tbrown

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Everything posted by tbrown

  1. If you jump at Perris, you'll have no trouble learning big-way flying. Even then you should attend one of their big-way camps to learn things like dive floating, approach angles, and all kinds of things to keep you and your big-way friends safe. Even if you never do anything but fly in the base (a very important position, by the way), you will need to step outside your comfort zone and a Kate Cooper big-way camp will let you do just that, but in a no-fault environment. __________________________________________________ I might add that Perris has also been offering a monthly "midway" project one Sunday a month, for up to 45 people from two aircraft. These loads are organized by Mark Brown and Darryld Light and are aimed at introducing average skydivers to the concepts of safe bigway flying. Along with a lot of local and visiting fun jumpers, we often get participation and guidance from "guests" like Dan BC, Carey Peck, and several of the JFTC women, all veterans of past and present world record bigways. We commit to five jumps and pay an additional $5 apiece to hire a camera for the day. Sometimes we get to use the Skyvan for the base, other days we use two Otters. It's a VERY fun and low pressure group and the only thing we're absolutely merciless about is the safety rules. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  2. Back in 1974 we got a very enthusiastic presentation that emphasized just what a safe, fun, and legal high skydiving was. The usuall rah-rah about the drive home being the most dangerous part. Of course the way we partied in those days, it probably was. This was in the days of round canopies, gut gear, and capewells. We did at least have Sentinel AADs on the student reserves and I do know of one Sentinel save an a first freefall student who simply never pulled anything. We thought it was pretty safe. But in my first three years, our dropzone had four fatalities. One was ruled a suicide by the coroner, two were midair collisions between freefallers with opening canopies, and one was a reserve that got wrapped on a horseshoed main. Another well known jumper friend was killed on a demo when he had to cutaway and horseshoed his chest mounted reserve on his open capewell hardware. Then we wiped out a plane on takeoff when it hit glare ice on the runway. Nobody died, but I was onboard for that one. And I still thought it was pretty safe, I even went back up 20 minutes later on another plane - as did two first jump students who were DETERMINED to jump (hey now). Also saw two hair raising low reserve openings. One was a friend who tried to cutaway his Strato Star and could only get one capewell to release. In desperation he punched his reserve with the main still trailing by a riser, and fortunately the reserve cleared below 200 ft. The other was a US Army Golden Knight at a public demo who dicked around way too long with a streamer, cutaway somewhere below a grand, and finally got his reserve open around 100 ft off the deck, just as I was turning away not to see him bounce (bet he got HIS ass chewed out for that...). I began to get the idea that the real dangers were not the kind the public imagines, which is still the way I see it nowadays. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  3. You might literally get your ass hauled off to Gitmo, complete with the complimentary waterboarding. Actually, wasn't some bus driver identified and fired for mooning Boy George a year or two back ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  4. tbrown

    Safety first!

    Truly a testimonial to the creative powers of alcohol. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  5. You would think not. I think they shouldn't either. But "shall not be infringed" is pretty daunting language if taken literally. But it might not apply to letting them own the ammo. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  6. There are absolutely delicious edibles some of us consume in small quantities that would be outright sickening in excessive portions. Chocolate espresso beans. Caviar. Semen. Hmmm...maybe we should ask the women how they feel about fellatio. Sex is not a chore. Turning it into one takes all the joy out of it. Many of the best parts of sex are acquired tastes. Thinking back way too many years, I remember it all being a little strange at first. But without naming names, I can think of several women, some famous & some not so well known, who I'd be happy to eat all night long if that was all I could do. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  7. Nobody's even mentioned "Parachute Woman" ? That and "Stray Cat Blues" are two of the best songs on Beggars' Banquet. "Parachute woman, land on me tonight...". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  8. If I remember, the US Team was jumping a complete Swift System from Para Flite. The Main, reserve, and harness/containers were all built by PF. Never jumped a Swift, but think it was something like a 188 ft 5 cell, with a notoriously poor flare. The Swift reserve was more successful for quite some time, eventually evolving into the 7 cell Swift Plus before PF finally got out of the sport market. the Swift system didn't stick around for long. Para Flite also had a 230 ft 5 cell called the Cirrus, which also had a TSO'ed reserve version. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  9. In other words, once the 6th Amendment was passed over 200 years ago, ANY suspension of habeas corpus became, and is, unconstitutional. That also means that whenever habeas corpus was suspended, at various times, by Lincoln, or Wilson, or FDR or by act of Congress, for ANY purpose, it was, and is, unconstitutional. So whether it's done by 1 President or 500+ members of Congress is irrelevant - it is ALWAYS unconstitutional. You make a good point about the 6th Amendment. In fact, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution when it became clear the states wouldn't ratify it without the additional guarantees of individual rights and liberties. However, it would be debatable in the courts and among legal scholars whether the 6th Amendment cancels out the exception for times of invasion and rebellion. In Lincoln's time, the nation's capital was seperated from an army that could have invaded at any time by nothing more than a river. It was also surrounded by Maryland, a state so full of Confederate sympathizers that it was kept in the union only by force of arms (also remember that Maryland remained a legal slave state throughout the entire war). Lincoln, I think, could be forgiven for doing what he had to do. Wilson and FDR clearly crossed a line of abuse. But you know what ? The REALLY COOL thing about this story is that Truman didn't go for it. He turned it down. Probably was polite about it and evidently kept it quiet, as we're only finding about it now, 57 years later. But Hoover had the whole thing ready to go and Harry Truman did the right thing and said no. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  10. There's nothing wrong with a dealer taking a cut, they've done the legwork to make sure the gear is safe. At your dropzone you have an excellent & highly reputable dealer, who helped broker the private sale of my own rig a few years back. She cares enormously about things like your safety and satisfaction. One word of advice to newbies is to beware of some of the "great deals" you may get from private owner/sellers. I know I'll take some crap for this, but there are some jumpers who are only too happy to unload a beater of a rig on some gullible newbie. I'm not saying that all old gear is bad either, just some of it. Don't buy ANYTHING without a rigger's inspection, where you're paying the rigger for an impartial inspection. Ask the rigger what kind of work he thinks the rig will need and what that will cost, because a lot of the old stuff needs at least some work. And finally don't let yourself get pressured into buying anything. I know as a newbie you want a rig so bad you can almost taste it. And you're almost seeing double from sticker shock - this stuff ain't cheap, it never has been and never will be (I remember being appalled at the $365 price tag on a new Paracommander when I was a newbie). But you should be able to get a good SAFE used rig, with an AAD for $3 grand or less. You just need a little patience is all - and wintertime is an excellent time to hunt for deals, as so many jumpers are selling their old rigs to buy something newer and slicker for next season. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  11. The guy who sued was Dennis Murphy. He was a member of the Unity 8 Way team from Pope Valley that year. He was also "expelled for life" from USPA for his lawsuit, which was aimed at everyone from USPA to Douglas Aircraft for having built the plane. Apparently USPA re-instated him sometime later (way to go...), as I've seen him out at Perris at the '04 and '05 Nationals competing in the Classic Style event. I was at the '78 Nationals for the boogie they held between the Style & Accuracy and RW events and had jumped out of 873 several times at the boogie. I heard that the pilot had managed to skid the plane sideways, snapping off the landing gear through a cornfield. Rough as it was, there were NO deaths, though at least one of the jumpers was too fupped duck to ever jump again. There was also some story that somebody hadn't removed some chocks from the horizontal stabilizers, which had caused the plane to stall on takeoff, but I don't know if that's true or not. IMHO Murphy should never have been reinstated or been allowed to compete in the Nationals ever again, but that's between USPA and God on Judgement Day. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  12. You can't get more exotic than Perris, CA ! The weather's good most of the time all winter long, they've got a fleet of turbos - and a DC-9. Not to mention the wind tunnel. Plus, Elsinore's just 15 miles over the hills, so you can go check them out too. Downtown Perris is perhaps a little too exotic, unless you're packing a firearm after dark. But you're midway between LA and San Diego and not far from the So Cal coast, so there's lots of off-DZ adventures to be had as well. Plus, fuel and lift prices in the US are considerably less than anywhere else in the world. At least that's what a lot of visiting skydivers from around the world tell me. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  13. Interesting to note that this guy's suit not only has wings under his arms, but between his legs. Remarkably similar, in some ways, to today's suits. Also, next time you're in The Bombshelter at Perris, look up directly over the bar. There's a mannequin wearing the late Lyle Cameron's old batwing suit. Lyle was of course the guy who gave us young brats of the sixties the wonderful "Ripcord" adventure series on Friday nights. His son Lyle Jr donated the suit to The Bombshelter because it was just "lying in a closet at home". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  14. You did the right thing. If you'd been higher, like at least above 2 grand, you might have tried to clear the line twists. But if you really opened at 1300 ft, you'd already used up most of your options. A spinning canopy is going down FAST. Yours may have been stable, but the load on a canopy can shift while you're untwisting the lines. I recently had a situation of my own, where I did exactly that. My canopy was stable at first and I was making good progress with untwisting it, but suddenly the load shifted and I found myself in a real classic spinner. I cleared that too, but unacceptably low. It was dumb, I could've got myself killed. Spinners go down FAST, it's amazing how many hundreds, even thousands of feet they can burn up in just seconds. It just isn't worth it. So you have to pay for a repack and you'll probably have to replace your kinked ripcord. Hope you got your freebag and main back and in good condition. Cutaways aren't cheap, unless you compare them with your life. Anyway, it was your life and your decision (and your mistake that got you there in the first place). You made the right call and lived to learn from your mistake. All in all, I'd call it good. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  15. Is this another one of those "faith vs reason" threads ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  16. You must be referring to "Mrs. Peale", the Avengers chick... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  17. Very nice. However, the younger generation would want one that's shaved, or trimmed to a "landing strip"..