skyjames

Audibles! Ha! In south Florida we have the oven door that tells you that you are at break off. You can almost set your alti by it. At passing 4K in free fall (from any higher altitude) it feels like you opened an oven door. Oh, the question: Once before I exit Once at break off Once when brakes are released (and that is because the alti is right in front of me). If it looks like a loooooooong way to the LZ, I do peek at it more often. james "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

Nah, I don't think you need a "D" to attain a night jump ... Uhhh wait a minute! reverse that :) Those that can't see aftert dark should stay around the bon fire. Several reasons for this: 1) there is LIGHT to see who is next to ya 2) there is BEER there 3) on the colder nights it's warmer 4) there is one (or more) spaces I can occupy on the AC doing the jump Really now, The most fun I have had on a jump was at night. Midnight jump into yk2 @ Pahokee (Skydive Palm Beach Fl.) 4 way Horny gorilla, you could see both the east and west coasts lights outlining the state under canopy. Plus .. you got to see ALL the fireworks! Not to mention flying on your back on a cloudless night and watching the stars. An "E" ticket ride for sure. Make an "E" licence, you only need it for the "E" ticket rides. "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

What you have read already is on the money. What to read from it though? A short story: I was at Lodi Ca. for the Memorial Day Boogie. Bill and Kathy (dzos) are not members of USPA. They have no waivers to be signed, they do not require jumpers to have membership in the USPA to jump there. Could this be an unsafe DZ? From what I saw it was as safe as any USPA DZ I have been to. In fact I met a BOD member there that just happened to have his AC there for the boogie. The Monteray TO. By far the best/nicest TO I have ever jumped outta. I asked Jesse (BOD) why he was at a non USPA DZ. He said I represent the indivual members of USPA not the DZO's and there sure seems to be a lot of members here. It's possible the amount of jumpers that were there had something to do with his AC being there, but I did like his answer :) BTW, a tandem cost only $100. I asked Bill about this and he said "I think everyone should be able to afford to jump at least once." Mikes place, well, lol, if you haven't jumped his ROCKET ship do it! EXIT EXIT EXIT! His kids can fly circles around me. NON USPA DZ, but every time I am in Memphis I manage to find time to jump there. Don't discount a DZ just because they aren't USPA members, you will lose out on some great jumping opportunities. james "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

Hi ya Bill, 40K wasn't set aside. That was the amount mentioned by MOM on the wreck. He beleives with that amount and a seat on the BOD he can get the repack interval extended. I wish him luck on both endevors. (GL on the election buddy ) james "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

This is starting to bug me! I 1st had the problem in Calif over Memorial week at Lodi, then over the 4th of July week at Z-Hills. I jump a Safire 149, maybe 200+/- jumps on the canopy. Problem: After the slider came down it normally stopped at the riser connection point to the canopy lines. I would collaspe it and go on with the flight. Lately the slider will come down past the connector and I just collaspe it and put it behind my head and go on with the canopy flight ... but 3 times it has hung up over the brakes, once I had a hell of a time getting it lose just to push it back up over the connector links. I couldn't get it to come all the way down pulling with both hands, you can imagin the turn I induced doing that. I had Sally look at it while at Z-Hills and she seems to think it's because I have SS grommets. She said that the SS ones are a bit (not much) smaller than the brass ones. She agreed that it seemed to be a tight fit over the brakes, though it appears to only occure on the right (front of course) side. She suggested that if the problem continued stops could be installed. Ok, I can see that solving the hanging up problem, but I kinda like the way this canopy flies when I put the slider behind my head. Landings are much better also. DOM APR 2001 It comes past the metal connector link, hangs up over the brakes where the keeper is located. Brakes look new. Suggestions? james "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

