gunpaq

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Everything posted by gunpaq

  1. H&P's about $25 www.geronimoskydiving.com
  2. Virtually no wait getting inexcept for holidays and commuter hours. Both Dz's ar twenty minutes from the border. US Homeland Security dictates a PassPort to get to and frow the border. Great swwop pond at Burnaby and fantastic scenery with the lake. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  3. Two great places to jump are Frontier and WNY. Both are A+. On the other side of the river just 20 minutes away there are two great DZ's: Skydive Burnaby and Niagara Skydive. You picked a great place to move to for fair weather jumping. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  4. Hi TK. :). She is slowly on the mend. Still trying to talk her into trying it again. Thanks. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  5. I usually get a sneer and a jeer or two from folks when I wear my old jumpsuit with the "God Is My Jumpmaster" patch. Always wondered why the expression of one's faith either in film or print evokes such emotion both positive and negative. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  6. Great post on a great project that dispells misconceptions and myths about seemingly disabled vet and civillians alike. So what does it mean to be disabled? It means that you have the ability to enable yourself to overcome overwhelming odds that whole able-bodied people can only dream about. An automobile accident put me in a wheelchair seventeen years ago but I refused to accept being disabled. The vets featured in this projects in this YouTube video were struck down in the prime of thier lives but also refused to accept being disabled. If you are disabled or have a friend or family member who is disabled please share our definition of DISABILITY: Determined Individuals Seeking Ability. Seek life, use your new normal, and be unafraid to live life to it's fullest.
  7. gunpaq

