So I bought all of my gear new, including an Infinity by VSE. about 118 jumps on it, I had my reserve repacked and my rigger caught the loop on my riser was frayed. not good. to top it off, it was on my riser with rsl, so, if it were to bust on me, I would have been in a heap of trouble, dealing with an entangles reserve. never a good thing! So I emailed Kelly at around 2am, on dropzone.com of all things, and heard back from him the very next morning. Send the risers in, and they were fixed for me. I can't say how grateful I am for the service I received from Kelly,. and Tony, all of the VSE team. I am happy that i chose them as my harness/container maker. Now... If we can get them to put the skyhook on it, I will diffidently be a lifelong customer.
Lot of accidents going on out there, be careful everyone!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Safety
With safety day now over, and a couple of bounces that occurred, I think that I should say something on the matter.
I attended the safety day meetings at Elsinore on March 10Th. They went well. At first they went over some statistics of previous years accidents. For me, that was a bit boring. Rather than going over any specific incidents, it was just statistics and more statistics. What I was hoping for was some specifics: what happened, how it happened, and what could have been done to prevent it. Specifically those accidents that happened on the DZ. I know they don't like to talk about them, keep them hush hush, but they need to be known. I want to learn from others' mistakes, to become safer myself.
With that said, there is a portion of the safety meetings that i really pulled a lot from. Ryan S. gave a nice presentation on landing patterns. Yes, it is mainly review, but well needed for a lot of people. This seems to be where most fatalities are occurring in the past couple of years. Prior to this, i was thinking, that no matter what, I should do a downwind, cross, and final. but, with the presentation, I learned that it would be acceptable to join the pattern, from a long spot. I know, it is common sense, but, for some reason, it just was not clicking in my brain.
An example of something I did just that day that I could have used that information. I was on a longer spot, and was headed into the wind . I did not want to just go strait in, so I started to implement a quick landing pattern. I don't know why, my brain just told me to do it, and I did it. .. What ended up happening from it, Right as i started on the toggle, I then realized that i was already cutting it close to making it back, continued into a 360 turn. Looked around, and now had 2 choices: 1. to land on the roof of the industrial building, or 2. land in that building's parking lot, with trees and such on either side. Of course, I went for the parking lot, and had an uneventful landing. My little stunt scared the ST&A. As I was walking back to the DZ, I saw him on the street corner, looking for me, with a worried look on his face. I got the nice little speech, and it was done with.
It is funny how the information I needed, was just a couple hours away, in a meeting. I learned a valuable lesson, and hopefully those reading this can learn from that lesson as well!
Spencer, one of the pilots, and fellow jumpers did a presentation on aircraft safety. He went over the way his GPS spotting works, and how he figures everything into the equation, such as upper winds. It was very useful information. And thanks to spence, i will never stand on the second step of the loading ramp waiting to get on board...Don't want that unspent fuel on my rig!
Please everyone, be careful out there, keep your head on a swivel, and watch where you are going. I have heard of way too many canopy collisions. Luckily, the ones involving the people that I know personally occurred at a high enough altitude that EP's were able to save lives.
On that note, make sure, in a canopy collision/wrap that you communicate with each other. I have heard a story where 2 canopies collided, wrapped, and *what i have are rumors/second hand info* reserve was pulled before cutaway, no communication, and both pilots had rsl's still connected. Luckily, all was OK, both survived.
I attended the safety day meetings at Elsinore on March 10Th. They went well. At first they went over some statistics of previous years accidents. For me, that was a bit boring. Rather than going over any specific incidents, it was just statistics and more statistics. What I was hoping for was some specifics: what happened, how it happened, and what could have been done to prevent it. Specifically those accidents that happened on the DZ. I know they don't like to talk about them, keep them hush hush, but they need to be known. I want to learn from others' mistakes, to become safer myself.
With that said, there is a portion of the safety meetings that i really pulled a lot from. Ryan S. gave a nice presentation on landing patterns. Yes, it is mainly review, but well needed for a lot of people. This seems to be where most fatalities are occurring in the past couple of years. Prior to this, i was thinking, that no matter what, I should do a downwind, cross, and final. but, with the presentation, I learned that it would be acceptable to join the pattern, from a long spot. I know, it is common sense, but, for some reason, it just was not clicking in my brain.
An example of something I did just that day that I could have used that information. I was on a longer spot, and was headed into the wind . I did not want to just go strait in, so I started to implement a quick landing pattern. I don't know why, my brain just told me to do it, and I did it. .. What ended up happening from it, Right as i started on the toggle, I then realized that i was already cutting it close to making it back, continued into a 360 turn. Looked around, and now had 2 choices: 1. to land on the roof of the industrial building, or 2. land in that building's parking lot, with trees and such on either side. Of course, I went for the parking lot, and had an uneventful landing. My little stunt scared the ST&A. As I was walking back to the DZ, I saw him on the street corner, looking for me, with a worried look on his face. I got the nice little speech, and it was done with.
