Meux

it's going to warm up nicely. Blues

Kevin, Thanks for the post. I remember exactly where I was at each moment and the sick feeling that followed. My dad worked on Apollo and was deeply affected by the first accident. I had bumped into Dick Scobee just a few weeks before Challenger and though I didn't have a direct connection with anyone aboard Columbia, it still hurt. Godspeed All

Scary, very scary. There is nothing that big government can't screw up.

STS 116 landing scheduled for the 22? Shouldn't be a total buzz kill

Congrats and thanks for posting. It brought back all the happy feelings I had with my new rig. Here's to many happy jumps, looking up at that same canopy. Cheers, MH

I told a friend years ago that I could've avoided all the major trouble in my life if I'd just had my ring finger and dick amputated early in life. Finding the right partner is a hundred times more important than anything else. Be very careful. Good Luck

I think Chuck is going to dominate. Hopefully, it will be a good fight at least. So many of the other "HYPED" fights end up being shitworthy. MH

So how was it? I got to watch several jumps on Saturday, but couldn't be there Sunday. Did you guys complete? Perfect weather. From the sidelines it looked pretty cool. Mike

I'd love to finish 2007 with my D license. On the way, I'd love to get into some bigger RW formations (22 way is my biggest to date). I need to be a better packer. It's fun jumping new planes and places, would like to do that. Right now I"m scheduled for a conference in California(San Diego) in January which means I'll have to jump at Perris. I would like to make a couple of lasting friendships. All the people I jump with are friendly, but I've not found those one or two that I can call and talk about shit that doesn't deal with skydiving. Right now I've got some really precious non-skydiving friends, but I'd like to get some who know what I'm talking about when the talk turns to the sky. Of course there is the besafe thing. Finally, I'd like to be an influence for safety on any DZ that I go to. Problem areas that I commonly see are exit order and spacing. I would like to learn as much as possible to "evangelize" about it. I'd like to be a part of the effort to kill the 45 degree rule that seems to keep raising it's head. That's enough. Cheers, MH

It's going to be a great contest. They each have tremendous talent. Tough call, but I voted Hughes.

I've always liked; whoreson pinchfart and tiny minded licker of other peoples private parts

Awesome!! Congrats.

That is a great question. How do we verify each persons pedigree? In uniform or not, any problems with the ends of the belt flying around? I've got a card from USPA that shows my license, but I don't have a card from the American TKD Association that shows I'm a first degree bb. I do have that fancy embroidered belt, but I suppose anyone could have something like that made. Do we do pure TKD or let in all black belts? I'm in favor of all disciplines, both martial arts and skydiving. Can you see a really cool hydrid made of all black belts? Other ideas, thoughts? Could be fun.

I had the honor of jumping in my first ever competition with Norm. We were on a 4 way scramble team at the POPS Spring Fest at Lake Wales. We didn't do quite as well as his Hog Flop team, but we definately maxed out the "Had Fun" block. Hope to jump with him again soon. MH

I didn't know it when I went through AFF, but my instructor was a black belt. Then when I started TKD, both owners of the school were skydivers. When I moved to a new school, the one I earned my black belt at, that instructor was AIRBORNE!!. So, how do we go about arranging a black belt formation? I'm thinking about starting at a boogie or large gathering and just asking people. Should be able to get an 8 way together. THen I started thinking about degrees. For example, an 8 way with 12 degrees in it. I'm only a first degree, but my first instructors were fourth and fifth. Heck a three way with those two would be a tenth degree jump. Any chance of some freeflying black belts doing some wild looking poses, like flying jump kicks at 12,000'. I'm just a belly flier, so it would take a quick camera to catch me in anything other than face to earth. So, here is a start. I'm thinking about going to Zhills on the 26th to get some of those high altitude jumps. Any black belts in the area at that time? Cheers, Mo

I didn't want to directly hijack bdrake529s thread, but here's a question. Any thought of making an all black belt formation? I wonder how many could participate. I'm in. Anyone?

It's the stop rope

Years ago when we built the East West Expressway in Orlando I worked for a house moving company. There are lots of crazy jobs associated with moving houses. One was dragging a jackhammer underneath a house, laying on my back with that thing on my belly and knocking out concrete foundations from under the house. Very loud work, dusty and just plain ole friggin hard. Once we got the house up on wheels and ready to roll, one totally stupid person had to get up and ride the roof to catch lines. Some lines were telephone lines, no problems. Some lines were power lines, very careful work there. No problem, I'd lay on my belly on the leading edge of the house as we approached the wires, I'd catch the wire with my 2X4, pick it up and start walking backwards as the house was pulled past the poles. At some point, I'd drop the wire, jump over it and go back up front to catch the next one. Not a job I'd recommend to anyone. MH

Inconsistency. One weekend = Awesome. Next weekend = knucklehead. Answer = Relax, have fun. Dirt dive at home. Less pressure on self. Definately jump more. At some point with more experience my mistakes (I hope) will get smaller and occur less often. Even if they don't, I'll be having fun. MH

I flew Air Force OV-10s for a couple years, totaled about 800 hours. Never heard of an Army OV-10. The Marines had A models and D models I believe. In the Air Force we only had the A model, at least while I was in it. Heard of guys jumping out the back, but I never did it or saw it. We had little machine guns in the sponsons and a couple hard points for rocket pods. For night missions we'd load parachute flares and willie pete rockets. The trick was to drop a parachute flare and then circle around and try to shoot it with a rocket. Mission impossible. Sorry for the diversion. Back to the Boxcar. Cheers, MH

God Speed Atlantis and crew

Spent some time there on and off for years. We had some really fun layvovers there while I was on the 747. I was surprised to learn that Guam means "Give up and Masturbate". Have fun. MH

No Caddy Shack?

The place where I do my best work, both on and off duty

mega dittos Here is to continued strength for all the warriors in this battle.