gjhdiver

Don't worry about the pilot. Cheapest part of the airplane to replace.

Er, I believe that I was sat not ten feet away from you in the stretch C-130 in Thailand, O senile one. They changed it halfway through the week remember, because it couldn't accept corrections with the ramp down and we had to switch the base to a normal length one, which was a pity, as I was rather having a nice lay down in the long one on the way to altitude. I got about 500 out of the normal teeny tiny ones though, I have to admit. Ahh, the pleasures of the Swedish Hercules Boogie. Hopefully it will come back one day. Id like to point out too, that the demographics of the jumping population have changed the need for big planes too. Free flying's gain in popularity means that not a lot of DZ's need the capacity to put up 20 plus flat loads any more.

you must not have ever jumped one of these babies. you can stand up inside them and fit maybe 30 jumpers in it. run out the back. jumping doesnt get any better than this baby Yes it does. It's called a C-130. The Skyvan is a toy.

Sigh.... Yes, we'd all like to jump Skyvans and Super Otters for ever for $10 a load, but we should probably just all get real. DZO's will use the aircraft that maximizes profit for them best. 25 years ago, the gold standard was the DC3. There were lots of them around and you could get them fairly cheaply, and gas prices were practically nothing. The things were all over the place. There's a reason you don't see them now. As that fleet became older and harder to maintain, and gas prices started to rise, more efficient turbine aircraft were more profitable to run. Now that fuel is becoming a major factor in DZ economics again, you're seeing a return to single engine turbine aircraft. Anyone who seriously has a problem with a PAC door or prop blast is a suffering a condition known in the medical trade as being a huge pussy. I dread to think of what they would have made of a door jam on a DC3 with just the rain gutter to cling onto, and that refreshing drizzle of nice hot engine oil to keep the left side of your rig lubricated. I've run a DZ with two DC3, five otters and a porter. Guess which one was the most profitable in the long run ? We all need to get used to PAC's, Caravans and Kodiaks. Sure, there's still going to be the large regional drop zones that have the volume to support Otters in a few states, but the economics of operations are dictating what DZO's will be buying. Byron owns it's King Air but leases it's PAC. The King Air, like most of the twin turbine fleet currently used for jumping, is old and getting older. It's generating a lot of maintenance, and a lot of items that can't be planned for. The PAC is light on gas, turns the same numbers of jumpers an hour, and is a fixed cost that can be planned for. On a personal note, I've done about 1000 tandems out of a King Air, and a couple of hundred out of a PAC. I'll take the PAC any day. It's exit for any type of skydiving that I do is preferable to the King Air. YMMV etc etc. When I first jumped it, I hated it. Once I changed a few things in the the way I set exits up, I learned to love it. I suggest you all do too to avoid disappointment. How may I put this succinctly. 1. Get the fuck in. 2. Shut the fuck up. 3. Get the fuck out. 4. Enjoy your skydive. 5. Have a nice day. Or I swear to god in 10 years, you'll all be back in 182's again.

Last saw Jake at the 400 way in Thailand in 2006. Still jumping from time to time, and still one of the finest skydivers and riggers ever to walk the planet.

I did a lot of jumps with Arch when I was manager at the Hills. He's still around as far as I know, but not doing a lot of jumping. I actually last ran into him jumping at Davis in CA in 1996 when he was visiting out there. He had a company that did personalized greetings using that voice of his. I would imagine that Henri from Sunrise Rigging might know of his whereabouts as Arch was doing the voicemail greetings for him for some time.

Don't worry. After my win last week, I'm back to pissing away chips. Got felted in two big hands. Somedays you just get good hands that run into bigger ones. Somedays they all turn up in the same game....

As I approach 10000 jumps, I can't bring myself to work out how many are tandems, but it's kind of like a marathon race. You hit the wall after so many, and if you want to continue, you have to push through it. After which, you're sort of numb to them. I find that if you can't do that, you should stop for a while, because they will eventually drive you insane.

Just remember, the reserve doesn't know it's a reserve. It just thinks it's a main that you've been ignoring lately. If you think you might need it, you probably do. Just use it.

It was a fun game with 14 in it. For once, I survived my all-ins bar one, which nearly broke me, and I had the good sense to dump pocket jacks pre flop on another hand that would have ended up ruining me. It was close a lot of the time, and even when I was heads up with a 4 to 1 chip lead, it wasn't over. I think it ran about 2 1/2 hours overall. Boinky was harder to get rid of than a psycho ex-girlfriend. I would have played to late game too, but Julie would have probably shot me.

