mr2mk1g

I think maybe Mr. Roosevelt meant to say "ensure" rather than "insure".

try here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1947876#1947876 or there's a further thread from today which has been referrenced in a thread in the incidents forum

Which question do you want us to answer yes or no to? I think Nigger should stay as Nigger. Just like the Dams should remain the Mohne, Eder and Soper and it should still be 617 Squadron who flew there and it should still by led by Guy Gibson and use a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis. I hate people who want to fuck with history. Or shall we call the dog "African American English Dog"?

Yes. I've owned dozens in the past but a few years back scaled down to just a 1916 SMLE MkIII* (which saw service in both wars). Love that rifle. I still hold a relatively large collection of world war bayonets though. Give one to a militaria whuffo and tell them to just look at the lines of it and 9 times out of 10 they'll be able to tell which country it was from if you help them along by prompting them to think about the way they perceive the countries involved. For example, take a German bayonet from the 98k and it will be black with crisp rigid lines, highly defined fuller, angular pommel and finely machined press stud and lug. This will all match their pre-conceptions about what they might expect that nation to churn out. It will work for all the nations too if you talk them through it. They're generally surprised by how such a simple item can be a window onto the national psyche of whole countries and so thoroughly mirror the artwork of the time too. The pride and joy of my collection used to be a BREN gun complete with air drop canister and accessories but I sold that a few years ago. Briefly had numerous other small arms and machine pistols too. Used to make a little money in the game.

Yup, Holland too. Was probably audible here in Bristol but I was asleep at 6am.

There's a guy on here who posts as "DanglesOZQld". He was involved in a similar incident involving a tandem IIRC and posted on here about it.

Caravan's like 17 or 18 or something like that.

haha - do we all owe beer?

I think they're rather nice boobies actually.

I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about. Commercial skydiving in the UK is alive and well. There's going on 20 commercial skydiving centers across the UK, all of which could offer you the kind of course you're asking about. They don't list them because no one wants them - partly because of the expense of doing such a course in the UK... but give any one of them a ring and I'd bet they'd be able to put a package together for you for a price. As for normal skydiving opps... they all offer those too of course - AFF or RAPS followed by various coaching programs and normal jumps. That's all you're looking at in OZ etc except you're paying up front for it all. That is literally the only difference – you pay for it all up front and the DZ's have managed to convince the NZ govt. that skydiving is actually something which should attract government education funding.

Remeber this line in my post above: Don't forget to budget for a rig and camera gear. That could end up setting you back upwards of £5000 alone. that's an important factor. unfortunately

Yes you have to pay for any formal coaching you want to take. No you don’t have to use formal coaching however. There are plenty of people who learned just by jumping with their friends (especially where their friends are good enough to be coaches). But formal coaching does increase the speed at which you will learn. I have heard mixed reports about how much actual post qualification coaching is provided on these courses you’re looking at. Make sure you find out exactly what is offered so you can make a fair comparison. If you were certain you wanted to get into the sport big time I think probably the uni courses you’re looking at are actually the cheapest fastest way in… but they are not for the feint hearted. You won’t get your money back if you drop out (just like a academic uni course) and you don’t get a lot of time off. Try searching here for previous posts – there are a number. I hope you’ll also get a few more answers from those who’ve actually been on the courses – they are out there.

Didn't we talk about how you were going to put the caffeine down if I was going to try and help you out mate? I am finding it physically difficult to comprehend what information you are attempting to acquire. Please separate your questions from your statements. 99% of people enter the sport by doing an AFF course (or similar such as static line). They then gain skills gradually by jumping with friends (who you will make at the DZ) and jumping with coaches who can focus on specific skill sets. Very very few people enter the sport through one of these two university courses. They have only been around for a couple of years. They get VERY mixed reviews. Some people have very bad things to say about them. Some people love them and evidently have done exceptionally well out of them. They are not, by any means the only way to become a camera flyer. However they may offer some advantages to those who wish to fly into the sport and have the required commitment to make the course work for them. Don't just assume they are some magic panacea however which will instantly guarantee a lucrative career as a camera flyer – there is far more to the role and it can be very difficult to make it pay well. Don't forget to budget for a rig and camera gear. That could end up setting you back upwards of £5000 alone.