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  18. When he matches the angle of the runway, and can 'touch down to it', then the tough stuff begins,,, I'd guess he had to bleed off his velocity, in a very controlled way.. The last time this was a hot topic, maybe two years ago, Corliss was talking about deploying a small round canopy AFTER touchdown. Much like a drag racer, some jets, or the space shuttle do to bring themselves to a halt. there was also some talk about Bill Booth developing a landing gear carriage of some sort for Corliss' chest, which would include said round drogue canopy. and hopefully some kind of wheels. Otherwise the abrasion and road rash factor could be considerable. I believe Jeb can do it. And I'm certain that sooner or later, somebody, whether or not it's Jeb, will do it. This IS inevitable. And PF cool, if you ask me... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  19. My stances on things like welfare, guns, unions, and state's rights tell me I'm not one of the "liberals" constantly decried here. My stances on things like gay marriage, abortion, drugs, and the environment tell me I'm not one of the "conservatives" constantly decried here. Apparently I must be one of the other, but it sure is tough to tell which. I'd say you're definitely a conservative, though not of the stripe currently running das Republican Partei. Their problem, which is actually beginning to alienate many of their own members, is that they've traded in their conservative principles for plain & simple power. Which is a common failing of all regimes, whether leftist or right wing. People get into power and they need to consolidate and perpetuate their power. And they get the itch to start telling other people what to do and deciding which people are better than others. They even start "culture wars" in those exact words and dividing as great a people as Americans into "red" and "blue" states. It's like they don't even rmember what happened the last time we were divided into "blue" and "gray" states. You're a conservative for sure. I'm surprised at how many issues we agree on, though not all of them (I'm pro labor, with no apologies). It just goes to show that none of the ideologies have all the answers and we need the electoral competition to try and maintain some kind of balance and tension in the system so that nobody ever takes over thw whole show. (Which is what the Republicans were openly saying they were trying to do by the way, just ask Tom Delay, he has no shame about single party rule). But yeah, you're an HONEST conservative. Hope you can win your party back... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  20. If anyone can do it, he can. It will mean the realization of true human flight. Maybe it will be cumbersome and expensive, with the special runway & all. And probably very few people will ever try it - I know I won't. But consider for a moment that the Wright brothers' first flight was little more than 100 ft and they had to build a wooden track to launch their Flyer. It is from these small beginnings that great things follow. In twenty years the damn kids will probably be making a nuisance of themselves with Corliss suits, the way they do with skateboards today. There will be bumperstickers proclaiming "Wingsuit swooping is NOT a crime". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  21. I would think that American history from the 1920's and '30s would answer that question. Alcohol was banned by a Constitutional amendment. It took another amendment to repeal it. Repeal was one of the planks in FDR's 1932 platform, after taking office he legalized 3.2% beer until the rest could be repealed. Prohibition didn't seem to slow down anybody's thirst, it just made them more creative and sometimes more violent, in order to get the stuff. (My own granfather was hired as a City Manager of a city in Florida during the depression. The city couldn't afford to pay him a salary, so they introduced him to some speedboat rum runners from Cuba. He got a percentage of their operation as his compensation for running a clean city administration.) Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  22. I actually think you will find that is a Concensus WAS taken, pot smokers would be in the minority I'm in the non-pot smoking majority myself. Used to smoke it thirty years ago, but it now has no place in my life. But I still think adults should be free to use it if they like. I also think they should be held accountable for their behavior when they do use it - DWI's on the weed should be treated exactly the same as alcohol DWI's. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  23. Oh yeah. And I've got a friend from up in Seattle who just got back into our sport after a 24 year break. He's coming down too and wants skydive his silly ass off. It's going to be GOOD ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  24. Yeah, I'd say parole the guy. The problem is that parole boards are politically appointed and politically motivated. Their only real concern is that THEY look good and that nobody comes back asking embarrassing questions about why they released some crazed serial axe murderer. Which Mr. Latimer is not. Going deeper than that, this also points up the fact that ALL governments, regardless of their ideology, whether to the left or the right, are about power and exacting obedience from ordinary people. Mr. Latimer was not paroled because he refused to kiss the asses of a bunch of political hacks, so they excercised the power they have over him by keeping him in prison. This is why the battle for personal liberties against any and all governments will never end, the best we can hope for is a process that aloows the battle to proceed on something like a level playing field. But finally, on the cheery side, I think the media attention, as long as it keeps up, will finally secure Mr. Latimer his parole. Because the hacks on the Parole Board will finally decide that all the attention is once again making them look bad. Which is all that matters to them. That's the real world kiddies. I hope he's home on parole in time for Christmas. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !
  25. We own a Honda Civic and a Nissan Versa. If you're really THAT concerned, why do you waste the planet's petroleum on skydiving ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !