metalslug

Did you perhaps get to read the Skyhook cutaway(s) at Aggieland thread ? Some of the testers that day were regular skydiving folk from these forums with some honest opinions. Worth a read.

Just by coincidence, we had James Bond at our dropzone this weekend. Well, that was his name anyway. First time jumper. Manifest initialy thought he was joking with them but his Identity document confirmed it. James Bond. Probably not many people with that name.

"...Prof. John Searl is the ONLY man in history to have built and flown an antigravity device called a LEVITY DISC , now called Inverse-G-Vehicle..." Read all about it at http://www.searleffect.com/free/overview.html However; I have my doubts as to the claims made on that website.

At the risk of stating the obvious, a person is increasingly likely to be incapacitated by larger wound cavity than a smaller one. A .45 FMJ penetrates about 10 to 15 inches of ballistic gelatin, creating a stretch cavity (or wound cavity) of around 1.6 to 2.4 cubic inches. A good .45 JHP bullet can expand to around .75 inches and penetrate 9 to 12 inches of ballistic gelatin, creating a stretch cavity of around 5.3 cubic inches. I absolutely guarantee you that the 4.6 x 30 caliber cannot possibly equal a wound cavity of that size. Assuming the average man has no more than about 12 inches of flesh to penetrate, the stretch cavity would be a mere 1.25 cubic inches, about one-quarter as effective as a good .45 ACP JHP. Granted; the shock effect from kinetic energy at a higher muzzle velocity would increase the 4.6's stopping power, but not hugely so. After that the bullet would exit out the back of the target and proceed on to hit whatever is behind, including ricochet surfaces... which is generaly not a desired result in CQB. The .45 and 9mm are more likely not to pass through the target. They would transfer nearly all of their energy to the target whereas the 4.6 would only transfer a fraction and use the rest of its energy only after it had passed out the back of the target. I doubt it would often happen that SWAT or any team involved in CQB would routinely be engaging targets at 200+ meters, I would also question the accuracy of a short-barreled, unscoped sub-machine gun at 200+ meters. The AR15 seems a more obvious choice at those ranges. If law enforcement has accepted this weapon for general CQB use I can only assume that decision was taken by a politician during an expensive dinner with H&K marketing personnel.

Yikes! That is, simply put, an awful calibre. 4.6 mm calculates to 0.182 inches. That's alarmingly small, IMO too small. The cartridges look like 'baby' versions of the .223 Remington in M16 variants. (Was this gun designed for rodent genocide ?) It probably can penetrate light body armor but in most close-quarters urban combat you really wouldn't want something like that. To take down a tough assailant with that gun you would definitely need to fire multiple shots, many of which are likely rip tiny holes right through the target, continuing on behind the target to ricochet of surfaces, strike objects, and potentialy harm innocent bystanders in proximity. I'd be much happier with the HK UMP 45; fewer shots required and less likely to present a ballistic danger outside of the target area.

No.. no.. The cop is pulling them over because she is not wearing a helmet! How many of you noticed that ?

Why metalslug ? Taken from a computer arcade game: "Super Vehicle 0001 - Metal Slug. ..refering to the heavy tank bullet used in the game. The game starts with an animated graphic of a character parachuting down (see my avatar image) and it just kind of came to mind as a name to use here.

I heard it mentioned before that some UK folks consider hopping over the channel and doing some AFF in France. You can take a look at the dropzone listings for France over here. I'm not sure if France necessarily has any advantages though, weather or otherwise. You may also consider other conmmonwealth countries too. At current exchange rates you could do AFF in South Africa for about £720 UK, which includes rental gear and video. Of course South Africa is a little further away and you would still have accomodation and logistical costs to consider. Whichever way you go, I hope you find the skies to your liking.

Quoted from Michael J. Kovac, Jr., M.D., P.C.

I see Neo's ability to control the sentinals this way: The entire machine world is programmed to recognise Neo as as anomale, an exception, that allows him to excercise a measure of control over the machine world, both the matrix and the physical robotics outside of it... much like a military missile with a self-destruct mechanism that can be triggered by a person in control if the missile is perceived as a threat to it's creator. This also leads me to believe that the "..code that Neo carries, that needs to be returned to the source,.." is perhaps a unique identifier of some kind, a binary signature that the machine world is programmed to recognise and obey to a varying degree.

"He rides the wild October sky. He shall not die, he shall not die." - The ScareCrows. Well done.

Literal translation : "If you are dumb, you will shit." (shit used here as verb, implying 'suffer')

I would say the 'fun factor' would depend on who's girlfriend I'm showering with.

...4 jump tickets, 3 jumpsuits, 2 new rigs... ...and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. But I'll settle for a kiss under the mistletoe.

Kelly Preston has done at least 4 tandem skydives aswell, apparently with TM Greg Hunter on the North Shore of Hawaii.

Occasionaly our company sponsors it's staff a recreational 'fun day'. Last time it was paintball, this time it was motorised go-carts and quadbike trails. I've never been on one before.. was racing along about 60km/h along a dirt track, over a blind rise and had to brake hard to avoid a deep dip in the road that loomed up to greet me. Hit the brakes.. skidding to the left.. overbalancing to the right.. and over she goes. My impact with the ground wasnt actualy so bad, I had a helmet and chest protector on (which broke at the shoulder from the impact). The scarey part was looking up to see the quadbike roll right over me, fortunately with the soft seat section hitting me and not the hot, hard, engine parts. End result is a bruised knee and some lost skin on my right side, no more serious than a clumsy canopy landing on a runway. Ah well, I'll be more careful next time.

This was a test by a famous American psychologist used to test if one has the same mentality as a killer. Many arrested serial killers took part in this test and answered it correctly. If you don't answer correctly - good for you. Now read carefully... It is a story about a girl. While at her mother's funeral, she met this guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing, she believed him to be so much her dream guy, that she fell in love with him but never asked for his number and then, a few days later, the girl killed her sister. Question: What is her motive in killing her sister? Give this some thought for a while before you scroll down... Answer: She was hoping that the guy would appear at the funeral again. If you answered this correctly, you think like a psychopath.

You will find that military skydive gear has several imporant differences to most recreational gear. You wont really need such a big canopy to have a safe and enjoyable skydive. Most military canopy fabric is either made of F111 material, or in some cases a combination of F111 and ZP material used for the 'topskin' of the canopy. Modern recreational canopies are mostly made entirely of ZP material which is less porous, allowing it to safely carry a bit more weight per sq.ft. than a military (F111) equivalent. Furthermore, military canopies are quite large because they expect the average soldier to be heavier than the average recreational skydiver, especialy if the military jumper is carrying a fair amount of military gear. As an example, you can see on the http://www.parachutesystems.co.za website that they have recreational ZP canopies that are 230 sqft and smaller, as well as 2 military rig models. The combination ZP/F111 canopy is a 285 and the F111 canopy is a 360. There is probably nothing 'wrong' to buy and use one of these if you really want to.. but you will probably prefer one of the recreational ZP types. Dont be in a hurry to buy gear just yet; jump some of the rental gear that most dropzones have, speak to recreational skydive instructors. They are the best people to suggest the most suitable size and type of canopy to use for your weight and experience level. Best of luck.

There are several threads on this, I'll try to remember the highlights of each. Different dropzones and instructors are not equaly 'strict' when evaluating acceptable performance on an AFF level. Some instructors may fail you on a level while others let you slide through. At some dropzones, almost every student repeats at least one level. At my own dropzone the ratio is about 1 in 5 students that need to repeat a level somewhere. Level 4 or 5, the jump on which you are released by your instructor(s) is generaly regarded as the 'toughest' level to pass, partly because it's an important psychological step to not have them holding you anymore. Level 6 is seen by many students as both their scariest level (before exit at least) and their most enjoyable level. Students may feel apprehensive about doing their first unstable exit and being expected to deliberately go unstable by doing backloops. When they get it right though it feels magic and a big psychological barrier is then overcome in the knowledge that they can safely recover from unstable positions. So far as I have seen and read on these forums, the most common general problem that can occur on any level is poor leg position, one leg raised slightly higher than the other causing an uncontrolled turn. This is sometimes associated with the student being too tense and stressed.. which is why the most common advice given on these forums is... Relax. I am not an instructor though, the comments above are a collection of my own experiences and the posts made by other DZ.com folks on this subject over the last 6 months.

Uh, I dont know. What is a pea pit or "the peas"? I'm not familiar with that. What is/was it used for ?

Oh, I am SO gonna get flamed for this. Yes, both matter.. usualy. But both issues are somewhat complex... Religion I myself am a "deist".. a person who believes in an unidentified higher power that has no connection to the wordly religions of man. I cannot look at the beauty and complexity of life and nature without thinking that something very powerful had a hand in it's creation. By the same token though, I cannot read though a scripture or religious text (and yes, I have read several) without thinking... "bullsh@#t !" So, in the same way that I would be quite wary of the mental capacity and general gullibility of a person who believes in the tooth fairy, I have a similar disposition to people that have great faith in today's common religions. It's especialy disturbing that it remains a modern practise to mutilate one's children through circumcision for the sake of religion. Does this make religious people 'bad'? Of course not. Although.. if I cut my child's ear off as part of a religious custom would you not think I was a little disturbed ? Devout Christians are the most honest and charitable people around.. but it does matter. In situations that require serious, logical, life-saving decisions I'd call an athiest first. Race: First off, I am quite sure that most of us have different views on what race and racism really is. Race is a biological term, a minor genetic difference that, in humans, alters our physiology very slightly from other races. The 'white' people in my country are mostly divided into two cultures of their own; an English culture and an Afrikaans culture. The Afrikaans culture, in it's most conservative and traditional form, is something I am not comfortable with. It appears silly and vulgar to me... but nobody has ever called me a racist for saying so. But now, if I were to criticise an African black culture.. half the world would scream "racist!" In a sociological, cultural and behavioural sense, race is often quite distinctive. A black person who was raised with at least a medium level of education, etiquette and sense of moral decency I would happily call my brother. However, in my country such people are very rare. Certainly the doors are opening to black people, as it should be, and the situation is bound to improve, but it will take time. Until then, I am forced to accept the reality of the present; the crime, the rape, the corruption, racism against whites, the reckless driving that threatens my very life on a weekly basis... and sadly these are almost always offenders of color. I yearn for a day where we all behave equal, regardless what skin color we have. I wish it, I truly do. But, until then.. "If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck.. it's probably a duck." ..and I would be wise to remember that.

Our DZ has 2 C206T aircraft, one has a strut and a platform over the wheel for hanging exits and the other has the cargo door setup. I did AFF in which the last jump (Level 8 consolidation) is a 5000ft hop&pop, similar to a 3s delay. I did my jump from the same type of aircraft and in the same manner you describe and my instructor's logbook remark says: "Excellent. A text-book hop&pop..." *gloat* I exited much like you decribe; seated at the very edge, legs hanging out the door, body positioned somewhat sideways to face the prop. Both my legs were bent at the knee and my toes were not pointed, my legs were really just hanging. I'm not sure if this really makes a difference. The 'trick', i think, is to not allow your butt to drag at all out the door.. ie: use your arms and left thigh to push you out. Just at exit I pressed down sharply with my thigh to briefly lift my butt off the floor of the aircraft and then simultaneously and quite forcefully pushed myself out with both hands, left hand applying pressure to left sill of the doorway and the right hand positioned behind my back and applying pressure to the right sill of the doorway. You need to do this evenly though; the objective is, of course, to exit parallell to the plane (facing the wing) and arch immediately to catch the wind. If you push unevenly then you'll pivot on exit. I have noticed some students are a fraction hesistant to arch from the cargo door because they feel 'too close to the plane'. They think they might hit an arm or an elbow on the door or rear tail. An exit like described above should put your arms well clear of the aircraft for an immediate arch. ..and trust the arch, even if it feels like a very unnatural position, it's proven to work. Arch-thousand.. Two-thousand.. Reach-thousand.. Pull-thousand. Your pesistance is admirable. Best of luck. PS: I am not an instructor, I am relaying a student experience only. Anything that your instructor tells you should take preference over my advice.

Read this thread. AggieDave has made jumpers cry.

Ah yes, it's deja-vu time again... Read this thread for a stroll down amnesia lane.

Somehow the thoughts of the skydiver/pilot overlap get me thinking of an old Mandy Moore song. I wonder if she even had skydiving in mind though.. You're kissing cousins There's no smoke No flame If you lose that pilot I'll come fly your plane If you want solid ground Come on and try me Or I can take you so high That you're never gonna wanna Come down I say Drop the pilot Try my balloon Drop the monkey Smell my perfume...