Skydive vid

[Blue Shift]

That looks like an ASSLOAD of fun.

Hey Eb, what aircraft was that? Cessna 210? 5 people, I assume that's too much for a 182 or 172, especially for hauling up to 10,000+ ft. The local field they jump at around here (Byron, CA), they used Kingairs I think, last time I was there with my dad.

And yeah, you look like Jack Nicholson! Hahaha.

[p8ntman442]

Some people are good at not looking scared, but I think all are to some degree. Hell, even today with 900+ jumps it still gets my attention.

What do you want for the rush to be right a tandem base jump?

I'm not an adrenaline junkie, I just wasnt scared of doing it. I dont know why. I did it to conquer my fear of hights, and it was my last weekend before moving to college. 8 days later 9/11 happened and that scared the shit out of me.


When we landed the guy strapped to my back went over to the guy who packed his chute "WORST OPENING I EVER HAD!" as he jabbed the guy in the chest with his finger. I had no idea we had been in any trouble at all.

It was just quiet and calm, and too short and expensive. $100/minute is more than I want to pay.


P.S. I'm still afraid of heights, but found a cheaper way to get over it. When I did my roof we were drinking Budwiser.

[EBSB52]

That looks like an ASSLOAD of fun.

Hey Eb, what aircraft was that? Cessna 210? 5 people, I assume that's too much for a 182 or 172, especially for hauling up to 10,000+ ft. The local field they jump at around here (Byron, CA), they used Kingairs I think, last time I was there with my dad.

And yeah, you look like Jack Nicholson! Hahaha.

No, 182 wide body, meaning it is a later one. Ya know the 1st 182's were 1956, working one extensively now. The shit brown one we jumped is a >73 I believe, not sure when they went like 6 inches wider. SOunds like nothing, but trust me, it's huge when you are packed in. That one has a pe-ponk motor, which is 520 jugs on a 470, really makes a diff.

As for the altitude esp inteh summer, yea, we would fuck our customers, not at my request I just worked there, but when I got a savy student who was alti watching, I would have to hide my alti at about 6k cause they would sell 10k and deliver 8-9 cause that last 1 or 2 was a bitch to get, like the time I took a 250lb dude and I'm 225. Oh and my partner the bald blond guy, he had a 250 lbder too. Fuck, and that was with the narrow body acft w/o a door (with a stock 470-L,) which causes a lot of drag. Took us all 7k feet of runway to get off and 40 minutes to 8k and we fell like a bitch - really a hazzardous, stressful jump, but that's what makes it all worth while. Yet another set of reasons to not jump Cessan DZ's. I had like 10-20 tandems at that point; really a recipe for disaster. Fortunately the pilot was well-experienced.

King Air's rule and suck. The 90's kill about 1 person every year to every other year when some idiot jumps up or exits while the acft is still climbing - that website I gave illustrates 1 such incident. But they rule cause they get to 14k in like 7 minutes, makes it really nice. They suck cause the door is small and there is no STC I know of to widen it - makes it impossible to launch big ways.


As for Jack, that was in July in Phoenix after 5 tandems. I got a good deal to take her up, she's my GF's niece, so I was fucking spent at that point. Being a tandem instr is a young man's game. I can suck it up, but I did 8 one day and let's say I slept well. But after 5-6 tandems, that's 2 hrs riding in that fucking crammed 182, 5-6 opening shocks, getting teh risers slapped in my fucking ears a couple good times, my shins kicked a few times, occassionally getting puked on and getting hammered into the ground as the desert wind changes as I land. It really fucks you up and is really a lot of work as an instructor.


You oughta do it:

http://www.uspa.org/

http://www.uspa.org/FindaDZ.aspx

I don't see a Byron here, must be labled as a diff city: http://www.uspa.org/FindaDZ/GroupMember ... fault.aspx


Oh, here it is: http://www.bayareaskydiving.com/

They have a PAC 750 too, never jumped one but I think that's a better acft. Take a little longer, but nicer door.

Go for it and post the vid :thumbleft:

[EBSB52]

Some people are good at not looking scared, but I think all are to some degree. Hell, even today with 900+ jumps it still gets my attention.

What do you want for the rush to be right a tandem base jump?

I'm not an adrenaline junkie, I just wasnt scared of doing it. I dont know why. I did it to conquer my fear of hights, and it was my last weekend before moving to college. 8 days later 9/11 happened and that scared the shit out of me.


