Trevor

That piece was published on feb 6th by Dr. George Friedman, founder of Strategic Forecasting, LLC, a internet thinktank (http://www.stratfor.com). He is not a senior Army official, but his analysis is excellent.

I'm still waiting to see Cisco's photo of the new 24-way freefly world record on the cover of parachutist...it's a great shot! http://www.freeflytrainingcenter.com/flyer_profiles_page_cisco.htm

Yeah, I've been careful not to wear my "BTFU" surflite shirt in front of Ma. As for the DVD Vs. Video thing- I totally agree that making a DVD is prohibitively expensive. It is possible to buy a burner and marginal burning software for 600-1000 bucks (like my dumb-ass did)- but then you have no gaurantee the resulting DVD-R is going to work on everyone's DVD player (mine don't). The only way to guarantee compatibility is to send your project off to Japan to have it professionally mastered and pressed to DVD instead of burned. I'm thinking the best way to offer skydivers a good product that's better than VHS might be to distribute on MiniDV....This would actually give even better picture quality than DVD with a 90 minute length. It would also eliminate the DVD burning hassle. Sure, not everyone has a DV cam, but not everyone's got a DVD either. I'd definitely pay extra for that higher quality. -Trev

They are going to have an otter an a skyvan and enough talent to fill both planes. I'm betting the record will be broken easily and early, followed by attempts at 25, 30, and even 40. Every big name I can think of will be there. I don't think this many good flyers have been in one place since the last space games. There is going to be a huge party sat night, With the day's jumps being shown on a projector. I just hope the weather holds. -Trev

just wondering how you got it since this is supposedly not allowed to happen? luggage cannot travel without its passenger. After Pan Am 103 they adopted the rule where they will take your bag off a plane if you don't board it...but they sure aren't going to fly me to wherever they banished my luggage just so I can accompany it back. This is all probably less of an issue since jan 1st, 03 because now they are required to scan every bag that is checked. And that pan am 103 rule didn't suicide bombers, either. Anyway, they put an "expedite baggage" and a sorry note on my bag and I had my stuff about 24 hours later. A pain in the ass, but I had a great weekend in Sebastian anyway. -Trev

I am a dedicated prankster, but in this case, I agree with Chris and Bill wholeheartedly. My airline misrouted my luggage to Wash, D.C. this past weekend, so if my javelin was not in my carry-on, I would have been sitting on my ass in Sebastian. I'd rather try to break down stereotypes about skydivers- whether it's the TSA inspecting my rig and scrutinizing my cypres, the crew on the plane, or the passengers around me. God help us all when a skydivers rig and a few misinterpreted moves get a plane evacuated and the whuffo 11 O'clock news eats it up. It may only take ONE incident to get rigs put on that restricted item list. I, too would find that guys nervousness funny, but I would have used it as an opportunity explain that I carry a rig on board because of it's monetary value, not to bail out. I'd explain that airline emergency exits don't open when the cabin is pressurized or Al qaeda would book exit row seats and leave knives/bombs at home. If he was interested, I'd show him some skydiving footage off my PC100 and maybe my rig's safety features. I'd much rather talk the dude into doing a tandem, and support the sport, than risk hurting it by screwing with him. Definitely smart to route the chest strap around your reserve ripcord- I'd also recommend putting white masking tape marked with your destination on the side of your luggage if your travelling thru Charlotte! just 2 cents, -Trevor

I've jumped more at Raeford than anywhere else and love the people there... followed closely by the Ranch where I started and will probably end up.

Sky's the Limit, NY The Ranch, NY Peach State Skydiving, GA Skydive Monroe, GA Atlanta Skydiving Center, GA Fort Polk, LA Shreveport, LA Beaumont, TX SD Houston, TX SD Spaceland, TX SD Dallas, TX Gold Coast Skydiving, MS Emerald Coast Skydiving, AL Crestview, FL Deland, FL Z-Hills, FL Fort Benning, GA Gettysburg, PA Varel, Germany Fort Bragg, NC Cross Keys, NJ McMinnville, TN West Tennessee Skydiving, TN Fort Knox, KY Bardstown, KY Xenia, OH SD Chicago, IL Hinckley, IL Byron, CA Monterey Bay, CA Richmond, IN Parkton, NC Louisburg, NC Perris, CA Marathon Key, FL Eloy, AZ Raeford, NC

I started getting sick on the flight back and I'm just getting over it now- i don't get it- the desert always looks so warm in those cartoons!

I ended up with 64 for 6 days. I gave SDAZ about 70 tickets but missed a few loads (running after the tram sucks)

Even more interesting is that Carlos A who does the voice of the Taco Bell is a skydiver at Perris...

