Derekbox

Whats the issue, Im an avionics tech. But not a bench tech, if it is a inner radio issue, it needs to see a shop. D

Sure, cept Im not in Orlando anymore. Sucks because I love the city. But I have to go where the work is. Good luck. Also make sure you have a bank roll if you goto Full Sail, is hard to work and goto school there. D

Full Sail is East Orlando- Paige goes to Full Sail, she is an all round cool chick and great contact to have in Orlando. Send her a message. A word of warning though, I have a few friends go through Full Sail, it is not your normal school. The schedule sucks the life from you. Ask Paige. Completely rule out Titusville. Even if you could jump there, you probably would not enjoy it. Most all the regular Titusville fun jumpers have stopped jumping there. It isnt a sport skydiving friendly dropzone any more (to be honest, I havent jumped there in years because I never liked it, this is what I have been told and seen). Deland is about 45 from E Orlando, nice easy drive. Always people around, always planes flying. It is where I learned to skydive. People may bash Deland, but I suggest you try it out for yourself, they have a lot to offer. Zhills is a great dz, about an hour and a half from E Orlando. I never got into the DZ because it wasnt my scene, but I never regret going. Lots of good belly flying and wing suiting. GREAT after hours socializing. Sebastian is also 1.5hrs from E Orlando and my home DZ. Most of the FL freeflyers come out here. We also have a decent belly scene. The views are amazing and the people are warm. Lake Wales has on occasion a Casa, but it is not a Casa dz. It is not a regular jumpship there. They bring it in for special occasions. I used to be a Lake Wales regular, but the dropzone really fell off. I hear it is slowly picking back up, but I have no desire to go there. Try it out if you wish, but last I heard it is pretty dead. D

Black and red tye die? Very nice. I like your styling influences.

I just have to throw this out there for a little shameless plug. That was yours truly, flying the red/grey velo 111. I swooped the living hell out of the camera crew and was told it might make airtime. They got the set up instead. Ha. Id like to thank my sponsors: Wawa, Crisco and Diet Pepsi.

I am an aircraft mechanic, I have been on a couple loads in my skydiving career - if you spend enough time in the sport it will likely happen to you too. The most important thing I can impart to anyone in *ANY* emergency situation is to take a second to evaluate the situation. What is going on? Is there anything I can do? What do I need to do? The whole thought process takes half a second. Many people panic and nothing good comes from that. Perfect example, if the airplane looses and engine (as per the previous posts) - the aircraft is still flying. If it is a twin, it still may be climbing too. A competent pilot should quickly evaluate the situation, address the situation and sometimes even rectify the situation. In any aircraft, but especially smaller aircraft - sudden changes in weight and balance (CG) can add to an already bad situation. If on the other hand you look forward and see no nut behind the wheel (pilot) or you see them crawling past you towards the door - I suggest making a departure, consider it your permission. D

I dont think Scott Miller is doing canopy coaching anymore, last I heard he was running one more batch of classes and then is moving on to greener pastures. But check it out for yourself. D

It was nice to meet most of the gang as a fellow competitor instead of a spectator. I learned so much and Im grateful for all the input. I hope to put it to good use in Palatka. Derek

... yes and that too. Who wouldve thought - one second happy hunky dory, the next punctured skin, avgas and climbout without a rig...

I'm a liberal shit for brain stinky anarchist type. I don't go on shooting sprees. I think the L vs R argument is trite and fails to address the root cause of the issue. This is not a liberal problem. I think it is a failed school system and a break down healthy families (among other things). Schools are supposed to provide a healthy environment for kids to learn and learn to socialize. The mentality that school is strictly for learning is bullshit. School is a place for students to bond with there peers, to learn to interact with society, to learn to be treated with respect and responsibility and to learn respect and responsibility. We all are aware of what is actually going on the majority of schools. Its a breakdown. Its a battlefield. As for the family, when I say the breakdown, I am saying that in order for the average American 2 parent household to make ends meet in the middle class world, both parents have to work. Its an economic necessity. How many latch key kids do we have these days? We cant blame the parents for that, I personally blame a culture that fails to prepare our young for the real world (see above) and where young adults start families well before they are financially (and mentally) ready to deal with such realities. Way to many parents have children, but supporting a raising a child is only part of the development. You cannot teach responsibility, trust, problem solving and life skills to your child when you are not only vaguely present in your child's life, but you lack the skills yourself. Guns were just as available 20, 30, 40 years ago as they are now. That didnt change, something else did. You cant blame the firearms and as such removing (or trying to remove) the firearms from the problem does not solve the root issue, it just creates other issues. Among liberal, I am also very PRO gun rights. For reasons far beyond protecting ourselves, I think that capable adults have the responsibility to bear arms unrestricted from the government. Because once they can take away that right from us, it paves the path for them to slowly erode away at the rest of our constitutional rights and freedoms.

You are pretty much as wrong as can be. The issue is gun violence. If the school was blown up that is now a fertalizer issue. You cant have it all. Want to outlaw cars so someone cant plow over a crowd?

Have you considered leaving the door on for the ferry? Removing it on site? I havent pulled a Caravan door before so I dont know the specifics, but I imagine it cant be to bad. But I just want to throw this out there - be VERY careful with what you do to the airplane for a "temp door". Personally I (I being your friendly dz.com A&P) could care less what you do, but the FAA very much does. Plexiglass doors are STC'd and certified for use. Anything you use to rig a door, on the other hand is not. Your owner and pilot are at risk for getting a nice little ass chewing from the FAA. Like I said I could care less, but watch out for the man. Times a changing and the ole "back in the day" wont cut it with an inspector who is hell bent on finding something. Watch your 6, the skydiving community is under the scope right now, when jump ships fall out of the sky, we all get put under microscopes.

Back the next time, after this trip....

I picked up a slick contract job here, Ill be here for a few more weeks at least... Sorry babe. When will you be back in Fl?

Orlando. But I am in Michigan right now working for a few weeks. How you been?

If you have to ask why it just isnt for ya sweety

This is an ELT primer I posted in the incident forum, copied here FYI: Ill clarify, ELT's are not on, they are on standby - ready to be activated. They do not need to be turned on into a standby state. An ELT is installed in the aircraft, but is a passive device and waits to be activated either by a G switch or manual pilot activated switch (if installed). ELTs are not powered by the aircraft, they are self contained and powered by batteries internal to the ELT. Some ELTs have a remote switch installed so the pilot can manually turn on the ELT (and then turn it back off). ELTs are connected via a short coax to an antenna on the airframe. Some have an extra extendable antenna mounted in the ELT so the ELT can be removed from the airframe, the stand alone antenna installed and taken on the person as a hand held ELT to aid in tracking persons on the move from a downed aicraft. If the flight crashed, in all likely hood the ELT was not manually turned off/reset. But here are probable other causes of the ELT not being detected: 1) ELT electrically defective (Bad g switch/no transmission/weak transmitter,transmitting off freq,etc) 2) ELT battery is dead/damaged/weak (battery may die prematurely) 3) ELT antenna/coax disconnected/damaged (it is transmitting but the signal is not broadcast) 4) ELT destroyed in crash 5) ELT not installed 6) Search not in range of ELT 7) G switch did not activated (force on G switch not sufficient in proper axis to activate switch) To test a 121.5 ELT (during the first 5 minutes of the hour) you tune the aircraft VHF com to 121.5 and manually activate the switch cockpit switch (if the aircraft has one), listen for the sweep, reset. This only tests the manual operation. To test the G switch you unseat the ELT and holding it firmly in your hand your hit it against your palm - it doesnt take much force. ELT testing and battery replacement is governed by the FAA, the aircraft manufacturer and the ELT manufacturer. ELTs are not to be tested obsessively because it drains the ELT battery (ELTs are not aircraft powered). Artex is a large manufacturer of ELTs. The website has tons of information if you want to learn more. Download an installation manual for any model for more information. If anyone has questions feel free to PM me.

Deland is exit 118 and a couple turns. About 10 m from the interstate. Skydivedeland.com has directions.

Gloves would do it, or if you have the pin on the outside of your hand.

The metal pin lies flat in your hands, itsnt really an issue. But I have had it stab into my palm while doing hook turns before. I just have to be sure the pin is laying flat in my hand. Its subconcious now, I unstow my breaks and push down the pin, takes 1/2 a second.

Every time a "study" shows one thing, the opposing side has a study which shows the opposite. Here is my view. When criminals use firearms in high publicity criminal cases, everyone is up in arms to change the laws. Now either the criminals knew the gun laws and ignored them, or they didn't care about the laws and ignored them. Either way, you make the laws stricter and the criminals will continue to break the gun laws knowingly or ignorantly. The criminals only get punished when caught breaking the gun laws. But in the mean time, law abiding citizens are punished for the rest of there lives with the loss of there Constitutional rights. Yes criminalizing guns reduces firearm availability, so gun crimes should decrease, but it violent crime persists regardless. It also seems to that general crime increases as criminals know they have victims that are legally inhibited from protecting themselves with firearms. This is a local case that has our community in a heated discussion about firearms: Most people agree that if guns were illegal, these kids would not have been shot to death. I Agreed. But maybe clubbed to death, poisoned, Clubbed to death, ran over with a car, stabbed, etc etc etc (I picked all those links randomly). Or they assailant could have gotten a gun illegally (if guns were illegal) and still shot them. The gun does not enable the crime, the gun only enables another method of commiting the crime. My point: a criminal breaks the law, and the community wants to change the laws that will end up damaging the freedoms of the law abiding citizen much more than it will damage the ability of someone to commit a haneous crime. Thats all. I am a liberal. But I am VERY pro gun.

Its ok, we have plenty of ditches to catch you.

Usenet for the win.

Or lack there of. Nice. But you did have a big improvement when you went from the 170 to the 150 which you did not anticipate but were more than happy to discover. Some times there is also a bigger picture. Might not always be in the favor of the jumper though.

I have a thousand jumps on my trulocks too... I dont put the pin in first, I stow my brakes first, then stow the pin, but i pull a little slack in the riser to move the whole forward to stow it without levering it in.