DrewEckhardt

Working. We are finishing the product and I'm working on the next major feature. Hopefully it'll sell well, we'll IPO, I'll trade my shares for a pile of cash, and then I'll retire like some of my friends did before they reached 40. You can't win if you don't play....

A sabre2 with 600 jumps and a brand new line set will fly as well as one with 0 jumps. It'll just cost less and be a lot easier to pack. I bought my Stiletto 120 with 600 jumps and a new line set for $600-$700 and put 600 more on it. Late in life after a few steering line replacemens but before the rest of the lines had shrunk too much it still flew like new but almost packed itself.

You want gear which is safe, comfortable, and going to have the lowest total cost of ownership. Some people would want colors that don't disgust them, although I do have one pink blue and black canopy which was a good deal. Usually that means used gear. It's a lot easier to sell a canopy you buy for $800 and put 150 jumps on for $650 or more than a $1600 canopy for $1450 so you're more likely to knock a few hundred more off the price on the new canopy. Conversely, a $600 canopy which needs a $300 line set may only be worth $500 when you sell so you'd have spent $400 instead of $150 for the jumps you make on it. A Cypres AAD should cost about $11 a month over it's life time which you'll get with a brand new Cypres 2 for $1300. A Cypres which expires in a year for $300 is going to cost you over twice that to own and isn't a good deal. Sufficiently old units that need their 8 year check and new batteries are arguably worth no more than the $80 trade-in value. Start with the purchase price, add $160 for each 4-year check you need and $85 for batteries every 2 years on the Cypres 1, subtract $80 for the trade-in value, and divide by the months use you get out of it. Special deals may change the economics. You're probably not going to loose money with a 50% military or door prize discount on a new container (about 1/3 off what you'd pay to a dealer). A long time ago Aerodyne had a sale on new mains in stock colors for $1000 which priced them the same as nice used ones. Fliteline had the millenium deal with 40% off MSRP on Reflexes (about 20% off regular dealer prices). If you down-size as fast as you can according to Brian Germain's chart and stop jumping conventional canopies around 1.8 pounds per square foot you might be on your final container size at 400 jumps. After 800-1000 jumps you might be done downsizing too. Once you're not going to sell anything how much money you'd get if you did is a lot less important.

I had one in my Paraflite EOS. I don't think it helped any. If you really have problems, making the two folds at the top of the canopy, bagging, and then making the bottom two folds terminating at the tail is easier.

The switching power supply in my 12 year old home theater preamp refuses to start when first turned on because of a capacitor which has gone bad. I've replaced a handful of semi-conductors in my pinball machine between the 10 and 16 year mark although all but the first six years of its life were spent in my basement artist's loft, or office for just 1100 hours of use. The WiFi board in my laptop didn't last 5 years. The sun roof on my 11 year old car sometimes spontaneously opens after closing part way. One of the air bag circuits went bad in a lot less time. It only has 90,000 miles on it and I often go a week without driving. My second hand Fluke series 70 has worked great since I got it in 1996, although I only use it when I have an electronics project or one of my other pieces of electronics has failed. When not broken I use my skydiving rigs nearly every week (for over a decade). Given the poor longevity I've had with other frequently used electronics I don't feel too bad about the Cypres life time. I think it's a great idea. I don't want to be standing on some one's shoulders in a totem pole when their aged AAD fires prematurely and compulsory periodic checks before it can legally be used make that less likely. The other side of this is that with compulsory checks the manufacturer gets to sample more units and be more likely to catch less common problems before they manifest with potentially fatal results. Service plans which create a recurring revenue stream are great for business, although that's not their only justification.

. 1) With symetric construction and attachment pilot chutes don't spin. 2) The traditional spectra center line shrinks with age. It can get bad enough that your pilot chute doesn't have much drag and when you're stupid enough to jump it you should probably dump your reserve although reaching around and pulling the pin by hand will get you a canopy. I haven't been that daft but have loaned D-bags and pilot chutes to people who were. I think one is still out on now permanant loan. Have it inspected.

It's more a question of design and number of repacks. More modern designs have span-wise reinforcing tapes that will keep the canopy together during high-speed deployments, as during a Cypres fire at freefly speeds due to inattention doing those things or being knocked out on an AFF jump. The reserve I saw separate into 2 and 5 cell pieces only stayed together because of its single reinforcing tape at the tail seam. With tapes accross all line attachments the owner's injuries probably would hae been less severe. PD reserves have always had the tapes. The current Raven R-Max has span-wise tapes, the previous -M had span-wise bottom skin construction, and older Super/Micro/un prefixed ravens traditional chord-wise construction. Tempos got span wise tapes in 2001, older ones did not have them. Smarts are new and have always had tapes. Most of the wear on a reserve comes from packing, with porosity increasing and strength decreasing. PD calls for inspection at the factory after 40 repacks which would be 13 years if the reserve was continuously in service and packed according to US requirements. Gear often ends up spending a lot of time in closets. For instance I have a second riig which was rarely getting jumped and hasn't been in service or packed for 3 years. In places with unpleasant winters DZs many skydivers skip the season and repack which would go with it. My first rig only had 80 jumps on it before the original owner stopped jumping, plus a few years of storage before he decided he wasn't going to continue and ought to get his money back. Provided that the storage is in a cool dry place and there aren't leaking AAD batteries the time doesn't count.

here is a brutal Stiletto 150 opening http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWj7p8YKnlA Any canopy can slam you when you make packing errors or let the lines shrink too much. In 600 jumps I never had a hard opening with my Stiletto. While you might avoid Stilettos for the shorter positive recovery arc, sensitivity to body position at opening, and toggle sensitivity which leads to roll axis stability problems when they're not landed well opening speed is not a reason to avoid them.

The Rodenator was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title since it'd be my first choice for explosive gopher disposal. http://www.rodenator.com/pests-controls-videos-rodenators Quoting the web site:

Put it in storage if it'll be used again or free cycle it. With just my wife, small cat, and I living together we don't need much space and have down-sized to a one bedroom apartment. There isn't enough room for stuff to accumulate. It's also great for having guests, since with just a day bed in the living room they're unlikely to overstay their welcome.

I wouldn't order from Dominos because their pizza isn't that good before it gets adulterated. If I actually liked the stuff I might be more likely to order even if I lived in Conover, NC. With the flak Dominos is catching over this they'll be keeping a much closer eye on their employees. With their co-workers facing felony charges fewer of those remaining will be stupid like that.

Germs aren't going to be affraid of us and back off when the government intervenes like pirates might. We can make a better argument for protecting shipping being in our best interests than the pile of military bases and action in Iraq. Especially now that the global economic contraction with its reduction in cargo traffic means it's now more economical to sale around Africa through pirate infested waters than to pay the Suez Canal passage fees. It's also nice to see that we're getting a real return (albeit a small one) from over half the world's military spending.

Neither. Once you're cleared for self supervision and jumping canopies loaded at 1 pound per square foot buy a used rig which will be delivered by the following weekend. Get a new harness put on for < $400 if you can't find one that fits. I could have thrown my first used rig in the dumpster after six months and come out ahead financially over renting. Assuming you want to go faster and down size at a prudent pace sell the main in 100-150 jumps less $1 a jump from what you paid. Repeat two times and buy a new rig when you're ready for the next down size around 400 jumps. You will be less tempted to get an unsafe canopy now that you can "grow into" and have fun with later, and won't feel bad when you get grass and mud stains on your used rig. If you don't plan on staying in the military for 3 years at which point you'd get your new rig (assuming ~150 jumps a year) you might buy new sooner than when you're approaching 400 jumps since the 33% military discount (dealers will give 25% off to anyone just for asking, and 50% of the total is 2/3 of the normal discounted price) will cover a lot of your depreciation.

What has THAT got to do with a lawsuit on the sport side of the shop? I'd be more willing to help a small company with assets to seize and no revenues than one with $25M in revenues that can fend for itself.

There are about 600 justifiable homicides a year, about 60% from the police and 40% from private citizens.

I paid $700 for my last rig including the reserve. I've sold main canopies for $350 that I wouldn't mind jumping. AADs cost about $14 a month in depreciation and maintenance, with reasonable resale prices being based on time remaining in the life and maintenance cycles. I paid $2000 for my first bike. The Triumph I bought brand new for $10,000 cost $190 _A YEAR_ for full coverage. The Virago I bought used when I wasn't much over 21 was less. Shopping around on insurance and not buying a "sport" bike really helps. 37 MPG including 100 MPH rides out to the DZ.. Rear tires every 3000 miles, rear brakes pads every 4000, front tires in 6000 miles, front brake pads every 8000.

Frame of reference, especially in America where we're not allowed to jump through clouds. When you're close to non-moving objects it feels a lot faster. Apart from the wind being louder, smaller movements producing results, and it being more effort to move body parts in the relative wind there isn't a lot of difference between 120 and 200 MPH in freefall.

As an engineer I work with marketting and sales types who translate what I make into money. It's pretty standard practice to generate buzz before you start providing demo units and shipping product to paying customers. This is more true where you have new competition or market alternaties that you want to blunt (maybe the Competition Velocity or the chance of other products released at PIA). It's especially true where you have an annual trade show (PIA) and won't be having similar opportunities (good exposure for the cost) for another year.

I think you're confused, Bill. I certainly have no idea what you're trying to say. What does caliber selection have to do with driving under the influence? As the bullets are larger, the capacity of .45s tends to be lower than a comparable 9mm. Nothing, thus far, forces one to buy one or the other. In California, a wide-body 9mm holds 10 rounds. In California, a wide-body .45 or .45 Super holds 10 rounds. No capacity trade-off so why not get the more powerful gun? 10 round single stack .45 magazines were introduced in response to the original crime bill. Why not mate one of those to a 1911 in .460 Rowland? Browning's Best with .44 magnum ballistics. In the absence of such silly laws, there are 9mm guns that hold 17-19 rounds in their fat little bellies and you get to choose more little bullets or fewer big ones.

It's like flying with your friends. Except windy. My wife did not forsee how windy it would be prior to getting in the wind tunnel.

You should have watched the movie. 1) It would probably have been a better than a lot of what you watch on TV. 2) You're at home, not a movie theater, so you have alchohol as a crutch for when that's not the case. No one is there to object if you bring a laptop. Many women watch movies with the lights on so you may even be able to read your Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, or more plebian fare. 3) When you watch a chick flick your mate may watch a guy movie and entertain you when the movie gets slow. Obviously, this all disregards more serious implications which may result from not being more sensitive.

The Federal Government, with Medicare and Medicaid covering over 80 million people in total. #2 seems to be Wellpoint which claims to be the largest with 1 in 9 Americans covered for a total of just 34 million, mostly through the Blue Cross/Blue Shield branding.

The instruction program is standardized so you can make jumps at different drop zones. I did AFF levels 1 and 2 on separate weekends at one drop-zone; 3-6 over a weekend at another drop zone while traveling on business, and level 7 back at the first DZ. You'd probably be less likely to have problems once making it through AFF-7 and the follow up first solo at which point you'll be cleared for self-supervision and the instructors won't have to rely on their predecessors comments being accurate + complete.

Para Ordnance and combat Tupperware owners might disagree. A full sized P15 .45 holds 17 rounds in its fat little belly with +2 magazine floor plates . Glock people can get an aftermarket model-18 like magazine which nets 25 rounds of .45 hanging out the bottom of their gun.

If in 10 jumps your'e making 90 degree turns at roof top level, landing cross-wind, and landing down-wind with the smaller parachute you might want to try the smaller size. Most people wouldn't intentionally do those things, and if you've had to do those things you have bad judgement and shouldn't be down sizing. It's not about what happens when everything is going nice. BZ Shaw told me that with less than four years experience and 500 jumps I'd be fine jumping a 104 square foot parachute at 1.8 pounds per square foot. Into a nice wide open field at sea level it was. With more interesting things going on under a 120 with more experience I bruised my heels (it hurt to walk for a few months) and could have done much worse. You have the potential to be making a roof-top 90 degree turn to avoid obstacles you didn't see when landing out on the sunset load after having a bad spot and opening low ultimately resulting in a down-wind landing. That's the situation you're sizing your canopy for. If you've seen all those situations in 60 jumps and dealt with them successfully you have bad judgement and shouldn't down-size. If not you have something to learn. At 60 jumps Brian Germain suggests a 210 with a 177 as a minimum. Brian has jumped more (> 10,000 jumps) than most of us, knows more about parachutes (designed the Jedi series, Samurai, and Lotus), and knows more about teaching parachute flight and sports psychology (there's the lecture series and books). http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf You'd do well to follow the chart. When I weighed more than 72.5kg my instructors were uniformly split between a 210 and 190 as being a suitable first canopy. Parachutes are no slower now even though lots of us down size faster and get away with it. You don't want to bet being unable to walk for three months and skydive for a couple years after a few operations on a 75-90% chance that you'll make it through the downsizing process unscathed. I ultimately broke myself on landing area debris on a 245 at .7 pounds per square foot with 1500 nice landings. While I avoided a fatal plane crash five weeks later I wouldn't recommend high probabilities of crash landings to any one else without a real bad tarot card reading.