    RSL

    Ditto. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  8. gunpaq

    Pete Miller

  9. gunpaq

    RSL

    Very productive and thought provoking discussion. I always discouraged RSL's for our former students that went on to be licensed and bought their own gear. Why continue to jump student gear in advanced experienced jump scenarios where complications may occur from the RSL? I watched a former student a few years into the sport (D licensed) buy the farm as a result of a RSL enduced entanglement after cutaway from a pilot chute in tow. No sir, except for student applications I did not recommend using a RSL especially after that incident. Yep, a strong opinion rooted in factual experience but that was then. Today this old man has a RSL on his rig and would not jump without it. Gear knowledge and training for different scenarios was and is the key to survival. A RSL is a safety device that may not work and even malfunction. What we were seeing back then and still today were folks relying on their RSL as if it were a SOS. Complacency kills and we should never forget that every fun jump is an act of survival. Great thread and posts.
  10. Congratulations for making the decision to return to the sport. A lot has changed in 20 years and all for the good. If time has faded your memory about the basics of the sport 20 years ago it probably is a good idea to start over again and build upon your past experience. Your last jump was made in the last century and you are about to step out of an aircraft in the 21st century. Lots of people have gone through long layoffs from the sport and have recently gotten back in. Some had layoffs due to work or family and others from injury or illness. One thing in common with most all retreads is that no matter what their experience or skill level the wise ones got back in the sport by going through a prescribed retraining program. Find a good student oriented DZ, let them know your past experience, future goals in the sport, and then enroll in a training program. Be safe, get retrained, and get ready for the best times ever in the sky. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  11. "So, a company that made round sport reserves (there were no square reserves yet) came out with an "anti-inversion netted" reserve. NO ONE bought it. You know why, of course...It packed up 10% bigger. Jumpers past up a proven 1,000 times increase in safety for smaller pack volume." Bill, I bought one and put it in my new WonderHog Sprint. Two deployments and still jumping after all these years. Great article.
  12. Chest mount reserve deployments can be fun. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  13. I may have missed in earlier posts but what was the reason or cause for the USPA to dramatcally up the fees for the Lifetime Membership and to make it effective immediately? www.geronimoskydiving.com
  14. So it looks like I do not get the birthday present my wife was going to buy for me. Too bad for me and the bucks the USPA could have had. Two grand for your picture in the magazine and a card is over the top. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  15. Scary stories from the old days most always have three common elements: young men, idle time, and alcohol. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  16. Great photo. Silly Suits and Balloon Suits ruled the day. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  17. The bumper did not come all the way off but rather partially torn off from right to left with damage to the rear. Just was amazed at the amount of stopping force from the 24' canopies. The "seemed like a good idea at the time" scenario is why we have guardian angels. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  18. Never was a drinker even in college but that day I did have a few with the other guys. We had speculated that there would be a rapid deceleration but instead it was a virtual dead stop. Seemed funny at the time but we were damn lucky not to have been seriously injured or killed. To this day I ask myself "what was I thinking". www.geronimoskydiving.com
  19. One scary jump story that comes to mind that occurred on the way back from the drop zone. In the 70's while in college quite a few of us forestry majors jumped at Southern Cross in Downsville, MD. On the way back to campus one evening and after a few alcoholic beverages we decided to conduct an experiment to see how fast reserves really open. Right about State Line, PA on I-81 we pulled over and rigged up two of the college club's 24' chest mount reserves, one without a pilot chute and one with a pilot chute to the rear bumper on our classmates 1967 convertible red Cadillac securing them with a static line through the D-ring snaps tied around the bumper securely. While this fledgling rigger was going about his handy work several more alcoholic beverages were consumed by all. We then took two more static lines and snapped them onto the reserve ripcords for activation. The case of alcoholic beverages began to run low so it was time to assign duties and put our experiment into motion. There were five of us, ages 18 to 22, so we had one to drive, two guys to time with their watches in the front seat and two of us in the back seat to activate the reserves when the drive called out 90 mph. What could possibly go wrong testing parachutes on the ground? With the last of the alcoholic beverages consumed we accelerated north on I-81 commencing this wise and noble experiment to benefit all of mankind. It didn't take long to get up to 90 mph but we had to wait to pass two tractor-trailers and reach a nice straight stretch of highway. The last thing I remember of the experiment was the driver yelling "pull'em" and a flash of white nylon and then black. What I recall next was an intense pain in my side and pressure on my neck as I came back to consciousness under the dash board with one buddy on top of me, the driver unconscious slumped over the wheel. Fortunately we were not seriously hurt other than a concussion for the driver and cuts and bruises for the rest of us. When we pulled the static lines, evidently from witness accounts, one parachute immediately deployed pulling the car's rear to the left and off the ground and then pulled the bumper from the car as the car careened over to the grass on the side of the interstate. The funniest thing I remember about it was the State Trooper on the scene saying, “ Were you all drinking or something”, after hearing our account of how and why. We all walked away from that one counting our lucky stars for not getting fined and nursing our bruised bodies as well as wallets having to pay for two club reserves. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  20. With the overall voting base in the US, as reports say, why can't these hypocritcal laws be deleted from the books since abortion is the law of the land? It appears as though as in many other counties that the politicians want to have the little people argue about politically instituted controversies in order to manipulate a voting base for either political party's agenda. Too often whenever a law is passed for the good of the people a politician gets re-elected to the detriment of the people. Most always the abortion debate/discussion falls into name calling rather than an intellectual exchange of opinions, ideas or philosophies that could be productive. Abortion has been the law of the land in the US for more than two generations and nothing will change that. Tax payer funded abortion on demand (for convenience sake), mandates for abortion coverage in insurance policies, etc., probably are legitimate issues for debate. This abortion issue is not new. Did a little research several years ago and found that in southeastern Pennsylvania during the early 1900's it was rather easy to get an abortion via one's local doctor. I was rather shocked to learn that. I interviewed a retired doctor about this subject for my paper, 90 years old at the time, who had also been my family doctor as child. He said that he had performed several abortions for his patients and members of the community for reasons ranging from a real threat of death from childbirth, rape/incest, and the humiliating "oops" for the unmarried and the married involved in hanky-panky. It seems we are beating a dead horse with this subject unless both sides of the argument are willing to hear each other and work together. That is my 3 1/2 cents worth. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  21. Amen! Water jumps then vs water training now. www.geronimoskydiving.com
  22. I am always confused about abortion in America. If a fetus is not a human being, having not yet been born live, then why is one charged with double manslaughter or homicide should one kill or murder a pregnant female? Can anyone explain the logic? Just asking. www.geronimoskydiving.com