beezyshaw

Ditto what Jay says, I love jumping the porter. Tandems, too, are no problem when you just sit by the door, slide it open, swing your feet out, and skydive. The max load thing is a bit of an issue (esp. when some big people are on the load.) so when jumping the porter I try to get to the plane early to call "dibs" on a good seat. Being a pilot of tailwheel aircraft, and owning several taildraggers throughout the years, there is also something special about a Porter. That rugged bad-ass look is just a thing of beauty. And they ain't got no sissy steerin' wheel!

"What the American people have seen is this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out and those people who were impoverished drowned." -- Senator Ted Kennedy, on Hurricane Katrina "Ditto!" -- Mary Jo Kopechne

Read very carefully, this is our roots! (if you're an aviator) What follows is important historical information. THE ORIGIN OF THE WORD AVIATOR This explains it all. As aviators, we come from a long line of a secret society, formed around one thousand years ago. We are warriors, and here is the proof! Ground pounders can read it and weep! A little known fact is the origin of the word, "Aviator." In the immortal words of Johnny Carson: "I didn't know that." Phu Khen (pronounced Foo Ken) 1169-? is considered by some to be the most under-recognized military officer in history. Many have never heard of his contributions to modern military warfare. The mission of this secret society is to bring honor to the name of Phu Khen. A 'Khen' was a subordinate to a 'Khan' (pronounced 'konn') in the military structure of the Mongol hordes. Khan is Turkish for leader. Most know of the great Genghis Khan, but little has been written of his chain of command. Khen is also of Turkish origin. Although there is not a word in English that adequately conveys the meaning. Roughly translated, it means, "One who will do the impossible, while appearing unprepared and complaining constantly." Phu Khen was one of ten Khens that headed the divisions, or groups of hordes, as they were known, of the Mongol Army serving under Genghis Khan. His abilities came to light during the Mongols' raids on the Turkistan city of Bohicaroo. Bohicans were fierce warriors and the city was well fortified. The entire city was protected by huge walls and the hordes were at a standoff with the Bohicans. Bohicaroo was well stocked and it would be difficult to wait them out. Genghis Khan assembled his Khens and ordered each of them to develop a plan for penetrating the defenses of Bohicaroo. Operation Achieve Victory (AV) was born. All 10 divisions of Khens submitted their plan. After reviewing AV plans 1 thru 7 and finding them all unworkable or ridiculous, Genghis Khan was understandably upset. It was with much perspiration that Phu Khen submitted his idea, which came to be known as AV 8. Upon seeing AV 8, Genghis was convinced this was the perfect plan and gave his immediate approval. The plan was beautifully simple. Phu Khen would arm his hordes to the teeth, load them into catapults, and hurl them over the wall. The losses were expected to be high, but hey, hordes were cheap! Those that survived the flight would engage the enemy in combat. Those that did not? Well, surely their flailing bodies would cause some damage. The plan worked and the Bohicans were defeated. From that day on, whenever the Mongol Army encountered an insurmountable enemy, Genghis Khan would give the order, "Send some of Phu Khen's AV 8-ers." This is believed, though not by anyone outside our secret society, to be the true origin of the word Aviator (AV 8-er). Phu Khen's AV 8-ers were understandably an unruly mob, not likely to be socially acceptable. Many were heavy drinkers and insomniacs. But when nothing else would do, you could always count on an AV 8-er. A Phu Khen Aviator. Denied, perhaps rightfully so, his place in history, Phu Khen has been, nonetheless, immortalized in prose. As the great poet Norman Lear never once said: "There once was a man named Phu Khen, Whose breakfast was whiskey and gin. When e'er he'd fly, He'd give a mighty war cry: "Bend over, here it comes again." Consider it an honor to be a Phu Khen Aviator. Wear the mantle proudly, but speak of it cautiously. It is not always popular to be one of us. You hear mystical references, often-hushed whispers, to 'those Phu Khen Aviators.' Do not let these things bother you. As with any secret society, we go largely misunderstood, prohibited by our apathy from explaining ourselves. You are expected to always live down to the reputation of the Phu Khen Aviator...a reputation cultivated for centuries, undaunted by scorn or ridicule, unhindered by progress. So drink up, be crude, sleep late, urinate in public, and get the job done. When others are offended, you can revel in the knowledge that... YOU are a PHU KHEN AVIATOR!

I've been trying to read bits and pieces of this thread, just so I could be "in the know" about stuff, but all I can say is "DAMN, WTF ARE Y'ALL TALKIN' 'BOUT?" Does that mean I'm an finally an adult instead of a mere grownup? i hate it when that happens

THAT, my friend, puts my reputation on the line, so I'll make a couple of coach jumps with you and then we'll see...

