Jimbo

Aint that the truth. Something else I _wish_ instructors would do is stay with the student from the time they're geared up until the debrief is finished. Too many times I've seen instructors watch students land (well and badly) and just trot off back into the hanger/packing area without them. Maybe it's just me, but this has always bothered me. I do understand that sometimes they need to get right on the next load, but when they don't.... - Jim

CrossKeys' new Otter is fast as hell and comfortable to boot. That thing was turning loads in a little under 15 minutes last weekend. Skyvans are nice too, when they're not too slow. - Jim

Hey Carrie, Maybe you could post the results over in the swooping fourm as well. There are *gasp* some folks who don't read talk-back who might be interested in the results. - Jim

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2014426327

67.5% Now where's my car keys?

I'm initiating my first cutaway of 2002 right now. Weather permitting I'll be at the DZ with my beer on Saturday. - Jim

Dude! She pee'd on that thing! Congratulations. - Jim

It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago. -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 4/30/91 We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe. -- Vice President Dan Quayle I love California; I practically grew up in Phoenix. -- Vice President Dan Quayle Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things. -- Senator Dan Quayle, 10/30/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92 and the LA Times, 10/30/88) They asked me to go in front of the Reagans. I'm not used to going in front of President Reagan, so we went out behind the Bushes. -- Vice President Dan Quayle after the swearing in ceremony on Inauguration Day, 1/20/89. No, he's not discussing his sanitary habits. (reported in the NY Daily News, 1/21/89) It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. -- Vice President Dan Quayle The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century. -- Senator Dan Quayle, 9/15/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92, The New Yorker, 10/10/88, p.102) If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure. -- Vice President Dan Quayle, to the Phoenix Republican Forum, 3/23/90 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) Also reported by Reuters, 5/2/90 What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is. -- Vice President Dan Quayle winning friends while speaking to the United Negro College Fund, 5/9/89 This gem has been added to Bartlett's `Familiar Quotations'. (reported in Esquire, 8/92) (reported in the NY Times, 12/9/92) Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child. -- Senator Dan Quayle, US News and World Report (10/10/88) Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe. -- Vice President Dan Quayle, 8/11/89 (reported in Esquire, 8/92) I'll stop now.

Go here - or just drop a line to hooknswoop. I've talked to him about it and he's been nothing but helpful. - Jim

I disagree, and I've been there twice (Stupid on my part probably). Both times were the result of opening a little lower than normal, my canopy spinning up a little more than usual, and me trying a little too long to fix the problem. Neither time was the result of self-induced line twists you describe. These days I'm a little more aware of my altitude, a little more aware of my body position, and a little more careful with my packing. I don't want to be there again. I guess the point is that there are several ways to end up there, let's not assume that people were doing hard spirals under 1000 ft to get in that situation. - Jim

I had a malfunction similar to Skykat's only a few weeks ago. I had a choice between landing the canopy in almost full flight (Bad Idea) and landing the canopy in more than 50% brakes (Another Bad Idea). I chose to chop it and land safely under my reserve. The canopy is a Safire 189 or 174 depending on how you look at it loaded at a little over 1.4. I'm walking today, no broken bones, I'm happy. - Jim

Nice one Ramon. That made me laugh!

Sure. Take a basketball and fill it to the top with lead and tie a streamer on it for stability (preferrably bright so it looks cool too). Be sure to send up the skyball with inexperienced jumpers, preferrably just off student status. I hear they're most effective over areas with a large population. You will all bow before the great Skyball

Oh we'll tie you to the Tiki bar all right! Don't you worry about that!

Don't forget Brandon and Chip. The flour was their idea. I've been looking for the picture of you after that incident. It was pretty funny. As for trying to kill you, apparently we didn't try hard enough, but I do believe that #500 is coming up soon.

I _do_ have a life!

That's interesting, I had mine mailed to me only a few hours ago. But, I think I have noticed other random wierdness in the last 24 hours. It's probably just me though...

I have.

How do you tie together a canopy's opening and it's glide? Please expain that statement. - Jim

Unlikely. It could have been packing error - you need to be sure to completely remove the self-induced line twist before you make the first stow. I've Psycho packed enough to know that in the beginning this doesn'[t always happen and it might not be obvious. Of course, it could have been bad body position, bad stows, or just bad luck. I wouldn't worry about it. - Jim

Just let us know when you're coming up Chuck. - Jim

Sometimes I really miss living in NYC. The Villiage Idiot used to my Tuesday night hangout, Costume night made it special, well, not as special as Chandra and Jenn _wearing_ the custumes, but you get the idea. Pauly used to work (at least briefly) at another bar, the Red Rock West, where I could be found almost any night but Tueday. The bartenders at RRW are good at whipping the crowd into a frenzy - it's a party _every_ night, and one of those bars where Stacy wouldn't get thrown out for dancing on the bar. Never been to Puck Fair and that surprises me a bit. How I miss NYC.

Since we use the term 'safe' as a relative term then actually a lot of things are 'safe'. Relative to other activities skydiving is _not_ safe. As someone pointed out it might be 'safer' than GA, but it's certainly not safer than driving, flying on a commercial jet, bowling, eating dinner, etc... How do you know what his point was?

You're right, impacting the ground at 120MPH will almost certianly kill you. Have you thought about what else in this sport might kill you, or worse, maim you for life, or even just brake a bone requiring a visit to the hosipital? * Airplane accidents? * In air collisions? * Premature deployments? * Failure to properly execute your emergency procedures? * Impact with the ground because you simply mistimed your flare? * Impact with the ground due to a low turn, intentional or not? * Gear failure? It happens too. * Off landings in power lines, trees, or against buildings? There are more possibilities than I mentioned here, in fact this list could go on forever. It's just not a safe sport, something to think about.... - Jim

There's nothing wrong with that camera, I only looked at it briefly, but it appears to be nothing more than this years version of the PC110 or PC100. It's a fine camera. The BT isn't for transferring DV from camera to camera or camera to computer, it's for uploading digital pictures (stills) from your memory stick to a subscription Sony service, and probably more than that it's for marketing purposes. The camera still comes with a firewire interface for camera -> camera or camera -> PC transfers. - Jim