Ron

Everytime I pick up the phone today I have been blasted with that song except when you called. You have no idea how much I tremble when I reach for the phone "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

33....Not nearly as old as people on here think I am. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Thanks.... Just for you: Moving to Texas (A short story). I planned on traveling light. I gave away most of my possesions and packed a 5X10 trailer with what it could carry. If it didn't fit, it didn't go. So, right now I am sleeping on a Futon in the living room of my apartment (The bed would not fit in the trailer). I then sold the trailer on the DZ really quick ,people were fighting over it, and took off. The trip itself was about as much excitement as I can handle. Everything went fine till AL. There I filled up with water at a gas station that had a little petrol in it. Yes that was written right, mostly water with a little gas in it. My car pulling about 2500# of everything I own could not turn more than 2,000 RPM or the engine would quit. So here I am driving through the backhills of AL....Remember I-10 was destroyed in LA, so I had to go North in AL then cut over....With EVERYTHING I own and I have car problems. I was starting the hills at 55-60, but by the time I crested the top I was doing 35. I tried to speed back up to 55 on the way down (Remember I can't go over 2,000 RPM or the car shut down) so I could clear the next hill. Well this continued till I got out of the backhills of AL and found a decent gas station in MS. Surprize, they were out of Drygas....I wonder why? So I filled the tank with Premium and took off. That worked well until I got to half a tank then the trouble started again. I filled up again and STILL no Drygas to be found. I did find some STP cleaner...I figured it could not hurt, so I poured it in and took off. Again, good till about half a tank. I finally found a Gas station that had rubbing alcohol. One bottle of that and I was good to go. Lesson #1...When you have everything you own, you will need something you don't have. It was here that I saw that the weight of the trailer was bending the hitch. Can't blame the hitch, it was not its fault. I had a trailer loaded with everything I owned, it had to be heavy. So when ever I stopped I put the foot down on the trailer to remove the weight from the hitch. Here I am driving with EVERYTHING I own in a car that was not running right, with a hitch that could break. I can't just drop everything I own on the side of the road and expect it to be there when I get whatever problems I am having fixed....So I pushed on. Lesson #2 learned....Mustang GT's were ment to haul only one thing, and that is not a trailer with everything you own. They are meant to haul ass and thats it. I tried to get a Hotel, I didn't really want one since everything I owned was with me and I didn't want to leave it unattended.....But with the hurricanes they were all full anyway, so I kept driving. Made it to Texas from FL in one day, about 21 hours. My Apartment office was not open till noon, so I pulled into a reststop and tried to sleep around 3AM. Ever try to sleep in a Mustang GT? See lesson #2. Mustang GT's are meant for ONE thing. And that is go fast. They make poor trucks and I can now tell you that they make lousy hotel rooms. Plus mine was filled with crap, so I could not even use the backseat. Oh and bonus, the seats in a Mustang only go back about 10 degrees past vertical. I ended up taking my clothes and making a rats nest in the front passenger seat. My head was on the dash board and my feet went into the back behind the drivers seat. It was about 3:30AM and I planned on waking up at around 8 or 9 to drive to my new APT. In those 6 hours I got about 4-5 minutes of good sleep. Yes, I said "Minutes". Between the "comfort" of my nest and the trucks that were driving around me I did not get much if any sleep. Lesson #3. Mustangs make REALLY bad hotels. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

We don't, but any round formation.. Blocks : 1, 7, 14, 15 I have seen some teams use. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Easy. And the "E" sails better than the 17 launch. The 17 is quicker...But if you are only gonna do only a few jumps I think you would be better served practicing an exit that work for several exits....You will not do 17 except for Bipole where Meker works towards several other points. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

No, but I had to come up with something. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

I'd do the same. Even this year as an open team we had a few exits that we didn't launch the point. We launched a sidebody for block 7, and a meker for Bipole/Bipole. If you get the exit launched well and transition, you will score better than a team that has shakey launches of the first point. And think about it this way...how many practice jumps are you gonna do 100? Well there are 16 randoms..so thats 6 launches for each exit. OR you can launch two exits 50 times each. Which do you think will be more solid? "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

SkyVenture will save money on earplugs I was really wishing you had said,"Stop by and say hi!" "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Thanks for saying what I tried to say...But in a better way. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

For an intermediate team....Learn two exits and make them bullet proof. Meeker and Sidebody. From those two exits all of the points are fairly close. There is benefit in learning exits from a plane you will never use. Both a KA and an otter both have left side doors. Yes, they are smaller. But think about how easy an otter will be if you can launch an exit from a tiny KA door? But in most cases just have those two exits and you will do well..... "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Not really. The first time I knew someone that died it ripped me apart. It gets less emotionally damaging as it happens more often. It does not get easier...But I don't lose sleep and question why. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You were in fact encouraging people to keep secrets...Even if that meant someone else might die. I'd rather have people say what they saw..Without editing. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Ever thought you could die? No one that bounced thought they were gonna die, but they still did. Its your Moms right not to watch or support your habit. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Some people seem to think that accidents will not happen to them. You see it all the time after a fatality. People are in shock and someone will never be able to get it out of their head. Some quit, others get therapy. While I would not want to see video....I have images in my head I can't remove, why add more? I can see how a bounce video shown to a reckless idiot might knock him down a notch. I would not want these videos to be just floating around, or on "faces of death". "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

And posting "I was there, but *We decided not to say anything else till the official report is out*" IS a coverup by the very definition. And covering it up is disrespectful to the dead and those left. Simple if we had a guy that was seen pulling at 3 grand and his AAD had fired (Which is easy to tell on the ground)...Then you have info that it misfired without being a rocket scientist. However, when you have people say "I was there, but we are not gonna say anything" You get NOTHING of use. Leaving out the facts is just as disrespectful...Hell its MORE disrespectful. AND it can hurt those still alive. So if it was a problem with a piece of equipment, you would rather wait till someone else dies instead of informing people of a potential problem? See how disrespectful that is? "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Rolex Submariner Tag 2000 "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

And by not telling any information you would be disrespecting the ones left behind. Many times the only good that comes form an accidnet is that it prevents someone else form dying in the same way. OK how about if the accident was due to a certain brand of AAD firing and it might be a systemic problem? Or how about if the accident was due to a particular rig, or a popular modification that was not yet known to be dangerous? By keeping that type of information quiet you place others at risk. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

I think it is a very effective way of making sure the student has the ideas. I would not show bodies or broken bones, but a plane with a hole in the side.....VERY effective. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Thats two different things. Not being able....Well that sucks, but is a far cry from not trying. Not being able, only if it is a more than once kinda problem. Not being willing? Turn your rating in. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

If you had read it it said "rough men STAND ready" And the freedoms you enjoy in Eloy were brought by the same type of rough men. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

The GK's have two open slots on the RW team. BK is the new TL and Davidson is still on the team. SF branch had told Hoover and Brooks that they need to leave almost a year ago. The team had thought that if they won that they would have been able to keep them. But that was a very small chance even if they had won. Hoover went to the team in 95 and Brooks in 99. The tour is supposed to be 3 years for a Demo guy and 8 for the comp team. But SF is under strength. I see: 1. Fire 2. Fastrax 3. Airspeed FT could shock the world again like Russia. John and Company know that they have to push it from round one, not try to be perfect like they did at the Nationals. Also Airspeed needs to stay focused on 8way. Doing both is a serious drain on a team. I think the fact that FT is staying together means big things. Airspeed is going to shift the focus to 8way, GK's have to pick up two new members. I think the French womens team will get first. I base this off of the fact that while Snyc are all good friends of mine and REALLY good jumpers that the French female 4way team has many more jumps and all of the resources they could want. 8way should go to Airspeed. The focus will be 8way and its their Home DZ. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You say that like its a bad thing "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Yep, I have never competed in anything but Open....However I do have a Gold in Advanced...Well OK, I don't HAVE the Gold, but my name is in the books as winning Advanced. Thanks Dave "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Yes, and that is where Bragg shines. I have flown in other open tunnels and I can tell you that they "degrade" much more than Bragg. Magic? Nope, but a really good design. My only gripe of the Bragg tunnel is the noise. There is nowhere to go and talk. You have to use hand signals and white boards. Look, I understand you own/work at Bedford. But unless you have been to Bragg you really can't say about the quality if the air. You don't see anyone slamming your tunnel at all. You do see people not proclaiming unbiased love of it. Nothing wrong at being proud of your toy...But not everyone has to agree with you. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

I think her point was that the fact Bragg has solid air from one side of the cone to the other without walls is pretty amazing. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334