JohnMitchell

You shouldn't go below your hard deck without cutting away a malfunction and using your reserve. I don't agree with the podcast. If you go below your hard deck (1800') with a malfunction and you're going to be seriously injured or killed if you ride it in, you need to get your reserve out. The most reliable way to deploy it is to first cut away. I've seen cutaways done successfully, even if scarily, from below 1000'. Sucks to be that low but you were the one that screwed up and went thru the hard deck. But I will not fire my reserve into a malfunction just because I'm at 1700 or 1600'. That's one bad decision after another. My lowest cutaway? About 1200'. Nice landing in someone's front yard. How low is too low? I don't know, but the answer is not "anything less than 1800 feet." This is all assuming that you pull reserve IMMEDIATELY after cutting away. All you people who talk about "needing time to get stable before pulling my reserve" are doing it wrong and are much more likely to bounce. Don't do it that way.

Tandem master candy.

$$$$$

No joke. And it's not necessarily about jump numbers. It's more about attitude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect I only stumble on this a few years ago, but it explains so much about some of my former coworkers.

Same here. Freaky weird. I remember seeing the inflated canopy and the lines almost tight, then seeing stars in the middle of the day.

I honestly don't know the story on either of those. I thought it was just that the organizers decided not to do it anymore, not that the communities turned against jumping. Am I mistaken?

Uhhh . . . Beer, duh!

Exactly. Seatac airport, which serves Seattle, has 3 parallel runways running North-South squeezed side by side. There's absolutely no real estate available for an East-West runway. Many airports, such as SFO, ORD, BOS and many others do have the luxury of crosswind runways.

I'm not a pilot and admire the skill of those pilots landing and attempting to land in these conditions. With that said, I don't ever need a "hero" pilot that will get me to my destination, no matter what. I like the pilots that know how to say "No".

Totally not the real thing, but a dramatization of what happened. Looked like the lady's injury was not a grievous as the instructors. But then I wonder how closely the make up artist followed the actual incident. Dragging in the wind on a tandem gone bad? That's what the cutaway handle is for.

I can't answer that (I ain't much of a tech guy) but I do know sometimes some link or webpage asks if it can access my email contact info. That's when I leave!

Everything that Wendy said. There have been bad openings and malfunctions where I could point to packing, maintenance, etc. Others were simply "chaos in the universe." BTW, I pull from a hard track all the time and my openings aren't noticeably harder. However, I track very flat and actually can slow down my rate of descent in a good track. Not many people at your experience level track as well as they could. So practice that and maybe get some coaching. Glad to hear you checked your altimeter in the middle of your situation. Good to stay aware of your altitude when working a problem. Checking your altimeter after tracking but before pulling? IMO, that's a wasted move. Break off when it's time to go, track off watching for traffic and the ground below, and pull when you're safely clear. Spend your valuable time getting separation and watching for traffic, not reading the altimeter.

Having some of our earliest settlers being a bunch of Puritan wankers set a very bad precedent in our country.

I had forgotten that part. The juxtaposition of their humor (showing their basic humanity) and their ability to be viciously violent makes the movie so much more effective. You realize the people who actually did all this weren't monsters, but regular people living in monsterous times.

Thanks for the info. Years ago I got to jump from a Quicksilver MX2 2-seater. Super fun. The pilot said he got a visit from FSDO not too long after that.

OMFG! Now I'm gonna have nightmares.

'Bout 2 pm-ish and whatever ya like. Bring an extra chair and we'll make room for ya.

I hope there is a severe backlash from all the local businesses and others that profit from hosting this event. When did the police forget that they are public servants, not masters?

Yep, about a cup's worth. Here's the recipe I use, modified slightly from Alton Brown of Good Eats: Making the Brine ½ bunch of celery (butt end works great) 1 medium yellow onion, cut in half 3 medium carrots, unpeeled 1 cup salt ½ cup brown sugar 1 tbl. Black pepper corns 1 tbl. Whole allspice berries 1 tbl. Candied ginger Low boil for ½ hour in a large stock pot, 1- 1 ½ gallons of water. Let cool. Strain out all the spices and vegetables before using. Brining the turkey Brine the turkey in the solution for 12 hours, adding enough water and ice cubes to cover the turkey completely. A 5 gallon bucket with lid works very well for this. Place in a cool area, such as garage or outside. There should be ice cubes left at the end of the brining, ensuring the solution and turkey stayed safely cold. It does make for a tender bird. Make sure you DON'T add additional salt for seasoning... The first time I smoked a turkey all I had was some hickory. Fine, but the whole bird tasted like one of those processed "turkey hams"! Not the effect we were aiming for. Apple and cherry are much more subtle for a light meat. Heck, I use those smoking ribs and even cooking steaks now.

Damn, that's a helluva bank angle. Is your ultralight stressed for aerobatics? Is there room for 2 people? Here's a pic of me at the tunnel last night. After 4 decades mostly on my belly, Vskydiver and I are working thru the freefly program.

Sorry, no clue, but that deep fried turkey is the $hit! I've got mine in the brine right now and will be smoking it over cherry and apple wood on Thanksgiving. Flavors??? Off the chart!

I have to say that in 10 chops I've never even FELT the velcro. Too much adrenaline. But, yes, that has been known to cause hard pulls. Also, pulling straight DOWN, the direction the cable housings run, is important to have an easy pull. I've talked to people who have had hard pulls and they typically mime "punching" the handles straight out from their bodies, at a 90 degree angle to the ripcord housing. That is wrong and will ALWAYS make it harder to pull any handle.

Cute pic! What's not to like? Done.

Back when I rode my insurance wouldn't cover bikes with ape hangers. Why's that and why do you like them?