Amen to that; like I said when I put my name on the list here... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2033645#2033645

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING ! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of iinnovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

I haven't read through this whole thread, so I don't know if anybody else has mentioned them, but any guys close to my age would have to agree the all-time, numero uno toy of all toys was the... Carbide Cannon! Mine was my dad's when he was a kid, man that thing kicked ass. You can still get them, just like they were almost a century ago. http://www.cannon-mania.com/bigbang.htm

hmmm, maybe the newspaper ps Hey Ben, pm me, I'm supposed to get with you before I go to the dz tomorrow

I think Rob would agree I would know a bit about Batwings... He doesn't know Jack Schitt...LOL

I was one of the two videos on the dive. I was actually to be in the formation(I just usually wore my camera all the time) and Tony James was the outside video. I was a floater on the tailgate, and when I felt the buffet I left. I got pretty good video of the first few seconds and a good shot of people coming off the airplane with it inverted. A couple of people stayed in the airplane, with injuries like broken arms and such. Tony's video shows more than mine, as I started doing rw and took my eyes off the airplane after a few seconds. Funny to think back on that, but as has been said before, the dive went on as planned! I'll try to dig up my tape and edit into a mpeg and post it.

ACTUAL HEADLINES -Eye drops off shelf -Helicopter powered by human flies -CIRCUMCISIONS CUT BACK -Area man wins award for nuclear accident -STORM DELAYED BY BAD WEATHER -Dead guitarist now slimmer and trimmer -Cockroach slain, Husband badly hurt -Ecuador's President Declares He's Not Dead -MAN, SHOT IN HEAD TWICE, GETS MAD -Teacher Dies; Board Accepts Resignation

Actually, the Batwing packs a little smaller than Stiletto, meaning the 116 is going to pack closer to the volume of a St 107.

Remember, "good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgement" There is a lot of truth in that saying. I don't think you need to necessarily be the one that exercises poor judgement to gain experience by it, but whether it be your own screw-ups and close calls or those of someone else, learning important lessons give one the experience needed to then use good judgement. ps Damn, that was pretty profound

I've seen it all now; I just got an email asking me to join some sort of shopping club that will donate to the US Team Fund, well, maybe it's legit and maybe not, but the email was from "billottley@yahoo.com" !!! Rise again, brother, speak to me; somebody say hallelujah!

Impatient with efforts to close the courts to litigants, the Administration literally fired the first shot in its groundbreaking "No Lawyer Left Standing" initiative. Vice-President Cheney, hunting on a private lawyer ranch near Kingsville, Texas, bagged an impressive buck (Harry Whittington, UT Law '50). Under the new program, hunters may take one white shoe in-house lawyer or three outside lawyers daily. The limit has been suspended for trial lawyers. "We've just got to thin the herd," said the Vice-President. "We've tried tort reform and caps on damages, but people are still suing." Cheney added, "It's easy and fun. In Texas, you can shoot in almost any direction and hit a lawyer."

That's some funny shtuff rot thar

ROLLS of zp? Dude, if he's buying bolts of zp fabric you'd better tell him to get his wallet out Planning on patching a few thousand canopies or what? We use Gelvenor Textiles fabric for our canopies, it's the stuff that's easy to pack when new.

I ALWAYS watch my pilot chute take the bag off...ALWAYS. I want to know with certainty that part of the deployment is happening normally. In my mind this is crucial to quick reaction to malfunctions. I have jumped every kind of canopy you can imagine, and never change my routine. I never have line twists because I watch the launch. Maybe I compensate somehow to keep the opening from being affected, who really knows. But I call bullshit on "causing" opening issues if you don't lay flat, dumb, and happy when you deploy. Oh, and another thing I've done since the throwout came along, I hold my pilot chute a couple of seconds before I let it go. I don't treat it like a game of hot-potato.

Beula hits buzzer BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Sorry, "c" is incorrect. Now go sit down.

You are correct! Because the air is pushed to the back, and the helium is lighter than air, the balloon would move forward. Now go pick a prize from the prize box.

You're riding on a bus. The kid next to you has a helium-filled balloon. He lets go of the balloon and it ends up against the ceiling, just about in the center of the bus. The driver suddenly hits the gas pedal and the bus lurches forward, throwing you back into your seat. What does the balloon do? a) It moves backward. b) It moves forward. c) It stays where it is. Edit: Give the reason for your answer

President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit a United Methodist Church in Oregon as part of his campaign. Bush's campaign manager made a visit to the pastor, and said to her, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Methodists because of Bush's position on the war and stem cell research and other issues. We'd gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon you'd say the President is a saint." The pastor thinks it over for a few moments and finally says, "The Church is in desperate need of funds and I will agree to do it." Bush shows up and, as the service progresses, the pastor begins her homily: "George W. Bush is petty, a self-absorbed hypocrite and a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He has lied about his military record and had the gall to put himself in a jet plane landing on a carrier posing before a banner stating "Mission Accomplished." He invaded a country for oil and money, and is using it to lie to the American people. He is the worst example of a United Methodist I've ever personally known... But compared to Dick Cheney and the rest of his cabinet, George Bush is a saint." Communication is our most important problem

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization? Answer: Princess Diana's death. Question: How come? Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky, (check the bottle before you change the spelling) followed closely by Italian Pa parazzi, on Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. This is sent to you by an American, using Bill Gates's technology, and you're probably reading this on your computer, that use Taiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you by undocumented Mexican workers..... That, my friends, is Globalization

I kinda think so... http://www.hiperusa.com/Needglasses.wmv