Jimbo

I'll bet George is wondering how he can disown the rest of his relatives right about now. President Bush's Niece Arrested on Drug Charge

Ha! Not only is it safe. It's fscking fast too. I miss that plane. *sniff*

Yeah. Tom Monaghan is a bit of a freak.

Is it? I saw a special on one of the new NASA space craft not too long ago and they were landing it with, you guessed it, a really large 'not round' (not sure if it was square of eliptical) parachute. No matter who pays for this particular test, I'll bet that the information learned will be valuable to NASA in some way down the line.

That's a great idea. It's interesting though, how would you answer things like "Do I need an AAD?", or "My instructor said my RSL will kill me! Will it?" These are a few of the topics that people seem to be passionate about - it would be nice I think to get some well written opinions, both pro and con, on subjects like this and then place links to the various discussions we've had here. Of course on subjects where there are clear answers, like "What's an altimeter?", clear, concise answers could be provided. Just my $0.02. FWIW: I've started piecing together a Cypres FAQ. It's not complete, it's barely even a FAQ, but it will be done someday.

Heh. Funny how they do things like that at the National Aeronautics & Space Administration.

Do you realize how close you were? * At terminal and at 2K you're only about 12 seconds from the ground. * At terminal and at 2K you're only about 2 seconds outside of the firing range of a student FXC, about 6 seconds outside the firing range of a Student Cypres, about 8 seconds outside the firing range of an Expert Cypres. * At terminal and at 2K you've got about 7 seconds, maybe 8 to deploy a modern main canopy and live. Now, if you dump and you've got an AAD you have to deal with 2 out. If you don't you had better hope that there aren't any tall buildings or trees around. Maybe you're thinking 6 seconds is a long time - I could have reacted, but remember this - you lost 12 seconds between 4000 and 2000, it went quick, didn't it? At your level of experience altidude awareness should be your number one priority. Don't worry about completing your turns or docking on your instructor, worry about the planet coming up on you at 120MPH, worry about being around to jump again. An audible isn't the solution to your problem. Paying attention to your surroundings is. An audible will fail, batteries die, they get lost on exit, etc... A mechanical altimeter will fail. Look down. It's been mentioned already, but spend the next few jumps looking down, and looking at your altimeter, ground, altimeter, ground, altimeter, repeat. Thank goodness you're not dead.

We prefer to call them "The Dirt Dive Leader" What the hell is a load organizer?

Yeah. My post didn't come out right. We're not exactly Perris, but we're not the one-cessna-when-it's-working DZ either.

I'm watching now. It is good. Looks like it started out with the wing suit, they're moving into the area of the ram air parachute right now - just got done with a little bit on pond swooping. Very well done.

Exactly how many loads does one need to put up in a day to be a "REAL DZ"? I think we had some days last summer with greater than 80. Is that enough?

"Flying Free" It's on now. At least on the east coast.

Na. The "Screw Puerto Rico Boogie" is still better than "Peurto Rico North". Oh. And clean the pool. I don't care if it Febuary. Somebody's going swimming!

Whoa! We have a chick pilot now? Did I ever pick a shitty weekend to get sick!

My email about the "Screw Puerto Rico" boogie said there were gonna be girls in bikini's. That's special enough.

Mark away. It shouldn't hurt anything.

Completely normal. You're just getting excited about jumping again. Have a ton of fun in Florida. - Jim

Right on! Staying off of your belly is the hardest thing to learn (or maybe unlearn) while freeflying. The belly is what we learned to fly on, it's our 'safety' position, it's where we go when things aren't going well and this is usually by instinct or habit, finally it's the one place you don't want to be when learning to freefly. Congrats. - Jim

Having the coaches rating does not make you (or anyone else) a great coach. A true 'coach', especially one who's committed to passing along the most basic skills to fresh off AFF students, will posess the ability to motivate, to teach, to make them _WANT_ to learn more. After a jump or two with a real coach a student will come down feeling that he's actually learned something, that he's been given the foundation of something greater. The folks who do this are, IMO, the real coaches and they don't need a rating from the USPA to prove it. Anybody with a hundred skydives and the time and expense to get the coaches rating can be a USPA 'coach' and sign off students for their ISP requirements. That rating means nothing. BTW Dan, this isn't directed towards you or any specific 'coach' out there, just a general obversation. - Jim

We're talking about reserves here Marcus, I don't think that the manufacturers will allow you to Wolmari pack. And I have knife - it was just sort of a 'what if' question, and you never know - the knife could get knocked off somehow in the plane, stolen on the ground, etc... It's conceivable that anyone could find themselves in a position where they are without their knife. That's why I asked the question.

Oh God. That's just gross. I wonder if they shook it up first?

Eww. You have my sympathy.

I imagine you've got quite a bit of that ZP fabric laying around the office, why not, in the name of science, make a flag out of it and hang it outside for a season?

Mrs. Radloff?

I think at this point your DZ will (should) require you to do a refresher ground school and at least one supervised jump. Go over your emergency procedures and make sure you remember how to arch. Once you get back in the air you'll see it's kind of like riding a bicycle and it will all come back to you. Good luck. - Jim