tbrown

Apparently NOT, as some DZ's have free for all combat zones in their landing areas, with people flying every which which way and then yelling at each other about it. I won't say where, but I've seen it and it happens. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

If the 1979-'80 American Embassy hostage crisis is any indication, they'll play it for all it's worth. Not only that, but this President Ahmedinejad has been positively identified by some of the former American Embassy hostages as one of their "student" captors. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I have been assimilated. Resistance is futile. Now if I can just a rest pod next door to Seven of Nine.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I just always wanted to do it all my life. Ever since I learned what a parachute was, when I was 5 or 6 years old, I knew I wanted to jump one. Everything else that came along kept pointing me in the same direction and reminding me how much I wanted it. Some people just gotta jump. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I just tried doing a little research on this question with a Google search for "Johnny Carson". Haven't pinpointed the skydiving episode, but I can tell you that Barnes & Noble has tons of "Best of Carson" videos for sale at some very affordable prices. Unfortunately their website didn't list a Table of contents per se for any of the vidoes/DVDs. But Carson always insisted his skydive was one of the greatest adventures of his life and he continued to have skydivers and films on his show through the years - I remember him having Carl Boenish on in 1978 with fresh film, hot off the presses of the astonishing 50 Way dive at Elsinore, which completely blew my mind as I was still trying to earn my SCR. Also, the fact that some cable station just ran it last night means that it just HAS TO be out there, so happy hunting. Besides, the rest of the show reminded me just how funny he really was; "May a weird holy man tape your sister shut...." Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You're having the personal crisis with the sport that all jumpers have at one time or another, and some of us have it repeatedly. You're not the first or the last person to feel this way, it has ever been thus and always will be. Some people resovle it, some people hang it up, some just take a break that can go on for many years. Few people stay in the sport for even ten years, it takes its toll. You have to do what you think will make you happy in your life, whichever way that takes you. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I am very heartened to see the outpouring of viewpoints in this and the other threads in the past week. It's sad that it took a really stupid selfish accident that killed two people to bring things to a head, but sometimes things will sit until something outrageous happens. I continue to go through life as the eternal optimist, hoping and believing that the creative solutions are out there and all we need is the right people who are thinking outside the box to find those solutions and convince the rest of us. And that's how I feel about the whole swooping issue. Swooping is beautiful. I don't do it, but anyone who has ever watched the PD Factory Team in action has got to have felt inspired to see real artistry in motion. Now of course not all swoopers are on that level, anymore than the rest of us are on Airspeed or the X Team's level. Swooping has it's place and we need to recognize that. But right now things are not good and they haven't been good for a while. Way too many people are getting killed. Are we supposed to put up with another 18 or 24 more fatalities like this for the rest of the year, on top of the usual dumb stuff, low cutaways, hooking into the ground, landing in power lines, that always kill off a few more of us ? It seems there's a groundswell of opinion saying "hell no" to that idea, and at least for now I think it's long overdue. I'm really hoping that cooler heads with some creative ideas will come up with something that really works. But first, the immediate crisis - and it IS a crisis - has to be dealt with. The collision fatalities may not be eliminated, but they just have to be drastically reduced or there will be hell to pay for ALL of us, not just the swoopers. We have to get our "shit" together before we can move to the next step for OUR sport, or else that next step is going to be dictated to us "for our own good" by our elected public servants. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just tonight there was a rerun of Johnny Carson's skydive with Bob Sinclair at Elsinore back in the sixties. Lately there's been a Carson rerun show on four nights a week and my wife's been watching for the usual funny stuff like Karnack the Magnificent. But tonight they reran the entire skydive segment, start to finish. It went on for a good ten or fifteen minutes. Part of the segment had Bob Sinclair in the studio as a guest talking with Johnny and then there was a lot of footage of Johnny getting trained to exit a Howard, doing PLFs off a training platform, arching and even doing a live pull on the ground with the pilot chute springing out onto the packing table. Remember, this was a good fifteen years before AFF and what Sinclair was doing was VERY progressive, modeled after the "buddy system" method used by the Air Force. The actual freefall film was great. Maybe faded and not too clear by our standards nowadays, but you could plainly see Johnny was having a wonderful time of it. And he looked really good ! He was rock steady stable and relaxed looking. Sinclair only had a one handed grip on Johnny and the two were flying side by side until he pulled. His landing even looked good, he PLF'ed but landed so softly you'd think he almost didn't really need to. And all the while Carson was narrating, with comments like, "Oh what a feeling that is". He was PASSIONATE about it. I'd always heard about this jump and seen some still pics over the years. But what a TREAT to see the original show in its entirety tonight ! Something else I noticed, Elsinore sure has changed a LOT since those days, it was a pretty wide open landscape back then.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

