skypuppy

Go get the book The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Thresholds of Space by Craig Ryan. It's all in there. Kittinger also wrote a book (with Martin Caidin), 'The Long Lonely Leap', but it's rare, expensive, hard to get hold of, and Ryan's book covers Kittinger's as well as other operations before and after in order to achieve the same things. 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

Buy the book Tiny Broadwick, the First Lady of Parachuting by Elizabeth Whitley Roberson Although interestingly enough in the patent infringement lawsuits that took place in the '30's over who designed and jumped the first freefall rigs, Tiny's evidence was so confused and conflicting that it was all but ignored by the judge. (reference the book 'Sky High Irvin' by Peter Hearn}. I think that in her time Tiny was more of a circus performer than an aeronautical engineer, and she probably didn't understand the parachutes she jumped very well. (Understandable, I guess, I think she was only about 14 years old when she started, I'd have to re-read the book to be sure). 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 FAA has no reason to try to certify a rig, it's up to the manufacturer to decide if he wants to complete the procedures to TSO his product. Some Canadian manufacturers of skydiving gear have gone ahead and gotten their products TSO'd, I guess in the hopes of selling more equipment in the US. However it would be up to the BASE manufacturers to TSO their own equipment, not the FAA. 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

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Discuss amongst yourselves: Downhill mountain biker suspended for T-shirt mocking transgender rider WHISTLER, B.C. (CP) - A downhill mountain bike racer has been suspended for three months for wearing a T-shirt that mocked transgender cyclist Michelle Dumaresq. The Canadian Cycling Association said Monday that Danika Schroeter of Maple Ridge, B.C., was suspended for actions that blemished "the image, the reputation or the interests of cycling." The suspension will cost Schroeter a chance at competing at the upcoming world championships. The incident occurred at the recent national mountain bike downhill championship in Whistler. Dumaresq won the women's race with Schroeter second. During the podium ceremony, Schroeter wore a white T-shirt with black print that said "100 Per Cent Pure Woman Champ." In handing out the suspension, the cycling association said Schroeter broke rules that guard against "any acts of violence, threats or insults or any other improper behaviour." Athletes may not "in word, gesture, writing or otherwise harm the reputation or question the honour of other license holders, officials, sponsors, federations, the UCI or cycling in general," the association said in a release. Schroeter has until Aug. 11 to appeal her suspension. If she chooses not to appeal, the suspension will come into effect on the following day and will last until October 12. Controversy has followed Dumaresq, who underwent sex-reassignment surgery in 1996. Some of the riders she competes against say she has an unfair advantage because she was previously a man. The Union Cycliste Internationale has allowed Dumaresq to compete at world championships and World Cup events. The Canadian Press, 2006 07/31/2006 20:25 EST 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

An American. I remember he wrote a story called Ol' Jim's Vision that was in the first CANPARA magazine I ever got. Good story. Is he still among us? 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

Wow, I can't believe you all think skydiving is that dangerous! Why do you expose yourselves to it, then? I mean, I teach skydiving, I drop students and I do tandems. I pack reserves. I read the incident reports, analyze stuff, and have a pretty good idea of the causes of most of the incidents/accidents/fatalities I've heard about. I know the statistics. And I've lost friends, too many of them, not just skydiving but in all sorts of situations. But if I honestly believed I was just playing Russian roulette, I'd give up skydiving myself. I'm not in it to die. And if I didn't think that students could jump safely, I'd stop teaching them, or dropping them, or taking tandems. Just like I would hold a student back if he wasn;t getting something right during the training. It's not the the sport itself that is dangerous, it's the jumper's reaction to some of the things that can happen that is inadequate. If I had a kid he'd be jumping as soon as he wanted to, younger then 17 probably. I started 27 years ago at the age of 19 and have always wished that I'd started even younger. Some of the best skydivers are those that started out young, with good coaching, and being exposed to skydiving on an on-going basis. I know kids that started in the single digits and are national champions! Saying that minors can't jump safely eliminates the greatest learning phase of their lives in many cases. 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

Young Invincible (so we all think) Not as smart as we think we are Selfish Dysfunctional in relationships Dependent on chemicals (alcohol, adrenaline, etc.) to make us feel like we aren't missing out on anything. Societal dropouts All of which very well might be true.... 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

In January '84 I did a few jumps with him in Z-hills, one a 10-10 attempt which yielded a 10-man star, followed by a 9-plane crw formation. Fun formation. Also a 10-plane formation with Andy, Taff, Bruce, Reddy(?), Ian and Rob Paley. The old days. 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

Cooler and ice? I have one that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I find it a lot cheaper to buy beverages and keep them in my vehicle then buying at a machine, etc., plus they're always there when I want. Can then keep milk, etc. for your cereal in the morning. 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

Only time it is a dnager is if there is a cutaway after the laterals have been released. There has been one fatality where the pair split and it broke the TI's neck. __________________________________________________ Guys, guys, guys I think it broke the PASSENGER'S neck, from the hinging action. 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

Miss Big Boobs went with someone else and got injured kinda like I suspected _____________________________________________ What happened? She got whacked in the face? 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

Sage advice, along with some of the others above. Politics continues even when you've got thousands of jumps. I didn't think they let you out of the BASE Zone, Tom.... 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

Tip 3, KNOW the ORA wind. If anyone wants me to, I will explain it so that one can understand what causes it, when to expect it and also how strong it is likely to be at which time of year. __________________________________________________ Space -- maybe you should write it up and have Tom attach it to the SITE SPECIFIC GUIDELINES sticky at the top of the forum.... 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

