August 24, 2007

In this issue:

• Night jumps this weekend!
• Congratulations...
• Deguello 16 training next weekend; come out and get lots of jumps!
• Flight school open 7 days a week, and we have our first graduate!
• Safety Tip: Fly canopies with care at night
• Upcoming events

Congratulations...

Skydive Spaceland would like to congratulate several individuals:

• DJ Marvin made his 5,000th jump on August 21 (that's him at the top of the photo, along with Chelsea Reeves, Kip Snell, and Matt Bessonette).

• Marty Mahoney, a.k.a. Ladybug, made her 50th jump on August 18.

• Dusty Evans and Mike Hedger graduated from the Skydiver Training Program on August 17.

• David Andreis graduated from the STP program on August 19.

Deguello 16 Training Next Weekend... Get Lots of Jumps!

During Labor Day weekend, Deguello 16 will be training at Skydive Spaceland. They usually start at or before 8 a.m. and keep the plane rolling on back-to-back training jumps, so come on out and get lots of skydives!

Flight School Open 7 Days a Week, and We Have Our First Graduate!

There's more than one way to fly... how would you like to try flying an airplane? Skydive Spaceland's flight school will be open 7 days a week with a dedicated instructor (Matt Wampler) starting Monday, Aug. 27.

Trent Alkek passed his checkride to receive his Private Pilot Single Engine Land ticket on August 23. He is the first graduate of Skydive Spaceland's flight school! (So we all owe beer!) Congratulations Trent!

Contact manifest at 281/369-3337 or manifest@skydivespaceland.com for more information or to schedule training.

Safety Tip: Fly Canopies With Care at Night

Hot tips for novices, and good reminders for the rest of us

Landing a parachute at night is something of a rare activity for most of us civilian skydivers. While we're lucky in that no one's shooting at us, we still have some additional safety concerns compared to daytime skydiving. Many of them center around canopy flight.

Flying and landing your canopy come with an extra degree of difficulty in the dark. Canopy traffic is much harder to see at night despite the fact that everyone will be wearing strobes to make them visible to everyone else. Upon opening, check your canopy and immediately identify the position of the other jumpers in your group. Playing with your canopy a little is fine, but particularly once you enter the landing pattern, make controlled, predictable turns so you stay in a predictable flight path. No one likes canopy surprises, particularly at night!

Lastly, depth perception suffers greatly at night. Even if there is plenty of light on the landing area, you probably can't see those trees, buildings, power poles, etc., that provide additional altitude clues during the day. Thus, judging your flare height becomes tougher, especially if you are doing a high-performance landing with a diving turn to build speed. High-performance landings at night are not advisable for most of us; it's generally much safer to fly and land conservatively at night because of your reduced vision. Plus there usually isn't much wind at night, so you should have plenty of speed without a landing turn!

Night jumps are a lot of fun, so come on out, be safe, and have a blast!

Upcoming Events

• August 25: Texas Skydiving League 4-way Meet #4 (Skydive Dallas)
• October 6: Texas Skydiving League 8-way Meet #2 (Skydive Spaceland)
• October TBA: Halloween Boogie
• November 1-4: Big-Way Camp and Sequential Invitational

Have fun and play safe! We look forward to seeing you soon at Spaceland!

Comments? Email Eric at eric@skydivespaceland.com.

© 2007 Skydive Spaceland | 16111 FM 521 | Rosharon, TX 77583
1-800-SKY-DIVE | 281-369-3337 | manifest@skydivespaceland.com