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Not quite the same, but Skydive Dallas is doing an all Texas resident record this summer. Blue skies, Jim

As Cindy said our intention is to allow all skydivers with an active USPA/FAI membership who have served AND received an honorable discharge, OR are currently serving on active duty be eligible. Military retiree status is not required. Combat deployment is not required. More later. Blue skies, Jim

Cindy Coker from Skydive Dallas and a group of her veteran friends announce the formation of the VETS skydiving association. Membership requirements and membership applications to be available soon. Blue skies, Jim

Part of the opening text reads "The ship has been armed by three pairs cruise missiles 3М80 or 80М "Mosquito" (NATO designation SS-N-22 Sunburn)." Blue skies, Jim

Cypres fire at 1,700 ft per the ProTrac. I felt the reserve launch as I was reaching for the main risers. Looked up and saw the reserve slam into the tail of the main and immediately dive hard to the left. I immediately cut the main away knowing I didn't have anytime to screw with it. Main was a Pilot 132 and reserve is a PD 143. Blue skies, Jim

Great photos Jim. You can go on my next vacation! Blue skies, Jim

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1679800716420&set=a.1679792956226.2093429.1279590980&ref=nf 14 of 16 jumps made, but no record. 2 more jumps on Sunday Blue skies, Jim

My heart goes out to Fi's husband John and the rest of her family including all the Australian jumpers and IPC folks whose lives she touched. I didn't know her well, but she always had a friendly smile and encouragement ready. I will miss her. Blue skies, Jim

I voted "Yes" because there have been times when I thought someone was on the verge of taking a greater risk than they should, and I wanted to make sure they had the facts without accusation and any embarrassment. Blue skies, Jim

Most of the formation sizes came from participants, jump articles, and jumps I participated in. Remember the USPA state records are the "official" state records as submitted under their rules. This doesn't mean they were the largest "unofficial" formation. I know of a particular state headdown record by 4 women that was submitted after USPA began accepting applications just to get in the "official" record books. I am willing to correct the numbers as I discover errors, but will not change an actual larger "unofficial" record to a smaller "official" record. Hence the distinction between "unofficial" and "official" which I think is pretty clear. Blue skies, Jim

I hope no DZO's saw this! Blue skies, Jim

Very sad day today. Rest in peace Dennis. You will be missed. Blue skies, Jim

When I went on BP medication, the Dr told me to excercise portion control and cut out as much sodium as I could. I started watching what I was eating and had to drop the red bull, apple pies, biscuits, gravies, etc. I never knew there was so much salt in such small portions. Blue skies, Jim

Or you could learn to freefly and do a Gooch! It's at the 42 mark in the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Mxte3Rtxo Blue skies, Jim

Here's another version that works in your format. Blue skies, Jim

Sometimes you also make decisions for other reasons. If your parachute association requires Otter experience prior to accepting your bid for nationals, and you want to host nationals bad enough you have to own or lease an Otter even if it isn't the right aircraft for you. Blue skies, Jim

Each states rules may be significantly different relating to waivers, minors and such. What applies in CO has no direct relationship to what applies in TX. In my state, even if the parents sign the waiver for a minor the minor is not bound by the waiver and he, as a minor, cannot waive his own rights. If a minor jumps and is injured, any interested party (usually an attorney, CPS, etc.) could intervene and sue me on behalf of the "unprotected" minor. Why is the minor unprotected, because his parents tried to waive his rights and are "unsuitable" as parents to do the right thing for the minor and as an adult I can take actions to protect a minor in TX. In a lot of the other high risk sports you have companies with no assets that are probably judgement proof or you have mega corporations that own the company and who can afford to fight any number of lawsuits. I am not willing to risk everything to let someone under 18 jump and I really don't care what the BSR does or doesn't limit related to a minimum age for skydiving. Until the legal atmosphere changes, I will not change. You wouldn't be so insistent if you had everything you own at risk. Blue skies, Jim

Let's see SSM is screwing Temple, but sending a Caravan to Port Aransas for their beach jumping. Spaceland sends a Skyvan to SD Houston, SD Dallas and SD San Marcos. SD Houston is using an Super Otter from Spaceland until their aircraft issue gets resolved. Looks like a lot of cooperation by all to me. Big way and boogie events are planned by taking into consideration other events that are planned. But as several others pointed out, sometimes overlaps occur especially on holiday weekends. Blue skies, Jim

