bigorangemd

I bet that's the first time HUGE ever entered your vocabulary. Bram may have taught you a lot in the Tandem course but did he ever teach you how to deal with being carried away on your passengers back?

Busted mine (Coccyx Fracture) on my 2nd AFF jump in March. It still hurts if I sit wrong. No quick fix, but I jumped the next day.

I'm in can we leave yet?!

Yeah, I went up to one of the people on one of the loads and asked him to get us some drinks while he was at WalMart!

That was awsome!

There are no legal requirements. Most people are introduced as a "new skydiver" after completing AFF. Call yourself what you wish (I won't tell).

"In the bedroom all day and all of the night." By Luke Skywalker and 2 live Crew

My only beef was watching Packing Cathy's kid under a hypnotic trance.

This is the wrong forum to post this. It'll be moved later. Not unusuall. If you cannot breathe clearly and clear your ears on the ground, don't go up.

Man I wish I got summer Vacation!

There is a point here that you are missing. Decisions are what keep you alive or kill you. Seems like a minor infraction, but it shows complaicency and poor decision making. I saw two people who's incorrect decision process result in their death skydiving last week. You can never tell when a decision can turn deadly. I have nearly 200 jumps and still get gear checks if not every jump, always for the first jump. I also gear check my partners, some of whom have many more jumps than I. Don't rely on them, but use them as a back up to stay safe. Choose safety at every possible turn.

A) They have a contract with the city of Rantoul since they fixed up the facilities. B) It would be hard to find a place with an airport with an area large enough for the jumpers and facilities but yet not full of air traffic. C) The people of Rantoul LOVE the convention and greatly depend on it every year.

Have you checked to see if the canopy will be allowed at Bridge Day?

This was my first WFFC so I can't compare it to others, but when people back home asked how I was enjoying it my reply was "It's like being at Disney World on Christmas Day!" I had an absolute blast. Didn't jump any of the specialty aircraft not because I couldn't, but the King Air (which is my normal aircraft) and the CASA were so much fun I didn't want to jump anything else. The people were great and 10 days of skydiving GREAT! Now I just need a vacation to recoup from my vacation.

Glad to see you enjoyed it. Dane is one of the best guys you'll ever meet and the finest skydiver you'll ever meet. Glad you enjoyed it. PM me if you are interested in the first jump course. You'll be hooked for life I promise. As for the arch, it was your tandem jump, if you got down to the ground, you did great!

Mine was "Shit!, where is that hackey" over and over untill the jumpmaster pulled me.

Dude, Ed... I've been trying to track you down man. PM me or e-mail me, it's in my profile.

Your boss told you to sleep with him this week? Is Brandy O.K. with this?

Time to go. Sorry things are going so rough.

I wish I knew who my representative was and where he stands on the skyride issue. Rumor has it he has stock in the company!

Yep, paralog.

Having seen both seasoned swoopers who have the experience and wisdom to do what they do, and swoopers who have managed through luck to not have bit it (yet); I would say there is all the difference in the world. This was hammered home over the 4th of July watching two swoopers back to back. They both set up one right after the other. One altered his swoop immediately after initiation of the turn. The other had the same set up and stabbed brakes at about 75 feet. The first swooper (who I would trust to kick a cracker out of my teeth) wound up with a swoop about two feet above the pond and landed safely (the muttering about a lousy swoop). The second dragged through the water, took every leaf off a sapling, and nearly left a face print on a boulder before laughing about it and limping away. The first had the experience to know the swoop was busted by initial sight picture, the second realized as the ground was screaming at him. Old swoopers will be those that progress slowly enough to get every step 100% correct before raising the stakes.

Horrible tragedy. Sorry for the loss, and can't imagine what those close to them are going through.

I'll be there both working medical tent and jumping. Hopefully I won't be busy at one but busy at the other!

Few things: 1st know my perspective. I am a physician. That being said let me address a few things. Doctors cannot receive kick-backs from drug companies. Lots of pens and stationary, but spouses don't even get to come to dinner lectures anymore. Very strict guidelines now (I'm always a day late and a dollar short). Most vaccines are now sponsored by government sponsored programs, are generic, and there is no longer any real profit in the program for the companies (that is why there are often shortages now.) No more lectures. Realize you are the parents and YOU must decide what is best. I can only give you the facts. There is a risk from most vaccines. The reports are true. The risk is generally about 1 out of every 1 million children vaccinated. Doesn't help if it is you child who gets it, but very remote. The diseases covered by these vaccines are equally devastating. Most of us have never seen these horrible results because the vaccines work. Go to any 3rd world country and the effects will break you heart. The disease transmission rates here are now very low (because of vaccines) but still about 10 to 100 times greater than the risk of harm from vaccines. From a statistic standpoint, it is a no-brainer. Also realize that by not immunizing your children, you increase the risk to the entire population because your child is a potential way to spread the disease if not immunized. While the population in general is not your primary concern, it is part of being part of a community. By far (by a factor of about 10,000) the most risky thing you will do to risk your child's well being when you take them for immunizations is exposing them to the risk from traffic accidents. While I cannot assure you that there is NO risk, just as in decisions in skydiving, it is all about relative risk. The risks from not immunizing greatly outweighs the risks of immunization. I hope this helps and if you decide not to immunize, choose a pediatrician you trust and make sure you let them know the child has not been immunized, as we often don't think about the rare diseases when children come in sick because nearly all children are immune to them from vaccinations. If you have questions feel free to PM me for further discussion. I'll help any way I can.