betzilla

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Everything posted by betzilla

  1. betzilla
    Dude, think how happy your pilots must be that you posted that.
  2. betzilla
    I'm with ya Sunshine. I loaded a bit higher before my broken leg (not from high-speed landing, for those who don't know me
  3. betzilla
    My sweetie has several ladnings on PD 106 reserves (he's not a small guy), and he swears they "swoop great."
  4. betzilla
    I am more aware now in daily life than I was before I started jumping, but I also take more risks than I did before. I was a big weenie before I started jumping. Now I understand that risk can be managed effectively, so I'm more aggressive in all areas than I used to be.
  5. betzilla
    If you're talking about the mountaineer-type wristwatch, they don't work for jumping, because they don't register the altitdue change quickly enough.
  6. betzilla
    That's really true. I had an interesting experience last night at dinner. There were several skydivers sitting around the table, and we were trying to convince a guy with 30 jumps that he's not ready to downsize. The comment that seemed to make the most sense to him wasn't "you can get badly injured," but "you'll learn faster under your current canopy." The injury stuff didn't work on him, because, like all of us, he thought "it won't happen to me." But he wants to look cool in the shortest time possible, and the fact that he can do that faster under a moderately sized canopy seemed to sink in a little. Of course it remains to be seen whether he decides to go for it anyway...
  7. betzilla
    I'll let you know.
  8. betzilla
    I heard about one TM here, who looked over his tudents shoulder and into his face to ask if he was doing okay. This was just in time for the student to turn his head and barf INTO the TM's mouth. I don't know whether that was just a tale, but I can totally picture it happenening to that TM.
  9. betzilla
    We'll be offering a rigging course in late fall and early spring. We have written testing on site, and the instructor is a DPRE, so you can take the course and leave with your rating. www.para-concepts.com We teach a packing class to the AFP jumpers here. We do one each Saturday night, but if one of the riggers is available and short on cash, they'll teach one anytime. I'm thinking we should change the schedule so that we teach the class Satutrday morning -- that way the student can pack the rig and jump it without having to think about the quality of their pack-job overnight . We use the PD owner's manual as the "study guide."
  10. betzilla
    Skydiving and Steely Dan -- what more could you ask for?
  11. betzilla
    Hey ya'll (midwesterners, mainly). Para Concepts will be hosting RWS Skyhook demostrations at Skydive Chicago over Easter weekend. Staffers will jump an intentional cutaway rig with a Skyhook installed, so you can see with your own eyes what a Skyhook reserve deployment is like. There will be question/answer sessions as well. SDC has $10 jumps that weekend , so now you have 2 reasons to come.
  12. betzilla
    Well, I voted yes, but I gotta admit, i don't know what that is . SDC has a pretty hot bulletin board setup.
  13. betzilla

    an Arab view

    betzilla replied to beowulf's topic in The Bonfire

    I think that depends a LOT on the West's role in helping Iraq rebuild itself and it's government. Hopefully we (the US) won't just say, "okay, we liberated you, now you be a democracy," and leave town. It seems to me we now have an opportunity to improve US relations with Islamic nations. Hopefully our leaders won't waste that chance.
  14. betzilla
    I guess I'd rather feel like an asshole for refusing to jump with somebody who was high, than feel like an asshole because somebody I care about just got dead, when I might have been able to prevent it. Personally I would not want to be in the air with somebody I thought was high. That would mean, for me, not on the same jump, and lots of exit separation at the very least. I don't see me being real enthusiastic about jumping with that person under any circumstances after that. Seems like somebody willing to jeopardize their safety by jumping UTI would have other attitude issues too.
  15. betzilla
    Now there's a statement you just don't hear every day....
  16. betzilla
    nobody recommends you try it until you have a hundred jumps. And having 100 doesn't mean it a good idea for anyone. I have 500, and I would want more before I tried it -- it's another variable that can play into you error-margin.
  17. betzilla
    Try Paragear. I think I saw them in their catalog once.
  18. betzilla
    hey! We agree on something in this thread!
  19. betzilla
    They have an altmeter with a glow-in-the-dark face, and their new audible/digital/freefall computer has a backlit face too. I hear they'll be shipping them early next month.
  20. betzilla
    Hard housings -- thirty bucks that will save your life! Thanks for posting you tale JD.
  21. betzilla
    Not money v. freedom. Private v. public. Speaking of freedom, I'm free to work where ever I like, right? As are all other employees. Hey If the best instructors get upset about pee testing and go to another local DZ to teach (there are 3 within easy driving distance of us, so it's not like if they don't teach here, they just don't teach) -- what better form of protest is there than that? They'd probably take some students with them -- you know how loyal students are to their favorite instructor. Of course, nobody's left SDC over this issue yet... Go figure. I'm not going to change your mind, and though there is a LOT of value in what you say, you're not going to change mine either.
  22. betzilla
    Picture the incident report in parachutist: "wintnesses report the jumper had a slightly hard landing, stood up and began to gather gear. The jumer then keeled over without warning, and never regained consciouness. The coroner reports a large wad of BubbleYum was lodged in the jumper's trachea..."
  23. betzilla
    Our country, but not the huge investment in my Drop Zone. You can bet I'd be pissed off (nice pun, eh?) if I had to piss test to get a passport or a soical security card. But sorry, I don't have a "right" to teach skydiving. It's a privelege I have earned. There ARE people out there who have earned it, but shouldn't have. Or whose lives have changed to the point where they shouldn't have that privelege any longer. Maybe this will help weed some of them out, before they weed themselves out by going in on or off the clock, or even with a student. Maybe not, but I'm willing to try it.
  24. betzilla
    I work in the pro shop at my DZ, and every recent grad who's bought a rig from me has bought one with a cypres. When I ask them if they want a Cypres, they usually look at me like I'm nuts for thinking they might NOT want one. Hey, you'll probably never need it, but don't you want it in your rig the time you get kicked in the head? I made my first 400 jumps off student status without one, and never worried. But now that I have one, I don't think I'd go back.
  25. betzilla
    *shuddering from unexpected visual...*