dks13827

try to visualize: on a high wind day you come into the landing area at full speed going downwind !! at the last possible second to do it you do a hard cranking 180 degree turn into the wind. this will swing you out to the downwind side quite a bit, 30 to 45 degrees I would say. you then rebound and start swinging into the wind quite fast. this has the effect of negating your high downwind speed. you can then make a stand up landing with a net groundspeed that is very close to zero, not 13 - 18 mph. hooray !!

as a youngster, mostly fiction, and science fiction. last 20 years, only non-fiction. adventure and history: air combat, helicopter pilots in vietnam, Rangers / LRRP's in Nam, Mt Everest stories, astronaut biographies, test pilots, Wyatt Earp in AZ ( where I live. I love to go and walk where he walked, it is amazing, and spooky). John Dillinger ( I am going to go walk where he was when killed )

this is perfect !! what do you young folks think ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN-ESHjzGNo&feature=related compare that to crashing in with a cheapo ! Then the Strato Star was even way better than the PC !

my thoughts: do some Cessna jumps, couple hop and pops at 3.5 or 4.5 or 5.5....... start spotting the aircraft. do some 2 way RW jumps, then 4 way. there are many ways to have fun and learn some different things.. that's what is great fun.. get some help on all of this, of course.

2 jumpers in the last year could not pull reserve pillows. I would vote to have a good AAD on my rig.

buy used books cheap on amazon. get out there and do some tandems and enjoy... in a year or 2....... re eval !!!

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooo !! if you die from this cancer.. they WONT pay,,,, trust me, they are not stupid !!!

20. way back,, I think a low jump cost $3.50 to 3,500 feet....... maybe $5 for 7,500 a new surplus reserve,,, $30, military harness $30 and a cheapo... $40 with mods cut into it.

this video at :32 shows exactly how I exited for hop and pops ( or emergency, if need be ) from ANY AIRPLANE !! this guy is 1/2 second out of the Cessna, he can pull right now !!! That's how I did it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8pw5T_qc0

my insurance treats me just fine. I pay them,, they oblige me. I have recourse against them if need be. If I am a responsible person who abides by agreements, I won't be 'blown off ' like happens in Canada and Britain. You can lie all you want, if that is your wish. Responsible folks get shafted all the time in Canada and Britain.

i mean you have a 1 out of 1000 chance of dying in a year being an active skydiver. That's still not true. You're falling victim to the old saying, "Lies, damned lies and statistics", which means that a statistic can be offered as apparent "proof" of a proposition that in actual fact is not correct. If you flip a coin once, your chances of Heads is 50/50. Now let's say you flip 39 times, and each time it comes up Heads. So what's the chance of Heads on the 40th flip? Answer: 50/50. Each individual flip is its own statistically unique event. Some people make 30 jumps a year, while some make 1,000 jumps a year. Now the 1,000 jump/yr person certainly has more exposure to the risk over the course of a year than the 30 jpy person does. And yet, for each of them, on any one given skydive, the odds of that particular skydive being fatal to him remains (or maybe I should say, begins at) an "average" of 1 in about 90,000. That average, then, is further subject to particular variables, like experience, canopy jumped and complexity of the jump and/or landing; and those variables will skew the odds of fatality on a jump either higher or lower than 1:90,000. Just as with flips of a coin, each individual skydive is its own statistically unique event, and should be evaluated as such. But you need to get away from thinking that a typical skydiver's odds of getting killed in the sport can somehow be viewed as averaging 1 in 1,000, because that's just not the case. Andy, you are very articulate and logical. And I dont disagree with a word you said. Just like the accident rate in cars includes the drunks and idiots, same for our sport. A jumper who exercises great care has better odds than 1 in 90,000 Say you go to a boogie with 1,000 jumpers. A year later would it not be likely that one of those people has been lost ? I would say, yes !! It is likely.

My eldest grown daughter ( 1 tandem ), if she wanted to be a jumper, I would make sure she understood the deal,, then I would help her learn. My other daughter.. well... I just dont think she would be cutout to be a jumper. If she insisted on doing it.. I would see if 3 to 5 tandems would satisfy her. But after that, it would be her decision.

If one does not DUI, and wears a seatbelt, now that changes significantly the danger of a car crash. Same thing for motorcycles, which I like to ride a lot. ( my thoughts on riding cycles is... you have to be able to spot trouble way in advance,, as much as possible. ) e.g. when I see the nose of a car peek out from behind a sign up ahead, I KNOW he is going to pull out in front of me, and I act accordingly. Same thing in jumping, you can review the accident reports and you can indeed deal with most causes ahead of time, such as using an AAD, RSL, steel reserve handle, etc.

I hope I'll find it funny some day too, but right now it just makes my skin crawl ... My cell phone rang and she just walked into my bedroom to bring it to me. My yelling "nu veni aici" (translation - "don't come in here") made no difference. She walked in, got startled, screamed ... than walked out really fast. To this day she claims she didn't see anything. Yeah right ... O So much for door locks. You did have the door locked, didn't you? No, the door was not locked ... and yes, I was on top ... O Oly you are just too funny

I never did a tandem, my daughter did one. I think they are a great thing. However, on rare occasions the student TI either kills, or tries to kill, the 2 of you. ( firing the reserve right into a malfunction !!!!! ) If I was tandem rated I would ride on the front, however, it's only fair to reciprocate. ( No, Russell, I dont mean a 'reach around ' !!!!!)

I hope I'll find it funny some day too, but right now it just makes my skin crawl ... My cell phone rang and she just walked into my bedroom to bring it to me. My yelling "nu veni aici" (translation - "don't come in here") made no difference. She walked in, got startled, screamed ... than walked out really fast. To this day she claims she didn't see anything. Yeah right ... O Hey Oly,, you never told us... were you on top ???

http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/preview/peoplesearch.do

The same Mr. Strong, who had couple of months ago admired HOP330 beeing used with his gear [warning, a gossip]? I got 10 cases of brew that says Ted Strong said no such thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me know.

IMO, if one can avoid the swooping crash... have an AAD, RSL, steel reserve ripcord handle ( IMO ), then the majority, by far, of the accidents are avoidable. I always had the thought that I could, for the most part, control everything except for a reserve malfunction, and I never worried about that. You cant. There was a sky God, who, years ago, immediately fired his reserve into a streamer. It didnt work. I shake my head at how someone could do that.

on youtube static line hangup I found 2 of them. an Airborne guy... they tied a reserve to his static line and cut him lose,, kind of funny. the civilian though,, pulled his reserve while the crew was looking for a knife ( they didnt have one ). He lived but he was lucky. The civilian one pisses me off.. he never gave the signal ( hands on helmet ) that all of us old guys learned. I am sorry, but my guess is he wasnt trained on that. I dont understand that !!!!! God help me, please !! I dont understand !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rob you are so right about disorientation in a spinning malfunction.. It is deadly,, everyone: It is deadly !!!!!!!! If you start spinning badly, you better get !!! I had this one time on a scuba dive in heavy, dangerous surf... and I am lucky to be here. Years ago with a T-10 malfunction, when it started to spin, that did it,, I chopped within .5 seconds. I was not going to play that game. No future in it.

what you might do , Shah, should do,, is start a letter writing campaign of protests about the denial, if it happens. 2 letters a week,, polite letters, stating that you had no choice for the emergency treatment......... that should be covered. I honestly believe that the new free coverage we all get will not be covering jumping. why should they ? people shouldnt jump out of airplanes anyway.

I ordered this and read it many times at age 13, so I would know all the basics ( and I did !!! ) when I started jumping, age 20. http://www.amazon.com/Skydiving-art-science-parachuting-SELLICK/dp/B000LXFRJ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249015100&sr=1-1

read about this SR 71 breakup at 78,000 and Mach 3. http://www.alexisparkinn.com/sr-71_break-up.htm

As a jumper from the 70's, I find it very interesting that maybe 8 bounces occur a year.... that's pretty good these days. But the fatal landings we have now........ another story. I calculated that a fatal jump occurs roughly 1 in 80,000 which to me is not too bad. I also understand that your odds of dying in a car crash at some point are 1 in 125. Shocking, isnt it ?? If you are over age 40, think about your high school friends who have indeed been killed in cars and you will realize that 1 in 125 is in the ball park. ( please note that I did NOT say cars are worse than jumping, etc ) I always believed, and still do, that if I didnt screw up in a major way, the risk was acceptably small.