When we landed the guy strapped to my back went over to the guy who packed his chute "WORST OPENING I EVER HAD!" as he jabbed the guy in the chest with his finger. I had no idea we had been in any trouble at all.

It was just quiet and calm, and too short and expensive. $100/minute is more than I want to pay.


P.S. I'm still afraid of heights, but found a cheaper way to get over it. When I did my roof we were drinking Budwiser.

Yea, fuck that about the opening. I hate to rely on luck, but openings have a lot of luck/circumstance with them. Packing a tandem rig is a bitch, I never bitch about that, what a punk your instr was. Packing is the most thankless, tiring job there is in skydiving. It may have been a hammer opening, but remember, you had 1 that was probably sensory overloaded, he had several that day while he's playing dodge the risers as they woosh past his ears.


That's cool, it conquered your fear of heights. Yea, I my enjoyment of being an instr was vicarious thru my students. I had this one Mexican kid who was really fucking scared all the way up, I talked to him a bit, then left him alone, what you're supposed to do, then talk to him, address him by his name, talk about other stuff, just earn his trust/respect. Anyway, after we exited and opened, I couldn't shut him up, he was elated about how he used to be afraid to peer over the edge of a 2-story mall. Reall was fun.

The worst day in skydiving was these 2 Arabs came in, took the first up but as I was harnessing him he must have liked his pit odor as I hear they culturally do, so I made sude to keep his arms down cause teh minute he raised then it was Jihad all over the fucking place in my nose. Anyway, I'm thinking as soon as we get out in the air @120 the smell should go away, exit, get the drogue out, give him a tap to raise his arms up and I'll be god damned if I couldn't smell that MF as if we were on the ground. I was just shocked. Then I took his friend and he puked all over me in several steps. The idea is that if a student pukes, and it happens, to tell me and I'll turn teh chute right, it swings us left and pukes under his right arm. Thsi fuck kept puking straight ahead w/o telling me. I was so fucking pissed I just pushed his head forward and down so he would puke on himself. I just walked away after the jump, no sharing of jovialities, no pics, just get the fuck away from me. Point is, if the student has a good time, learns a thing or two then I'm happy. The worst students of all, on a consistent basis, are the 18-22ish white guys, they seem too cool for school so much of the time and they don't listen, then they fuck it all up a fair amount of teh time. But I've had some cool students in that demographic. In general, all chicks listen and perform the best. I took one chick topless, but we're all happy that there was no vid, if ya know what I mean.

Which DZ did ya go to? Was it cessna or turbine?

[84fierotrevor]

The worst students of all, on a consistent basis, are the 18-22ish white guys, they seem too cool for school so much of the time and they don't listen

If I was about to jump out of an airplane for the first time I would be listening to every fucking detail and asking him to repeat it!

[EBSB52]

The worst students of all, on a consistent basis, are the 18-22ish white guys, they seem too cool for school so much of the time and they don't listen

If I was about to jump out of an airplane for the first time I would be listening to every fucking detail and asking him to repeat it!

As I said, there are still many, many young white males that are great students, just that the grouping per my experiences are that the mode is there. Not that I do tandems anymore, but I thank you on the part of all tandem instructors everywhere. It can throw you into a sidespin @ 2 rps, leading to blackout and probably death if you go fetal. There was a filmed tandem in the early 90's in Europe somewhere that went that way, before AAD's, so no chute, just pop as they hit. They learned a lot and realized that if a student goes fetal, instead of fighting them by arching bigger, you just go with them and wait till the rotation slows, then toss the drogue. As you see in my vid we intentionally tumbled and it slowed to a virtual stop. Well, if the student does that, go with them. Worse thing a student can do is to go fetal or to stick their legs straight out.

[EBSB52]

The worst students of all, on a consistent basis, are the 18-22ish white guys, they seem too cool for school so much of the time and they don't listen

If I was about to jump out of an airplane for the first time I would be listening to every fucking detail and asking him to repeat it!

This will put the fear of god into ya, the student, a 40ish female built like a fireplug, 5'4" 230 ish and the instructor misrouted and left loose her harness. At opening, they went vertical, her knees were bent and her ass fell outthe back of the harness and she followed. Maybe she was fat and gross, maybe it was her body type, who knows, maybe a little of all of it, but the instructed fucking killed her - sucks to be him.

http://www.nzpia.co.nz/NZPIA%20Bulletin ... 050606.pdf

I was jumping Sting Tandem Gear and it worled fine, never had a gear issue. I would usually overtighten the students, but after opening, we loosen the gear straps.