Skydiving...

buying and spending tens of thousands of dollars modifying 15+ year old cars is so much better than skydiving

Night and day.

Skydiving rigs have 2 parachutes, and the main canopy packs into a bag which is then stowed in the container and closed with a single pin. Skydiving rigs also typically have an Automatic Activation Device.

BASE rigs have a single parachute, and it’s packed directly into the container, using a different type of pack job and is closed in the container with 2 pins or velcro. Base rigs are also a lot bigger. My base canopy is 260 sq ft, whereas my skydiving canopy is only 150 sq ft. An expert skydiver will use a canopy as small as 80sq ft, but will alway use a large BASE canopy.

Sitflying over San Diego:

Nice :tup:

https://youtu.be/muBCnB4KH1k

looks good, how are your knees holding up?

Knees are fine. I usually can set down pretty nicely. I have 75+ Jumps on this canopy, and about 125 total, so I’m a fairly accurate canopy pilot…

wow I had a smile on my face the entire time watching that

on average how much does it cost newman?

chutes, planes, time, etc

good, good, now land in a place that isnt mowed! but really great job, now jump the rbe30 off of a cliff with a base rig.

Well learning is the most expensive part. Expect to pay 1500 before you can jump solo (called AFF, this is a 7 jump course that you do with instructors). You never have to do a tandem if you don’t want.

In order to jump with other people, expect to pay another 500-1000 to have the 25 jumps required for your A-license. Once you have your A license you can jump with other people, and go to dropzones all around the world.

Once you have your A license, each skydive costs 20-25 dollars. If you need to rent gear, it’s usually 75-100 for the day. If you want someone to pack it for you, they usually charge 5 dollars per. I always pack my own parachute.

I made 21 skydives this weekend and it only cost 400 bucks!

So awesome…where were you landing?

That’s the airport below me. The long strip is the runway. You land in the grass field. 95% of the time I can land withing 15 meters of a spot I picked beforehand.

That video is awesome. I need to go back and get your boots lol.

Please! I’ll be back for OTC. I am trying to decide if I want to come down friday morning or eve. Either way, I’m going to head to SDSL on saturday… deciding about friday…

Word I’ll go with you for sure Sat.

I think they run ground school on saturdays. You should find out.

Nice vid :tup:

How much range do you have for getting to your landing? I’m sure it depends on what alt you jump at…but is there a ballpark number? I guess I’m wondering how much lateral movement you have per a given drop in feet…

Standard glide ratio of a parachute is about 3:1 in 0 wind. So if you pull at 3700 feet and are under full canopy at 3000 feet you can theoretically travel 9000’ to your landing. However, it’s almost ALWAYS windy, especially aloft. Anything over a 20mph headwind and you’re going to be moving backward. This is why spotting the landing area from the plane is important. As a “fun jumper” I’m out of the plane before tandems and wingsuit people, so that means I’m most likely to be downwind of the landing and have to fight the wind to get back. I have not landed off yet, but I have come close.

Damn, cool info! As one who is too pussy to ever do this, I’m still fascinated by the physics. Just reading and watching these vids gets my palms sweaty…