dbattman

Moving on now to Arizona. I went here back in 2000 or '01 visiting my parents as they were roadtripping around experimenting with trailer life. What a beautiful area. We even dropped in on Eloy during some skydiving comp (before I took it up again) and mom loved watching the teams land. Many brightly colored parachutes and designs too. The Grand Canyon absolutely rocked. How a big hole in the ground can hold my attention like that is beyond me, but it did.

Speaking of skydiving, I found my first stati-line jump picture. This is at Moorehead, PA near Erie when I was doing process work for International Paper. [date 10/12/96] Andy and Kerry Hadsell were my fellow students in the class. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but Andy took down my address and sent me a copy of the picture. I was never a big 'picture' kind of guy but I'm glad he sent it. Of course, I never sent him a simple 'thank you' note back (never been into those either- giving or receiving) so if you're out there Andy thank you for the picture and I deserve a line over for never saying so.

Of course I squeezed in a skydive while I was touring the country. Nice little grass strip. Planes taxied out of the t-hangers by the FBO, turned onto the paved road they shared with cars and traveled a few hundred feet to the strip. First trip I had an Audi A4 diesel and topped it out at just over 225 kmh. On the second trip I brought my helmet and alti with me (just in case I wanted to go do another one) and wore my bonehead while flying down the autobahn. Made for some interesting second looks from passing cars.

I will begin with some post cards from my trip to Germany a few years ago. I was in Aachen near the Belgium border which was just a beautiful little city. Charlemagne had his palace here (that's not it in the photos). The postcards I had since my trip and only now translated them from 'Babelfish' with my loose reinterpretation. 'At the tone the time is 7:30, but feels like 4:15' 'These are our anniversary and forgotten annixersary boxes of chocolates' 'It does not make sense to educate children; They will copy everything from us.' Very thought provoking I do say.

So I have a contract on my house and I'm sorting out all the accumulated junk I've collected. With some basic ground rules (ditch anything in the basement [it's there for a reason] and clothes you haven't worn in over a year) I'm amazed how much is going to the Good Will. I have an entire file box full of socks. That's right- nothing but socks- that I have never taken the tags off. In cleaning out my desk I've uncovered a file of pictures and postcards that I've collected. Since I don't have anything pressing early tomorrow (it's my 'office week') and I wanted to actually use my HP All-in-one for something other than scanning expense reports I will stay up late to treat you all to a hodge-podge of ' stuff.'

I hadn't seen it mentioned yet, but if it continues to be a problem check the dimensions of your slider. It's possible they're off a little bit which can make a large difference.

Online casinos run in the US appear to fall under the bill as well. Do Golden Palace, Trump, and Ceasar pay taxes on their gaming revenue? No Limit Hold-em must not be the favorite pasttime of Representative Ten-gallon from wherever. Policing is pushed to the financial institutions where transactions tens of thousands of transactions per day must be scrutinized for this. Great- now my rates get pushed higher to make up the costs. Go to a strip club and your bill may be charged to a harmless sounding shell corporation instead of 'Boob Shooters'. What's to prevent the same thing here? Nothing. More scrutiny, deeper digging, more money, more money, more money spent. Boo- that's all I have to say. Kill it where it stands and let people bet on their ball games. If they wager their house they deserve to lose it. Even better some sharp guys will make millions becoming the 'internet middleman.' I buy a generic Internet Giftcard that can be redeemed at any online site for wagering. There we go- capitalism in action. Create the demand and someone will generate the supply.

State lottery and horse racing are exempt. Interesting. Seems there's no problem with it if the government is getting their cut of the action.

Check some dealer websites Lisa. I had a Raven about that timeframe that Skykat sold for over $500.

Try these as well and stay out of the trees. http://www.skydivewestpoint.com/PDchoosingacanopy1.pdf http://www.skydivewestpoint.com/PDchoosingacanopy2.pdf

I suspect that you, like others that complain about the stall point, are over loading the canopy. The canopy was not designed to be loaded much over 1 to 1 or 1.1. to 1. The material the canopy is made of has nothing to do with its “decent angle” or its “glide ratio”. Both are a product of canopy design and trim. You should avoid giving advice on things you lack knowledge of.

That's awesome. We've got the BUGS here in Georgia. Dad came back after a long layoff (one of the old timers), the two sons followed, and the wife is working the tandem route. It's a great thing seeing BigBug, TreeBug, (the other one I forgot)Bug, and LadyBug all out at the DZ. He says it's been great for the whole family relationship which I don't doubt. Same thing with the Ske's- Dad, son, and daughter unit. Awesome peeps.

You'll be fine jumping it as a main- plenty of others jump reserve canopies as a main. Pack it however you like (flat, pro, psycho)- you'll learn which way works for this particular canopy over time. Just be aware that the Ravens have a reputation for stalling on the deep flare during a reserve ride with the factory settings (mine did both times). Practive high, learn the stall point, and have a rigger adjust your steering lines accordingly. F-111s also have a steeper descent angle (not faster, just a lower glide ratio) so adjust your landing pattern accordingly and try not to setup over any trees.

You got peanut butter on my chocolate.