I'm a vegetarian. My wife is not. I do most of not all of the cooking. If she wants meat, I'll cook it fir her. It's no problem to prepare some meat dish alongside my stuff, especially as we share the same side dishes.

Stupid game. I hate poker.

I shall be there. Mind you, I'm running so bad right now that I might as well just Paypal my cash to you now and save time.

They've both got the dreaded four-line release on them. I had a reserve with a four-line chop on it for a while. It takes a bit of nerve to release them and watch the rear of the canopy blow out like that. You steer by pulling down on the left and right rear risers after you release the lines. The released lines are only connected to deal with opening forces. Once the lines are released, the air will spill out of the back of the canopy, providing soem forward motion and directional control. The operative word is some. They could also provided a nice oscillation to make landings more interesting.

I was in danger in getting blinded out if I didn't make a play, but that's the way it is in tourneys when the blinds start racking up. I just thought, if you're deaf, you're going to be killer in live ring games. You won't be affected by trash talk and misdirection, and you're going to notice physical cues that many people won't get. You'd probably be able to get really good reads on people.....

I was robbed I tell you ! A-10 suited on the button, no raises in front of me, all-in, one call. I hit a nut flush draw and pair my 10 on the flop and still have one overcard to the board, the turn is a rag, and then I get sucked out with a one outer on the river. Yeah, I know A-10 is a marginal hand, but it's good in that position if it's suited. I demand a do-over. (whining continues for another 2000 words).

I'm still shocked by the notion that Ray actually gave something away.....

The Wings offer is not restricted to only those who serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. It's open to a much wider range of serving personnel. Call the factory for details.

This is true. However, society in general tends to abhor and punish pedophilia, whereas the Catholic Church has spent decades protecting the abusers and vilifying their victims. That's why we get to poke Catholics with a stick. For the most part it's a reaction to the smug hypocrisy that many Christians exhibit. It's a similar sort of schadenfreude as when the most vocal minister or GOP senator is found to be a secret player of the pink oboe, usually in a public setting. Mr. Kallend, you have my vote....

It wasn't a Catalina. I was there that day when it landed on the grass beside the runway with the gear up. It was an Albatross if I remember correctly.

Not much of an endoreement. I have a head of broccoli in my crisper drawer that could out think Lesnar.

Call Ray Ferrell up at Skydance at Davis. He ran one there for years, He'll talk you out of any foolishness on that score. I've jumped one a few times. Basically, they have what's called a GITSO setup on the motors, or at least the ones I've seen have. They are supercharged piston engines with a huge satellite gear in them. Even with all that extra power being wrung out of the engines, they are still underpowered for a skydiving application, and like most motors that are run blown, they generate a lot of maintenance. The development of the King Air was essentially fix for this problem for the short haul commuter market. If you plan to operate it near any residential areas, expect to get complaints every time you use it. It's the only plane I have still been able to hear in freefall after I've left it. The one they had at Davis was ridiculously loud. Someone somewhere has a great picture of Ray's Queen Air upside down on jump run, spitting jumpers in every direction after a stall. Hopefully, they'll post it here.

Swift Main: 195sf. Swift Reserve: 177sf. The old original Swifts did that. The newer Swift Plus models that replaced them didn't. I always thought that the released brake lines were designed to make you land with all the grace and poise of a falling gas stove to take your mind off the fact that you'd just had a malfunction.

I have one of the very few Storm 120s right now for a while. We've been loading it pretty heavily here at Byron between 1.8 and 2.2 to 1 and it's proving to be an awesome performer. I have over 7000 jumps on Stilettos, and I've been particularly impressed with it's responsiveness and flare power. As a previous poster stated, you have to finish your flare with Storm, but if you do, you're rewarded with very nice controlled swoops that can rival any elliptical. When heavily loaded, front riser pressure and response is positive and even, an the canopy recovers instantly upon input. Turns roll out nicely without the tendency of oversteer of most 9 cell ellipticals. The commencement of a turn is flatter and slower than the Stiletto, but once it's developed, it's rotation speed is similar. I handed it off to a Velcocity jumper to get comparisons, and the feedback was very positive after busting out some 270 and 360 approaches at over a 2 to 1 loading. Openings are very controlled and there's no real tendency to hunt to either side. The consistency of the openings are one of the things that is most impressive about the Storm. There seems to be some confusion about the market the Storm is aimed at. There are three types of Storm. There's the free fall Storm, which I have been jumping, the CRW Storm variant, and a hybrid CRW/RW Storm. I'd say get on the list for a demo. It's a very impressive canopy.

Other than that it was OK though ?