skypuppy

__________________________________________ Well, I;m Cdn, but my factory closed in 2001. Since then I've worked full-time for about 1 year, filling in for a maternity leave. Doesn;t make it easy. Supposed to be the best earning years of my life.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

It reads like it was translated from another language into English.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Look at the '81 fatality report in July '82 Parachutist == "last year two skydivers with over 3000 jumps each lost to the earth in low pull contests.... The first could not locate ger hand deploy handle and made no attempt to pull her reserve. The second took a student out by himself, at 10,000 feet, apparently lost track of altitude in clouds (no altimeters were worn), became preoccupied with saving the student's life and ran out of air." I believe these two were Mike Steele and jeannie mccombs (both of whom were kicked out of uspa at the time, I think). I could go through the individual magazines for 1981 to see what month they were reported in, but that's too much work right now. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I knew a guy in Michigan who had about 1500 jumps and only an A-licence. He also owned a Beech 18. Guys would ask him 'what would you do if you wanted to do a demo somewhere, but you don't have a D-licence?' He'd say "I'd buy my own plane and have someone fly me there in it...." If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Seems to me Faustus Veranzio is always shown with a square parachute.... Jumping a building, too.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I believe it was '80 or '81 If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

If I showed up at Perris would I get to jump with the air trash? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Yes, that's precisely what the letter from Lewis implies. The problem as I see it is the 200 against the 47,000. I don't care what issue you have or statement you want to make on any topic; it's pretty much a miracle to get the rate of descent down to 0.5%. Yet, these petitioners still want to have a pissing contest and grab media headlines with a very public letter of resignation . . . why? Why didn't they resign LAST November when this all went down? Hmmm, it's October. They've managed to flood the blogoshpere with the letter and whip up more denier fodder for the elections in just a couple of weeks. Isn't that surprising? No. It's business as usual bullshit pure and simple. _________________________________________________ perhaps the point is that according to their constitution a petition signed by 200 is supposed to garner a response, not a denial.... As for your link, i'm on dial-up -- it's still downloading -- maybe tomorrow I;ll be able to read it. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

For a moment there i thought you meant they'd invaded France.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I jumped one at 500' once with a crw rig. We actually thought we were at 900', forgot we were on top of a hill.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

my wife's first ff way back in about 1989 and a shot from this year. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Warren Dunne of the Labatt's team taking the game ball into the opening of the new stadium at University of Western Ontario. Flying into the open house at Buttonville, actually one of the busier airports in Canada. and of course, the Labatts team after jumping into the Miss CHIN Bikini contest at Exhibition Stadium. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Would you suggest this boat goes into Mexico first...like the people in the story did? This isn't a case of Mexican violence entering the US. It is a case of Americans entering Mexico illegally. Many here believe Mexicans, illegally entering the US, should be shot on sight. What's good for the goose...and all that stuff. _____________________________________________ Well, I don't know about this specific case, but I do know that the major company my wife works for has curtailed ALL travel to Mexico after some of its workers, legally in the country, were stopped and robbed by masked men with automatic weapons while driving back to the plant from dinner. Others are being shot at on major roads while legally in the country. It is a crisis situation. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Bill Cole stopped out at the dz for the POPs Nationals on Sunday but left early afternoon not feeling well at all. Apparently his daughter took him into the hospital this evening (Tuesday) with chest pains, and it is thought he may have been having a heart attack. I hope everyone will send him some good vibes. If you want to send him a card you could send it to him at 55 Orchard Heights Dr., aurora, ontario, canada L4G 6E7 and she'll make sure he gets it.... Rob Price If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I seem to remember you stating that you were a safety man on one of Jimmy Tyler's jumps? Or am I mistaken - my memory isn't what it was. But it seemed to make sense because I know you've posted pictures with Tyler at demos.... Someone else on here has posted that they were on the original chuteless jump by Rod Pack as well. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

QuoteWas Bill a member of CSPA at the time he made his high altitude record? If not the BOD would have to ignore requirement applied worldwide to records in any sport. [Bill was kicked out CSPA for reasons the BOD at the time felt were justified, maybe yes maybe no. He then joined USPA and suffered the same fate. Now this could be a big conspiracy or it could be that Bill was unwilling to conduct himself in a manner that CSPA required for membership. But it seems to that if you get kicked out of one National organization, shame on them. If you kicked out of National organizations, shame on you. Everyone else is wrong and only Bill is right. Nothing was ever his fault. ___________________________________________ Actually, yes, Bill was a member of cspa when he did the high altitude jump(I have a scan of Bill's membership card for that year (1973) if you want to see it), and it was witnessed by two cspa officers, who then sent the paperwork in for which Bill was issued a certificate from the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association (RCFCA) acknowledging his record. He received the certificate a few months later in the same envelope as the notice that his membership would not be renewed. subsequently cspa would not recognize the record jump. As for his 2nd suspension, as Bill has said, there was and is something strange about it. He never got any notice of any reason for the suspension, just notice of it. When I was looking into it with various cspa officers who had his file, they could never give a straight answer as to the reason for the second suspension, and they refuse to allow anyone to access the uncensored file, including Bill himself. His suspension from USPA was simply because after cspa found out he had joined they called uspa up and said we kicked him out, we think you should honor our suspension -- and they did. In fact someone from uspa confirmed this for me. So there was no new infraction leading to this suspension. Bill was certainly not in the habit of being nice to cspa officials after they started calling MOT and others complaining about him doing demos without a membership in there organization, but MOT actually didn't care if you had cspa membership at the time, only that you could do the jumps in a professional manner. Frankly, if cspa treated me in the same way, I wouldn't be inclined to be nice to them either. Bill also set a night high altitude record on a high profile jump over Pearson Airport in 1976 which also would still stand, however, as you pointed out he was no longer a member since he'd been suspended 3 years earlier. That particular jump, however, would still be the record today. The second jumper on the load was never a member of cspa for his entire jumping career. Interestingly enuf, Sparky, I thought I heard somewhere that you were involved with a chuteless jump as well. You didn't get kicked out of uspa over it? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

