VTmotoMike08

IMO, the best is the strong tandem cutaway pud where it is a soft handle but it also has a flap that you can hook your thumb it. I would have that for both cutaway and reserve on my sport rig too if Mirage offered it. I base that on my experience of 4 cutaways, two sport and two strong tandem.

I can't believe no one else has said this yet, but the first thing that I thought was that they are closing down and will reopen in a few months under a new name to get around the ban. Pretty simple really. Any way, I'm thinking of picking up a cheap Argus to put in my Mirage. Pay your money and take your chances

Plan on about half your income for the rest of your life if you are considering getting serious about skydiving

I bet if we handed you a 140 and a 132 and didn't tell you which it was, you couldn't even tell the difference Hell, jumping them both back to back you could probably hardly tell. If I were you, I would buy which ever one you get the best deal on when you are ready to buy.

Me too, I called chuting star and the phone has rung three times so far and no one has picked up! Does anyone think there might be a problem? I can't imagine what is going on back there that is taking so long! Total bullshit. I'm taking my money elsewhere!

As for the guy that died, that is terrible and he has my sympathy. I haven't read this whole thread, but of course I have an opinion on the matter- Yes, I get it that bicycles have a right to be in the road- and ever since the internal combustion engine, it is long past time to change that! I would support a law prohibiting bicycles in any road with a speed limit over 25 MPH*. The logic is clear in this- we already have laws prohibiting pedestrians on the interstate, taking the bikes off faster streets over 25 MPH is a logical extension. *Except in designated bike lanes. When these exist, they must terminate before intersections or have a dedicated signal. If no signal, the cyclist can then walk it through the intersection like a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The argument that fuel taxes don't pay the whole cost of the road is irrelevant. Just because you pay a portion of the tax doesn't mean you get to do whatever the fuck you want with the right of way. Part of my taxes pay for the capitol building too, but I don't think I have a right to walk in there and start a football game whenever I want- the dominant use should prevail and be protected. I can't wait for someone to get all indignant while finding a creative way to dodge the fact that it is against common sense for objects of greatly varying speeds to play together. I think Billvon got close with the comparison to swooping. However, we can debate how close is too close for standard patterns vs. big turns (500 ft? 1000 ft?), but there is no such debate where slow moving bikes vs. fast moving vehicles are concerned- you are either in the lane or out of it. Just like USPA made group members separate standard patterns vs. swooping by space or time when the canopies got faster, its time to do the same with bikes and cars. The space for vehicles should be the road, the space for bikes should be the bike lane. The time for each should be anytime the roads are open (always).

Get an AAD. If it's a cypress, there is an incredible used market for the things and you can sell it for more than half the value when it has about half the life yet. I recently sold an expert cypres with 22 months left on it for $475! (cypres value calculator said is was worth around $320 if I remember correctly). I had several offers at that price, probably could have gotten more. So yes, the used AAD market is extremely competitive. Mine sold overnight on the classifieds here. If someone is foolish enough to sell you a cypres at the rate shown on the value calculator, buy it up with no questions asked and resell that thing for a profit!

Maybe. Being half Puerto Rican and making average grades and participating in no extracurriculars worked nicely for me. Don't hate the player, hate the game!

Try being a minority!

I think another interesting thread would be how many TI's have had a female pax flirt with them? I bet its damn near 100%. Fact is that lots of people in almost every age group come through to do tandems and if you are decent enough looking and a friendly guy, its a matter of when and not if. I don't know about all that psychology mumbo jumbo and I didn't even stay in a holiday inn last night but I am a TI

Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: ""I prayed for twenty years but received no answer... until I prayed with my legs." ~Frederick Douglass, escaped slave" Also, one of my biggest pet peeves is Christians who set God up in Can't Lose situations. They say things like "God helps those who help themselves".

Well, it looks like their website for their sport products has finally bit the dust, domain name expired: http://www.atairaerodynamics.com/ I think this is the Europe version, its still up: http://www.basetroll.com/index.html And don't even think of buying up all the cobalts that come on the classifieds here, I've been doing that! I've owned 4 or them so far and I'm keeping an eye open for a new 135 after I lost my last one in a chop. Yes, I like them. Good luck finding some info on them. You can search the forums here.

I think we need more info. I'm guessing that there really isn't that much economic opportunity at these places, otherwise they would build roads or bus stops. Any the empty planes thing is a loophole that absolutely needs to go

Grasp for straws much? His intentions were quite clear.

>>>Lemme know when they start forcing people to church at gunpoint, ok? At least one gop candidate has said that is exactly what he wants: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2011/03/31/mike-huckabee-wants-to-indoctrinate-you-at-gunpoint/ " I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced — forced at gunpoint no less — to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it’d happen." -Mike Huckabee, march 2011 But don't worry, this little snafu got edited out before it made it to prime time!

Quite an impressive lineup! I'm in for 10 tickets, and good luck with the fund raiser!

I've got a buddy like that who has won a couple medals at Nationals. That part of the brain is just not working but everything else works fine. When driving in the car, we tell him to turn to the cutaway or reserve side. It's not an overall awareness thing for him.

Norfolk has some good areas, but you will need to make above average pay to live in them. Generally, the further east you get the better it is. The Ghent area is nice and reasonably safe. I live in Virgina Beach, no reason you couldn't live there. Plenty of nice areas in VB and affordable housing. There's plenty of jumpers from both Suffolk and West Point in this area. Welcome to town.

Nothing like bumping a thread from 7 years ago to add my story to the mix! On 7/2/11 I tore my labrum and bruised and dented the head of the humorous when I flared by myself with a very heavy tandem passenger under a SET 400 canopy. I got to about 3/4 brakes before my left arm buckled and I immediately knew something was hurt bad. Bumpy landing but no student injuries. This was my 4th heavy student of the day, and I had practiced the flare up high several times, which I guess really tired me out and I finally overdid it on landing. On 7/19 I will have arthroscope shoulder surgery to reattach it and stick a tendon in where the bone is dented to prevent it from coming out of socket. Luckily, my surgeon is the same guy who works on the Navy SEALS parachute team and he knew exactly what I meant when I said I hurt it flaring the parachute. He said this will be a season ending injury but not a career ender. I'm pretty hopefully for a full recovery. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Seems like enough varied experiences that I'll just have to buy them and see what works for me personally. If they don't work, then at least I will have a new pair of sunglasses. I'll probably start with hop n pops, then work up to freeflying and eventually tandems if they work well. And I'm -4.5 so I would be in trouble if I lost both contacts, although I could do a straight in landing no problem with one eye if needed. If I ever get a few grand with nothing else to do then I'll eventually get lasik. In general it seems that everyone's contact lens tolerance is different. I know some people go as far as taping the holes shut on the clear flex goggles but I've got hundreds of jumps without doing that and no problems.

I was just wondering who has done this and if you have had any problems with drying out or losing lenses?

I'm pretty sure its 8000 at our DZ because we want our students to feel like they got their money's worth. Might be 8500, I forget.

I always pack my own sport rig, but when I get a tip from a tandem passenger, I split it among all the packers who worked that day.

I remember that video to. I wonder if they just assumed it would be burnt out by the time it gets to the ground or if any precaution was taken to avoid a flaming ball of nylon falling where it may? Or if it was done in the desert, its probably a good bet it wouldn't land on anything flammable...

Leaving valuables visible in the front seat of my car parked in the ghetto overnight doesn't give someone permission to break in and steal my stuff either but you would have to be naive to not see the correlation. What point are they trying to make again?