tbrown

It's a Soviet canopy called the U-something (a number). The russkies cleaned up a lot of medals with it and inspired Pioneer to build the "Russian" Paracommander. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Well, for those of us who hear , I really hate it when I forget my ear plugs in and jump with them. The Dytter sounds are much harder to hear, and if you are really focused on the jump, it would be easy to not notice them. And once open, I like to be able to hear what is going on, and warnings from others if there are proximity issues. I leave my earplugs in when I jump and my Pro-Dytter is one more reason why I do. Those things are really shrill. I don't think it's such a good idea to have one go off next to your ear without protection. So I wear the earplugs and have no problem hearing my audible. I might ask which way your Dytter is pointed. I have mine in my helmet with the back side (speaker side) facing my ear. If it's facing away from my ear, I DO have trouble hearing it, so I'm wondering if that might be the problem. I really like my Pro dytter, but I'm not going to allow it to drill a hole through my ear either. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just as surely as Mayor Bloomberg has sworn Ahmadinejad won't be going downtown to Ground Zero, he's also not going to let the guy get plugged in his Big Apple. They're still embarrassed over John Lennon, but then of course they actually MISS Lennon. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's tough enough as a newbie to get over the very real and natural fear of jumping out of an airplane. It's not the best time to be having problems, but it's not unknown and other people have had - and overcome worse. As some people have pointed out, using the reserve is often a huge confidence builder. I know a few people who have gone for several hundred, or even more than a thousand jumps and haven't used their reserve yet, and they tell me they wish it would happen so they could just get it over with. So you're lucky in that respect. Learn to pack. then do your own packing, even if you're renting gear. Pull it out of the container and pack it yourself before you jump it. Packing build confidence - as well as give you the opportunity to check out your gear every time. I don't like to use packers because it disconnects you from any intimacy with your own rig, even when you buy your own. People who do their own packing are ahead of the game when it comes to confidence. And buy your own rig. Renting is necessary for a while, but you never really know what you're getting, or who packed it. Get your own rig and pick a good rigger. Develop a relationship with your rigger, asking questions about your gear and listening up if he's trying to point out something that needs work. To stay or to leave is a personal decision that only you can make. I'd like to encourage you to stick around. But do it soon, because it's only going to get harder the longer you wait. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd have thought the occasional supernova might be amusing. some of those cool binary star systems and definitely stuff like the Horsehead Nebula might be doodles of His. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

"Dude - where's my airplane ?" One very lucky guy and probably still mentally processing what he'd just been through. That and waiting for the EMTs. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What he said about Jim Wallace. He's so respected that Perris allows the guy to compete for business with them, on their dropzone and with their airplanes. And Jim is one of the most gracious gentlemen I've ever met in this sport. As far as pricing goes, I think Jim charges the same as the Perris school. Not absolutely sure about this, but I think part of the deal that allows his school to co-exist is that he doesn't get into a price war with the Perris school. One difference with Jim is that I've heard his is the ONLY one of the three schools that requires a tunnel session before allowing you to move on to your Level 4. The other two schools, Perris & Elsinore, will encourage and help arrange tunnel time, but Jim has made it a requirement. And by the way, a friend of mine who completed AFF at Elsinore last year took a tunnel session between his Level 3 and Level 4 jumps and thought it made the difference that allowed him to pass all of his levels without a single failure. Compared to other parts of the country, skydiving and training are more expensive in So. Cal, but that's just the local economy - everything's more expensive down here. But for the quality of staff, facilities, aircraft, and the weather (or right, did I mention the year 'round weather ?), you can't do better than any of these 3 schools. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Oh Christ (pun intended), here goes the Cathoic clergy with more of their "prayers for healing" bullshit. Healing what, their wallet ? It's not even so much the individuals who commit the crimes as much as the orchestrated coverup by the church hierarchy that is criminal. Sexual abuse flourishes among all the professions; clergy of all denominations, therapists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. Etc. But what is really sickening is the way the Catholic Church repeatedly stonewalls investigations, shuffles priests around, refuses to turn over personnel files without a leagal fight, tries to bail out through bankruptcy. Ten, worst of all is the social pressure they put on these children's families to keep their mouths shut, while Father Buttfuck goes his merry way. If it were anyone else but the Roman Catholic Church, any prosecutor who took his oath of office seriously would bring a RICOH prosecution against the church for harboring felons. And the only reason they won't do it is purely because of political pressure. This goes all the way back back to medieval days, when clerics could only be tried by church courts. It was one of the reasons for the Protestant Reformation in Europe and the seperation of chhurch and state in America. And until a few Cardinals get sent to PRISON for life, it will go on and on and on..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Bill, I would've expected you to at least know the difference between a splinter sub-cult and mainline Christianity. Apparently you don't. But then you're a greenie, so you don't have to be held accountable for anything you say, no matter how inaccurate or just plain offensive. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I was having some serious dental work done the other day and wouldn't you know it, "Young Frankenstein" was on the overhead TV. That helped a lot. "Little Miss Sunshine" is awfully funny. "Animal House" too, though you won't get to see the hysterical pot smoking scene on TV anymore, cuz it's not PC these days. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

