stateofnature

Get behind a truck?!? I'd be more worried about getting behind you grandma...75 mins from downtown...GEEZ

True but if you drive that POS car like Chucks, then 45 minutes can seem like 'quite a ways,' and feel like a cesspool as well.

This much crying over something so stupid...i now pronounce you.....SKYDIVER!!!!! Congrats, you're officially one of us now, go forth now and bitch about jump prices, tandem bumps, mean greedy DZO's, and all those other 'guys' that are not in your discipline.

It's true. I was there last year. I put my hands in my pants and grabbed my ass the entire time. It truly was a wonderful experience.

TOP CPC Overall 1st Brian McNenney 2nd Stuart Schoenfeld 3rd Chuck Owen CPC Accuracy 1st Jim Vance 2nd Bryan McNenney 3rd Stuart Schoenfeld CPC Distance 1st Bryan McNenney 2nd Mark Shimell 3rd Ray Dutch CPC Speed 1st Nick Batsch 2nd Bryan McNenney 3rd Stuart Schoenfeld

I thought he did awesome...Leno asks some very "WUFFO" questions, and he responded quickly, calmly, and precisely. You can tell, this isn't the first time he's been interviewed on television, he looked very natural.

Can you give specifics?

Ain't Dat da truth!!!

Lots of slop, i could have fit a 210 easy

I did shove a Tempo 150 up my ass once... it opened like shit!!!!

I flew a Talon once, took a month for the black and blue marks to heal in my legs. Good opening on the canopy and everything. As for cheap gear like this and tempos...i'll go back to my origional statement. Ya get what ya pay for!!! Latz peeps. (Hey I bet you can apply this common statement to more than skydiving gear!!!)

Oh and Plueeese! You sell them, you have a vested interest in keeping the name in good condition. I actually had one of those peices of crap on my back for a few hundred jumps before I could afford something better for my life. How many threads on PDR's with 'built in turns' are there??? Don't confuse bandwagon with fact. Get out from behind the phone. Latz!!

You get what you pay for! ;)

Your going to land in deep water, there is NO avioding this water landing? What do you do? Lets say it was an emergency exit, and there are no floatation devices on your person? These are my thoughts, but i'm looking for better or more efficient ideas. Bottom clips undone. My chest strap undone. Flare above the water. When we hit, unhook the top two connector links and slide out of the harness like a sport rig. The problem I'm thinking of, is if there is a weight unbalence under the water, the clips on top may have some problems. For those tandem masters that are around water alot, what is your input. Extra large floatation devices?

No flips, unless it's a necessity, i.e. tailgate, or small cessna...i feel that out of these aircraft, trying to force a position against the relative wind, or making the student do something that is unneccessary is foolish. There have been a few incidents of the drogue wrapping around tevas and causing a fatality. Regardless if it was flip induced or not. AGREED, that it is totally unnecessary, and for all those new TM's out there. If you student asks about doing a flip, just tell them: "You know, anyone can mindlessly flip uncontrollabily out the door, what we are going to do is a really smooth controled dive and recovery. From a third point of view this looks so nice and smooth, and that is where the skill takes place, but I can't make it look good unless you help me with that arch."

If the person posts annon, is it a personal attack? That should be the downfall of the annon posting. BUT thanks for editing rather than deleting, my fingers hurt

I want everyone to keep in mind that this poll reflects those jumpers that are here on DZ.Com, NOT the general populous at the DZ. If you are here typing, your not there jumping. Any vote for this reflects the voters true nature. When a person states that everyone else is lame they should be looking at themselves first because therein lies the common problem. Again, either all the employees are lame or not. You will find assholes in EVERY company. You will also find very experienced people that are willing to help at every corner too. This type of blanket statement really sucks, just cause the staff is overworked in the summer doesn’t make them jerks. Most Tandem Masters there have only five minutes between loads. In that time, they have to shake and take, then suit up and train their next student, so if they are not ready to engage in a 20 minute conversation please don’t be offended. MOST DZ’s will not give you a standing ovation. Expecially if you’re new to the DZ. YOU have to be outgoing enough to get up to groups and introduce yourself. If you hang out in the corner and wait for everyone to break routine to bring you in, especially at a big DZ, you’re delusional. Now, some smaller DZ’s will because fresh blood is nice. It is one of the benefits of small DZ’s. But it is easy to get caught up in the chaos at larger DZ’s. Get out there in be bold, you’re a skydiver damnit. You know, everyone bitched about Jeff when he was alive. Now they are bitching about Frank. Must be those tree huggin, granola bar eatin, Boulder ultra liberals cryin because they didn’t get a personal invitation from the DZO each and every morning with a thank you for being alive. Buck up kids, we’re grown ups now, the cradling ended at 28 when you moved out of your parents house. Probably, but it is secondary to making the business work. The vibes you need should be coming from within. It’s a big DZ. It doesn’t have my loyalty because my virtues are placed in more important places in my life. It’s open, it’s fun, it’s got big planes. Don’t like it, jump somewhere else. If that is too far away, buck up. No, it’s going to be WAY better with the new hanger next to the landing area. And there is a reason it is big enough to house an Otter and a King Air and a Cessna 206. Good, we don’t want that pansy, give up attitude. When the going gets rough, RUNNNNN!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, that’s it. Mile Hi can EASILY do 90 tandems a day with just the King Air. So they got a plane that holds 9 more people because they don’t waste enough gas right? Sorry bras, but you can’t max out their tandem master output anymore. So since you can’t get any more tandems on every load, you’re just going to have to fill it up with fun jumpers. If I gave Frank any advice it would be to ditch the Otter, and keep flying the King Air. The King can make the cash and still satisfy fun jumpers. But for some reason he wants to make sure that each and every fun jumper can get up as many times as they want in a given day…must be that ‘bad’ attitude of his. edited for personal attack.

