jerry81

a)If (knock on wood) one of the people I jumped with had to cutaway, I'm keeping an eye out for their gear and landing out with them if they can't make it back. b)If they can make it back, I'm keeping an eye on their gear nevertheless- not neccesarily following it all the way down, but definitely noting where it went. c)If we're all too far (and noone had any malfunctions), I'd still rather land with others (and have in the past), even if it means a longer walk- more fun to return together and bitch about the spot, easier for anyone to pick us up and safer if someone should (knock on wood again) hurt themself on landing and needed help.

Feng Shui, perhaps? Not that I'm any firm believer in it, but it's probably far from a load of oriental BS most westerners would view it as.

I started wearing mine on skydives hoping the high-speed air will somehow purge them of that infernal stench. This particular pair has walked with me over at least half of Europe and could, judging by the smell, almost be classified as a living organism. Having your feet exposed is a cool sensation, but I agree completely on the landing inssues- I wore them both on a worn-out Falcon and on my current canopy- the first caused some really sore ankles and knees- the difference between the Tevas and my usualy footwear was obvious, while swooping the landings was fine as long as I didn't drag any toes. I think I'll put them on again when it's warm enough and hope for the best. Or at least a really cool scar if I do screw up.

From the top of my head; search for Kallend's freefall drift simulator, learn about the effects of wind on the plane and on falling human bodies, start paying attention to both the wind on the ground and wind at altitude, talk to pilots and learn their lingo, watch the loads from the ground, notice where people exit and where they open, then talk to spotters and learn what they base their decisions on. Hands-on experience is still needed, but you'll probably have a much better idea why you do certain things.

High speed skydiving? Maybe you want something with a clean design, something that will cut smoothly through the air...let's see, what's that on my back? Oh, right- a Voodoo! Not even an 1/8" of bridle exposure, incredibly secure riser covers, unbeatable pin protection- and I own one, which surely means it's the best possible container. (see how it goes?)

...just don't like to play into Murphy's Law, that's all... ...and the recent events with non-cocked PC's has me a lil' edgey. I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. Cocking the pc is simply an integral part of packing- if you remember to stow the brakes, uncollapse the slider and pull the pull-up cord from the closing loop, you can probably safely assume you won't forget to cock the pc, either. Personally, I'd find it harder to trust a pc that is collapsed when it leaves my hand...not to mention the hop&pop hesitation stories floating around.

I believe accuracy was sometimes practiced this way around here- a cutaway system on the chest strap connected to a few hundred feet of rope connected to a car. You'd get towed up, release the rope and land on the tuffet. One danger was apparently the rope- if it didn't have some slack in it when you released it, it could recoil and mess up your face. And there was also a more serious accident at one of our dropzones, when some people tried it without the release system- the towed guy just tied the end around his chest strap, which somehow got loose when he was in the air. The car had almost stopped at that time, but when the driver noticed his friend waving frantically at thim he thought that he wanted some more altitude and stepped on it again, pulling him sideways into the ground. Oh, and last summer, I watched our pilot being towed around the airfield on a paraglider, although we didn't dare take him too high. We'd have a hard time finding a replacement for him.

I believe that wall is about 200 miles from Ljubljana. Stane is probably your best bet for jumping in the region, although your options in Slovenia are somewhat limited- last time I checked, people were so desperate they were doing 200' spans.

Hardcore! A friend once taught me a game where every person present in the drinking group has the right to yell "heads up!" once during the evening, meaning everyone has to raise their glasses and pour the contents over their heads, but this is baby stuff compared to these 'ants'.

Okay old-timers, share it with us. I can't quite figure it out- is this like a game where an 'antmaster' says a magic word and everyone else has to perform some kind of trick or are you just having a collective acid flashback?

I view it as a nice additional safety feature, kind of like airbags in a car. Not an essential component, but I'd probably have it if I could afford it (both airbags and an aad).

Is that available already? I noticed version 2.1.1 is out, but the changes list doesn't mention the training mode yet. Or were you guys on the World Team given cooler Neptunes than us regular folks get? Anyway re: lilryno, IIRC, Neptune's training mode is supposed to have settings for high and low speed malfunctions, so that's probably the closest to what you're looking for. Perhaps you should contact Alti-2 and ask about it.

I don't know how programmable the 'normal' training altimeters are, but the Neptune will have a training mode added 'soon' and my guess is that could also feature something like you describe.

That's good. Asking about things, I mean. It is, imo, only natural to be curious about gear that you trust to save your life. That said, students are often given simplified explanations and I've been warned once or twice for going too deep into details when teaching- the rule being that they need to know the essentials and not be overloaded with technicalities- which works for students, but I think many people carry this blind faith in their equipment into their later skydiving careers.

No, a bag lock is when the bag is out but something is preventing it from opening. An uncocked pc probably couldn't pull the pin, so you'd get a pilot chute in tow. Have there ever been any tests on the pull force of a collapsed pc and its eventual inflation? I think I'll conduct a few of my own the next time we're driving to the dropzone.

8 seconds=~400 meters=~1300' at terminal. I personally don't like this idea.

Care to elaborate on that statement? I wouldn't even jump in this discussion, but I'm really curious how exactly you meant that and what are your arguments for it.

I once put something like this on paper...although my idea was a special harness and a powered leg exoskeleton that would enable paraplegics to 'walk' instead of using wheelchairs. I guess someone beat me to it.

Argh!! Curse my vivid imagination!! (But I must say the name sounds about right.)

Franco ruled Spain from '39 to his death in '75. He was probably a contributing factor to ETA being founded, but I don't think they became any less active when he died.

It's a Basque separatist movement (Euskadi Ta Atasuna, Euskadi means Basque/ish, not sure about the other two) It's, imo, a fucked up situation; you have a small group of people, who, by their language and genetic material, are completely different from everyone else in Europe, but don't have their own country (in fact, some of them live in France and most in Spain). Small wonder that a terrorist movement demanding a land of their own gets enough supporters to pull off shit like this.

Hmm, I'm not certain... Can you show us your breasts? (Damn, you were asking for it!)

I think cigs range from 2-3 bucks over here, not that I care... I can get an ounce of some really killer stuff for less than 150$, though.

Yep, we've been discussing it for some time now. Too early to tell what will become of our plans, but I certainly wouldn't mind going there for some 50 or 100 jumps... And it'd be a good opportunity to polish up my russian. Ask me again in May or June, okay?

Oh, that's simple. Just tie a few pounds of lead to your wang and start packing yourself slammers. But go easy on the lead at first, you don't wanna rip your tool off. Are you still a student? I really can't believe noone has let you in on that one yet. Or maybe you're from the sort of a dz where it's kept a secret because the local skygods want to be the only ones who are hung like horses. Pretty selfish, if you ask me, skydiving should be about sharing knowledge, not withholding it.... Hope this helps.