So, what did you do about it?. Could it not just have been as simple as a bad spot?. If you had proof it was deliberate/intentional, you must have had options to deal with it. It sounds like you were the victim of a well organised, co ordinated conspiracy. Apart from petty jealousy and minor points scoring, I didn't think skydivers were as organised as all that, way back then.... _______________________________________________ From what I know about it, and I think that's quite a lot as I've written a couple of articles about him and talked with various cspa officials both recent and past about him, there was indeed a 'conspiracy' against him. I don't know if you could call it well-organized or coordinated, but definately a conspiracy.... At that time you didn't actually need cspa membership to skycive or to do demos -- and if Bill was a member at the time (I don't remember off-hand, but there were many jumpers who were not) it's surely true that people would side with instructor having mis=spotted rather than agree with Bill. If he wasn't a member they wouldn't have cared to listen to him. It was only at the agm two years ago, after 10 years of trying, that cspa finally recognized Bill's high altitude record of 1973, which still stands today. There are still a lot of people who actively put him down, but again, as I said, he inspired a 'lot' of people with the exposure he gained. Send me a pm with your regular address and I can send you a dvd of some of Bill's commercials, appearances and demos into national events if you like. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

The death defying daredevil image did a lot of PR damage to our sport, and took a hell of a lot of time and effort on the part of many individuals to overcome, if it ever did. _________________________________________________ You;re being a little harsh on Bill here. I know personally several jumpers who started jumping specifically because they saw demos or read articles about or by Bill. In fact, the most experienced dzo in Ontario mentioned he actually decided to start jumping when he read about Bill's pre-teenage son jumping in the paper, and he decided if a kid can do it, I can to. I have many articles about Bill, some in major magazines for that era. Are you gonna say that Dar Robinson and all the other stunt jumpers were damaging to the sport as well? It simply isn't true. In fact, in many cases around here, it was demo jumpers with some of the strictest rules and policies that got demos banned in some communities. I speak of earlier editions of the military teams, which before the 1990's had definite bad connotations after several high profile demos had gone wrong.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Here's a poem that in a way, expressed how I felt - "Solomon Kan's Homecoming", by Robert E. Howard (the creator of Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane, among other unforgettable characters [how many people can be credited with the creation of an entire genre of literature? J.R.R. Tolkien and Tom Clancy are the only other ones who come immediately to mind]). ________________________________________________ Hmmmm. Edgar Allan Poe wrote the first 'mystery' story. and some good horror. Dickens? Writing about poverty in the empire? Arthur Conan Doyle? Holmes and the lost world. Jules Verne? His fantastic voyages. Some very realistic scientific predictions. Just reread Off on a Comet last week. His story From the Earth to the Moon was comical (the Philadelphia gun club?) but the rocket bore striking similarities to the actual appollo craft. HG Wells? The first bug that beat the martians, anyways. HP Lovecraft. Edgar Rice Burroughs? I think it was easier to write about lost civilizations before we had spy satellites and google earth. Agatha Christie? The whodunit? Lovecraft and Poe died under some mysterious circumstances. Howard committed suicide at a young age -- I think in his 30's. There is a movie based on his life. Some of these may be arguable, but certainly Doyle and Christie et al 'popularised' certain genres. Could make an interesting thread all on its own. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Yeah, but you also probably read articles every now and then about people in the 70's or 80's as experienced or as s/l student jumpers. And I'm guessing by far the majority of those would be men. So I guess if it's a total neophyte to the sport as elderly women maybe, they do tandem. But if it's someone who did a jump or two during WWII or was active in something else and wants to be in control, they might choose a different route.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

"Not at all. He has that right, no one should deny it. But criminals kill people all the time with their guns. If he wants to prove he's not a criminal then he will make the wise decision to not own guns. If he does own them, it will just be to try to anger all the people who have had loved ones killed by criminals. Why does he want to go after those families? Why try to piss them off?" (In quotes because I am repeating someone else's argument on the topic of constitutional rights.) ________________________________________________ I know guys living in the north who would love for you to take their trash the bear-infested dump for them without a gun -- just once. To see what their life would be like without guns. Guns are tools. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Expert witnesses are all likely to be users of an AAD. Where would you get an idea like that? There are still a few of us neanderthals around.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Lies, incompetence, illitteracy, cowardess Sounds like Obama to me. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

If you change to a pull-out as opposed to a throw-out you can get away with a pretty short bridle-cord. Putting the retractable on probably isn't worth it or necessary. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

________________________________________________ I find that statement a bit strong. I will usually do only one or two 2-way jumps with someone new to give them the experience of flying close and grabbing nylon or having their canopy grabbed -- and I will either top-dock or dock on them from below, depending on how things work out. After one or two jumps, I find it easier to use a 3-way or even 4-way jump to really give them a chance to learn docking. We usually have people who like to do 4-stacks for fun, and the formation slows down enuf that it is pretty easy for the neophyte to catch it and dock. Also, you pretty much know that it was the neophyte doing most of the work, as it is harder for the 3-stack to fly over and pin him, where on a 2-way jump the instructor might end up doing all the work and the student not get as much out of it. After a few jumps where the student has successfully rotated, they are in a better position to figure out how to position themselves on an initial build out of the plane.... This is just what I do, YMMV. I tend to think 2-way can be way harder for less experienced people to do until they are semi-well-versed in crw with larger formations. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone