mdrejhon

Here in Canada, I'd likely easily pass the coach course at my current skills, but I need to jump with 25 new skydivers to work on the rating. I'm trying to nail when I'll be getting the rating, and I am certianly not going to charge for coach jumps. But NOT for the tandem. The problem is I am a travelling jumper, have not visited any specific same dropzone more than two or three times a year, and I am not living at "home" at the moment either (sorta a temporary economy refugee to Montreal from Ottawa) -- makes it a little tougher, until I settle down at one dropzone. Keep tuned for 2010 or 2011, as I am now finally relocating to Toronto with my spouse...

That mini plug dongle is designed for up to 6 watts (12 volt, 500 milliwatt). It simply uses modern switching AC adaptor microelectronics (same tech as those found in ultra light weight cellphone chargers), if properly certified, no more dangerous that that modern lightweight charger technology that has replaced the old bulky transformers. Only problem is that it has a power limit of 6 watt for that specific model... Should be acceptable for small gadgets, and no riskier than using a normal cell charger, which are almost all made in China too anyway, probably many of the same factories as this beast in the picture. If your gadget is real low power, just put it in a good surge suppressor bar or UPS, and you'll be fine. However, it's not the heavy transformer-based adaptors like Coleman made, and the transformers also double as handy isolation mechanism to suppress spikes (and protect the gadget from damage from lightning). If you're powering something like a portable cooler, or other high-power thing, you need something much beefier... _____ Lately in the last few years, my approach has been now to standardize on USB or household-outlets, because this lowers my travel weight dramatically. I carry just one cigarette adaptor with a 120V household outlet (Inverter that steps up 12V DC to 120V AC) and USB port (which can charge anything that takes USB such as cellphones and ipods). This type of cigarette adaptor (creating a USB socket and a household socket in the car) is very universal and allows me to protect my investment in all other chargers that has either a household or USB plug. No need to buy any other car adaptors or chargers!

For some people - YES! For some people - no. It depends. Some of the happiest couples (heterosexual couples too) that I know who've celebrated their 20th anniversary or beyond, have not had sex with each other for a long time, but obviously have lots of affection with each other, cuddle, sleep together, and are just happy and cheerful. Skeptics are quashed year after year when some of them are even open about their sex lives (which is rare); they certainly really know what they want. The feeling is mutual for them. Then, other times there's a biological trigger: You've got kids, and both of you are more interested in raising the kids and mutually are happy without the sex. Then by the time the kids move out, they are still happy and not interested in starting sexually again but clearly move on to enjoy life, fireplaces, skiing, vacationing, and whatnot, seemingly obviously not interested in looking over the fence for greener pastures... Obviously, that describes some religious couples who leave sex only to procreation only in a marriage, and those are some of those too. But some of these couples are non-religious too! Now, that's not for everyone, but if the feeling is mutual, what's in it for us to criticize such above happy couples of various kinds? They feel their relationship is normal, even though others think it's unusual to see a happy couple without sex. I totally respect them regardless, whatever works for them. Very obviously, it is not for everyone. A wise person will say that the answer definitely is not a "yes" and not a "no". Sure, there are those unhappy, or the one-sided (one sides wants sex more than the other), or the vengeful (no sex as punishment), or the cheating people. And there's those that are mutually agreed non-traditional relationships (medical issue, societal issue, mutual desire for lifelong married friendship bond without sex, various kinds of nonmonogamy, etc, or fill in this space here), and more, etc. But historically, the indicators of "non-normalness" don't always go in that direction. Clearly, different people define "Normal" differently from others.

Technically that may work, just make sure you engineer for: - Wind blowing you off the side of the slide. (use slight curved lip, or very wide slide, or slide slanted towards the rear) - Use a downward-curved lip at end of the slide (Could even follow outer contour of floats), so that you gracefully catapult beyond the floats without snagging the reserve flap or hitting your head as your butt goes into freefall. - Aerodynamics, more of a consideration if slide is not completely flat. - Stowage or low-wind-profile mount. This may be tricky, especially if the slide is not completely flat. - Exit stability considerations after sliding on exit slide. - Liability considerations.

