gemini

Burt was always a pleasure to be around and always seemed genuinely glad to see everyone at a big way event; always a kind word and big smile from him. I enjoyed his company very much and will miss him. Condolences to his family and friends. Blue skies Burt. Blue skies, Jim

Thanks for the info Bill. Hope the formation continues to build successfully. Sad news about the fatality. He was one of the good guys! Blue skies, Jim

With a lot of available cash! Blue skies, Jim

What a laugh! Trent Alkek of Spaceland Anomaly is very active in the world freefly scene...from participating in the 100-way headdown record, organizing FF and hybrid jumps and coaching one on one, and the Norwegians, Japanese, etc. Yep more than 5% and lots of USPA medals. Spaceland also has the Collegiate Gold medal winners so if you want to FF with a bunch of young up and comers come on out. In addition, Spaceland has the only tailgate aircraft in Texas. Two Skyvans which should be released for jumping early in May. Come on out. Blue skies, Jim

And it will be more awesome after it gets Mike Fox, the Super Otter from Spaceland for the 2010 season. Everyone should come out and welcome the new plane on April 1st. Blue skies, Jim

Skydive Spaceland has two -20 Otters in its fleet. Blue skies, Jim

With more big way jumpers coming to the states to participate in large formations, I thought I would use an on-line translation site so I could post information in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Spanish, etc. thinking it would be helpful to the non-English speakers, but it may have made things worse. Iilya Kats from San Marcos sent me a very funny retranslation from Russian back to English of one of my emails so I thought I would test the translations myself. English to Russian to English: Hello my friend. How have you been? We are currently having great weather in Texas for skydiving. High temperature in the high 60's low 70's. You should come jump with us. Check you later, Jim. Привет, мой друг. Каким ты был? В настоящее время мы с большой погоды в Техасе для прыжков с парашютом. Высокие температуры в высоких 60 низкий 70-х. Вы должны прийти прыжок с нами. Проверьте позже, Джим. Regards, my friend. What you was? At present we from the large weather in Texas for the jumps. High temperatures in high 60 low of the 70th. You must arrive leap with us. Verify more lately, Jim. English to Spanish to Japanese to German to English: Hello my friend. How have you been? We are currently having great weather in Texas for skydiving. High temperature in the high 60's low 70's. You should come jump with us. Check you later, Jim. Hola mi amigo. ¿Cómo has estado? En estos momentos estamos teniendo un gran clima en Texas para el paracaidismo. Alta temperatura en la alta 60's 70's bajo. Usted debe venir ir con nosotros. Compruebe que más tarde, Jim. こんにちは、私の友人。 あなたが、どのようにいましたか？ これらの瞬間には、paracaidismoのためにテキサスで大きな気候であります。 解放60年代の70年代一階の高温。 あなたは、我々と一緒に行きに来なければなりません。 後でそれをチェックしてください、ジム。 Hallo, mein Freund. Du getan hast, was ist das? Diese Momente, paracaidismo Dearimasu großen Klima für Texas. Free 60's and 70's einstöckigen hohen Temperaturen. Sie müssen kommen wir zu gehen. Bitte überprüfen Sie es später, Jim. Hello, my friend. You have done what is it? These moments, paracaidismo Dearimasu great climate for Texas. Free 60's and 70's one-story high temperatures. You need to we will go. Please check it later, Jim. I think I will ask my friends to translate from here on! Blue skies, Jim

Started at 52. It's been a fantastic 10 years. Blue skies, Jim

If USPA is paying for expenses not incurred, the "reimbursement" is taxable income to the board member. Is USPA filing a form 1099 for these "reimbursements"? Fine is $50 for each 1099 not filed. If there is no dollare amount that was paid by the BOD it should not be reimbursed. Just ask the IRS. Blue skies, Jim

You can lose sight of why you are there, what got you there, and who helped get you there when it's your work. For example, looking at a $50k engine repair when someone comes up and bitches about the pro shop not having your visor tends to raise your blood pressure. Blue skies, Jim

My memory is sometimes faulty, but it seems somewhere I read that Kittinger landed 138 miles from where he took off. Of course this includes balloon drift. Blue skies, Jim

New jumper...tired of doing solos...Scotty Carbone..,got invited again & again even after screwing up...eventually it was someone elses turn..and the cycle began again...then again...some of my most memorable jumps! Blue skies, Jim

