AlanS

I'm wondering if there are any alternatives to just renting a car for getting from the Phoenix airport to Eloy (Skydive Arizona). If I do rent a car for a 4 day trip likely I would only use it to get to and from the drop-zone. This seems a bit of a waste so am looking for alternatives. FYI arrival time is: 9AM on the 24th.

This might be worth it's own thread. How can you tell if you life insurance will pay off if you bounce? Should I call the insurance provider and just ask? Is there something to look for in the contract? Does someone have a list of life insurance companies that do and don't pay if you die skydiving?

Not sure if this counts but ... When my grandmother was older and getting senile and just turned 90 she wanted to get a motor-cycle (dirt bike). About 10 years earlier (when she was younger and senile) my cousin got a motor cycle and she hoped on the back and said let's go for a ride. Which they did. This was typical for her. In fact when I first started skydiving in college, I had two people I was concerned about talking about skydiving in front of. #1 My mom because she would freak out, and #2 my grandmother (dad's side) because I was concerned she would want to come along and I as a college student wasn't comfortable with the idea of bringing my grandmother to the drop-zone. Looking back on it now, I totally should have brought her along. In fact, if there is a "skydiving gene" I know who I got mine from. Thanks grandma.

I did your survey. I actually use to own an electric car back in 2000. Loved that car and wished I could get it back.

If renting a car is an option for you do that, just avoid driving during rush hour. If you have a smart-phone I'd use the maps feature to get you to your destination. https://goo.gl/maps/B72npuC1RjM2 The best deals for saving money on a car rental I've found from Costco Travel if you happen to know someone with a Costco card.

WOW you are right!! San Diego International is actually a short drive than LAX!! From Google Maps here are drive times, without traffic delays. Ontario - 50 min San Diego - 1:30 LAX - 1:50

The irony is Cloverdale is far enough away that a "high-end" resort could benefit from an airport near-by, so the high end clients could fly over NAPA valley instead of drive through NAPA valley where they likely would find better accommodations in a city half as far away. Cloverdale is a 2+ hour drive from here in Palo Alto. But why would someone drive that far when Napa, Yountville, Calistoga are half that distance and all along they way. They would be better served by keeping that airport, so people that can afford it would take a small plane to fly there.

I'm thinking about doing a ballon jump soon and am wondering if digital altimeters have any issues on a ballon jump, or if it is even a factor. What is the typical pull altitude from a ballon jump etc. What should I expect?

Here is an interesting video. WHY DO PEOPLE BECOME ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS? https://youtu.be/-IchGuL501U

My great uncle and aunt made it to 74 years. I would visit them often, even in the last few years alive they were sill holding hands, like they were teenagers who just met. I alway loved visiting them.

Good One thing they do understand Kill one of ours and we will kill a hundred of yours! Pound them into the ground France. I can't see the video at work. However, Raqqa is a population centre so I think I can safely assume that "we" are not killing a hundred of "theirs".. probably just mostly hitting innocent civilians, thereby ironically fuelling any anti Western sympathies and quite possibly even fertilising the IS recruiting grounds. But at least "we" are Being Seen Doing Something... I'm not saying "we" should do NOTHING, it's just that I'm of the opinion that a well-placed sniper's bullet through the head of a few carefully selected specific individuals is so much cleaner and better than any type of cluster f... er, bombing. Cut the head off the snake.... This airstrike destroying a large number of fuel trucks is likely a more effective response. If you read the article I posted earlier, that implied the best approach is to avoid giving ISIS the propaganda it needs/wants for recruitment while at the same time degrading it ability to function as a state. In this case degrading it's ability to sell oil on the black market from the oil fields it has occupied. http://news.yahoo.com/us-led-strikes-destroy-116-fuel-trucks-east-112617625.html

This paragraph from the article fascinates me. Jesus comes back to lead the Muslims to victory in Jerusalem. Wow, I'm floored. An interesting article to find would be to see the differences between the Islam and Christian versions of the apocalypse.