Another important aspect to the fun jumper/tandem topic is that it is critical to keep the aircraft running to minimize start cycles on the engines. So the real problem even with tandem factories is that you only have so many instructors and tandems. If your tandems build up to the point where they are having to wait all day for their jump they start causing problems for the manifest staff, the instructors are running to planes and cutting instruction short, the packing crews are unable to keep up, and the planes have to wait with engines running or shut down until the next group of tandems is ready. The solution is to fill the aircraft slots with tandems and fun jumpers so that the aircraft continues to be in the air where it is earning for the DZ. If the dz prices the fun jump accurately, the dz should earn the same % profit margin per jump as the tandem and contribute to the dz's success. Of course it takes at least 10 fun jumpers to equal one tandem's slot, but when the plane flies with empty slots the dz loses. So the solution is to consider the number of tandem rigs and instructors available, the number of packers required to turn the rigs, and the number of slots available to fun jumpers as a result. You can always hire more instructors and buy more rigs, but that usually trails the tandem demand by several months. Blue skies, Jim

A general rule of thumb is that a happy, satisfied customer will result in one positive word of mouth recommendation, but a angry or unsatisfied customer will cost you 5 - 10 negative recommendations. Marketing is essential however and requires a constant, long-term committment to work. People must hear an ad often enough to remember it so that when the conversation turns to "let's go skydiving" one person will say "let's go to [insert name of dz or tagline]. Blue skies, Jim

Ok everyone, time to update the records list again. Last update was 12/2008. POPS and Crew Records maintained by others and are not included in this list. Thanks everyone. DEFINITIONS: FS-Formation Skydiving (RW) (N-National Record/+80% Residents) FSW-Womens Formation Skydiving FSM-Mens Formation Skydiving VR-Vertical Formation Record FSWR-Formation Skydiving World Record FSS-Sequential Formation Record VRWR-Vertical Formation World Record VRW-Women's Vertical Record COUNTRIES: Australia FSN-112; FSW-47; VR-17; VRW-6 Austria FS-24; FSW-12; Belgium FS-126; FSW-16; Brazil FSN-82 Canada FSN-59; FSW-33 Czechoslovakia FS-??? Denmark FS-55 Finland FS-58 France FSW-100 Germany FSN-200; FSW-61 ...Baden-Wurtemburg FS-47 ...Bavaria FS-50 ...Rheinland Pfalz FS-29 ...Saarland FS-40 Ireland FSN-51; FSNW-13 Israel FS-?? Italy VR-16 Mexico FSN-31 Netherlands FS-72; FSW-25 New Zealand FS-?? Norway FSN-108 Poland FS-45 Puerto Rico (US) FS-?? Peru FSN-26 Russia FSN-165 Slovakia FS-215 Spain VR-28 Sweden FSN-107 Switzerland FS-84 Thailand FSWR-400 (2/08/06) United Kingdom FSN-100; FSW-60 United States FS-300; FSW-181; VRWR-107; FSS-139 Venuezula FSN-32; FS-80 Thailand Largest Mass Jump-960 (2/11/06) US STATES: Alabama FS-40 Alaska FS-25; FSW-17 Arizona FS-300 California FSW-181; VRWR-53; FSM-123 Colorado Connecticut FS-41; FSW-16 Florida FS-201; FSS-139 Georgia FS-64 Hawaii Idaho FS-34 Iowa FS-60 Illinois WVWR-18; FS-259; VRWR-107; FSS-108 Indiana Kansas FS-9 Kentucky Louisiana Maine Massachusetts FS-81 Michigan FS-50 Minnesota Mississippi FS-61 Missouri FS-25 Montana Nevada FS-38 New Jersey New York North Carolina North Dakota FS-16 Ohio FS-?? Oklahoma FS-100 Oregon VR-9; Pennsylvania South Carolina FS-200; FSW-19 Tennessee Texas FS-150; VR-16; FSW-31 Utah Virginia FS-100 Washington FSW-25 Wisconsin Blue skies, Jim

It will definitely be a Skyvan in red, white & blue. Blue skies, Jim

Did you replace your faceshield lately. This problem is often caused by a misaligned faceshield which slightly changes the shape of the frame. I once got kicked in the face and it knocked the faceshield loose which I pushed back out in the air. I then couldn't keep the helmet closed until I pulled the faceshield off and replaced it. Blue skies, Jim

Here is a pic of the SD Chicago/SD Spaceland Skyvan. Flew 10 Skyvan/Otter formation loads with Guy Wright last weekend. Blue skies, Jim

lol.... Blue skies, Jim