gemini

Pitts has been busy and the Otter has flown 6 loads of mostly freeflyers. So far there are 5 2006 Nationals gold winners jumping. Vendors are setting up. I've got my dz.com/Skyfest shirt already too. Namgrunt is getting good photos of the Pitts jumpers, Rookie 120 is here too. Come on out and play.

Give her "best wishes" from all of us at Skyfest! Blue skies, Jim

I've seen about 6 .commers so far. Still lots of work going on to get ready for tomorrow. Namgrunt is all set up in the hanger, jumpergirl and J are busy, but seem to be wandering around a lot too! Don't know where the other posters are though!!! Blue skies, Jim

Please consider that sometimes the people who work the email orders are off or may be away doing other skydiving things. If you email them directly, the email may sit in their in box until they pick it up. Trent, at FlyVertical.com has been in Norway for 3 weeks and I do not know how to pick up the on-line orders for him! I hope he is looking at them and responding to all of you from there. If not he will be in the store tomorrow 7/12/06. Thanks everyone, Jim

Deployment hesitation seems to be the issue although I would get someone to video the sequence to see if body position is also a culprit. You should be able to hold belly to earth especially after the PC has been thrown. Is the PC the right size? I once had one that was smaller than the original that came from PD and hesitation was a problem. Please let us know what you find out.

We have been receiving a lot of email requesting that we relay condolences to the family. Rather than us forgetting someone, please sign Conway's Memorial Guest Book: http://www.legacy.com/houstonchronicle/Guestbook.asp?Page=GuestBook&PersonID=18363770 Blue skies, Jim

CONWAY PATRICK HALL, born on Dec. 30th 1958, left this world to be with his family in Heaven on July 5th 2006, after a very brief illness. Conway was a lifelong resident of Houston. He graduated from Sharpstown Sr. High in 1976. Conway was an avid skydiver. His passion was to soar in flight like an eagle. He was an active member of several record setting "Big Way" groups and has received recognition and awards for his jumping abilities and endeavors. Conway's business life consisted of participation in a family business serving as Vice President and General Manager of Hall Equipment and Supply Company. He will be missed by all who had dealings with him. Conway was preceded in death by his mother Patricia Ann Hall. He leaves behind a host of family and friends including father, Conway G. Hall, and wife Ann, brother Craig and wife Peggy, sisters Dinah and Tracy and husband Dave. Also left behind are nieces Brandi Zamora, Amber Hall, Patricia Desch and nephews Jacob Hilton, Craig and Shane Hall and Wesley Desch. A memorial Service will be conducted at 1:00 p.m. Friday July 7, 2006 at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, 7200 Bellaire Blvd. in Houston, with Rev. Dr. Kevin Boyd officiating. In lieu of flowers, those memorials in Conway's name may be directed to the church.

When my Sabre 2 started doing that more and more, it was because the kill line was shrinking and eventually broke. I was at a small dz for the weeekend, I removed the kill line and continued to jump. When I got back to Spaceland, the hackey came off the PC. The stitches on the PC bracing were all broken. Had an extremely hard opening that cost me 4 months of jumping. Run, don't walk to your nearest rigger and get the PC and bridle replaced. Blue skies, Jim

Conway: We had our disagreements over the years, but usually over inconsequential stuff. Pushing me into my slot during dirt dives, putting me on loads without telling me, disappearing before commerical flights, saying the "bomb" word at the Tampa airport, trying to open hotel windows, and keeping me at Z-Hills after the last jump of the day! But we had a lot more fun at Spaceland, Dallas, Perris, Dublin & Z-Hills; and when I was a new jumper and you would let me jump with your group. Not long ago you asked me to rate you as an organizer. Although we didn't follow the competition dives exactly we always had fun, had a few laughs, and you were always there ready for another jump. You will be missed whenever I am at front float and realize you're not giving the count. Soar high forever & blues, Jimbo

The good news is that it has rained hard for the past week! Why is this good news? ...cause maybe it now won't rain during POPS and Skyfest!

