ZigZagMarquis

hmmmm... must be a local amendment to the rules... usually, beer rules don't apply while one is on student status... upon graduation, they owe a case of beer, after that its game on!...

Good on ya... but... * flag * I heard the F-Word... BEER! Oh, wait, you're not off student status yet... nevermind...

A buddy of mine just sent his Sabre2-170 back to PD for a line set. All told for: - Shipping (FedEx 2nd day) to / from PD - Inspection - Line set + Installation - R&R of the sleeves & Kill-lines on the Slider - New Slinks It ran him a little over $300. They turned it around and got it back to him within 2 weeks. Someone up-thread posted the link to PDs web-site where you can find their pricing. Go look at that if you haven't already.

"way back when" the Sentinels did contain a charge to move the pins out of the cones. I guess it didn't dawn on him that things might have changed in the last 25 or so years Wendy W. Sentinel! What's that??

DSE, I didn't say the TSA was good at what they do... I was just trying to say that what they're tasked with doing is very important. I get on airliners (not jump planes) anywhere from a dozen to two dozen times a year for work - travel and I don't want some terrorist or criminal getting on an aircraft with something they shouldn't that would aid them in doing harm... or some ignorant putz that thinks its okay carry on their Coleman stove full of white gas, leaf blower and full drum set... To be honest with y'all... I've never traveled with my rig on an airliner... let alone done so post Sept 11th... personally, I'd either buy or borrow a hard sided case and check it, ship it, or decide to drive a few days to not have to deal with taking my rig as a carry on. I realize that doesn't work in a lot of cases... but stampin' your feet and holdin' your breath in front of a bunch of TSA Security Checkpoint weenies ain't going to get your very far either.

Gravitational, Question... At any point did they give you the option or did you ask or consider not taking your rig as a carry-on and leaveing the security check point? Yes, I know that would have been a hasstle... missing your flight... etc. etc. I'm just currious to know if that was ever an option or if you had asked to leave because you didn't want to open your reserve they indicated that would have been probable cause to detain you? I guess what I'm trying to say / ask with respect to this topic, is if the TSA gate agents in question for what ever reason, get to a point where they're not going to let you through security without opening your reserve, at what point can you say, "I'm not going to submit to that, I'd like to have my property back and leave" without being detained or having them pull your reserve without your permission? I'm not sure if there's anyone here that can answer that, but I'm sure it will spark some good discussion. Maybe though we should run it up through the USPA.

Hmmm... not sure if there's really enough info here to make the "belligerent" call or not... look at it this way though... bang on the TSA gate agents all you want, I do to, but they've got a pretty serious responsibility on their hands. Think about it... if another airliner goes is hijacked by terrorists, crashed or blown up, bet your ass you'll see the security footage of the purpatrators going through security and getting waived on by the TSA agents... if I were a TSA agent, I wouldn't want to see myself on the 11 o'clock news like that. Good Info.

Somewhere around 200ish jumps... after a 5-Way, poor break-off / hesitation on track translating into loss of altitude awareness resulted in throwing out a pilot chute around 1200 feet, got saddled around 700ish feet. Didn't have a Cypres then; I'm sure it would have been a Cypres fire if I had. Somewhere around 800ish jumps... Took 15 seconds off of a balloon at 3K. Got saddled at something slightly over / 1K... figure I was within a second, no more then two, of a Cypres fire and 2-out.

Sparky... Yes, I think to a certain degree, you are right. I gotta believe that part of your motivation in originating this thread has to do with the recent Elvi incident. Seems to be somewhat similar to the Blackford incident? You're probably thinking of others too maybe. From the outside looking in, seems the Elvi group has a bit of a problem... I'll stop there though because its another thread & Its kinda getting beat to death. I feel your pain. What irks me is some folks inability or unwillingness to see and/or admit that there's a systemic problem with their or their group's judgement or that they just did something that was stupid, but they were lucky and got away with it. Scares me the most when I see it in myself sometimes... ... One of the things that really bummed me out about skydiving was the day I realized some of the folks that I thought were "really smart" and looked up to were capable of fu*cking it up too and getting hurt or hurting someone else. Not much fun, huh? I'm not 100% sure what the take-away from that is except to always consider whether even the smallest things we do in the sport are "safe" & "makes sense" (i.e. does this exit order make sense... does this jump run make sense... why not change this closing loop to save a few minutes and make the next load instead of doing it now... etc.) Its easy to bang on someone for being a "fun sponge"and, well, some folks suck the fun out of everything because they're dicks, but others are hard-asses because they've learned the hard-way... picking the two apart is the trick, I suppose. However... all that be as it may... DiabloPilot is also correct... folks who want to learn will seak out the knowlege and / or accept it when offered. Have faith in that all. Same thing, different words, you're right, "no one is ever so good that they can't die in this sport", but at the same time, most of us aren't "too stupid to live" either.

I've heard stores from the old "grey hairs" at Cal City about jumping a ScareAbous... I mean Caribous and C119s. I've never seen a C119 at Cal City myself, but they still tell stories of the "good ol' days" when Dar Robinson was doing stuff out of one for the show That's Incredible out there... and cratered the desert throwing all sorts of nonsense out the back. I think the forest servive might still have some, but I'm not sure. Also, did anyone ever do a turbine conversion on a C119 like on DC-3s or a Bous?? --- edit --- Got this from Wikipedia: The number of aircraft still airworthy is unknown. Over twenty C-119's are registered under civilian markings in the U.S. Two aircraft are currently flying in Alaska, and until recently Hawkins & Powers Aviation, an aerial firefighting company located in Greybull, Wyoming, were operators of a C-119G and C-119L, as well as the lone flying C-82. The company ceased operation in 2005 and these aircraft were made available for sale. Several C-119's currently parked or on static display in museum collections are also reported to be flyable, though their actual condition remains in doubt. It is likely that several C-119's still remain in operation in Southeast Asia.

We will be having our annual HALLOWEEN EXTRAVAGANZA On Saturday, October 28th. Fun Jumping all day and of course a Tracking Contest, Pumpkin Drop, and Hit N Chug. Don't forget to wear a costume. For more information or to reserve a pumpkin give us a call at 1-888-373-4007 or email at skydiveevents@yahoo.com We hope to see you there! Blue skies! Skydive California City 5999 Curtiss Place California City, CA 93505 1-888-373-4007

Can you say, "Liability?" Thank God for that.

Somewhere in Poynter's it mentions that a test has indicated that repacking increases the porosity of reserves. On some of the test canopies, after 12 repacks, porosity increased to the point that the canopies no longer met spec as reserves. -Blind Okay... but... where exactly in Poynter's does it say that. If you can dig it back out, I'd appreciate it... Volume, Chapter, Page... of course, finding something in that book can be like trying to locate Amelia Erhardt... Anyway, the reason I ask is I'd like to see if there's any "context" to that statement... as in, are they talking about F111, Ripstop, Tafida... ?????

Thanks Bill. ... We're not worthy.

You could market, manufacture and sell them... doesn't G-Girl own a gear store??

Home is where the house is.

Don't know about anyone at Perris, but Sparky used to have one of those.

Unless you're jumping at the North or South Pole, heated undies are probably a bit of overkill...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SoCalers get ZERO sympathy when they whine about cold!!!! ... as opposed to the sympathy y'all Chaunuks whine for with respect to your winters??? MOVE TO WHERE ITS WARM!!!!

Can you say, "Pack Volume"?

Just shy of 3000 jumps in 156 months...

We have this guy... Mikey... at our DZ that calls it Under Anchor... when ever he goes low on a jump, we blame it on his Under Anchor... Anyway, I hear its really warm. I still have some old Polar Max tops and bottoms I wear in the winter sometimes... as so much as we have winter here in SoCal...

Yes and No... without dragging out the specifics of the specs... part of the design is to contain a certain amount of "failure"... however... anything beyond what is designed for, you can expect to see parts coming through the side of the motor. 99% of my experience is on military stuff. I was on the flight line one day when a GE404 shelled out... it was "contained" in that no parts came through the side of the motor, but lots of bits of blades did come out the ass end and all over the ramp... shut-down flight ops until it was cleaned up (FOD hazard). I've also read HazReps where the turbine disk failed. Needless to say, that was not contained... in lay-man's terms, it cut the taill off the aircraft as it left. I've read other HazReps where after a motor shelled out and not all the bits got blown out the back end, but rather "hung up" inside and wound up rubbing on other metal parts as things continued to go round and round... the result being a titainium fire... "bad". Furthermore, wasn't there an incident a few years ago where one of the motors on an MD80 or DC9 shelled out, fan blade parts came through the cowling and into the passenger compartment in the back of the jet? Basically, if you desiged a turbofan case to be so strong as to never ever allow anything to come through it if all that spinny stuff inside starts munching itself, it would be so heavy that you'd never be able to fly the plane you bolted it to.

Except if they are rock stars, then it is expected! Damn!! I knew I should have learned how to play guitar rather then go to college...

Well, maybe, but only if you're napping with your rig ON and with your Cypres ON when your buddies push you in your bed out of the back of the SkyVan at Junk Day in Eloy!