JohnyCrawford

The term "sweet spot" originated with a young lady named Goldilocks, who was quite beautiful, and named for her long blonde hair. One day she was searching for the perfect bowl of porridge. The first one she tried was too hot, the second one was too cold, and the third one was finally just right. Goldilocks exclaimed; "This really hits my sweet spot". And every since that day, the "sweet spot" became known as the Goldilocks Principle. So when you get that landing flare just right, you can thank Goldilocks for giving you a good way to describe it. This is why skydivers are so infatuated with young beautiful blonde ladies to this day. True story!

Spaceland is a 3 hour drive from Austin...

Iran Travel Warning: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/alertswarnings/iran-travel-warning.html "Iranian authorities continue to unjustly detain and imprison U.S. citizens, particularly Iranian-Americans, including students, journalists, business travelers, and academics, on charges including espionage and posing a threat to national security."

Put the sensor unit inside a zip-lock plastic bag. Seal the mouth shut except for about an inch. Hold it up to your mouth and blow air vigorously into the bag. This induces a quick increase in air pressure, which will make the sensor believe it is experiencing low altitude, and cause it to fire.

I did that with my sunglasses once, which were perched on top of my head. I've gotten so used to them being there, that I'm not even aware that they are there any more. After looking all over for them, and finally blurting out "where in the heck are my sunglasses", I realized everyone was looking at me and laughing. Because they could see them. I couldn't. "What?"

Yeah, and they would be hell trying to zig-zag through giant trees at high speed like in Star Wars.

Yep, "awesome" is a good word for that. At first I couldn't figure out what that long framework was for sticking out on both sides - it didn't seem to do anything. And then as he came in to land, I realized; "outriggers". That probably helps keep it from tipping over if the thrust is a little cockeyed when he comes into land and is near the ground.

Titusville, Florida, in the old days, when it was run by Lyle Goodin. Google maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Arthur+Dunn+Airpark-x21/@28.622555,-80.8350419,3841m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x88e74c95b2402cfd:0xb7c6d9fc029e78cb!8m2!3d28.6225503!4d-80.8328479 One "out" landing site I used once was the grave yard to the southeast.

Um, uh, tell us more about your naughtiness?

Two jumpers get entangled under canopy, and land together. Video: https://www.facebook.com/usawtfm/videos/10155154433303606/

That's the part that gets me. The time to ask that question was when he was on approach, not after he landed. Then he would have had time to go around and make another pass. And how does he miss that giant number "20" painted at the end of the runway, while the taxiway is blank. I think he needs to buy a couple of clues...

News: "Amazon's delivery drones may drop packages via parachute" http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/14/technology/amazon-drone-patent/index.html

I'm convinced that this effect has something to do with why modern day AFF and tandem jumping is less scary to the new jumpers, then old-fashioned static line. In a static line from 2,000', the ground looked really close, and death seemed imminent. But from 13,000', the earth is far more remote, and you can't even see people on the ground, nor even individual trees. I think this remoteness makes the brain intuitively realize that more time is available to deal with freefall. And thus, less fear.

I would ask the manufacturer. It's 16½ to 17 years old - does 6 months one way or the other really matter? Those pesky Europeans like to use Day-Month-Year, while the pesky Americans like Month-Day-Year. So when the Day value is 12 or less, you can't tell them apart.

How many skydives would you recommend student skydivers have before doing night RW jumps, wearing 100 lbs of gear, tandem, night vision goggles, and oxygen from 20,000 feet? How about 32? News: http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/navy-seals-green-berets-delta-force-army-rangers-parachute-deaths