tbrown

Yeah, well I can almost hear wedding bells at the Federal prison. think I'll send 'em both a tube of K-Y Jelly for the honeymoon, because they're going to get what they did to you and your wife back at 'em. Oh yeah. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What the hell, at least he's not criticizing anybody, for once. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

One of the main reasons I use a cypres for AFF (and why I think it's a good idea for everyone who does AFF) is that I know I would have trouble abandoning someone like that. I once saw a video of a good friend of mine getting knocked out during an AFF level 1 - and I know I couldn't have 'given up' on her. It would be a huge mistake, of course, and I know at an intellectual level that I should break off the chase at 2000 feet. But I don't think I could make myself do it. A cypres might make turn that into a non-fatal mistake. In fact, an AFF Instructor in Connecticutt went in a few years ago when he chased his out of control student too low. He actually caught up with her and opened her main, then pulled his own reserve and died as he reached line stretch. The irony was that the student HAD a Cypres and landed under two canopies, Bobo had no AAD on his own rig. He broke the rule against chasing a student below 2 grand, but had the kind of devotion that he apparently couldn't do otherwise. But aside from fantasy heroics like chasing doomed skydivers in freefall, here's a simpler question. How many of us will follow a reserve down, whether or not we know who the person is ? It could mean landing a mile or so out on a miserably hot day, just to keep someone company who's perfectly okay, but the company will mean something to them. And if they're injured, well then it could make all the difference until more help arrives. Nobody expects us to follow a reserve down into water or the freeway, but as close as safety allows, it's something we should all be doing. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The usual advice is not to buy new gear for a first rig, but Rosa you're so tiny you make an exception to the rule. You need a harness that's built for you. I bet if you talk to Jonathan, he can recommend a range of canopy sizes that could fit in the same container - lots of rigs will accomodate a downsize or two, so that should last you for plenty of years. And then your reserve will probably be for keeps anyway. Yeah, talk to Jonathan and ask for his help planning out a rig, because you won't feel good until your rig feels good. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Why do you think they call them boogies ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Weekends. Weekdays can be cool, but most of your friends aren't there and loads are fewer and farther between. Besides, I like the energy level of a weekend crowd. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Me too, on my Paracommander. The main difference I remember about the POD is that Instead of stuffing the canopy into it, like you do with modern D-bags, the POD was all split open and you'd stack your canopy and then wrap and close the thing around it, with velcro and the two lock stows on the bottom flap. I thought they were just great, really easy to pack and I never had a bad or hard opening with mine. Used it right up through 1977, 'til I bought a Handbury rig with the new style bag and a smaller round canopy (a Sparrow, which was like a smaller 21 ft PC made with lightweight ripstop by Don Whillden in El Cajon). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Oh man, those pictures bring back some memories. The lineup shot especially, there was a time when the rigger's trailer looked like that on any given weekend. I'm feelin' the love all over again... Question though, how come the bungees aren't hooked up on so many of the main containers ? The containers are full and I can see the outline of the pilot chute inside, is this just a "wear & tear" issue, like you don't want to hook the bungees up unless the rig's about to be jumped ? Beautiful job, hat's off to you guys ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Big article with lots of detail in the latest issue of Skydiving. Trying to remember the bigger details here, the South African guy who was running the show died in a kayaking accident and his widow decided to sell. Zodiac bought the military side of the house, but had no interest in the sport side. Bushman wanted to keep the sport side going, especially as they've been doing so well, but getting the dinero was a big problem. The Norwegian guys are the money. One of them owns his own startup transportation company in Europe AND is a skydiver. So there's been some legal hocus-pocus with the name, which is now Aerodyne Research something-or-other. They'd like to manufacture in the states, but the costs of doing that are really high and they haven't decided what to do yet, though the article mentioned contracting work out to existing manufacturers. I think those were the main points anyway, get a copy of Skydiving for the real deal, that newspaper KNOWS what's goin' on. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

