tbrown

This whole issue is why you should have another pin check inside the plane as it nears jump altitude - especially if you're going to climb out as a floater. I know pin checks in the plane have gone out of fashion, but they can avert some nasty surprises. You don't have to let a stranger do it either, you and your friends/partners/teammates can do it. On the ground, just show them how your flap works: "I have a Vector/Javelin/Infinity, etc., this is how you open & close my flap. That way no guesswork with somebody you can hopefully trust. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Maybe they should rename them "Jesus Brand" chemistry sets, or something like that and advertise them as a faith based method of Christian home schooling. Aside from that, blowing stuff up with a chemistry set is an American tradition that by now should be protected under the Second Amendment. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

All this fuss about 06/06/06. What about the people who are forty years old today because they were born on 6/6/66 ? Now that's a much "sixier" date, doncha think ? Forget it people, the beast is out of the bag, Damien's forty today (hmmm, one has to wonder if the 6/6/66 date was the inspiration to the author of The Omen...). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd just write a label that says something like, "Even more dangerous than skydiving is what will happen to you or your heirs if you sue us. Big men with tattoos and baseball bats will pay you/them a visit." Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Great job on the sanctity of marriage thing America. So instead you need to persecute others because they are different. It really somehow escapes me why people like Dan Savage or Melissa Etheridge can't enjoy the legal considerations shown to such upstanding couples as Britney Spears and Kevin "K-Fed" Federline. I mean, WTF ? We have a close family friend who's served our country in the military, married a guy, had two sons, divorced the guy, and now can't bring the woman she loves (a wonderful schoolteacher, everybody else loves her too) home to marry. She can marry the woman in the UK and stay there, but she wants to live with her here, in the country she was born in and served. They are no more a threat to our social fabric than blacks marrying whites, and the comparison is relevant and to the point. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't think the Marines involved are a bunch of "heartless Nazis", but from the start I've been afraid something like this would inevitably happen. Like the My Lai massacre, it began with booby traps (or an IED) killing and wounding some of the Marines, while the locals acted like they didn't know waht was going on (baloney). It was too much and they snapped. Not excusable, but that's what happened. And it makes us look really bad in front of the world. I take NO satisfaction of an "I told you so" kind, but this is yet another reason we should never have gone there in the first place. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Leaving the same sex issue aside for a moment, I think this amendment is another example of the Feds trying to expand their powers by usurping them from the states. This administration has tried to regulate medical practices repeatedly and now they're going for marriage. Both areas are domains for the states to regulate - and should remain so. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

1-Do I need to go walking through the woods to find my stuff, or did it all land in the open? I just might have to spend the rest of my day hiking in the trees. I'm pretty average size, so there's always a rig I can borrow. Since all the handles tend to be in the same place, I don't feel it's a big deal. Also depends on how banged up you might be. I haven't had a cutaway since the old days, but on one of them I banged up my shoulder rather badly and jumping again that weekend would not have been a good idea. I'm not average size either, so finding a rig I can wear can be a problem. Most people can't wear my rig either, my legstraps hang down to the average guy's knees. But once after chopping a streamer, a good friend loaned me his rig and it fit, so I was able to get back in the air just an hour or two later. Making that jump really helped settle my nerves a lot. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

At age fifty ? Oh God, you have no idea.... Hey, WTF is up at Aerodyne anyway ? Skydiving Magazine had a pretty informative article about it, anything you care to/are able to add ?? Are you guys actually building anything these days ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Try them both out. You need to decide whether you like the steeper glide of a 7 cell or the flatter glide of a 9 cell. If you like the 9 cells you should also try to demo some of the competing brands, like the Pilot and Safire canopies. Personally, I didn't like the Sabre2 and got a Pilot. Have never jumped a Safire, but have heard many many good things about them. As for age and condition, don't buy anything, ever, without a rigger's inspection, it's a few bucks well spent. A properly maintained zero-P canopy can last up to 2000 jumps, but not without being relined a bunch of times. The rigger's inspection will tell you what the line trim looks like, whether the steering lines are trimmed for correct length and whether or how soon the entire line set should be replaced. You're going to find that gear maintenance in general is not going to be cheap, between reserve repacks, relinings, batteries and mandatory services for AADs, etc. It's almost as bad as owning a boat. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

At least there weren't any sharks in the water.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

"So what happens if the emergency chute doesn't open ?" "What do you think happens - you die like a bug on a windshield, the last thing that goes thorough your mind is your ass". That's what I tell 'em. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Lesson #7: Don't get distracted or complacent about packing. I have replayed that pack job over and over again in my head, and I cannot distinctly remember stowing the left toggle. Looking at the canopy afterwards, the left toggle was loose and the right was still through the cat's eye. I always field-stow my brakes..... I have three points in the packing process where I check that my pilot chute is cocked; I should also have double- and triple-checks of my brakes. Oh Krisanne, after everything else that's happened, thank God you only shot the works with your rig, I'm so grateful you're okay. I had a misfire with a brake on a Spectre last year, it was a packing error on my part. Fortunately it cleared right away when I pulled both toggles down, but I was shocked at how quickly I'd lost around 700 ft. The proof of the packing error was found when I discovered the toggle had ripped away the elastic keeper from the riser. Since then, I've added a check to my packing procedures and have had no further problems. I have to disagree with the idea of stowing brakes when you land. Brake stows are a part of packing and you can't reliably do it correctly when you're trying to take off your helmet & goggles, clear the landing area, look out for swoopers, talk to your friends, and who knows what else. I stick my toggles in the keepers to prevent them from spinning and twisting up the steering lines, but that's all. When I pack (and I do my own packing) I set the brakes and then I tug on the steering line from above the stow. You don't have to tug hard, you're not testing the strength of the line or anything. All you're doing is LOOKING closely to make sure you've got the toggle locking the catseye BELOW the guide ring and that the guide ring is holding the stowed toggle in place. That's all it takes; no second or third check is needed, just do it with both toggles, stow your excess line, and proceed with your pack job. It's important to stow the brakes as part of your packjob, because at that point you're in a "packing state of mind", paying attention to your rig and relatively free of outside distractions. Even if you use a packer it's important to take a few minutes to stow your brakes and check them, open up your slider and re-set your kill line BEFORE you give your rig to a packer. Even a good packer can get "busy" and if you don't do those three things you have nobody to blame except the face in the mirror. God I'm so glad you're alright. If you were on "the list" from this weekend I'd have puked and gone off to bed for a week or two... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

All these wonderful pics. I hope they get moved over to the Photos pages, there is a "Remember" thread there. So far just Holly is there. Shannon for sure rates a photo thread next door to Holly. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm appalled at mine, it's out over 25 names and I keeping remembering more people, "oh yeah, him/her too". Fortunately most of these people are from the old days and have been dead and gone for twenty years or more, so time has helped to let go of them, just like it's helped me let go of a brother who died of cancer. So far in the new days, nobody I really know in my circle of friends, though this awful week has been giving me a feeling like glass slivers in an old wound. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

My dad made my first parachute out of cellophane, string, and a toy soldier when I was six years old. I thought parachutes were wonderful. Sometime around then I saw a Navy frogman make a demo jump into Lake Ontario at an open house on a Navy ship. Then when I was seven, the "Ripcord" action adventure TV series debuted on Friday nights and I watched that sucker religiously. I always knew I would do it. My parents wouldn't give me permission, so I had to wait 'til I was eighteen. Then there was a meeting with a movie (Carl Boenish's "Masters of the Sky") at the student union at my college and I signed up for the FJC. We got a good group discount - $35 apiece !! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

One of the four fatalities this last horrid weekend was a guy with 3000+ jumps who was killed making a 180 degree turn at 100 ft under a perfectly open canopy. All the experience in the world is no protection against one dumb move. Good reason not to make dumb moves. Walt Um, yeah. Not suggesting anyone in particular makes them either, we all have our "oh shit, that was dumb!" moments. And if we're lucky we keep them to ourselves, or maybe a friend or two. Just some of those dumbers happen in wrong place and time, where there is no fixing them and once is all it takes. Not that any of US would ever do such a thing, God willing.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Is that practical or safe on a lightly loaded canopy? (nevermind the concerns with cutting people off behind and below you) If I got space in front of me, I go long and try to improve next time around. If I pull really hard on a front riser using the loop (wings riser), I can get a slow turn rate. To do double fronts, I'd need to do a partial flare first, and can't hold it for long. Like anything else, it's a metter of practice and training yourself. If you briefly pull your toggles down chest high and then grab your fronts, they'll come down a lot more easily. Granted that as you pick up speed the pressure on the fronts will increase, but if you're trying to hold yourself up like a chin-up you might be surprised how long you can hold them. You definitely want to keep an eye on the ground and not get too close for safety or comfort, but you can get a marvelously steep glide angle. As for traffic behind you, you're now falling down and away from them at a faster spped, so they don't have a problem with you. You DO need to look down for anyone below you though, as you don't want to drop in on anybody below flying a nice flat final. Practice practice practice. Find out what kind of a recovery arc your canopy has at a higher altitude, in other words how fast will it flatten back out when you let up on the fronts. From your description, it sounds like you'd have a short arc with your canopy, but find out BEFORE you need to do it the hard way. Try to do some of your flying and steering with your fronts on every jump and you'll be pleased with what you learn about controlling them. And you'll get some really buff arms in the bargain. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I've gone 28 years and 1500+ jumps without getting hurt. Is that a good enough example? One of the four fatalities this last horrid weekend was a guy with 3000+ jumps who was killed making a 180 degree turn at 100 ft under a perfectly open canopy. All the experience in the world is no protection against one dumb move. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Me too, I don't think I ever met Shannon, but I always enjoyed her posts and especially her naughtier threads. Just wish I'd met her. It's so important to be with the people we love and to let them know we love them - as often as we can. Because none of us ever knows. And I will never take anything she said too seriously. Laugh in the sunshine, sing, Cry in the dark, Fly through the night Sleep in the stars, Don't you cry, Dry your eyes on the wind. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I suppose it would be up to the people selling the oil. It's a very real possibility, especially if they see the Euro as a stronger and more stable currency. Americans, including me aren't gonna like it if/when it happens though. Not that it's worth going to war over, but it's really going to hurt in all kinds of direct and indirect ways. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Are not ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

And they like it ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

We know you have the flying skills. FOr the record! Rosa is not a name dropper. She happens to be very good friends with JT and why shouldn't she be proud to have him coach her under canopy? IF she was really a name dropper, she would have bragged about how many hours of coached tunnel time she has with me! Or the 4 Way she did with me, Julia, and David yesterday, she was just great! And David & I are both rather big guys, but the girls wore some weights and it was all good. Rosa's got a lot more tunnel time than a lot of us have in the air and I can tell you it's paid off nicely. As for the JT non-issue, it's just that here in So. Cal we're fortunate to have a number of world class skydivers among the locals, I think the weather and availability of large year 'round dropzones might have something to do with it ? If I'm not mistaken, Jonathan's been around since he was a newbie fresh off AFF, he just made a ton of jumps and made a well deserved name for himself. As an instructor, he's just a terrific guy who works one on one with anybody, even an old fart like me. There are any number of us who have been fortunate to benefit from canopy courses offered by the likes of Jonathan, JC, and others. But things really aren't the same since Dominic left town.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Logbooks will keep, ripstop won't. Plus it's more expensive than paper. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !