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It's interesting to note that when the cycle went to 180 days the price of a repack doubled!

I remember that! What a wordsmith G.W. was!

Back in the day (early 60's) the PCA required the licensee to mail in his license every year along with proof of meeting the minimum currency requirements so that he could keep his license. For a D license it was 10 30 second delays or 6 45 second delays. I note that my D license was signed off for 63 & 64. If I recall correctly logbooks were mailed into PCA for inspection when applying for the original licenses.

Know a guy who on his 1st jump from a 182 while climbing to altitude and sitting in the hot seat opened the door to see what's up. To this day, many years later he is known as DOORBOY.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. You are calm during the important portions. I once had a 27 year layoff and upon landing was shaking like a dog shitting razor blades. It will likely get better.

This OLD skydiver was sitting on a chair sipping a beer & waiting for the last load to land when a guy went in about 10 feet away. The old guy looked over and said I don't think I know him but he sure could spot!

Well I'm gonna go back a few years here to 1961. I had gotten word that a skydiving club had recently been formed at my Marine Base at Cherry Point NC. As I had always wanted to skydive I filled out my application & joined. After some ground school and lots of beers we were off to the drop zone. Now this was a rather unusual type of operation in which the guy who brought the most beer got the most jumps that day which were assigned by the Chief Instructor. Neither I nor any other students thought that was unusual as we drank beer during all our other activities, so no harm no foul. We were introduced to our jump plane, a Tri Pacer which was a small cloth covered contraption that the pilot made us wax before he would fly. As we were getting prepared to load we were advised that it was forbidden to take full beers with us in bottles but cans were OK. It was a safety precaution because spectators could be hurt by the empty but heavier bottles which were to thrown out before the jump. We then loaded the airplane, two jumpers per load, again which I assumed was another safety precaution as the plane would not carry three. As we were getting ready for jump run the pilot instructed the person nearest the door, (me) to hook up my static line to the seat belt and get ready to climb out on the left wheel. I did this and while waiting to jump was aware that the loose static line was flowing behind me in a nice horseshoe between my back & the secured end on the seat belt Upon a nod from the pilot I let go, after which the guy behind me was to pull my S/L in unhook & stow it & hook his own after which the exit procedure was repeated. Shortly thereafter a real & experienced skydiver appeared and said "away the beer for I am here to square this club away." The old jumpmaster disappeared with all the full beer that had been left over, never to be heard from again. At the time none of us considered the jumping to be unsafe & were a bit pissed that we couldn't drink beer while jumping any more, but continued on with the program. Only later as I gained more experience did I think of my/our actual peril.

Off the subject a bit here but has any one else ever noticed the guys with the most jumps stopped logging them long ago.

It's been tried & it just doesn't work. It might if manifest refused to let the un checked in jumper on a load for the remainder of the day, but there would be a lot of bitching.

I'm one of the really old farts here, really old. Started in 61 while a young Marine who along with other Marines who are really old now just jumped as much as we could as often as we could. On my 1st jump there were two of us in a Tri Pacer. Acting upon instructions from the pilot we got out on the left strut, one at a time and upon a nod from said pilot pushed off. Second guy out pulled in the S/L from the 1st guy, Hooked up his his own S/L & followed instructions as provided by the pilot. I think I was a jump-master at about 7 jumps and made my 1st demo around the same time (I was out). I instructed, packed & got my riggers ticket so I could legally pack reserves. My seal was an old rusty pair of pliers. We drank a lot of beer, cheap wine & a bit of Moon. I was sporting 9 rigs at the time & never packed on the DZ as we had a lot of students to help. They were old military "rag gores" I modified myself & packed my ass off along with others every Sat night until the we finished. I made about 300 jumps that way, improving on the exit & aircraft as we went along. Had a line over at one point & was so scared of using the 2 shots & belly mount reserve, rode it in. Surprisingly it didn't hurt too bad & I didn't break nothin. Spent a lot of Sunday evenings at the base whirlpool getting better again. Man them was the good old daze! We really didn't give a shit except for each other and had the best times one could have on the pay we made. I got out in 63 & drifted away from the sport for awhile, a long awhile and came back in 92. I have just under 3000 jumps now and have not chopped one yet. I think I have retired - again.

I started in 61 & I never knew anyone who got an A. It was a waste of money better spent on beer.

Here's another way to look at it. From time there are questions regarding student retention posted in Parachutist and elsewhere. There seems to be many different philosophies, however I don't believe I have ever seen anyone address direct cost to the student. I recently thumbed through parachutist for prices of gear and contacted a nearby dropzone for the price of training up to an A license. In all cases I used the cheapest prices I could find for gear from the various advertisers in Parachutist, with one exception, the selection of a container, main & reserve. I chose the cheapest package price which included a Cypress II, rather than a cheaper price for a system that that did not include an AAD. Listed below are the results. $2,750 - 25 jumps to A license, including FJC $6,184 - Wings container, Sabre II, Pilot res. & Cypress II $ 159 - Altimaster III $ 195 - FX helmet $ 175 - Brand X jumpsuit $9,463 - TOTAL Then you gotta figure in about $100 - $200 worth of beer for 1st calls & just being one of the guys, gas to & from the DZ, meals, lodging, etc. and we are looking at around $10,000 as a minimum to get his new sport started, (and I usta thing skiing was expensive.) Lets say this guy's girlfriend/wife also decides to join him & we got a good down payment on a starter home here. Just sayin....

I don't know. Likely not but if I was wrong .....

Ya know there are a lot of hero's posting here. Most don't seem to realize that whenever a cop stops a car he has no idea who is inside or what he will do. A traffic cop may do this 10-20 times per shift. The cop really just wants to get home for dinner with the wife & kids. He really doesn't want to shoot someone, go through all the paperwork, the investigation that follows and the thoughts/remorse that will follow him the rest of his days as he tries to justify his actions to himself. Maybe some of you should remember that old saying about walking a mile in the other guys boots. Calling this cop an asshole etc. just shows your own ignorance and/or bias. He made a mistake & he's paying for it. Oh by the way I was a road Trooper for 20 years and never drew my weapon on a traffic stop, something I am thankful for every day. I was always alert and had the shit kicked out of me a bit and did some shit kicking as well. So you assholes who are quick to tag someone else with that handle, may now go back to your safe job in an office, cubicle, McDonald's etc. a bit safer in your communities because of that cop who is out there at 0300 patrolling your streets.

Written by the Chief of Brumfield, OH, population 3,343 (2010)