rgoper

she did ask, it's my fault, i had a member of my immediate family in medical distress and couldn't make it, but she did ask. free, can you make it tomorrow? pm me. the bad thing about selling your canopy, is it's now not worth maybe 2/3rds of what you paid for it, and if you buy another new one, 8-10 weeks, and more $$$. i apologize. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

it (the I.R.M.) doesn't address that issue, but i'm sure if you were not USPA certified, and something happned.......ICH! i stay current with all of my ratings with the USPA, even though it does costs a lot of money. drop zones that are not USPA rated, from what i understand, must still have USPA certified personal to carry out each task. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Hook: jumpers may earn the U.S.P.A. Tandem Instructor Rating Who Have (all of the following) A) reached the age of 18 years B) holds or has held any USPA instructional rating or has attended a USPA BIC course C) earned a USPA "D" license or the FAI equivalant D) logged 500 jumps on a ram air canopy E) presented a current FAA class 3 medical certificate, or the equivalent. F) demonstrated five practice tandem cutaways wearing tandem equipment and with a simulated student harness in the presence of a USPA tandem instructor. tandem I/E, or tandem instructor rating course director. (Note) prior experience with an actual cutaway is also recommended) G) completed the tandem instructor profiency card. H) satisfacorily completed a USPA tandem instructor certification course, registered with the USPA headquarters and including training for at least one manufacturer's brand model (type) of tandem jumping equipment. this is straight out of the brand new I.R.M. so it's gotta be right? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Hook: i wonder if fins could help you track better? maybe steer better? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

only you clay! peace: --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

you, sir are now an "official sky diver!" good man. it only gets better. Blues: --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

webster's: sky-diving(er): one who participates in the sport of jumping from an airplane and executing various manuevers before pulling the cord to open the parachute. r.g.'s version: a person, or person's who are slightly "tilted" but intelligent human life form that plan, execute and complete a "sky dive" don't screw nothing up while executing same, and all land safely giving each other "high five's" for their efforts. packing in 20 mins, dirtdiving again, and repeating the aforementioned activitie(s) again, and again. (sky divers should show much love for their cohorts) female skydivers should sky dive topless (preferabally) but not a nessacity! after said "beerlight" goes on at the "sunset" load, all activities are secret, and confidential and any rumours of such shall be ignored, unless video is present, but even that can be denied. "whuffos" are allowed to participate in "beerlight" activities, only if they make all the beer runs, and provide same at their own expense! caution: this is satirical, only a real sky diver will see the humour in it, that's how ya know!

BEER! and congrats! admit it, was it just a little "scary" jumping that "first" pack job? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

To pick up chicks... Oh wait. It's not working... just keep right on jumping, land in a field of sheep if you haven't got lucky by the end of the day! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

get an opinion from an experienced rigger, and he/she should have the manufacturer's specs/information about how to facilitate the repair. to me (and i'm no rigger) i believe a rigger can fix it for you, if it's not a major rip, or gash. but if it's just a tear as you say, it shouldn't be a problem. but in any event, seek advice from a ticketed rigger, my advice is strictly on a "novice" level, and from my experience(s) good luck, do get that fixed, or you will get "slammed" again, maybe even harder. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

....the more i think about it, the more i know, i'm addicted to the sensation of first, exiting the aircraft, then the sensation of freefall, and different manuevers. i've dabbled in freeflying, rw, and some vrw. but i am not a pro at either. a few humerous things come to mind, the "disaster raft dive" out of the casa (we had too much air in it, it exploded, deploying a sky diver sitting in the rear of the raft) he got a "cross country" out of the deal, "houston, we've got a problem!" then there's the first time i tried to front riser my hornet, it wasn't pretty, but it worked, i'm getting better, but i'm in no hurry (thanks for all the advice sensai) then there's the comaraderie, the crewdogz, the rw teams, and all around "good vibes" everybody that comes to our dz is immediately accepted, and welcomed. on the flight up, if you don't ask for a pin check, what you will get is a "visual" on you big 3, even though you may not know it, they're looking out for you. the "family atmosphere" is also attractive, and has it's benifits, as you don't have to jump by yourself, if you don't want to. we even have people come out and visit, that don't even jump, they just come out to "hang" which is kewel! lastly, it is my desire to "give back" to the sky diving community through my uspa coaches course, and bic, i hope in some small part to help the newbies be safer, learn quicker, and i bet you a dollar, i'll learn something from one, or more of them along the way. and, let's not forget the "SMILES" when the tandems come down and land, or an aff level 1 lands exactly right, and has a great skydive, it is indeed infectious! spread the word, even though some of our family and friends think we're nuts, all we can do (me anyway, i can't turn myself off) is try to relay to them how KEWEL that dive just was! everybody be safe this weekend, share the love, and watch out for the other diver(s) take care.............. p.s. thanks everybody for the positive input to this thread, it speaks well of everyone who cheerfully participated!