Thanks for this thread. I just got a letter from UT Austin saying my personal info was downloaded on April 23rd. Now off to register for the free 90 day Fraud Alert Service offered by the 3 credit bureaus. Blue skies, Jim

Gemini & Trent Blue skies, Jim

Not enough information to help you. What size canopy were you jumping during the last few student jumps? Have you discussed this with your instructor? How much do you weigh? How tall are you? How old are you? Were you standing up all your student landings? How did you land on no wind days? Your best sources of information at this time are your instructors. They've seen you fly the canopy and land it. Blue skies, Jim

I knew that was the Ranch when I saw the fence! Congrats. Now on to 1000...

Better be 64 or so POPS coming or I am in trouble! Looks like we have a good group from around the US and 1 from Argentina and 1 from Russia. Now if everyone who registered shows up!

That's odd because I have been to the WFFC ever since it moved to Rantoul and spend a lot of time in the organizer tents including FF since Anomaly was one of the organizers for 3 years. The complaints I heard from the organizers mirror yours. One year there was no one wanting organizing; we would sit in the tent and bullshit all day long. When Dave Brown was busy, at least one of the 3 Anomaly guys was sitting around. Guano seemed to keep busy, but they were not the only organizers. As this went on during the convention, some of the organizers would start showing up later and leaving earlier, or taking longer lunches because they were doing nothing but standing around. One year they spent a lot of time jumping with the Golden Knights becuase the Knights weren't getting many people to jump with them either. Granted they were not as organized as the formation guys, who had someone a jumper could go to to find an organizer. Maybe that is one of the things that needs to be changed. But you had the best of the best FF people there Max Cohn, Dave Brown, Anomaly, Guano. You could even jump with Amy C if you asked her really nicely! Alchemy wasn't there because they have the Perris and Summerfest gigs. Blue skies, Jim

They ought to talk to my wife. She'e got at least a million frequent flyer miles on Continental and who know how many on Delta. Blue skies, Jim

Ummhh...let's see...got off on May 31st and not expected back until July 17th. That's about 47 days I guess! Blue skies, Jim

Amen to that, and that you've got a cold beer waiting for him!

I am not a dealer and do not have the details of the PD price changes, but ... Ok I read what everyone is saying, but I still don't understand how this "helps" the average skydiver looking for a canopy. But you have to excuse me since I am a CPA and these pricing schemes may be beyond me! As you increase dealer costs, the dealer has two options. 1) Reduce his discount to his customers (effectively raising the price) or, 2) make less money on the sale. The 2% dealer is still going to be a 2% dealer simply by raising his price proportionately which means the rest of the dealers are still forced to compete against the 2% margin. After all he is is always 2% above the real cost. Total sales of PD products may go down if other manufacturers do not "adjust" their prices because skydivers do compare prices for similar products. (Back to the Economics 101 discussion). Don't get me wrong. I love PD products and appreciate what you and the other PD folks have done for the sport, but I think you're misleading both the dealers and customers regardless of your intentions when you say you are trying to help the dealer and customer. We all understand having to increase prices due to material and labor cost increases. But if you want to help your dealers, you don't do it by reducing their maximum potential margin by raising dealer prices without adjusting the "retail" price. Weeding out some of those individual "dealers" who are buying direct from PD and selling at cost would be a better approach; or offer rebates or larger dealer discounts only to dz affiliated dealers. Thanks for your team support and for your contributions to skydiving over the years. We are all better off than we were ... Only my 2 cents.... Blues, Jim

See attached. Key is to put look up date in a separate cell and format both (dates) in similar date format. Blue skies, Jim

That's going to be a really, fun flight to altitude! Blue skies, Jim

Get a group together and we'll bring a Caravan or Otter depending on the size and numbers. Blue skies, Jim

This is good info. I have launched a 2 way (1 belly 1 FF), a 3 way (2 belly 1 FF), and a 4 way with 2 each without any trouble. We have tried having the FF inside and outside and doesn't seem to make much diff to a good FFr. For our 16 way we launched an 8 way stairstep and had the FF'rs in rear and front float, and diving. Like Trent and others have said, the FF'rs need to be multidimensional flyers. Blues, Jim

Ahhh, there's hope for you after all! Blue skies, Jim