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Thank you everyone for your feedback, input and perspective. It is very helpful and much appreciated by me. I did my first jump of 2021 yesterday with my new Ares II. It was awesome being able to fly again because my DZ closed for 2 weeks during the holidays. One comment about my new Ares II, it was so much easier to read and more accurate to plan out my approach and landing (big big plus when you wear glasses like me). Thank you again. Fly Happy! Rio

The skydiving world is smaller today with the departure early this morning of David Hersey. If you ever met him, it's unlikely you have forgotten him. Dave was a regular at New England DZs -- CT, MA, and finally Lebanon, ME. You may have remembered him by his long hair and beard -- some thought it a Christ-like appearance. Or you may remember him as the only rigger in the area who gladly packed SSTs and Racers when others found them too challenging. Or you may remember him as adventurous in his choice of canopies -- one of the first in the area to jump a Jonathan. Or you may remember him as a Justice of the Peace, who married many skydiving couples. Dave spent much of his life as a personal assistant -- helping disabled people with every part of their lives. So it was ironic that several years ago he was diagnosed with ALS -- "Lew Gehrig's Disease" -- which left him in a wheelchair but didn't affect his spirit He remained cheerful to his last days, sending New Year's greetings to his many friends on Facebook. He's donated his body to ALS research, and has asked for an ash dive -- with glitter -- when the snow melts in the northern New England he so loved. HW

Robert, any event will fade away. just as the rest have. it helps but doesn't forward the case one bit. the public has been involved in the case for decades and has not been able to do any good. You don't seem to grip the reality of the size you think will show. you are responsible for the event and it's actions. this includes sanitation. the people from the eclipse trip were your friends so you are being deceptive saying people are coming from a great distance. you need a minimum of 6-8 porta potties. one generator for 200 to use is asking for disaster. if you put a 12x4 banner up in a open area it will look like a dingy docked by a 100 foot yacht. the banner you are talking about runs across streets 30 plus feet. the size you want is used at parties in backyards. You are spamming an event that is 6 months out and post like it's next week. then you don't even tell people where it actually is due to the virus? who is going to try and sneak into a free event in the middle of a forest, ever heard of wrist bands? what if the vaccine isn't available yet? it's not the best time or financially the best for a lot of people. it will cost a lot of money to go to this free event if they are not campers. a tent, food, water, ice, coolers and gas cost money. I don't read a lot about dedicated true/real/honest Cooper fans that go camping. Eric's events are productive while you post negative comments about them the second they are announced. then demand everyone to get behind you? not one person going is any better than anyone not going. everything you do is the biggest thing ever to the Cooper world. Dropzone has turned into your personal thread. 95% is all from you. Flyjack's reports, what the thread is actually intended for gets buried in all of the "evil spamming". pages at a time now. you have once again become victorious in destroying a thread for your personal use. then for the second or third time you personally attack me and my political views you think you know from sending one email that corrected something you said. you make it out as the worse thing ever done. your actions are hateful, childish and not productive to anyone.

David's ash dive: quintessential David infused with 10 pounds of colored glitter-including lots of his favorite purple-by his request. Wretched weather opened briefly, yielding spectacular visuals aloft and for his extended family on the ground. His glitter trail hung in the sunlit sky for several minutes. Clouds swallowed the blue hole shortly after we landed resulting in a biblical deluge. Just as suddenly, the black clouds evaporated revealing an incredibly vivid David-rainbow in his honor. We believe his ashes and glitter acted as condensation nuclei, seeding the clouds and favoring us with one last brilliant swath of his color across the sky above the dz and family he loved so dearly. Xxxooo, M+J

Good morning, David. Eleven years since you were swept away from us. We honor you every day, determined to pay your lovingkindness forward. Attaching a few photos* today, bittersweet memories of the extraordinary life we were privileged to share with each other. Sweet Chloe joined Alice, Abby and you this year…Les Girlz are now none. Please look after them for us; they loved you so. Until we meet again, dear friend. Xxxooo, Marianne and Jim *In your glory on OWB’s “Friends of David Trip to Italy” enroute Peppino’s North End restaurant, Antico Forno. [As we lovingly mistranslated it: “Old People F**king. ]

You say that like you think there is something wrong with it! To the OP, that is probably a question you will not get a good answer to.

Why do you hang out on this international forum?

Obviously your critics did not

My wife gets hers tomorrow. She is quite excited.

I love validation

If they jumped into one of the many concerts they threw at Anaheim Stadium in those days, then I saw it.

That's not accurate. What that handle does is open the top of the BOC. The bottom seam is still attached to the container. When the reserve side AFF-I pulls that handle, it exposes the pilot chute. The wind usually deploys it, but if it hesitates in the burble the instructor can grab it and throw it. It would not be suitable for a self-deployed left handed pull.

There was a man from Kent whose virus' sequence was bent. It made one no sicker, but passed on much quicker, so faster and faster it went.

One of the nicest ways in which the world is growing is that people's opinions about themselves are more and more often mattering more than the opinions of others. Wendy P.

Loose fabric on the arms is generally a crutch people use while they are still learning freefall, and while I agree that a forearm mounted alti would negate some of the advantages of a loose jumpsuit, hand mount has a big disadvantage of someone being able to dock on you and grab you by the hand and in turn the altimeter (people tend to grab each other by the hands when doing their first FS jumps) which can obscure it, or even worse if it is an analogue unit, can actually turn the calibration ring rendering your altimeter useless. Even with a forearm mount, you will still have loose fabric above and below it, while keeping your altimeter much safer (albeit not 100% safe) from obstruction / interference. As for getting an audible for the decision altitude alarm only, statistically it can be a good idea. Taking into account the average frequency of people needing the decision altitude, you are more likely to learn altitude awareness before experiencing enough emergencies to train yourself to wait for the alarm like a robot.

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

Thirty five years ago..... I was at Rome in Benny's 182, sitting in the students position next to Benny. At some point he really started working the radio; I could see his lips moving but not hear a damn thing, you all who also have hearing loss know what I mean. He'd reach down and change frequencies talk. listen, talk, change the freq again and occasionally look down at me and smile. The he turned in the seat and yelled "hey fellas....." we looked at him, then he said "never mind". The four of us shrugged, tightened the straps, did the pin checks, popped the door, don't remember if there were any corrections needed. Benny was pretty good about lining up on jump run. We launched a four way, maybe turned a few points, and once under canopy Benny was already on the ground parking the airplane. That was unusual as Benny generally landed about the same time we did. We did bandanna accuracy for beer, daisy chained the lines and went to the packing area in front of the hanger. Benny then made the announcement about the crash. Cowboy. GDMF Cowboy. We called him 'Bullet' as he tended to tear through formations and cut people off when landing. One day the Beech at Westwind lost an engine on take off. We had just hit the hump to launch and there was a loud BANG. The Beech was plowing through the tree tops with the operating motor acting like a great big weed eater. At about 1200 over who knows where the co-pilot who would go on to fly for Delta yelled for us to get out now! Everyone, except for Cowboy, who started yelling he'd be the last one out lined up and bombed out quietly and in order of seating from back to front. I landed in a front yard. I've never seen so many power lines before. I loved Jeff, what a genuinely decent guy he was. Soapy was like a dutch uncle, and I hit unsuccessfully on Carol. That xmas I was going to give Ann Neil Diamonds Greatest Hits because she hated Neil Diamond. I admired all the Techies, so smart they were. I ate at Paul's restaurant, too. All dead well before their time because of Bullet's greed and willful stupidity. Thirty five years ago, and I still miss them, and it still hurts.

Yes, thats correct. Renewing your Instructor rating also renews your Coach rating.

There used to be a distinction between an Instructor rating and a lower Jumpmaster rating, but the JM rating was phased out quite some time ago. Perhaps that now applies to a Coach rating.

Dear David, Where have ten years gone? We miss your infinite kindness and wisdom, and try to "pay it forward" every day to ensure your legacy lives on through the hearts and deeds of your extended family. Tommy C. was right when he said you set the bar so very high for the rest of us who would follow your path. Look after Steve, Nate and the others who just left us, especially little Abby a few days ago. Blue skies, warm sun and gentle breezes forever, dear friend. Xxxooo, Marianne and Jim

I'm glad you posted that picture. Dave was one of those guys that I usually only saw at the WFFC once a year, and I never seemed to be able to remember his name. Very nice guy. I remember seeing him at the 2007 PIA Symposium when he was in a wheelchair and told me of his disease. He retained a very good attitude about it.

Ash dive with glitter, what a great idea!!!