rgoper

Ron: hell, there for a minute i didn't think you were gonna say what was really on your mind! good stuff, well put! take care, be safe. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i can remember being a "100 jump wonder" i made 168 jumps my first year of sky diving, did i know it all? hell no, but did i think i did? hell yeah! a bunch of sky divers i went through AFP with were all still jumping the same DZ and we shared information with each other. the original divemasters there at the time always kept a watchful eye on us as well. but i believe your theory on asking for advice anywhere other than your DZ is "sound advice" IMO. unless your just "comparing notes" just last year, i was about to make a fatal canopy selection at a rediculous wing load of 2:2:1, one of my ex dive masters literally "saved my life" i asked him "do you think i can do it?" and he told me "no way" that was enough for me, because he knew my ability, and it didn't hurt my feelings for him to tell me what he thought, i wouldn't have asked if i didn't value his opinion, but having said all of that, this particular individual is in astronomical jump numbers and the "pro" category when it comes to canopy piloting, i'm not. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Dan: I'm all for training students on "semi-elipiticals." I base my remark about students under a Cobalt directly on my own experience, and i know that a student could not be able to handle the various openings and results which are probable during deployment. I believe this would lead to "sensory overload" for a student. The only thing that saved my ass was my experience when i chopped my Cobalt 170^2. (at first, i was inclined to try to untwist it, but i had a pro-trac, *which i've never seen a student utilize* and i knew my "last audible" alert was set at 2500 AGL, where i deployed, the rest happened so fast, i KNEW i didn't have enough altitude to clear it, if i had been lower in jump numbers, the outcome may have been very different) Please don't missunderstand me, Atair has a fine product line, when my Cobalt is opened and flying right, it is a ton of fun to fly. Again, thanks for the support from your staff, and yourself getting my canopy sorted out. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

did i miss something or did Dan say something about changing the planform? i just understood they were going to modify it into a competition model, which would be mostly a nose mod? i own one of these 170^2 canopies, Atair has been doing everything they can to be sure i'm "happy" with the canopy. my only complaint about the canopy i have was the "two stage opening" always unpredictable, i couldn't never get it to open the same way twice. the "first stage" always worked well, the "second stage" was where the canopy hosed me, constant end cell closure, and a very high chance of twisting up upon deployment. they have a very long spiel about "body position" during deployment, and they may have a point, but when you flown lots of other manufacturer's products and don't have the same experiences, this speaks for itself. the best deployment was dumping in a track, (my fastest *pro-trac* 178 mph) but in there defense, it was made for high speed deployments with free flying speeds getting higher, and higher. once the dang thing is open, it's a ton of fun to fly, it surfs very well, turns are sharp, and bottom end flare power is there, although me personally, there is no way in hell i would put a student under one of these canopies. (unless i didn't like them) J/K --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

I voted for CrazyThomas. by the way, what happened to him, he get the "hot fork?" i thought he was quite eccentric for being so young. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Yogi-Bear! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

G.M. concept car for 2004-2005, it will be the C-6 model, pretty doggone sharp. see attached jpeg image. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

this is strictly related to the 170^2 canopy. there have been many reports of opening problems with the existing 170^2 canopy. the new 170^2 will have a nose mod and may be shaped slightly differently. leave a margin of error in my comments, but they come straight from Atair. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

my inside info says around march.

Katie: man, that looks horrible! i hope you heal real soon. i got that vaccination when i was about 6 years old, i hope i dont have to get it again. here's a great big salute to all of you gals and guys in the military defending our country right now! take care, be safe. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i totally agree with everything i see here...i'm one of the people who had to chop because of severe unrecoverable spinning line twists, good post. i have a 170^2 Cobalt, i am now flying a 170^2 Heatwave. i sent the Cobalt back to Atair and i believe they will square it away, or replace it with the new high performance model 170^2 coming out soon, so i have to give them props on customer support. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

