NoShitThereIWas

Thank you, that was the point of my posting this. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

You have to go to kmov.com Then you have to go to news and click that. Then to a link on the left. I was too upset before to copy down everything and it would have been too lengthy. I probably shouldn't be posting right now the way I feel anyway but the news is on for such a short time and it was so unbelievable to me that I had to tell people so they knew if they voted the kind of person Talent is. I find his words and actions a disrespect to this community. It wasn't just because I knew Melissa personally, if any politician acted that way toward anyone in the skydiving community, I would not want him or her to have my vote. That is what this post was all about. Sorry for the ramble Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

When a skydiver dies in a plane crash and her job is related to politics and the opposing politician states that something was not filed because of incompetence... Did you watch the news clip? I don't follow politics completely, I generally have more important things to do. When a public person like a senator takes a stand like that, that is like saying he does not respect our loss. Melissa was a loss to the entire skydiving community. What happened to her could have happened to you. If it happened to you, in some way if would affect me. That's like being completely insensitive and using someone's death to try and make them look incompetent because you are trying to get ahead. Can you get it now? Duh And yes it may be convoluted, but you can watch the clip and get the idea and frankly it pisses me off. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Every skydiver needs to know the political position a candidate is taking against our skydiving community. DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT VOTE for Talent. This guy is the BIGGEST SHIT I have ever seen. If the story is still on the news (they change periodically) there is a direct video with an interview with Kimberly Dear's father who states that my buddy Robert Cook saved her life consciously and collectively by cushioning her blow. Sidenote: (Sorry) Robert, I always knew you were a fuckin stud. Way to go man, you saved her life! You were always my hero before, but even moreso now. I love you man and I miss you already. You and Scott and Rob and Dave go swoop the heavens and you can show us the best spots when we get there. There is nothing to hurt you now. Go to: www.kmov.com. There is a story link, something about interview with survivor of plane crash's father... If it is no longer available, I am going to copy the information here so it is available for anyone to read. So you have a little bit of background, I had the pleasure of getting to know Melissa at our DZ Quantum Leap. Before the day the crash happened, I was one of her instructors. My friends Robyn, Steve and Scott got her safely to me in time for barrel rolls and another jump focusing on tracking. Scott took Melissa under his wing for her AFF training. My guess is that Melissa was probably doing her 1st solo unless she had made jumps prior that day. During the couple of jumps I made with her, I got to know her a little bit. I asked her what she does for a living. She told me she was involved in campaigning and that she had something to do with the financial advising. She said that basically her job was to keep politicians in check and tell them No, No, No ... you can't do that when they wanted to spend or somehow misuse money. That was the gist of it anyway. So I am on the internet newssites this morning to see if there is anymore breaking news before I have to get ready for Scott's funeral. And I see the interview with Kim's Dad and then some information about... I will just quote it: News commentator: "Now one of the other skydivers killed was Melissa Berridge. She was Claire McCaskill's campaign compliance director. Her death is leaving some bitter words in Missouri senate... It's too long to write but go see for yourself. I'm guessing there is a senate race between McCaskill and Talent. Talent is claiming that some financial report was not filed. That report was Melissa Berridge's. McCaskill has a receipt that the report was filed. Talent responded that the non receipt is an indication of Melissa's incompetence, and continues to state other insensitive words. McCaskill responds in a politically correct manner by essentially saying how frickin insensitive and demands an apology to Melissa's family... He responds with cold, callous words and persists with his position without an apology. If he gets his eyes on this, I'd like to say, HEY ASSHOLE, she just lost her life to a plane crash. STFU and if you don't know what that means you are too stupid to run for Senate. It's disgusting and I cannot believe there are people out there especially in the public eye who are capable of acting this way. One thing is for sure, TALENT WILL NOT GET MY VOTE and after I am done going to the funerals, he is gonna get a letter from me. I urge all of you to watch the clip and do the same. His actions are nothing less than disgusting. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Hey Kelly: I have some really good techno upbeat skydiving music that we downloaded onto some freefly and tandem videos. Stuff like Dirty Vegas and a couple other good ones. Let me know if you want some. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