That's not me! Eric was trying out a new digital rendering program at the lab. Ummm, yeah. That's the ticket. Oops. Did I type that out loud?

wow. just wow.

ouch

It is with a heavy heart that I must cross-post from our website the final news from Monroe, GA. Although I can only write from my time with the dropzone, I feel I must do so. More than thirteen years ago a dropzone began to take root at a dusty airstrip with but a van, a rented tandem rig, and a rented plane- the Green Ghost '19G'. Amid the rusty T-hangers the van with the video equipment would sit with a white and pink "Skydive Monroe" banner and the two fledgeling DZOs Bill and Lisa awaiting customers for the "Ride of a Lifetime." Over time they grew to a thriving operation with a full complement of TI's, AFFI's, rental and student gear and King Air '3BR' hot loading from shortly after 8am until we were pushing night jumps. Ask around the area and many of the local skydiving cadre will tell you they started jumping here years ago. Twice a year the Casa would visit and the DZ would turn into a tent city with a rocking party. We held our breath and each other when we almost lost Jim and Russel to catastrophic gear malfunctions and Joan to a landing accident. We managed to just hang on after the passing of Andy Dobbs and Bobby (D-911- one of the pioneers). A recent battle with the city of Monroe over our occupation of the hangar where we've been operating for years month to month after being denied a long term lease has not gone our way and we are now homeless. Lisa kept the doors open for us as long as she could, but like Gold Coast we have been kicked out in favor of 'theoretical' airport expansion and corporate jets. The ultralights went years ago, now it's our turn, and I expect the gliders will be gone by next Spring. Throughout the whole thing we never lost our spirit, our friendship, and our vibe. We cheered the students, swapped jokes with the tandems on the ride, reveled in the screams on video and raced for the trucks to get off landings, cutaways, and injured jumpers. Rivalries were short lived, mistakes quickly corrected and forgiven, and cross words forgotten almost as fast as they were spoken. We still attract jumpers from far away, even past other larger DZs, who would drive to our dropzone. Why? Because up to the end at Monroe the dropzone was not the hanger, the plane, or the TV. The dropzone was, and will always be, the SKYDIVERS. CYRANO Yes, all my laurels you have riven away And all my roses; yet in spite of you, There is one crown I bear away with me, And tonight, when I enter before God, My salute shall sweep all the stars away From the blue threshold! One thing without stain, Unspotted from the world, in spite of doom Mine own!-- (He springs forward, his sword aloft) And that is... (The sword escapes for his hand; he totters, and falls into the arms of Le Bret and Ragueneau) ROXANNE --That is... CYRANO (opens his eyes and smiles up at her) My white plume...

I would think electric drive train would be the way to go here as well. IC heat engines just aren't efficent combined with the mechanical drive train and it's component energy losses could we really get that high mileage while staying similar to where we are today in size and payload? This is something I've long been curious about. The battery pack on the EV1 was about 1000 pounds and gave about 65-80 miles of range. With a consumption rate of 10 KW average at 60 mph could an electric generator be used instead? Here's a web link showng a 15 KW generator at 165 pounds. Then again I don't know the gasoline consumption of a generator that size. The batt pack took up the whole back seat, the generator looks smaller. You'd probably still need a battery to supply peak demand for acceleration. This is along the lines of what the Navy discovered back in the 60s with the efficiency of the electric drivetrain I drove these EV1s and they were slick- definitely not a golf cart. GM and Toyota both had pretty successful pilot programs and the cars were only available for lease not purchase. When they killed the programs people were lined up to buy the cars and they ended up being crushed. I could only conclude that the automakers did their analysis and discovered that the electric cars would not give them the parts and service profitability that they get from IC. http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/fsev/eva/ev1_eva.pdf http://www.independentpower.com/pto.htm I haven't been under the hood of a Prius so perhaps this is how they are setup already?

More than one person has died while they kept tugging. In the time it take for you to let go and make a second grab for you PC you can cover 1,000 feet or more. Very true and thank you for bringing that up- try it once, try it twice. In this case the shirt pulled loose out of my fingertips pretty quick and we were pulling higher than normal this weekend (know your altitude and all that). To clarify, the pilot chute partially extracted an unknown amount from the BOC and the piece of shirt interfered with full extension and throw. The other flash thought throught my head was letting go and having it flapping around behind my back. Not a good situation all around. And I should have clarified tucking it into your pants, not the legstraps.

Jumping without a suit is quite enjoyable in the warm summer, but remember to tuck in your shirts. Getting it tight under the legstraps in front to prevent it covering your handles isn't enough. It can cause problems in back as well. I caught a hand full of shirt tail with my pud last weekend and had a bit of a problem. Keep tugging or let it go and try again. Keep tugging worked but best to avoid it all together.

That's what stuck in my mind, but I should've phrased it differently. Ah well, digging out of a hole and all that.... /me just sits in the corner being dumb.

Nothing to discuss. It was a moderately busy weekend there and I think a sign by the entrance would be a good addition. People were walking through all weekend.

It's a public beach, but we are introducing a hazard. [ed: This was phrased wrong.] I pulled this off the net- would be useful next year.

Everyone that flaked due to the marginal forecast, the Beer Gods have accepted your sacrifice. The weather down here is awesome! Blue sky, clear water, and the winds are light and breezy.