Eiley

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Posts posted by Eiley

  1. Posted

    A new book that looks at the 2003 death of Stephen Hilder: Blue Skies, Black Death

    In July 2003, 20-year-old Stephen Hilder died when his parachute failed to open as he was taking part in a jump from Hibaldstow Airfield in the UK. His body was found in a cornfield near the airfield.

    What seemed like a tragic accident quickly turned into a murder investigation, when it became evident that his parachute had been tampered with before he boarded the airplane. As soon as he jumped out the door, Stephen Hilder had no chance of survival.

    The sabotage could only have been carried out by an experienced skydiver, so everyone on the dropzone became a suspect. The investigation that followed contained more twists and surprises than a work of fiction.

  2. This may come out of left field, but in the Stephen Hilder case in 2003 at Hibaldstow, a 24-y-o suspect was arrested and questioned, and apparently later charged with criminal damage but not murder. His name was never released. Cilliers would have been around 24 at the time. Was he at Hib for the Collegiate Nationals that weekend by any chance?

    (The coroner released an open finding in the Hilder case)

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  3. Hi all,

    Just wondering if there's anyone here who's lost money in an online scam - whether from someone claiming to want to buy your rig or any other scam at all?

    I'm writing a newspaper article (for [/url]www.theage.com.au[url]) to coincide with National Cyber Security Awareness Week here in Oz next week and would really appreciate some firsthand stories.

    If you have any you'd be willing to share (can be anonymous), please PM me.

    TIA :)
    Eiley

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  4. Quote

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    Very nice, Drew! I didn't even know there were any pinball machines with skydiving. Any others that you know of?



    1964 Bally Sky Divers http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2193
    1973 Bally Sky Kings http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=2196

    Sky Jump was also produced in add-a-ball versions with extra balls instead of replays (Free Fall for the domestic market, Sky Dive for export). Different names were stuck on it by at least one Italian company that copied it and another European company which produced it under license.


    Also, the Tommy machine skill shot involves not letting your (roundie) skydiver bounce (shows in video mode). :)

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    Reportedly, “The maximum amount of marijuana for 'personal use' under the new law is 5 grams — the equivalent of about four joints. The limit is a half gram for cocaine, the equivalent of about 4 "lines." For other drugs, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams for LSD.”


    If my memory from the 80's serves me correctly those are some fat joints and fat lines.



    That's exactly what I was thinking! :D Cheech & Chong-like cigar joints and lines that would test the most adamant hollywood imbibers :ph34r:

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  6. ???

    Did you just hit reply on the last post in the thread?

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    Bottom line, it is not about placing blame.



    This bit should be in reply to DBCOOPER. My post couldn't have been clearer that I was not assigning blame. His couldn't have been clearer that he was.

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    It is about stopping this trend. It is only going to get worst as every new 100 jump wonder learns to fly their canopies with no real mentors.



    This is a complete non-sequitur to my post. The incident in question involved two 'types' that typically cause accidents:

    1. The hotdog who loves swooping

    2. The uncurrent nuff-nuff who had no business being under the canopy he was flying

    Neither comes even close to being a "new 100 jump wonder learns to fly their canopies with no real mentors. "

    So what was the point of your post? :S

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  7. I could also point out that the incident to which DBCOOPER refers is by no means definitely as he describes it.

    I was one of only two witnesses to that incident. DBCOOPER wasn't even there. Yet he comes to this thread making accusations that one person (Paul) killed another (Mike) and, in fact, even accuses him of murder:

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    I say killed, not died, because thats what happened. It would be no different if someone got up in the plane and cut his risers off with a hook knife and pushed him out. The end result is the same.



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    Seems a little more premeditated then a careless act.



    I PM'd DBCOOPER with the FACTS about this incident and he pretty much replied that he didn't care, what he posted was what he believed from reading the thread on DZ.COM and he had no intention of coming on this thread and admitting that what he posted as fact was pure speculation.

    FACT: there was a canopy collision and 2 people died.

    FACT: they were landing AWAY from the busy landing area (thus the lack of witnesses).

    FACT: One jumper (Paul) had the profile of a hotdog who loved swooping.

    FACT: Paul was also an expert canopy pilot who was at Lake Wales because he had been invited on the CRW World Record.

    SPECULATION: (because I only heard it from other people there at the time): Mike was uncurrent and overloaded.

    FACT: Paul might have been at fault and caused the collision.

    FACT: Mike might have been at fault and caused the collision.

    FACT: I landed right next to the convulsing, bloody bodies.

    FACT: After all the investigations, the conclusion was, nobody knows and we will never know.

    FACT: some people won't accept these facts because they don't fit into their neat little box of convenient-theory-of-the-month.

    It makes me fuckin' sick that I am big enough to admit that someone I loved MAY WELL HAVE BEEN the cause of an accident that killed another, but someone else who wasn't there and drew conclusions from posts on the internet posts fucking drivel as though it was fact and then is not man enough to own up to it when called on it.

    DBCOOPER, I gave you 24 hours to fix your shit. Man up and admit you don't KNOW what happened, the incident might not have gone the way that fits into the way you WANT the incident to have gone and you just wanted to make pompous, posturing posts on the internet.

    A well-meaning friend brought this thread to my attention. I kind of wish they hadn't. :sick:

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  9. Quote

    To those that say you can't be rich from skydiving!

    Define rich:P



    Love this reply!

    It never ceases to amaze me how much people exaggerate the poverty of living the skydiving life.

    My partner and I did it in the States in 2002. I did manifest, he was a packer. We lived in the bunkhouse (which meant we had our own lock-up room with double bed, tv, aircon and shared the kitchen/lounge/bathrooms with the other staff and the transient jumpers). We came over with nothing, worked 5, sometimes 6 days a week (obviously every weekend) and made enough money to jump regularly, upgrade our gear (yay staff rates on jumps and discounts on staff rigs! :)
    I've never been richer or happier than I was in 2002. :)
    If you want to do it, you will do it.

    nothing to see here

  10. Nice read, thanks. :)
    I wrote a similar diatribe (though littered with a few more 4-letter words) on the Australian boards a few months ago, which got some interesting responses: Skydiving Retention and the Old Days

    (I don't think you need to register to read it).

    I've given up on ever thinking we are going to return to the immediately post-Point Break days, but it was fun while it lasted. :)

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  11. July/August 2007

    If you ever wanted to see the REAL Australia (not just the cities and tourist traps), then please check out this boogie.

    http://www.skydiveterritory.com.au/relweek.htm

    It's in the Northern Territory and aside from the boogie, you're guaranteed to see crocodiles in their natural habitat as well as a bunch of other wildlife!

    It's pretty laid-back, a great holiday and some amazing places to visit. Besides jumping at one of the most beautiful DZs in the world, there's activities like feeding the crocs, mud crabbing (yum!), the tropical national parks, the Darwin Cup.

    It's not a crank-out-15-jumps-a-day from 10 different aircraft boogie, but I've never heard of anybody not enjoying it!

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  12. Quote

    Well, the way he said it it sounded like he knew something. "Everyone was panicing but (the instructor) was calm and talked in her ear." (Paraphrased) He makes a serious differentiation I just want to know why. He could have said that the instructor just acted calmly in the situation and left it at that. But he added a whole other element to the story and I would like to know why.



    Well I'm going to really go out on a limb here and say maybe it had something to do with him being a grieving father and wanting and needing to believe his son was a hero among men in order to help him cope. :|

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    Part 1 in The Age (Melbourne, Oz newspaper) today.

    So far it looks like it' going to be a positive story.

    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-girl-who-fell-to-earth/2007/01/07/1168104867751.html



    Part 2 (of, apparently 5 parts) ....
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/jitters-before-a-fateful-jump/2007/01/08/1168104922242.html



    Part 3:
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/miracle-screams-from-a-wreck-in-which-no-one-should-have-survived/2007/01/09/1168104983832.html



    Part 4:
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/tears-for-a-battered-daughter/2007/01/10/1168105052459.html

    If you're going to cry at any instalment, it will definitely be this one.



    Part 5 (final):
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-long-and-painful-road/2007/01/11/1168105116652.html

    BSBD

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  14. Quote

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    Part 1 in The Age (Melbourne, Oz newspaper) today.

    So far it looks like it' going to be a positive story.

    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-girl-who-fell-to-earth/2007/01/07/1168104867751.html



    Part 2 (of, apparently 5 parts) ....
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/jitters-before-a-fateful-jump/2007/01/08/1168104922242.html



    Part 3:
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/miracle-screams-from-a-wreck-in-which-no-one-should-have-survived/2007/01/09/1168104983832.html



    Part 4:
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/tears-for-a-battered-daughter/2007/01/10/1168105052459.html

    If you're going to cry at any instalment, it will definitely be this one.

    nothing to see here

  15. Quote

    A well-written piece. Thank you, Ozzies for posting it. Keep it coming.



    Not sure if you all noticed, but there's a slideshow of photos attached to each day with audio (from Kim, from her Dad, etc).

    Also for context - The Age is generally considered a serious, high quality daily broadsheet.

    I'll post the final two instalments as they come up, unless someone beats me to it. :)

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  16. Quote

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    Part 1 in The Age (Melbourne, Oz newspaper) today.

    So far it looks like it' going to be a positive story.

    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-girl-who-fell-to-earth/2007/01/07/1168104867751.html



    Part 2 (of, apparently 5 parts) ....
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/jitters-before-a-fateful-jump/2007/01/08/1168104922242.html



    Part 3:
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/miracle-screams-from-a-wreck-in-which-no-one-should-have-survived/2007/01/09/1168104983832.html

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  21. Quote

    I'ts not a chance it's a garuntee, and can be tested pre-pregnancy



    If a parent has it, the child has a 50/50 chance of having it.

    If you have it, there's 100% guarantee you will die from it. And the death is truly horrible.

    My partner had it and we decided not to have kids. However, other members of his family with it have chosen to have children in the hope there will be a cure by the time it kicks in on them. Generally they leave it up to the kids to be tested in their teen years.

    It's not a life of pain and misery - symptoms don't kick in until mid-30s. After that it is a life of pain and misery for both the sufferer and their loved ones.

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  22. Quote

    Bazza,

    To answer your questions:

  23. Yep, there's a bunkhouse. Not the greatest in the world,



    24. You are a master of understatement, Dave. :D

    (but yes, I have stayed there and they can do wonders with penicillan these days...) :ph34r:

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  24. Quote

    Thanks for interest in this case. Several Canadian jumpers have Pm'd me with the whereabouts of the canopy and David. Apparently he gave it to the DZO as collateral for unpaid bills at the DZ. Hopefully I will get it back soon.



    I'd be inclined to ask the DZO if you can swap the canopy with the guy's container. Hopefully he/she would do this in good faith especially as it is unlikely he/she can legally hold on to 'collateral' that doesn't actually belong to the person giving it.

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  26. Quote

    seems to be alot of people saying its not as good as it once was...

    well..ive never been there...and neither have most of the people im coming with..

    so rest assured it will be a monumental week in my skydiving career


    blue skies!



    Everyone told me the same thing when I went to my one and only Convention in 2002.

    What did they know? I had a BLAST!!! Jumps and party! But apparently it was crap that year. :)

    To all those wondering... Just go. :)

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