peckerhead

So the guy that claims we deserved to be attacked on 911 because of abortion and gays is now endorsing a pro-choice gay rights candidate? This makes no sense on so many levels.... First of all why would Robertson endorse him and second why would Guliani want such an endorsement? It seems like a lose- lose situation for both. What little respect I had for Rudy is now gone.

Is this thing on? Hello?

It is a boat. A boat with wings.

Or how many round jumps for that matter. A few round reserve rides and I bet that Tempo wouldn't seem so bad If you can't land a Tempo then maybe it is overloaded or it is not being flown correctly. They just don't flare the same as the zp mains most people are used to these days.

Must be a skydiver

Wow! I must be suicidal. I have jumped without an AAD for almost 27 years but dammit I just can't seem to kill myself. I must be doing it wrong.

My cameras are paid for. I make enough money off the whuffos, I don't need to screw my buddies over a few bucks. And, like I said They rarely ask. But then I mostly do camera at a small club. I am not trying to make a living at this.

If it is in good condition $1500 I have a Hornet in one of my containers and I love it. I have the big slider, nice soft openings.

I do if they ask. Those guys are my bros and it don't cost nothing. After awhile they all start to look the same but every once in awhile you get that glory shot and they want a copy. The only tandem shot I have ever had published was one I gave to the TM. He submitted it and I got a check in the mail quite unexpectedly.

I have had it happen a few times but I don't think it is because the goggles were not fitted properly. After looking at the videos it seemed more like they were just trying to adjust them because they were not used to the sensation. In almost every case it was someone who was eye- sensitive because they were wearing glasses or contacts underneath. The funniest one I had recently was when the TM had his goggles blow off right before opening. This guy wears glasses and has those big Mega- over the glasses goggles. I don't care how tight those things are....They are big and catch air. We watched that one over and over in slo-mo.

Because it's there.

Look again Jerry...That is a Classiflyer. The Top Secret was a bit different. It had two closing loops on the main. If you look at the first picture you can see it is closed with just one pin. The right closing flap has a single grommet. (just above the velcro) The multiple grommets on the top flap shown are just so you could stuff different canopy sizes in it. Rather than lengthen the closing loop you would just select a different grommet to close it. The Top Secrets I jumped had two curved pins in the main bridle but the Classiflyer only had one. The Classiflyer was the transition rig between the TS and The Corsair. As far as the pullout I don't remember seeing one with that type of main deployment. Likely an after market modification. Also, most Top Secrets I jumped had capewells. The Meyers release was more common on the "updated" Classiflyer.

Yep, thats a Classiflyer with the Jerry Meyers release.

My oldest boy told me this year he was old enough to go trick or treating by himself. I told him if he was old enough to trick or treat by himself then he was to old for trick or treating.

We had the red ring of death about 3 months ago and they sent us the free shipping box within a few days. We removed the hard drive and sent it in. Less than two weeks later they sent us a brand new console with a note saying they could not repair the old one so they replaced it. They gave us a new 3 year warantee with the new box. So we were only down for two weeks and got a new box for no charge. All our games were saved on the hard drive. We only had a one year warantee on the original box and even though it had expired they took care of it. Can't beat that for customer service.

Yeah, it takes just the right photo to get it to work, I think I tried about 5 different shots before I could "Simpsonize"

Found this interesting site: You can upload a picture of yourself and it will turn you into a Simpson character. My avatar is mine. simpsonizeme.com

Disclaimer: I worked for the US Forest Service for 20 years as a firefighter...So I do know a bit about this. Historically the SmokeJumpers used round direct bag deployed canopies because they worked and were considered dependable and safe. Keep in mind that when this idea of parachuting into the mountains and woods was first thought up it was not an easy sell. (You are going to do what?) As years went by the sucsess of the operation was obvious and the good ol boy net work was created. Change? why change if it aint broke? Then Ram airs came along and the people jumping wanted to try but the people who no longer jumped (but were now in charge) were reluctant to say the least. The department of the interior decided to start using ram airs and had great sucsess. The Forest Service (department of agriculture) experimented and then there was an incident on a practice jump in the early 90's that resulted in a fatality. After that the FS suspended all ram-air jumping due to a total knee-jerk reaction. The guys making the decisions were all old time SmokeJumpers who had never jumped a square but the decision stuck and it is still in place today. Now the two agencies (Interior and Agriculture) each have their own SmokeJumper programs. The FS uses rounds and the DOI uses square ram-airs. For the most part the FS guys jump into timber and the DOI guys jump in the tundra and open range. But on a busy season it is common to have mixed loads during a boost where you have both types of canopies landing on the same fire. Ram airs always out perfom the rounds. So ....In my opinion it is politics and lack of training. I still know old time Forest Service folks that think squares are dangerous and rounds are safer. It is like a culture or a fraternity. I remember back in 93 when I was stationed at the Redmond SmokeJumper base and a member of the Redmond HotShot crew I predicted that in 10 years all SmokeJumpers would be on squares..... Well, here it is 2007 and the Redmond jumpers are still on rounds... As someone else mentioned above SmokeJumpers are firefighters who jump and not jumpers who fight fire. The parachute is simply a mode of transportation to get to the job site.

