CMiller

That seems steep to be middle of the road. I got a used container + main + reserve + vigil for $2000. You should be able to get a rig without an AAD MUCH cheaper than that.

Be weary of international flights. Customs can, and has seized such things as being indecent.

How can that be true? Freeflyers are in freefall for less time, are exposed to the wind for less time, and so drift less. An RW jumper being blown for 60 seconds will most definitely drift farther than a freeflyer blown for 45.

Put on a pair of latex gloves under your regular skydiving gloves. This is surprisingly warm and kept my fingers toasty when it was 18F on the ground.

Is it a fear of reserve malfunction? Think about it this way: If you're under a main that you don't think you can safely land, you'd be no worse off if your reserve malfunctioned. You'd still be under a parachute you can't land safely. In a sense, your situation can only improve.

Yes, I was planning on voting for Obama. Now I'm simply planning not to vote. He didn't give any good answers on the economy.

Where are the superhero costume jump pics?! :-( I guess it was just too much awesome to fit on the photos page.

I've only tried backflying in the tunnel, but I can say that it's noticeably different without the rig.

Safe sex is important, even with a blow up doll.

It's interesting you assume that we'll be doing it forever. I love skydiving, but I can't say with certainty that it's something I'll be doing until the day I die. I might burn out. Fuel prices might become too high. I may find an activity that is more rewarding. My life choices might take me to places where I can't jump. To answer your question, the accepted it as soon as they realized they weren't going to talk me out of it, which was basically after AFF2.

I'll drop whatever I didn't spend at the drop zone. Duh.

First of all, you can't prove the absence of something. If I tell you there's a tiny teapot orbiting the sun, how can you prove me wrong? The burden is to prove god exists. Bt even so, there are logical contradictions, empirical evidence, and physical impossibilities that make the hypothesis 'God exists" more than likely false. I can;t say with 100% certainty, but I can say it with overwhelming confidence.

The reason is that it actually takes a great deal of commitment and belief in your views to admit to being an atheist in public. Atheists are usually looked down upon, as being angry, or immoral or whatever. You will never see someone in public office admit to being one, and there are very few places where you can be respected for sharing your views. Never mind the fact that nearly all of our founding fathers were themselves atheists; a great deal of people erroneously believe we live in a country founded on Christian Values. Most people have some semblance of tolerance about them, and so will not criticize somebody for having a different religion, but when you have no religion, then it seems to be a different story. If you're open about atheism, you probably have to be passionate about it. Most people can't admit to it because of the backlash from other people in their work environment, community etc. Most atheists probably do not share their views for this reason. Further, when Atheists speak out or otherwise fight for a cause they believe in, it is seen as an attack on religion. Religion is a personal thing that in the United States anyway, you're not supposed to question. You can disagree on politics and philosophy all you want, but disagreeing about religion is hugely personal and off limits for some reason. Seeking to remove God from the public sector is seen as an attack on religion and morals, when in reality it's pragmatically best and it's what our founding fathers wanted all along. That's my guess as to why we're seen as angry. There are a lot of Atheist asshole out there, just as there are fundamentalist assholes. It's just that you rarely see reasonable atheists, because they hide it. That's my guess as to why you have the perception you do.

No. We keep him out of schools and courts because not every person has the same religion. The law should be founded on pragmatism, not religion.

Except for the fact that she was using her personal email account to conduct government business, in what is thought to be a way around any subpoenas. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

What obvious issues? Someone hacks her account and it's a crime, but when the government searches our email without a warrant, well hey that's just the patriot act.

It's close. Either Rocky and Bullwinkle, or Pinky and the Brain.

Honestly though, how many jumpers check the ground during their skydives other than during the track, and the spot? If you're doing RW, you're focused on where you and everybody else is. Checking your wrist altimeter is simple during a move or whatever, but I don't think checking the ground is quite as easy or as useful.

Something happened last week that made me think about being a little more heads up. Normally, I check to see that my pilot chute is in nice and snug a few minutes before jump run. I don't always, but I do on a fairly regular basis. On a sunset load, I gave it a check around 10 grand, and it seemed fine. Several people had scratched from the load right before takeoff, so there were only about 8 people in the otter. Maybe it was because they had their money already, and thus could afford extra fuel to burn, but whatever the reason the pilot began flying up and down, giving us heavy positive Gs, and moments of Zero G. It was quite fun. During one of the zero G dives, I hit the roof of the plane. This apparently loosened my pilot chute. It did not occur to me to check it again. Fortunately for me another jumper noticed it and tucked it back in before the door opened. I don't know how common this particular scenario is, but it truly did not occur to me to check it again after being flung about the cabin, which is somewhat frightening. I wasn't even aware the pilot was going to be doing this, and was caught off guard while leaning on a bench (it collapsed under my then greater weight during the first climb). This is a scenario that I'd never discussed anywhere, or even really considered before, even at safety day. So I guess 1. Be sure all the jumpers are aware of what's going on. 2. Check your pins and pilot chutes afterwards. From what I hear, these kinds of things are usually surprises. The surprise is nice and all, but there's the potential for being unprepared.

Eddie always told me: Don't worry! Whatever happens to you, I'll be fine.

I wear a belt when I try freeflying, as I don't have a freefly suit yet. If the choice is between a potential snag point, and not being able to see my handles because my shirt comes untucked, I'd go with the snag point.

$23, cessna 185 to 14K. $20 cessna 182 to 10K

Just found this an hour ago. Apparently, a woman was killed when neither of her parachuttes opened, however the police suspect it was a murder, involving a love triangle of sorts. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/25/belgium.skydiver.ap/index.html

Thanks Jimmy. I had to pull the slider down, since it did not come down all the way. Canopy was a Falcon 175 F-111, and I did not pack it. It looked like the problem was with suspention lines near the tail. I really don't think that I missed the problem to begin with, because I was able to see the entire cannopy and it controlled and flared fine. Which is why it was so odd…

I had a very curious malfunction yesterday, yet nobody could explain how it occured. I deployed my canopy at 3K, it opened perfectly, and looked good. It controled and flared fine. However, after pulling down the slider, it began left turn. Looking up, I now had a lineover on the left side of my canopy. It was landable, thankfully. The question is, I don't really understand how I could develop a lineover after deploying fine. I did nothing radical, simply pulled down the slider. It wasn't simply collapsed end cells since lines were clearly wrapped around the fabric. How can this happen?