Anyone Skydive?

[EBSB52]

Here's me taking my GF's niece for a dive: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=47178399


I dunno if this is the place for this, closest I could see.

[bigboydan]

That had to be a massive rush sir.

<a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&vid eoid=47178399">Rhiannon Tandem Vid</a><br/><object width="425px" height="360px" ><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="movie" value="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=47178399,t=1,mt=video,searchID=,primar ycolor=,secondarycolor="/><embed src="http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=47178399,t=1,mt=video,searchID=,primar ycolor=,secondarycolor=" width="425" height="360" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"/></object>

[FreeFall]

people say gambling is a rush. Get your license, you won't regret every penny you pour into your gear. Can't get enough freefall.

[louisvillekid]

there's a small place in a county next to me that has skydiving. i've never went, heard it's kinda steep for the first few times because of training, but after that it's only like 50-75 a jump.
i looked into it once, found out i couldn't tandem because i weighed over 200, and i'm afraid if i static line and something fu*ks up i'll freak out and possibly pass out.

[EBSB52]

That had to be a massive rush sir.

That jump was unique in that it was the first and only jump I've made to date that was with a person I knew. I've known Rhiannon since she was 7, she's my GF's niece. But as far as tandems, as an instrictor they're really boring, other than what your passenger throws at you, which is really nothing in this case. Some passengers subconsciously try to kill you and can make the jump a rush.

You should really check it out, skydiving is so unique that you really can't describe it. I used to ride Gixxers (GSXR Suzuki) at 170 MPH and this really beats it. Most sports are mild adrenaline over a longer time, SDing is compressed adenaline.

It's 200 bucks-ish for a tandem +80 bucks for video, get the vid if you'll only do it once. Here's a directory of droipzones: http://www.uspa.org/FindaDZ/tabid/184/Default.aspx


Make sure to go to a turbine dropzone, meaning not small aircraft.

[EBSB52]

people say gambling is a rush. Get your license, you won't regret every penny you pour into your gear. Can't get enough freefall.

Uh huh, CREW dogs can

Yea, totally worth it. If you repect the soprt you'll never probably have a close call. The people who die seem to be almost exclusively swoopers and others who take mopre risks than the normal dive.

[EBSB52]

there's a small place in a county next to me that has skydiving. i've never went, heard it's kinda steep for the first few times because of training, but after that it's only like 50-75 a jump.
i looked into it once, found out i couldn't tandem because i weighed over 200, and i'm afraid if i static line and something fu*ks up i'll freak out and possibly pass out.

It's probably a 182 DZ, avoid those. The airplane in the vid is a 182, not as much bang/buck as a turbine DZ. What city do you live near? I can tellyou a good place to go, even if it's a drive.

It's around 200 bucks a jump for a tandem, but think of the costs:

- instructor gets 35-40 bucks

- gear is 12k new, not to mention constant expensive maintenance

- aircraft: costs 40k to 2 million, extreme maintenance costs

- gas: need I say more?

- DZ overhead, wages, electricity, etc

- insurance, some have, so do not

- Profit: every business needs to profit to stay open


So a DZ is not the best business to operate, that 200 bucks goes away real fast.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>and i'm afraid if i static line and something fu*ks up i'll freak out and possibly pass out


You have your shit together here. I think SL s/b outlawed. My first 3 jumps were SL. There's IAD as well, s/b gone. Tandems are relatively new, I think since the early or mid 80's they were certified. I would have ****ed up the SL emergencies procedures if faced with one, as a tandem inst, I've had cutaways, just not as a TI, as a sport SDer.

>>>>>>>>>>>>found out i couldn't tandem because i weighed over 200,


Pussies, I've taken 250, and I am 225 (gear is like 60-70) and that was when I had 30ish tandems. It's a fast MF'n accelleration, let me tell ya, but the advantage is that the big boy always wants to face earth, even if he has bad body position, rendering the drogue toward the sky. 100 lb chicks can be the worst if she has poor body position, as I'm twice her weight.

What DZ is it? Just curious. I mean they have the right to cut off the weight where they want, just that 220 is usually the margin.


Here's a funny vid of a POS. If you're a Lutz, you're an idiot within the sport. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbNXNti6NGU

This was in the early 90's I think in Japan. Now they would normally give you 2 tandems, then this level 1 AFF (Accelerated Free Fall). The narrator also acts like as asshole. Truth is the Lutz pulls his cutaway handle, not his main deployment, then the instructor pulls the main, probably should not have done that, should have signalled to the other side (reserve side instructor) to pull the silver (reserve).

[louisvillekid]

it's been a while since me and some friends have looked into it, it was in the mid 90's. I thought the place was in Bardstown Ky., but i asked my buddy and he said he wasn't for sure but he thought it was called Green county skydiving, which is actually about an hour and a half away. I looked on that link you gave but didn't see it.
i have no idea what kind of plane they were/are using. the weight issue when we called, i thought i remember them saying i couldn't be over 220, and at the time i was like 225-230, now i'm only 210-215.
I'm not sure if and when i'll ever do it. it was just something me and some old childhood buddies had talked about doing at one time. now they are all married and got kids and are fat, i'm the exception, i don't believe in marriage,don't want kids, and just living my mundane life day to day.