Hi, I've frequently heard about New Zealand being the place to go for "super serious skydiving staff wannabes" because of the diploma thing, and they have an airport that has three skydiving drop zones running off it all week long. I think it may actually be easier to work legally in New Zealand than in United States at the moment. Packing is a pain at first, but it gets much easier as you get familiar with it, and you can earn $400 in one weekend if you become a good packer. Not something I want to do, as I have higher paying careers as a smartphone App programmer...

You may be right but if you monitor his posts in the last year: Known Facts (assuming what I read previously are accurate) - shah269 jumped different two parachutes. - 6 jumps under 265 of one model. ALL BAD LANDINGS. Then broken leg. - 1 jump under 260 of a different model. Soft. PILLOW SOFT. - the instructor test jumped the 265 and instructor had to PLF the landing even after taking wraps on the toggles. - Heavy guy, meaning the flare-safety-margin is much smaller for many canopies, especially F111 and probably well-worn ZP. (shah269 would have to flare far more perfectly than an averge student to properly land a well worn canopy or out-of-trim canopy) Therefore, in almost all likelihood, the 260 probably proved to have had a much bigger "safety margin" for shah269 as a student. Historically for most students, it has proven true -> if a student has always consistently had bad landings under several jumps of parachute A. -> if a student has ZERO bad landings under parchute B (even if only 1 jump on parachute B) THEN the conclusion is typically, at most reputable dropzones: Try to jump the student on Parachute B more often, if B is a suitable size (i.e. same size, appropriateness etc) It's pretty much a pretty much no-brainer to most instructors: Don't put the student on parachute A anymore, assuming the parachute B is 'appropriate' for the student too. It's just good ethics; and for liability reasons. Yes, yes, eventually the student SHOULD ideally becomes good enough to land almost any parachute safely (if the instructor is very good at training the student to in flare techniques and quickly adapting to a new canopy, as well as training in very good PLF techniques). But the instructor would be making an unwise decision to let him ever jump the 265 again this so early in his progression; based on this known info. At jump #8, we don't want to be taking obviously known risks, given the known facts. And it's an additional red flag when I heard that the instructor had to PLF the 265 when test jumping that canopy shah269 broke his leg under. Although shah269, normally you SHOULD NOT listen to dropzone.com, do not jump that exact same canopy (that 265 you broke your leg under). It's probably simply well worn (ZP or not), even if the trim on that specific one was fixed (if was out of trim), I do not think it is worth risking that exact same canopy again this early in your progression, since there may have been many factors (other than trim) such as wear. To shah269: You are already verifying this as I can see, but probably I think the dropzone is probably going to make the right decisions, they're likely afraid about hurting you again, anyway. Typically, (1) verifying the line trim (you said they did), and (2) test jumping the canopy (they should), and (3) that it's still relatively new (i.e. only a scant few hundred jumps or less), (4) and that it's ZP. If all these criteria are met, you'll probably have a similiar experience as to your softer landing under the 260.

and the flux capacitor.

Some skydivers do things that are rare in this country but more common in some other countries, such as accuracy, atmonauti, and other stuff. But as long as they have fun at it, what does it matter.

"I do" is the plea. Marriage is the sentence. Divorce is the stay of execution. You need to post that in shah269's thread.

Nope, they don't have it now. As far as I know.

That's not true. Atmosphair near Quebec City had a Skyvan during 2006 I believe.

Hi, I long ago learned that there's that totally "gorgeous looking model" who doesn't make a good partner, and that "average person" (still good looking!!!) that stands by your side and makes a kick-ass dinner, and always smiles a lot around you. I have come to the age that I really don't want to keep looking, and growing up old alone. Eventually you just want to stop fishing in the pond for that elusive prize, and fish for something that's still impressively tasty, gets you fed, even if it's not a prize catch. Eventually as one grows older, one becomes more willing to make a compromise. It eventually boils down to finding something that will last through all kinds of ups and downs. Different people have different amounts of give in willingness to compromise, as they grow older... You may or may not need to compromse much, depending on perspective... Some of my best role models are friends who are happy couples that have been together more than 10 years and still love each other very much and help each other (even if they have their imperfections and difficulties, and surviving difficult moments). I have noticed many of them share the same sentiments...

