crustySCSA69

"i don't no the history of this .. and history is SOOOOO boring I can't bother to check it out..'' please look at the Skies Call series of books ... contains 2 pics of the 1st 3 tandems EVER done ... all kids (2 of them) ... that is what inspired some folks to think "wow... we could do this with adults !! and make bucks!! " and so began the trivialization ... it started with kids ... live with it ...

I read this thread before ... now i have enough beer on to post .. GET THE LARGEST, MOST DOCILE STUDENT TYPE SQUARE you can find (your DZ might be using canopies that are too hot for students... check out all 'student' squares) PLF EVERY LANDING until you are comfortable NEVER UPGRADE YOUR CANOPY .... ask yourself ... am I in this A. to Skydive B. to look cool if you answer is B, you're fucked ... if you answer A. ... FORGET WHAT THE EXPERTS TELL YOU ... get the most docile, largest canopy you can find .. Skydiving has NOTHING to do with parachutes (other than you need one to save your life) fast (unstable), small (unstable) modern (unstable) squares are a marketing abortion you do NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT.. I was on a world record ... the only round canopy there...I did not care if I was 'fashionable' (and in those days, no one died landing a square) if you truly just want to be a skydiver ... forget the 'social' pressure about gear... jump something comfortable .. and concentrate on 'Skydiving' ... parachutes are NOT skydiving, no matter what some idiots might tell you ... get something comfortable (no matter how 'unfashionable' .. and stick with it) PARACHUTES ARE NOT SKYDIVING ... they just save your life... get one that works for you and screw the 'fashionable' take on it all...

Laffin My Fuckin Ass Off ) LMFAO 12 years of jumping when not only, was the door not closed, but, NO EFFING airplane even HAD a door .. and I NEVER saw a pin check cause this kind of problem ... I never even HEARD of it causing this kind of a problem ... more modern ... 'oooh, i can imagine a problem here ... lets change that' well ... 'ooh, I can imagine a solution, stop jumping you ADD twit'....

I came from a little dz in Nova Scotia ... some one on an early Canadian team (early 70's) left a whole stack of parachutist and skydiving .. dating back years .. to the first 8 ways ... I read every issue several times... late 70's ... working at z-hills and Bird shows up ... he and I have 'rooms' in the hanger on the north side, so we get to know each other ... one night, in the loft, we get to watch Bird narrate 'Masters of the Sky' with stop action and complete explanation of what we are seeing (I kept jumping early on because of Master of the Sky ... I was not gonna stop till I had been on something as big as the end sequence) unreal...I'm hearing all the background as I watch .. Bird was one of those who saw EVERYTHING everybody on the jump was doing, while doing his own job... if you broke his rules for the jump (did once) it better have worked (it did) or you were in shit... even if it worked, he sort of clucked at you .. yeah that worked ...but bad discipline (and he was right) if you were sloppy, and he thought that was beneath you... he'd just give you a "c'mon... what were you doing?" (had that happen) and that was worse than any criticism from anyone else (if you knew Bird) .. because it was never a lucky catch by him... he knew everything everyone was doing, he didn't need video to tell you exactly what was happening .... B.J. is great ... but NO one has had the impact Bird had.. it's a shame so many don't have a clue about the history of this crazy activity we all love.... and Bird is easily in the top 5 most influential people EVER ....

i don't know about LIMO_LOAD.jpg but I know i jumped in Perris with the lady in back row center... but can't for the life of me, remember her name (Laurie keeps coming to mind) ... but in same pick, kneeling second from right, in white jumpsuit, is Spyder .....(real name, I don't think I ever knew... Spyder was part of our team SkyScuzz, for Perris 6 way competition back around 81. We were poor ... so we had Hell-Day practice (3 jumps) in lieu of a Hell Week . and we had a team 'sketch artist' we were too poor for Video we averaged 4 pts a round ... unfortunately, we only ever got 1 in time and turned 3 each round, after legal time expired ... we was slow to start and finished like mad men !! if anyone knows anything current about SPyder ... let me know

