Leaderboard

Eventually right-wingers stray so far that they complete the circle and look like hard-core (Russian style) communists. Meanwhile the most fanatical of left-wingers complete the circle and start to act like (Nazi style) fascists. The average observer cannot tell the difference. If you watch long enough, it all looks like a big circle. ... perhaps a big wave. History may not repeat itself, but it often ryhms. Add to that the notion that poorly-disciplined soldiers on both sides tend to be thugs who rape, loot, pillage, stampede and burn with little knowledge of politics.

I submitted a FOIA for the packing cards... I've also submitted a FOIA for Max Gunther's notes.. There is a theory I have been exploring..

You know, them. Everyone is saying it. It's unbelievable, how many people are saying it. You never saw so many people.

Today republicans have changed those enemies to the pro-personal-rights left and immigrants. By associating LGBT and black causes with pedophilia and crime, and by associating immigrants with crime and lost American jobs, they can attack both without coming out and saying "we are against gay people" or "we hate immigrants." But their supporters hear their dog whistles and watch them carefully to make sure they are working to hurt those people.

No mean feat considering the skill and determination of even the part time competitors on SC.

I'll weigh in. Mainly because I've been part of two such bandit jumps out of 172's -- in both cases, as a watcher, not a jumper. The pilot was not experienced enough for me to be OK with the idea now (undoubtedly less than 100 hours, but there wasn't a commercial requirement for jump pilots then), but we were 21 then, and the plane was rented (really bad idea). And when you're 21, what can possibly go wrong? Obviously no NOTAM was filed. It was very hard to force the door to stay open enough for the jumper to get out of the airplane; since we didn't pay any attention to the altimeter in the plane, I have no idea how much (if any) altitude was lost, and how it affected exactly where the airplane was flying. The jumper scraped his gear all over the edge of the door. There was also a walk back involved, since obviously it wasn't a carefully spotted load. One was over a field, the other over a large-ish barrier island in Texas. Just considering that round parachute exiting that close to water kind of gives me the willies now. So while I can assure it's possible, and has, in fact, been done, there's a reason why most pilots don't want people getting out of their airplanes in flight. It takes a good pilot to manage the changes in CG and attitude when people are moving around, especially if they're outside the airplane. And experienced jump pilot would be a good person for your friend to talk to. Wendy P.

Basically no, it was a reserve but some have said there is technically a very slight amount of steer ability if you can manipulate the rig,, I don't know anything about that. Essentially, no steer ability or extremely little.. Cooper didn't have control over his LZ.

My recollection from when the Cypres first came out, Helmut intended it to be as low a possible but still save... he was fighting experienced jumpers who were (with good reason) scared to even be on a load with one, let alone have one on their own rig... he wanted it to SAVE you, when you WOULD have died, and he needed to minimize (in reality and in his sales pitch) the chance of a two-out. We did have to possibility of pilot chute hesitation, but I don't think (wasn't a rigger then) that we had quite so many layers/complexity/tight corners/curves to the reserve container with such tight packjobs. (Councilman / Jerry?) Of course, this was also when his advertisements pointed out that the only visible part was the control unit, and it was so small and tucked away that only your rigger would know you had one. Shhhhhh..... VERY different world now, and mostly due to his efforts to make a new generation of AAD, not simple another AAD. (yes, I'm a fan. bought my first one in 1991, bought my 6th (7th?) one last week.) JW

Not surprising to see the mistake. I've seen multiple headlines this morning saying "Proud Boys Leader Pleads Guilty", without a name, causing the reader to assume they are talking about Enrique Tarrio.

Nah, feeling sorry for them is already too much of a burden.

Why is it that whenever a right winger says ‘what’s your source?’ The answer is always ‘same as your source, you just haven’t read it properly’? Executive Summary Key findings and considerations for this brief are as follows: Available evidence shows that fully vaccinated individuals and those previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 each have a low risk of subsequent infection for at least 6 months.

don't forget to file the notam, and do lots of practice on the exit on the ground. also, make sure you have permission to land rather than just dropping in.

don't forget the go-pro

Uh, no. You’ve completely mischaracterised what he’s saying. What he means is that he is the public face of scientific advice on dealing with covid. He’s not saying he personally came up with all the science or that he’s omniscient, he’s saying that he’s a lightning rod for criticism from anyone who doesn’t like Covid safety measures because he’s the guy they see on TV talking about it. Given that he also actually said this in the same interview the sentence before the one you quoted, why are you lying about it? He also spent a significant amount of time in that same interview discussing the mistakes that were made and the delays in recognising certain things about how Covid works that affected the advice he had given. Can’t you see how ignorant your claim that he was saying he thinks he’s omniscient looks in the context of actually listening to what the man said? You know, if you ever decided to step outside the right wing culture war bubble you might be an interesting person to talk to. It’s really a shame you chose that path.

Your profile doesn't say what your experience is, but if you have even the slightest need to ask about it in a forum like this, then you're not ready to do it. Best advice - don't.

Yes. Now let's look at the whole quote. "Anybody who's looking at this carefully realizes that there's a distinct anti-science flavor to this. So if they get up and criticize science, nobody's going to know what they're talking about. But if they get up and really aim their bullets at Tony Fauci, well, people could recognize there's a person there. There's a face, there's a voice you can recognize, you see him on television. So it's easy to criticize, but they're really criticizing science because I represent science." See? He is not saying that he is science. He is saying that he REPRESENTS science to those anti-science people, and he is a convenient target. The same way that conservatives who attack Buzz Lightyear are attacking woke culture. They don't just say "I don't like woke culture" they say "Disney SUCKS! Buzz Lightyear SUCKS! Shoving filth down my daughter's throat. Boycott it!" That way they have a concrete thing to attack. I get the same thing here as a moderator. I fully recognize that when people go after me in PM's, they're often not attacking me. They are attacking rules they don't like because I am the face of those rules - to those people, I represent the rules. But it's easier to attack me than have to post "I disagree with the rules" and have most people ignore them.

How do you know that he is not defective FSB software, GRU software? In which case he would not be a moron. IMO we should send his picture and ISP address to the Lithuanian elves. to ascertain if he is a person and how long he has been on Putin's payroll.

Where are the Sharpies when you need them?

True... but don't suggest it too loud... Wing-walking was outlawed for this reason... it took 40+ years for our airshow (and a couple others) to convince the FAA that it could be done safely. Its still a very dangerous activity; I know of 3 that have died since it came back, though ironically not due to their own failure as a walker. And there are already too many people/communities that would like to see skydivers go away altogether... And this is the key item why the old "I can do what I want, and if I die then its only my problem" needs to go away. Remember - you're dealing with an industry trying to find balance - we took an emergency egress safety device and use it to intentionally play chicken with Mother Earth. We know swoops kill, but we have swoop competitions. We argue that driving a car is more dangerous, then we show pictures of us skydiving in a car. As a group, we are unable to send a consistent message (nor do I think we ever will...) Cheers my friends.

Every year the human factor contributes to fatal and life altering incidents in skydiving. And the life altering incidents are usually more brutal than an outright fatality. Some people can't react correctly to the situations they encounter and rapidly wreck themselves. It doesn't matter how much training, or how safe the DZO tries to run things. I always review incidents, no matter how serious, with the jumper involved. It's pretty eye opening the responses. As long as the human factor is involved, we will never eliminate the accidents. We can only strive to get the information out there and mentor those that need it. I think we do a disservice to many newer jumpers by not explaining to them how dangerous this sport can actually be. This week my 54th friend went in at Deland. Now granted, I know a lot of skydivers around the world, but this shouldn't be hidden from the newbies. As far as the USPA and the BSRs, if every DZO took a hands on approach to safety and stopped some of the shenanigans their own staff and fun jumpers are pulling, we wouldn't need so many rules. It all starts at the DZO level. Good planes, good pilots, good staff, good riggers, good load organizers and overview of the fun jumpers and a well prepared DZ in case of an emergency all lead to a better success rate in skydiving. It doesn't eliminate the human factor, but it sure helps mitigate it.

^This. I currently jump at a small DZ. I've was a regular at a larger DZ before Covid. Both places have a very inclusive culture for students. It goes without saying that everyone knows everyone else at the small DZ. The students are welcomed as new potential jump partners by the other fun jumpers. Even at the larger DZ, the S&TA (and head instructor) knows all the students. He may not know exactly where they are in the progression, but he has a general idea. The instructors communicate well among themselves. They make logbook entries that allow the next instructor to know what's going on. And if it isn't clear, I've seen the student and the instructor that's prepping them go and find the instructor from the previous jump. That previous instructor will then sit in on the pre-jump brief and offer both the student and the next instructor guidance on what needs work and what doesn't. Also, the DZO is very inclusive. I've directly heard him tell newer students that "once you've done an AFF jump, you are part of the community. You're one of us. You're welcome at the parties, bonfires, or just sitting around on weather holds." He does a lot to cultivate the fun jumper community. That's because he, his wife and his sons are all fun jumpers too. He freely admits he does it so that he & his family have people to jump with.