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Hey Mario, Very keen to talk to you pal. I have found that the biggest hurdles to overcome for me and many others are the limits due to equipmet. I have had to make my own leg braces and 'supa pants' and without these i could not jump safely. I am an aircraft engineer and pilot as well so i could really give you some awesome input into your project. Please email me [email protected] or skype 'daleelliott' Adelaide South Australa. Thanks for considering this area of sport for your project. I hope we can get something happening. Dale Get busy living or get busy dying!

Still working on perfecting my gear so its easy to gear up at the DZ and be ready for a load. I am also using a set of leg braces i made out of polycarbonate plastic that i can change the angles on. I am looking into how the different leg angles effect my flying and what angles are best for certain jumps. I have been increasing the padding in my pants as i feel that the landings are still risky as far as injury to my butt goes. I also want to do more work on the webbing in between my knees that helps grab air. I want to see what effect different porosity netting/fabric has on flying position. This combined with leg brace angles will start to give me a good understanding of how to trim out various flying positions. I get so many emails from new paras wanting to get into solo jumping that this research really needs to be done and tabulated. I am not at all comfortable coaching people or telling them what will work for them because i dont know. No one does. No one has done a detailed investigation and recorded the results. I want to progress into wingsuits one day and to do that i need to also have this basic research done in order to be able to share and discuss this with instructors. I would also like to run a 2 week camp for paras who want to get into jumping or progress with their jumping. I need all this data in order to make a manual for that. My opinions are just that. What works for me prob wont work for others but I want to be able to say why and have the data to suggest something else. Keeping this area of skydiving safe is my main priority right now. In all the excitement, shit can go wrong, and i dont see us paras getting too many chances if we stuff it up...... D Get busy living or get busy dying!

Hi All, Haven't been around much at DZ.com lately but ive still been jumping and developing my skydive gear. He is a jump I did this week http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUFBRNkTwyA Rock on! D Get busy living or get busy dying!

You can break your back doing most things! I don't concentrate on all the things that could go wrong. I manage the risks that will make it unsafe for me. I already have a broken back in a motorcycle accident but have developed a way to make skydiving as safe as acceptable for me to do it. I could chose to sit in a room and get fat. I won't break my back, but i will die from something else. We are all on a journey from birth to death, I feel 100% alive when i jump, but i make sure I have a good headwind so my landings are slow. These are the types of different parameters you will need to consider, things that are special to you. My advice means nothing unless you use it to adapt to your situation. All i'm saying is that I have worked out a system for me. It will not be the system for you. I won't break my ankles skydiving, I won't break my back either, well, I won't if i don't break my system that has worked for me each time I have jumped without injury. Aviation is a risky business sure, but I think it is a good example of how humans can do something that is quite dangerous and demanding and get it right. Its a pity that when we come to so many other things in society that we fuck it up. Simple simple things..... Get busy living or get busy dying!

Well I can't use my legs at all and i land on my butt so I think you will be fine.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl8TtXSm7LE Get busy living or get busy dying!

Awesome m8. Fu@king awesome. Great to see you kickn ass man, I knew you would show this shit who is boss. Look fwd to a 2 way one day. Rock on! D Get busy living or get busy dying!

Come to Australia Minna! It was only 109F today at the DZ! Which was a nice break from 114! Get busy living or get busy dying!

