Are People Jumping Right Now?

20 hours ago, gowlerk said:

I like the idea of a harness that keeps the student six feet away! It reminds me of the old joke about the blind jumper and the seeing eye dog.

We could always to civilian tandems the same way soldiers do tandem bundle jumps: threaten to kiss the student. As they run off the ramp, follow a few metres (yards) behind and let a static-line deploy your drogue.

If you worry about light-weight students free-falling above you, just hang a water-barrel off them and drain it under canopy to reduce landing speed.

Can I get a patent on that concept?

Hah!

Hah!

8 hours ago, AStack75 said:

Skydive City is closed for jumping. We told you we would re-evaluate jumping with input from staff and jumpers. Yesterday, we 'postponed' tandems. Today, we are ceasing jumping. We remain open to handle business. The constructive input of everyone who cares about Skydive City on the wisest course of action has been most appreciated. Thank you everyone!

*We are still planning to rock Flamingo Fest April 8-12.

Everyone,

The reality is that, except for lap dances at your favorite strip club, few businesses press their customers together as we do. This is no time to pretend that we know better or are different. Nor is it a time to believe this will be over in two weeks. We'll still be Skydivers a month or two months from now. Let's all just stay chill, not press the issue or our DZO's and find another muse for a couple of months. That's being smart.

This just popped up:

Several airports want to close in wake of pandemic

From CNN's Geneva Sands

Yes there are still many DZs that are still jumping. However, I think after a month the only place you're going to find any open businesses are those located on Antarctica or the military/ government/ hospitals.

All Skydive Spaceland locations are now closed till April 2.

Not entirely my idea, I've seen variations bouncing around on FB:

Do you really want to jump?
Do you want to risk getting hurt and needing to go into a hospital when all the ICU beds are full?
Not just 'full of covid-19 cases' but 'full to the point that they can't take you in'?

It's been a long winter and I was looking forward to getting up.

But I don't see it happening any time soon.

19 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

h

On 3/19/2020 at 6:28 PM, 20kN said:

Yes there are still many DZs that are still jumping. However, I think after a month the only place you're going to find any open businesses are those located on Antarctica or the military/ government/ hospitals.

weren't US troops in Europe in quarantine and troops in Iraq stopped some training work and redeployed to larger bases? I doubt military in the US is in a hurry to do parachute training right now, soldiers are just as humans as the rest of us and of all training they must do, jumping is the least immediately useful and has one of the highest, given how densely packed soldiers would be, risk of spreading the infection.

4 hours ago, eatfastnoodle said:

weren't US troops in Europe in quarantine and troops in Iraq stopped some training work and redeployed to larger bases? I doubt military in the US is in a hurry to do parachute training right now, soldiers are just as humans as the rest of us and of all training they must do, jumping is the least immediately useful and has one of the highest, given how densely packed soldiers would be, risk of spreading the infection.

Hua? What are you talking about. What I said was:

1. Yes there are still some [civilian] dropzones that are still running loads as of this moment. Not all DZs are closed.
2. Eventually everything may be closed except for the military, hospitals and other government entities.

On 3/18/2020 at 8:54 PM, gowlerk said:

Tandem is not compatible with social distancing.

Bungee Tandem, student leads, instructor follows

On 3/21/2020 at 2:04 PM, eatfastnoodle said:

weren't US troops in Europe in quarantine and troops in Iraq stopped some training work and redeployed to larger bases? I doubt military in the US is in a hurry to do parachute training right now, soldiers are just as humans as the rest of us and of all training they must do, jumping is the least immediately useful and has one of the highest, given how densely packed soldiers would be, risk of spreading the infection.

they gotta jump at least every three months to stay current to get jump pay. 

On 3/20/2020 at 9:28 PM, wolfriverjoe said:

Not entirely my idea, I've seen variations bouncing around on FB:

Do you really want to jump?
Do you want to risk getting hurt and needing to go into a hospital when all the ICU beds are full?
Not just 'full of covid-19 cases' but 'full to the point that they can't take you in'?

It's been a long winter and I was looking forward to getting up.