I'm not going. Not until the 31st that is

When: 9-20-97 Where: Suffolk Va. You didn't ask why. Why: At the time I was chatting with a lady on the internet for 3 or 4 months or there about. We had talked about most things people do while learning about each other and one day we were talking about dreams, things we wanted to do before we died. She surprised me with one of her wishes. A wish to skydive. I urged her to just go do it but she said she didn't want to go it alone. I suggested she enlist the moral support of friends close to her home. She said she had done that, but when the day came everytime anyone that had said they would go, they all had an excuse NOT to go. The subject was dropped due to the lateness of the hour and we logged off. I couldn't sleep, I logged back on and spent the rest of the night searching the internet for skydiving related subjects. I found all the info I needed and then some, like I found rec.skydiving and read most of the postings (10K) or so before I logged off again. I was getting excited. Damn, I couldn't see, let alone work the next day. I couldn't wait to log on at our regular meeting time, that is to say, when her husband went to work at his night shift, doctors work odd hours. Being the nice guy that I am i politely shifted the conversation to the dream session of the prior evening and made the bold statement that I would be happy to go and do a jump with her. Not that I had ever entertained the idea before, it just seemed like a wild and crazy thing to do, and I was eager. Sure she says, you will be like all the others a no show. I told her I would go on a few conditions: 1) I would pick the Drop Zone 2) I would choose the style of jump 3) She had to pay for her own way (see, I am a nice guy) She agreed and the quest began. I looked for the most experienced people to teach me. I had grand ideas! I would not do a tandem. I wanted to pull my own rip cord, save my own life. As I explaned it to her: It costs 175.00 to do a tandem, for 50.00 more we can do a whole course and get to jump also. This way if we decide to do it again it will count toward the licence requirments. She agreed that that made sense, in restrospect I believe she would have been better off doing a tandem. It's difficult to fail your 1st jump, but it can be done. I was done searching, I had found the ultimate (in my mind) DZ and person to teach me how to skydive. During my internet shuffel looking for skydiving I found an article about George Bush Sr. doing his 2nd jump, read with some interest about his jumpmasters and sought them out. I found Larry Pennington (sp) at Skydive Suffolk in Va. Just shy of 25 miles from where my online lady friend resided, what luck! I reasoned that if Larry was good enough for an ex Prez he should be ok for me, to accept any less would be foolish. A date was set, I buy ticket to Va. We arrive at the DZ around 8AM, much to early, fog was just lifting and I got to see ppl climbing out of their tents, die hards I though. You wouldn't see me camping out when there were hotels nearby. My idea of roughing it was staying in a Holiday Inn with a black and white TV. Ummm ... well that's WHY, even though you didn't ask. On a side note: I will be 'roughing' it at Rantoul, in a tent :) She only did one jump. james My site; http://www.geocities.com/skyjames2 "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

leaving the 31st from Z-Hills, return after it's all over. Camping. They will allow ya to put a tent up on the "Row"? Sry no room for a BB, but can bring Majic Markers. 'cides I will be doing ALL the special rides to 'tude. MUFF MUFF! Rafting Muff Majic Carpet Muff Blow up toys Muff etc :) "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

oh my, oh my... E-ticket rides galore (no, it's not an electronic Airline Ticket) Decided to go before the Jet was confirmed, I have video from a friend that did it and at the same time did a speed star (10 way) 13.5 secs ! The Bell chopper ride was still considered the best E ride of all. Is there corn fields in Rantoul? Dragging the tips of your feet over the top of them while sitting in the door sounds like a little fun :) From fast to slow Oh my, Oh my! A clash, speed vrs no speed , jet to balloon. Like the 1st time you jumped, you only get to do that once, so I want to be 1st again, in more ways than one. "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james

Our main jumpship is a turbin Porter, nine ppl max. Several times I have seen the TM undo an old harness clip from an eyelet at the top rear of the plane. The clip has a little webbing left on it and is quite frayed. After the 'student' is secured the TM will ask them to lean forward a little so he can tighten the shoulder strap a little more. " Wouldn't want you to fall out, you know?" he would say. While the 'student' is leaning forward he tugs real hard on a strap having his thumb hooked under the harness, then he snaps his thumb out and says "OH SHIT!", bringing into the 'students' view the old harness snap with frayed webbing. Sometimes he will ask another jumper if they think its safe to only have three points connected, or say something like: "Well this was the last day this rig was going to be used anyway." Some 'students" catch on right away, but the look on the ones that don't, hoooo-ya! james "exit fast, fly smooth, dock soft and smile" 'nother james