From now until Rainbow Boogie, I am posting the monthly Facebook Group newsletters here so that everyone has a taste of the Rainbow Boogie Buzz!. Note: Permission from Bill (inventor of Skyventure) was granted to include him in the monthly newsletter. Rainbow Skydivers NEWS - May 12th, 2010 ... *** BIG NEWS *** INDEX - Inventor of Skyventure Tunnels joins Rainbow Skydivers. - Are YOU a New Rainbow Skydiver? FAQ on First Jump. - 22,000 feet King Air Jump at Rainbow Boogie! - PHOTO: Rainbow Skydivers Banner Hung Up at SKYDIVE PERRIS! - Rainbow Boogie @ Aug 26-29th @ Skydive Cross Keys U.S.A. - Aerodyne/NSL Sponsored 20-Way Event Concurrent With Rainbow Boogie - Hotel and Camping Accomodations - Airfare Sale and Carpools from Airport ____________________________________________________ Inventor of Skyventure Tunnel joins Rainbow Skydivers. Link: http://bit.ly/RainbowSkydive001 Bill Kitchen is the original owner of SkyVenture and designer of the first tunnel in Orlando. Not only it is impressive that a fellow Rainbow Skydiver developed a popular skydiving training tool, he also invented the Skycoaster currently found at several amusement parks. I, Mark Rejhon, the main Rainbow Boogie organizer, flew in a Skycoaster in year 1996 (the Xtreme SkyFlyer at Canada's Wonderland). This Skycoaster ride made me decide to try my first tandem skydive in 1997! This is an amazing coincidence. Without Bill, I wouldn't be here organizing Rainbow Boogie! Bill Kitchen also operates a thrill rides invention company, including Skyventure, Skycoaster, and Unicoaster. He has been out of the closet for 10 years, and lives in Orlando, Florida. You can read more about him at the following pages: http://www.skyventure.com/about/default.aspx http://www.unicoaster.com/funworld805.pdf ____________________________________________________ Are YOU a New Rainbow Skydiver? FAQ on First Jump. Link: http://bit.ly/RainbowSkydive003 There are many new Rainbow Skydivers. Some who's looking to do a First Jump, and some who are newly licensed skydivers (Solo and A License). If you are looking to make a FIRST JUMP, do you want to jump at a local dropzone near you, or do you want to jump at Rainbow Boogie, which is located at Cross Keys near Philadelphia? You may also have other questions! Click the link above for the New Rainbow Skydiver FAQ, to help you get started skydiving! We highly recommend Freefall Adventures/Skydive Cross Keys near Philadelphia because they are the main sponsor of the Rainbow Boogie. However, we realize those in California and Europe are sometimes too far away, and may wish to train locally first before flying down to visit Rainbow Boogie. The above link will tell you how to get started. First Jumps at Skydive Cross Keys can be purchased at: Link: http://crosskeysskydiving.com/tandem_new_jersey.php If you are visiting Philadelphia just only for one tandem jump, purchase your First Jump Tandem for $165.00 at the above link and then reserve a specific day and time with them. Cost includes instructor, briefing, gear rental, the airplane lift. Please mention that you want to jump at "Rainbow Boogie" (last weekend of August). Then, please stay for the night of Saturday August 28th, for the Airplane Hangar Party! Disclaimer: For liability reasons, please listen to your skydiving drop zone staff and instructors, instead of our advice. We're just pointing you in the right direction :-) ____________________________________________________ 22,000 feet King Air Jump at Rainbow Boogie! Skydive Cross Keys now has a new King Air airplane. Only 7 minutes to 13500 feet! The King Air also has a built-in oxygen system. 22,000 foot jumps are available during early Saturday and Sunday mornings. High-altitude jumpers must have a C license minimum, attend a special briefing at 8am, and have a read through SIMS Section 6. A high-altitude Gay Way Load is planned too. (please forgive the planeload pun) ____________________________________________________ Rainbow Skydivers Banner Hung Up at SKYDIVE PERRIS! Photo: http://bit.ly/RainbowSkydive004 We hung up our new banner at our corner at Skydive Perris! Several of us were at Skydive Perris (near Los Angeles) for the Perris Big Way Camps from April 29th through May 9th, including Mark Rejhon (myself), Joseph Wood, Lamar Benson, Michael Gamble. We also had several visiting Rainbow Skydivers, including two student skydivers, a retired skydiver returning to the sky, as well as Jason Russell and his boyfriend Steve.. ____________________________________________________ Rainbow Boogie @ Aug 26-29th @ Skydive Cross Keys (USA) Link: http://bit.ly/RainbowBoogieInvite Over 50 new members have joined the Rainbow Skydivers Facebook group since the last newsletter! This includes some international Rainbow Skydivers who have never heard of Cross Keys. We now have 56 confirmed and 85 tentative. This is a reminder to update your RSVP for Rainbow Boogie 2010, the world's only annual gay skydiving event! Along with the concurrent event (See below), we are now expecting to be the second biggest skydive event for year 2010 at Skydive Cross Keys. An Airfare sale is currently on. The prices have fallen for many international airfares! Skydive Cross Keys is located only 20 minutes away from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). ____________________________________________________ Aerodyne/NSL Sponsored 20-Way Event Concurrent With Rainbow Boogie Link: http://crosskeysskydiving.com/skydiver_events.php For those experienced skydivers not interested in participating in gay-related events (i.e. straight skydivers, closeted, or those interested in different types of jumps), there is a concurrent skydiving event running at the same time as Rainbow Boogie! Advanced Skydive Project is a 20-way event that is sponsored by parachute manufacturer Aerodyne, as well as National Skydiving League (NSL). Then PARTY with us at our Airplane Hangar Party on the night of Saturday, August 28th! Rainbow Boogies historically typically have lots of straight girls in attendance partying with us too; therefore supportive straight men need not be afraid; come right "OUT"! (pun intended) ____________________________________________________ Hotel and Camping Accomodations Link: http://bit.ly/RainbowBoogieInvite Free camping is available at Skydive Cross Keys/Freefall Adventures. You can bring your trailer or tent. No trailer hookups. Alternatively, there are nearby hotels ranging from $50 to $100 per night ($25-50 per person) at the following locations near Skydive Cross Keys: Best Western (skydiver discount) - 856-340-7900 Howard Johnson - 856-228-4040 Econo Lodge - 856-262-8400 Red Carpet Inn - 856-768-5353 Or bring your trailer or tent! Several jumpers are staying at Best Western, if you're looking for maximum car pool opportunities, if you want to avoid bringing a car. ____________________________________________________ Airfare Sale and Carpools from Airport Ladies and gentlemen, hit the airfare search engines. Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity! There is an AIR FARE SALE going on right now to Philadelphia International (PHL) and Atlantic City (ACY) on many airlines. Some friends have obtained bargain airfares. Time to book a flight to Rainbow Boogie! Boogie is the busiest on Saturday and the party is Saturday night. That said, several have booked for Wednesday night. If you want to do the OPTIONAL NIGHT JUMP or the NIGHT GAY WAY, arrive Wednesday on time for a daytime or sunset jump, and the night jump briefing. Do you need a ride from the airport? We're offering rides! If you're offering a ride, please click this link and submit your ride: Link: http://bit.ly/RainbowSkydiveCarpools ____________________________________________________ Rainbow Skydive Blog. Read the Rainbow Skydivers Wall Daily! Link: http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=52708009938&ref=ts&v=wall Past issues of RainbowSkydivers Newsletters: Link: http://bit.ly/RainbowSkydiveIssues Questions? Contact Mark Rejhon on Facebook, or email. Email: [email protected] ---

