BlindBrick

We've done those. You put a 12 inch tall Action Man under a ram-air kite and he can fly real good. We switched to ram-air after his round resulted in a total mal that terminated at the feet of the airport manager. I think he was amused, but the dzo defiantely wasn't.

I've tried a lot of different manufactuers and the response in general was that they didn't make HP canopies that big. I have zero asperations to swoop and fly my landings very conservatively; however, I do want to be able to do some very agressive canopy manuevers above 3 grand. Given my weight, experience, tempatures, and altitudes I expect to be landing at(5,000 msl+) I am thinking a fully elliptical loaded at about 1.0-1.15 which would put the canopy at 270-280 sf. Airlocks would also be really nice as I am intimately familar with just how suspectible canopies that large are to turbulent air. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Damn, who'd you sleep with to get that fast a turn around time.

Being a big jumper, I have been having a hell of a, no make that impossible, time finding a high performance canopy that won't put me at an isane wingloading for my experience and landing altitude. I'm to the point that I'm just about fustrated enough to try to make my own main. At my old dz, we hae a prototype canopy that never left that stage because ever landing resutled in broken legs. Given that, I want to try to make a half-way scientific approach to the design of the canopy. Can anyone recommend some texts that might help me with this? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

As much as I think FXC's get over-bashed, expect a long, long delay in getting your unit back from calibration. 3+ months is not uncommon in my experience. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Why do I cringe when I read the words sex and break off int he same post.

Think Ronald McDonald. The whole ensemble matches, plus big shoes. You know what they say "Big shoes, big feet" (or something like that). SIZE has nothing to do with it....it's all about the motion of the ocean baby

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is that you want him to use a lower ductility steel. Power tools can be put under a lot of stress and I have seen move than a few get bent into a U over time. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Doesn't really matter if they are opened or closed. The only experinced jumpers they allow to jump there are ones that came up through their student program. And they are totally inflexible about it. I know for a fact that they did not allow two members of the US natioal CRW team jump there. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

There have been some test that indicate that /some/ reserves fall below aceptable porosity levels after being packed only twelve times. So in theory, the 180 day repack cycle /could/ add 50% to the life of your reserve. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Rhis sucks, I only got to level 7. Damn it, if I'm gonna burn, then I want to burn well! Guess I've got to go find some friends, family, clergy and baby seals to club. Which reminds me, for a nation raised on "Whack a Mole", why do we have such a hang up about bashing small animals about the head with a club? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

My mom breeds Yorkies, and I've seen this. Her 2 lb alpha male tried to take on a ton and a half brahma bull. The bull has a mildly amused look about him while this happened. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Cool! Time to break out the tin foil hats and super soakers. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Odysseus! "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I won't be the upteenth zillion person to tell you to go to the doc; however as someone who's sporting two cornea transplants and therefore if intimately familiar with eye injuries, healing ect, let me give you some advice. Take it easy on your eyes for a for a few days. It's very easy to put further strain on the injury just trying to do regular everyday things. This in turn slows down the healing and ups the misery. Hope you get to feeling 110 soon. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Dude your missing the point of the movie. The suckiness was intentional. Van Helsing was never meant to be more than a tribute to the 1930's monster flics. The dialog and writing seems so bad because the writers made a conscious effort to make them mirror the older movies. For those of you who haven't seen it, if you check your brain at the door and take Van Helsing for what it is, a B movie tribute built on an A-list budget, you'll enjoy it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

But that's positively humane! That takes all the fun out of it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That's not always the case. I have a freind who's a college linebacker and weighs just under 300. Losing more than a few pound of bodyfat would probably present a health risk to him. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I think that this is a thing that has to be a case by case thing. I tried to kill myself and had been out of the psych ward for less than five weeks when I began skydiving. It turned out to be the best therapy I ever had because it showed me what I had to live for. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not quite true. The relatively new new TSO 23 Category D allows for weights higher than 255 lbs. My R-Max 288 is rated at 317 lbs. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Straight from Mr. Booth himself, Category B is "unlimited" and therefore weight isn't a TSO issue. Vectors are Cat B, i'm sure there are others. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not to mention having your rigger do it won't void the TSO. Only appropriately-rated riggers and manufactuers can legally work on gear. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Got a couple of slightly used corneas for a song. As the Cake song goes "Rock on with some brand new components" -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

After my eyes degrade to the point that I could no longer be a machinery operator, I took my LTD insurance and pretty much lived at the DZ. Packed and jumped and lived it up. Did more jumps in three months than I had done in the previous 18. It was pretty much the happiest time in my life. I gave it up to get a transplant and chase a girl who transferred into a Colorado college. Didn't get the girl, but got new eyes and a BA in Management so I guess it balences. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

My friend Brook lamianted a copy of his hometown's newpaper and got some stills of him reading it while heads down. The newspaper used it in thier advertising for quite a while. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."