from Rover "Failed to try pullout on the ground and could not fully extract pin because her arms were too short" from Speed2000 "Who was the author of said reports? He/she had a wicked, if black, sense of humor. " Wicked sense of humour ?? Why didn't he say "what moronic Bozo was training her ?? Why did they not know her gear DIDN'T fit ??" what kind of assholes ran that Dropzone and who were they, so we can castigate them as lame dipshits ?? This pisses me off because way back when, I came out to a dropzone (to remain nameless, not big and all those people and all that gear are long gone.... and NOT in N.Z.) and watched this nice young lady on her second 10 second delay open at 1200 feet on her reserve (long ago, belly mount reserve, army surplus, B4, I think, main container, 28 ft round, sleeved, main canopy ) ... everyone seemed uptight and I learned that on her 1st 10 second delay (her last jump), she had opened at 1200 on her reserve... she kept saying "I pulled, I pulled and nothing happened !!" ... they wouldn't listen... pulled it on the ground and said "Look, it works fine !!" I thought, this chick (who I knew slightly) is not a twit... plus, she just saved her own ass twice, with perceived totals, and she only has about 12 jumps... so maybe we should look at this... so I had someone close the rig ... and I said "Janet, put this on and pull the ripcord" she put it on (on the ground) ... pulled the ripcord... arm completely stretched to the side... and the pins never cleared the cones ... total .... red faces all around .. ripcord housing too long for short folk ... they got adjusted ... unfortunately ... by then ... Janet had quit .... freaked out .. hey, I had 3 reserve rides from jump 50 to 90 ... she had 2 totals on 11 and 12 ... I don't blame her for quiting ... and that poor student in N.Z. (and I'm sure it was a her) ... I hope she lived ... and the IDIOT that mentioned her short arms and not the TOTAL MORONS that put her in that gear ... I hope they got the hell out before they let someone die needlessly ..

And that my friend is a large part of why I hung up jumping 3 years ago. The “entitlement generation” has taken the fun out of just being at the drop zone. Sad. Sparky next time... please ... just punch their fuckin lights out if they endanger your safety ... it'll just teach them more about the history of the sport ... that's why no one used to do that ... cause someone would punch your lights out if you did ... people ARE NOT RATIONAL ... but they do learn fear real quick ...

incorrect terminology... you are (in later posts) explaining you mean decision height... hard deck is the lowest altitude at which you will simply pull no matter what the fuck else is happening (e.g. people above you, whatever, at your hardeck, if they are still there, they eat your pilot chute) that being said, my harddeck is 12-1300 ... if I'm there, and your still above me, fuck you, eat this ...

lol in the bad ol days when we discovered a jump completely cured a hangover... the only goal was not to puke on the first ride up... cause when you were down, you were cured... and a 2 jump hangover (obviously requiring 2 jumps to kill it) was a truly memorable 1 ... about 1 in 350 or, say, once a year and these days, ya'll even have decent beer to swill the night before ....

are there steering holes in it ?? if not, how much do you want for it ? seriously, I need a main.

technically speaking, wasn't it just a bunch of guys doing a semi-large jump (albeit head-first) i mean ... don't you need to get to 401 to have a 'real' world record ???

again, brutal or not, the replies that upset you addressed your original post ... if you ever become a student and ask a million questions, get no reply at your dropzone and post that on here .... your replies will all be 'Go somewhere else, as fast as you can' o0r 'they are ignorant bastards, come 'X' DZ where we like students trying to learn' etc .... these same people that dissed your post could be a font of valuable info for you... just not on that subject, because, it is basically immaterial.... quote from my first jump course 'we can teach you everything you need to know to handle anything that can go wrong... you can follow all those procedures perfectly ... and something can still happen that will cause you to die... if you can't accept that.. leave...." no one did... the point being, hurtling at the ground at 110+ MPH is inherently dangerous, your original post makes little sense to anyone because pretty much EVERY DZ is attempting to make it as safe as they can for their students and this is borne out by the fatality rate for students sinking from about 50% of fatalities per year to about 5%, if that, over the last 20-30 yrs. if a perfectly safe operation is your goal, do something else, if you want to know if an operation is reasonably safe, they all are, try any of them ... and as you learn more... you may decide you'd rather try somewhere else... but that's your call .. and, really, check out the movie Fandango.... student parachuting at it's best ....

rent the movie "Fandango" (it's old) ... watch until you see the part with the typical student skydiving operation... that should answer ALL your questions...

it's not actually 'frap' hat... it's 'frappe' hat it came from the French, who used 'frappe' the way we used 'bounce' (and a much better term, i always thought, since it got the whole audio thing going for it)

You really have a problem here.... You need to ask 1. why did you do your first jump ? 2. why did you do your next few jumps ? 3. why did you keep jumping after that ? I think you'll find the answer is different to each question .

Neither one is wrong? How many 20+ way jumps are you basing this bigway breakoff opinion on? doesn't have to be a 20+ way ... I hit a canopy below me on a 12 way (wicked funnel at break-off altitude... everyone guessed which way to go) .. i was in a full track, staring straight down and ahead ... nothing there at all ... suddenly, pilot chute coming at my face (I found the old tale of automatically going into a fetal ball when faced with imminent death is absolutely true ... which surprised the hell out of me)... toes clipped back of his newly opened canopy (toes tore hole in his canopy... couldn't have missed him by much) ... he HAD looked up before pulling ... I was staring straight down... all we can figure is crossing tracks... point is ... if it can happen when you are actively LOOKING for it ... then it sure as hell can happen when you are on your back and not (probably more likely) anyone doing barrel rolls on break-off is a cool. with-it ASSHOLE... just hope they don't kill someone else while doing it (if they are the only fatality.. we'll all give them a hardy HIM)

I am NOT screwed because nobody cares who I am. but... pertinent to thread title... of course I wouldn't jump with anyone who posts here .... they are ALL too opinionated and self-absorbed (unlike myself) except for that SLYDE guy .... jump with that dude in a second flat ....

also called addiction I amend my response.. It's an obsessively addicting habitual lifestyle... which can loosely be termed a 'sport' sports, contrary to the uninformed, does NOT require competition.. from the dictionary 1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc. 2. a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors. 3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime. note it is 'often' competitive, doesn't have to be ... skydiving became a 'competitive' sport because some people simply can't enjoy something unless they can point at a ranking and say 'See, I am right here' pathetic, but true... skydiving does not require a ranking process... someone can see you approach and dock and say 'alrighty then, want'ta go on the next load ?' without any need of formal ranking (where your team placed) all that stuff is for the anal retentives obsessed with ranking structures... FREE SKYDIVING NOW !!!! POWER TO THE JUMPERS !!!!

That girl was never in Pope... she was just past being a student and went in after a total with no reserve pull or so I was told when I got back from town in the old green DZ pickup. Z-hills used to write the manifested names on pages and mark pre-paids and use the list at night to yell at people to get their asses in and pay up, at end of day. A couple hours later I was standing by the counter and Frasier gave me a look and grabbed the manifest and wrote something on there. I took a look and he had written 'N/C' beside her name. People who looked said there were 3 craters (it was sand) .. a big perfect one, a less perfect one beside it and a little smudgy one by that .. Next night, we are sitting at the back of the building (looked out at the scene, about 40-50 yds away) and a Norwegian strolled over there, lit up a doobie, and layed down in the crater and looked at the stars. Another chick flyer sitting there said "what is he doing ?" (she didn't know about the crater) so we told her and she says "That's sick !!!" and we said "maybe, but I bet he never bounces...." and he never has......

neither ... it's just a habit ....

they were on her ass LONG before she ran for any office, they were on her ass before Bill even got elected... they were denigrating Chelsea from day 1 (I listen to 'talk' radio all the time, especially when I need my feeling that radio blowhards are know nothing media whores confirmed) so take your 'Hilary is an exception' argument and shove it... if anyone is an exception, they are ALL an exception ...

it's unlikely you will ever see anyone try (in my opinion) because A. the 'other' person (these days) probably has an AAD B. the 'other' person has a canopy he wants to open very high also now way back when there is a documented case of someone seeing a pilot chute wrap a bag (all main) and fly over and unwrap it ... but note... in those days, both were perfectly willing to go a little lower... the chance of you being in the air with someone (these days) who has no AAD and has a main that opens super fast are probably LESS than the chance you will have a double-mal .... so if ya get one... just kiss yer ass goodbye

pretty feeble thing to call a 'Chain Of Death' in the late 70's a french Canadian 8 way team under strats or some other equally ancient square used to break off by turning sideways and everyone just start dumping ... not even vertical separation .. they practiced that way and did it on their first jump at the Canadian Nationals and were then told if they did it again ... they were out of the competition ... who needs a 'chain' when ya got a furball ??

the only reason this story has ANY legs is because it is being inflated and misconstrued and slanted to take ALL attention away from the REAL news... that being that PALIN was 'uninvited' from addressing some major Republican function because she and her staff screwed the pooch and flip-flopped over and over on whether she would be there... demonstrating sparkling organizational skills among her and her staff... and now I suppose we hear on 'talk' propaganda(oops .. I mean radio) how some despicable 'liberal' has made some outrageous statement about her and bestiality ..... anything to shift the focus from how incompetent the 'slutty' stewardess look-alike is ... and I'm a liberal, like Attila was a Sierra club member, but that's how the lying little Goebbels wannabes would spin it////

[reply]Chelsea Clinton was off limits during the 90s. Then-candidate Obama declared his family off limits. How is it okay to then infer a statutory rape of a 14 year old? As for the excuse of "I didn't know it was Willow at the game"...it doesn't matter...why joke about anyone's daughter getting knocked up in celebrity/comidial/political fashion...even in this case, pedophilia... Should Letterman be fired. No. Is he a nit-wit...oh yeah... what fucking alternate universe were you living in back them ? the one I'm had had countless slurs and snide remarks about Chelsea on right-wing ... oh wait, talk radio. I used to think, i'm glad I'm not Bill be3cause I'd have to go to some of those studios and kick some serious ass.... did Letterman fuck up, yes but he obviously meant the 'other one' you know, the one of age who got knocked up once already ... and he didn't say anything about rape ... but hey, i'm sure THAT"s all over right-wing (oh yeah, i meant 'talk') radio... any semi sane, semi intelligent person understood his reference and PALIN brought the 'ho into the public spotlight in the first place ... so a quiet apology by him would be OK, but it's not even mandatory ... he did not mean what all the Rushie yahoos are spouting ... so if he doesn't, who really cares... those of us with half a brain know what he meant ...