obelixtim

So the duck is slowly morphing into an eagle...... I'm looking forward to the cartoon where the eagle becomes bullet proof...."my wings are like a shield of steel"!!! Good to see your confidence developing along the right lines....pick the brains of the old jumers on the DZ over a beer or two and you'll find a goldmine of information.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I wasn´t going to say that one Tiger, since she died fairly recently.....I saw her at a POPs meet in Switzerland that I called in on a few years ago, she was driving everybody crazy even then as well. How about Bigfoots name for Cavaick?..... "The Sunday roast"....Ì just had to laugh when I first heard him say that, sick as it was..... So where did "Tiger" come from?. I never did get that... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Been sport jumping in Taupo for many years, just not so much since the early 1990's.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Skydivers are psychopaths by nature (generally). A lot of skydivers exhibit a lot of these traits, if not all. The mouse should survive the FF simply because of its body weight to surface area ratio.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Trying to get them all in proximity to enable a successful dive would be pretty hard...too many variables in aircraft performance, pilot ability and skydiver co ordinaation to make it easy.... We organised a 6 way attempt out of 6 Tiger Moth aircraft one time, back in the late 70's, only getting to 4 grand before the performance of the aircraft fell away, As soon as we got out of the front cockpit on to the wing the formation fell apart...I think we got a 4 way together before we ran out of altitude. Interesting to try though..... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

The batsmen wear pretty good armour but there are still quite a few unprotected areas which will take dameage if they get hit hard by a fast ball. The batsman has to keep his eye on the ball and have very quick reactions to keep him out of trouble. The fielders have no protection at all, apart from the wicket keeper (like the catcher in baseball.), and the aforementioned fielder at silly mid on who might have shin pads and a helmet. My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

A few spring to mind: Cannonball....short and solid, fell like one. Peter Power Pole.....Took out a pole on his way home from the DZ with a skinful. Golow....speaks for itself. Trigger....robbed a bank wearing skydiving gloves, a smart cop recognised them and tracked him down. Came to us on a prison day release programme, landed in the lake and drowned. Spinnamon...girl student with the first name of Cinnamon, had problems in her early FF career. Bigfoot....One of the skydiving brothers Gamble, the biggest of the two. Kornkob....got busted stealing some sweetcorn from a farmers field. Wingnut...aka Wing Commander Nut (he was a pilot as well)....his ears stuck out.... Actually too many to name, there must be a lot I've forgotten.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I'm waiting for someone to start explaining the fielding positions.....that will really confuse anyone.... Slips, point, silly mid off, cover, long on.....to name just a few....etc etc.....then the names for different types of bowling.....the doosra, googly and cutter.... One thing you can't dispute, facing a rock hard cricket ball coming at you at high speed with only bare hands to catch the ball takes some guts.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I remember one of the boys landing in farmer McNastys paddock one day, and getting out of his gear ready for the inevitable argument....Mcnasty claims he's gonna confiscate the rig, and is warned not to touch it. He then grabs the reserve and dumps it in a water trough.... Mistake.... Next thing he finds himself flat on his back with blood pouring from his nose, having been the recipient of a beautiful left hook.... He never gave any trouble after that.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Pfffftt...Any fat tourist could do THAT!!!.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I find it so uncomfortable on commercial aircraft to the point I have to have an aisle seat to prevent me looking out at the ground. I hate not having a rig on, and when looking out, every instinct is urging me to get out of the plane. Its actually quite scary....I fly commercially quite a lot.....and I can't ever sleep on planes....tough on long haul flights. Wierd huh!!. My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Similar one, a couple of pretty girls on the DZ, one of the boys put them aboard the 185 for an observatory ride, to fill a load, and borrowed a couple of jumpers rigs for them to wear. Very short briefing of "If the pilot tells you to get out, do so and pull this handle".... Of course he forgot to tell Pawa the pilot that they were just taking a ride, and at 9 grand, after the jumpers had left, these two were in the back when he turned around and told them to hurry up, "GET OUT!!"..... This reduced them to whimpering jelly, and they whimpered and gibbered even more when he repeated it even more loudly and forcefully.....luckily the lightbulb in his head pinged on right about then, and he closed the door and brought the plane down... Those two girls left a shower of dust and rocks as they departed the DZ.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I'll go along with that. I've lost count of the number of people I've talked into having a go at skydiving. Many of them spproached me with the hackneyed old line.... I regard them all as potential skydivers at best, and money in my pocket at worst. If you come across as "normal" to them, they can picture themselves actually doing it. My response to the "you must be mad" comment is simply: "hey if we were mad, we'd be dead". My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

There is the saying, (which is true, sometimes) "If the student didn't learn, maybe the teacher didn't teach". Many instructors have no training in teaching and learning techniques, and its something that needs to be incorporated into instructor training. Knowing the content, and knowing how to impart it, are two different things. My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

yeah but those guys ARE crazy The prosecution rests...... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Well its prolly the same sort of reaction you would give if you met someone who defuses bombs, wrestles crocodiles, tames big cats or handles venomous snakes. Its a lack of understanding why anyone of sound mind would put themselves in a life threatening situation on a daily basis, and is based on total ignorance of what is actually involved...hence the normal reaction of "you're crazy". which helps to reassure them that they are one of the sane majority. People are uncomfortble with the unknown, and need to assure themselves that they are not the odd ones out (and therefore normal) in these situations.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

The alternate (and better) way IMO, in the days of hand deployed reserves was to roll pack the reserve, you could get a much better grip on the canopy and throw it a lot more cleanly.... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Often it was a case of packing it in such a way to fit the shape of the container and distribute the material evenly to get the finished job looking nicely. I never found that it affected the deployment whichever way it went in. My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I fully agree. Sometimes the stupidest student simply had the stupidest instructor. I've seen a few who must have got their rating out of a cereal box..... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I think for some people the calm response is actually a natural reaction to a life or death situation that you really have no control over. Sort of like accepting the situation as it is, whatever the outcome. I have been in a couple of situations where death has been a likely outcome, and I've been surprised how calm I was. Of course it didnt stop me trying to save myself. Maybe its a result of intensive training about remaining calm in critical situations... Sometimes after the event, the reaction sets in when you have had time to realise what actually happened. My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

I never conciously thought of taking up jumping, because after leaving the strut on jump #1 the thought of quitting just never occurred to me. It just seemed to be the normal thing to do...... Bought gear in bits, prolly was about 70 or 80 jumps before I had a full set...first main canopy was a Delta 2 Wing........everyone told me I was gonna die...yet I never had a mal on it in over 200 jumps. And no, I don't miss the old B4 with 1 1/2 shots, or the wing, OR my belly mounted 24 ft twill..... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

That was a good jump, from start to finish......Ok you went unstable at the start, no big deal.....BUT, you recovered from that, completed some FF tasks, opened safely, became aware of your surroundings, remembered to check for traffic, calculated your landing spot, DIDN'T freak out and do something silly when you realised you were heading towards the runway, and got a stand up to boot.... All in all a pretty good jump in my book. Don't be too hard on yourself, rome wasn't built in a day.... It would be good to see you doing 3 or 4 jumps in a day, or even a few more.....I limited my students to 5 per day, which is prolly enough for anyone. doing one per day or per weekend limits your learning quite a bit.... Doing a bunch of jumps together is the way to really consolidate your learning and make good progress....things are still fresh in your mind...... I think you are becoming quite famous.......... Go for it..... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Three Chinese brothers, named Bu, Chu and Fu, decided that to make their life better they could no longer live in China, so they decide to move to America, land of the free, home of the brave, etc etc..... So they all moved to the US to live..... After a while they decided that their Chinese names were no good, and needed to be changed, seeing they were not Chinese any more, they were Americans. As Americans, they needed American names. So they thought about it, for a while, and came up with new names for themselves..... So......... Bu changed his name to Buck...... Chu changed his name to Chuck..... And Fu....... Went back to China...... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Had you read and understood the original posts relating to this incident, I think the events as they unfolded would have been pretty clear to you. Any "offense taken" you detected prolly came from people who have been down this road quite a few times over many years, and have found that people, and skydivers in particular, find such lawsuits fairly tiresome. They impact on all of us. Especially when people, or their advocates, refuse to take ownership/responsibility for their own destiny, and instead try to lay blame on anyone they perceive to be in the firing line, and who they think is good for a quick buck. Skydiving isn't tiddlywinks. Shit can happen, and I can tell you for sure, its not something that any skydiver enjoys. Accidents and injuries impact on everyone involved. As do lawsuits which have no basis. As you may have gathered, lawyers, and ambulance chasers in particular, are not exactly flavour of the month amongst the skydiving community. Any cowboy operations that kill people regularly through wilful negligence or practise, are fairly soon identified and outed by the skydiving community, and any that are successfully prosecuted in such a case, deserve all the sanctions that come their way. Just saying....... My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

Get all the necessary ratings and experience and become a test jumper. Jump a few prototypes, test jump a few rogue canopies, and provide an accurate analysis to the manufacturer and learn about a few thing that can go REALLY wrong. Then deal with a few nasty things that you didn't even consider. Survive. I'm sure you'll come out the other side a better jumper. Good luck!!.l My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....