. He called me a f.cking moron and repeatedly told me to look around before making turns over the landing area. I'm not whining about it, don't misunderstand me. Rather, I think he was in his right and that maybe I need a kick in the ass -- a humiliating experience to shake me up a bit. It definitely did. After a recent incident that involved a collision, I can imagine that the dropzone is on edge about these kinds of mistakes. It really made me think and reasess my involvement in the sport. I could live with harming myself, but I hadn't considered before that my mistakes could harm someone else. That would be very difficult to live with. I love skydiving and don't want to quit. But I don't want to be a danger to others. So I made a list of the mistakes I've made, and how many times I've made them. A lot of these mistakes were made on the same jump and are consequences of those mistakes on the same jump. Needless to say, I intend to put an end to them. I have the idea of studying it, maybe even reading it each time before I begin my day jumping. Have a look at the list -- it's not easy to post it but here it is. Whatever opinions you have, please share. Thanks. - landed way off dropzone after failing to locate it after opening. (once) - opened in spin, resulting in line twists. (five times) - lost altitude awareness trying to get stable during student jump, pulling at 4.5 instead of 5.5. (once) - kiting my canopy, not intentionally. I just found out that can be a hazard. (25 times) - repeatedly headed downwind too early (approx 20 times) - landed on or near runway (twice in one day) - sachéd over landing area (seven times, twice in one day, several days) - landed downwind (four times) - piloted over runway under 1,000 (three times) - turned below 200 (six times) - gone to the dropzone on a few hours of sleep (ten times) - failed to flare or flared much too late, resulting in hard landings (four times) - opened within 50 feet of another jumper (two times) - came in too high over landing area (15 times) - landed with legs apart (20 times) - pulled with belly not completely square to the ground (once) - tracked too far downwind before pull (five times) - boarded the plane in a rush, having forgotten my altimeter (once) - loose chest strap that someone else spotted (once) - came in too late to landing area, having a close call with trees (four times) And thanks to y'all at CK patient enough to offer advice. Paul Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I did ten jumps with a cold last month. It sucks. My sinuses were cracking the whole way up, ears popping, nose running. When I got to the ground, my throat was dried out. Still kept jumping anyhow. One thing you should never do is blow your nose in freefall. I made that mistake on one of those jumps, and the stuff got all over my goggles. Luckily it came only out of one nostril otherwise the only thing I would have seen is snot in both eyes and not the altimeter. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Dude, chill. The duress thing is exaggeration, not to be taken literally and I'm not bitching. It just wasn't something I expected and it made me curious as to how it related to other DZs and I wanted to hear some input as I'm new to the sport. In the end, I appreciate the fact that these dropzones even exist, no matter how different the people might be, especially in this sue-happy society we live in, and also in the face of newbies like myself who sometimes make mistakes. They all get my respect no matter what measures they take to protect themselves. Peace. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Well, it was a California DZ, but at risk of being an ingrate I won't say much more than that. There were some other things that puzzled me about this place -- not only that split second of feeling like a hostage under duress -- but maybe I'm too spoiled by my home DZ. Each one is different and bottom line is they all take risks just by being there and that's something I appreciate. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I was at a DZ over the weekend -- not my home DZ -- and their approach to the waiver was different than my home DZ's. After signing my waivers (I'm an almost- A-licensed newbie with 43 jumps) they sat me in front of a seven-minute video of a guy at a desk telling me the risks and the ramifications of me signing the waiver in case I die doing my jumps. To get his point across, he said the same thing many, many times in different wording. Understood. Then, they made me hold the waiver and had me stand in front of a camera and asked me to tell the camera that I understand and agreed to the terms in the contract. I thought that was a bit over the top, but then again, I'm not a DZ owner. That, along with the vibe at this DZ not being nearly as friendly as the one I go to, was quite sobering. I know that DZ's need to cover their asses and I completely understand their position, but my question is: why doesn't my home DZ (also a very large and well-known one) do this? I figure that since they all belong to USPA they would have the same procedures in place. Just curious...thanks. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I thought that someone who was there was going to see my posting. Thanks a lot for your message. It troubles me too that I made the same mistake twice -- I did seven jumps on Tuesday 10 May and didn't do that bad on any of my landings. I had the thought on the way back from the runway the second time that I should disappear and find another dropzone like others you mentioned have done. After the canopy inspection, I wanted to get back up there and prove to myself and others that I'd get it right -- exactly as you advised in your message -- but the conditions changed to an A license minimum, so after an hour of waiting I went home. The next jump or two that I do, hopefully next weekend, will be a canopy control coaching jump with Heath as the rigger advised. If he's not available it'll definitely be with someone else. I can imagine that this kind of sh.t -- especially twice -- tests your patience. The runway is a dangerous place and it could have been a real situation if someone was taking off. It's a lesson learned but it's not good for anyone that it was done more than once in one day. I owe Doug a beer and I was looking for him later but didn't find him. I owe you one too and the guys who picked me up the second time. You'll get my appreciation no doubt. Glad I'm welcome back to CK, been to other dz's and nothing compares to the vibe at CK. Thanks again to you and to the others who dealt with it. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I forgot to mention those were jumps #30 and 31 for me, in case you might want to know. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I botched two landings recently, both right near the runway, one that nicked some trees. Luckily the canopy wasn't damaged after an inspection. I miscalculated wind, got caught too far down, and recovered by the skin of my teeth. In addition to being embarrassed, I felt a certain guilt from f.cking up, scaring others and perhaps losing the trust of those at the dropzone. I didn't get that sense though, people seemed pretty cool about it. Needless to say it's a lesson learned and it won't happen again, but I may have disappointed some because I did it not once but twice. I'd be interested in hearing how experienced jumpers view these kinds of incidents and how they feel it affects them and the sport itself -- please give your 2 cents. Thanks! Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Ok, so I guess there's no list or ranking of dz's...I know it's pretty subjective, but I was wondering what they might be. Maybe I should make a new thread asking people to list the five they think are the biggest/best, would probably make for an interesting discussion. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Probably -- I know they're different from regular jumps, but they're jumps nonetheless... Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I'm a statistics junkie and I'm curious to know if there's some kind of ranking out there of biggest/most respected dropzones in the country. Thanks. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.