Milo

PayPal worked for me. To everybody: Do what you can! If it is $5 or $10 or $50 or $100. The strength you have today may really really help someone else, and someday you might need 'just a little' help from others. Karma is a good thing. Milo

Isn't UCLA the best medical school in the country (world!)? Does anyone know if they train riggers, too? I think I'd pay extra for that repack. Michele, trust your doctors like you trust your rig, they (it) will do exactly what they are designed or trained to do. Modern technology is a wonderful thing, do you believe people actually jumped with round parachutes!?!?! Milo

In the classifieds section, the 'New Ads' section only lists 10 new ads. When there are more than 10 new ads they are not available. If there were an option to show ALL new ads or an option to go to a second (or, third) page, this would not be an issue. Milo

The full moon is tonight. Things will calm down in a few days.

Does anyone have more info on this? From abcnews.com http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20020324_505.html LOUISA, Va. March 24 — A veteran skydiver plunged to his death after his parachute malfunctioned as he made a turn about 50 feet off the ground, officials said. Bob Kresge, 33, of Laurel, Md., who had made more than 500 jumps, died at the Louisa County Airport on Saturday. "On his final approach to the landing area, he attempted a small turn at about 50 feet over the airport," Mark Woods, co-owner of Skydive Virginia, said Sunday. "One side of his parachute collapsed and he started spinning." Kresge could not regain control of his parachute before striking the taxiway. At the time, the wind was blowing about 10 mph with gusts to 16 mph, but Woods said the wind wasn't strong enough to collapse the parachute. He said the death was the company's first in its eight years in Louisa. The sheriff's department, the Federal Aviation Administration and the United States Parachute Association were investigating. Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

A few weeks ago, I was rushing around trying to get some Valentine's Day shopping done. I was stressed out and not thinking very fondly of the weather right then. It was dark, cold, and wet in the parking lot as I was loading my car up I noticed that I was missing a receipt that I might need later. So, mumbling under my breath, I retraced my stops to the mall entrance. As I was searching the wet pavement for the lost receipt, I heard a quiet sobbing. The crying was coming from a poorly dressed boy of about 12 years old. He was short and thin. He had no coat. He was just wearing a ragged flannel shirt to protect him from the cold night's chill. Oddly enough, he was holding a hundred dollar bill in his hand. Thinking that he had gotten lost from his parents, I asked him what was wrong. He told me a sad story. He said that he came from a large family. He had three brothers and sisters. His father had died when he was nine years old. His Mother was poorly educated and worked two full time jobs. She made very little to support her large family. Nevertheless, she had managed to skimp and save two hundred dollars to buy her children some Valentine's Day presents (since she didn't manage to get them anything on Christmas). The young boy had been dropped off by his mother on the way to her second job. He was to use the money to buy presents for all his siblings and save just enough to take the bus home. He had not even entered the mall when an older boy grabbed one of the hundred dollar bills and disappeared into the night. "why didn't you scream for help?" I asked the boy. I did he said, "And nobody came to help you?" I queried. The boy stared at the sidewalk and sadly shook his head. "How loud did you scream?" I inquired. The soft-spoken boy looked up and meekly whispered "Help me!". I realized that absolutely no one could have heard that poor boy cry for help. So I grabbed his other hundred and made a run to my car. Signed, Kenneth Lay Enron CEO

Yes, it takes a while to load. It's not my site, just a link to somebody else's site. I'm still not sure what's wrong with the pic, but the doc had my increase my medication today. I may be missing something.

Not skydiving related, but see if you can spot what is wrong in this picture http://home.camelot.de/danielt/whatswrong.html

This sounds like a great sig for someone: (from Jessica's story) If I paid attention to obvious folly, I never would have hopped out of an airplane in the first place

Hey, keep your chin up Marissa. It sounds like you are doing the right thing even if it is unpleasant. Also, keep your eyes open. Maybe you or the person who let you down will come up with some cash and you won't have to sell your rig. This is tax rebate season, after all. Good Luck! Milo

RE: Jessica --------- Like this? Walk a mile in your enemy's shoes. Then you're a mile away and have his shoes. ---------- Whoa!!! Where can I buy one of those Frogs?!?!?!? Milo

