KevinMcGuire

what kind of rig was it? What size rings do the risers have? Are you sure that they are in tolerance? How long has it been since the three rings have been inspected and the cut away cable cleaned? Is there any hard channels inside the soft cable housing in the riser? Does the rig have soft or hard cutaway housings? Can you take the risers off the D-rings and attach a close up photo of the riser rings and the loop that holds them in place so that I may see their geometry? Maybe then I can give some answers rather than ask more questions. K One more thing. When you take the risers off the rig check to see if the yellow cable has been bent by being partially sucked through the grommet on the housing. With the cutaway pillow in place on the velcro, check the cable where the cable exits the housing. If it is bent there, then the cutaway may need to be replaced Properly built risers should be able to withstand up to 600lbs of force before the yellow cable begins to suck through the grommet on the housing. At that point, cuttng away becomes impossible. If you experienced 600lbs or more then the cable will most certianly need to be replaced. If you do not believe that you reached 600lbs of force but your cabel is still bent, then you may have risers that are out of spec. If they are out of spec, they cannot be repaired. Cut the hardware off of them and and buy new risers

3/16" for binding and 1/2" for canopy work

I jumped my ravens from as low as 180' many times with no ill effect so I don't totally agree with you. True Raven tend to dive out of the sky as a result of their steeper glide angle (compared to todays BASE specific canopys) but other than that, they do quite well. If you had ever seen Daves set up in action you might think differently. As I said, the micro line allows for a VERY rapid slider deployment. I'm not saying it was the best set up but it worked well for him hundreds of times. The slider may have played a role in the off heading then again maybe it didn't. I was not there. Maybe Keith can shed some light on this I guess what I'm saying is that Dave is a really nice guy and hes been around for a very long time and doing his own thing well all that time. I'd hate to see him get pig fucked DZ.com style by those who don't know him especially now that he is hurt. Oh and by the way, 32"PC's never worked well for 2-3 second delays.

Well first of all, Dave has been in the game for a long time, He has been using that set up for many years and doing so very effectively. The micro line allows for very rapid slider deployment and makes 3 second delays very comfortable. Especially on old bodys. First time I saw him use that set up it worried me a bit but as I saw him use it more and more, it began to make more sense. Thats not to say that I would use that set up but it worked well for him. It Used to be that everyone jumped Ravens or Cruiselites or pegs or what have you. My first 200 jumps where on Ravens. Now a days, everyone is jumping BASE specific canopys. That is not a bad thing, but what has worked for years is what one tends to stick with. For most of you, it will be no different. Some day, some young kid is going to look at your set up and shake his or her head wondering what the hell is wrong with you old fuckers Mark my words

Sleep with her sister or better yet her mom. Works every time

Keith, I thought that was your ass I saw on TV. I'm sorry to say that I'd know it anywhere. Please give Dave my best wishes. Kevin

thanks guys but I think my head just popped from getting so big. I actually didn't send him anything but my phone number because I realized that I would be typing all night to respond to all of his questions. I'll work on it and post my opinions in a day or so. K

PM sent

The sight is located in a national forest and there are no law preventing the use of parachutes in national forests

I guess she now she qualifies for the pieces of eight skydiving team right?

Sounded like the big combo knee/shin protectors, worn as the top layer. Yup that sounds like the guy I know

I saw CNN and from what I saw it is a guy that I know who regularly jumps a raven with micro line and a slider. The slider may have played a role in the off headng but I guess we will know for sure later

Wow. Thanks for that. I hope to never have to take your advice but of course I will if it comes to that.

Maybe but that aint gonna stop me from using it

Didn't seem, too long to me. In fact it seemed just about right. Nice one Lonnie

Call skydive AZ and ask for Dusty (520) 466-3753

bump

Where do I get one?

What? You trying to laid or something?

Years ago when I used to do construction I was working on a very large job sight when the foreman decided to mess with me by telling me to go find the sheet rock strecher. I said no problem boss, and then went straight home for the day. The next day the foreman was pissed and asked where I was all day. I told him that I looked and looked but couldn't find it and by the time I was done looking, it was time to go home. He never sent me looking for imaginary shit again

Humm.....Lets see. Arnold use to strip when competing and he has big boobs so I guess the answer is yes

Hillary Clinton. That wa I could say "hey Bill, I fucked your wife" and then run away

There have been way too many intelligent responses to this post and frankly I'm sick of it. Wheres Skin when we need him?

