kflying

I hadn’t intended to prove Darwin wrong that day but - - - 3-way planned out of a Cessna during a “Beach Weekend” – we’d planned on the usual crappy Oregon weather and expected 3 grand. Launch, track and pull. In my fussing over getting an observer in place and belted, I left my altimeter, but hey – I had several hundred jumps and we had a simple plan – it should be ok. Instead, the pilot got us 6500 when a hole opened. We made up a few points as we climbed, then went. The third point was a cat, me in the middle. We had grips, when the lead jumper suddenly dumped in my face – later reported to be at 1100. Instead of dumping immediately, I started to kick the last jumper off my legs when he was suddenly gone. I started to reach – and learned about ground rush. I could see the ripples in the sand, sticks, logs. Don’t know how long I froze, but then I threw out – I was flat packing my Sabre in those days. WHACK opening, grabbed the brakes, made a small turn and flared. Had I been pro packing I suspect the ending would not have been as good. How low? Too stupid low. I use that story with students when I talk about why I am so intense on altimeters – their use and their problems. And ground rush can kill. (IMHO) A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.

Speaking as a person who reads the incidents forum often, and rarely logs in and posts, this is a terrible move! I first found the Incidents section because I was exploring the site, looking for education. Today, I find that the Incidents forum is not displayed under Forums page - the next new explorer may never know of it's existence, and will be prevented from the opportunity to learn! If the people who manage this site (an excellent and useful site, to be sure!) think an additional layer of "protection" needs to be, leave the link on the Forums description page, but if someone clicks on it, then tell them they need a free login. And then you are right back to the possibility of what was being complained about. Either keep the information open, or accept that it has moved to an elitist category available only to those who already know of it's existence, diminishing it's usefulness as an educational tool. Or just go back to a free and open exchange of information available to all who seek to learn. BTW - I thought this was a moderated forum - I thought the moderator could kill posts that were wandering into attack or other modes, even email repeat offenders, etc. I guess I mis-understood what moderating was all about. Peter A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.