riddler

Ya, and you and I landed together in the socc - um, the funny grassy area with the painted stripes. We never landed in a soccer field. We never landed in a soccer field But this jump with Norm Kent was a different jump, later in the week. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Let's not forget Ralph (owner of Denver Skydivers in Brush) on page 27 carrying the American flag. Photo by Norm Kent. And I believe WFFC, flyangel2, and I were all on that same jump

Good vibes to your friend and yourself, Mark. Take is easy. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Heck - you guys got it easy. Yearly registration on a new $30,000 vehicle in Colorado runs about $800. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

1:7:0 One awesome Casa boogie at Brush. Ralph and Randy know how to throw a decent party

I hate saying "I heard", but I heard that the gear box went out, and something(?) went into the engine. Therefore, a new engine is needed. This is a little more dramatic than a flame-out. Good news is they had plenty of altitude - 5,000 feet. They had just let out a hop-n-pop, throttled back up to continue to climb, and then the gearbox was damaged. The other good news is they had a good pilot that landed it safely after everyone was out. I hope they bring Eloy's Otter back out

Hehe - fall rate is an issue no matter how much you weigh! Saturday I did a coach jump with a girl that had to weigh 95 pounds. She overamped the exit out of the Casa, and we tumbled a bit. I flipped her to belly, but the problem was I was on my back Now, I seriously considered proceeding with the skydive upside down - I honestly think I could have done it, but I thought she would probably been confused about how to come in and dock on me if I'm on my back in a reverse arch I decided to flip over, and in doing so, sank like a rock! She tried to get down to me by getting bigger, which didn't help me

Nice test H, with interesting results. I assume the rig was a Vector Micron? Did you contact the previous packer about the seal thread? Hard to believe that little red string can make that much of a difference ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Speaking of Brush, just a side note. Field elevation is 4,280 feet, giving and ISA temp of about 44 degrees. So landings, won't be quite as bad. Although I honestly like the landing area at Mile-Hi better - it's flatter, further from the peas, and further from Farmer McNasty. We also need to mow a much bigger area at Brush - those sunflowers are murder on the shins. Steve - nice hybrid jump last weekend by the way - your video is getting much better. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

OK - this is good, because I had to look it up again. Mile-Hi is 5050 feet MSL. At 5000 MSL, it looks like 41 degrees ISA according to Quade. 59 degrees is at sea level. Someone please let me know if I'm reading that wrong. Therefore, about 71 degrees at Mile-Hi will add 2,000 DA, for a total of about 7,000 feet. And 101 F at Mile-hi, we're talking about 9,000 feet DA. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Man - sorry I missed you! A lot of us were at the Brush Casa boogie. Well, see you in Eloy if not sooner! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, the men have one toy, and the women have their own toys. Between the two, I predict the end of the human race - it won't be long before the machines are better than the real thing. Definitely NSFW! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Wow, sounds like a great guy. I'm sorry I never knew him. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

December 19th Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Most of the time DA isn't this high in CO. Field elevation at Mile-Hi is 5050, which is about 49 degrees standard temp. Every 15 degrees over 49 adds 1000 feet DA, so on a "normal" summer day of 70, DA is only about 7,000 feet. if it gets up to 90, you're talking 9,000, but that's not typical. Of course, humidity notwithstanding, but humidity in Colorado isn't big anyway - it's technically a desert climate - very dry. Of course, I'm not saying landing at 7,000 DA is a great thing, but it makes going to boogies at sea level that much nicer Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm guessing from your login name that you would like Brush better than Mile-Hi But that's just a guess. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Have you ever seen those sheepskin seat covers? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Thanks - you just gave me a great idea of what to do with my belly-button lint. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I believe you would call her a "tortoise-shell" calico. I used to have one many years ago. Congratulations on becoming a mom.

Glad you're back Mouth - we need someone to keep Wingnut in line when he starts telling the duck joke. 3:3:0 - team-taught AFF class with Mustard on Saturday. Man - that takes a lot of energy! A few coach jumps and a fun jump. Some good dialogue with skr. Jumped one of Eloy's Otters all weekend - very nice. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Dude - the chicks are gonna love that scar! Personally, I always hated the factory chinstrap on my bonehead, and I replaced it with a chin cup, which I like a lot more. But that was a personal choice, just like jumping out of the plane. .... no fault, no blame, it doesn't mean I don't desire to point the finger, blame the other

Well, you didn't hear this from ol' Riddler, but there's the official story, then there's the inside story. Both Centaur and IUS are fine upper stages and have their strengths and weaknesses - both actually fall under the command of the same CO for defense missions, as well as Titan LV. Of course, I worked for the company that made the Centaur, so we thought it was better, but there's the other side that thinks IUS is better. Truth is, there aren't many players in astronautics, and all the companies do a good job. Anyhoo - the company I worked for, which is now a different company after a merger some years ago had created several pieces for the G, as well as Hughes, and a few others. But the company that makes IUS, and is also a different company after another merger (boy, it's getting hard to not name names here) wanted a piece of the mission. So the head honcho decides that since we already had parts of the spacecraft, the upper stage should go to this other company. It was IUS on Challenger, not Centaur, but that was 4 years prior, and someone was pushing to get it back in the air after it was proven to not be responsible for the Challenger explosion. So, IMO, it was a political concession. Millions of dollars get spent on proposals, but the real decisions happen out on the golf course.

Nice post MarkHarju. Just want to make one correction. Galileo was not launched by Centaur upper-stage, but by IUS - a program I worked on many years ago. The IUS is the thing that looks like a white, cylindrical trash can at the base of Galileo and has the letters "USA" printed on the bottom. Just trying to give props to all the fine people that worked G! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Your soul is worth £9064. For your peace of mind, 82% of people have a purer soul than you. And to think I didn't have any soul left ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This makes perfect sense to me, and maybe add a sticker program for anything smaller. When you checked my reserve pin, you logged that on the reserve pack card, but it makes more sense to identify the individual component, since so much swapping goes on.