o.k. let's "assume" that your slider is in the stowed position, after a normal sequential deployment. you have your brakes unset, your controlability check has been made, your S.S.S. the only reason the slider keeper could cause you any problems whatsoever is self induced, unrecoverable line twists that would cause a cut-away and reserve ride, because if you have line twist first, it's highly unlikely you'll get the slider down to you. correct? in any event, velcro is velcro, and will not support a jumpers weight. the man asked about a slider stowage system, and i referred him to what i deem a safe slider stowage system. i will continue to utilize mine, i've tried putting it behind my kneck after i collapse it, the turbulence keeps popping it back up, and it's a pain. the keeper you refer to, you say you saw it hang up on the tuck tabs, would you care to expound? what was the final outcome? in either event, if it does hang up on the tuck tabs and you fire the reserve, it's gonna come off and release the main. it's physically and mechanically 98% impossible for the slider keeper to keep a jumper attached to his main after the 3 ring system releases, velcro just won't support the weight. after this controversial post i took a fish scale, and attached it to my slider keeper utilizing a pull up chord for a hanging device, the most weight it would hold without coming undone and dropping the container was approx. 8-10 pounds the first experiment, the reserve tuck tabs came undone, and the keeper came off and dropped the rig on the living room floor, i'm assuming the tuck tabs were not properly fastened? and my rig weighs exactly 18 1/2 pounds, so if it wont hold that much weight it can't hold anymore. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

did you miss it? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Chuck: this speaks volumes about your spirit as a human being, i admire that. my best wishes to "Mister Kitty" and yourself. it takes caring people to love animals to that degree, we have loads of pets ourselves and we love them all! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

BillVon: are you for real? do you theorize that VELCRO can hold a jumpers weight upon cut-away? i've had many disscussions about this very thing with a lot of people, and it won't hold up. the one case where it did happen had to just have been a freak accident. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

the new procedures here in texas (i fly out of Austin-Bergstrom a lot) you have to take all your bags to the counter with your e-ticket where they'll give you your boarding passes. they weigh your checked baggage, then you take it to a great big humoungous x-ray machine, by then you don't see them again, and you can't lock anything, they'll tear your suitcase up, or cut your locks off. your carry ons are subject to x-ray and full blown dumping out and going through each, and every item, it's just no fun anymore, and i fear it's only going to get worse. good luck. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

HooknSwoop made me a slider stower that slides over my reserve flap, and has a velcro fastener on it, check with him, it really works well if you don't have a rw suit with one already on it. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i can't believe her council didn't use a temporary insanity theme in his defense strategy for his client. but, "don't do the crime, if ya can't do the time" funny thing is, she knew the cameras were rolling...go figure. this is the one thing that makes me think she just about has to be "whacko" --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i'm with ya on that bro. i ain't "billy badass" but i won't be going down alone. i think the powers that be underestimate the armament and training of the "average joe" they're wrong. hopefully cooler heads will prevail, but i doubt it. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i've been ready and planning for this for a long time, hell, if my house caught on fire and burned down, i wouldn't go near it for at least two weeks. i shant elobarate further. as long as they stay away from my place, and my family, we're kewel, but if the come on my property, it's on, and we won't be taken alive, that's my vow. i blame the complete arogance of the current administration and his constituants for our current situation, this "let's fight the whole world" B.S. is ludricrous. we CANNOT attack anyone without serious repercusions from other countries, we know who they are, now is the time for "cautious restraint" --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

the new alert will be raised, i predict within the next 72 hours. the american embassy called for the remaining u.s. citizens in bahrain, saudi-arabia, quatar the u.a.e. etc...to get out NOW. even with half the world pissed off at us (the "ugly americans") our government is determined to forge ahead without N.A.T.O. concencus. well, that sets the stage for a harmonous relationship with our allies. i predict, within 3 weeks, we will be in what could become WWIII, anyone NOT taking this seriously needs to rethink their position. i'm not paranoid, but i am a realist, and i do have some somewhat "inside" info on opps. i'm "locked and loaded" automatic rifles .223 & .308 9mm .45 etc, and i've got some mean ass dogs, so i'll fight the good fight. it's time to be concerned, real concerned, i've been in saudi-arabia really recently, i've seen the hate in their eyes for us, it's not a good feeling to see others feel, or even look at an american like that. i'm proud to say, i'm cultureally diverse i wished everyone felt the same. i have a 23 year old son over in quatar right now, the military brainwashed him, he swore to "kill everything with a towel on it's head" and that disturbs me, but i know his co's had to dehumanize the enemy for the benefit of our military. be safe, take care, watch your ass. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i love my wife as well! she just dwives me cwazy! i think she just tolerates me, she's kool though, she doesn't sky dive, but she doesn't bitch about me doing it. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

will the DZ at Fentress still continue to operate? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

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Duece: i got the market "cornered" on f*cking up. not only do i forget my wife's birthday, valentine's day, etc...i married her (not purposely) on my ex-wifes birthday, which is one day i will NEVER forget, our annual wedding anniversary. i have yet to live that one down. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"