That's one BEAUTIFUL patch ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

At Perris, our RW groups will usually all join hands for a little inspirational pep talk by the LO, with all the usual bromides about taking your time, if you don't want to go low don't fly there, don't hurt the LO, and for God's sake improvise. then we all take a deep breath and shout a ready-set-go count. After that, lots of slapping skin all around. If we're opening the door, we like to look at each other and ask, "WHAT CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG ?!?" Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The thing that really bothers me about Boeing is that they will deny something until they're cornered and then insist they've always recognized a problem and taken it seriously. I worked for Boeing for ten years, not as an engineer or a manager, just an inspector, including time on the final assembly lines for the 747, 757, and 777. Several years ago, the FAA investigated three crashes and a few dozen near misses with 737s. The likely cause was the 737 rudder causing a "hard over" condition while the plane was on approach for landing. Unlike any other Boeing plane, the 737 alone operated its rudder with a single actuator, while every other model had anywhere fron two to four actuators. So if a 737 actuator went flakey, there was no other actuator to counteract it. Boeing insisted there was no such problem. Well guess what. Boeing's own original patent application, filed in 1965, mentioned that very possibility right in the paperwork they filed. Eventually the FAA made a ruling that the problem had to be fixed with a retrofit and Boeing insisted they'd always been on top of the very problem they'd been denying, even though they'd known about it before the first airplane was even built. Does that make the 737 an unsafe airplane ? Hardly. It is the most built and sold airplane in history and has been flying in over nine or ten different models ever since 1967, with a remarkable safety record. Except for those 3 planes that crashed due to a known design flaw. So, like most big corporations, Boeing is betting on the odds. It's cheaper to pay off a few hundred settlements than to fix a problem, unless and until they're forced to. From my experience working at Boeing, on their airplanes as they were being built, I can say two things: 1.) Boeing actually does build an extremely safe & reliable airplane, though not as safe as they could, and 2.) their corporate culture is ROTTEN to the core. Corruption is a way of life there, from the boardroom down. The bullshit that goes on is unbelievable and the only reason I can think of that keeps the FAA at bay is political pressure, because Boeing is in fact America's single largest exporter. They've got so much invested in the 787 they can't afford delays over a crash that may not happen for twenty years. But the Feds should be forcing them to fess up now. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Watched it once and will have to watch it again. The fact that all my injuries occurred on my left side only makes me wonder if I might have hung up a tuck tab. Something to think about. I'm pretty much healed up now and will be back in the air soon. Aerodyne had a look at my canopy and informed me it was beyond repair. They also made a very generous offer to replace my canopy with a brand new one, straight off the shelf, for a very generous price - like less than most decent used canopies. And I even told them I was not the original owner. I would like to commend Aerodyne for their wonderful and generous customer service. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