[flyingillini]

I did it last year, I was strapped on to the instructor... It was pretty intense and I am sure I will do it again one of these years.

[EBSB52]

it's been a while since me and some friends have looked into it, it was in the mid 90's. I thought the place was in Bardstown Ky., but i asked my buddy and he said he wasn't for sure but he thought it was called Green county skydiving, which is actually about an hour and a half away. I looked on that link you gave but didn't see it.
i have no idea what kind of plane they were/are using. the weight issue when we called, i thought i remember them saying i couldn't be over 220, and at the time i was like 225-230, now i'm only 210-215.
I'm not sure if and when i'll ever do it. it was just something me and some old childhood buddies had talked about doing at one time. now they are all married and got kids and are fat, i'm the exception, i don't believe in marriage,don't want kids, and just living my mundane life day to day.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>i don't believe in marriage,don't want kids, and just living my mundane life day to day.


Yep, that's how I am, what a better reason to skydive

I've never heard of that DZ, but tell me a city you're near and I can direct you to the nearest turbine DZ.

[EBSB52]

I did it last year, I was strapped on to the instructor... It was pretty intense and I am sure I will do it again one of these years.

What DZ?

It is extremely safe and as I would tell my students, they're really strapped to the parachute web, not to me. I have 2 straps holding me to the rig, they have 4, any of which would support their weight.

Yea, you can't really describe it, can you? It's a unique sport.

[breezy.28]

I am also planning to do this.. but just wondering how much it will cost me? is this more fun than bungee jumping?

[FreeFall]

120-180 for a tandem jump. Depends on the height you wanna leave the plane. Do the lowest one because you will have a sensory overload the first few times and it won't matter the height or how long the freefall, plus it's cheaper.

**** yes it's more fun than bungee jumping.

[EBSB52]

I am also planning to do this.. but just wondering how much it will cost me? is this more fun than bungee jumping?

Freefall says 120-180, that would be cheap for a tandem here. In AZ they're closer to 200. Tell me what city you live near and I'll tell ya where a good turbine DZ is. As for the cost, is your life and a good time worth an extra 30 bucks, maybe 50 at the most?

Cheap DZ's are the type to use small Cessna 182's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_182

Larger DZ's use Caravans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Caravan

or Twin Otters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Otter

maybe King Air's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Air



And with that comes the level of experience of the entire staff, especially your tandem instructor, but not to mention the pilot. Here's an incident in Montana that happened 1 1/2 years ago where the 182 pilot had an oil leak right after takeoff, freaked and turned back to the airfield to land, cranked it too hard from base to final and spun it into the ground, killing himself, 2 TI's and 2 students.

http://www.skydivenetwork.com/article.html?2034

Now there was an otter that crashed in Kansas a few years ago killing 6 or so, 1 survivor, but the odds are better with other than a c182. With that said, I will still jump 182's as an experienced jumper, but prefer not to.

Then tehre's the issue of instructor competence. Everyone wants to jump at turbine DZ's, inc and esp instructors, so the TI's with big jump experience will go there, the newer instructors start where? You guessed it; 182 DZ's. I had a first revenue tandem jump as all instructors will, of course we don't tell our students that.

Question is, do you want to roll the dice with all the variables with a smaller DZ jumping 182's or go legit?

Aside from safety, 182's take 20 minutes to get to 10,000 ish feet, otters take 15 minutes to 14,000, so you get better value for your buck with a turbine DZ in addition to better safety; it's an all around better value even if it costs 50 bucks more.

I remember at our DZ in the summer, the acft doesn't climb for shit (density altitude) so we were going to 8k feet sometimes. When I got a student that understood altitudes, he would watch my wrist alti so I would find myself hiding it halfway up by grabbing the acft frame overhead and behind me. So basically ripping off the customer that I had to say in. They would always say, "fvck that went by fast."


Never bungee jumped. I would if the time was right, but I would never go out of my way to do it. I look at it as an idiot attached to a rubber band, as there are no regulations demanding safety in the "sport" for lack of a better word. Of course as a TI we say that we strap 60 lbs of shit on our back (the chute) and 200 lbs of stupid on our front (the student) and go for a skydive. We don't mean that in a demeaning way, just that some students are so ****ing scared/stupid that they should not be going. As well, I've jumped some students that make better skydivers than some experienced jumpers do. I think there is an inherent quality to it that is discovered when people do their first jump; you can't tell which you are until you jump.

Either way, I highly suggest you go and go to a larger, safer DZ. No one can describe the experience to you, and after you jump you won't be able to describe it to them. I used to ride Gixxers a lot and this sport dwarfs that one, altho I still think it's cool.

[innovator]

i wanna free base.

[innovator]

come on, you've never heard of Dean Potter?

[WhatAboutMeBitch]

going next june

[EBSB52]

going next june

Where ya going? Which DZ?

[winning2007]