dj-seus

greetings from one newbie who has struggled with relaxing... music is a very good thing... when the door opens, i've normally got some great song so thoroughly stuck in my head, that i'm bobbing up and down, humming, singing... practically dancing on my way out... it makes me look like a weirdo at times, but hey - i've got the funk in my soul! :) confidence also helps... of course, don't fool yourself into being complacent, but a good dose of "hey, I can DO this!" can certainly help! of course, for some odd reason, as soon as i'm out the door, there is no such thing as "nervous"... once the air hits my face, it's all gravy baby... ;) blue skies and smiling faces -dan

there's all kinds of stuff like that in the Good Stuff dvd, i believe... they do several car jumps, and also a HUGE ball of yarn... funny stuff... they did it over the mojave desert... ciao -dan

greetings my dad used to jump at Ripcord West in washington, missouri back in the 70's, and i grew up listening to all sorts of hilarious skydiving stories... he started jumping when he was 19, so when i was 19 he offered to buy my first jump... "first time's free, boy!" skydiving - it's genetic. ciao -dan

kool thanx!

hmmm... how much does a tunnel cost to build? i have a friend with some cash to invest... he might be interested....try to put it in a major city that is centrally located in the U.S..... anybody have any rough numbers? thanks in advance ciao -dan [email protected]

greets (i'm not an instructer, so this opinion should be taken for face value only - it's just my opinion) when i think about my first jump (AFF), it amazes me that despite all the millions of things i had to think about, and all the millions of ways that things can go wrong, everything went smoothly and safely... that's not to say that i didn't feel confident and ready at the time, because i did... in fact, i doubt there would've been any way that somebody could have stopped me from jumping out of that plane... ;) but as anyone that spends any amount of time in this sport realizes, the more you learn, the more you have left to learn. After every skill you master, there will be a thousand new skills you'll need to master that will pop up on you... it is this attitude that keeps us safe... i passed AFF with no repeats or problems, but i think someday soon i may do a tandem jump, just to see what it's like... if i knew then what i know now, i probably would have done a tandem progression and i'll tell ya why... it's very tricky for a newbie to figure out canopy control from watching others fly or from videos... having never done it before, it's an experience unlike anything... after you have just a little experience, you can watch someone else and imagine in your head exactly what needs to be done in a particular situation (like a braked turn), whereas somebody that has very little canopy experience will not really understand until they are in that situation themselves... so i could see how a student on a tandem progression could initially start out as a better canopy pilot... just some thoughts... sorry for the long length... ciao -dan

greets i remember 2 weeks ago, during my AFF, there was a young guy doing his first tandem (had kind of a 'tough-guy image'), exiting right after me... as soon as the door opened, he said in the LOUDEST, most nervous voice I could imagine... "oooooooh SH**********T! he then started getting a little more talkative, saying things like, "well, what happens if I don't jump? Like, what if I don't, like, JUMP?" TM: "Ah, don't worry, you'll jump! It'll be great! You'll do fine!" after a little more encouragement from the jumpers that were already on their way out, I made my way to the door, and I look back at this kid and he's saying, "well, I'm just gonna sit here for a while, and think about it..." TM "hey buddy, you see these clips holding you and me together? well guess what - I'M JUMPING!" (of course this was all still done in good fun. If the kid had said "no" when they did the final check in, he would've had a plane-ride down.) I climbed out to do a hanging exit, and the last thing I watched as I dropped was this poor kid's eyes as HUGE as dinner plates, watching me wave to him as a fall out of view... :) btw, he LOVED the jump... and his little bit of pre-jump jitters became our-little-secret.. ciao for now -dan

greetings ya i did my first solo on the very next load! it was excellent! thanks for all the kind words! -dan

greetings! just droppin' a line... graduated AFF today! passed 7 for 7 at Quantum Leap in sullivan, mo... and what a beautiful day for it, too! just enough chill in the air to keep you awake... beer has been bought! it's funny, right before my very first jump, i can remember looking at the papers describing the AFF levels and thinking, "whoa, there's no way i'm gonna start doing that stuff..." ha! ciao -dan

30,000 feet in one minute - now that would be an efficient DZ! from http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20040216/ap_on_fe_st/jet_fighter_sale_1 NORFOLK, Va. - You can now have your very own Navy F/A-18A Hornet jet fighter — but some assembly may be required. The price for the jet, which formerly belonged to the Navy's Blue Angels aerial demonstration team, is just over $1 million on the auction firm eBay, or about $9 million for a buyer who wants it assembled, painted and certified ready-to-fly. Only legal U.S. residents can bid. The auction is scheduled to end Thursday. An F/A-18 in 1997 cost the military $28 million, according to the Blue Angels' official Web site. Mike Landa, of Landa and Associates, the Washington state brokerage that has listed the fighter on the Internet auction service, told The Virginian-Pilot that the jet is in parts and came out of military service in 1994. Landa wouldn't identify the owner, but said he came by it legally. "This thing obviously slipped through the system somehow," Landa said The FBI (news - web sites) came out to visit Landa after he put the jet up for bidding. They wanted to know "what are you selling here," he said. "They wanted to have the scoop on it." Landa said he has no doubt that someone will surface to claim the Hornet. The jet's model can fly about 1,400 mph and climb 30,000 feet in a minute.

greetings mission successful! jumped from 13,5 - my fingers were so cold, they were throbbing by the time i got back to the ground, so i only made one jump... but the wind was steady and predictable = fun jump! woohoo! the bluez -d

greetings the weather for Missouri tomorrow looks pretty promising... high of 48, winds east 10-15... looks like i may FINALLY be able to break my 6-week-no-jump-FUNK! as you Missouri residents know, temperature doesn't mean a damn thing - it's the winter winds that keep us grounded... bluez! -dan

greetings! here in sullivan, missouri, the skies were BEAUTIFUL and the temps were excellent - but unfortunately we were all grounded due to high wind gusts... the drive home was a bitch - "damn! what a nice day to jump! damn!" -dan

i remember a very similar thing happening to me on AFF 1 - i wasn't very scared, although i was a little more nervous on that jump than on the intro jump... it was really cold out (lucky me - i began my skydiving progression in the dead of winter!) and at about 35 seconds into freefall, i realized that i hadn't taken a single breath of air! -dan