phillipabell

Used to be a rocket scientist, but gave it up. Didn't pay that well. Actually, Lockheed Martin Astronautics was my first job out of school (it was Martin Marietta Astrounautics back in the old days). If I was still working there, I would be making as much money (or less, probably) as when I started. Personally, I'm an engineer posing as an IT person - talk about belittling! Did you hear about the prostitute that called herself an "entertainment engineer" ?

Had a friend in college from China named Yuk Phu ... I'm sure it wasn't a problem until she came to America to study.

Just a tip - if anyone is working on meditation during free-fall, get an audible. Or two. Not that meditation has anything to do with Zen, necessarily, but most people that practice one practice both. Desire is the root of suffering, and it's damn hard to not desire jumping. A quandry. I would love to hear anyone's experiences with trance freefall ...

Seriously - I think there are more engineers that skydive than any other profession (except, of course, the people that skydive for a living). What's up with that? There's lots of pilots too, but most of them don't do it for a living. Maybe engineers are just good at rationalizing stuff - we can even rationalize making a sport out of plummenting to one's death. phil school: Colorado School of Mines degree: Engineering - Electrical specialty (can't spell gEEk without EE) year: 1993 profession: software (in case EE wasn't geeky enough)

I will definatley look forward to coming back - you guys were great to me for the ten minutes I was there ;-) Nice DZ too. Just bad luck with the timing. I was going to suggest we start drinking at that point, but I didn't want to sound like the brash yank - yet. Next time. Tell Nadine everyone from Colorado says hi and nice seeing her at the WFFC.

I go through the same thing being self-employed. If you are in the US, I would recommend don't tell them during application and read the fine print of the contract yourself. If they don't specifically exclude it, they must pay for your injury. I'm working on new health insurance with Golden Rule and they do cover sports-related injuries - I have a friend that blew out his back and foot and Golden Rule paid for it. On a more general note, I realize that socialized medicine sucks, but we are one of the few countries that doesn't have it. It would be nice to not have to deal with the hassle - I used to be covered by work, but being self-employed makes things more difficult.

Depends on where you work. In Colorado, it's a "no fault" state, so you can walk out anytime from any job. Downside is employers can get rid of you with no notice, but what the hell? I am no man's ass-pony. I think it's pretty much everywhere that employers are required to pay you, but ask a lawyer in your area - probably give you a free consultation for five minutes of advice. You might suggest to your boss that if he can't come up with cash, you accept oral sex as a payment. Bah - this is why I work for myself. I hope all you gentle skydivers will forgive my foul language but I have strong feelings about the whole throwback to midevil fuedalism that we call working for a corporation. May I never go back.

Just thought I would let you guys know what happened, since you've been a great source of information on this. I packed my rig into a hard-side Sampsonite suitcase and marched right up to the United ticket counter and asked for extra luggage insurance. After giving me a look that suggested she was a ticket agent because she could not handle the intellectual challenge of her former job as a newspaper carrier, she said "I've never sold any - I don't think we offer that." Of course, being the meek and cowardly skydiver that I am, and not wanting to draw a lot of unwarrented attention to the fact that I was checking what seems to be a questionable item - a situation that would probably delay my getting on the airplane - I just checked the suitcase and walked away, while simultaneously reading the fine print of the ticket sleeve that clearly states extra insurance is available, and to just ask the ticket agent for it! I'm glad I'm not the only one working for companies that place the most incompetant people in the positions of most authority. Anyway, my (one) suitcase got a sticker that said it was extra-heavy, but they checked it and made it safely both ways, although I got some dirty looks from skycaps that tried to lift it. Interesting story when I was in Memphis. I went to Mike Mullins' place to jump the super King Air. It was out for 500,000 mile service and his Cessna was also in ill-repair, so he had another Cessna, complete with relatively new pilot flown up from Atlanta to keep the skydiving going. The pilot just dropped off the first load and came back down to land, and crashed the plane. Ouch! I was suited up and had all my gear walking to the hanger when I saw the plane come down and heard it skid off the end of the runway. No one hurt. I got picture of it in the ditch and got some video of everyone pushing it back up with the help of a tractor. Needless to say, the skydiving was done for the day, and this was the only day I had off of work. So I hauled my rig out there for nothing - didn't get to jump. That's what I get for missing first load!

Where, oh where did you get that kind of luggage insurance? I've been looking around on the web and calling people who say they only insure between $500-$1000 for luggage. American Express goes as high as $2000 if you're in their program, but it takes weeks to enroll. I think I would probably need $3500 or so. If you have a phone or website, that would work. Or can you just get this at the airport? - thanks! p

Thanks all for the replies - this makes me feel more comfortable with taking my rig as a carry-on. I don't have a weight vest, but I probably SHOULD have one, being 6'0" and 155 lbs - when I'm on belly in my free-fly suit even ghosts sink on me Don't have a rig bag yet either. Hope the thing meets the size restricions for carry-ons - it's pretty bulky.

Women are like bottles of wine - they all taste different. Personally, I like the taste. Why am I so hungry for sushi all of a sudden? I guess not everyone likes sushi either ...

I quite agree - considering the problems with too many strays and unwanted pets - please get them spayed. When I was a kid we had no money for getting animals spayed, but somehow we still found ourselves with lots of pets. Cats having kittens constantly. It was easy to get rid of them - post an ad in the paper for free kittens. Lots of people took home our kittens - this made the momma cats very sad. Some of the people were, shall we say, "slimy"? It wasn't until years later that I found out why free kittens are so popular. Many people use them as food for their pet snakes ... So! If that story offends you as much me, please think about getting the pets snipped. Remember pet snake owners may also go to shelters for kittens ...

Not to rehash this, but the last post I saw about this was more than a year ago, so ... I would like anyone's advice that has flown recently about taking one's rig on a commercial airline. I've never flown with a rig before. I'm flying United from Denver to Memphis. I do have a cypress, so I don't know if that's still an issue. As far as I know, my options are: 1. Take it as a carry-on. Better for me, since luggage is only insured to $500 or something like that - not enough to cover my rig. And it would be nice to know my precious is right there with me. 2. Pack it in luggage. Easier to get through security, but more of a risk if it gets lost. 3. Ship it to myself, insured. I think I can FedEx it to myself for about $30, but what a pain in the ass! I have no idea what hotel room I'll be staying in, so it'll be hard for me to address it. If anyone has taken gear on an airline recently and has some experince with this, please let me know and thanks in advance!

Demo'd a lotus 190 in Colorado. I usually fly a triathalon 190. The lotus is a terrific canopy. I found that it's not quite as responsive under rear riser as my tri (lotus has 9 cell and tri has 7), but it is more responsive under toggle. Initial bag deployment was a bit of a jerk, but it sniveled nicely and opened softly on heading. The airlocks make for GREAT smooth turns, since the wing doesn't deform. I stood up the landing on the first jump - never done that before, it usually takes me 3-5 jumps under a new canopy to stand up. The lotus lands beautifully. One thing I'm not used to - the canopy doesn't deflate immediatley on landing, but Brian has some tricks for doing this. This is the ONLY square airlock on the market and it will probably be my next canopy. The cost makes it a little hard to justify. I just bought a complete used rig with cypress for $2100. A new Lotus 190 canopy by itself is $2050. Overall, I give it the highest marks. The Big Air team should be proud of this canopy.