CMiller

A blonde walks into a bank in Manhattan. She goes to the teller and asks "Can I take out a loan for 2 thousand dollars? I'm going to Europe for two weeks." The teller says 'Do you have an account at this bank?" The blonde replies, "No, I don't". "Okay," says the teller, "Do you have any ID?" Again the blonde replies "No I don't." The teller then tells the Blonde she won;t be able to take out a loan. The blonde asks for the manager. The manager asks her the same set of questions, to which the blonde answers the same way. "Tell me then," he says, "Why should I just give you 2 grand?" "Well, I have a ferrari I can put up as collateral" This intrigued the manager, so the blonde walked him outside and showed him her new bright red ferrari parked on the curb. "Wow, that's got to be a $250,000 car!" said the manager. "Of course you can put that as collateral!" The manager takes the ferrari, drives it into the lot underneath the bank, and give the blonde the loan. 2 Weeks later the Blonde comes back and repays the loan in full, with interest running to about 16 dollars. The bank manager then opens the lot and drives her car out for her, and as she is about to leave, asks her: "You know, we ran the plate on that car, and it turns out you and your husband are Rich! Why on Earth would you need to take out a loan for 2 grand with all the money you had?" "Where else could I park my Ferrari for 2 weeks for 16 bucks in Manhattan?"

Wow man, as if ruining the Evelyn/Rosa congrats thread wasn't enough for you. Do you really have to ruin this one too? There's been some funny stuff in here so far, and I want to keep reading.

I missed safety day this year :-( If I die jumping in 2010 I will be so pissed. For those of you that went, was there anything interesting that you think someone who missed it should hear about?

You can say "fix your body position and learn to fly without weights" all you want, but if your body position is correct and you still can't fall fast enough, you simply need weights. One I started wearing enough weight, I was actually able to start fixing my body position. When you're our size (I'm 5' 6" 120lbs), flying without weight is going to get you to start bad habits.

Get a weight belt. One that holds 20+ pounds. It just gets worse I promise you. You start doing 4 way, and everybody wants to fall faster. You get nice booties, and they drag more air. Mantis is bleh and you don't want to be flying like that for RW. I know from experience that if you're not wearing enough weight, it's hard to position your upper body properly. Don't start any bad habits!

It's not always about defense. What about sport? Maybe some people have a ton of fun blowing the shit out of barrels in their backyards.

I had this very same thing happen to me. Find out if you can control the canopy. If you release the other brake and your canopy flies straight, then just use the rear risers to control your canopy. This is what happened in my case; the left brake line broke, but the canopy could still fly and be controlled with riser input. If your brake line snaps and the canopy starts spinning out of control, it's obvious what to do. It's really no different than any other type of malfunction. Just ask yourself "Can I probably land this safely?" if the answer is no, you should use your reserve.

I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm just being honest.

Never. Can't you use your reserve for floatation for a few minutes?

I'm one of the guilty parties you saw giving a pin check when the door was open. I would very much like to thank you for pointing it out to me (nobody else did). Prior, it had only occurred to me that a pilot chute out when the door was open would be dangerous, and I never considered a loose pin. It is great that I learned this without anything bad happening.

I kind of feel that way. I'm not so arrogant to think that I know all there is to know of have mad skills. In fact, I know that I am quite far from it. I have a very long way to go. But to me, it seems like a lot of jumpers actually do lack basic skills. I don't know how many times I've been on jumps with people whose numbers are far higher than mine, yet they tug and pull on the grips creating a lot of pressure when they join the formation. They come in too fast and knock other people around. I find it baffling. It's not that hard to fly next to someone, and to take their grips smoothly. It's not that hard to slow down and come in smoothly. It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect someone to be able to do this when they have 200 jumps or more. Does it?

I live and work in Hollywood. I am not exaggerating when I say that if he were to do that, then his career would be over in Hollywood. You have no idea how many influential people are Scientologists in the movie business, and how small the town really is. Are you familiar with what Scientology does to its critics? Not only would his career be over, but his reputation as well.

Well, my friend's father had a liver transplant for that very reason, and one of the criteria for getting on the transplant list was having insurance. If he didn't, he'd be dead.

Seriously? No insurance + non enough money = no care. Need a liver transplant thanks to a genetically acquired condition through no fault of your own? Don't have insurance? You don't get a transplant and you die.

Yeah, only a song from the biggest band in the world. Bonus point to everybody who doesn't live under a rock.

It is very easy. During my progression to my A, as part of the proficiency card check, I did it by initiating a turn, then another in the opposite direction. This was under a falcon 175, loaded at .8:1

Clear. No joke: tinted goggles are for posers who would rather look cool than be able to be seen by other jumpers. This is pretty crucial if you're doing RW or VRW or something.

Quite happy with my Ford.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPa7aAMlc30 You'd never think it works, but it does.

Getting it in writing is very excellent advice. My friend was made many promises that were never fulfilled regarding the army paying for his education: promises which were factors in him choosing to join.

I don't think it loses its edge, but like all activities, in order to sustain interest, you're going to have to explore aspects of it that increase in complexity. A lot of people think of skydiving that way because that type of skydiving is very stimulating. It requires skill and focus. It requires meta analysis of the sport. It's something where the difference between the best and worst is incredibly large. I take in the scenery on the ride up. That's another good thing about doing RW: you get to sit next to the door ;-)

It was fine. It worked, I made it back to the DZ, and landed fine. My reserve was 20 years old, but it was deemed airworthy by a rigger. If it wasn't, it would not have been packed. Now, it may not have worked so well during a head down premature deployment, but I do not freefly. I trust the rigger's judgement when he says "That will probably save your life", 2 years old or 20. I really only started this thread to find out if Container manufacturers (particularly sunpath) put service life on their containers.

Well I've been to both. I'd recommend Elsinore. In my experience, it's a friendlier, especially to jumpers who've just gotten their A. Elsinore also has the free Excel camp every so often, which is pretty cool (I still do it even though I've got more than 250 jumps). Oh, and Elsinore definitely has more hotness, Guys and girls.

Unless it is damaged, I don't think there is much of a chance of the harness itself ripping apart. One thing to be aware of is the "hole" in the back of your harness, between the bottom of the container and the leg straps. The smaller your container, the bigger the hole. Normally this isn't a problem but if you are in a sit position and deploy (or have a premature deployment), and your leg straps are loose, you may fall through the hole. NWFlyer's link to the thread is a pretty good read.

It's a Micro Raven 153. I have had one ride on it. Can you point me to where Precision limits the life on the MicroRaven canopies ? Also I am guessing you either have a 150 or a 135. Or you are a test jumper. This is what 2 riggers have told me, so that's all I can say. And yes it's actually a 153.