DrewEckhardt

It's also worth noting that your delivery time can depend on who you order from. Some of the larger dealers have standing orders and effectively sell you their place in line, which could be 4-8 weeks out when the manufacturer is quoting 20 weeks for new orders. Presumably if the dealer doesn't manage to sell the slot they end up with a stock rig to sell.

Not very soon, just more likely to be killed, raped, robbed, or assaulted when criminals think their victims are more likely to be unarmed. When Florida passed their shall-issue concealed carry legislation thieves specifically targetted tourists identified by distinctive rental-car license plates.

Allowing citizens to carry their guns into the offices would be safer for everyone. The people with the guns wouldn't be unarmed when some one showed up and decided not to obey the carrying restirction on private property, and the guns wouldn't be sitting in cars where they could be stolen.

Lots of people would call a main that opens in only three seconds "a slammer" while a reserve that takes more than 3 seconds to open wouldn't pass the TSO certification process. You can have a main that goes as fast as you want, while reserves have maximum speeds and descent rates. Mains are made out of ZP fabric which make them likely to retain these characteristics for a long time. Reserves are made from 0-3 CFM fabric which makes them manageable (you want imacculate pack jobs) and have better tear characteristics (you do not want a catastrophic failure when you have a premature opening at 160 MPH). Mains are shaken and stuffed into loose fitting D-bags. Reserves are carefully folded, refolded, clamped, and stuffed into tight free-bags. When mains were made of 0-3 CFM fabric, the wing loading limits were a pound per square foot. With 0-3 CFM reserves people are loading them at 1.5 pounds per square foot.

Of course. I'm not tough enough to stay stupid and repeat that sort of mistake :-) First there was the nerve damage and resulting pain that kept me non weight bearing for three months. Since then I've gotten pretty good at limping around and was starting to pester my doctor about doing normal things like running and racquetball - figuring if I can jump if I do those things. He noted an area of suspicion and ordered a CT scan. The CT scan showed a hole so I got the bone stimulator. When the bony bits haven't even touched in six months they aren't too likely to on their own. So when I got another CT scan last week the doctor wasn't too surprised that the hole was still there and he talked most about bone grafts and hardware replacement. We're going to head up to see a trauma guy in San Francisco for a second opinion in a couple weeks who "might think it's OK to leave the hole alone" although I doubt that.

How did you spend 40K on 160 jumps, even with gear and training? My insurance companies and I have spent over $40,000 on just 1 jump. No gear or training involved. It's the little things that add up like $2800 for a bone stimulator or $400 for a CT scan. It'd be a lot more if we weren't getting the insurance companies negotiated pricing, like $4500 and $825 respectively. I got my bone stimulator for free. Neener, neener, neener. And I thought I was lucky only having to come up with $953 out of pocket for this plan year's deductible and start of my co-insurance. I wasn't lucky enough for it to work though. I think I'm in for a bone graft and fresh tibial nail.

How did you spend 40K on 160 jumps, even with gear and training? My insurance companies and I have spent over $40,000 on just 1 jump. No gear or training involved. It's the little things that add up like $2800 for a bone stimulator or $400 for a CT scan. It'd be a lot more if we weren't getting the insurance companies negotiated pricing, like $4500 and $825 respectively.

The flaw with your 3000 hour argument is that parachute fabric is much thinner than harness material, and inner layers are not protected by outer layers. My reserves, reserve pilot chutes, and free bags have a lot less (none detectable) sun fade than my main canopies presumably because the container and free bag provide some protection from the sun.

Good regulation to have, when you're selling nylon. Climbing and safety harnesses may not need to be retired until after 3000 hours of exposure to UV. Given five minutes under canopy and ten waiting for the plane it's going to take over 10,000 jumps to get there with a skydiving rig in which case it would probably have been retired for wear. With a few exceptions (round reserves with the acid mesh problem), gear sitting in a closet for 20 years isn't any less safe to jump than it was when new.

No, a serious man cave calls for equipment that would not mesh well with a traditional feminine sense of decor and might kill you if it fell over. Perhaps a 220 pound CRT projector which resolves 1920x1080p suspended over the couch with unistrut and 3/8" all-thread. Perhaps 46x13x16" actively tri-amplified main speakers designed for a clean 105 dB SPL. Perhaps a half dozen power amplifers that together weigh as much as you do, with pieces of scrap wood providing clearance for the heat sink vents. I only had 3 cubic feet with a 14.5" driver for sub-bass but it was a start. Some of that equipment would be built with your power tools and soldering iron. Some would need your Super Sawzall to install. It would be a work in progress like your classic car. Working well enough to drive, but with missing paint and exposed wiring in places. That's a man cave. A 50" flat screen hanging demurely on the wall is something you put in the bedroom, opposite your canopy bed with 12 pillows, comforter, and bed spread. Something that you install in an afternoon using only your wife's tools and her help lifting. Having become domesticated, I speak from experience here.

Whatever is clean and hole-free. Since I don't shop, that pretty much translates into either 1) A polo shirt my wife got me which is presentable or 2) A T-shirt from an event that was free or included in the registration fee. The first Royal Gorge Go Fast Games schwag bag included four T-shirts and the second one two, so those are definitely way over represented.