Here is another one. I did not write it funny because there was nothing funny about it. ------------------------------------------------------------ At first, all I felt was weightlessness. The sensation was peaceful and serene. But then came the acceleration and I watched as the super structure of the bridge moved quickly past my feet. Clear of the steel and free falling into the moon light canyon below I was acutely aware of how alone in the darkness I was. I was beyond the help of others After 3 seconds, I felt the wind on my face and heard the roar of it in my ears. It was pull time. I reached back, grabbed the pilot chute, and with one smooth motion, pulled it from its pouch and threw it into the wind. With great anticipation, I waited to hear the familiar ripping sound of Velcro as the rig opened. Instead, I felt nothing; nothing except more acceleration. I figured that the pilot chute must be trapped in my burble. I rolled onto my side with the hope that I might be able let clean air spill past and inflate the pilot chute. Nothing happened. I looked, but saw nothing. It was too dark, and while I could not see what was happening, I knew the pilot chute was not doing what it must for me to survive. It was then that the most terrible thought entered my brain. The best explanation (if you can call it that) of why the pilot chute was not inflating was because I must have somehow misrouted it through a leg strap. The realization of the seriousness of my situation was like a baseball bat to the head. No pilot chute means no parachute, and no parachute means no tomorrow. It was then that everything began moving in slow motion and I lost all sense of time. I reached back and clawed at the flaps of my container in the desperate hopes of ripping it open and then maybe, just maybe my parachute might still open in time. In rapid succession, I experienced the most intense emotions of my life. Shock that things were going so badly, terror of awaited me on the rocks below, and anger at my self for the pain I was about to inflict upon my family and those precious few who love me. My life did not flash before my eyes. Instead, the faces of the two people in the world that meant the most to me filled my vision. The way things were going, I knew that would be the last time I would see them. Time was a blur. “How much of it has passed? How long have I been in free fall?” Something caught my eye, I looked left, and in an instant, I had my answer. There was Seth, standing on the hiking trail/landing area, his parachute draped over his shoulder, watching helplessly as I fell past him and deeper into the canyon. It was then that I looked down and for the first time and saw the rocks coming up fast. One rock was large, jagged and still. Everything else around it was a blur. That rock would not flinch. That rock would not move. That rock was not going to feel pain and that rock is were I was going to die. As I free fell through the last 60 feet of my life, a profound sense of deep peaceful calm washed over me. No sound. No fear. No panic. No remorse. Only calm. Calm like I had never experienced before in my life. It was my time and I was ready. And then……. SLAM. All of the neurons in my brain fired at once and registered as a blinding flash of white light in my eyes. “This is strange; I’m looking down at the rock. Why am I not a bloody disintegrated mess lying on top of it? Is my soul hovering above my grave and is this my last dying thought?” Like a needle being scratched off a vinyl record, I was yanked back to reality. I was not dead. I was under my partially opened parachute. The parachute, not yet fully pressurized, surged violently to the left and threw me like a rag doll, straight at the very steep and heavily wooded canyon slope. With no time to prepare for it, I hit hard. As soon as I hit, I began clutching wildly for anything that might keep me from falling backwards and into the raging river just a few short feet behind me. My parachute became snagged high up in a tall tree over my head. If it had fallen into the water, the parachute would most certainly have dragged me into the fast moving river, and sealed my fate. As I stood there trembling uncontrollably, it became clear that I had more adrenalin coursing through my veins at that moment than at any other time in my entire life. There was no pain, but judging by how hard I hit, I knew pain was on the way. Starting at my hips, I reached down with both hands, and quickly checked to see if I had any bones sticking out. I felt nothing. Nothing was good. Realizing that the adrenaline was masking the pain, I took off my rig, left it lying where I landed, and I started climbing up the slope. It wouldn’t be long before moving on my own became impossible Half way up the slope, I saw Seth. He was 30 feet away and closing fast. He yelled, “Are you alright?” “No” I yelled back. “I think I’m hurt bad but can’t feel it yet. Please, grab my gear, I’ll try to make it to the pick up point while I still can.” I made it up the slope, onto the hiking trail, and started a very wobbly walk to where a car was waiting. I was moving, but not in a way that I ever had before. It felt almost as if my legs were no longer attached to my body and walking a straight line was totally out of the question. An unknown number of steps later, the pain set in. Unable to take another step, I collapsed on the path as a tidal wave of pain slammed into me over and over again. It was my knees. I had hyper extended them and the pain was spectacular. In the time it took Seth to collect my gear and reach me where I lay, both of my knees had swollen to the size of basketballs. Thankfully when he did reach me, he had with him, one of the other jumpers who had jumped before me. Seth and Corky each grabbed an arm and carried my ass the rest of the way out. And for that, I owe them big time. Later on, back at the hotel, a group of jumpers came by to welcome me back from the brink. They gave me a big bottle of rum, bags of ice, and I proceeded to self-medicate and ponder what had just happened. Seth later told me that when he saw me fall passed him as he stood on the trail; my parachute was almost at line stretch. If the parachute had come out of the container a fraction of a second later, this story would have ended differently and I would not be the one telling it. I’m told that while in free fall, I let out the most blood curdling scream of terror that no one in attendance had ever heard before. I don’t remember doing that and I never heard a thing, but if I did, who can blame me? Certainly not those who have YET to experience what I went through that night. I never did find out for sure why the pilot chute took so long to inflate. No one saw a thing. The most logical explanation points to the way I folded the pilot chute. Not misrouting as I had believed. Back then, not much was known about jumping with the pilot chute stowed in its pouch and only a hand full of jumpers that I knew of were doing it. Up to that point, I had always jumped with it in my hand. Not knowing any better and having no one around to teach me the proper method, I folded the pilot chute as cleanly as I could, much like I would have if I were making a skydive. I believe that the extra time it took for the pilot chute to unfurl was the cause of the extended delay and only when I started kicking and flailing for my life did the pilot chute actually begin to work. It was my first time going stowed and while going stowed soon became all the rage in the BASE jumping, it took me another 6 years before I would try it again. That chilly night in the spring of 94 will for ever be etched upon my soul. I almost became a cautionary tale. I believe that event changed my life far more than any other event before or since. It opened my eyes to what is truly important in this world. The connections we make and the people we hold dear are all that matters. Everything else is just noise For many years to follow, I held the dubious distinction of holding the record for being the guy who opened the lowest at that particular bridge. Ten years later, some unfortunate fellow broke that record and many of his bones in the precess, but thankfully, he survived to tell the tale. I hope that one day he does.

I am always amazed to see Hollywood types spouting off about how horrible the U.S. is. Particularly when they so often seem to forget that their celebrity would be worthless with out the sacrifice made by those who fight for their freedom to bitch. Editied to say that we should be careful not to get this one banished to the SC. Denzels cool in my book. Nuff said