openingshok

I have made it a habit to get my head back as far as I can and rest my helmet on the yoke of my rig on opening. I have had some big slammers and the weight was very well supported. This won't work on every rig as the yoke height may vary, but it works for me.

I actaully fly with shorts as often as possible. I like the ability to get under the tandem and shoot from below. In my experience when I have pants on it creats more drag on the back half and makes it a little more difficult to get under and pointed up without backsliding. I use very little leg input while shooting tandems. Usually it is all wing.

I burn straight off laptop with Sonic (A sister program to Roxio). For personal friends, family, etc, I will also flip and lightscribe. Takes longer, but is cool to use sometimes.

I didn't know how many it was going to take, but I knew how many they were going to USE! You stole my line!!!

I'm there!!!

It's really bad when you are one of three in the family who jump. When one of us slips up, we start laughing our asses off and everyone else looks at us like the voices just told a joke!!! We keep laughing though.

Sounds like your doing alright to me. I was working for the same arrangement a couple years ago (I am wondering if we are from the same place) and I couldn't complain. I talked to some other instructors at various dz's around the country and they were making maybe $10 a head. You got it alright. The only reason I stopped training is I had an "Event" with a student, saw the human side of what it was I was dealing with, and I guess lost the stomach for it. That and I prefer to be in the air flying video and didn't have the opertunity at the dz I worked at to fly camera. Anyway, $15 bucks a head is really good considering the overhead a DZ has with Fuel costs and what not. For those of you who are planning on making a living teaching SL/IAD, forget about it. I did it to finance my addiction. I didn't pay for a single jump in 3 years. The downside is your in a class room for 8 hours. At least with other disciplines of working the trade you are in the air making money.....that's were it's at!!

Hands down, without a doubt, the sweetest jumpship anywere. The cabin as front to back windows, not ports like an otter. The view while climbing is incredible. It is like sitting in a convertable. The straddle seats are very comfortable, and the door, well, a barn comes to mind. Huge!!! The step is fantastic. For you camera flyers, it has an extension that is ~6" wide and over a foot aft of the door. Non of this looking for a little nib of metal to put your tow on while you are trying to swing out. Your whole foot is supported!! Awsome ride. "Get in, Sit Down, Shut Up, and Hang on!!!"

My eyelids are still flapping. Now I wear sunglasses on every jump so I am never without them. Sucks on night jumps though.

HMMM. I work for Garmin and I never thought I would see one of our antennas mounted like that. Looks good. However, it will take a little bit for the unit to re-aquire the satellites from the time spent in the plane, unless you are in a Cessna and have the back to dash slot, then you could maintain signal through the windscreen.

Fill a tank taller than you up with water right to your nose, insert an IV into your arm that keeps you in constant suppply of beer, and piss yourself to death HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Think about this....Back in the day (way before my time) everyone flat packed. That required rolling the nose one way or the other, not down the middle, if I recall from the vintage videos.......But I do believe the slider is what slows the opening, not the nose. I have a crossfire, and I just stuff the nose. I had a stiletto and I could have stapled the SOB shut and it would have still kicked my ass...

ALright, here's the skinny. You ever hear of the drug dealers who go out of business because they consume their profit.....Yeah, that's about what your faceing. If you get to the point were you can start making money (200 jumps at a small static line dz, 500 jumps minimum at a tandem/AFF facility) You will love jumping so much you'll just spend all your earnings on fun jumps at the end of the day. About the only profit you will make is that trip you took to Disney World with the family you wrote off on your taxes because you made one jump at DeLand and called it a business trip.

What kind of jumps do you currently do that you wouldn't do without an AAD? I think what Spence means, correct me if I'm wrong Spence, is that with a AAD we feel fairly safe on any jump. Without the AAD, we wouldn't tie a gag in our mouths, strap our feet to our ass, and yell "do me like a bad boy".......Well, you know. It might be hard to get stable in a situation like that........Uhhh, I gotta go!!

Wow, I certainly hope you do a lot of solos. Do you ever hope to get a instructor rating? Do you realize how fast a stuednt can go from stable to in your face and bloodying your nose? Or how about the guy that gets on the 20 way who said he had 200 jumps, but really only had 20 jumps but really wanted to get on......do you think organizers at big events really check? How about the pilot that sneezed on your exit, pulling the yoke just that little bit, causing the door frame to come down on the back of your neck. All are unlikely, but can you tell me any of the absolutely can't happen? Just something to think about......

Actually, I just edjucated myself and went to SSKs website. I didn't realize people were exceeding the limits under canopies, although looking at the latest micro rigs I can see how, but apparently they sell a seperate unit for high speed swoops. I had just heard there was a software upgrade.....I didn't realize you had to purchase a new unit.....I don't think I will be reaching that limit under my 149 no matter how much I weigh......

But I'd jump a rig without one in a heartbeat; the vast majority of my jumps were before AADs were for experienced jumpers. That's cool. I'm not here to judge anyone or tell them what to or what not to do. Most likely I will never use mine, and I think the day I do will probably be the day I hang my rig up, but each weekend I jump with people I don't know, and I have a lot of confidence that I won't end up dead because a stranger deployed under me while I was in the camera spot and knocked me out. You just never know. That's why I wear a seatbelt. It's not when, but just in case the unthinkable happens. I still think the Cypres has proven itself over the years. It has saved 2 very important peole in my life. I can't think of what today would be like without those two. Brian

Swoopers (who often do hop & pops when working on high performance landings) will turn them off because the rate of descent in their swoop can be within the firing parameters of an AAD. See this fatality for an example. Doesn't SSK have a upgrade that fixed this problem? Others choose not to turn them on because the risk of a freefall collision presumably goes away on a hop & pop. To answer the original question - I'm very much a "new timer" and I have always had one and choose to jump with it. I have also made jumps without it when my Vigil was being fixed, and I'm glad that I had that experience (it was early in my skydiving career - maybe 60 jumps) to know, for sure, that I could be perfectly comfortable in the air without one. I choose to jump with one for most jumps, though, because I consider it a cheap insurance policy against fuck-ups - mine or other jumpers around me. Shit happens and if I can do anything to prevent that shit from taking my life, I will do it. That said, I would be very angry with myself and would seriously reconsider my training and my future in the sport if I have an AAD fire due to anything other than physical incapacitation.

While I was instructing s/l I did more hop and pops than not and never thought of turning mine off. I see that alot "If I'm doing hop and pops I turn it off". What's the point? That's just an extra step to do before a h&p, and a step that can be forgotten before the next high load. It's like stopping at the Iowa border just to take your motorcycle helmet off. What's the point?

My life and my kids growing up with a father far outweighs $1200 every 12 years. It's like anyone who drives down the freeway without your seatbelt. It may not be your fault, but the other guy can't bring you back to life.

Any pilots out there correct me if I'm wrong, but I belive the fighter pilots call this "going to the doughnut". It is the extreme low preasure system created by the aircraft as it approaches that point were the plane seperates from sound. I believe a sonic boom is the colapse of the vacuum in the atmosphere left behind the aircraft. The vacuum is extreme low preasure. Just before the seperation, a low preasure cloud forms around the aircraft. SImilar vapor is seen in high G turns at the fighters wigtips. Again, I am no expert, but I have been fascinated with military aricraft for years and have read several things, most I can't remember. Feel free to pull this desciption apart and analyze it.

Good God!!! You have Joe Jennings not only "Asking" to shoot your jump, but offering to buy the beer........Did I miss something??!!

That's not true!!!!!!!! I've said it all along. I have a picture of you in my kids room just so when he says he wants to be like me I can point to your picture and tell he no, son, you want to be like Jimmie!!!

Why??? Because for a brief moment in time I had glowing ooze flowing down my face makeing me look like a gatorade commercial......"Is it in you?"

Watch those glow sticks. I have permanent stains on my rig when my glow stick started leaking from the preasure change. I have never heard of this happening before, but my dad and I both had leakers on the same load last year.