Albatross

We'll all be waiting for the page of "Lisa and the Twins to manifest". Can't wait to meet you all Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Congrats on the first (beer) licence Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Like most of you I did not know Michelle either but was with a few people from Texas when this accident was reported and they were crushed. It was then that I realized why someone like Tony takes the risk to pull her reserve and we all search for a reason for the accident and all feel the need to be with each other. We are a big family. It is like hearing that a cousin you didn't know died. In some way we are all just a few degrees of separation from each other. We need closure so that we can move on. Tony the beer is on me if you come to Perris. Michelle's friends, family and loved ones God bless and protect you. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Chalk one more up to first SCUBA diving. I made my first SCUBA dive at 14 in Hawaii. That is the way to do it. I would love to go back and make a few jumps and then dive for a day. I was fortunate to dive with the humpback whales off of Kona. As awsome as the sunset is in freefall, being 50' from a mother and her calf with whale song vibrating through my chest is still the most awsome experience that I have ever had (it even tops being on Everest). Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

I'll be there. Looking forward to the NIght jumps if I get that damn B-test out of the way. I'm trying to bring my friends but they have "issues". Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

I don't know what helmet you are jumping but the old Oxygens have an internal audible pocket and it is fine. I never know that it was there. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Square One has a bunch of them. I was there today and they had at least a half-dozen. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

I love all the advice but remember in the end you can just ignore then and they have to love you anyway they are family. I have this agreement with my parents that I never tell them that I am going to jump just that I have already jumped. Works for them and I can play their game. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

It is amazing that one day we all went up for our first jump and came down like this. It is almost like seeing the sun for the first time. You never know how dull life was without it. Welcome to the club, turn over all your cash and get out of the plane. DOOR!!!! Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Bottom line. If skydiving is just not his cup of tea and he can come to the DZ and not feel threatened then cool. But if he doesn't understand why you jump then he doesn't understand you and the whole thing is doomed anyway. Get him up on AFF or Tandem just so he has some idea of where it is coming from or there will be a whole side to your life that he is out of and that is a real problem. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Skip, You may want to try making your first jump and then looking at the program. Try to get out soon after your first jump and then try to schedule breaks so that the radically new experiences are not the first jump you have made in a month. I did jump one then 3 weeks later 2. I put 3 and 4 (my first release jump) in the same day. I tried to make any big event the second or third jump of the day. I know that cash is hard to come by but this is only the first of many big events and checks. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

Didn't he do all but the last one from like 3,000? Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

I teach self defense and have to deal with this response all the time. I have had people in class just cry because the fear and overload just send them into it. We try and avaoid this response by training under increasing amounts of stress. This allows the brain to feel automatic with the action and the mind to get used to some of the stress. It is like training for the marathon start small and build from there to as close as you can and still be safe. I think that this approach would work for FJC students but it seems that we have a lot of people with some experience having No-pulls. I just don't think that we can predict what new event or set of events will conspire to make some one freeze. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

A few months ago we had someone have a mal and then rode their cypress in. It deployed but everyone at the DZ just refered to him as "That F#$%ing idiot". If the ground is coming for god sake pull, tug, rip, whatever it takes because doing nothing WILL get you killed. Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO Albatross

I am supprised that none of you have gotten to the heart of the issue. Some people have touched on it and seem to be searching for it. Being a Skydiver is a state of mind. A non-skydiver or wuffo sees a James bond stunt and thinks wow cool effects. A skydiver thinks I want to try that. Skydivers look around and see a blue sky not as a day for the beach but a day to jump. Skydivers understand that life is for the living and that adrealine is the best drug on the planet. If you jump even once and come down with that attitude, that frame of mind then I will gladly count you as a skydiver. However, if you soemhow jump alot and have lost the passion and the mindset (some TMs) then you have stopped being a skydiver and have become a Tandem Driver. So welcome all of you with one S/L, Tandem or AFF you may be student skydivers but you are skydivers all the same. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

I'm thinking that if she is floating that the jumpsuit is too loose. Maybe she will just have to go for the all spandex suit or just jump in shorts. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

Thoughts and prayers for the family and friends. All you at the DZ too. It is shocking that an AFF 7 would get that unstable. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

Good luck getting the gear froggie. I totally unerstand the feeling. I still remember not being able to sleep the night before the auction closed on my gear. Props to you!! Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

SOunds Like it is going to be the West coast boggie at Perris for the CREW weekend. We sould all get together in the bombshelter so I can put some faces with the comments. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

Lisa you just got to get back up for the Crazy Crew weekend!! Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

I was thinking that the next trip that I could do it. I guess that this mean that Quincy is the only place that I will get to jump from a comercial jet. DAMM Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

I know that I have dragged some of my friends to the DZ and nudged them into jumping. Some were scared and nervous as we all were, the rest just didn't admit to it. The likely hood of a double mal, as Zennie said is nil. If you have been thinking about it for so long do it. You will love the experience and will find out that the fear of thinking about it is much greater than the fear in doing it. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

Kel I think that Billy is saying that the DZ sould either pay the employees with training more or offer discounts to the jumper with training who are willing to make their services available. I totally agree. Billy where you and your girlfriend down at Perris earlier this spring? I think that I met you. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross

While I agree that the explanation that the chute "failed to open" sucks, the public is more to blame than the media. The paper is just giving the average person what they want, a simple explanation that they can accept and deal with in under 1 second. Except for us most people want to hear that someone died doing something stupid. They want to think that he deserved it because he was "jumping out of a perfectly good airplane". If you gave them the information that he cut his ain and didn't deploy his reserve they would have to think. They might even come to the conclution that life is fragile and that he didn't screw up and that SHIT JUST HAPPENS sometimes. If that happened then theybwould hav to look at their lives and might realize taht they were stuck and not living out their hopes and dreams. I guess what I am saying is that the media is not so much reporting news as helping to reenforce normality in most people's mind. If we really want some better coverage we need to do it ourselves. The DZ needs to make itself available for comments and to give the real story. Sorry for the rant. Prayers and thoughts to the family and loved ones. Peace to Shark and anyone else who was there and had to see it or the aftermath. Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross Edited by Albatross on 5/7/01 06:39 PM.

Omri, dudw aren't you all of like 16. Where the H#$% did you get the scratch to buy that rig? If your parents bought it hell do they want an older son? Fly Free, Fly fast, Fly together Albatross