It's not really an issue of which academy is harder or which cadets are really in the military. It's just a question of whether the school will fund it or not. A & M seems to have no trouble funding an excellent football program- I don't know why they wouldn't want to fund a regular parachute jump opening each game like at West Point. It's a good show and adds a military element to it. From the utterly embarassing football game against Navy last weekend that I was unfortunate enough to have witnessed in person, I can assure you that USMA is not spending too much money on football. I wholeheartedly agree you are all getting screwed with that $150 fee, though. You should pay for your jumps plus the same fee as regular nationals. And on top of that- your schools already bloated athletic departments should be footing the bill. -Trevor

New York, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennesee next year

Ditto- The airlines can't afford to have everyone book their flights at the last minute so they make it cheaper as long as you buy at least 21 days in advance. Once you are within 21 days, the price usually doubles. Try booking an hour before the flight- you're into quadruple digit prices. -Trevor

Definately...

Yeah, I just got my voicemail...It is probably in a bag of all the rest of my stuff headed for a frienldy ft bragg pawnshop tomorrow....All that matters was that my gear wasn't in it everything else is replaceable...

WHAT???? You should have chased him down under canopy!!! WTF Over? We didn't even know it was gone for a few hours or else we would have gathered up all the guns on the DZ, chased him with the cessna and shot the shit out of the car. (with someone flying video, of course)

0:12:1 No lovin'; 12 jumps; And my first time having someone steal my car out of the DZ parking lot as I'm taking off in the otter. If anyone sees a green Subaru Outback w/NY plates within a few hundred miles of Raeford.....call me on my cell at 910-261-2851....oh wait...the phone is in the car- doh!

I need to pay better attention- no wonder they don't let me in the jets!

Wahington Times- November 22, 2002 Inside the Ring By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough VIP ejected The military routinely puts VIPs in the back seats of supersonic jet fighters. It's good public relations. But what happened over the Nevada desert last week was anything but typical. An F-14D Tomcat took off from Fallon Naval Air Station with a VIP in the back seat — a naval officer from the cruiser Anzio who was on what the military calls a "FAM Hop," or familiarization ride. In flight, when the pilot pulled a "negative 1g," the gravity force moved the officer nearly off his seat. He reached down to reposition himself and accidentally pulled the ejection lever. The cockpit canopy flew off and out went the VIP. "Imagine the reaction of the poor pilot lieutenant when he lost his VIP," said our source. A Navy official at the Pentagon confirmed the incident. He said the ejection system automatically opened the VIP's parachute. He landed safely in the Nevada desert and waited for his rescue. "He'll have a great story to tell sailors back on the Anzio," the source said. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021122-900721.htm

I was also watching Jeff try to make it back after going to far on his downwind leg. He was doing fine until treetop level when he turned at least 90 degrees very abruptly and dove below the treeline. I ran over and did my best to immobilize him until a much better trauma-trained skydiver took over and really did a great job. I did not observe any eyeglasses. The talk of "air pockets" is just whuffo newspaper talk. The landing area was "tight", but not in a way that precluded making a safe landing somewhere on the airport. The landing area was on the west end of the airport and we were able to make safe landings even when getting out last and dumping over the eastern end. I watched a 50 way all land in it at about the same time. It was pretty hairy looking, but they pulled it off. The key was to not go downwind of the landing area. Everyone I observed landing off (maybe ten all weekend) had flown too far on their downwind leg. I also saw Erica as she was headed out to sea. We thought that she knew she was going to land off anyway, and was running with the wind to avoid the trees. I was expecting to see a turn into the wind, but thought the trees were probably in my way. If I had known she was unconcious, i would have hopped in the car and tried to do something. The allouette immediately flew to her landing site, so I could see the situation was being handled. I was greatly relieved to hear she was rescued. She was extremely lucky. It sounds like her helmet may have saved her from a permanent head injury and the guys that pulled her out of the water have all my respect.

I flew into Miami thurs night and partied with James O in Miami. We drove down friday morning, met up with Steve, Denyse, Rusty, and Jerry from Raeford and made about 6-7 loads. They were running cross keys' otter and skyvan and an allouette helo that fit 3 jumpers. There were a lot of people there (200+) for just 2 turbine aircraft, so I was more into doing quality jumps than quantity. Rook Nelson and Dave Brown did a great job organizing the freeflyers (no one was left out) and I saw the RW organizing was top notch as well. It was windy and the landing area was challenging for some jumpers. There were no outs except for the atlantic. Marathon airport has a steady stream of civil air traffic which had to be respected as well. Saturday was the busiest day as many people finished work late friday and came to jump the weekend. Sunday I got 2 hop+pops before the weather rained the day out, but skydivers improvised by going snorkeling, scuba, drinking all day at Key West (45mins away). Visuals during the jumps were the best I've seen in the states (with all due respect to western ohio

I think I missed the penguin...

Here are some stills taken from video from this past weekend in Marathon Key, FL... -Trevor

I vaguely remember the last few films of the festival...then woke up in my rental car...car battery dead, PC100 missing. I got a jump start and headed to LAX..missed my flight to NC...finally got back...some kind soul turned the camera into manifest..square1 was kind enough to ship it to me...and now have an hour long tape of me being a drunken ass! the "after party" .jpg is the last frame the camera captured (at 3:57 am) before it got dropped blair witch style...