I saw 3 out of 4 cypres fires 5 years ago at a boogie. The only reason the 4th guys didn't fire is because he didn't have one. He still managed to deploy his reserve manually although very low. But that wasn't a four way, it was a big way and the 4 guys in the base decided to keep on turning points after everyone else left. Fun hogs I tell ya!

It used to happen more than you might think. But since they did not have cypreses back then they just pulled low or bounced. It still happens but with audibles and AADs it is becoming rare.

I was there in April two years ago. I had a mate from Sydney drop me off on a Thursday and he came and picked me up on Sunday. Thursday was slow, only a few loads. Things picked up on Friday and the weekend was busy. I stayed at the brew pub in Picton, great beer, great food, and cheap rooms/hot showers. The bunkhouse and showers at the DZ are scary and stink. No problem hitching rides to and from town since I had no vehicle. I think I called a cab Saturday night because everyone was too drunk to give me a ride. I had no trouble getting on loads but I was mostly doing RW. Great crowd and party/barbeque Saturday night. Overall I had a great time and would love to make it back down there someday.

My experience was a bit different. My first video camera I bought for skydiving was a Canon ZR25 and I made about 100 jumps with it, mostly tandems. I never had a problem with it and the video was great. It had a lanc, threads for a wide angle, lots of digital effects and so on. It was not exactly cheap either, I think I paid $850 for it and comparable Sony's were going for just over a thousand at the time. I had it mounted directly on a helmet - no box. As I started to do more tandems everyone kept saying that I should get a sony, get a Sony, get a Sony! Sony's are so much better, blah, blah, blah. So I did. I sold the Canon to another up and coming vidiot who is still using it without any problems. The Sony was a bit heavier and had more features (most of which I never used) But I honestly thought the video quality was better with the Canon, and unlike the Canon the Sony did have problems after just a few jumps which required service. (no charge covered under waranty) To me it is kinda like the guys who say you should only jump PD reserves. Sure PD is great but other reserves work too. Both have made so many models over the years I am sure some of the Canons suck for skydiving and likely some of the Sony's are not well suited for jumping either. I certainly would not go with cheap regardless of manufacturer. A good friend of mine just got a new Sony and he has had nothing but problems with it. (I am not sure which model but it is one of the cheapest they make) Anyway, I am a top mount guy and I wanted HD so I currently jump a Sony HC3. (my 3rd video camera)You can't go wrong with Sony but I never had a problem with my Canon. I guess the next question would be why does everyone jump Canons for stills? Why not Sony? I have seen tandem stills from Sony's that looked great to me.

Yeah, but if you take awy the shootings it aint so bad. The stabbings, aphyxiations and blunt force tramas are only as bad as the entire state of Idaho. But hey! Did you notice no murders around the giant guitar so far this year?

Hard rock cafe, you can't miss it. It is the giant guitar by the harbor. (pronounced haabaa) I recomend the aquarium and dolphin show.

That's a real bummer. I used to jump there at least once or twice a year when I lived up by Wenatchee (Leavenworth) I also used to stop in when the wife was going to college over in Moscow and I was passing through from Oregon. I've Known larry and Herbie since the 80's. Larry and I were both instructors at Ralphs before Larry started up the DZ in Richland. Been on lots of loads with those two, mostly with Larry. Larry presented my diamond wings at a boogie in Madras back in '03 Any word on what Warners plans are now that he is getting out of the DZ business? Is the DZ for sale or just the equipment/planes? Unfortunatley I think we are going to see a lot more of this in the upcoming years. So many DZOs are getting older and it doesn't seem like the new generation has what it takes to keep things going. I would love to have my own DZ some day but I just don't think I would ever be able to afford such a venture. If the Mom and Pop drozones continue to go by the wayside eventually we will all have to travel long distances to large commercial centers if we want to keep jumping. I have jumped at several DZ's in the Northwest that are gone now and I can think of at least two more that will probably be gone in the next decade if someone doesn't step up to fill the void.