But I don't see it happening any time soon.

In the Netherlands, social distancing is not applicable for families.

So my wife and I (who both have the necessary Mad Skillz) decided we could jump from, say, a rented 172 if we adopted a pilot.
Then we realised that many of the (volunteer) pillots at our club are also commercial airline pilots. We briefly considered the amount of college debt your average pilot incurs during their study and decided we'd wait until the preventative measures are revoked, along with everyone else.

On 3/23/2020 at 1:41 PM, sfzombie13 said:

they gotta jump at least every three months to stay current to get jump pay. 

Wrong.  

5 minutes ago, timski said:

Wrong.  

when did they change that rule?  i got out in '04 and we had to jump every three months or lose our jump pay.  same for active duty.  i even went on a fun jump at ft bragg once to maintain my jump pay. 

Just now, sfzombie13 said:

when did they change that rule?  i got out in '04 and we had to jump every three months or lose our jump pay.  same for active duty. 

I left active in 02, deployments were the only thing that kept me from staying current, obviously we kept getting paid. It's a different animal now, for sure!... 

you had a waiver from dod to not jump while deployed.  we had to jump while deployed but it was a spec ops unit and we all got foreign jump wings.  i was rear det and didn't get mine, in fact, i was off jump status for two months with a broken ankle and had to forfeit jump pay.  some units are more lax than others, but i was the admin and i can assure you that at the time, the regs were in place and most units followed them. 

MORAL OF THIS STORY:  Start taking this shit serious. The sooner the better. You know who you are. 

Governor Brad Little issued a statewide order asking all residents to “stay at home.” in Idaho starting today for the next 21 days.  Sky Down Skydiving hopefully will resume jumping April 17th. 

1 hour ago, dmp4842 said:

Governor Brad Little issued a statewide order asking all residents to “stay at home.” in Idaho starting today for the next 21 days.  Sky Down Skydiving hopefully will resume jumping April 17th. 

Instead of hopefully on any future day, how about hopefully someday all of our brothers and sisters will again be able to gather together to do this incredible thing we do? Please, don't force the issue or press your DZO's with dates that create expectations that cannot be assured. We'll still be skydivers when this passes. Stay chill.

19 hours ago, Baksteen said:

In the Netherlands, social distancing is not applicable for families.

 

 

Then the Netherlands is approaching this wrong and putting the planet at risk.

That's quite the conclusion you draw, based on a post that was clearly a so-called "joke" (look it up sometime).

But for you information, I meant families as in parents and children living in the same home. Not as in aunts, uncles, parents and children living elsewhere.

I am not going to justify or even explain the measures my country takes, which I  fully support. I'm not a doctor, but a laboratory technician who works with different viruses.

You can look them up yourself, provided of course you can see the screen of your tablet from the back of your high horse.

6 minutes ago, Baksteen said:

Families as in parents and children living in the same home, du-uh.

 

 

Still wrong at least in some circumstances. There will be circumstances when husbands need to self isolate from wives to fight this. There will be circumstances when mothers need to self isolate from their children to fight this. There will be circumstances when this is needed even when they live in the same home. No one is exempt and no human relationship guarantees exemption.

This whole thing is REALLY serious and no one is exempt no matter what their relationship might be.

58 minutes ago, Baksteen said:

That's quite the conclusion you draw, based on a post that was clearly a so-called "joke" (look it up sometime).

 

Nothing about COVID-19 is funny. I will not apologize for getting on my "high horse" on this. Close friends of mine are on a ship that was in Antarctic waters before this COVID-19 thing became serious. Their ship has been roaming the world looking for a place to dock that will let them in, and they may end up, against their will, in the Netherlands (their ship's home country) before too long. I hope they will find a place that is not too badly infected.

I recognize that my attitude here is that of a tight-assed asshole, and I make no apologies for acting like a tight-assed asshole in times like this.

Social distancing is applicable to EVERYONE, even immediate family living together, in times like this. Period.

You have convinced me. I have notified the Dutch government and they will issue the measures you mandate as soon as possible.