There was a time, thirty years ago, when you went to boogie EXPECTING to see somebody go in. And sure enough somebody would. Of course back then they did it without benefit of an open canopy, so the styles have changed somewhat. Hence the phrase "Boogie 'til ya bounce !" Serious discussionwise though, we're way too social a sport to ban boogies. This is a sport where we're all willing to assume a certain amount of risk to have a good time and boogies can be fantastic. Right now of course the huge controversy is over the recent spate of canopy collision and near collsion deaths, at boogies. This is just a little like the argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people", whereas maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle, i.e. "people with guns kill people" ? Everybody's emotions are pretty heated right now. A few careless people - and one reckless person in particular - have brought the shit down upon us all. As a nonswooping relative worker, I feel a definite amount of relief that some of the most egregious bullshit simply won't be tolerated anymore. I already avoid landing on the grass strip at Perris and even treat it like another runway to cross - quickly, because somebody got his jaw ripped off his face by some canopy lines last year. JP, I think cooler heads are going to prevail and that something real will be worked out. But it's not going to happen overnight, right now the memories and the emotions are running too hot. I would like to hear a well thought out alternative from the swooping community besides just "education", which is practically meaningless since it's not mandatory and usually way too damned expensive. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The sole exception will be for skydivers exiting on low passes to practice for or participate in swoop competitions, and then only after having received approval from the management. Simply to clarify this point, is this really restricted only to existing competitors in training or competition ? Is there any provision for recreational swooping, or for those who wish to learn how to swoop, especially with proper instruction or coaching ? Although I don't swoop myself, I'd hate to see legitimate swooping cut off from those who want to do it, or even learn how. I'm thinking this wording might be accidently more restrictive than intended. Nevertheless, something has to be done, so bravo for the biggest operation taking a bold step. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

A Slut is a woman that will sleep with anyone. A Bitch is a woman that will sleep with anyone but you. And what exactly does sleeping have to do with any of this ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's a waste of time to talk about it because the votes at a Senate trial will be along party lines and the Dems don't have the votes to convict - a 2/3 majority is required. Both Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were saved by the 2/3 rule, as the majority voted against both presidents. Besides saying that 'til I'm blue in the face, I'm also of the opinion that impeachment SHOULD BE a dire step to take against a President who's clearly out of control. Which could arguably be our Boy George.... Nevertheless, the only two times a Pres has been impeached, were both abuses of the process in my opnion (and both the work of radical Republican Congresses against Demo Presidents who they hated, historic fact). Johnson was impeached for firing his Sec'y of War Edwin Stanton, and Bubba Bill of course for lying under oath about a couple blowjobs that were really nobody's damn business. So instead of fanning the flames of impeachment every time some President or another pisses us off, maybe we should just THINK a lot more carefully about the ones we elect. As well as our reasons for running off to war, which is always easier to start than to finish. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Don't forget the pilot. I know, it would seem obvious, but...... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

My college had a Phys Ed requirement for all students, but dropped the requirement - less basic swimming proficiencey, after my second year. I resented having to do it. I liked the outdoors anyway; hiking, camping, skydiving. Sometimes I'd be motivated to run 3 - 5 miles fairly regularly. A large portion of the student body were PE majors, so it was understandable that they would/should have extensive ongoing requirements if they were going to teach it someday. But I resented having to schedule the time to keep taking the kind of gym classes I hated so much in high school. Perhaps most telling was the fencing class I signed up for just before the requirement was dropped. I never attended a single class. I thought it would be interesting, maybe even fun, but I was too jammed writing papers and all that other happy shit that piles up at the end of the year. Inspite of never attending a single class, I received a passing grade. So their system was out of control anyway and it's just as well they dropped it. The swimming requirement I passed no problemo, without having to take any classes. I think it's a basic survival skill everyone should have. I'm not kidding to say they kept the pool open on graduation day to hustle a few desperate seniors through so they could get their diplomas. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I would no more take relationship advice from skydivers than I would take skydiving advice from a girlfriend or family relation. None of them have the slightest idea what they're talking about. Mutually exclusive, oil & water. Etcetera. But you can always take MY advice because I ALWAYS know what I'm talking about. Your girlfriend's probably not going to last and that's really nothing against her either. It's just not going to work. You're just getting into the sport, you love it and there's no way you can work it out of your system. She's not going to come around and be happy with it, she will resent it worse and worse. Believe me, I once had a psycho girlfriend who stole my gear and threw it all over a road one time (fortunately it was all inexpensive - and tough - military surplus gear, this was over thirty years ago). On the other hand if you quit for her sake, you'll resent her and hold it against her. either way, one or the other of you will hit the wall over it and end it. Tell her you love her, but it's over. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Wasn't Downtown Train recorded by Rod Stewart in the 80s? Now that you mention it, I think Roddy did it too. It's a wonderful song. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Definitely get "Rain Dogs", it's a real beauty and has 19 songs, including "Downtown Train", which even became sort of a hit when some chick singer recorded it in the eighties. ("Will I see you tonight/On a downtown train", etc.) TW also portrays Renfield, the bug eating madman in Francis Coppola's 1992 "Dracula" film. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

