DrewEckhardt

If something goes wrong you do what the pilot tells you, which probably means staying inside. Helicopters don't fall out of the sky unless they've lost the main rotor. The spinning blades have a lot of drag. As long as the pilot is over smooth ground and stays out of the shaded areas on his height-velocity diagrams he can land the helicopter without power, trading potential energy (from either height or rotational inertia in the rotor system) for deceleration on landing.

So what are the "right tools"? I KNOW mine are the wrong ones, a pilot that snivels 800 feat regularly... Reserve quality pack job, large low-aspect ratio F111 seven cell with wide open nose, mesh slider, tail pocket, 9' bridle, and pilot chute appropriate for the delay.

Yes. Out in the pacific northwest we have these things called RAIN DROPS (the pointy ends hurt too much at 120+ MPH) and CLOUDS (the FAA won't let us jump through them). Right. There's also DRINKING BEER. Unfortunately, I can't drink any more beer than I allready do without becoming too big for my jumpsuit. It's bad enough that I have to suck in my gut to get it zipped up. That leaves working... and THE INERNET!

Keep the canopy in trim. Openings on spectra lined canopies change as the lines shrink.

I get less than 30,000 miles out of front brakes on my Audi A4 and more out of rear brakes. I've only had it six years, which hasn't been enough time to make it through a set of rear brakes without the previous owner's help and different driving habbits. I get less than 10,000 miles out of front brakes on my Triumph Sprint motorcycle, and about 4000 out of rear pads.

$35 plus shipping (from Pakistan) - $600+ for a popular name (ouragan) with some custom design work. Your favorite local rigger or other person who makes skydiving clothing. They'll know how fast the people you'll be jumping with fall, the measurements are guaranteed to be right when the person building the suit measures you, and both price and delivery time should be a lot better than larger comapnies with a national following.

You gotta love wikipedia: An interesting note from the pilot's handbook reads: "If the engine quits in instrument conditions (blind flying when you can't see the ground) or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft (it won't stall) and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 40 mph (64 km/h), and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 25 mph [40 km/h], the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground." The An-2 has no stall speed quoted in the operating handbooks (the stall speed being the speed at which the aircraft is travelling too slowly for the airflow over the wings to keep it aloft). Pilots of the An-2 say the aircraft can be flown in full control at 30 mph (as a contrast, a modern Cessna 4-seater light aircraft has a stall speed of around 55 mph).

You can get over 10 jumps worth of freefall experience for less than the price of one AFF jump when you split tunnel time with a lot less stress. If you have a wind tunnel nearby (like Skyventure Colorado) there's no reason not to use it to sort out problems.

An employer which has (legal) access to the database may refuse to hire me because I have a genetic condition like asthma and therefore be more likely to be sick and miss work. They can't do that with a finger print. A corrupt government may choose to send me to an internment camp based on my ancestry. They can't do that with a finger print. A government "acting in my best interests" may force treatment for a genetic psychiatric problem (say a predisposition to depression) where the treatment is worse than the diseas. They can't do that with a finger print. Since any laws passed now to prevent misuse of the information can be undone when the political winds change, the only way to prevent this abuse is to keep the information out of government hands.

Note that required main lift web length depends on where your height is. Height in inches - 20 is a reasonable approximation. In my case I take 5'10 - 30.5" inseam - 20 = 19.5". Not coincidentally I have main lift webs in the 19-20" range which Javelin's simple sizing chart puts in the 6'2 to 6'3"+ range. Also note that most manufacturers keep records of the gear sold. If you provide them with the rig's serial number they can provide you with both harness and container size information.

Because turning approaches build the most speed for high-performance landings. A front-riser turn is preferable to a toggle turn because it's faster and when you turn too low it takes less time to recover. The problem there is that you need enough experience in total, under the given canopy, and in the environment you're jumping in (density altitude, DZ land marks) to recognize when you're too low and take the appropriate action. You're more likely to get that experience without significant injury by being conservative. Although most swoopers prefer 180, 270, and even bigger turns a 90 degree turn is _not_ conservative. It's still enough to get 50+ MPH after planeout under a moderate sized canopy. Conservative means knowing what to do with your speed once you have it. You should know how to turn arround obstacles after planeout before you have to do it going very fast and be able to stop diving while still in a turn. Then it means symetric front risers, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and finally 90 degrees. Conservative also means a more gradual carving approach. Keeping the canopy accelerating longer means more speed. You also have more time to adjust your turn rate to end up where you want. And finally, it means formal instruction. Turning approaches increase the risk and amount of experience required to keep your chances of dying or being injured on landing lower so students are told not to do them. They're also the most fun you can have under canopy. The big problem is getting there without getting hurt too badly.

10 USC 311(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. 32 USC 313(a) To be eligible for original enlistment in the National Guard, a person must be at least 17 years of age and under 45, or under 64 years of age and a former member of the Regular Army, Regular Navy, Regular Air Force, or Regular Marine Corps.

It depends what you're trying to do. Skydives need to be safe, not violate any BSRs, and be fun for everyone on the jump. I'll do a simple (dive out, round, 360, round, repeat until 5000 feet) flat 2-way with pretty much anyone who hasn't earned a reputation for being too unsafe, has graduated from a student program (at least 7 jumps with AFF), and is dressed for success (no point in trying to jump with a 250 pound bowling ball wearing shorts and a T-shirt who may be moving arround too much for me to stay close in a sit or 100 pound woman in a baggy student suit I can't keep up with). Conversely I don't like doing freefly jumps larger than 2-ways with most people who haven't managed 500-1000 jumps because they're not likely to be successful and even safety gets marginal when you can't guarantee that you'll be able to even see everyone on the jump.

Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, Jaguar, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Suburu, Volkswagen all sell all-wheel-drive cars. Many of those companies will even sell you a station wagon that accelerates well, handles well, and hauls your stuff. With snow tires the better ones are almost impossible to get stuck (the classic Audi AWD system has a torsen center differential with electronic locking on both ends) as long as you don't get them high centered. 4wd lets you accelerate quicker on ice and snow but does nothing to help you stop. Without a center differential, it becomes impossible to lock the brakes at one end (front, you go straight) without locking them at the other (rear, things can get exciting). That said, four appropriate width snow tires on a 2wd car do more good than AWD.

I bought my last Javelin for $700 and change with a Raven reserve. Finding something like a Reflex with a PD reserve in that price range would not have been too difficult. The last ZP main I sold (Batwing) went for $300 and change. Whlie there isn't a lot of gear out there for that price, $1000 doesn't preclude finding a freefly safe rig and ZP canopy. It's just likely to be 10+ years old (perhaps much of that spent in a closet), not be fully articulated with stainless steel hardware and cutin laterals, and the main will not open and fly as nice as a newer design. "older" today includes things like the Talon, Eclipse, Reflex, older Javelins, and older Vector 3s.

Right, although states which have lower taxes in one area often make it up in other ways. New Hampshire has no general state sales or income taxes; although they do have an 8.5% business tax. Washington State has no state income tax although we do have a 6.5% state sales tax and in Seattle local taxes push the total to 9%. Colorado splits the difference with 4.6% income and 2.9% sales taxes.... Just because it sucks less here doesn't mean its good. Prior to 1913 America had no national income tax and one was introduced on "rich" people. The first $3000 ($57,000 in 2005 dollars) for single people and $4000 ($76000) for married couples was exempt. The lowest marginal rate was 1%. The top marginal rate on incomes over $500000 ($9554000) was a whopping 7%. Unfortunately federal spending increased over 14,000% beyond inflation....

Five gallons of pure water has killed people.

No because the US has no national sales and use tax. Individual states, special taxation districts (such as those paying for profesional sports stadiums), counties, and cities vary with total taxes that usually run somewhere between 0 and 10%. Most businesses do not charge sales tax on out of state shipments; although citizens are usually supposed to report their out of state purchases and remit taxes on them. I'm not aware of any jurisdictions which offer refunds. Countries within the EU all seem to have high VATs.

More jumpers would go to nearby Moab instead. Some people would make their first jumps off Frozen Pizza.

Since before Christ was born being Jewish has meant matrilineal descent from the twelve tribes of Israel.

My 90 year old grandma would comment on how young the 80 year olds when they died.

$5/jumper with $20 lift tickets is a 25% profit margin. Most businesses do a lot worse.

Apart from the Outback (haven't picked out a good local steak joint yet) I stay away from chains since they pretty much guarantee homogenized food that's not a good value. Many (good) local restraunts offer gift certificates.

A shortage of subsidized vocational training for law abiding adults is orthagonal to the situation in prison. Given a hypotehtical state which spends $25K a year (this is about right) per prisoner and a 5% state income tax rate (like Colorado which is now below 4.5%), reforming one prisoner has the same effect on your budget as increasing personal income $500K a year. According to the US census, average earnings among those with highschool diplomas is about $27K versus $51K for those with bachelor's degrees; we could round that difference up to $25K per year. As long as the prisoners being educated in prison have a better than 5% success rate at reform it makes more financial sense to spend the money there. This completely disregards the non-financial gains from reduced recidivism.

My complex has the !@#$%^ shower heads about 5'4" off the ground. Stuck the showerhead in the medicine cabinet and replaced it with a hose mounted one I can actually stand under.