mark135

Anyone tried this helmet? http://www.headhunterhelmets.com/index.asp?page=products&main=vortex _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

Always carry a quarter, a pull up cord, and a condom. pull up cords work well for tying the hind legs of the sheep and the quarter distracts them. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

My problems with this camera are an isolated thing. I have never heard of anyone having a shutdown problem like mine with any digital. The loose front end is the result of a kick on exit. That will happen with any of the dcr-trv models. I beleive its the best in its class because of the quality of "film" and the accessability of the options. You can have all the options in the world but if you have to flip your screen open to get to them the point is moot. In other words I beleive the trv 11 to be the last model in this class to be skydiver friendly. At least if you are shooting students for pay, using linear editing, Which a lot of dz's do. I purchased this paticular camera as a floor model. I will never do that again. It had suffered to much abuse and I could not get a warranty. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

Well Mike, I am using a trv-11 and I think that is the best cam out there in its class. All controls are easily acsessed. You are more than welcome to use it if you need to as I went to the doc yesterday and was referred to an ear specialist with "the worst ear infection I have ever seen". . Actually my trv11 has a loose front end held steady with gaffers tape and it seems to have a door closure issue. I think it lets in air thus shutting down the camera. I had problems with it last year shutting down right at or shortly after exit. I could not duplicate this on the ground. So I am guessing a little gaffers tape on the door will take care of it. My wife will test this theory when she does practice video because if that isnt the cause of the shutdowns it wont hurt anything. I will use her camera for paid video..... at least when im able to jump again. If anyone has any thoughts on this problem let me know. I dont have a warrenty on this cam so i am reluctant to send it in to sony for repairs. I can get a new one on e-bay for $400... And i'm dutch :) (read: cheap) Mark E. (the new guy at nsc) _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

thats kinda funny. last fall I had just finished dubbing a video for a student and walked through the packing area only to notice anothe rstaff member closing up my rig. I assumed i had another 2 minute call without knowing it and he was doing me a favor. turns out he didnt relize it was my rig and thought it was someone elses. As i threw on the rig to do another jump he ran up and said that he had wrapped the slider around the lines and tucked the cells into the center cell. I jump a stiletto. Natuarally i wasnt thrilled in the manner it was packed but what the heck the plane was waiting. My wife neede some more practice filming tandems and there wasnt one available to film so i said i will act like one and she will film it. I opened high so she could film it and low and behold it was the strangest opening i had ever encountered. ended up twisted and had to chop. on the ground the guy who had packed was shitting his pants figuring i was gonna clobber him or somthing. truth of the matter was i was kind of giddy. it was #3 for me, i had survived, great reserve opening. what could i be mad about. I gave him a hard time joking about it and made him sign my logbook. he paid for the repack and i bought a bottle for the rigger and a new reserve handle that i dropped. alls well that ends well but i do love to bring it up to him from time to time. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

ya gotta try americas army. the best fps i have ever played. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

Ohhhh. If only our kids werent all in high school. I hate winter in michigan _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

lol. A good freind of mine with the 82nd once told me just before we exited at 2500 due to clouds. "this aint shit brother, try doing it with a round, at night, with 80 pounds of shit strapped to you at 800 ft.........seeee yaaaaaa!." He then lept out of the plane. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

seems you need to post skydiver boobies ;) _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

Truck Driver. Was long haul, now local. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

sounds like your freinds forgot BASIC SKYDIVING 101 "when under a canopy you are not familiar with, test the flare point and stall point at altitude" I've had 3 rides on my 181-m and all were very nice landings. s to someone saying getting a Dash M. i don't recomend it. the smaller ones (150 and below) or the sizes that are loaded up at all, stall very easily. like just below your shoulder. i don't like that personally. but it's not me hanging under one. (i could be a little biase, i have had a friend go in under a dash m with broken A and B lines, and had another friend break his back from his 120 dash m stalling, and onother break his wrist from his 150 stalling). _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

I had purchased a new diablo when they first came out. loaded at 1.6 or so. not many people believe me but i will put it up against a stiletto any day (in the air) but it is a 7 cell and lands like one. I now have a stiletto with the same loading because i cant seem to land a 7 cell main very well. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

both are good programs in their own respect. Bottom line is I never would have made a second jump if i had to pay 100 some odd dollars per jump. My wife and I learned to pack student rigs and worked our way through the static line program. I feel that static line provides a cost alternative to aff for those who cant cough up a lot of money per jump. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

I started jumping at age 32 with my bro- in law. my wife wondering why we always had a smile and spent entire weekends at dz decided to do a tandem, i had 42 jumps then the next week she was in static line class. she now has over 500 jumps and me over 700. we are both s/l instructors and videographers _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

Ahhh but i do love that z1. it fit so perfectly.. just kidding. that really sucks. the last year in quincy on my first jump i landed betwixt the taxiways and a truck came to get me, i jumped in and as we drove back i noticed a hawkeye with a cam rolling around my feet. I picked it up and passed it through the window to the drivers. I am not always the most honost person but it never occured to me till later there were other, less honorable options. Hope that helmet got back to the owner. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

In a related note. It would be nice if Power,tv,vcr were available at the orginizing tents. also someway to safegaurd equipment left on the ground. I did some video on the orginized dives just for shits and grins (ok, sometimes ppl chipped in and i got my slot payed for.) But i was at a loss when people asked for a copy of my tape. I have no problem giving footage to the people on the dive. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

ok, my 2 cents. I think there is somthing funny about all of a sudden having to disarm iraq after 10 years of non-compliance. What that is I dont know. There is a very good possibility that we dont know the half of what is going on with sadaam. Its also possible that Britian dug somthing up and was unable to move on it alone thus getting U.S. to act as leader. that would explain Blairs single mindedness towards this war even though it will cost him his career. I dont hink he would do that just to stand by Bush's side. I enjoy making fun of the french and the germans also but lets also remember the bravery shown by the french resistance. Not all french were vichey. Remember also those german,belgium, and dutch that hid jews, some at the cost of their own life. remember the Polish who though their country was defeated, never gave up and fought as poles throughout the rest of the war. On the other hand i have a french rifle for sale... never used and only dropped once. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

anyone who jumps at Raeford know sgt. Guy Mack? He is stationed at bragg does some jumping at raeford. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

I was just reading the "attaching canopy to rig" thread and found it amazing that 1) she has 100 jups and doesnt know this 2) someone mentioned that an aff instructor doesnt know how. Reminds me of the last year in quincy, It was so hot my wife and I broke down and had used a packer. The guy did a great job, he had a tent near the alt. landing area opposite the main landing area (e,n,s,w,?) anyways our camper was just across the road. As he was packing a storm started coming in, high winds and all that fun stuff so we ran over to give him a hand ,he had 4-5 rigs laying there and they would get wet if the rain started. a buddy of mine jumped on my rig to finish it and i asked the packer if i could help with somthing, he asked me to close up this beutiful new javelin, as i was closing it a girl came up and stood next to me and asked if i had packed it, i said no and explained i was just helping to close it due to the storm. she said it was her rig. I promptly slid the rig next to her feet and said that in that case you can close it. She said she didnt know how. It took me a sec to let that sink in as i shook my head and finished the rig. Is this even more common than i think? My run on sentances and rambling are a whole nother topic!! _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

played gr for a while but i went back to americas army. usually play insurgent camp map. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

I dont know but some people say i should have my neck vertebrea fused cuz i've been told "where was your head" and "you got your head up your ass" _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

ok. how about this: does anyone have an e-mail address for strong that works? _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

I didnt write that part. What I did mean was lets not make it more expensive. _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

Yes. Then you teach them how to not do it again. I am really glad that my instructors didn't have this attitude. I might not be alive right now if they had. It is not an option for one of MY students to get hurt if I can help it. One student fatality is NOT an option for me. Altitude, flying in with my arms up protecting my head, a good helmet, and an AAD all in conjunction with a good flying ability will save any student from deploying while on his/her back. To say that it is ok for a student to deploy on their back is ludicrous. I have seen the broken bones and near death experiences that come from attitudes like that and I don't find it to be acceptable in the least. I couldn't agree more with that statement, however, I do disagree with an instructor using an AAD as a secondary means for stability. This is just my opinion here, but I tend to follow these rules in my head on a student dive: 1st: teach a thorough and accurate ground school and make sure the student understands it thoroughly by repeated demonstration. (repeated demonstration also builds muscle memory) 2nd:Do everything in my power to assure that my student has a really good skydiving experience by keeping him/her safe on the dive. I do this by allowing enough altitude for recovery if things get out of control. I would much rather tell a student that they failed the dive because of instability than visit them in the hospital to tell them they failed and I am sorry that they have broken bones because I couldn't fly well enough to save them from themselves in conjunction that I didn't take them as high as we could have gone which would have made things easier. A deployment while on your back leads to a 50/50 chance of an entanglement of legs and suspension lines. This is going to break bones or kill most people and probably lead to the individual never skydiving again. I know that if I were on student status and had to land on my head because one of my instructors opted to let my AAD fire while I was on my back instead of him getting in to help me......well, I would never come back and I would end up bad mouthing skydiving for the rest of my life.....if I was even able to talk. seems ppl are mixing and matching aff and s/l. bottom line is you have to know that the student understands and is capable of acheiving the dive goals. I have had my share of students that "broke themselves" i can assure you it never has anything to do with the dive. im sure its possible to break an arm or leg on an unstable opening. as far as you never lettig a student pull on their back? well, lets review 1. pull 2. pull at altitude. 3. pull at altitude and stable rule number one supercedes everything. oh yeah, have fun!! try not to mix up s/l and aff. they are two different methods with 2 different dive goals. 2 types of j/ming. just because i dont have an aff rating doesnt mean i cant fly as well as an aff/i. after all i am just a s/l I so I can't fly worth a crap! (see: humor) _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

wow. how easy it is for people to get things mixed up. Nowhere did i say that the requirments should be lessened. nowhere did i say that the price should be lowered, I made no suggestions at all. simply stated a fact that an aff rating is cost prohibitive to many ppl. those of you who said that you got your ratings "whatever the cost" thats cool. im happy for you. My wife and I cant do that. its hard to feed 4 kids and pay the mortgage if you "give it all up" and thats fine, thats the way the mop flops. those of you who worked so hard to acheive financial security, good for you. im glad your life has gone the way you want it to. Dont forget there are people who have had disasters in their life which have prevented them from attaining their goals. our life is still rich with the sound of laughter and joy of seeing your kids make the grade. I am not whining, just explaining. as far as a fanasy world... well lets see.i have been shooting tandem vids for 3 years so i know the scoop. I know exactly what it will cost me for a tm rating and exactly how many jumps needed to pay that off and exactly how many jumps i can do per weekend. sorry you guys had to pay so much for your level 2's at our dz our level 2's are free. teaching for the joy and giving back? well yes there is that and its true it is rewarding in that respect. i have been a s/l jm for 4-5 years so i know all about that. but how many of you could continue to do that if you didnt get paid? so bottom line is I didnt say anything about lowering the requirements. Nor did anyone else. no one said anything about lowering the cost. all i did was state some facts. i do think people should stop being so eager to jump on other people's case's. Shit man, who cares. we could be living under a bridge or starving in some third world country _______________ "It seemed like a good idea at the time"