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I do indeed. Your sources for what CRT is are about as authoritative as that whuffo's ideas of what skydiving was from years gone by. Yep. No wonder you believe the right wing strawman version of what CRT is. I am only surprised you did not include George Carlin, Andrew Dice Clay and Bobcat GoldThwait as sources for your understanding. Nope. But race played a role. Attempts to understand what role it played are worthwhile, and are not Monty Python-esque, or Marxist, or racist. I do indeed support it, and I am just fine with you thinking I am a humorless twit. Due to my work in it, I have realized a few things. I used to think I understood transgender people. Then one of the women who works for me came out to me as trans. She did this because of my support for DEI, and it was a good thing - I could be a better manager if I understood her perspective a bit better. From her I learned that I was not "woke." I did not understand what trans people go through, nor do I understand now, since I am a straight cis guy. But at least I understand the issue a little better now. I used to think that rape was a rare crime, and that it was something that happened when women got careless. Then an old friend told me about her rape. It shook me a bit. When I talked to another friend about it, she told me about HER rape. Now half the women I have talked to have their own stories about it - including women who are tough as nails, and are about as far from a careless pushover as you can get. I used to think that blacks (and other minorities) had had it bad centuries ago, but nowadays all those laws had been changed, so now it was 100% up to them. Then in high school I got to know the Indian kid next to me in band. He was one of four non-Christians allowed entry. I also got to know one of the four black kids in the school, and we're still friends on Facebook. I did a little digging, and found out that if my high school admitted a certain percentage of non-Christian and non-white students, they qualified for a federal financial assistance program. (One of those 'structural' things that you think is a joke.) I don't really understand what it's like to be a minority, but after talking to them I at least understand it a little bit more. From your posts it sounds like you believe you know it all, and are smugly confident that you have nothing left to learn on the topic. Black scholars who research the structural basis of racism are Marxists, and their work is comedy. Trans people are mentally ill. Muslims are violent, insane criminals. Black people who talk about racism are the real racists. If that lets you sleep better at night, then I guess that . . . works for you. Rest assured that I do not have the vast, superior and unquestionable understanding that you do. The more work I do on understanding the issues under DEI (and for me it does take work) the more I understand how much I have to learn. If that means I am a humorless twit in your eyes, so be it. Feel free to, in the future, disregard my posts, and converse only with people at your (much higher) level.

Hi all, I know this post is archaic...but I wanted to know if that manual is still available. I could not find any link to it. Every help will be much appreciated! Thanks.. And Blue Skies!! DC

I don't recall who it was, but one of the sport mfg's was offering (a few years back), a very quick turn if you would take a stock container size in all black except for a custom center star-burst flap. Meant they could produce them 90% done in bulk and during slow periods, and you still got the custom center and harness sizing. JW

An eloquent but meaningless digression about land negotiations between the government of Panama and its native tribes in 1972, would be my guess.

The shortest IAD FJC was 3 hours and all 4 students performed well as they exited the airplane. Larger classes and "slower" students require more time for rehearsals on the ground. Accompanied Freefall FJC usually requires 6 hours because of all the additional tasks the student has to perform. The key is the instructor(s) constantly observing students to confirm that learning is taking place. A few students will never "get" ground school and need to be weeded out quietly.

Ya know? This is the crux of the matter. First off, CRT is not taught in any school below college, and primarily at graduate level. The stupid state legislators who are passing laws against teaching it at elementary, middle or high school have pretty much passed laws against something that never happens. Second, it's a theory. Not unlike relativity, evolution or string theories. They take an observed phenomenon and try to explain why it happens. They make assumptions, try to test them and then modify them as the understanding grows & evolves. In the case of CRT, the basic premise is that racism exists (duh). The main question is asking why it is still as pervasive as it is, despite all of the advancements in Civil Rights over the past half century or so. The answer seems to be that there are a wide variety of social constructs (in all sorts of ways) that reinforce the racism. One of the more subtle and interesting ones is how the Long Island Parkway has low bridges. You might wonder how low bridges can be racist. The reality is that those roads are the only way to get to the Long Island beaches. The low bridges prevent buses from using the Parkway. So only passenger cars can take people to the beaches. And poor black people are far, far less likely to have access to a car. So the beaches became 'white only', not by law or rule, but by accessibility. To reduce racism, understanding the underlying causes is vital. Seeing how ingrained those things are is the beginning to the process of removing them. But, of course, studying those things is 'racist'. Removing those barriers would start the process of removing racism. So some people are trying VERY hard to shut down the whole idea of CRT. To the point of spreading lies about it. Go figure.

You don't say if you passed the levels. What did your instructors say about how you did? Many jumpers experienced setbacks, less than perfect jumps during their AFF progression. Skydiving doesn't just come naturally to many people, it's something you have to work at to learn how to control yourself in the air. Just a guess, but your experience on your second jump may indicate you tensed up and were fighting the air, which isn't at all unusual. I think I was told I had to relax more after each of my first 3 or 4 jumps. Did you meet the goals of the jump? Were you aware of your altitude, and did you pull on time? If so you did fine. If not, it's common to have to re-do a level, or even multiple levels. You will progress faster, and have more fun, if you are in good shape so that is always a worthwhile goal. However you should be aware that if you take a long time off to get in shape you will have to go back a bit in your training. The point of having several levels to AFF is to build survival skills, and too big of a gap will interfere with that. If you are having trouble relaxing, maybe a tandem jump where you don't have the stress of performing can help you to relax and experience more of the fun, and help you get in the mindset to carry on with AFF. Also as has been suggested a better fitting jumpsuit could help you to fall faster and have better control without fighting a lot of flapping fabric. If you are very light, though, some added weight may still be needed so your instructors can fly with you. If you can't stop thinking about skydiving, and your instructors didn't give you the "take up bowling instead" speech, you can work past these very common early self-doubts.

A few thoughts in no particular order: If you want it, go for it. Better fitness and flexibility are always a good thing, but there are some really out of shape people who jump and do just fine. Also some 'old and crunchy' types (including me) who do ok. Student gear sucks. It's big & heavy. It's "one size sort of fits most, but not really". Once you get through the progression and get your own stuff, it gets a lot better. The instructors should know what they are doing. The 'big & baggy' jumpsuit slows you down. The weights speed you back up. Part of the job of the instructor is to make sure that they can fly with you. From their viewpoint, it's easier to make you go faster and work to stay down with you than have you go slower and fight to stay up with you (it's easier to speed up than slow down). It would have been better to find a tighter suit and skip the weights, but that may not have been an option. Perhaps you can find a smaller jumper who is willing to let you use one of their suits. Most jumpers have at least a couple. I'm not surprised you were exhausted. Much of it was mental, rather than physical, but that doesn't make it less real. Some places have golf carts or similar to bring jumpers back from a distance. It's a nice thing, especially for early students who are often overwhelmed and exhausted, even if everything goes well.

Hi fast, It doesn't. On average, it takes about 40-labor-hours to build a modern sport rig. Your question should be about wait times. 6 yrs ago I ordered a new car, out-fitted just as I wanted; it took 3 1/2 months to get it. Jerry Baumchen

^This. The lawyers submitted affidavits that basically stated 'the witness said this'. Now they are saying they hadn't even read the statement, let alone actually spoken to the witness. What the witness said, whether it was true or not, or any of that is totally irrelevant. They pretty much committed perjury when they submitted a statement that was a lie. As an aside, it's rather funny (not really) that so many of the people that want the Ten Commandments prominently displayed in public places (courthouses) are completely ignoring the fact that one of those commandments says something about "bearing false witness."

"Woke" is just a buzz word that right wingers like to misuse and get worked up about. Same as "critical race theory". They both just mean "aware of WTF is going on" as far as I'm concerned.