Dutchboy

I like the flat mode, just because it puts the most recent stuff at the bottom. Some of these threads get so huge that it is hard to tell what is new sometimes.

We've never required clothing. That is unless you are male, or not pleasant to look at.

Oh, just rub it in why don't you.

Skyhawk, I'm not a JM, but I can tell you what they recommended for me. I didn't go directly from my student Manta 288 to my Hornet 190. While I was still using their student gear I stepped down gradually from a 288, then 250, then 230, then a 210. Even doing this I still pulled at 6 or 7k on my first jump with the Hornet (14th jump) so I had plenty of time to get used to it before I had to land it. The Hornet is also semi-eliptical, so I wanted to get some experience with that.

I couldn't agree with our fearless leader more. Let's all have fun and hope others don't abuse our play place here.

I'm just hoping the weather gets better for tomorrow. Initial forecast was for rain both days. Now some of the forecasts say partly cloudy for tomorrow.

I rarely drink at my DZ for a couple reasons. First, I don't normally drink much or often. Second, I think it would be very irresponsible of me to drink before I drive the 98 miles back home. I've never gotten any grief from anyone when I said no thanks to a beer. There are lots of heavy drinkers, but there are also light and non-drinkers as well. Some of the local skygods fall into the latter two categories. Congratulations on overcoming your addiction and not giving in to temptation.

I have to say that I think you are a very brave gal to share this with the rest of us. I think you can either go through life being a victim, or turn things around and use them for your advantage. For example, on my 18th birthday my father kicked me out of the house. Told me "you can go to hell for all I care, and you probably will". Pretty bad talk for a Baptist minister. Told me I would never be anything all my life. I used this as my motivation to succeed. I busted my butt in college and would consider myself to be a successful person today. I tried to turn this constant abuse (verbal & physical) into a motivator. My success is my way of saying "Fu@k you, you were wrong, and by the way, don't expect anything from me when you're old!".

So you see my dilema. Once you've become a part of the mob you can't get out. So even though Alabama Skydive Center/Skydive Georgia/Skydive Birmingham/Skydive Athens/Skydive Chattanooga/Adventure Skydive Center is only 30 miles from my house (by far the closest) I'm forced to continue going to other GA DZ's because I'm afraid that if I go there they might think I'm going to one of the AL, or TN personalities and come and break my legs, even though I'm still in GA (barely).

Seems like we have more staff members posting reviews on all of the GA dropzones on how we break legs. I guess they must be part of the Alabama branch of the confused DZ. I've never seen a broken leg yet at Thomaston, and I'm there every weekend the weather is jumpable. Lots of our tandem instructors have 15+ years and thousands of jumps. When I was learning my friend had no problems with me going to either Thomaston or Monroe, because she knew people at both places and considered them very safe.

I had an interesting experience last weekend. The group in the back of the Otter just sat there when the red light came on, finally openned the door when the green light came on then closed it and sat down for 30 seconds, then openned it again and jumped. They totally hosed the rest of us, including my buddy who was doing his IAF-6. He had to land in the briars to avoid the plane that was at the end of the taxiway ready to takeoff. His JM was really pissed and had a serious talk with the guy who hosed the rest of us. That group hauled ass away from the DZ as soon as they landed because they didn't want to face anybody else.

Yeah, she has big hooters, so what. What's with that crap rig she's wearing? Do you think she's really even wearing a real rig? Check out that chest strap with the B-12.

No fair, you gave the answer to my excercise for the reader.

Actually, that is a bug that I've reported to our fearless leader, 10 out of 10 shows up as one start and not 5.

Check this out. There was actually a DZO dumb enough to write a review of his own DZ and make it sound like he was actually a customer. Even praised himself as a great instructor. The reviews in the DZ list show who posted the review and this person is also listed as the owner of the DZ. I guess they're just trying to show their true colors and honesty. I'll leave it as an excercise to the reader to figure out who this is. I'll give you a little hint. They are in GA, AL, and TN.

I noticed on some of the DZ ratings that the mouse over says 10 out of 10, and that is what was entered on the rating, but the graphic looks like only one star.

There are a couple of things you can't do with a pullout. One that comes to mind is flying a winged suit.

I think the tandem instructors are the worst, at least at my DZ. They always like to blaim their "nervous" students too. My best defense is a Z1 full face helmet. Even with the visor up there is some filtering action going on. For the really bad ones the visor comes down. I always do my best not to contribute to this problem. I think some people do this on purpose. You won't convince me that you can't hold it in for the last 2k feet. Is it so hard to hold it till the door is open at the least?

OK, tell us more about being in Cutaway. What part did you play, etc.?

I find this very strange, and am starting to wonder where all you people live. I have never seen any sign of drugs at either of the two DZ's that I frequent. I've stayed the entire weekend several times at my home DZ and never saw any drug use going on. Now we do have some people who like to drink, and a couple that like to smoke (not pot!), but that is the extent of it. I think this is where whuffos get some of their stereotypes of skydivers. Since a good number of skydivers live in CA or FL where such things are more prevelent in general they associate this behavior with skydiving. BTW, I'm not passing judgement on anybody here. I don't see it as my place to tell you what to do with your life. As long as you aren't endangering anybody else (especially me) it's your business.

Actually, it is the control towers responsibility if you are within the airspace they control (2-5 sm radius). However, you do still need to be vigilant.

This recently happened to a friend from my DZ. He was traveling and was connecting through Indianapolis. Well the guy brought his rig along on the trip, just in case the weather allowed him to jump (I forget where). He goes through the security check at the Indy airport. They x-ray his rig, no problem. So he's walking down the terminal wearing his rig. A couple of Indy cops stop him and start asking him questions. They don't think that he can wear a rig in the airport and definitely don't think that he can take it on the plane. They called more cops and security and pretty soon there is like 6 cops around him giving him grief because they all think he is doing something wrong. He told them to call Delta to see what they said. The person from Delta was quite confused and said "People carry parachutes on planes all the time". The funny thing is that this guy works for Delta even. The cops just shrugged and walked away. How is that for ignorance!

Mine opens about the same speed 600-700ft. Seems to be true if I PRO or psycho pack it. What I was trying to say is that it already opens slow, so unlike some other canopies you don't need to psycho pack it to tame the openning. I need to work on my psycho pack. My PRO pack usually opens on heading. I've managed to get line twists a couple times with the psycho pack. I think I twisted the lines at the top while doing the folds. I looked inside one of my psycho packs once I found that I had done this. Now that I've figured out how to get it in the bag with the PRO pack I don't feel the need to mess with the psycho pack which takes me longer, and I haven't gotten good enough at it yet. BTW, I fold my canopy in reverse order from the standard when I put it in the bag. In other words, I put my knee 1/3 of the way up from the lines and then fold the part closest to the bag in half. I then put that into the bag. Then I grab the canopy by the lines and tuck that into the convienent slot in the bag. Much easier than trying to cram everything in all at once.

All of the riggers at my DZ recommended the Dolphin for a couple of reasons. First, they say it is rigger friendly. Second, it is easy to pack. Third, it is durable for when you land badly. Fourth, it is inexpensive. Fifth, the way it is constructed allows you to downsize your canopy a bit without buying a new container. You won't find too many gear dealers telling you to buy a Dolphin though, 'cause they'd rather you buy something at twice the price. For me the Dolphin is more comfortable than the Javelin, but your comfort may vary. As for a main, I have a PISA Hornet which I like very much. Several other folks at my DZ have gotten these after seeing mine. I know many folks who love PD canopies. I'm sure they are good, just too expensive for me. My canopy opens softly, is easy to pack, and performs great. Oh yeah, and it cost me less than $900 brand new, custom made in 4 weeks. Obviously, everyone likes their canopy or they would get something else. I'm sure you'll get loads of opinions on a canopy.

Currently the forecast for this weekend looks bad. If that changes I'll probably see you there. I drive 98 miles, one way, to Thomaston (I'm North of Atlanta), but I think it is worth it. They've been making improvements to the DZ lately. Last weekend they were building team rooms and a kitchen. Their otter is a nice jumpship. I know there is a small DZ near Columbus that some of my friends have gone to when nobody else had good weather. I think they only have a Cessna 182.