Actual stats showing this to be true would make me feel much better about the issue. Frankly, under a student canopy, even if your cypres fired at 150 feet I doubt very much the reserve would actually come out of the freebag and open up before you landed. Under a student canopy you probably wouldn't have enought airspeed to have the thing open.... I wouldn't say it's really anything to worry about at your stage. 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

Good point. I'm pretty sure the grabbing of the reserve, due to getting a thumb in the loop, was instantaneous and unconcious, whereas the gripping action on the pad took longer and some thought. If they were both loops I think I would have had them both at the same time. Of course, I wouldn't rely on the RSL or the Cypres, but the priority, in this situation, above the hard deck, is to cutaway the main, so maybe a little more attention could be paid to that handle, at first anyway. I suspect it will be a lot easier to grab and pull (although maybe not initially located due to the change in position and depending on the severity of the malfunction). When a load is applied to the harness it tends to exacerbate any slack in the system creating space that would again lessen the geometry of the pull. Assuming a generally vertical pull from the risers, the harness may also be lifted a little from the body, although the attached student woul dgreatly diminish this. __________________________________________________ I had my first tandem mal a couple of years ago. In fact, I had two in three jumps, all in the same day. I also had problems locating the cutaway handle, but not for the problem you had. Mine was a spinning mal due to a steering line hangup. I don't think I really believed I would have a mal, so I spent perhaps a bit too long trying to correct it -- then, with the student remaining in his arch, I had problems locating the cutaway pad, had to keep physically crossing the student's arms in front of his chest to look for the pad, and as soon as I let go of them he would get into his arch again. so the handles were hard to find because a) with the canopy open, the harness had moved up probably a foot, and initially I was feeling down too low on the main lift web b) couldn't see the handles because the three rings really were in the way, eventually I really had to crank my head around past the risers to look up and down the harness c) until I managed to get the student's arms crossed for about the 3rd time and tell him forcefully to keep them crossed, they continued to get in the way of just feeling up the main lift web until you find the handles.... As I said, after spending time trying to get rid of the hangup, then not finding the cutaway right away, I was starting to get real dizzy by the time I got them. The same thoughts went through my mind about when would I find the handle and about the aad firing, but again I think I was open around 3000 feet. Once I found the cutaway it was easy to match it and find the reserve on the left, then pull in sequence. At our season review last week, we put harnesses on and tried to see if a student's arch really interferes that much with finding the handles, and it seemed to depend on the size of the people, with a small TI and a wide student in an arch, it did interfere. A large (or wide) tandem master, it didn't seem to make much difference, the handle sat out to the side far enough that it was accessible. 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

While this particular one sounds like a B (maybe monument isn't the best English word, sounds like a museum?), most monuments would end up being A's, since most of them are tall and narrow, for example the Eiffel tower, Washington monument or Statue of Liberty, but including many smaller monuments in other smaller, lesser known locations. 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

QuoteQuick question on ethics. . . . . A friend of mine who recently got into skydiving met some BASE jumpers at the local dropzone. They decided to take my friend along with them to "watch" their jumps from an S that is known for being hot. Keep in mind, my friend was there to watch not GC. Is this considered acceptable? __________________________________________________ You said the S was hot. I'm guessing your friend is hot too. I would have asked her.... 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 don't have any answers, but the last time I lost a friend I spent a lot of time thinking about it. I wrote a 2000 word article for our magazine after that death, but the ending went like this..... Jo and Felix died through no particular fault of their own. It was an accident. Accidents happen. The accident report states they were not even sure who was flying at the time the glider went down. Maybe if he hadn't gone out that morning, if he hadn't started gliding, Jo wouldn't have died. But that wouldn't have been Jo;( Would it? That afternoon We sat drinking Thinking of Life. The next day The sun came up And we jumped again. We jumped. It was fun Under the hot sun. When someone dies All you can do, really, Is go on. It's what He would have wanted. Isn't it? So we jumped again Under the hot sun And it was still fun. Jo was many things; a competitor, a teammate, a coach, a video geek, a rigger, an instructor, a mentor, and a leader. Most of all, though, for a few hundred others, maybe a few thousand -- and for me -- he was a friend and an inspiration. I will miss Jo, but when I think of him, I will smile. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 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 trust you had them mold one of your casts into the proper position to hold a long neck botte, or at least picked up one of those can holder hats from the hospital gift shop. Like this 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

You are a rookie alright! Suggest you spend some more time looking over this site, then you won't need to ask. Or pick up an (old) copy of Skydiving magazine and look at the ads. 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

fuckwittery Hey! That's a cool word! can I start using that? 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

Maybe someone else more versed in this can say it better, but in quality engineering, they look at the frequency that something can or does fall out of spec during a process, and determine that if such things do occur, the process must be tightened up until there is no variation. Sorting is not a solution.... So, we know two deaths have occurred. We have heard of other situations where people have reopened their rigs to find a restrictive device inside.... A quality engineer would likely say to eliminate the problem, eliminate the 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

23 in 1984 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

__________________________________________________ Many of the original high altitude jumps in the 20's and 30's by people like John Tranum or the Russians after him did slow rotations all the way to opening altitude because they didn't know how to fall stable. They would simply watch the stop watch on their hand or chest-mounted reserve to figure out when to dump. Most of them didn[t have altimeters. The Russian ate an apple after he jumped. Once he finished it, he opened. 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