Praetorian

I just moved back to Eastern Washington and am very happy that my "local" (read closest) dropzone is such a great place. my (beer) jump there was a 2 way with Rex the DZO. I checked the dropzone out by stopping by during a previous weekend trip and came back last weekend, on a sunday afternoon I caught the last 3 loads of the day. Great atmosphere friendly people, great facilities. For a part of the country where you would expect a small Cessna 182 dropzone connected to a regional air strip, it was trilling to find a private airstrip with a turbine (caravan) high quality military trained pilot, and a welcoming atmosphere. It isn't one of the mega dropzones, it isn't a tiny 182 club but it has some of the best aspects of both, I'll be a regular and I recommend it as a great place jump.

on the off chance you werent joking The object breaking the soundbarrier cant hear the "boom" Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

Funney thing about Unions... in EVERY instance I've seen or read about, prior to Unions the bosses SCREWED their employees as hard as they could, with in the law (sometimes in the grey area, or blatently in the red of the law) And the there were UNIONS And for a time Unions fought to get their members a less screwed deal, until they finnally got what could be considered a "fair deal" And then the Unions began to do the Screwing, the union officers screwed the union members, the unions screwed the Bosses and the companies, and many companies folded. In EVERY case those who have the power abuse it. Yay pilots union, pilots paid more = DZO gets less/club gets less to cover other expenses, or jump tickets go up. Push the price up too far and fewer jumps get made, and pilots loose their jobs... I for one do think about money, I'd jump more if I could afford it, I'll jump less if prices go up not because I want to jump less but because for my limited income there comes a point .... (point already covered by many posts) Sorry I hope this is not too far off topic, I just don't agree with the "socialist" solution any more than I feel the "market" solution is best (or even real, we d not have a free market, there are regulations, there are rules, and they are NOT only dictated by cash transactions) Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

(not a direct reply to anyone) ? how is this not STUPID simple... if the harnes don't fit you WILL fall to your death, so YOU CANNOT JUMP sorry, this is for fun not assisted suicide! Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

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now you sir are a voice with some serious knowledege! anything to this other than using a light avation plane for acrobatics it was not built to take? and if yes any idea why it did not break during the high stress manover insted of after returning to level flight? Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

you are correct sir, (end best ed Mcmann voice) very low rez the first time I watched it Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

Break.com has a clip http://www.break.com/index/wingless1.html of what looks like a twin otter taking off, doing a loop, then returning to level flight only to have both wings snap off outboard of the engines ... needless to add it goes in .. I don't think this was a jump ship I'm just curious if there is any more on this type of thing with the otters, I'm sure its just a matter of the plane being pushed beyond design strength and the failure taking a few seconds to show (some asian language, I speak none of them so I can't tell which one, no disrespect intended) on second view it may be too small to be a twin otter Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

THAT is seriously messed up... anyone hear that... its darwin calling!!! remember sometimes selection candidates screw up so big they get others killed... though in this case I'm seeing the jumper as just as guilty, and luckey Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

I'm curious, in the end what is going to happen to John? USPA, State, Federal? I'm wavering between extreemly vengeful and fairly forgiving... because I was not actually hurt I'm having trouble holding a grudge (something I've never been good at) that said I'm still pissed off and am curious what people think should be / will be the out come? USPA.. membership? State... criminal charges? Federal .. Criminal charges? these are FEDERAL documents that have been forged No one that I am aware of was actually hurt, but negligence charges? I'm not personally interiested in civil action, but I'm not sure I would say the same if insted of a pencil packing a good rig, he had misrigged a total for me... Wadda ya all think? edited to fix some grammer Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

In the case of the "rigger" in question, each of my 3 "repacks" was preceded by me pulling my handles in front of him, he always carefully handeled the freebag(which never really left the container) and the pilot... I figured it was to protect my gear ... actually it was so the freebag was still in place and he could just close the container, put a new seal on it, charge me and call it good. Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

I'm glad my C1 has 4 more years, all comers will have that time to prove themselves before I buy my next "hopefully not needed, may not work insurance policy" ... if I had to buy now I'd go Cypress2 just because of the way SSK handeled my cypres 8 year, followed by a MISINSTALL by my "rigger" see therad FAA decision... the "install" could have damaged the unit, so they asked for it back checked it out and replaced the "potentially" damaged cord... ALL FREE.. well not the 8 year check. I know they are only protecting their rep, but their interiestes and mine coinside and I think this is good customer service Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

My bro sat Observer on my first jump (tandem with some buddies, he had a recently broken ankle and the Dr. would not clear him to jump) Kapowisn Washington (not the new DZ they moved to) bench seat on the otter Facing the DOOR, wearing a belt. he had a pilots reserve on, got a good safety briefing, the watched us all exit and enjoyed the ride down in the plane Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

all fun and games aside, my rig was inspected, they found the pack job of the rigger who assembeled my gear 2 years ago, Jon "pencil packed" my rig 3 times the first and third of these "repacks" were my spring repack after a lay off through winter. they also found my freshly 8year checked cypres mis-installed and potentially damaged. Anyone who tells me this is no big deal can KISS MY.... (wow I am still pissed off!) the big deal here is someone bet my life on their lazyness, took my money and gave me their word on a service I am not qualified to do... rigging is something I'm not interiested in, but after this I might have to get my riggers ticket just to trust my reserve pack job ! what sucks is I'm not good at sewing, have no real interiset in rigging and am not sure I've got the time to remain current at being a rigger, so in the long run I may know my reserve was repacked but I doubt my pack job would be as good as most if not all dedicated (honorable honest) riggers. Not a fun place/mindset to be in. Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.

I'm one of the wronged, I cannot express in words the level of betrayal I'm feeling... if you have a rig packed by John, get it repacked NOW, I'm too pissed to risk further comment in a public forum, if you NEED more (no just for curiousity) please PM me Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.