And as a beginner student I think it is a wise choice. And yes, conservative is REALLY GOOD when you are a beginner! Nonetheless, don't think Spectre is a pussy little canopy. It is a ZP high performance wing. You can crash it if you want to. Back in the day they wouldn't have dreamed about flying the wings that novices are mastering today with under 100 jumps. Let us know how you like it if you got one and remember the first couple jumps you put on it (especially if there is no wind) will seem kinda fast So don't forget to do some practice flares up high and give yourself plenty of room to run out your landing. (Speaking from the experience of guesstimating wrong with 22 jumps and missing a fence by a lucky foot or two at the most ) Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Hmmmmm. Thank you guys for pointing that out. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Ooooh Yep, yikes. That would be ALL BAD. That would be like that scene from Fandango when the guy has laundry for a parachute! So how was the pack job? Just out of curiosity? Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Hey Fergs: I noticed you are from Australia. It must be rough having to fly BirdMan over Australia. How far are you from the GB Reef? Cool interests by the way, I have always wanted to go to Australia and SCUBA dive the GB reef and check out Tagoolowah (sp?) I still haven't made it to Australia though. Damn it Jim Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

OKAY DUDE: I was a packer for many years. Brand new ZP sucks, no doubt. Some tips: 1) Use your whole body to pack. Knees, elbows, belly, even your head. 2) However you pack it, (pro or flat) try and iron creases in your folds while pressing the air out. It may not look like it does much but over time, but it will help the parachute develop some memory. 3) After you cocoon the pack job (wrapped the tail around, laid it down and cocooned it), try and squeeze as much air out of it as possible. Try and get it as tight and compact as you can so after you make the first fold you can use your knees and elbows to contain it. This is when you need to make sure you control the material instead of vice versa. 4) Use your knees and keep pressing the air out when you complete the fold and use your knees to press it. 5) Bunch up excess material and squeeze excess air out to make as nice an S fold as you can. 6) Before you do all this make sure you have prepared the D Bag completely (all rubber bands are on and untwisted, pilot chute cocked, bag big and open. 7) While keeping knees and legs on s fold slide corner of D bag under pack job and then gently guide it into the bag. 8) Repeat on the other side. 9) Press the D Bag closed and get that first stow done. 10) Relax! Hope it helps, I remember what it was like to have brand new Zero P. It does get easier the more you do it, you just sort of get used to it. But that is why I get my canopies used with about 100 jumps on them. Now I fly a semi-ragged out Stiletto and I love packing it! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

LOL. OOPS! I just read the other posts and it looks like the reserve pack job would NOT, I REPEAT NOT have passed the HANES inspection. In that case ... it's a good thing he brought it to you Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

That is an interesting one. I would be curious where he got his knowledge I would open it up and look at the pack job and see how it looks. Is this guy a BASE jumper by chance? Most BASE jumpers pack their BASE rigs very similarly to the way I pack reserves. With just a little added knowledge and/or a manual, they could probably figure it out ... I would probably want to stay on the safe side though and open it up and inspect it anyway. Besides I would be super curious to see what the pack job looked like. If it looked good, I would be like Dude... here's some published info. Study this and go get your rigger's ticket. If he can do all that and do it right, why should he pay someone else to? Would you pay someone else to pack your reserve? Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

LOL, yep eagles are WAAAAAY COOLER than turkeys!!! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Oooooh. I would be pretty pissed. The first thing I would do would be to walk up to them and pull their reserve handle. (Always wanted to do that and that would be THE PERFECT TIME). Then I would make every rigger at the DZ aware of what happened so they know to watch their backs. Then I would kindly refuse to ever pack for them again. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

If I were to guide a student into buying a first canopy I would look at what is important to them and take their skill and my exerience into consideration. Without knowing much about what you are looking for or who you are, my experience would tell me to recommend Spectre. I am biased since my first canopy was a Spectre 150 and I put 475 jumps on it. What can I say about the Spectre? It was a dream canopy. I was bored with it after 475 jumps ... who wouldn't be after any canopy for that long, but it always opened so softly and on heading. It landed me safely and softly every time. I managed to slam myself ONCE in all that time and it was because I rushed the pack job completely and it was not a pretty sight. My experience with the Sabre 2? Let me start off by saying I am not a fan of the Sabre 1 at all and would never own one because of the way they opened for me ... after the new model came out I decided to give it a try. My first impression of it was that it is a fun canopy to fly and a little more responsive than the Spectre. But after a few openings, I experienced some Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and the little bit of experience I do have under them left me under pretty significant end cell closure every time. Like others say, demo them both and find out which one you like because everyone is different and no two canopies are exactly the same! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

If you're going to fly with the big birds, you've got to have BIG WINGS!! I am glad you survived to tell such a story and I am bummed that you didn't have another flocker to film the event. That would have made Real TV for sure!!! Glad to see you are alright! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Lately, I have not been on DZ.com that much and tonight I decided that I should read the incidents forum since there were 25 unread incident posts. I could not believe the first post I read about the tandem passenger getting away from the TM. Then I went on to the TF Base Incidents. When I read the article about Shannon, I had to read it over and over again. It simply did not sink in. How could something like this happen to someone like Shannon? I am still in shock and although Shannon and I never knew each other personally (even though from the same area), I always enjoyed reading her posts online and appreciated her quirky and witty sense of humor. Sometimes when I read her posts it would make me sad that I left NorCal. I know everyone is in shock and I hope all you NorCal folk support each other during this very sad time . I do not know LisaMarieWillBe but by reading her posts I can see that she is in deep pain and can really use some support. It is obvious that the skydiving community has suffered a great loss as well as Shannon's other family and friends. I for one am still in shock. Blue skies Shannon. The NorCal bunch are in my thoughts, especially Iwan, Chop Chop, and Geno. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

I had to add a couple names to my old post. My newest mentors are Airspeed's: Christopher Irwin: for teaching me how to become a strong flier and an aggressive block mover and "tail gunner" on 4 way Todd Hawkins: for his super professional coaching and setting a fine example of the type of coach I would to become Eric Gin: for helping me become a more comfortable and keen tunnel rat I am proud to name some of the world's best as my mentors. Airspeed Rocks! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Learning to Fly --- Tom Petty Dirty Vegas --- Dirty Vegas With a Little Luck --- Paul McCartney (Wings) Somewhere I belong --- Linkin Park Fall Down --- Toad the Wet Sprocket Fly --- (Forget the band's name) I just want to fly, put your arms around me baby... Fly -- Lenny Kravitz Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Wow, a parrothead after my own heart. I am about to buy my first boat (from my dad). It is a power/ski boat though, not a sailboat. I like Incommunicato and Coral Reefer the best. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Hi Vinny! That donkey is aweful cute but you're waaaay cuter! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Pfft - it already was in Southern California . Actually you have to have a medical marijuana license in Southern California. Here it's free for all! Plus everyone is allowed to grow as much as they want. The old lady that lives next door to us has pot shrubbery lining her yard. It smells great! Hmmmm... is that really true? or should we not take this post seriously??? Being an ex-Californian, I think South and North should be divided. They are way different. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Wow, you were a static liner? Cheers. I have never done a static line, my intro to skydiving was AFF but static line always reminded me of Fandango . I am glad I learned AFF but feel a little different from those who had to get out so much lower and rely so much on the equipment. First time I saw one (30 or so jumps) I got nauseas for him. Anyhow, off on a tangeant again ... to answer your question in my non-expert opinion about spring loaded pilot chutes and students ... I think there are pros and cons to them. The only real downfall I see with students using spring loaded pcs is having to reteach them and train them to reteach themselves a different method of deployment than they were trained to do. Research shows that when under pressure or stressed, we act in the way in which we are familiar and do what we are taught or trained. With that in mind, it is no biggy to transition someone to a different set of equipment as long as they are aware of the changes and practice what is necessary to accomodate those changes so their method of deployment is compatable with the equipment until it is "muscle memorized". I would recommend a student who learned to pull using a ripcord, lay on their belly and practice throwing out a real pilot chute at least 25 times. It takes at least that to rebuild that ingrained muscle memory. With spring loaders, one tends to hold onto the deployment handle and with throw outs you want to throw the pc away from your body. So, that is just my two cents, I am sure there are other reasons as well. Blue skies. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

I just came back from a tunnelcamp with Airspeed in Arizona. I was almost required to use a packer there because of the very fast pace of the camp. The camp was one of the best things I have ever done in 10 years of skydiving but I can say the only downer was having to use and rely on the packers. It was a week ago and I still have a very stiff neck. One day our packer flaked on us and we had to find another "newbie" who scared the SHIT out of me just from watching him pack it in a huge rush. I kept telling myself not to look as I was sure to have a malfunction. No mals but some really nasty openings. I hate to depend on other packers. I know when I pack for myself it will open and it will open usually very nicely. The only thing I would change about the camp is to have packers that pack like me! Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

Gawain (Max): I don't know you at all personally, I have seen you around the forums ... but I had to write something because this post brought tears to my eyes. I don't know of anything I have to offer that would be considered useful in a time like this, but if there was anything, I would give it to you. If I ever come to Kentucky, I would like to shake your hand and give you a hug. Even though you are a complete stranger, we have a connection. We are skydivers. Because of this I know we have the strength to overcome. You are a skydiver and a PFC. You are a strong individual and you will have the strength to overcome. My salute and my deepest condolences go out to you. Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."