Nice pics Bill thanks. Blue skies, Jim

Elevation at Perris is 1,500 ft. So 12,000 AGL is 13,500 MSL. I believe Chicago is around 600 ft and Florida is 0-150 ft. Blue skies, Jim

Today was a practice day and the sky was clear although a little chilly, almost no wind. DZ areas away from main landing area had standing water due to the storms earlier in the week. A lot of competitors were registering with the Army cadets and the Airforce cadets on site since last weekend. A few accuracy jumpers missed the tuffet and were limping around in the late afternoon. Most of the tandems were impressed with all the cadets. Lots of loads of competitors. Blue skies, Jim

My Sabre2 starts doing that whenever I need a new line set. What causes it to hang up is some of the lines shrink more than others. When the slider is being packed, some of the canopy fabric will be pulled through the slider grommets. This causes the slider to hesitate a lot longer than it should or to not come down at all until you shake the lines. Blue skies, Jim

And a huge thanks to Paul, Jen, Eric, all the staff and pilots at SSM for hosting the 50-ways during the boogie. We all had a great time and look forward to another visit. Best Halloween party in Texas too. Blue skies, Jim

Yep that it! It's simply a right or wrong issue. Not complicated at all. My way is 100% right and your's is 100% wrong. So when you don't agree, you start yelling.....lol Blue skies, Jim

Although I am not an offical spokesman for either Spaceland or the systems folks, I wanted to give everyone some info on the slowdown in the on-line system between the first week and second week of nationals. Almost all the people who set up the on-line system and worked it the first week only had the one week of vacation. Unfortunately, the transition to the second week team was not very smooth. Errors and fixes by the first team did not get transferred to the second team clearly, so the second team had to re-learn a bunch of things. And a few of the first week folks who were blog or live broadcast oriented, were replaced by second week folks who are younger folks not as familiar with all skydiving disiplines, or are back office oriented. This has changed the nature of the blog, responses to chat questions, interviews with competitors, posting of pictures, etc. which was definitely not planned. The Camscore folks are also relocated to the swoop pond park which has made getting answers to questions a little more difficult for the week two folks. There has been no intentional slight towards the Style & Accuracy or the Swoop jumpers. We all have a lot of friends competing in those disiplines and we sure don't want them mad at us! As with any new system, the learning curve without the experience first week team here was steeper than we thought it would be especially since all the documentation is not readily available. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and, yes even complaints. That's how the system will get better, work smoother, and give the on-line viewers the data they want when they want it. Blue skies, Jim

Maybe on the day you were there, but I've jumped at Spaceland for 10 years and find this to be the exception. I rarely have a problem finding others to jump with with most jumps being in the 4-way to 10-way range. Spaceland has 5 Otters and 3 Caravans and keeps two aircraft on site at all times. Usually one Otter will be full of tandems and the other is full of fun jumpers. The mix between belly flyers and freeflyers is pretty equal except this year due to the US Nationals whick will be over next week. We welcome all fun jumpers including wingsuiters and swoopers. Being the largest dropzone in Texas that is open everyday except Christmas and doing a lot of tandems daily does not mean we do not also cater to fun jumpers. ...and the airplanes are always flying at Spaceland. Hope to see you at Spaceland someday. Jim Blue skies, Jim

I wonder if any non-skydiving vendors will be more interested in sponspring nationals and other skydiving competitions under this format in the future? Just a thought. Blue skies, Jim

Trent and I were doing a two-way belly/freefly jump and upon deployment the belly of a v tail bonanza crosses in front of me, from left to right at 100 0r so feet. Luckily the pilot saw me deploying and turned away. Unfortunately for him, he turned toward Trent and as he leveled his wings they both made eye contact. It is surprising how many rivets are in the belly skin of an aircraft! Blue skies, Jim

You've got a strange map! Spaceland South of Houston has 2 Twin Otters and a Carvan on-site and it is about 2 hours closer than San Marcos to Ft Polk. The BOSS group comes to Spaceland. Blue skies, Jim

67...that's my boy! Blue skies, Jim

It's been three years now. Last weekend his name came up at the dz. It was as if he was still around. Hope the flying is good up there. Peace, Jim Blue skies, Jim