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Right now this skydiving section is divided into three parts:
We skydive in order to feel feelings
and connect with ourselves and others and life.
Freedom is not a body position. It is not a maneuver either.
Maneuvers and body positions are just something to do while we skydive together.
They are just one way to produce feelings.
1956 - First Baton Pass - NPJR Newsletter
1995 - Oreo Cookie - Feeling the Layers
1997 - Closed Frameworks
1998 - Freedom is Not a Body Position
1998 - The Skydance Approach
"They don't come out to watch us die. They come out to see us live."
"Skydiving is the doorway. We are the experience."
Kevin Shea
In June, 2002 Parachutist did a profile on me. Author Brian Giboney had to fit it all on one page so he had to select just a few words. Here's the uncut version:
2002 - The jumpstart
2002 - The profile
"Why?" is the plaintive cry of the whuffo: "Whuffo you jump outa them airplanes?"
And we can't tell them. If we were in their framework, we wouldn't be doing it either, and if they were in ours, they wouldn't be asking. But we *can* express it to each other.
Man small.
Why fall?
Skies call.
That's all. Andy Keech
1995 - Bonnie Dutile
19?? - Charles Lindbergh
The other side of this, the far end, is the feeling of fading away.
1974 - Andy Keech - Skies Call
Skydiving has become mainstream.
We are teaching people to scuba dive before they learn how to swim.
1998 - Social Evolution of Skydiving
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"All jump stories are true, even if they didn't happen that way."
"Who are we to let the facts get in the way of a good jump story?"
Some 60's and 70's stuff.
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1995 - Dale Tupa goes to Eloy
1998 - Dale Tupa on Jump Run
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1999 - Wing Suits - The Horizontal Age is Upon Us
Wing Suits from Finland
199? - Tracking Across the Planet (Pope Valley - 1976)
1998 - Turf Surfing?? Did You Say Turf Surfing??
Post AFF A License Coaching
In 2001 we started adapting the ISP version of the A license to our student program at Calhan. We didn't change the AFF phase much, but we did change the coaching phase to reflect the viewpoint that:
When they graduate from AFF they get a student packet which has:
2002 - The Student Handout - A One Page Executive Summary
2002 - The Diagram
2002 - The Coach's Handout
1999 - Some Fundamental Skills Common to all Jumps
2002 - A Summary of Exit Separation
1995 - What's after this Coaching Phase (Who Ya Gonna Be?)
Two Page Proficiency Card
A Flight Planner (aerial photo to draw on)
A Packing Video
A Pullup Cord
2004 - The prop has turned and Calhan has joined the big dropzone in the sky, but I still do a version of this at Mile-Hi in Longmont, Colorado.
The Oreo Cookie in the First 100 Jumps
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~ Oreo Cookie - First 100 Jumps stuff here
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Upper Winds and Exit Separation
"Uppers are not a single,
monolithic situation, and no one size fits all approach is going to
work."
"We have to jump the conditions and not pretend that we can do whatever
we want no matter what."
2004 - Dealing with Uppers - part 1
2004 - Dealing with Uppers - part 2 - Tables and Estimates
2004 - Courtney Frasch - Exit Separation Spreadsheet
1999 - Learning how to do Separation
2004 - A Note on the "45 Degree Rule"
"Causing a freefall/canopy collision is a serious social blunder,
and if you live through it people will be very irritated at you."
1999 - Separation Explained for Students - 3rd try
1998 - Bryan Burke's Response to 2nd try
1998 - Separation Between Groups - 2nd try
1995 - Winds, Exit Intervals, Separation of Groups - 1st try
1995 - The Question is "How?"
"Minds are like parachutes...sometimes they just don't work!"
Bryan Burke, Danger and Training Advisor at Skydive Arizona
1998 - Bryan Burke - Exit Planning
1996 - Bryan Burke - Exit Order
1995 - Bryan Burke - Breakups (Mad John)
2000 - Bill Von Novak - Just Figure It Out
1999 - Bill Von Novak - Separation Cheat Sheet
1995 - Bill Von Novak - Four Examples
(See the google threads below for many more billvon posts.)
John Kallend's Freefall Simulation Program
His notes on this program
In the early 90s there was a legendary debate on rec.skydiving about exit separation and air speed vs ground speed. We had people hauling the dropzone around with a giant tractor, jumping out of tethered balloons in 100 mph winds, equations, ascii diagrams, strong emotions, and clever, misleading arguments in all directions. I'm sure none of us would have imagined that 10+ years later, 2004, the debate would still be raging on.
Exit order, slow fallers then fast fallers then high pullers for into the uppers jumpruns, is mostly accepted now, but separation between groups is still unresolved and frequently debated.
In going back and rereading some of these old threads I found one post that really captured my feelings at times.
Cindy Pirkkala:
" ... I thought I had
it figured out, but I've gone back & forth so many times on this
thread that now I'm not sure what to think. In fact I'm totally
convincedd out, but after reading this thread, my own thought
processes have become so confused that the only thing I know for sure
is that I have absolutely no idea what in the hell I think, so I'm
going to just stop jumping. (Not a chance)"
Here's a few threads from that time. There are many more.
1995-1-1 (63 posts) - exit space on windy days
1995-1-4 (8 posts) - Re: exit flames on windy days
1995-1-5 (4 posts) - Re: The Exit Time Spacing Equation
1995-5-5 (18 posts) - Open Letter to USPA
1995-5-9 (10 posts) - Winds and spotting (the home stretch)
1995-5-14 (11 posts) - Winds/Spotting - beginnings of faq
1995-5-15 (3 posts) - Headwinds and spotting one more view
1995-5-17 (1 post) - Headwinds and spotting - experiment
1995-6-30 (9 posts) - To The USPA
1995-7-6 (62 posts) - !!!!!!USPA vs. SPOTTING
1995-7-6 (5 posts) - USPA vs. SPOTTING
1995-7-7 (1 post) - Groundspeed vs. Airspeed - (USPA's Response)
1995-7-7 (30 posts) - USPA & SPOTTING
1995-7-20 (12 posts) - How's a Housefly Fly
"Don't hose the last groups out" translates to "Just kill the people in the first ones instead".
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