winsor

I'd guess less than 0.1% of first-time tandems go on to be licensed skydivers. This is based upon observing places where they routinely turn out thousands of tandems but have someone make it past student status only once in a while. In addition, a pretty significant percentage of A license holders never get the 200 jumps that used to be required for the D license, and now rate a C IIRC. If you want to do it, there's generally no major impediment. Most people, however, change their minds. Blue skies, Winsor

50 45 (10 1/2D US) 76 kg (167#)

Popcorn popping. Seriously. If you're hit with the first shot, you'll likely never hear it. It's Mach 2+. Blue skies, Winsor

Uhhh....I'll beg to differ. They fit us skinny well hung guys too. I didn't mean that if you put them on you instantly became a porky needledick, it's just that they are engineered to accommodate shapeless bulk, and the fly is useless for anyone who increased in size significantly after hitting puberty. I haven't worn the damned things on a regular basis for over 30 years. I keep a pair on hand so that I will do laundry before I get down to that point. Blue skies, Winsor Blue skies

Neither - I stick with basic low-cut cotton briefs without the weird tighty-whitie fly-thing on the front. I can't stand either tighty-whities or boxers. Tighty-whities are designed for flabby guys hung like hamsters, while boxers bunch up and don't provide support. Blue skies, Winsor

I have put together an Excel spreadsheet to compare the results of considering groundspeed (such as you'd get from a GPS readout) alone or adding the headwind component at opening altitude in the calculation. The delay using both groundspeed and headwind at opening altitude is that which will give you the desired separation between groups at opening altitude. The final column, "Separation at opening altitude, groundspeed calc.," is the actual separation between groups that results if treating the headwind at opening altitude as zero. I have picked 1,000 feet as the fixed distance between group centers as a basis. In the time between breakoff and pitching, it is quite possible to track 500 feet from the center of the formation, so people from formations 1,000 feet apart would just reach each other by pull time. Thus, I consider this to be a bare minimum between groups. The values in the first three columns can be changed; feel free to plug in different numbers to see what is the result. Blue skies, Winsor

My top 10 results are 1. Bahá'í Faith (100%) 2. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (100%) 3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%) 4. Jehovah's Witness (100%) 5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%) 6. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (66%) 7. Liberal Quakers (50%) 8. New Thought (33%) 9. Unitarian Universalism (33%) 10. Nontheist (26%) I'm an Infidel. Go figure.

The very definitions of the various deities are absurd, and not worth serious consideration. I would as likely discuss what powers Mighty Mouse has, and whether was a greater superhero than Underdog. We"re talking fanciful constructs in either case, and I question the sanity of anyone who appears unable to distinguish between cartoons and reality. The same goes for religion. To my satisfaction, yes. I don't consider it my job to convince anyone else, since it should be pretty obvious to anyone with a clue. Blue skies, Winsor

I'm an Orthodox Infidel. I have precisely the same level of respect for gods ranging from Allah to Zeus, which is to say that it's hogwash coming and going. I consider religion to be a socially acceptable form of psychosis. If someone is walking up the street talking to invisible people he's a candidate for a padded room - unless the name of his invisible friend is a recognized deity, in which case he's just very religious. Same difference. I find it dismaying that people find these fantasies necessary. It's also somewhat frightening living amongst so many people who are certifiable by any objective standard. Blue skies, Winsor

Shoot? Nah, lacks creativity. The scenario I like is where you tell him that he's getting executed like any common criminal does in the US - by lethal injection. The only twist here is that he wakes up a little later to find out that he wasn't killed after all. However, while under anaesthesia he has become a she. After the sex change, he/she is released to live a long and happy life as a woman. I gather he is rather tall, so he/she won't be able to buy a burka off the rack... Blue skies, Winsor

Yeah, but it's a bad idea to keep doing the same things while expecting dfferent results.

So long as you understand the consequences, go for it. If you O.D., get AIDS, cirrhosis, quadraplegic or whatever, that's part of the bargain. Some limits I have no interest in pushing. My romantic interests, for example, are strictly limited to adult females of my species. So long as you don't take anyone else with you, go for it. Blue skies, Winsor

Most of the things that come to mind regarding safety issues are FAR related, rather than BSR. Many of the BSRs are effectively self-serving union rules, pushed through by someone with a vested interest. An unlicensed non-USPA member with 312 jumps required to jump with a 217-jump Coach instead of a 3,600 jump up jumper without a rating? Be real. I can think of rather a few children of DZOs who were world-class skydivers before they could legally drive a car. There's a BSR thas says they can't? Maybe it would apply if they were USPA members, but I doubt that they are/were. I've been jumping with an FAA employee, where at one point or another they said "I think I'll go into town and get lunch." Whatever happened after that point couldn't be held against them, and they really didn't want to know firsthand. I'm not sure what BSRs are under consideration here. We are assured that they are specific ones, yet they are left vague, so it's hard to evaluate. What should be one's action is very much dependent on quite what the hell we're talking about, and that's a big secret. In general, if it is your direct responsibility you are directly responsible. If, however, you simply observe these actions on the part of others, bring it to their attention. If they change their ways, great, but if they tell you to fuck off, then fuck off. Blue skies, Winsor

No it doesn't. The "45 degree rule" is patent horseshit and should never be treated as anything but. If your watch (analog, with hands) breaks, it tells the exact time twice a day. If you then say that it's 100% accurate under certain conditions, there is a grain of truth to the contention. To use a stopped watch to tell time because it's occasionally right is as useful as using exit angle to determine exit spacing. To give any lip service to the "45 degree rule" at all is unconscionable. If you think it has any merit whatsoever, you really don't understand the subject. Blue skies, Winsor

I turned nineteen points on a solo dive once. I would have got more, but I went low.

QuoteYeah, first women to admit to clam licking gets a free t-shirt!!!!!Quote I used to have a t-shirt that said "nobody knows I'm a lesbian." It was scarfed by a female who said she just had to have it. Who am I to argue? Blue skies, Winsor

Press charges immediately.

I was invited to dinner with some parachuting pals in Serbia last month, and the wife of one of them was feeling the effects of the firewater they were imbibing. She gave a kiss to the young woman next to her, turned to me and said "I'm a lesbian." I said " great, so am I!" At that point she decided she should fix me up with someone sufficiently nubile and oversexed. What a wonderful attitude. Blue skies, Winsor

In 1971 the second battalion of the 509th jumped into Italy near Aviano to take part in some war game type activity with our Italian counterparts. Good clean fun. After we had gone through our tactical activities, we staged for transport back to the Italian base, on top of flatlands adjacent to a wide river valley. The Americans and Italians were in groups, maybe 100 meters apart and 100 meters from the abrupt edge of the dropoff to the valley below. As we hung out waiting for our rides, we watched some Italian F-100s working out on a nearby range, performing textbook strafing runs. Very impressive. After a while the Super Sabres left. Both the Americans and Italians were then stunned by the appearance of a USAF F-4 Phantom II at deck height. He had snuck up on us by flying along the river bed somehow, and didn't give a lot of room as he split the difference between the American and Italian formations, going to afterburner close enough to the ground to leave foliage smoking. He hung around for about 20 minutes, performing acts of aerial skill that left us jaw-agape. He would rocket into clouds and then reappear from the riverbed again (I thought it was the same plane, but it could have been a few of them screwing with us, now that I think of it) sometimes coming over at speed and others times with everything out at what seemed the brink of a stall. I really can't do justice to just how awesome was that impromptu airshow, but there was no doubt that the goal was a margin of error of zero. Before leaving Italy we watched the Phantoms doing a standard departure from Aviano, where they would take off in full afterburner and immediately crank a 90 degree turn into a knife-edge entry to a narrow valley. Two weeks later, Stars and Stripes reported the loss of an F-4 at Aviano in the mountains immediately after takeoff, and there was no doubt in any of our minds that one of them had been doing what we watched and had an engine hiccup, since that was all that it would have taken. Those were some interesting times. Blue skies, Winsor

After a "mile high" flight on the couple's wedding night, the pilot made a pass in front of the DZ. A bunch of the guys had gone out to moon the plane when it made the low pass. They didn't know that the pilot intended to make a bounce-and-go on the taxiway before coming around to land. The 182's landing light did not illuminate the unfortunate pranksters until it was too late to avoid them. One of the people on the ground saw the plane coming, realized what was happening, and flattened. He wound up with a broken humerus from the main gear running over his arm. Another of the people on the ground was not as fortunate, and was hit by the propeller. The pilot, in shock, took the plane around and managed to land it safely. The prop was damaged, and the plane was shaking badly. IIRC, it was in 1991. It still hurts. Blue skies, Winsor

I'd rate the Constellation's as better. When the old geezers flying the Connie were leaving, a bunch of people lined up between Manifest and the loading tents to moon the pilots as they flew over. A bunch of people, seeing the Connie from between their legs - coming at them at deck level - hit the deck. If anyone has video of it, it was absolutely awesome. The tents were in danger of being sliced by props, and if the gear had been extended I'm convinced they would have hit the ground and various combinations of people, tents and vehicles. It's easy to forget that the old codgers flying that plane had cut their teeth on B-24s and the like, flying missions through clouds of flak and Messerschmits. When they were youngsters, every flight was a near-death experience. The next year the FAA was on hand, and the low pass was pretty tame. Those guys are crazy, but not stupid. Blue skies, Winsor

My contribution to the issue was listed on The Ranch web site late last season and can be found at: http://ranchskydive.com/safety/tb_article15.htm. It's designed as a general discussion with a specific set of numbers to define time between groups under limited conditions. Tom Buchanan S&TA Instructor, AFF, SL, IAD, Tandem Author JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy With all due respect, I don't believe you have the temerity to post an article that makes serious reference to the 45 degree myth. The 45 degree approach is worse than useless. Anyone paying attention can demonstrate its invalidity as a trivial exercise. Anyone who thinks it has merit is surviving on luck alone. Regardless of all the ratings you put forth, you just flunked Freshman Physics. Do your homework, and fix your website. You have dangerous misinformation posted therein. Blue skies, Winsor

If you murder someone, you are violating their rights. If you rape someone, you are violating their rights. If I listen to the radio, whose rights am I violating? And drugs should be legal. If it is not worse than liquor or tobacco, legalize it. Nothing is worse than liquor or tobacco.

This is one of the things I find kind of embarrassing about being an American. The fact that anyone could get so worked up about someone whose shtick is eighth-grade smut is nothing short of amazing. Censorship is Un-American, but we seem to love it so. I don't listen to Howard Stern because I don't enjoy his show. It offends me that some morons should make it anything but my option to listen to his dreck if I should seek to do so. Intelligence is overrated - stupidity is a force which is so vast as to seem limitless. Anyone who can harness it can change history, a fact that has been demonstrated on numerous occasions. Blue skies, Winsor

you've got to be kidding me . . . oh that's right straight sex prevents AIDS and syphilis, look at al the people in Africa so because gay sex leads to STD's we should discriminate. Oh, I’ve got an idea we should start colonies to put these people in . . . Too late. Fire Island, Provincetown, Key West, San Francisco, New Hope...