kevin84

Note: Skydive deep creek is now located at Greater Cumberland Regional Airport (KCBE) in Cumberland, Maryland. I'm may a bit biased (as I work here), but I felt compelled to give jumpers/prospective jumpers my feelings on the place. Neil (the owner) is a very knowledgeable jumper/pilot/dzo and has this place set up right. The gear is great (brand new mains/reserves/vigil 2's for studens and brand spanking new sigma tandem systems), the people are friendly, and you get an overwhelmingly personal feel. In addition to the great jumping, there is an autocross event on the taxiway in front of the hangar about one weekend per month. Pretty awesome to watch cars racing beneath you under canopy! Overall great dz with an awesome feel. Hope to see you here soon! -Kevin

My dropzone is switching to jump run 5 and we're trying to figure out the best way to keep track of packing and rig use...preferably with the use of rfid tags and scanner. Anybody have any success with this method? How best would data from rfid scanners integrate into jump run 5? Thanks!

I must preface by saying that I am new to the sport of skydiving...but a veteran (infantryman) and old to other "exciting" sports (motorcycle road racing being one of them) and I think many parallels can be drawn. First off, I would think that mainly what a new camera jumper needs to adjust to would not be the equipment itself, but the distraction it poses or maybe even the drive to push a little harder to make the video a bit cooler (very common with motorcycles). With that, I think that it has a lot to do with the individual jumper and his respect for the sport. For example, mounting a camera on a motorcycle doesn't in any way affect the handling of the bike. It sits on the gas tank, weighs very little (especially considering these 400 lb bikes are nearing 200 hp), and is kept out of the relative wind by the windscreen. I could put a camera on any motorcycle on the planet and ride it as safely as I ride anything else. But the guy standing next to me could put a camera on a 50cc dirtbike and find a way to kill himself. With that, obviously that's not the only distraction that would come from flying a camera, but I think an individual that is highly trained in dealing with many different factors in a high stress environment would be more apt to take the new element in stride and be safer than his civilian counterpart. In addition, we all know the guy that jumped fifty million times to pass aff, and the guy that sailed. Somebody with 100 jumps that just learned how to side slide yesterday and doesn't read up and study will be much less safe than the DEDICATED jumper with 100 jumps. It seems those numbers are more of a guideline in essence.

Yep, some puss-faces would complain their gold is too heavy. with 500 jumps in over 20yrs, you probably havent witnessed any brocken necks, couple femurs and brocken backs in your career.. not mentioning the people dying. good for you! there's also puss-faces that dont have friends. You are right; I don't have that many jumps, never seen (personally) any broken necks or backs, or deaths. But I do understand the seriousness of the sport. I ride motorcycles as well (cbr600f4i track bike and cbr1000RR street bike) for years and have seen the accidents and injuries, but I choose to accept those risks and believe that since I've chosen to accept these risks, I may as well enjoy it!

Yep, some puss-faces would complain their gold is too heavy. Haha nice one. Never heard that before. And I'll be the first to admit that it does have it's downsides and dangers...I'm a climber as well and there are some inherent risks. But let's be honest...if it were that bad none of us would be on here right now!

Hey all! Just wanted to pop in and say that personally jumping is definitely one of the coolest things I have ever done. It's so easy to get caught up in the the gear, or if it's your job to think of it as "a job" etc. Let's all take a minute and remember how cool this sport is and enjoy every single jump! Life is waaaaaay too short to not stop occasionally and appreciate our lives. Blue skies!