how much.....what colors ?????? :o) My first canopy was a 28 ft. cheapo, in upstate NY. Bought it for $45, complete with a sleeve and MA-1 pilot chute. Got a surplus 4 pin harness/container system for $65 and for another $125 bought a complete 24' surplus reserve, with container and MA-1 from Lincoln Parachute Service in Nebraska. So that's about $235 for the complete rig, $40 for a used Altimaster II, maybe $50 - 60 for a jumpsuit. Wore workboots and a motorcycle helmet and I was in bidness, a real skideever ! The color was the best part, the previous owner was a girl who tie dyed the canopy purple and pink. There wasn't another one like it, it was THE psychedelic canopy & I just wish I had a picture. When I moved up to a PC I sold it for $40 to a young lady who was just getting started and she loved it even more than I did. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's no accident that the PC set THE standard for sport canopies for over a decade. It's a beautiful canopy that opened and landed softly and reliably and was a hell of a lot of fun to fly. And contrary to the anti-round brainwashing the kids are taught these days, it wasn't carved out of wood or riveted together and you didn't need big boots to land them safely (as the latest issue of Parachutist would have you believe). What people need to understand is that until the Strato Star, Strato Cloud, and slider deployment came along, squares were considered to be dicey canopies. The early models had high malfunction rates and brutal openings. They were also very touchy to fly and could stall suddenly with no warning. I knew several people who bought their first square in the springtime and would have it up for sale before Labor Day, while they were only too glad to be back under their good old PC again. For the rest of us, as beginners we normally had to make around 50 jumps under a surplus canopy before it was considered safe to try a PC (and then at least another 200 or so under a PC before trying a square). I don't think I EVER heard of anybody dying because they hooked in a PC either, maybe breaking a leg, but that was as bad as it ever got. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I broke a leg and tore my ankle all to pieces and my health plan paid up. There was a snag or two, but they got cleared up. They also wanted to know if anyone was liable, who I might sue. I told them no, I did it to myself, skydiving, and they said "oh then it wasn't anybody's fault" and let it go at that. They were very nice about it to tell the truth. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's getting pretty bad reviews from most places and is another movie that was hyped up WAY too much. That's too bad. It will be interesting to see if this film has a good opening weekend after so many bad reviews. I've already moved it to the "rent the DVD in six months" category. I am enjoying the book right now, on the entertainment level of a pot boiler murder mystery and nothing more. The hell with Tom Hanks and Opie, I'm just sorry to see Audrey Tautou dragged down in this. She's been one of my faves ever since "Amelie". I figure Ian McKellan is a tough old bird who can take care of himself. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Don't the Irish say that a pregnant woman is "up the pole" ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm 6'4" and no woman is too tall - I just love tall women. Oddly enough, my wife of 25 years is 5'2", and to those of you with silly questions about THAT, all I can say is your minds are in the gutter and it works out just fine. I did have a couple tall girlfriends in college, but none of them lasted, so I guess the tall girls had their chances (I'm such a catch...). But to this day the sight of tall women makes my heart skip a beat & they always will. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