It is funny how the information I needed, was just a couple hours away, in a meeting. I learned a valuable lesson, and hopefully those reading this can learn from that lesson as well!
Spencer, one of the pilots, and fellow jumpers did a presentation on aircraft safety. He went over the way his GPS spotting works, and how he figures everything into the equation, such as upper winds. It was very useful information. And thanks to spence, i will never stand on the second step of the loading ramp waiting to get on board...Don't want that unspent fuel on my rig!
Please everyone, be careful out there, keep your head on a swivel, and watch where you are going. I have heard of way too many canopy collisions. Luckily, the ones involving the people that I know personally occurred at a high enough altitude that EP's were able to save lives.
On that note, make sure, in a canopy collision/wrap that you communicate with each other. I have heard a story where 2 canopies collided, wrapped, and *what i have are rumors/second hand info* reserve was pulled before cutaway, no communication, and both pilots had rsl's still connected. Luckily, all was OK, both survived.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Flat Stanley
This was a jump I did a while back for a friend who has a younger cousin whom was doing a school project. the project was to send this charactor, 'flat stanley' in the mail, on vacation. Stanley happened to end up at my friend's house, then I was asked to take him skydiving. When i was asked to take Stanley skydiving, I did not know it was a piece of paper... I was quite shocked when i found out! Enjoy the video.
Flat Stanley goes skydiving
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Flat Stanley goes skydiving
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Training Training Training
The team I am on, Carpe Grips met for training on Saturday, march 10. Training went well. Dive flow was : Exit a Bow (H), to an open accordion (F), to Hook (K).
The first jump of the day I did with the team went well. Second jump, better. Though our exits seem to take a little bit to feel right. yes, they pull off the exits, but sometimes they feel a bit shaky. I am outside center, and think that the instability might be mainly my doing. When exiting, i have been dropping off more than pushing out, and not presenting to the relative wind. next two jumps didn't go so well, we fumbled the exits, and lost it. bummer. When we do well, we average 7-11 points. Not too bad for a beginning team, right?
I'm not sure how well we will do in competition, as I have never been to one before, but I do know, that I will do my best, and being on this team is diffidently a good experience for me. I am learning a lot! If you want, feel free to leave comments on ways that I can improve my skill, advice, and the likes.
The first jump of the day I did with the team went well. Second jump, better. Though our exits seem to take a little bit to feel right. yes, they pull off the exits, but sometimes they feel a bit shaky. I am outside center, and think that the instability might be mainly my doing. When exiting, i have been dropping off more than pushing out, and not presenting to the relative wind. next two jumps didn't go so well, we fumbled the exits, and lost it. bummer. When we do well, we average 7-11 points. Not too bad for a beginning team, right?
I'm not sure how well we will do in competition, as I have never been to one before, but I do know, that I will do my best, and being on this team is diffidently a good experience for me. I am learning a lot! If you want, feel free to leave comments on ways that I can improve my skill, advice, and the likes.
Friday, March 2, 2007
skydiving blog
Hello Everyone! Let me first introduce myself, and get that out of the way. My name is Shermanator. I, am a skydiver. To date, I have about 230 jumps out of a 'perfectly' good airplane. But those of us that jump, know, there is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane.
I started jumping on October 14, 2005. My first jump, well, it was only going to be a one time jump thing. Simple enough, spend a day training for about 5 hours, then jump. Obviously, one jump turned into an addiction, that now has me on a 4-way skydiving team. Don't believe me? fine then, check us out.. CARPE GRIPS.
On this blog, I plan to tell my stories, and you can watch, and learn, as an inexperienced skydiver learnes the lessons that the experienced already know. Read, and follow my progress from a 200 jump wonder, to, wherever this sport takes me. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the stories, sad, happy, and scary. Feel free to respond, and ask questions. Weather you are a Skygod offering your all knowing power, or someone who is wanting to try a jump, I want to hear from you!
That is all for my first blog. Stay tuned to hear some more.
I started jumping on October 14, 2005. My first jump, well, it was only going to be a one time jump thing. Simple enough, spend a day training for about 5 hours, then jump. Obviously, one jump turned into an addiction, that now has me on a 4-way skydiving team. Don't believe me? fine then, check us out.. CARPE GRIPS.
On this blog, I plan to tell my stories, and you can watch, and learn, as an inexperienced skydiver learnes the lessons that the experienced already know. Read, and follow my progress from a 200 jump wonder, to, wherever this sport takes me. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the stories, sad, happy, and scary. Feel free to respond, and ask questions. Weather you are a Skygod offering your all knowing power, or someone who is wanting to try a jump, I want to hear from you!
That is all for my first blog. Stay tuned to hear some more.
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