Anyone here who's skydiving?
Haven't been able to jump since the first week of April. Our pilot at Clark is in the US. So this grounded skydiver is realllllly bored. Rappelling down a wall is such a poor replacement for it.

Let go of the rope. It will suddenly become much more interesting.

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I'll pass Falcon, on jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

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Best Regards,
JW

LOL! Now you made my day! Thanks!

I would have a hard time trusting the person who packed the chute, and since I don't know how to do it, I'll pass!!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

Ditto

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

I understand. During my first jump, I didn't know any better. Now I pack my own chute, except the reserve.
Maybe I still don't know any better coz I still do go out a perfectly good airplane. (OF COURSE WITH A PARACHUTE)
Za, I really left myself open for that one. I still have to find a way to fool proof my posts against your wit.

You won't win. He has a team of writers there in Scranton to help him.

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Best Regards,
JW

I did two static line jumps years ago but never a freefall, though i've always fancied doing one.

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Regards
John

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see" - Winston Churchill

Good. At our drop zone in Clark, at least five static line jumps are required before the first free fall. The first two is to familiarize the student on exiting the aircraft. The last three is used for dummy pulls to find out if the student knows how to deploy his own canopy properly and that he can remain stable for the few seconds needed to do so.
What really frustrates me right now is that that Coke is doing a promo for their new product Coke Zero. Since I've done demo jumps for the public before, I was among the few asked to do one to promote the product. However, I declined. The jumpers will have huge banners of Coke Zero attached to their legs and I haven't jumped with a banner before. Coke was willing to supply us with our own customized gear and jump suits, too. A part of me still says "go ahead" but in skydiving, things have to be done as close to perfect as humanly possible, especially in a demo jump and I know my limit. Still, it's a tempting thought but it will remain just that, a thought. Next step, ask for instruction on canopy handling and landing when flying with a banner.

Actually I would love to do it, but with iffy knees, I'd have to find a way to not send my kneecaps thru my spleen!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

Are you sure you don't drink before you pack? Does the person who packs your reserve? Drugs? Meds?

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If I remember right, at the centre where I did my jumps, it was three static liners before you could do a freefall. You were then also expected to learn to pack a chute.

I know how you feel, Scott, I now have one dodgy knee, which I don't think would withstand the landing...and believe me, the landing can be hard!

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Regards
John

"It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see" - Winston Churchill

I followed my Accelerated Free Fall (AFF) at Eloy, Arizona last december/january. Made 18 jumps at this terrific location! It was so nice that I will return next december to get the A level.
cheers

SCUBA is the biggest thrill seeking that I do. It is pretty much safe if you mind your Ps and Qs.

David

Well, there are variations in the methods. It could be as short as three static line jumps as you say. It really depends on the student's skill. The key to a good opening of the canopy is learning how to be stable in the air. When one learns stability during free fall, then "flying" your body follows.

As to the landings, it depends on the kind of canopy used. The modern ram air canopy, as opposed to the old spherical chutes we see in war movies, can technically be described as a wing. The ram air or rectangular shaped canopies are very agile in flight and allows a skydiver to glide, speed up, slow down, bank.
Landing is very similar to how a fixed wing aircraft does it. We fly a landing pattern, do a base leg turn, etc. Roughly 15 to 12 feet from the ground (it's really a matter of timing, experience and depth perception), we flare. We pull both toggles down in one swift motion to break our forward momentum. Done properly, you "step off" from flight. Think of it as an escalator. You're approaching the ground, then step off.

As to scuba diving, uh... I always have a ready plausible excuse to decline an offer to do so. I can go out of a plane but am hesitant to go underwater. Go figure.

Lol! Go figure indeed!

David

I think this shows that there's a chicken in all of us. Squawk, bok bok bok bok bok Squawk!!

Ah! After several weeks of being grounded, we're off to the skies again this Saturday!
Our pilot's back from his US vacation and we'll be making our jump runs from Clark from 0900h this Saturday.
I have to admit that I missed jumping out of airplanes so much that I can't wait for tomorrow. I intend to make at least two jumps tomorrow, weather permitting. The only downer is the rainy season, which began last June.

Also, I was able to watch an actual base jump last weekend. I think it's the first time it's been allowed in the Philippines. Those guys are really far out. They're all senior US skydivers from Utah and the youngest among them already have a B license. Their most senior guy is a skydiving instructor who has more than 3,000 jumps.
They popped their canopies from a height of roughly 500 feet off the ground. I was surprised when I actually heard the sound of their canopies snapping open. From the sound alone, I knew that the opening shock they went through was really hard on their bodies. Their canopies have to open in less than 50 feet while for us guys at higher altitudes, we have gentler opening shocks for we have the luxury of time to permit slower openings of the canopy.

What I saw was really extreme. For me, I'm already thinking of pulling my pilot chute when my altimeter reads 3,000 feet. I often say that skydiving is a sport where one has to do things as close to perfection as possible.
In the base jumps I saw, I have to say that these guys have to do things perfectly. A simple line twist, which is a minor inconvenience for a skydiver, is deadly for a base jumper. I'm really impressed with how good these guys were in controlling their bodies and their adeptness in handling their canopies. One even made a back flip just before opening his canopy.

Have fun! Can you take some pics?? That would be cool!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott