Zing

The story I remember about paratroopers without parachutes was that it was done by the Russians. Flying low and slow, the troops exited into snow-covered fields with sacks of straw to cushion the landings. In practice, the injury/fatality rate was only slightly higher for the strawbag jumpers than the parachute equipped drops, but required much less training and equipment. The Germans responded by painting fields of rocks white. Zing Lurks

There have been a few stories of growing colonies of imported pythons either escaping or intentional released in Florida that have established themselves in the ecosystem. It may have been an escapee, but you may have seen a dead one from that growing population. There's a similiar thing happening with a species of tarantula from South America that someone released. Florida officials claim to have eradicated an established colony, but I've met people who know hwere to look, and they have captured a few of these tarantulas and they are being sold amongst hobbyists. Much of Alabama would provide a very suitable habitat for ball pythons. It remains to be seen what effect the introduced species will have on the local fauna. Zing Lurks

So I'll ask again ... what would you consider a reasonable price? Zing Lurks

My faith in the USPA expired 33 years ago ... about the same time as my lifetime membership. Zing Lurks

Make sure you get the BOD's reaction to the presence of your video camera at the meeting ... before they make you shut it off and use the tape to reapply that gag in your avatar. Zing Lurks

Its not a Chipmunk. This airplane is a tad bigger. Zing Lurks

An NB6 is a pilot/crewmember emergency rig. They don't have front mount D-rings. Unless the harness has been modified for sport parachuting use that requires both a main and a reserve parachute, there is no reason to install the front mount attachment points. The emergency rigs for some crew members and pilots were a harness worn by the person that has no backpack containing a parachute. If the need to jump arises, the person must locate the chest pack parachute and attach it to the D-rings on the front of the harness. Some cockpits and crew member stations did not have enough room for a person to occupy the station with either a backpack style emergency rig or the chest pack in place. The crewman on a Lancaster bomber in WWII who survived after jumping without a parachute crawled out of his station to find that his emergency chest pack parachute was on fire. He jumped out anyway after deciding that bouncing was a better way to die than burning to death, but he got lucky and crashed down through tall pine trees and hit the ground on a steeply inclined, snow-covered hillside. As I recall, when the British flyer was captured, the Germans, at first, refused to believe he had jumped without a parachute and lived and threatened to execute the man as a spy. Ckret, what type of rig was the other backpack supplied to Cooper that night? Zing Lurks

All I want for Christmas is my big brother, home from the hospital and healing. He's been really ill for several weeks, has had four major surgeries and we've almost lost him a couple times. If you've got a few spare good vibes, send them his way. Zing Lurks

What would you consider as "reasonably priced?" Zing Lurks

Nonsense, newbie ... we did it all with lines and mirrors. Zing Lurks

I don't doubt the guy will do it ... once. The question is, can he do it twice? Well, maybe one should ask if he can do it three times. Most folks taken on their aerial burial dives are making their last leap with out a parachute, so that would make two. So, yeah, guess he's got to do it three times then. Zing Lurks

The kid has a famous relative who, legend says, "killed him a bear when he was only three. I like the photo of the kid sitting on the bear. Zing Lurks

After landing from a four-way jump in Alexandria, Minnesota back in about 1973 I remember someone saying, "Hey, I saw you that time!" Zing Lurks

That's PLF Parachute Landing Fall ... as opposed to the commonly performed PFL, the Pisspoor Fucking Landing. Come to think of it, I did stand it up my first jump, on a ParaCommander. It was a tippy-toe soft landing on Terra Firma ... after smashing through the tops of Elm and Poplar trees about 40 feet tall. Zing Lurks

Don't knock those Mormon girls. They don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't party big time ... but in the five years I lived in SLC they provided many evenings of warm entertainment, And if you're really good to them, they won't invite you home to meet the parents. Zing Lurks

I don't know who that group is, but the photos sure brought back some memories of the way things used to be. Zing Lurks

Ya think they'll get the "Deadman's Switch" hooked up correctly this time? Zing Lurks

The first time i heard that one it was Jack and Bobby Kennedy discussing Cubans. Marilyn Monroe was found dead a few weeks earlier. Zing Lurks

Yeah, its a hell of a lot harder to grab the ground when you're in a vertical orientation ... especially when you've got those pesky thigh bones stuck up inside your ribcage. Zing Lurks

Or an armada of AN-2s. Zing Lurks

Looks like selling all four in the ad will raise enough $$$ for about one and a half new Twin Otters. Something like $3.5 million apiece with nothing on the instrument panel for the new ones, last I heard. I was talking to a guy the other day who just bought another old Twin Otter. The prices in that ad are just a bit on the high side of what those airplanes are selling for right now. Zing Lurks

Phhtttt! Just a bunch of midgets ... ain't you ever seen Harvey? Now, that was one big rabbit! Zing Lurks

"Nice job cutting my left ear off, you wanker!" Hell, Billy ... you weren't using it anyway. Zing Lurks

A cracker meal ... ain't that chitlins, grits and collard greens? Zing Lurks

Its got to be a bogus story and the reporter got it wrong ... it says the airline pilots "looked out the window and saw" the jump plane. Hell, those guys will probably get called into the chief pilot's orifice for a talkin' to about that! Zing Lurks