illusioneer

gravure printing...i worked with a bill vance

Billy did you ever work for southern graphics?

OK! I'll describe them. They had two arms that hook behind the ears, two shaded lenses...um and a couple of pads to rest on my nose... they must be mine... If they fit that description let me know I'll send my address.

On an absolute beautiful sunset load on saturday 10-20-2007 Carol Clay made her 16,000th jump. I hope you all will join me in congratulating her on such a great accomplishment and being a blessing to us by being such a wonderful person as well.
Love you Carol. Blue skies

yeah Karen... I live on the first and last loads.

On a navigator 280 I have tried a few front riser turns...the canopy did not respond much at all...I would have a hard time doing any front riser turns.

I work as a packer on weekends and It will just pay for jumps or just food and bills... not both

uh....yup it does, but I am actually down a few lbs from there

it is 300 lb gear!

268lbs and falling

thanks.

In an effort to slow my free fall speed, I am thinking about getting a camera suit with wings. My range now is 135mph to 155 mph... to fast for rw. Do you think a camera suit is a good option? Does anyone have any ideas for me?

I am a skydiver...my wife and child are not. I want to take them to a tunnel but I have never been to one. Do the tunnels provide a jump suit, goggles, ect? How much time should I plan on for two first timers? Can we jump in our street clothes on do we need to have jump suits on?

Thanks! those are cool looks into the past

Ok. I'll buy that the old ones were 2,500...Thanks Billy.

The charts in back of a new log book....It shows free fall times to an opening at 3,000 ft.

Am I remembering wrong? Didn't the "free fall time" charts in the old log books have an opening altitude at 2,000 ft... Now the opening is at 3,000ft. Do any of you old timers know If I am right or did I smoke out too many brain cells in my youth?

I don't have as many jumps as you by far, so please don't take this the wrong way. Can you help me to understand how toggle length and not being able to stall the canopy doesn't effect your ability to flair the canopy and slow the forward motion. In Brian's piece he seemed to say stalling the canopy was an important/integral part of the flair...

As I think about it, the closer you come to stalling the slower your forward speed will be. If you are prevented from approaching a stall the faster your forward speed will be. I know that students are at a far greater risk of stalling and need to be on a forgiving canopy.

I understand why student rigs are set up with long brake lines... I was just suggesting a reason people may be having trouble learning to land on a no wind day, not suggesting a change in practice.

One thing that may be contributing to the new jumpers fear of no wind landings is that student canopies are set up with longer brake lines, making it harder to complete the flare. The limiting of the flaring range makes it harder to slow the canopy down completely...Just a thought.

My first commercial flight after I began jumping was with my wife. Evidently I was visibly "uncomfortable" during take-off and climb to altitude. After about 10 minutes I felt a hand on my leg and turned to see my concerned wife ask "What is bothering you?"

"This is the first time in over a hundred plane rides I haven't had a parachute and a way to get out of the plane" I said.

I was surprised how attached I had become to having a safety exit. (It was also the first commercial flight I had taken as an adult) I have flown many times now on a commercial plane and don't feel nervous but I still feel more comfortable in a jump plane with a rig on my back.

Ok. Good points. I guess the "family" aspect of skydiving is what makes it great.

Last weekend I was told that while I was not jumping during the last 14 years, there was a decline in the number of jumpers in the sport.
I found this to be counterintuitive...With the boom in "x-games" and adventure type of sports I expected the number of jumpers to be growing by large amounts.
My questions are:
1: Why are there not more people flocking to our sport?
2: Do tandem jumps hurt the number of new jumpers by turning the jump into a thrill ride with less commitment to the sport?
3: What can be done to increase the number of new people comming to, and sticking with our beloved sport?
4: What thoughts do ya'll have about this subject.

Ok! Time for a case of beer and some pizza! After last load of the day the smell of pizza and cold beer will make you some new friends.

I did not fail any of my AFF jumps. It always felt easier to control myself while in the air than when in the water...And I grew up on the coast spending most of my days (during the summer) in the water. Maybe being part "fish" helped to know how my body position effected my freefall