dks13827

Totally true !! :(

Do we HAVE to wear a rubber ? ( I wear a helmet but do NOT want helmet laws. ) I also work in a government job and I see how many people who cannot run their lives any better than a 6 year old. I hate seeing it. Our schools are a complete joke.

Not sure there is any correlation there. In any case, correlation does not prove causality, as any high school science student learns. I do not wonder why lawful gun owners and / or concealed carry permit holders commit very few acts of crime. Why would that be ?

Now THAT is way funny ! :)

Not. We will be very lucky indeed if we ever send people into orbit again. That is the sad state of affairs that exists.

Go make a tandem soon, it's a blast ! Good luck with your training.

Well geez !!! Last year several skydivers, who were even wearing reserves............

hi... illiterate folks here in the US,, many many folks. i work in a state of AZ agency... folks cant spell receive, there,,, brakes..... and on and on and on. i am sick of it. you know the moon landings ? we couldnt do that now in a million years !!! some high schools have 60 percent failure rates !! nice to talk to you.. Dave Phoenix AZ

I remember well the Camels and the girls !! Jim was very good.

I used to think that a gun grab here in the U.S. would result in a BIG fight.................. but now................... ??

yes. It was okay since they knew it was a lifelong dream to be a skydiver. ( but they still dont know about the bike !!! ha ha. After many many years. )

Great posts here, great memories. The camaraderie was unsurpassed, BTW. I dont think the gear was a big negative factor. ( but when you got your new Strato Star, you no longer worried about getting back in ! ha ha. Early 70's the issue was Cessna 182's at 7500 feet, 9500 feet was terrific. OTOH after 100 jumps you could well be a pretty fair 4 way jumper. When we got the chance for some Twin Beech jumps or wow, DC-3 jumps, that was big time stuff. The small doors certainly made the guys in back learn to be great flyers, too !!! Late 70's at least for me, I started to worry about getting into a really OLD Twin Beech on a hot AZ day !! :(

Sorry for off topic... the posts above show the great difficulty of the calcs that NASA trajectory guys used to do !!! ( see: JPL, and of course, Space Shuttle and Apollo. ) Those guys were the big boys, the heavy weights !! :)

I remember well reading about that bad incident. while many things have improved re: drownings, we still had too many photographers drown, even after the danger was known. :(

Strato Stars opened well and were reliable. In windy OK where spotting was pretty important for PC's and cheapos, we Strato Star guys knew we could 'always' get back !!! It was pretty neat. :) ( Mine never did malfunction.... but for those that did, I suppose the subsequent ride on a Navy conical was pretty exciting, but not for very long, ha ha !! )

Who gives a damn ? the world is total shit... and you waste time on this bullshit ??????

The gov. screws up everything, first of all. You name it. My family of ordinary citizens, who work, has always gotten great care, and I mean great !!! And as responsible taxpayers and insurance customers, it is on a timely basis. Since my layoff I finally got a menial gov. job administering ( giving ) health care to poor people, bums, and illegals. No one in his right mind would want to be one of my agencies customers but I guess we do provide a necessary service for some people. I also dont want to be put in line behind a homeless guy because of my age, or race. Beieve me, I bet you a trillion dollars that would happen for sure... there is no doubt about it. Geez... just look at Canadian and British citizens who come here all the time for our great doctors and hospitals... all the time !!!

Zimmerman merely asked Martin if he had business being there, then walked away and was then attacked. ( by the same 'angel' who had attacked a bus driver not many days before. ) If my neighborhood was suffering a rash of crime, I might have done the same..... although now, I am not sure just what I could safely do.

Bob Dole thought Hillary Care was 'fine'. He would support it.

Yes. totally correct. Also remember that the AZ law just mimics the Federal law that exists. Phoenix, AZ

National Safety Council data show the one-year odds of dying in an automotive accident as an occupant of an on-road motorized vehicle are about 1 in 12,300. This translates to lifetime odds of about 1 in 158. 1 in 158 !!!! Think of the people from your high school who are, in fact, dead from car crashes. It is real. I think not wearing a seatbelt all the time is nuts, look at the above. Look at Nascar crashes where they walk away okay. Think about the pain of crushing your chest in a crash from hitting the dash or steering wheel. To answer the question, I am in favor of seatbelt laws because the danger is very very real and the benefit of seatbelts is clear. I am against helmet laws, though I always wear one. And yes, I hate laws laws and more laws.

I have tried very very hard to imagine myself as a 17 year old trying to pound someone's head through the concrete, to no avail.

That idiot is a lawyer in So. Cal now... when some jumpers emailed him about being a dope he replied: F - - - YOU !!!!

I am grateful that my neighborhood does not have that kind of high crime and break ins and burglaries. I can easily see myself patrolling the area as a block watcher should the need occur. Hope that does not happen here, nor to my elderly parents.

This is one of the most informed and rational threads of all time, it is great. It sure has gotten old over the years reading reports about the jumpers who thought they didnt need no stinking RSL, ( or AAD either, for that matter,, in some cases.) Sure, you have to know and maintain your gear very well to help ensure that things will operate according to plan, but you should always be doing that anyway.