Even better if it is ZP. I know I got MUCH softer on a Sabre 230 ZP with a good flare than a Manta 288 F111 with a good flare, but I had to know how to flare properly. (A bad flare on a 230 will hurt more than a bad flare on 288) A good fresh F111 may be okay, but I've rarely seen F111 student gear in good enough shape to be safe for big men like you, unless you wingload it with a massive safety margin (0.7 or less, but even 0.5 can break femurs too). Trust me and jump ZP if you can. (Gear sight-unseen, I'd even prefer a 260 ZP over a 288 F111). The student injury rate is less for ZP than F111 of the same wingload. Based on student injuries I've heard of at many dropzones, for a student, I suggest a very small nominal safety factor multiplier, approximately 0.1 wingload pointage, if your gear is F111, meaning I consider a 260 ZP square safer than a 288 non-ZP square for the exact same student. i.e. I would prefer a skydiving instructor to put my spouse on a 0.7 wingloaded ZP square than a 0.6 wingloaded F111 square if gear choice was limited). Based on actual injury trends (notice how all those dropzones with high student injury rate, are almost always are jumping F111), I really feel that there is a less chance of injury under 0.7 ZP than 0.6 F111, especially when the gear is of unknown age. Student gear is often hand-me-downs that are retired from other uses, donated by jumpers, or retired from high-wingload usage. Hand-me-down ZP's are almost always safer than hand-me-down F111 of the same size. Based on injury rates I even argue the safety multipler should even be 0.2 wingload points. Yes, maybe even 0.3 multiplier for big men (Meaning I suggest 250+ pound gear weight people might be on average same-injury-rate on a 0.9 wingload ZP versus 0.6 wingload F111 of the same jump number wear-and-tear into each). At SOME POINT, low turns and bad mis-flares become sufficiently more dangerous enough to eliminate the reduced-thump and imperfect-flare-forgiving safety factor of ZP over F111. So, I'm being generous and suggesting adding only 0.1 wingload safety margin for F111 relative to ZP. Most instructors agree there's a relative safety multiplier between same-wingload ZP versus F111, but it's debatable how much multiplier there should be. Most students do not need to know this info. But you are a special case (heavy-set guy, AND with an injury under previous F111 jumps, AND you had a good experience unde your only ZP jump), you NEED to know this information now. You CAN jump F111, but I think in you specific case, you may need to be aware of the safety multiplier you need to add for an F111. If it's a ZP 280 square, you're all set, that's probably perfect for you. If it's a F111 280 square, I suggest not jumping that one either, unless it was brand new and just purchased. Not enough of a wingload improvement over your old 265 F111 you broke your leg under. If I were an instructor, I'd be urgently looking for that very same same identical ZP 260 you reported had a happy soft landing on -- rather than risking an unproven uncertain-jump-number 300 sqft F111 (people HAVE broken legs under 0.5 and 0.6 wingload before -- of either ZP square and F111 square -- you should realize this by now) You can still break your leg again, even under ZP. But let's see if you can avoid having that happen again.

Billy you just deleted a post I was replying to (a post after the "Your one warning" post) and I lost an interesting reply. Rewriting... The nutshell of the photo analysis of the jumpdoor photo is that: - The shadows appear correct for the direct sun illuminated objects, see the Caravan tail, and arm/altimeter versus F16. Shadow blur, direction, intensity, contrast etc. - The barrell distortion is correct, even compensating for the parallax of nearby versus faraway objects. - There appears to some minor engine hazing behind the jet if you look really, really, carefully. It's hard to tell due to 'smog haze' in the distance and the low resolution of a non-motion photo, which is totally understandable. Video would show the turbulence better. - An F16 throttled WAY DOWN for a slowspeed intercet, does not emit much hazing, blurring or visible turbulence behind the air. If you looked out of the window of a passenger jet airplane, you will understand what I mean -- F16 at that slow speed emit less hazing than a passenger airplane's jet engine if you're sitting a window seat behind the wing. - The AOA of the F16 is correct for a typical slowspeed intercept. Try a reputable flight simulator, and playback the simulator video, you'll see slowspeed intercepts by highspeed-optimized aircraft involve a lot of nose-high attitudes. - The info is posted on a reputable Netherlands military site. - There are no photoshop style artifacts or clone-brush artifacts other than what seem to be normal JPEG-resizing artifacts Verdict: Real photo. Even if the jump plane was flying a little slower such as 100 knots for open jump door operations, the fighter jet would have still been able to coast past at 'pokey car driving speed'. Long enough for clear photography and fun finger pointing. Jump pilots also typically have formation flight training, from big way operations, and knew proper procedures for flyby's. Or the jet may have hovered motionless for many seconds; the flight envelopes of F16 and Caravan overlap sufficiently enough to make that possible, especially in a throttled-up slight desceding flight path of the Caravan, by a well-big-way trained Caravan pilot, though risky with the jump door open. Another point of interest: If you fly a modern, new radio control airplane with a better than 1:1 thrust:weight ratio, you can actually fly them ultra slowly or helicoptor them motionless above the ground (see YouTube videos), slowly transitioning in and out of flight. F16's also have a better than 1:1 thrust:weight ratio too. In theory, if the F16 had a precision computer-operated throttle that balanced perfectly while having a very high AOA, with zero variaces (zero micro sputters), then in theory F16 can fly slower than a Caravan's stall speed, and helicoptor itself above ground while pointing upwards vertically like a rocket, balancing thrust against gravity. But that's unlikely, as far as I know, F16 throttles and control surfaces are not that precise/highspeed adjustable enough to do that safely. If it were, then F16 would have a flight envelope that extends all the way to 0mph both horizontally and verticaly. Beyond wing stall speed, you now have to use increasing amounts of thrust the slower you fly, because you are now using thrust to compensate for gravity. Since this is mainly done with smaller planes like stunt airplanes (with high precision control/throttles) and radio control aiplanes, rather than big ones like F16, this is all very theoretical though. Depending on the capabilities of your airplane, this is important for slow speed intercepts, because you're now using a small portion of the thrust to help you stay aloft, if you're flying slower than stall speed and now using thrust to compensate for gravity. An appropriately capable recreational stunt airplane (red bull style thing) with a good pilot, can fly his/her airplane motionless like a helicoptor, with its propeller pointing upwards. Superimpositions of this and slow flight, allow horizontal forward flight at any speed 0mph all the way up to stall speed of the wings. You need more than 1:1 thrust:weight power capabilities of your engine, for this to be possible. Flight examples of such exist on YouTube. Some fighter jet crash landings were survivable because he successfully kept the airplane aloft on thrust below stall speed - pointing something like 45 degrees to the sky at high thrust ratios, well below the wing's stall speed. Enough time to eject-seat before crashing. And sometimes, you've seen those "close call" flight videos of a fighter jet going far below stall speed near the ground, before successfully lifting off, just becase these babies can do better than 1:1 thrust:weight, and very fast throttle response, to lift off vertically on a moment's notice, if needed. That's the same principle I'm talking about. Of course, if the engine sputters or die, boom, instant rock. Here's an YouTube video of an F22 flying horizontally slower than the stall speed of a Caravan using the principles I just described. As you can see, F22 has enough precision manouverability to fly horizontal flight below a Caravan's stall speed. Even the photogaphy suggests at least 5% of the thrust is being used to couteract gravity. (There's enough capability in an F16 to do that, just too difficult to transition to precision rocket-style hover flight like an F22 can.) Disclaimer: I've only flown radio control, and flight simulators, as well as witnessed actual piloted airplanes flying below stall speed without losing vertical altitude. (which means, it CAN be done, and I know at least a bit what I'm talking about). It only needs high school physics to understand what I am talking about -- if you at least got an A or B grade.

I'll be having to look into this. You rocked at Perris, as being the lowtimer at the Perris 50-ways, thanks to Todd

even if they are Canadian, redhead, deaf, gay AND flat flyer ? When I get a freefly safe rig, I'll practice becoming a lawn dart. Not a good one at it, probably, unless I spend hours of expensive coached tunnel time. But more likely, I'd like to become a bird and try to spread some nylon wings, or jump off some Norweigian cliffs. Also pay for AFF for my spouse.

Good move. Expensive, but that worked.

If DC was included in the list of states (which it is not), then "District of Columbia" would be the longest name. Even though it is not a state, it is commonly found in the "State" selection box on billing/shipping web forms. If it's one word, Massachusetts wins. If standard state names only, including all words, several states tie at 13 letters (including North Carolina and South Carolina) I didn't know about Rhode Island. That one would win an advanced trivia bet, I'm sure.

At 1200 meters, that's 3937 feet. If you initiate a waveoff, then a pull at that altitude, most likely you'll snivel down to below 3500, rendering some arguments in this thread completely moot. That said, are you quoting your pull altitude or full-inflated-parachute altitude?

Hey, I know! Post them all over Nashville! Yeah! But only on the Skyride stickers! Yeah, I'd do that. I know that I've had to add an item to the New Rainbow Skydiver FAQ regarding a 'certain Atlanta dropzone' advertising a misleading gay page that comes up easily in Google when you search 'gay skydiving'.

Two things... - Insist on the newer ZP based 260 or similiar ZP based canopy. Do all of us a favour a refuse to jump the old F111 based 265. - I was told feet and knees together on ALL landings, even good ones. Only when you're now planeing out level (straight-in "swoop"), and slowing down, you can consider putting your landing gear (feet) down from a braced position. Under a good modern ZP, zero-vertical-velocity planeout is the "normal" landing, not the hard thump. Soft landings are the normal routine under properly selected modern gear with modern training techniques. Sometimes people unintendedly flare high, or "pop" up when they flare (go briefly further upwards begfore landing), but all in all, the landings have a lower injury rate with properly selected modern ZP student gear in good shape... Either way, ignore dz.com advice in general -- even from me -- except seriously consider refusing to jump the 265 (the F111 which is non-ZP) that always thumped you and broke your leg.