In reply to: --------------------- My motivation to continue is the clarity I feel in the air. No one is bitching at you about bills, no 30 page research papers can reach you at 10 grand. I long for a weekend fix. I think it was the only thing that got me through last semester. ------------ My first 20 jumps I was at an Army language school. 12 to 14 hours a day of class and study. The weekends at the dropzone gave me a valid reason to flush all that from my brain, my life and sanity depended on it. Milo

Hello, My question is due partially as a follow up to another thread, and partially from a dicussion I had with a non jumper at work today. For me, jumps 2 through 20 were pretty terrifying. And I refused to 'quit' something I had started just because I was scared. I moved away from my first dropzone and winter hit and I didn't jump for another 3.5 years. I started over from scratch with another static line course. I returned to the sport because I wanted the adrenaline. I wanted something that was very intense in order to balance what was a very stressful job, at the time, for me. My mental progression was as follows: First and second jumps, curiosity. 3rd-25th jumps, proof to me that I won't run from something that scares me. 25th through 40th jumps, a motivation to learn skills that are not easy for me, and also skills that none of my non-jumping friends know exist. 40th through 45th jumps, an affirmation that I'm not going to run from something that scares me and a realization that 'This is really, really Freaking cool!!' I had a hard time explaining more experienced jumping to my co-worker. I said some jumpers want to push their personal limits. Maybe they do it by by flying 250 miles an hour or learning to fly head down or sitfly. I also said some other jumpers may count RW points, and keep score similiar to golfers or bowlers or baseball teams. (It sounded lame to me, too.) What are your thoughts? Milo

I was 10 years old and my family went camping in Michigan. There was a 'bluff' (kind of like a cliff, but only smaller) over a river. At that time I didn't know the difference between 'sand dune' (soft) and 'sand stone' (not so soft). The instant I saw all that sand I yelled 'Hey Mom, Watch This!!!' and ran as fast as I could into the sky. I landed 30 feet down on my butt, and bruised that tailbone thingy (which I won't try to spell) which hurt like hell for 4 or 5 years. 15 years later when somebody asked me if I wanted to jump out of a plane I said 'Hell Yeah!!!' I don't understand the motivation. It supersedes reason. But I had it from an early age and I love it. Milo

Hello, I bought some gear on Ebay and the seller threw in a Factory Diver camera helmet after I won the auction. The helmet is a full face helmet with a molded in camera container. It looks rather safe, with nothing protruding to catch a line. A good thing, because I have less than 50 jumps but still don't plan on jumping with a camera for a long while. My question is: What type of camera will fit in this helmet, and which is the best type? The space for the camera is rather small, the only camera I have seen that might fit in it was a JVC g-something, but that was a few years ago. I watched a camera guy suit up the other day and he had a monstrosity on his head which scared me just to think about jumping. If the camera is fully contained in the compartment does it really allow a good field of focus for the camera? The previous owner had stenciled a 'viewfinder' on the face shield that looked quite large, so I may be mistaken. Any help is appreciated! Milo

Fred, I jumped this past weekend after 4 months off. I also did not have the apprehension you are talking about. I did a level 5 aff jump to demonstrate my currency-- a jump from 14k with a couple of rw docks and turns. I was not apprehensive at all, very cool! The only time I got nervous was on Sunday when I was going to do my first jump with a pull out pilot chute. The clouds were moving in and the pilot said he could only take us to 3k for a hop & pop. My dive plan had been to jump out at 14k and perform many practice pulls until opening at 4k. I stood by the side of the plane and spent a full 60 seconds debating whether or not to go up and finally decided not to. I was bummed, this pretty much ended the weekend for me and would be a second time I had gone through transition training only to not jump. I turned in my gear and got ready to leave. But part of my brain said maybe it was fate and I was better off somehow by not jumping. The pilot decided on the way up that he could go to altitude and the cloud cover from the ground was really just a haze that was safe to jump through. So, the plane landed and it was determined I could go to do my jump-- that is when I started to get nervous. If fate had warned me before, did I really want to tempt it with a jump?? I did, and had a good jump. I didn't take advantage of the jump as much as I could have, I did a few turns and worked on forward and backward motion. Oh, and I did about 50 practice pulls, too :) Hope your trip to AZ goes good! Milo

I agree chopchop!!!!! I got there on Friday and stayed until Sunday. I'm a novice jumper and haven't jumped for 4 months. Sandor, the s&ta, spent at least 6 hours with me for 1 on 1 training over the course of the weekend. The safety level at this dz is really reassuring. Ron, Sandor, Kat, & JR make an awesome team and treated me like family from the start. Your night jump looked like a blast!!! I had several firsts: first jump from a porter, first jump from 14k, first time jumping with a pud, and of course-- first time mixing vodka and red bull (I don't seem to remember anything after that!) I brought beer, but I don't know if anyone drank beer that night, Eric brought enough Red Bull and vodka for an army. I really like the way Kat spent so much time matching jumpers up on manifest so everyone would be able to get the most out of their jumps. Everyone there is there because they love skydiving. On top of everything else, the weather was wonderful. I loved the video of your gf, her eyes got Sooooo big right before you all left the plane and the first words out of her mouth on the ground was 'I want to do it again!' Now all you have to do is teach her to pack ;-) Atlanta Airsportz is a really really cool dz. MIlo

Hey All, I'm going to be in Atlanta for work next week. It is going to be a hard(?) schedule, start work at 3 pm and work until midnight or later. I may have time and energy to jump during the day in the week and I may also be able to enjoy the whole weekend there. The office is on the North side of Atlanta. What DZs are nearby and may be open? Thanks! Milo

Frank, This thread was about a rigger who was averse to packing a Wings container. The overwhelming consensus was that the rigger is mis-informed. Perhaps that rigger could learn from the people who best understand the advantages of the Wings container. Like the people who design and manufacture them. Or the people who design and manufacture other containers and are able to point out the flaws. I appreciate Dan's contributions to these forums. I am aware he has a vested interest in a particular brand. I am also aware he has a level of knowledge about, and an inside view into, the design and manufacture of canopies that I will never have. I'm not going to blindly buy one of Dan's canopies because he posts here. I'm going to learn as much as possible from many sources and determine what equipment is best for me before I make a choice. I have learned a lot about the industry in general and particularly about canopy design and manufacture from Dan's posts, and I appreciate that. Maybe it is free advertising for Dan, but it is a free education for me, and I have already benefited. Milo

Hey Rainman! That was exactly what I was looking for. http://www.poxon.org/Craig/Skydive/Tools/CypresValuer.asp Takes the data alluded to from the parachutist magazine and converts it into information I can use. Thanks for the link! And thanks to Craig at http://www.poxon.org/Craig/Skydive/ for converting commonly available data into something that I can really use! Milo

Is the the January 2001 issue of Parachutist available online? I just did a search on 'parachutist magazine' on MSN search and the first 30 answers yielded no worthy sites. {edited to include my invisible sig} Milo

Is the the January 2001 issue of Parachutist available online? I just did a search on 'parachutist magazine' on MSN search and the first 30 answers yielded no worthy sites.

I'm curious. What does the average yearly cost of a Cypres work out to be? After initial cost, batteries, 4 year inspections and the 12 year life-span. I apologize, I could open Excel and go to the internet and figure this all out, but I imagine somebody has already done this. How do the numbers really work out? What is a 4 year old cypress worth, an 8 year old? I'm not asking anyone to go out and do the research I'm too lazy to do tonight, BUT, if somebody has already done the math and would like to share their numbers, I will appreciate it. Milo

http://www.skyxtreme.com/archive/july2000/safety.html Well. So, if a 4 ounce bird has enough energy upon collision to go half-way through a poly-carb face shield.... What would it do to my face? How difficult would it be to land with a titmouse impaled in your face? Milo

You might try different colored CDs. Some are blue, some are silver, gold, or black. Seriously, it can make a difference, especially in non-computer cd readers that may use a narrow spectrum laser. On the flip side, your CD burner may not be able to burn to the different colored CDs. Good Luck! Milo