All that said, skydiving is not safe. No one on here should try to convince you that it is. Krisanne, because you're a friend who I've jumped with, I'm going to call you on this and say bullshit. There are too many people on these forums who are saying too often and too easily that skydiving "isn't safe" (even a greenie or two) and I'm going to say bullshit on all of you, but I can say it kindly to Krisanne because I know she's good people, so here goes. Bullshit. First of all, I will back up half a step and say that skydiving is not COMPLETELY safe and it never will be because it can't. If you want zero percent chance of getting hurt or killed, then stay home. Don't leave the house, don't drive a car, don't cross the street, don't go to work or school, don't answer the doorbell, and you MIGHT not get killed. But guess what, you're going to die anyway, sooner or later, of something or other, so what's the use ? Skydiving is more dangerous than not skydiving. Jumping out of an airplane is inherently dangerous, if you don't get something to open and then land it intelligently, it can hurt or kill you. Sort of like driving a car, or crossing the street. That doesn't make safe driving habits, or crossing with the lights "not safe", even though you might still get killed because somebody else might do something stupid, or because "shit happens" no matter what you do. Skydiving comes up about equal to general aviation in frequency of deaths, it's about as dangerous to jump out of an airplane as it is to own and fly one. We die a little less often than glider pilots and quite a bit less often than scuba divers or people driving in cars - that's right folks, the old saw is true, you are likelier to die in your car than skydiving. Don't take my word for it, go listen to the latest Skydive Radio interview with Paul Sitter for yourself. Plain bottom line is this - if skydiving was that damn dangerous, I wouldn't do it. I couldn't, I have a family. It is the reason I don't BASE jump, because a friend of mine with over 1000 BASE jumps who teaches a course for beginners told me I could count on a stay in the ICU at least once in my life if I took up BASE (he's been there twice himself). So, minus the one & only BASE jump I've ever made, I choose not to do it. But I am just plain fucking tired of hearing people on these forums talking about how "not safe" our sport is. Yeah, we have some idiots who let their thirst for adrenaline get ahead of their common sense. And we have experienced people who should know better telling beginners it "might be safer to ride a malfunction in because reserves can malfunction too" and then on top of that say the sport is unsafe. And I say bullshit on all of them. I'm not nearly the most experienced jumper on these forums and I haven't been around the sport as long as some of them either. But I was around during some interesting times, when the sport went through some revolutionary changes. And I've known more people who have died - over two dozen - than I can even keep track of and have personally witnessed several fatalities, so I'm not just talking shit here. I think in many ways that the sport has become safer than it used to be and that a little bit of intelligent planning and attention and dedication by people when they jump can keep it a very damn safe sport, considering what it is we do. The fact is that most of us do keep it a very safe sport, weekend after weekend and it's just a CHEAP SHOT for anybody to point at the shit that does still happen and tar the whole sport as "unsafe". If you want 100% safety, well you probably should never have been born and definitely should not skydive. You CAN get killed in this sport. As Sparky says, none of us are good enough, or ever will be, not to be killed doing this. But there's a lot that we can do, and that most of us do every weekend, so that the result is that in fact very godamned few of us do get killed or seriously hurt. This is an adventure sport, with higher risks than lawn croquet. You will have to reach some kind of internal peace with yourself over the possibility that you might get killed. But if you keep your eye on the ball it isn't likely and I have to say bullshit to all this talk about the sport "not being safe", when the numbers say it IS remarkably safe - and it's about fucking time that a few of the people on these weenie forums got behind OUR sport and at least say that it IS at least pretty damned safe after all ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Yes it's a stealth prayer, just like "intelligent design" is stealth creationism. This fight won't end, it just has to go on and on, so be ready for it when it happens to a school near you. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm gonna call my mom back east, as well as my sis-in-law and wish them both a HMD. Here at home, will be cooking all day with my daughters for my wife & their ma. Also planning on some bedtime to honor how I made her a mommy in the first place. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

That is classified information sir, if I tell you I will have to kill you. That's okay, half the people would probably tell you you "didn't need to " chop it anyway. I'll just believe you needed to and you did a good job of it. And now you know what it's like and don't have to worry about it or wonder what it will be like. Some people have thousands of jumps and have never cutaway - and they even admit they're very nervous about what it will be like when they do. Good job and congrats on your A too ! You sound like you're totally in love with it! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Thanks Betsy. I'll be there and hope to see a lot of you there. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Haven't seen "Silent Hill". The two most violent that come to my mind are the beach landing in "Pvt. Ryan" and the prolonged flogging in "Passion of the Christ". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

So a general question . . . was Moussaoui railroaded? Absolutely not ! I think Judge Leonie Brinkema did an outstanding job with what was probably the most difficult case of her career. She had the absolute patience of a saint with that guy, through proceedings that dragged on for years. She took every opportunity to explain his rights to him, to try to explain what he could and couldn't do - and to shut him down when he got out of hand. She took no crap from the guy at all, but gave him every opportunity to defend hiumself to the max. She also called the Feds on the carpet for some really egregious bullshit they repeatedly tried run around her and whole Federal rulebook of Court Procedures. She told them to shape up or she wouldn't let them pursue the death penalty. Then when she caught them coaching the witnesses - a really serious violation that any lawyer has drilled into their skulls on day one in law school - she almost pulled the plug on their entire case. No, Moussaoui was not railroaded, he just kept lying down on the tracks all by himself. The jury might not have believed it, but I'm convinced the guy's insane and belongs in a maximum security hospital. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd have a lot of doubts about whether an autistic person could make it through basic training or whether they'd wash out, or freak out. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Any plans for a dropzone.com boogie at Perris this Memorial Day weekend ? We're well into May now and there haven't been any postings or pre-registration posts. I know last year the attendance was less than previous years, but hoped maybe this year might make up for it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

But I thought Mousaoui won and America lost.... Isn't that what he said in court ? Guess he doesn't like the new lifetime accomodations. I'm still glad he didn't get a death sentence. Killing a moron is nothing to be proud of. Well, as long as the Federal Prisons don't let "Entertainment Tonight" interview him in his cell, we should be hearing very very little from him anymore. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !