ghost47

I would agree that seeing a teammate come back toward you would suck, but why not track up jump run a bit, and then veer to the left or right, and, at most, track parallel to you? ETA: I agree completely. I would only recommend doing what I said if you could do both (track away from your own group AND try to avoid collisions with other groups). But I agree that primarily, you need to get away from your own group, and that collisions with them are more likely.

If you're in a 6-way, it would seem to me that no one should be tracking up jump run (I'd send two at 45 degrees to jump run, 2 at 90 degrees, and 2 at 135 degrees), so if that's how you broke off, and you still ran into the second group, then yes, I think the second group left way too soon. If you're in a somewhat bigger way and someone must track up jump run, one method I've seen is to go up jump run a little bit, and then veer left or right. It doesn't solve all problems if the group after you had inadequate separation, but should hopefully help some.

Honestly, with 30 jumps and one year in the sport, I think the responsibility lies mostly with the much more experienced jumper you were jumping with. Whenever I take new jumpers on any sort of jump (2-way, 3-way, 4-way, etc.), I always discuss how to track off, and why not to track up or down jump run. In any case, I'm glad nothing bad ended up happening, and you now know of one other thing you need to think about on a jump.

If there were only two of you, why did the both of you not track perpendicular to jump run? Even if you're facing up and down jump run during the dive, that doesn't mean you need to turn 180 and track at the end of the dive. You could both turn 90 degrees instead.

A month or two ago, I think at the farm, on a jumper's 500th jump, one friend decided to fruit-loop her just as another friend decided to prematurely deploy her. (I believe the story was that the fruit-looping friend had no idea that the other intended to prematurely deploy.) Heart contusion, bruised sternum, spinal injury. Not so funny after all.

There really is no way to answer this. I remember, on my first AFF jump, I told my instructor that I thought the flare instruction had come late, and I had hit the ground kind of hard. She said, remember, it's ultimately YOUR responsibility and decision. Which is true. But, being that it was the first time I landed a parachute, I had absolutely no idea what it was "supposed" to look like before I flared (yes, we were told 8 to 10 feet (or something like that), but I had no idea what that looked like in practice). On the other hand, what your instructor says is also right---plenty of students think they're a lot lower than they actually are, flare, and either fall some distance and PLF (hopefully), or, worse, let up on the toggles, and then surge into the ground. So, what do you do when an instructor tells you to do something you think is incorrect? Crapshoot, IMO. But I would normally err on the side of listening to the instructor, unless the command is so obviously wrong (e.g. you're flying into a fence, and your instructor tells you not to turn).

I've been a vegan for 10 years, vegetarian for 22.

I don't think anyone is saying we can assume that a person with X number of jumps is good. I think that most people are saying that, people with UNDER X number of jumps are most likely not skilled enough. Doesn't mean after they attain X number of jumps they are skilled. So why use jump numbers as a proxy for skill? Because we don't have a better system. How would a DZ efficiently evaluate whether a person is good enough to lead a tracking dive or whatever? Additionally, even if a DZ could somehow determine that someone with fewer jump numbers than recommended was ready for a certain discipline or skill, that person would still lack the experience that only time in the air can provide (the increased chance that they have experienced something going wrong, and the hope that they have learned from those experiences).

In my opinion, a much more interesting question is: If you knew for sure that you would die in your next 100 jumps (i.e., if you made 100 more jumps, you would surely die, but you have no idea whether you'll die on jump 1, jump 100, or any jump in between), how many more would you make before stopping? And an even more interesting question (to me) is: what if you made that number greater (you'll die in the next 500 jumps) or lesser (you'll die in the next 50 jumps)? How does your answer change?

It all depends on what you'd do with the money you're using to make extra payments. And also whether you itemize deductions. A mortgage is basically a loan secured by your house, where the interest you pay is deductible from your income tax. So, say you have an extra $500 a month to pay toward your mortgage. You could pay it toward your mortgage, and take years off the loan, and pay less interest. But you also deny yourself the ability to invest that $500. If you're able to make, say, 5% a year on that $500, it makes more sense to invest it than to pay off a 4% mortgage. Even if you only made 3.5%, it might make sense to invest the $500, depending on your tax bracket, and how much you'll save by deducting the interest you're paying. Another factor to consider is that, $1 in 2033 will almost certainly be worth less than $1 in 2013. So it may make more sense to pay $2 in 2033 than $1 today--especially if you may sell the house, or rent it out. Paying off the mortgage early can definitely be the right decision depending on your circumstances. But, depending on what you'd do with the extra money, it can also be better to take as long as possible to pay it off.