man, that's scary! glad it turned out allright. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

man, what next? i hate to hear it, but i'm not surprised. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

yeah, freebird...what nathan said! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Phil: your probably right. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

....we are supposed to abide by the rules here on these forums so generously provided to us by HH. but what i've witnessed in the post entitled canopy nazi rant, has me at a loss for words. do two wrongs make a right? if someone missbehaves, does it give us a right to personally attack them? are the etiquette rules, the rules, or not? do they apply to everyone, or only those that can conduct themselfs properly? are is it ok to put someone in their place now and then? and then try to feel good about it? i'm NOT saying i condone Rhino's actions/words, but what i am trying to say, is that just because he loses his composure, doesn't give any of us the right to personally attack him for it, rules are rules, right? so because he breaches them, is it allright for the rest of us to attack him? in the end, we're all sky divers, we're supposed to be family, we're acting like the Beverly Hillbillies. i' NOT pointing fingers, i'm cheif of sinners here, i just have a more civil tongue in my head than Rhino does. Rhino is serving his country, protecting OUR rights, maybe even sometimes sacrificing his own, does that not demand a little respect, and a slower hand to judgement? this whole incident makes me sad, very sad. i find that this forum(s) are getting more like a "civilized rec" more and more lately, where the "priviledged few" can assualt, and attack personally others, but unless your in the IT crowd, you cannot get away with it. i implore all of us, to reflect back on preceding events, and try harder than ever to conduct ourselves in a more "kinder, gentler" fashion. again, i'm not pointing fingers here, just making a "plea for a peaceful resolution" none of you here can tell me that if you were on a flight with Rhino, and he noticed something wrong with your gear, he wouldn't bring it to your attention, and vice-versa. i know i'm going out on a limb here, and i am quite possibly offering myself up for crusifixion, that's the chance i'll have to take. it's time to "lay down our arms" please.....it's getting out of hand. Regards: --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

*Are you certain you know your own reasons?* i'm quite sure they are listed in the original post, did you not read it? in either event, i'm sure we all have our individual reasons to sky dive, mine are as stated in my original posts. i'm not money motivated, or am i running for public office, i just want to see the sport continued in a safe(er) fashion. to try and cut down on injuries, and casualties, etc... --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

....i've given this a lot of thought lately. i see a lot of people sky diving for personal achievement/glory. have we lost sight of our sport? another thing, i know for a fact, that you cannot judge a person for how they come accross in these very forums, i know of several people i've met lately who can't believe i'm rgoper. (but again, i make no secret of NOT running a popularity contest here) i sky dive because of the pure enjoyment of the dive, and freefall, not to mention i've walked away 300+ times unscathed, while other's i trained with, have been seriously been injured before getting off of student status. i ask this question, to hopefully get us to "focus" more than we do at times. it's perplexing to me that a lot of the time, our sport is more popularity driven. if your friends with everyone, your kewel, if not, your ignored. i try to set "goals" for myself, i know where i want to be in the next 5 years, and that's "giving back" to the sport, some of which i've done already, and never asked for anything in return. what is your personal drive, to sky dive?what message will we send to our new sky divers? with the personas we exude today? Regards: --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

**Those are unnatural!!!!** you might be right, but it's allright to dream! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

the original caption of this .gif file was "how the titanic sank" WARNING: more than likely, not "work safe" you wanted em, here they are, bunches of em!

that little jewel looks like it's good for jumping, and "post jumping" activities! --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Hook: i was conversing with the crew dogz at the dz the other day, and they are of the opinion the little hook knives like the one i have on my leg strap are useless, they cited the breaking of them, because there so flimsy. i'm inclined to believe them, as they are certainly more experienced in this area. would it be prudent to get a larger hook knife? --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

i'm keen on knowing WHO done in the levy woman, and the little girl from colorado, her name escapes me just now. who do ya'll think murdered the levy girl? i'd hate to go out on a limb, but it's highly coincidental that she was tied to a politician, or is that just sheer coincidence? makes for provacative thinking. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

Muenkel: you are absolutely right in what your saying. perhaps i was premature with saying we're all disscussing the same topic over, and over. i realize now, that i was perhaps wrong. i would venture to say, that "maybe" someone's mind(s) could be changed through disscussion. thanks for bringing this to my attention. my apologies to any offended by my remarks. --Richard-- "We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"