At Perris, which is admittedly a big operation, we are BLESSED to have Tim Farnham's recovery crew. Tim observes all the loads and routinely deploys picjup trucks to collect the jumpers who land out, or at the farther reaches of the DZ. In the event of a cutaway, he is on the ball dispatching a truck to collect the jumper and make sure they're okay, while another truck pursues the canopy and freebag. It's not at all uncommon for a jumper returning from a cutaway to be summoned to manifest because their canopy is already there waiting for them. The box score for recovering canopies is nearly perfect, for freebags it's very high. Bottom line is that if you step out of an airplane over Perris, Tim, or one of his crew already has their eyes on you. And they will take care of you and your gear. We are SO fortunate. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Some friends of ours have a daughter now serving in sunny Baghdad. This, after her brother has already served two tours. Anyway, she sent home an email last week describing what a rush she got out of being hit with an IED while driving a truck through the streets. she heard a "popping noise" and came to lying in the street. Her truck was totalled, but neither she, nor anyone else in the truck was seriously injured - she got off with a minor concussion and told us all not to "freak out" about it. I think my boss had the best take on it. He said he was pissed off that the troops - our kids - are being sent over there to be nothing more than targets. The Army did their job in 2003, toppling the regime they'd been sent in to topple and they should've been the hell out of there by that summer. But now all they're doing is target duty. And that's not the Army's mission. These are our kids and the friends our kids grew up with. And they're being deployed indefinitely, for taget duty, by some witless moron who wants to give the blessings of democracy to a bunch of fucking ragheads who wouldn't know what democracy was if it hit them in the face with a shovel. As an American it really deeply pisses me off. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd feel safer with a gun if I owned any O J Simpson sports memorabilia.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Happy Birthday! Don't feel old... 30 was just the beginning for me! The thirties are the best ! You will always think so. Happy happy birthday ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Sweet ! I knew somebody had to actually make one, I might even go out and look for it. Except then I'd have to look at his stupid face every day. I just used a calculator... And the magic number for today is 492. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't think it holds anymore, as most women probably haven't been taught they're supposed to initiate the handshake. Besides, it's SO archaic it hardly matters anymore, especially now that the wimmins is equal to us. she'd probably just think you're a cold fish for not wanting to sake hands. Are we seriously talking about a handshake ? Is this some kind of Baptist hotline question or what ? By the way, the thing about the guys walking on the traffic side of the street comes from the old days when people used to empty their chamberpots out of their bedroom windows into the open street (where unfortunate public employees called "rakers" would rake the unfortunate leavings into the dirt roadway, in an attempt to blend things a little more nicely). The upper stories of houses would usually extend a few feet out from the ground floor, so the ladies were being afforded the chance to walk with the prtection of the second floor over their heads, leaving their gallant male companions to brave the shitstorms without. This is also where the expression "gardyloo !" comes from. POLITE people would shout "gardyloo !" as a warning to the people below that they were about to let fly with the night's leavings. Flush toilets, modern dentistry, and skydiving are three reasons why I wouldn't want to live in any other "more romantic" time. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What people call a hop & pop nowadays is just about anything from 6 grand or less. Back at the dawn of time, when the static line progression was the ONLY way to go, a student would make their first freefall with a "clear & pull" from 3200 ft. The count was "arch, look (for a chest mounted ripcord handle), reach, pull". That was a hop & pop. If they did two or three clean hop & pops, they were allowed to make a 5 second delay, usually from the same 3200 ft. If a few of those went well, they'd go up to 3500 ft for the glorious 10 second delay. At that point you really KNEW you were getting somewhere. So whatever anybody else thinks, I consider a hop & pop to be 5 seconds or less and usually on the hill. I've made them from as low as 2 grand and as high as 5 grand. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just 493 days to go. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

But but - Bush SAYS he's a conservative. Is he lying, or is Greenspan lying? Did you need a stick to beat that horse with? Of course Bush is lying, it's such a habit with him he doesn't know any other way. But we only have to put up with another 493 days of it, if he doesn't blow up the planet in the meantime. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I just got a letter from AOPA asking me to join. You'll probably be getting yours soon. The poo is about to hit the prop. Think I'll sign up. It's that or join a bowling league. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Abbie Hoffman used to say you should glue it to a brick and mail it back. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !