Colm

Alright, which one of you degenerates is responsible for this? https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/09/alabama-radio-station-tower-missing/

I think I recall Edgar Kraus (BFL#107) was a German guy who, 20+ years ago, did a lot of super-low, rocket-assisted-deployment, motocross jumps. But my memory is hazy, someone correct me if that wasn't him.

Not so fast there, big guy. "Nature finds a way..." https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/pacific-salmon-return-their-own-restored-washington-state-watershed

If you have ever wondered "what was what" on your local AM tower, the first 15 minutes of this video may be informative. https://youtu.be/Aax-ehkRTnQ?si=zN0-dIeXgcXTCIEk If you ever wondered if you should ever touch that thing, the answer is, definitely, no. I can't believe I actually used to climb up those things.

Surely a "shoulder-season" kind of place. I think that is Saglek Fjord. There is a primitive airport near the coastal bay, but not much else. The fjords were still ice-covered but not consistently so. Having had a little more time to googleearth it now, I'm no longer as encouraged for sheer exits. Though the Torngat mountains are quite beautiful.

It might not be Baffin, but definitely some exits out there on the Labrador coast. All you need is a teleporter. https://www.google.com/maps/place/58°00'00.0"N+63°00'00.0"W

Thanks, Kenny! Out of curiosity, how much space (roughly) does the archive take up?

Thanks! Look at doing it yourself, you could save a lot of moolah. Post pictures! :)

I jump an old, circa year ~2000 bonehead helmet. Over time, the liner really packed out super thin, and stopped fitting me well. The manufacturers apologetically said they don't offer replacement liners for this old style any more, so I sewed my own. Materials were about 7$ (the pillow foam, or whatever it is, from walmart) + 2$ (fabric) + whatever I paid for a set of motorcycle helmet earphones on the internet ($15 maybe?), plus some thread I had lying around the house. I also already had some mated velcro strips with adhesive backing. I cut out new foam inserts based on the original liner shapes, and sewed them into pillow cases. I attached the ear speakers which came with their own velcro. I sewed a little fabric pouch to contain all the excess wire cord, and routed just enough wire to tuck to the back of the helmet where I had previously mounted my flysight (with velcro and small bungee straps). I fixed the new liner pieces in place with velcro. Result: it's the best fit this helmet has ever had! Plus I have integrated speakers for my flysight, and I didn't have to buy a new $200 helmet. Pictures attached. I guess I am only posting this to show that some old gear can get new life... hell you don't even need to be good at sewing. I have not used a sewing machine in 20 years, i didn't even know how to turn the damn thing on. Besides this helmet goes great with my DOM 1994 Racer :)

Haha when I finally get around to jumping it like next year, I will let you know :) It looks real pretty sitting in my gear closet though. I like that it actually has EPS foam. I wonder about it staying snugly in place, I got the size M, but I definitely can't go smaller. The company seems to offer free custom fit kits that I might have to look into. Then again I never have found any of the traditional skydiving full-face helmets to fit me well, either. For the record, I have a normal shaped head. It needs an internal audible pocket, which I will be easy to mount with velcro. And I will put a motorcycle helmet speaker by the other ear for a single flysight speaker. Where to mount the flysight I am not sure but I will probably just glue some velcro on the outside somewhere, or maybe sew a pocket in the back neck of my jumpsuit.

http://www.icaro2000.com/Products/Helmets/Cut3/Cut3.htm for those who are curious. I don't think the website alone provides enough information to speculate on templates, because it doesn't show the dimensions of the stock (removable) internal padding. I have a few ideas already, but just wondered if anyone else has gone before me

I recently got a Cut3 helmet for various airsports. I'd like to fabricate an internal pocket for a protrack on one side. On the other side, I'd like to make an internal pocket for a flat speaker (that would connect to an externally-mounted flysight). Has anyone else here done this already, and maybe have some ideas or templates you could share? Thanks!

Hey all, You guys totally kick ass! Thank you so much for all the great links. It will take me a bit of time to digest it all, but I will try to post any results back here later on. I will be playing around with trim and loading and other things.

I'm interested in fabricating some small-scale, model, ram air parachutes. Does anybody have any fabric templates for a 7-cell canopy design that they'd share? My goal is to make some miniature canopies, maximum a few feet wide, that I can do some aerodynamic experimentation on from rooftop drops. The model needn't faithfully replicate any particular brand, just so long as it pressurizes and flies under wing loading. Thanks! (I promise these experiments will not involve living animals or unwilling participants in any manner

Final Update: I got a helpful email from the European Cypres office with some more details. They suggested to attach "a proforma invoice to the package with a tarif code : 90201480 (Aeronautical Measurement Systems). And put a low value price on it something like 100€. To safe the inport taxes in the inporting country." Hope this helps someone in the future.

For future reference... or posterity... So I got some more information from the U.S. Post Office. Apparently, the package was rejected by Croatia, not by U.S. export rules. I have been informed that AADs have been shipped successfully to Croatia in the past, so why it is failing now, I have no idea. Were past sellers just lying on the customs declaration form? Were they insuring the package for less than full replacement value? The post office did not have any details about the rejection. There is a customs office phone number I can try calling on Monday, after the weekend. The funniest thing was how, out of the entire U.S.P.S., several postmasters between here and the port station seemed to immediately remember this exact package when it was mentioned. I feel bad because both the buyer and the seller (me) have lost money to shipping, and currency transaction fees, on this deal.

Croatia. Do you know something specific about that country? I am vaguely aware that different countries are treated differently, but it's not like it's iran or north korea. I tried googling for country-specific information but so far, came up short.

Hi, I am trying to ship some expired cypreses to a purchaser outside the U.S. The package was returned to me "Due to export control regulations" with no further detail provided. I have never done this before, I am not an export lawer, I am just a dude trying to sell some old cypreses... Has anyone else encountered this before? Did you find a solution? I tried google searching and a dz.com search, but whatever I was typing in was not being fruitful. BTW, USPS cost $67.25 for international express with shipping. FedEx and UPS wanted on the order of $275, which is prohibitive (and fucking retarded). So I can't really consider them as an alternative. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.. PM's welcome! Thanks, Colm

So, if you were tidying up and happend to find a $400 airline voucher that was going to expire by May, and wanted to go somewhere new & do some jumping... preferably warm... preferably legal... where?? (and oh yeah, TF and Moab are already on the books for April)

PTFD? Post Traumatic Fun Disorder?

I have a velocity gear back protector (large size, i am 6'4") it fits well, and covers the sacrum well, but rides up sometimes. Those race face knee/shin guards are pretty much identical to the roach guards that I have. I too am very satisfied with them, and will buy another pair if they ever wear out. don't restrict movement very much. Few snag points. I have the same type of guards for my elbow/forearms. same strong points. Combine them and you have an awesome lightweight alternative to a full jacket which doesn't affect harness fit. Weak point: Velcro & elastic will wear out sooner than later. People often say "any protection is better than no protection" which IMO is generally good advice, but one time it proved wrong for me. I have a rockgarden jacket (which sucks for me, BTW) and the elbow cups were too small, but the mesh jacket was too loose. The corner of the elbow cup dug into my skin on one crash landing and gave me a really bad laceration which I otherwise would not have received. So, I'm now more careful to make sure my gear fits perfectly (and to not crash land).

I am interested in getting in contact with any SLC locals... thanks! Colm

Last spring I blew my right toggle on a slider-down jump. I believe that I reached for my risers before opening, and consequently the riser slapped my hand in such a way that it knocked the toggle free. It is also possible that I had set it improperly and it would have blown anyway. That event has made me less aggressive about reaching for toggles. The funny part was right before exit, I told Bill that my fortune cookie at lunch said that I would have an interesting day

Mostwanted, I bought a Mirage G3, M8 for this purpose. It packs a Dagger 277 comfortably into the D-Bag. It could go much smaller, probably below a 240 no problem. It could probably take something a little bigger, if needed. Good Luck Colm

Thought I'd start a thread for people who are looking to share gas$$ on the way to BD06. I'm leaving from upstate NY early on the 19th... PM me if interested.