darkwing

Here's one from Star, Idaho, 1973. Participants: Me (with the melon), Pete Hill (close) and Herbie Gibson (RIP). Photo: Crazy Ed Pancoast (RIP) -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I know a guy who died of embarrassment due to shrinkage on a naked 10-way in 1973 at a competition in Alta, Utah. He claimed shrinkage due to wind chill. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

You are all pussies. Here is a photo from the old days. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It isn't clear to me from your response above that you understood the real intent of my original post. So let me state that my entire post you responded to was meant to be humorous, as it is entirely absurd. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Pretty much everything that represents modern skydiving evolved in the 70's. Sequential RW, freeflying, crw, piggybacks, ram air mains and reserves, audibles, BASE ... I think the 70's were the absolute best time to start skydiving (other than the fact it means you are now old). You got to sample the old, and ride the wave into the new. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The documents don't show any graphics for me. I have MS word 2004. Can you make the graphics pdf? -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Depends on what you want it to do for you, but I'm a huge L&B fan, and one of their models should be great for you. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I was at both 78 and 79 nats in Richmond. It is a very special memory for me. Lots of cool friends and adventures. Good competition. Fun jumps. In 8-way we teamed up with another team and did a sweet 16-way on the last round I think. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

One you can land unconscious and survive to jump again. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Hard to imagine a spectre 230 responding to harness input. I used to jump a 190 and I couldn't get a significant turn from it with harness input to save my life. My money is on other issues as asserted above. It is important to distinguish between a turn and a slide, so look at those issues. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I owned both. I greatly preferred the Havok. One big reason is I wear glasses. Another was I believed it to be superior in all respects to the Z1, except for some nebulous "bulk" issue. Yes, it looks bigger. I didn't care. If I were to buy a helmet other than a Havok, I would not buy another Z1. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'm pretty sure those magnetic fields will alter the path of cosmic rays near you, and also cause neurological problems due to their interaction with natural electrical currents in your nervous system. Also you can no longer jump with others who have pacemakers, or sit near the cockpit as it will interfere with the GPS system, and cause all spots to be off. Your AAD will probably be adversely affected too, depending on which magnetic pole is nearest it, and it will cause your AAD to fire too high if you are in the northern hemisphere, and too low if in the southern. Probably the worst thing though is that red blood cells, with all of their iron, will collect close to the bag, and you will get gian blood clots there, plus you'll be anemic everywhere else in your body. The good news is that for solar flares, you get some protection. I'm a physicist, so I must be right. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Yes, but it represents the student's efforts, not mine. I get to criticize after it is all done. I'm not his teacher. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'm posting this for a high school student I know. He is doing his senior thesis on alternative energy plans. Please take the time to fill out his survey. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=zhjTJ6Vuo1e4hgXFrP89tg_3d_3d Thanks, -- Jeff My Skydiving History

It sounds to me like that place is under some stress due to a misalignment or mis-cut. Perhaps put a small extension patch there. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

200 jumps was quite experienced for many years. I agree that the change to 500 was overdue though. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I am delighted that I logged my jumps. 35 years of jumping, and just last week a guy contacted me I hadn't heard from since 1975 or so. When you are an old, old guy one of your simple pleasures will be reading your log book. I regret not writing more stuff. For example, put down N-numbers for the airplanes you jump. It is interesting to google them years later. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

+/- 10% -- Jeff My Skydiving History

That is exactly the description I got from Elek Puskas of ParaFlite in about 1978. Also, I think the Pioneer Viking had round holes, to distinguish it from the rectangular holed Cloud. I was doing canopy design and construction at the time, so I studied up on this stuff. I looked closely at canopies with such vents, and put them in a couple of my canopies too. I had problems with this explanation though, because under no circumstances could I discern that the pressure in those cells was lower than adjacent cells. Lower pressure would affect the cell geometry, and I couldn't detect any geometric difference. Jeff -- Jeff My Skydiving History

The DRX has been "any day now" for over two years. Don't hold your breath. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

I'm not up on my accuracy canopies. Is it a Challenger? -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Is that a double line attachment? Has it had a gore removed and the line doubled so it stays centered? I'm also tempted to agree with the taffeta issue. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

Only sometimes, and in sufficient quantities. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

My first thought was Barish Sailwing. -- Jeff My Skydiving History

In an airplane that is stalling/spinning/flopping around, regardless of how big the door is, or how close it is, it may not be possible to get out. There are some tough but dead guys who know this. A few live ones too. -- Jeff My Skydiving History