dudeman17

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Posts posted by dudeman17

  1. Bob_Church


    In another thread someone mentioned only needing whichever canopy was safest and it got me curious about when canopy development would have ground to a halt if we had stopped there. I really wasn't trying to dump on small canopies.




    My guess would be in the 80's, when the 'higher' performance 7-cells were the norm. Ravens, Cruiselites, Comets, Pegasus', those sorts of canopies. When you could skydive and base jump with the same gear. I kind of liken that era to the muscle car era of the 60's and 70's. They didn't go as fast or handle as well as what you can get today, but they were badass and we had a lot of fun with them.

  3. Scary story.

    Just to clarify, the skyhook disconnect that I, and I believe skytribe, refer to is NOT the RSL/skyhook shackle disconnecting from the riser ring. That should be part of not only a gear check, but also the final check before getting into exit position, as well as the handles check after setting the drogue. The skyhook disconnection referred to is that the hook connecting the main canopy to the reserve bag can come off, rendering the system a standard RSL.

  4. Interesting discussion of EPs.

    The guy definitely should have had his hand on the reserve handle, not the riser. As others have stated, having his hand on the riser could result in an hesitation and entanglement, or an injury that could prevent a reserve pull or correct control of the reserve. I can kind of see some peoples' point that with a skyhook, in the moment it takes to confirm a successful cutaway you're already at line stretch, but as has been said sometimes they disconnect. I have had that happen, and you can feel the difference. Personally, I advocate pulling the handles. Anyone else here old enough to have gone through a static line student program, remember DRCP's? *Shrug*


    But what got me to write was this:

    wolfriverjoe

    [We even had an "Simulated EP race" where two jumpers were shown a pic of a situation and whoever reacted correctly first won the point. Winner at the end won a case of beer (well, Hamm's).



    I don't think we should be promoting races to see who's quickest. Yes, we teach students a two hands each handle sequenced EP, but most people at some point will transition to a one hand per handle EP. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen someone on their first cutaway immediately grab both handles and jam them simultaneously and nearly have an entanglement.

    Smooth, deliberate and accurate is better than fastfastfast.

  5. OK, further speculation just for the heck of it...

    So the aircraft has catastrophic damage, it is going to crash, but everything else is in your favor - it is stable, you're at a reasonable altitude, there is a safe exit point and you have every chance of exiting, opening, and landing safely. You have a tandem rig, meaning you can take somebody with you. Who do you take? The hottest girl/most attractive person to you? The young brilliant kid with a lifetime of potential ahead of them? The wealthiest person in 1st class? Who, indeed...

  12. I have to agree with Toggle. Surplus military pants are way cheaper than jumpsuits. You can sew reinforcement patches on the butt and/or knees as needed. Where I jump, it's hot in the summer and colder in the winter. I just put them on over a pair of normal walking shorts, then if I have time between loads I just take them off. If it's cold, put a pair of sweatpants on underneath. Very versatile. Then for the top, just a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirts, whatever's needed.

  13. tkhayes

    Patrick, dead
    Rob Harris, Dead
    That other lady, dead
    That guy at Quincy, dead
    etc

    pretty much all the great skysurfers died skysurfing. hence my comment



    Don't know about 'that other lady' or 'that guy at Quincy', but Patrick and Rob did not die skysurfing. Patrick died as a result of a rigging error where he sewed his d-bag to his wingsuit, and Rob died doing an intentional cutaway stunt for a commercial.

  16. Ok, wow. I'm not here to argue for or against any political candidate or point of view. I'm just interested in truth and consistency.

    Yoink says:
    ''Creepy Joe Bieden groping young girls' is the title of the (entirely questionable) video... '

    Gowlerk says:
    '...is to somehow compare him to an honourable man like Joe Biden'
    and
    'They will stick to their position no matter how strong the evidence.'

    Jclalor says:
    'As soon as I see "Infowars" I'm done. '


    Is this video not real? Is it animation? Photo-realistic CGI? Did the infowars dude hire lookalike actors to fake this? Does Mr. Biden not touch, pull, fawn over and stroke the hair of these girls? Does he not lean in to sniff/kiss/whisper to them? Does all this not look creepy to you? Regardless of who it is? Are you saying that if this WAS Mr. Trump, it would NOT be all over the news?

    Be honest, people, if you're capable of it.

  17. Ron

    ***Faa says must meet manufactures requirements and manufacturers say Faa medical so by virtue of manufacture requirement Faa requires an FAA medical for tandems in the US.






    The FAA does not require a medical. The manufacturer requires it. You can claim that makes the FAA require it, but that is not true. The FAA does not care about a medical.

    I am not arguing against your other points, but this argument seems to be over semantics. If the FAA requires a TI to meet the manufacturer's requirements, and the manufacturer requires a medical, then yes, it could be said that the FAA requires a medical. The difference, as I see it, is that if the manufacturer independently dropped the medical requirement, then the FAA would no longer require it.

    On another note, without looking it up, doesn't the manufacturer require that tandems be done on an established drop zone? They don't allow tandems at demos. Not sure how that would affect the OP's desire to do them at his own private airfield.

    Also, to the OP: Tandems are nothing to be taken lightly. As with everything else in this sport, there is a lot of value to experience and currency. If you were to take your wife or other loved one to a DZ for their tandem, and you were told that their normal staff was booked up for the day, 'but hey, we've got this other guy over here, he's not very experienced and certainly not current, but he did a few tandems many years ago, I'm sure you'll be fine', would you feel comfortable with that? Even if you work out the off-field and gear issues, I think you'd be better served if you just find a current, experienced TI to take your friends, and just jump with them.

    Hell, that was at least 5 cents' worth.

  18. rehmwa


    I really do hope it's an electoral bust and it has to go to the House.

    This will put the entire 2-party stranglehold in the public light. A Rep house:

    1 - CAN'T pick Hillary, that's the antithesis of what the angst stands for - I agree

    2 - CAN'T pick Trump, he's so incredibly, publicly, horrific, that they'll lose more of their constituency than they keep. It'll ruin careers.

    3 - CAN'T pick anyone from a 3rd party - that would destroy the 2 party, back room, REAL stranglehold of all these insiders splitting up the pie for themselves


    it'll be amazing to see how they interpret the least damage a House pick would create



    Another outside possibility is, they could pick Trump, find a reason to impeach him, and end up with Pence.

  20. kcbooks

    Hello, I recently came into a small piece of jewelry with the name of Gypsy Dave engraved on it. In doing some research I came across a post you made in 2011 that mentioned Gypsy Dave. Can you give me any information about any jewelry or anything else made by him? Thank you in advance, Kevin Coleman



    I sent this guy a PM about this piece, hoping he'd send me a picture of it, but I haven't heard back from him. Has anybody else contacted him about it, and perhaps have a picture that could be posted?

    When I started jumping in 1979, my mom visited the drop zone, and bought a piece from Gypsy Dave, a small gold skydiver that she wore on a necklace for decades until she passed. One time, many years ago, she and my dad were in Mammoth Lakes for a jazz festival or something, and a lady came up to her and asked her about it. "My ol' man made that", the lady said. MissBuffDiver said Karla had passed a few years ago, I'd be curious the circumstances.

  22. I'd say both approaches that have been suggested are good, possibly sequenced. If you're like a lot of kids these days that went to freeflying soon after student status, and you haven't got a lot of belly experience, then find 3 like-minded people and start a 4-way team. You'll get fluent in the type of belly-flying skills that you'll use for AFF like linked exits, piece flying, and close-up relative flying, and you'll have fun and not feel like you're training. Then when you're closer to taking the course, find a coach and work on specific drills like spin stops, rollovers, and chasing unruly students.