Yes. It was a joke. Thank you for getting it.

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This may not be a good idea if the creditor has assigned or otherwise sold the debt to the collection agency. You could end up out $250 to the original creditor, and still owe another $250 to the collection agency. Sure, the original creditor should refuse your money if they've already sold your debt, but, as they must have sold it for less than the amount owed, the original creditor might just keep your money and dare you to do something about it.

Well, I sent in my Solo for repair a few years ago. They fixed it, and mailed it back to me. Unfortunately, it somehow got lost in the mail, which is not L&B's fault. What did L&B do after I asked them where my audible was? Sent me a brand new Solo II. Plus they were very responsive when I contacted them, both initially and after the audible went missing. So, they're still aces in my book. OP, if L&B told you they would definitely fix it, or they took your money for something they didn't do, then I'd agree you have a complaint. If they just said they'd look at it, and then verified that it was too old to repair, then I say they did nothing wrong.

Look, there are two possibilities here. One is that, like everyone on this thread has stated, you were not fucked with, and you made a bad decision and ended up in a bad place. In which case, it is on you to upgrade your decision-making capabilities a LOT before you jump again. Start with recognizing that, unless someone pushed you out of the airplane, no one made you jump. If you can't understand this, then this sport is not for you. The second possibility is that there is a vast, skydiving conspiracy to kill you. Presumably, all of us are in on it, as no one here is validating your opinion, and are instead trying to convince you that it was your error and your responsibility. Okay. If this is the case, then why in the world do you still want to be in this sport? I certainly would not hang out with people who tried to kill me -- I would want to be as far away from such people as possible. So, whatever your reality tells you, I would act accordingly. If this was your fault and your error, then learn to make better decisions and take responsibility for the decisions you make. If this was not your fault and not your error, then, for your own safety, leave the sport before anyone else succeeds in killing you.

If you're not sure, ask him. Think about S-Turns. Unless you're POSITIVE that you're the only one trying to land then, think about people that might be to the left or right of you, maybe on faster canopies, who are also landing. What might someone swerving in front of them do to their approach? What if there's no time for that person to react, or they react instinctively (and badly) by stabbing a toggle down?

I thought my first tandem was sort of boring. Four years later, I did a solo jump, and was scared out of my mind. Didn't enjoy it very much. Almost did not return for jump 2, but decided I needed to conquer the fear before walking away. Five years after that, I've made 650 jumps, and jump pretty much every weekend. If you're still thinking about it so much, and have the means, go through AFF. If you're still not enjoying it after that, you can stop, and know that you gave it a shot. Skydiving is not for everyone.

H, P, B, M

I'm hoping that when you turned, you knew exactly where every other tracker was. Otherwise, there are potential collision factors to think of -- either someone behind you, or someone tracking 180 degrees to the direction you ended up tracking in. Jumpers tracking straight into each other does not make for a good ending. There are times to deviate from the plan, but I don't think the situation you described is one of them.

1. He likes to think of himself as the savvy poker player, and the fact that you won while doing things he wouldn't have done may be seen as evidence that he's not such a good poker player. So, for his own ego, he must play down the importance of your win. and/or 2. He's immature, and a bit of an ass.

It depends on what "someone does something" means (which is why I asked the question). Does it mean someone broadcasts on the PA system that the missing person needs to check in? I can live with that (though that just begs the question -- what happens if they don't respond to the PA?). Does it mean that operations shut down until this person is located? I'm not okay with that. Does it mean jump ticket prices go up, so the DZ can hire a person specifically to deal with that? I don't think I'd be okay with that, either. Or does it mean something else? It really was a genuine question. At my DZ, only jumpers on the sunset load are required to check in after their jump. I have no idea what happens if someone doesn't check in. So I'm curious what the system is, or is proposed to be, for places that require checking in after every jump.

This is a genuine question: If, in the middle of the day, some jumper who is new to the DZ doesn't check in, what happens?

Have you tried starting Chrome without any add-ons? Do you still have the same problem?

That's why it's inspiring. You were afraid, you screwed up, yet each time you tried again, you learned, you got better. Someone who wasn't a natural skydiver but kept trying and trying until she got it is much more inspiring than someone who was naturally good at it.

So you have never heard of a fatal canopy collision?