In order to defeat an enemy you need to understand them. This article is the best I've seen on that subject. It is long but worth a read if you are really interested in this subject. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/ My Cliff Note summary is they see themselves as an agent to bring about the apocalypse, which is something they want. This ideology makes them different than al-Qaeda, which perceived those events as happening in the far future. ISIS perceives/wants them to happen now. Two key thing that stood out in the article are: #1) Unlike al-Qaede (which can go underground) they require territory to create the caliphate, which hard-liners believe all muslims are required to immigrate too and help expand. #2) They attach great importance to the Syrian city of Dabiq, near Aleppo. A major battle here with either a western "Rome" power, or Turkey (depending on the interpretation) will signal the start of the apocalypse to these hard-liners. This from article The conclusion of the article is to "not" give them what they want, since sending those signal would increase recruitment. Their propagandists drool with anticipation of this event, and constantly imply that it will come soon. The article implies our "best bad option" is to deny them the propaganda that they want and to instead wear ISIS down they way we are doing it. Over time people will perceive them as a failed state, just like all the others in the area and recruitment will dry up, resentment from the tribes in the territory they control increase and they will slowly lose territory. Once their territory is gone according to their ideology ISIS's reason for being goes away. I'm not sure I believe this conclusion, but it is something worth thinking about.

That's the way to do it. I married a jumper too.

You have many good options in this area. I like Bay Area Skydiving but I'm sure all are good. Regarding ballon jumps, I'm not aware any any place that does it regularly. I did once take a ballon ride up in NAPA valley, however it would not be a very good place to jump, since 90% of your potential landing area are (skydiver unfriendly) vineyards.

I don't have good news for you. I was in college and had 36 jumps under my belt when my fiancee asked me to stop skydiving. I didn't like it but kept my word, so while we were married I didn't skydive. But I often looked up at the sky and wished I could be there. Eventually we got divorced so I decided to start skydiving again. No regrets there. I'm now very happy skydiving and doing many other things. If I'm luck enough to find a "significant other", letting me skydive or just be more in aligned with my active life is a requirement. I've not had much luck so far. So if YOU happen to find someone one that lets you skydive they are a keeper for sure.

Congratulations.

OK. I'd like to learn a few things from this incident. Question: In this case do people think holding on to the prop/gun prevented him from fixing the line-twist, or is it more likely that line twist wasn't going to get fixed and the inevitable result is was a reserve ride. Any guesses how fast he was losing altitude in that that line twist, and since his back facing toward the to ground he needed his altimeter. Did he wait too long to chop? I counted 24 seconds (approximate) between first opening the chute and pulling the reserve, but more scary was I only counted 8 seconds from them time the gun slipped from his grip and when it hit the ground. (If we assume 6 seconds per 1,000 which is generous considering I don't think he was at terminal velocity) that reserve might have been pull at about 1,000 feet or just above. Does that estimate seem right. Does anyone know what altitude he was at when deploying the reserve? Considering he might have been low did he have time to try to get belly to earth? With an RSL in that situation, assuming you are spinning back to earth what is the best way to deploy your reserver? Short of avoiding the situation, any thing he could have done better with is emergency procedures?

Well I didn't wear a costume on Halloween, but instead attended the official Houdini Seance. Here is a video for that event. https://youtu.be/vmXEku_hlps It was a fun event, although Houdini didn't make an appearance. http://houdini-seance.com/

Likely that squirrel was on a scouting mission, to help plan for the raid. If I suddenly disappear from these message boards at least people will know what happened. I'm going to try to bribe them with peanut butter and Nutella which I'm currently leaving in the back yard. If you give a mouse a cookie . . , I'm just using peanut butter as the gateway drug to Nutella. Then they will be completely under my control since I will be their only source for it.

Likely that squirrel was on a scouting mission, to help plan for the raid. If I suddenly disappear from these message boards at least people will know what happened. I'm going to try to bribe them with peanut butter and Nutella which I'm currently leaving in the back yard.

Well this cute little squirrel was trying to get into my house last week. I was still at the computer (maybe posting on DZ.com) and then hear a scratching at my back patio door. He kept trying to get in for about 2 minutes, so finally I had to get my phone to snap a few pictures. If I had opened the patio door he likely would have come right inside the house.

Agree, your in a DC-3 what's the rush? Enjoy the ride.

From your description it sounds like this virus. http://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-1-800-virus/ They call the virus the "1-800 Tech Support Scam" on this page. The instructions show how to remove it, but they virus keep changing, so I wouldn't follow these instructions too closely. Or even try to remove it yourself. These things are not easy to remove. (I've done it). If you have a computer store that offers such support try that. But in general virus like this are a strong argument for getting a Mac instead of a PC.

I've see a computer virus on PCs that will pop-up an 800 number when you are surfing. I removed such a virus from a friend's computer. Where did you buy this computer? Was it pre-owned or from the factory? Alan