Ok I gota ask.....just what would you have done with a knife under that reserve other than put yourself out of misery before impact? Cut the misrouted steering line which would be causing a turn once it opened (fine, but a bit hard as the slider went down the lines and the left side got narrower as it traversed the crossed lines).

Actually, most of the wear to a reserve occurs during packing. A better question would be how many times has it been repacked?

I've jumped F111 seven cells down to a wing loading of .65 and found that they work great with that suspended weight. I think that's about the standard wingloading for classic accuracy. You may have had a problem with the combination of the canopy model (some require larger control inputs), brake line length (longer lines mean you have to pull farther), or riser length (since the distance from steering line guide ring to riser link is standardized short risers mean you have to pull farther with shorter risers). It wasn't under loading.

The USA doesn't have these jamming laws in most states. And how can the camera use no flash? Night vision? Infrared illuminator. Standard CCD sensors used in consumer camcorders and still cameras will pickup near infrared when not equipped with a filter. Driving lights with IR filters might do the trick. They're even commercially available.

Is that a 100 series or was it originally a float plane?

I graduated from the AFF program in 7 jumps, put 5 more jumps on a Sky Master 295 with ripcords, and then switched to my Turbo Z 205 with a leg strap throw out. I'm not sure how big I was at the time, but the wing loading was some where between .85 and .95. The DZ didn't have any smaller rental/student gear and the instructors were pretty evenly split between whether I should get a 190 or 210. Something in between would have been prudent since I crashed on my first landing. I started flaring and the thing leveled out a couple feet off the ground so I stopped. The second landing was nice though.

Indicated airspeed (total pressure of the air molecules hitting the measuring device) is unchanged regardless of density altitude. True airspeed (velocity vector magnitude relative to the air mass) is higher when air density is lower and there are fewer molecules running into the airspeed indicator. Since your reaction time requirements and kinetic energy on landing are a function of your velocity vector plus the wind's, true airspeed is more relevant for skyiving.

Learn to apply mechanical advantage and you won't need a tool. It takes less time to pack without the tool since you don't have to thread the end through the loop (especially if the loop is too tight), and easier to fit the closing pin in a tight loop when you have the bulk of a regular tape pull-up cord in there than a thin piece of spectra. Loosing a regular pull up cord means some one will definitely loan you a spare, and many DZs/skydiving stores will give you a few for the road. Regular pull up cords are also small enough to stuff in your reserve data card pocket so you're guaranteed to have one if you land out regardless of what jump suit you're wearing (some people hang the tool around their neck, but with an 800 pound tensile strength that doesn't seem like a good idea). It might save wear and tear on your hands if you're cranking out 10+ pack jobs a day, but I'm guessing that's not the case here.

Clinton made a big stink about sport utility rifles and wouldn't accept HR3355 without a ban. That arguably cost the Democrats their majority in Congress. There are enough single issue voters that national candidates can't stump on gun control. People who might be for gun rights (a national gun law pre-emption would be nice) can't do anything without ticking off the other side.

Even with the 33% discount (anyone can get 25% off just by purchasing from a big dealer; and 50% of MSRP is only a 1/3 discount compared to the 75% of MSRP street price) you can spend a lot more than if you just got a used rig. I spent under $800 on my last container+reserve combination (used) or about what you'll be spending just for the container. While you could add a used reserve to that, most of the used reserves get sold as part of a package deal so the options are limited and prices not too different from new. You're also a lot more likely to score a good deal on a Cypres if it comes as a package. Other hidden charges that go with the new rig are rental costs and depreciation. If you buy new and wait just eight weeks for delivery, you could easily spend another $500 more on rig rentals than if you bought something used and started jumping it this weekend. When you go to downsize and are trying to sell a nearly new package, you're competing with $2000-$3000 setups and are going to have to wait longer or take a bigger hit selling. If I didn't have an odd body shape, I'd buy my first rig used even with a 50% discount on a new container. Wait for the second one to buy new, where you can end up with the same rig size you'll be jumping indefinitely (While I only kept my first rig for two years, I've jumped the same rig size since 1998) and it doesn't matter how long it takes to get built (I ordered my custom skydiving rig in December 1999 and had it delivered in May 2000).

Although not playing the withholding game right means you're loosing out on the $100+ you'd have made with the money in a high yield savings account or short term CDs.

I don't need a bathroom scale. When I was in good shape, pants with a 30" waste band fit. Since I needed 36" dockers to accommodate my beer belly, I am obviously out of shape.

Hillary is going to continue to attack Obama because 1) She might win. 2) If she looses, the Obama animosity she fosters will help her get into the white house as McCain's running mate followed by 8-10 years in the Oval Office. Clinton worked with Gingrich on health care, and he thought she was fine on defense "She's been consistently solid on the need to do the right thing on national defense." which is just what the Republicans need in a vice presidental candidate. Some Obama haters would follow her to the Republicans. A few Republicans might not like it although they're not going to vote for Obama with his socialist leanings. This is all intentional - Bill's cranium is almost as big as Karl Rove's.

The samples measured by PIA ranged from 148 to 154 square feet.