Landing is where all the risk is. Freefall is not going to be where you hurt yourself. Landings need to be excellent everytime or you will break something and do skin damage that will put you out of action for a long time. It will also make it difficult for other paras who want to get into jumping. If there are any horror stories that start to circulate because paras hook it in and explode on landing it will be very difficult to find instructors and DZs that will allow us to jump. I know that able bods hurt themselves all the time by landing too fast while swooping, we however have a 'Well they shouldnt be jumping anyway!' stigma to contend with if we stuff up. We need to land better and safer if we are to develop a wider skydive community of paraplegics. The only way to practice landing approaches and flaring the canopy is to do lots of tandem jumps. Pookie did, Minna did, Peter and I had previous jump experience as able bods. So far, we are doing ok. Freefall is not that difficult, I did a jump yesterday from 10000 feet and had a 35 sec freefall. I went off the door, rolled onto my back and gave a mate who was looking out the plane the bird, I then flipped around and did some spins left and right, tracked for a 2000 ft then deployed stable at 3000ft, did canopy checks and then hooked up my legs for landing, spiraled down and landed within 10m of cross out the front of the clubrooms. A m8 scooted my chair out to me, I jumped in and went inside. I gear up totally by myself, get in the plane by myself and fall by myself. You need to have a system where you are as independent as possible or people at the DZ start giving you shit when you hold up a load. It happens as the novelty wears off. I don't care about this pressure, I have chosen to participate in this sport so adapting is a big part of it. Why should other jumpers have their time wasted because of me? The system that I use to conduct my jumps is very good. It is simple and uncomplicated, it is cheap to get set up, and I don't need any mods to standard rigs. I could go to any DZ and jump their student gear (cos i want at least a 210 canopy) without any decrease in safety. This is what i think para skydivers should aim to achieve when jumping. The further you get away from tried and tested equipment and procedures the closer you get to being a test pilot. The risk at this end of the scale is much higher. We can not afford increased risk while trialing new ways to skydive. Try and do it as close as possible to the current way that thousands of skydivers jump around the world. This is where you can utilize the safety systems of current gear to the maximum, and also deviate as little as possible from approved training syllabus. This is just my opinion. After 18 years in the aviation industry as a commercial pilot, jump pilot and aircraft engineer I have seen many times where people have gone away from 'the norm' in order to be unique or different, which most of the time results in a fu#k up. The best you can do is get out to a DZ every day you can and start learning 'the how and why' with everything you can. You need to develop aviation maturity to a higher level then a regular skydive student. You can only do this by getting your head into the game. Attitude + altitude = a safe jump. (in my opinion) Rock on! D Get busy living or get busy dying!

Yes I agree with DSE, it is great to see people addicted to the sky and not letting anything get in their way. .......now, where is your bloody VIDEO!!!! I am hanging to see how your technique went Pookie. You mentioned to me about doing two ways as a para team, I wanna see how you fall man. Exciting times for paraplegic skydiving ahead! D Get busy living or get busy dying!

Pookie, can you post a video of your jumps? I gather you got some footage??? It is frustrating that you build up excitement for the jumps you did but don't give any info at all about what happened on the day? Don't leave us hanging man!! Chop chop! And dude, no more thread posts without content, that shits me to tears. Get busy living or get busy dying!

Why a restricted A licence? If you can't do a backloop, then you will never need to do a backloop. Is it a test of skill or conformity? What is the real reason for a backloop? Safety is the priority in my opinion. A backloop induces instability in a jump, it's a test to see if you can get stable. If you can get stable after rolling onto your back well its the same thing in my opinion. Get busy living or get busy dying!

Ive got 500hrs flying PA31s and worked on them as an engineer for 5 years and it would not be a plane I would consider as a good jump ship. The centre of gravity problem is a very real one, you do run out of forward elevator when 6 are stacking up on the door. Engine operating procedures need to be very strict or you will crack cylinders and destroy the turbos. Turbo charged piston engines are not good for skydive ops, the costs of maintaining these engines alone not to mention undercarraige wear and tear would make this DZ operation very expensive. These aircraft are too old and parts are costly too. D Get busy living or get busy dying!

Hi Pookie, It has been done man, by a few of us now. Im jumping again this weekend, http://www.youtube.com/user/daleeIIiott Get Down! D Get busy living or get busy dying!

Nope, the plane should be grounded as per the regs. Airspeed is a critical component when configuring the plane for various phases of flight. You can't just 'feel' airspeed. Sure certain power settings and angles of climb/descent will result in a certain speed, but stalling a plane during exit is quite common and your just tempting fate. Plain stupid, illegal and sets a very bad example. Also, try convincing your insurance company that they should cover you after an incident, GOOD LUCK! Any pilot that does this should hang up their headset in my opinion. They don't really understand risk management at all. Get busy living or get busy dying!

Thats the plan for sure! Get busy living or get busy dying!