cocheese -- you bring up good points that it really doesn't matter as much anymore but I already answered your question in a reply to someone else My reply in the last page, that covers this is: Although I accurately use word 'fraternity' to describe the banner (according to the Merriam-Webster, the Oxford, and Wiktionary), I couldn't find a better word. Perhaps "brotherhood"? Like the Muff Brothers, Couch Freaks, Team Awesome, etc. Some of them have their own equivalent fraternity banner... ***Do you really need the flags to find each other? What happened to the whole Gay-DAR thing? Gaydar is useful, but we need to use good publicity techniques too. Rainbow Skydivers (aka skydivers who just happen to be GLBT), are spread thin and wide. We just pulled a few out of the area to show up, and 2 of them have actually made the decision to attend our Rainbow Boogie, after having visited our corner. I'm the guy who knows the most about the state of the gay skydiving world. I know 2 gay DZO's (it may even be your dropzone), over 10 gay AFFI's. I have come to discover that there are often small groups of Rainbow Skydivers at many dropzones, there are 6 at a Florida dropzone, several at a near-New York dropzone, even 3 at an Oklahoma dropzone. (Yes, Christians) etc. However, these known Rainbow Skydivers are less than one quarter of who's out there, and we need publicity to draw in the new potential boogie attendees too... According to the Facebook Group Wall, there's been a surge of new Rainbow Skydivers thanks to our promoting. And, we're harmless to the straight jumpers too. Other points I've covered: - Our boogie is not exclusive to gays -- everyone (who's GLBT positive) is welcome... - While our boogie is now the world's biggest concentration of gay skydivers in one place, our boogie event actually consists of MORE straight jumpers than GAY jumpers! - We WANTED a boogie; several discussions popped up in late 2005 and early 2006, I was one of those who siezed the opportunity to fill this void. - Several dropzones WANTED us to have a boogie and they are willing to PAY organizer slots. - We're bringing new skydivers to the sport just because our Rainbow Skydivers group exist (just see our Facebook wall) - In the past, gay skydivers have had a hard time finding each other, without a kind of a registry like ours. Local Rainbow Skydivers can find and meet each other through our Facebook group, as mentioned earlier. - A place where it's comfortable, a vacation destination, a place to meet potential future GF's and BF's all concentrated in one place (and it wasn't just the gays!) - Camaradiere. Need I say more? - Why Team Moxie? (Girls only) ... Why POPS? (Over 40 only) ... If you argue Rainbow Skydivers is discriminatory, you should argue those others are equally discriminatory and should not need to exist. [beep, beep, flame bait warning] ... Also, we do have some POPS and we do have some Team Moxie members. (Kirsten was our LO for 2006) - Just a good reason to have a party together. Not gay exclusive of course. All the DZ partied with us. The swoop n chug, the BBQ, the relay race, the best-hat contest, the silly rainbow paraphernalia decorations, the D.J. and hangar dance. Etc. The usual stuff you see at planned skydive boogies. Why an event of our own anyway, indeed? The Rainbow Boogie itself is a draw to other (straight) skydivers and other events. The dropzone said it was the best party of the year last year -- and even Skydive Cross Key's web page Calendar says we are the 'funnest boogie' (their quote). With the separate event Advanced Skydive Project (Aerodyne/NSL sponsored 20 ways) running concurrently with Rainbow Boogie at the same dropzone, along with the current more-than-doubling of RSVP's on both the straight and gay side for our boogie, we'll be much more well attended. Overall, all events combined, we are expecting this event to be Cross Key's second biggest boogie weekend at the dropzone (next to Independence boogie) -- And we are aiming to eventually become the biggest annual boogie at Cross Keys some year in the future. (We had great word of mouth last year) Anyway, back onto topic :-)

Meanwhile, the circle logo stickers finally arrived Wednesday (We ordered 500 stickers). Slapped one among the hundreds of stickers covering the famous perris mockup. It was hard to find an empty space.

I was at Citywalk between the Perris big way camps, and I saw freefliers flying in the tunnel, as well as a freefly student learning headdown and lifting off with a coach. Same as I would see in other Skyventure based tunnels... It definitely appeared to be adequate for freefly.