Halfpastniner

I havetwo VK's with different lines - a brand new one with 500 Orange Vectran and an older one with 400 black HMA. I don't have enough jumps on the new one to really compare the flight characteristics of the two, but I can say that 400lb black HMA was highly recommended by one of the other camera guys. In fact he sounded like i'd want to cut the orange lines off my new wing and put black 400's on.... but I think it would take a hell of a lot to convince me of that! Once I get some more jumps on both of these hopefully I can make a better comparison between the two line types.

Took me 12.5 hours to go from Casper-Denver! Brutal for sure. That said - seeing the eclipse in totality was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Actually way exceeded my expectations. Work tomorrow is gonna suck.... BASE 1384

The only person who was throwing a tantrum was the "cop" who beat up a 69 year old passenger who was holding at ticket for the seat he was seated in. Sorta feel like if anyone should be going to jail, it should be the guy abusing old people.... but that's just me. BASE 1384

They weren't with CPD, they were the "Aviation Police" - which sounds like an entire team of Farva's or something. When I see a police department that isn't allowed to carry firearms, I am a little suspicious of the skills required for employment. Regardless of the lead up to this, it is pretty embarrassing that they couldn't get a 65+ year old dude off an airplane without going to that level of force. Then after the injury, rather than arresting and getting medical treatment for the suspect - they drag him away down the isle (risking further injury). Finally, the cherry on top - 10 minutes later the dude ends up back on the plane running around mumbling to himself?! No wounder they don't let those guys carry guns, passengers would be getting blasted left and right. BASE 1384

Good. The police shouldn't be videoing law abiding citizens exercising their Constitutional rights. That smacks of intimidation and is inappropriate. You guys amaze me. Seriously. You wanted body cameras on all police then you only want them turned on at times when it suits your needs. Next you'll be having kittens because somebody forgot to turn on their camera. In my mind the camera is there to protect the police from bullshit claims of police brutality and to make sure the LEO isn't out of line. It's a win/win. We live in a country that is loaded with surveillance equipment. Is that impinging on your rights as well? This. If we are going to have them, they need to be on 100% of the time. Anything else will inevitably lead to a situation that isn't recorded and should be. Which is totally understandable - because if I was an LEO, the camera would be pretty far down the checklist during a high stress (and potentially deadly) confrontation. It should all be recorded .... but I do think there should be a discussion on policy regarding how to secure all of that data so that it can't be abused in some way. BASE 1384

Yo TK, I didn't see you answer the question posed to you multiple times above, you mind sharing your thoughts on that one? For the number of posts you have in this thread, you seem to keep skipping over that one. BASE 1384

You are awfully quick to questions the man’s integrity. Once again no facts. You didn't answer the questions... Here's an answer, the guy has a gazillion tandem jumps and he did a tandem handle check like he does on every jump I'm thinking he was just goofing off. If he had a secret rig on- what would be the point of practicing a BOC pull (or EP's)? I think it would be kinda cool to reach back and feel nothing there to touch, yet not feeling like a dead man. BASE 1384

So PD is going to make a KA2 that is "lower performance" than the Ka? Seems odd to me, I agree with poster above who said they should call it something else. I do think the Ka could use a stepping stone from the Sabre2 class in many cases since Katanas fall out of the sky similar to how a velo does. A Katana2 sounds like it would be a higher performance version of a Katana... not lower. BASE 1384

Meh... as a TI I don't mind the rule. I don't have a problem with people I know doing pre-planned, reasonable distance fly-by's.... but there have been enough sketchy non-planned ones out there for the USPA to have to do something, even if it is to cover their ass. I always love how skydivers turn into sky-lawyers whenever a new rule they don't like comes around. We get it - nobody will know if it was 501' or 499'. Just keep it around that distance and nobody will give a shit. Or do it anyway (with TI's approval) and don't film/post it. Personally, I don't like tandem flyby's because plenty of wingusiters I know suck at skydiving yet somehow grow huge balls when they put on a wingsuit. I don't need those guys aiming at me when I am not expecting it. Not for $30 bucks! BASE 1384

Compared to what? Since I started "freeflying" with tandems things have been a million times easier to get every shot I want. I can ride the wings and float with 110lb students, and punch out a stag and comfortably fly with the big boys too. Its fun switching between belly/sit/back/hd (for exit) to get awesome video! Tunnel time really helped my confidence in orientations other than belly. To me they are all just different tools to do the same job. BASE 1384

Go Pro angle BASE 1384

Sort of 'Yup.' I spent 30 yrs working in US gov't. contracting. Now, I seriously doubt that Uncle Sam would order MacDonalds to make a fighter jet. However, let us say that you make bras for women. In a national emergency ( admittedly a rare situation ) you might be required to build parachutes. Why? Because it is a national emergency. Also, because you have the technology ( could be argued ) and the equipment ( the feds may actually buy you a harness machine ) and you might have the capacity. You could be req'd to actually employ more people so that you could finish the parachutes on time. Just little known facts regarding gov't. contractors. Jerry Baumchen PS) I hold numerous TSO's and have received more than one letter from the gov't. asking about my capacity to build parachutes in a national emergency. Hey Jerry, Thanks for the insight- very interesting. When I read your reply I googled "national emergency" read more about what that actually entailed. According to Wiki- The US has been in a "national emergency" for the past 14+ years stating 9/11 as the cause. I'll admit I don't have a ton of background knowledge on this topic, and will defer to someone who does. But to me it looks like the Feds quite like the power they get under a "National Emergency", and at this point is just defacto new powers to the federal government. I never realized my entire adult life was experienced during a national emergency! I guess the next actual problems we run into will have to be a "super-duper national emergency" (which of course will require more surveillance). I am really interested in how this shakes out now that the target of this overreach is one of the most valuable companies in the world. I was never a massive Apple supporter, but I am now. Hopefully they can send the message that claiming "national security" isn't a blank check to do whatever the federal government wants. BASE 1384

ELI5: FBI went to court and got court to order Apple to do what they wanted. Apple to appeal. So if the FBI got a court order to make McDonalds build a fighter jet they would just have to figure it out? I just don't get it. It's not like Apple has the key and wants to protect it... it doesn't exist and now they have to pay people to break their own product. Edit to add: http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/ BASE 1384

Can someone ELI5 here... why can't Apple just tell the Feds to go fuck themselves? The FBI is asking a corporation to produce something which doesn't exist, which could potentially harm their customers, and on top do it for free? How is that legal? And what if another government decides they also need access to this code to pry data, is Apple just supposed to just bend over and start handing out master keys to anyone who tells them? I hope he tells the FBI to figure it out themselves if they want in so bad. BASE 1384

cross country jumps required two beers I took a beer on my first CC jumps at Lost Prairie. Beautiful sunset jump, with the sky gold, rose and purple. Can of beer foamed all over, including in my face. Now nice and chilled, I tried drinking some of that foamy mess at 14K above sea level and just kept getting a mouth full of suds. Meanwhile I'm missing out on some great scenery. I finally poured out the rest of my brew and stowed the drippy, empty can in my jumpsuit. The rest of the jump I spent wishing I had brought a camera instead. It was seriously one of the prettiest sunset loads I had ever been on. I had the same experience. Small canopies and beer is kind of a pain in the ass- it just flew in my face. I think it would be fun under a bigger canopy, but probably not as fun as just swooping then drinking a beer. An old timer once explained how they used to have a challenge where you had to drink a beer, smoke a joint, and do a bump under canopy. Pretty hardcore! BASE 1384