If you don't do it yourself, you have no else to blame if it comes back to bite you. Sure the packers should do it. It would be nice if we could all piss jet fuel too. But this is the real world. Time was when anyone who suggested paying someone to do their packing for them would've been beaten about the head & shoulders and run off the dropzone. But we've grown accustomed to a "service economy" and our reward for this is a generation of jumpers who barely know how to pack at all. They don't understand their equipment and then they blame "the help" when something goes wrong. Real men - and this goes for the ladies as well - do their own packing. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

All I have maintained throughout this "Discussion" is that you do not need to make new rules and regulations for this epidemic. That is all. I don't want to ban swooping and I don't like making a bunch of needless rules either. But the plain hard facts are that real flesh & blood skydivers have been killed, way too many of them in the last three months alone. Worse yet, the latest double fatality was caused by a person who everyone seems to agree committed an egregiously selfish act that held his own desire for "a good time" above everyone else's safety. Faced with a situation like this, there does have to be some prompt - and reasonable - regulation imposed. And it needs to come from us, or else it will come from outsiders who have real legal clout. Would you like to see a piece of legislation that makes causing a midair collision an actionable civil case, or worse yet a criminal offense with jail time ? I don't. I'd rather see some reasonable restrictions that we formulate - and enforce - ourselves, that provide safe seperation so that skydivers don't kill each other. And please remember that some of the dead are the swoopers themselves. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I carry my copy in my gearbag to the dropzone. It isn't doing any good sitting home on a shelf. Nobody's asked to see it yet and I haven't mentioned it either. But if somebody comes up with a question about their Cypres, I can offer them a look at my Owner's Manual on the spot. I decided to do this after we had a fatality at Perris two years ago where an improperly calibrated Cypres contributed to the woman's death - the main problem being her failure to pull silver until she was below 100 ft. (She lived at sea level in a beach town and was apparently in the habit of turning her Cypres on at home before driving to the dropzone - which is at an elevation of 1450 ft MSL.) Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's been barely a week since Alberto Gonzalez stated he was not involved in the firings. It has now been established beyond any doubt that he took part in an hour long meeting on the subject and signed off on the plan. Whatever conclusions may be reached, it is now plain that sworn testimony must be taken. An off the record, private conversation may have been good enough for the rubber stamp single party rule Republicans who used to run the congress, but it's gone too far now. It has to be got at in public and under oath. And there will be "loyalist" Reublican members of congress present who can ask their own friendly questions and try to put some spin on it. Either way, the votes for an impeachment aren't there, impeachment is only for blowjobs. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Give it a map to the Washington Monument ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Also all that piercing, spanking, whips, nipple clamps, etceteree, etceterah..... Not everyone's cup of tea perhaps, but have you visited your local sex shop lately ? They wouldn't have all that stuff out there if somebody wasn't buying it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

That is complete & utter bullshit ! I had mine clipped 15 years ago and have NEVER grown anything even slightly resembling boobies. All a vasectomy does is prevent the DELIVERY of sperm cells, your nuts will go right on making the little bastids, they just sort of swim away to god only knows where. Your testosterone levels are not affected either. The ONLY difference I could ever detect is that my semen wasn't as white as it used to be, it's more of a clear color. And that's all. The needle to numb you is about as much fun as a big needle in your nutsack sounds - but we're all big tough skydivers, right ?? Oh, and they have to give you the needle twice, once for each side, so you double the fun. But it's only for a minute or so, after that you won't feel a thing, really. I didn't have any particular pain or discomfort with the recovery. My surgery was on a Friday, so I had the weekend to sit around. And I don't know WHERE a girl would get the idea you can't even close your legs, that's a bunch of hogwash too. You really shouldn't have ANY sex at all for a week though, for some reason your dick will turn the most amazing black and blue colors if it gets any rough handling. Just go easy and think pure thoughts, you can do it for a week. After that and you pass your gear check with the doctor, you're the proud owner of a brand new toy ! You'll want to stop and introduce yourself to all the pretty women, "Madam, how do you do ...." Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Couldn't agree with this more, word for word. Two years ago a woman died at Perris (my home DZ) after setting her Cypres at home in Huntington Beach (my hometown). HB is at sea level, Perris is 1450 ft MSL. She went in, while the Cypres "correctly" had her pegged at 1450 ft AGL. Obviously she should have gone for her reserve handle long before she did (it seems she did pull silver, below 100 ft), but if she had understood even the basics about how her Cypres worked, she would have waited until arriving at the dropzone before turning it on. Since then, I have carried my Cypres Owner's Manual with me to the dropzone in my gearbag. I am NOT an authority on the Cypres, and my manual is for the original version and not the Cypres2. It has also been pointed out to me that this info is available online, which is true, BUT Michele never found this info in time to understand how her unit worked and it cost her life. I keep my manual around in case anybody around me raises a question about the Cypres, I can offer to look it up with them in my Owner's Manual, right then & there. Look this up TODAY. Look it up before you jump again. If you don't have a hard copy, print the online version and stuff it in your gear bag. Read it, study it, learn it, believe it. Share your printed version with others if a question comes up at the DZ. These things work remarkably well, but they have their limitations and those need to be understood. Thoroughly. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !