rgoper

Chris Miller --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i would not hesitate to make future sky dives without an altimeter. by now i'm wearing a helmet with two audibles in it as well, when i made the jump i'm referring to i didn't even own a helmet. if you think about it, unless your on a 4-8 rw dive that exits before you, you give the time for horizontal seperation, but you watch the other sky divers starting to "turn & burn" and seconds later deploy, there's your cue! actually it was quite a rush, and i've jumped a couple of other times without an altimeter. i think it's good training, what if your altimeter fails you? itz all good!

do you realize your speaking to a man that can literally "fly circles around you?" --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

one day last summer i hurried to get on the otter for my first skydive of the day, i was in a hurry ya'll know what i mean, i was jonesing for some freefall! so i get geared up, make the load at about 9K where we all start doing gear checks, i looked inside the pocket of my jumpsuit for my altimeter, wasn't there! because of the training i recieved i wasn't worried and made my jump anyway! my bad? you can only see the ground at 2000' AGL so many times before you "know what the ground looks like!" i like the signature in Pop's profile where he quotes doc sherry! and "NO" this is not an advocation for students to jump without altimeters! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

it's actually "ansha an allah" meaning "if it is god's will" the muslim/arabic culture uses this statement before doing anything. that way if the plan works, allah gets the glory, but if the plan doesn't work then it was not allah's will, therefore absolving the human error, but also removing the human credit. it's kind of a dissclaimer over there, but effective. my heart goes out to the families. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

this is what i should've said at the outset, but i couldn't have said it any better. this is the very reason i base my thoughts on the night jump requirement for the D license to begin with. thanks...i guess. but your really giving me too much credit, generally when i'm being sarcastic it's not well thought out, it's just spontanious! you take care John. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Prof: i was going to pm you, but your disabled, i was going to e-mail you, but your profile does not have an e-mail address, so forgive me for responding here in a public forum. no, i wasn't trying to be sarcastic. i apologize that you took it that way, it was not the spirit in which i intended it to be offered. i intentionally keep some of my posts/responses short and concise so they cannot be taken out of context, not that it ever happens! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

this is why: The D license is just a license, nothing more. It doesn't prove you're safe, just that you have a certain number of jumps and have demonstrated certain skills. It is, however, a good indication that you can jump at night.*** yeah, this is true, it is an indication you have jumped in night time conditions twice. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

this is my point exactly. if night jumps are mandatory for a D, then there should be "currency night jumps" as well. i know of way more than one sky diver that has a D, and has never made a night jump, we all do. i will do my night jumps in conditions i deem appropriate, acceptable and safe. but to set the record straight, for me, not because others choose to look down their noses at sky divers who don't or haven't done them yet. and this b.s. notion of others seeming to think that those of us who do not have D's are not as safe as others that do have D's. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i guess for all of the sky divers here that have made "accidental" night jumps that wasn't planned all had (at least) "C" licenses? what if you went up in a jumpship and didn't have even an "A" license, and it "accidently" got dark? c'mon........... --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

No........... --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i WAS NOT ready for that! that's dissgusting, well so is he. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

in my opinion the French are the ones with the short, or shall i say selective memories, but that's another topic. if i thought for a moment that we could go over there and eradicate Sadaam Hussein, and Osama Bin Ladin, i'd be the first to say heck yeah let's go and get em! but as you get a little older, have your own son serving in the army, and a grandchild it tends to give you a broader perspective on the "big picture" we CANNOT go over there hit them and run, it's not that simple anymore. Sadaam's son Uday is the one we really need to worry about. and what happened to eradicating terrorists? i thought that was our original mission? now we're dissregarding world opinion(s) in the U.N. and seem to be doing as we damn well please. and i know there are a lot of americans out there that don't want WWIII, me being one of them. so it's no wonder his ratings are dropping, tony blair's not fairing any better. ol wyubya needs to be more informed of his enemy, i've been over there, these people have NOTHING to lose, plus they don't care about getting killed, now that's tough to deal with. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

on count one, i never made the statement that we should "change the rules" what i did say was i wish night jumps would not be required for a D license. and on another note, a side bar if you will, if i wanted a "D" license without doing the night jumps, i could get it easily. (could have had it a long time ago, and never said anything about not actually having done them or not) so your point of saying you don't agree with people who want the license, but don't want to do the work to get it is invalid in this particular circumstance, i can assure you, there are a lot of jumpers out there with "D's" who've never made a night jump in their lives. and why would you ask me to "chill" i'm totally composed, and not screaming or shouting or namecalling, etc...we'll just have to agree, to dissagree. trust me, sometime this year, i will have my night jump requirements fullfilled, and a "D" license in my possession, without "pencil whipping" it. not my style. but, it will be done at the right time, under the right circumstances, but i can assure you, it won't be in an unlit area, and there will be a well lit sky with a full moon. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

just so i'm clear on this issue, you've been up on loads with "plenty of daylight" left, but the sky divers were prepared to do a night jump? why would you be prepared to do a night jump if you had "plenty of daylight left?" what would be wrong with simply not jumping, and landing with the plane if you "ran out of daylight?" personally, i have never been at any dropzone during the "beerlight" hours, and i always leave close to sunset, so the odds of me having to make a night jump are slim, and none. i salute those who have the desire, and inclination to jump out of a jumpship at night, but being bashed because it's not something i want to do is rediculous. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

the way i see it you were insulting my intelligence. so my statement stands. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

this must be a classic example of drinking and posting? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

you are forced to do them to satisfy requirements for a "D" license. i could have never survived if you had not brought this to my attention. thank you. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

what's next? should we require student drivers going through driver's education to drive down the interstate at night without the headlights on just to aquire their driver's license? what would it prove? it would indicate poor judgement. i respect this sport, i'm anal about safety, this is not a safe sport during normal opps, so why add another element to heighten the danger aspect of skydiving. if it's as cool, and safe as some claim, why then would the DZO's NOT sign a statement that would compensate for any injuries that have the high probability of occuring for adding this additional risk to our sport? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

quit being an S&TA then. it would seem to me that your dissatisfaction with response to night jumps has caused you to lose your motivotional skills to the point of "labeling" sky divers who do not wish to do them. these are skills you should certainly possess as an S&TA. if this attitude persists it has the potential to render you complacent, thus also aiding you to become inefective as an S&TA. safety should be your first concern in your capacity, attacking and name calling speaking to others in a condescending manner is hardly condusive to building a skydivers confidence level. please rethink your position. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

surely you know i am already aware of this? i'm not going to ask U.S.P.A. anything. it is my decision NOT to jump out of a jumpship at night, if i wanted a "D" without the night jump, believe me when i tell you, i could have had it a long time ago. your certainly entitled to your opinion. by the way, define "whine" and "cry" for me. i wasn't doing either, i was simply stating what i would, and would not do. by the way, never mind the definitions. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

container too big for main? or is it canopy too big for container? i know absolutely nothing about Vector containers, but there is a couple of really good riggers here that will see you post, and help you out. "if it don't feel right, don't do it!" take care, be safe. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i bust my ass in the gym 5 days a week, ride my mountain bike 15 miles a day, my road bike 200 miles a month i eat "healthy choice" pre-portioned meals, (2000 calorie a day diet) don't drink and my weight is up from 240 to 250, i don't get it. i take xenedrine and drink met-rx mixed with powdered ripped fuel each and every morning. everybody's metabolism is different, and the older you get, the more you have to train to stay fit as possible. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

that makes two of us. i don't EVER plan on jumping out of a jumpship at night time. i wish they would cut this requirement out of the D license requirement, it's all that's standing between me and the "D" i have seen some serious ass-busting landings on night jumps. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

this was in my original statement. Dan: if that Cobalt falls into the category of "semi-elipitical" then i guess so. i know the opening issue is being addressed, and i'm very satisfied with Atair's response to this issue. but to rephrase my statement, let me say this: I personally would not put ANY student under a "fully elipitical" canopy, no matter what logo it has on it. they come in too hot, glide way too flat, and they could not land them in an "off dz" situation, and of course my biggest fear with student jumpers, in the event of a fast spinning mal, the AAD would not fire (more than likely the jumper would be falling less than 80 mph) and it is my belief that "sensory overload" may cause an unscheduled event. again, this is my opinion from my experience, nothing more. i know that i am glad i did not train on a high performance canopy. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"