packerboy

I hate to say it but independant of the Iraq war, I foresee the U.S. being "at war" for a very very long time. I'm 30 and I'm willing to bet that the U.S. will be at war for at least 50% of my remaining life. So I guess you should get used to this stuff. I'm Canadian, but we usually end up having to get used to the same things you get used to. Again.... -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Pardon my french, but charging a fat tax is fucking bullshit! It's either safe or it is unsafe. You do it or you don't so it. It's damn right discriminitory. Just because it is less pleasant or more wor for the TI is not a good reason. They don't charge you extra at the convenience store to buy a chocolate bar if you are ugly, because it is less pleasant for the cashier. They don't charge extra for the cashier to point out where the gum section is because it is more work. You offer a service at a price, and ANY person who is able to to indulge in that service pays the same price period. Wah Wah.. it costs more for gas... well cry me a f%^&king river. So you make less profit and have more customers do the friggen math. FUCK it pisses me off to no extent that DZ's do this. Just like it pisses me off when someone tells me I have to pay extra to use my VISA card because it costs them more. Well that's the cost of doing buisiness... suck it up princess. I weigh 135 lbs by the way.. do I get charged less because I don't take up as much gas. Get real man.. you might as well be charging people more because they are black, it makes as much sense. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

At that point they don't know better, they'll do anything you tell them. What's the point anyway? It dsoesn't take a tandem instructor, video guy, 10,000 jump wonder or rocket scientist to know that the risk is not worth the reward. Ya Ya.. you haven't seen so and so fly, he's got a million jumps and he can do it safely.... whatever.. shit can happen and it's not worth it. I was trying to dispel the original argument that it makes for better video, which renders the debate of whether or not it is safe pretty useless. It's unnecesary.. if you need to hold on to the passenger or harness to get a good closeup exit shot, then you are not a good enough flyer to be holding on to the passenger. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

well shit then.. look at everyones laptop. Pull everyone over on the road too.. just to see if they are drunk. If they took my laptop as a random search, and I had important work information on it and they wouldn't give it back, well geez, I don't know exactly what I would do.. but there would be A LOT of people knowing that I wasn't happy about it. I'd probably get arrested. Fuckers.. I'm pissed off about it just sitting here, and I don't even own a laptop!!! (got stolen.. fuckers) -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

This is the guy who wrote the article that started this thread? -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

That settles it.. I'm going to Europe. Or.... I'm going to Florida or California to skydive. Hmm... what to do? -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

As a first time tandem student, I would rather have a wide shot of the entire airplane and me leaving it. But that's just me. I know what my face looks like, and my friends who are watching the video know what my face looks like.. I want to see airplane.. and sky.. and me in it. After all, that's why I am there. As a photographer you would want the closeup, because it's better photography. Who's more important? -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

In Canada, you probably wouldn't have to hide the rig, because noone wouldknow what it is.. but as soon as you pulled the canopy out, you would be gone. I personally would be afraid of taking someone out on a busy ski-hill anyway, and would want to do it outside the boundaries. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

One con would be the fact that it probably takes away from the experience for the passenger. Not probably... I can guarantee it takes away part of the experience. A good video is nice to have, but the passenger is there entirely for the skydive, not to make a video of themselves and have fun in the process. I'm sure there are other cons too, but I won't speculate since I am neither a TI nor a tandem vidiot. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Try to get good at checking your altimeter without turning. An excercise that I have had success with is, when jumping with others, do the "squish their head with your fingers thing" -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Looks to me like the pilot of the canopy with more arc may be applying a bit of riser pressure while the other pilot not so much. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I'll take line twists w/ a cutaway/ reserve ride any day over a PC in tow cutaway/ reserve ride. Are you suggesting staying square and waiting for a PC in burble to clear itself? How do you know it's just a burble thing as opposed to a container lock? I'd rather not waste precious time worrying about it. Take a look.. if it's a burble thing it should clear by the motion of turning to look, if not.. you may have a container lock or an uniflated PC in tow.. very undesirable situations that should be dealt with without delay. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

If you are PRO packing a tandem canopy in 5 minutes or less, you are sacrificing the quality of the packjob for speed. It's going to be sloppy and you are going to get a higher rate of tension knots and line-overs. I don't care who you are. 5 minutes is pretty quick for a sport rig. And that's if everything falls into place. Break an elastic or miss grabbing a nose cell and you are thrown off your rythym. It can be done sure... but not with care. Anyone who says that they consistently pack tandems in 5 minutes and doesn't cut corners (not flaking, leaving elastic stubs on D-bag, not rolling tail) is full of shit. 10 minutes is still quick for a good packer. Flame away... -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I'm not very travelled as a skydiver at all, but I find it surprising at a N.A. DZ that Microns and Javelins aren't popular. What do you have there? Wings and Mirages? Just curious, since of all the rigs I have seen Javelins and Microns seem to be the best. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I wouldn't try BASE jumping with that config. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

I still have skydiving dreams, but it's been a while since I had a "wet" one. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Sure you got the adress right? Won't load for me. Never mind.. got it... that's a pretty awesome video actually.. Wonder how many runs you get in before being turfed from the ski hill. They must have been part of some ski movie production team?? I can't imagine you could just show up at any ski hill and do that. I think I might try though.. My problem is that I board, not ski.. it may be tough being sideways in the harness. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

With Skydive Chicago down the road, not much of a problem then... -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

If you have to use serious muscle to close the container, the closing loop is too small or more likey you are doing it wrong. Leverage is the key. Use your knee to push the container towards the flap you are closing and keep your pullup or packing tool as low profile to the container as possible. Most people I see trying to muscle it are trying to pull the closing loop straight up through. Using the entire deployment bag is key as well.. You want as much canopy in the corners of the D-bag as possible. Some people who leave alot of the canopy in the centre of the D-bag have problems with the locking stows and closing the container. Correct me riggers if I am wrong, but this is also important because if you have a taught locking stow break in your packjob, you could end up with a bag lock on opening from out of sequence stow dump. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

What is the town? And what are you risking.. pilot issues aside. What are the consequences for someone caught jumping if you are not trespassing? -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

When I got looted during a natural disaster, the officer that I reported the robbery to told me that the most likely way I was going to get any of my stuff back was to travel from city to city and check out the pawnshops. Thanks to e-bay for allowing the theives to sell stolen shit right from their own home. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

You don't have to be an expert belly flyer at all to start freeflying. You will have lots of people tell you that you should hammer down the basic belly skills first, tracking being the most important. And they are right. You do however have to get good at freeflying before you attempt to get in the air in proximity to other people, as speed changes during orientation shifts can cause some serious damage. Also if you are going to go out and freefly on your own, you should be aware of where the line of flight is and orientate yourself perpendicular to it, as a bad body position can inadvertantly cause you to track across the sky into other groups airspace without even knowing it. That being said, if you can go from unstable to stable and have altitude awareness (which is crucial at higher speeds) and have the proper gear, you can start learning to freefly at any time. Just be aware that every freefly jump you do when you are a newbie you are sacrificing crucial belly learning time which, when you have 200-300 jumps and you want to be invited with all the cool kids on the bigger ways, may be a problem. If you spend all your newbie time learning to freefly, you will start to see younger jumpers going out and having tonnes of fun with bigger groups.. and you will be missing out. While you may be able to get on 20'ish ways with a couple hundred belly jumps, it'll be a few thousand freefly jumps before you start seeing 20'ish way freefly jumps. Be carefull out there.. but remember, as long as you remember to pull and stay out of everyone elses way, you can do whatever the hell you want. (I would stop that short of strapping on a board, a camera, a Velocity and a wingsuit and hucking yourself off of a cliff right now) Also remember, that when it really comes down to it, being in the air with other people is alot more fun than being by yourself. And being in the air with alot of people is more fun than just one or two others. I started freeflying right off instruction, and at 500+ I am just now getting good enough to be headdown around other people. If I could go back, I would have been bellyflying first so I could be right in on those 20 ways I've been missing out on. Freeflying is sooooooo fun though. Once you get addicted, it's hard to go back. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

How does that really affect them. Is there a rule that states a DZ HAS to have a S&TA? -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

But I turned down beer! It was warm.. which made it a little less painfull. -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Are this guys employers standing behind him at all or just hanging him out to dry? The TI wasn't the only one in the know who made the poor decision to let it happen. Are DZO's at all responsible for knowingly letting people (their employees even) do stupid dangerous things on their dropzone? Or do they reserve the right to take two steps backwards and disappear into the shadows when someone gets themself into shit doing something considered totally acceptable? I think everyone has to take a step back and look at the big picture. Taking the guys TI rating for a year or two is obviously going to have a massive impact on him.. this is his livelihood, much more is cruel and unusual punishment for his misdoings. Who is responsible for a class full of unruly misguided students, the students or the teacher? -------------------------------------------------- In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson