BigM

John- You ask a serious question and look at the answers you get. Anyway, it appears to be a cast iron stove damper. Would have served as a stove eye too from what I can tell. Intersting find. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

I jumped into my mother-in-law's yard on Thanksgiving day 2002. Her yard is less than a mile from the end of the runway of Augusta, GA's airport. This was a little over a year after 9-11 and I was expecting the FAA to say no a thousand different ways. I started about 8 months in advance making calls and establishing contacts. Ends up all I had to do was make notice to them the day of. The FAA guy told me- "Hey, they're your airways. It's my job to make them accessible to you." Was quite the experience! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Thanks HH. I always thought this would be a handy feature! Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Yep, we all know it's best to stay grounded until healed, but me too. Dislocated my hip, ruptured my groin, and tore my abdomen (all on one jump). Got a bigger canopy and was jumping 57 days later. Not smart, and lots of potentially negative things could have happened. Would I do it again? Probably so. "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

FWIW_ I live in Georgia. I had taken out a ten year term policy about 2 years before taking up skydiving. Due to similar concerns, I sat down with my State Farm agent and went over my policy. End result- I am covered. Even when I get a new policy, I will still be covered, just at a higher rate. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

How is that cool? It would only be cool if it was ME in a picture in Parachutist. (frowns with jealousy). "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

ummmmm.... that would be BEER!!!! Now go update your profile! Congrats Bro. "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

I wanna see PLEASE!!! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Anyone that liked THAT film is totally fucking twisted. They are so twisted they too would probably do really stupid shit like.... throwing themselves out of an airplane! So... who's going to the drop zone this weekend?!!! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

I love her! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

How can you alert the community if you don't say what type of gear it is? Honesty, forthrightness, and candor go a long way here. Starting with a profile that includes a name. Another vote for no lawsuit. The validity of a lawsuit has nothing to do with a need for medical expense money. I hope your wife recovers quickly and fully. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

OK dudes (and dude-ettes), just to get this thread back to where I sorta-kinda intended it to go- A few people have said things like "this guy has more jumps than several of us combined"... and I have had my visual malfunction before"... and "I use a couple of audibles". My point/questions about all this is (again): 1- Does the ground care how many jumps Eli (or anyone else) has? I don't think so, therefore that is a non-factor. 2-I've had my visual altimeter malfunction before. I also have had my main parachute malfunction before-doesn't mean I quit taking one along for the jump. 3- I use audibles. But when I am under canopy fighting line twists, etc. I have a cut-off altitude to get rid of it. Audibles aren't much use there and don't tell me you're eyes are THAT fine tuned. Your overall best bet and consistently most reliable means of information input is a visual altimeter. 4- And last but certainly not least, I am still waiting for someone to explain what the benefit is of NOT taking one, regardless of how often you may or may not use it. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

I think THIS counts as a Mocha exit shot! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Hang on, hang on. I never mentioned anything about there being any type of regulation requiring one. For the most part, it does scream of common sense to wear one though. What would be the advantages of NOT wearing one? The advantages of wearing one are obvious, regardless of how "fine-tuned" your eyes might be. I have made a handful of jumps without a visual (or audible) - intentional water jump for a demo, or riding a plane up and discovered a recent AFF grad without anything, but it is definitely not the rule. And regardless of how good (or GREAT) the skydiver is, the ground seems to care not. Our history is littered with horrible accidents that include in their description "they were one of the best jumpers you've ever known...". I'm not the altimeter Nazi, and I am fully aware of the things you can get by without, it just seems like we would all benefit from some of the simple things to make our sport a little safer. You are NEVER too good of a skydiver that you couldn't stand a pin check, to check your chest strap and handles one last time before getting out, or maybe to wear an altimeter that you can see. Just my opinion, nothing more. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Latest Issue of Parachutist (April)... page 42 I think... there is a full page ad for L&B audible altimeters... it's a 4 way hybrid- 2 bellys, a hanger and a surfer on top. The top surfer has NO FREAKIN' VISUAL ALTIMETER! No wrist mount, no chect mount. I realize this is an ad for audibles, but c'mon, no visual altimeter??? Just wondering if anybody else noticed this too. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

What exactly do you mean by "slipping"? If you mean slipping down your legs, a bungee attached between the 2 legstraps should fix the problem. If you mean that the legstraps are slipping through the buckle, then you need to be talking to Sunpath. Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

From Georgia. Been to: Canada Japan Kong Kong Australia Guam New Guinea Korea Phillipines Guadalcanal "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

I will be there THURSDAY, so go classify THAT!!! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

We greedy bastards love the site. It's gotta be one of the top 2 or 3 favorite skydiving sites. We all appreciate your efforts. Now quit reading DZ.com and GO FIX OUR SITE!!! Grins- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Steph- How tall are you? How much do you weigh? I see you jump at Mile High, that is a factor too. (Takes away about one full canopy size, maybe more if you're young to the sport... and uncurrent). Without actually seeing it, I think the rig in and of itself was a good deal. You do need it to fit decently though. There is no such thing as a rig that "fits someone 5'5"-6'". This a wide variance, and thigh diameter is a factor too. Safe Jumping- Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

That's probably the smart way to do it. But this is Jeff we're talking about. teehee... he's gonna kill me when he sees this... Kill you? No. Something to do with stakes, rope, choclate, ants... yeah THAT will do! Well if IN PERSON is the best way to do it, then I might have to make my way down to your neck of the woods to make a few jumps and get fitted. Especially since it is sooooooo obvious that you have my best interest at heart! "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

How about posting a few pics of the suits? When you get them back, we'll devise a fun way of dealing with the people responsible... at a boogie... something to do with a bon-fire... Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Don't say things like that. SkyMonkeyONE's head will barely fit inside of it as it is now!!! Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Looked at the BirdMan site, but couldn't find anything about pricing. Where can I find that? Thanks in advance- Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

Never done a birdman jump, but been thinking hard about it. How long does the instruction take to make your first? What's the cost for the instruction and/or rental? Also, will you be available for this all 3 days? Blue 111- Jeff "When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."