NZ is a great place to learn. Prices are good there as you note. You mention my jump number. Just to put that into perspective I do not do paid camera work. I do not consider myself experienced enough. Take note of that! I have 140 jumps more than is required by the regs but I do not jump camera for money - I do it for fun and for my own use. You could spend all your time during your 200 jumps concentrating on belly skills and then be just about good enough to fly camera professionally. I do know a guy who is doing this. He started doing pro camera just after getting his 200th jump. He only managed this though because he has a tandem master as a friend who let him. This however has caused something of a stir among other camera flyers. The do not consider him to be experienced or safe enough. I even know one who left the DZ in part because of this as he considered it to be unsafe. I tell you this in an attempt to illustrate the fact that even if you go off to NZ, do 200 jumps and get camera training on one of these courses don't expect to come back to the UK and instantly be doing paid camera work. The same goes for the States to a good degree. Many places just won't consider you experienced enough. Remember 200 jumps is the minimum to be legal with a camera on your head - it does not mean that by that many jumps you'll actually be good enough. That said, it can be done – especially in NZ. From what I hear they have a huge tandem industry and are crying out for camera guys and you’d probably slot right in straight off the course. NZ is probably the only place where I hear full time camera guys are actually making a good living (although I could put money on someone now saying they make good money in X country or that they live in NZ and find it hard to make ends meet) - basically your mileage will vary. Because camera flyers are freelance if the weathers bad and no one jumps you don't make money. If business is slow you make no money. If your camera breaks (yes you have to buy and maintain your own cameras) you make no money. If your rig breaks or your loose your main (again – you have to buy and maintain your own kit) you make no money. If you're not making more money than it costs you to live then you aint gonna be paying the bank back. The number of people who get into this sport to make money is tiny. Most get into it because they want to skydive.

1. PUT THE CAFFEINE DOWN! 2. Where are you? NZ? To answer two of the questions I can work out from your... lets call it an "excited" post: a) most cameramen would probably be classified as freelance.. I guess. b) There are literally hundreds of commercial skydiving training facilities all across the world. You I think are listing the two in NZ which offer university degree courses. Most are just clubs where you pay your money and get your qualifications. Lets see if we can help further - try to distill down your questions to succinct one liners so we know exactly what info you're after.

None. Most consistently good openings of any canopy I've jumped. (yes I ripped that off, but it's true for me too). Have you been packing it in an unusual way? Do you roll the nose and stuff it or something?

Absolutely agree. The ONLY thing that lets the documentary down is the fact that they use a very limited set of sound effects for the sound of shooting throughout the entire series. It can become kinda tiresome listening to what sound like the exact same set of shots being fired.

Your translations are incorrect. You are not breaking the Latin back to it's route form but working with the conjugation. You will come up with incorrect translations if you work that way. The correct translation is "a" (without); "theos" (God). As such it is not "without the belief in God" but "without God". ie an Atheist is without a God - ie they believe there is no God for them to be "with". Atheism is the belief that there is no God. It is a positive belief in a negative - that there is no God. It is not the absence of any belief, as in order to be Atheist you have to have a belief - specifically that there is no God. The absence of a truly held belief would be Agnosticism. One who can't say one way or another if God exists would hold no true belief one way or the other. As such Agnosticism is the passive non belief in God. Thus if a person were to profess the non-existence of God, they would have to be classified an Atheist as they actively believe there is no God as opposed to merely passively not believing as they have concluded is no way of truly knowing - for that would be Agnosticism. It is a subtle difference, I know.

Yeah I keep promising. Lets see what Santa brings me... Though I guess I'm gonna give it a whirl anyway with the time I already have if Santa turns out to be a cunt. Wont stop me jumping mind - jumped lastweekend, will jump tomorrow.

That is possibly the funniest joke I've ever heard about pork pies.

I saw some kind of inconsequential lettering... I didn't see any hats.

Where's the option for "continue to jump through the winter you pussy" ?

I failed.

That's 'cos it's Hindi/Gujarati, as opposed to English. My personal favorite is "condiments". Latin origins so it ought to be more familiar to us... still feels funny though.

He flew those too. Guess you're gonna have to become a tornado pilot, get shot down and paraded through the media before starting up your own tv show.