I absolutely positively have a personal agenda, I call it my life. See, the old skydiving routine doesn’t faze me. I got enough skill to handle myself. But the aircraft is out of my control, isn’t it? Oh, I know we all preach to see the pilots credentials, and aircraft records and such. But can the average skydiver see and UNDERSTAND them? Probably not, and those that can see and understand these forms, do they have the balls to ask, or care too? Sounds to me like those that ask to see them could be labeled as troublemakers and sent packing. How exactly do you check the paperwork of leased aircraft? Look at all these questions, yet all I hear is, “our planes are great because we have an onsite mechanic” … HOLY SHIT if that’s not the scariest statement of the century. So is this a burnout that couldn’t get a real job with the airlines…the jet engine too much for his reciprocating engine brain? I’d rather the aircraft are taken to a national company with the resources available than to Joe Bunda of the greesemonkey crew. Oh I know we all like Joe, but there is a reason Joe works for the DZ and not the big boys. I like the philosophy that if you beat the plane up more it means it is crappier. Well that is a tried and true argument of the ages isn’t it. Mechanics from all walks of life have been trying to prove and disprove this theory. Aircraft like the C-17 were built to withstand 150% of operating limits and loads and yet the USAF doesn’t break the 85% barrier on any given day or wartime situation. (Yes, I was a USAF Aircraft mechanic for many years, PLEASE don’t preach to me about grounding a fleet of aircraft based on paperwork, I’ve never heard of it). I like the guy that compared the grounding of an Air Force fleet to find a screwdriver vs. a DC-3. As if the complexity of a DC-3 could even be compared to a C-5 or such. Yes, you can leave a wrench in the cargo hold of a DC-3, but a screwdriver missing in the Pitch Trim Moter of a C-5 could potentially be fatal. That difference in philosophy has improved TREMENDOUSLY. It’s called Foreign Object Damage … and I’d hate to break it too you… it’s real!!! (BTW when an object gets misplaced there is an inspection of the aircraft that ONLY THE MECHANIC VISITED WITH HIS TOOLBOX, not an entire fleet … but … good job with the generalities, again. … who says? Compared to who? How do you know exactly? Are you basing this on the rumor mill, someone told you, or are you the accountant at your DZ? Again, how do you know? Firsthand knowledge strait from the DZO’s mouth to his Pocketbook? Just curious??? Air Force Aircraft are NOT grounded for bizarre reasons. A red X in the forms (which means that there is a discrepancy that makes the aircraft unflyable or puts the aircraft in a possible dangerous or unknown condition (i.e. an emergency system is unsuitable, but the aircraft is flyable, panel is off … etc…) until it is (1) Cleared by maintenance, i.e. fixed; and/or (2) Waived by the Aircraft Commander, the pilot and is usually conferred with the Production Supervisor. Bizarre conditions would only be read by someone that didn’t understand the aircraft. Yes, that paint job that makes um look snazzy is the first indication that they are shit hot performers and have perfect maintenance and pilot control. Good thing it’s overhauled and upgraded … ummm can you tell all of us EXACTLY what that means? What part is upgraded in the aircraft that makes it better and a non-upgraded one? Was there something wrong with the non-upgraded version that people have been wooled over for 30 years? What parts are changed? How many times has the same engine been overhauled? Hey, I have no answers, I only have questions. What exactly can we do here to help us be safe? I wish I could wave the magic wand and make it better. Until then I challenge every skydiver to figure out something that can make us all more informed.

I hope all of you sleep better at night with your VAST generalizations. Maybe that little twitch in the back of your head wouldn’t be so compelling if you brought some facts to the table. Being uninformed is no way to live, and a shitty way to skydive. This type of thought most definately fits within the state of nature of man.

The United States Air Force Academys 98 FTS has had their fleet of Otters grounded for over a month. Now, these birds are the finest otters in the galaxy (due to the limitless amount of money and contracted maintence no doubt). Now when you take cash flow out of the picture, and you are not motivated by quotas, and your first concern is the safety of your crew and students, then why are they all grounded and the rest of the skydiving world seems to fly on? Shit...did I just answer my own question? Hope you feel safe in YOUR otter!!! Let the uneducated smear, let the educated think.

I used it, it was delicious.

It's easy to get a raise, just jump more As an instructor you'll burn out anyway, so before that happens, go to school, skydiving is the perfect college job. Then, you get to live the dream again, to one day pay for skydives... tear ... tear .... happiness!!!

And on that note, look at resturants, special events, packing areas, good vibes........ it ain't just dem planes that make um biggies

unfortunately alot of DZ's have a policy that you land like the first one down, NO MATTER, because when there are 24 people getting out of the plane, judgement can lead to canopy collisions in confusion or slowly turning windsocks a safe bet is to have a seperate landing area for swoopers, and it would be your decision to land there, in any direction. anyone outside the scope of the high performance landing area must land the same direction and hopefully into the wind.

Another pretty gimic