BlindBrick

Over 100 jumps means the jumper must have a license. That's not universal. I have 131 and have never had a liscense. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

No problem. Actually that's the usual response. "Don't worry about me bringing it back buddy, cause I'm going to be aiming for you!" -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Brian, Can you get one of those things upsized to 270 sf? I am an anvil with no desire to downsize but would like a little more perfromance for high-altitude canopy manuevers and though a semi-ellipitcal might be ideal. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

No, but I jokingly tell all my regular customers that if they have a total mal on a reserve I packed, just personally bring it back for a 100% refund. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Please don't think this is an attack on your dz's packers, but this practice seems scary. I try to plan for the worst and doing that I can easily imagine on a busy weekend some packer connecting the PC to the bag but forgetting to connect the bag to the canopy. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'd be mor inclined to believe that a judge would look at the DZ's published cost for renting a rig for a day and apply that cost to the number of days out of serive. That's probably going to be significantly lower than $825. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

What states? Show me the statutes. I'll have to do a little reserach and get back to you on specific statutes. The factoid itself came from my business law class last week. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not comementing on the jumper or their actions, but if they do have to pay, the vast majority of states have laws that say you provide an amount equal to the current value or the lost/damaged items, not the replacement value. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The only problem I see with your friend's ranch is the same one the midget porn industry is facing. medical technology has advanced to the point that "dwarfism" can be treated at birth. Thus the "little people" are a dyig breed. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The 30 year figure is as misleading as the 4.0 figure fom the Tech bubble. The economy has a built-in inherit rate of unemployment that runs about 5.0%(+/- 0.2% or so depending on who you talk to). So on average, fpr the past thirty years we have had a problem with not effectively utilizing our workforce. However, as the current rate of 5.6-6% shows, this is not yet a critical problem. That's not to say we shouldn't take steps to lower the rate, just that's it's not the "sky's falling" scenario that politicians love to spout around election time. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'm thkning more along the lines of Aerospike designs and that jet type that combusts the fuel on the ventral part of the fuselage. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Direct definately has it's advantages, but I think a big reason that pc-assist is so popular is that quite a few DZ's don't have the resources to have dedicated S/L gear and therefore their rigs must do double duty as S/L and FF gear. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Did that one time and lost a $350+ Rigid Gas Permeable contact that had come out in freefall. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I am not really a conspiracy theorist but I firmly belive that the USAF has some top-secret recon birds down Texas-way that make this thing look like a turtle. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

What happened to the paln for all new US warplanes to be equipped with the superior Russian systems? I remeber it being mentioend in PM or PS several years back. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

We have three dedicated direct bag S/L rigs and eight Telesis that also are used for FF, so they utilize a S/L'ed pilot chute setup. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

It's not that big of a deal. Most modern military aircraft have 0-0 ejection systems which means they are designed to function at 0 ft. AGL and at 0 airspeed. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The one in Missouri is run by Bob "Feisty" Feisthammel. IIRC, my tools and training with Fiesty were just under $2000(including tools and books but not testing). The great thing with Fiesty's program is that it's not on a set schedule. You progress at the pace that is right for you. My friend that was a packer and had 10 reserve packs finished it in under four weekends while it took me closer to twelve. Despite that difference, there was no extra charge for the extra time Fiesty spent with me. Plus Fiesty is very strict and old school, you can be be sure that by the time you leave his class that you've been trained to the point where meerly meeting FAA standards is considered "shoddy". -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I celebrated passing my rigging practicals by making my 50th jump. If you have a good instructor you don't have to know anything about parachutes(but it sure helps). When I began my rigging training I didn't even know how to pack a main. -Blind. "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I almost don't feel bad now. I began college in June of 93, I'll walk in May and finsih with a BA in Management in July. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Caucasian, it's the other white meat. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The only problems with biodiesel are that energy-wise it is inferior to most hydrocarbon fuels and any signifcant use of biodiesel would require a significant portion of croplands to be divereted to biodiesel production. Thus you either have expensive, and inferior, biodiesel and food prices at what they are now or you can have cheaper, but still inferior, bioddiesel and much more expensive food prices. Being a democracy the US is ruled by the concept of enlightened self interest, ie we are not going to implement anything that significantly lowers our standard of living. So until our supplies of hydrocarbons drop much lower, this and several other technologies will remain on the fringe. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Two points. 1. The Main FAR is very different in that it allows whoever is jumping the rig next to pack the main. 2. I am not just quoting a FAR to quote a rule. More than once I've had to tell a jumper that their gear needed to be sent for work because they screwed something up because they didn't know what they were doing inside that reserve. Is it common, no, but it is possible and has happened. If they want to look or mess around with their reserve that's fine, just get a rigger to help you through the process. That minimizes the risk of you accidently damaging your gear and also minimizes us having to play the bad guy when we tell you that your reserve now needs costly work because you didn't know what you were doing. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I think this statement pretty much shows the ignorance abotu rigging that is rampant in skydiving. Of course we are not afraid of people learning something. Riggers earn their tickets through what amounts to apprenticeship. If we didn't teach people our jobs there would be no more riggers. As for a jumper rigging their reserves /unsupervised/, yes I have a problem with that. It is a very clear violation of the FAR's. The FAR's specifically state that only three types of people are cleared to work with reserves, 1. The manufactuers, 2. Riggers, and 3. people training to be riggers who are are under the /direct supervision/ of a certificated rigger. That's it, no one else. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The only probelm with this theory is that most terrorist units capable of purchasing these nukes realize the truth behind them. These nukes aren't weapons, but demolition charges. For raw destructive power, these charges just aren't all that impressive. Any organization worth their salt likely realizes the best use for these charges is to remove their physics packages and grind them up into a really fine powder for use n a "dirty' bomb or for poisioning a water supply or the like. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."