metalslug

"A soul in tension that's learning to fly Condition grounded but determined to try Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I" - Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly. nah, I'm not grounded.. but [[[VIBES]]] to those who are.

In my city, "The Ranch" was a very popular "gentleman's club" .. until the police closed it down.

I witnessed a quite peculiar case of this last weekend. An AFF student on his Level 3 froze up on jumprun and declined to jump, landed with the plane.. and he did this 3 times in a row! (I wanna cry when I think of the wasted $$.) I doubt he will return. What makes it more strange is that his Levels 1 and 2 were not too bad.. he passed them both on 1st attempts and yet seems really intimidated by Level 3. I did 3 static line jumps before starting AFF and I'm really glad that I did. For reasons I'm not sure of, I had no fear at all on my first static line.. I stepped out onto the strut like I was climbing out of my car and felt like I was on top of the world. That has been my only totaly fearless exit though, all my jumps since then (2 static line, 3 AFF) have had at least some mild apprehension at the door. I'm due for AFF Level 4 next.. I'm told that level can be a bit intimidating. Let's hope that my balls are still the size of churchbells when that moment arrives.

So far as I know, you can.. but the paperwork is as tedious and beauracratic as it can possibly get. It helps a lot if you can convince the customs authorities that you're here to hunt with it (a scoped 44.Magnum would work), tourists on hunting safaris with their own weapons are quite common. Your real problems would start if you actualy shot someone with it, no matter how watertight your case is. Your best bet would be to head for your nearest US embassy if you did take out someone. They could then deal with the local authorites on your behalf. I have lived in South Africa all my life with most of those years spent in Pretoria, the city where this incident happened. I would say that staying 'safe' in South Africa has more to do with being vigilant than being armed. I have carried a firearm (Glock 21) on me 24/7 for the last 5 years and I have never yet been in a situation that required it's use. Safety-concious people avoid certain places at certain times of the day, drive with their car doors locked (and frequently look in all their mirrors - especialy at intersections), secure their homes with elaborate alarm systems and very often hire private security companies to patrol their neighborhoods. It's an altered lifestyle and a costly inconvenience, for sure, but emigration is just not an option for most of us either.

LOL.. I wasn't sure where you were going with that.. I thought perhaps you wipe with it.

Eish.. please tell me that's not a Tandem Master moments after landing.

It wouldn't surprise me if this has been discussed somewhere before.. but a search of the posts came up empty. So, my question is.... I notice on all the canopy manufacturers' websites that their recommended wingloading charts for fully ellipticals only consider the advanced and expert jumper.. with wingloadings recommended at around 1.4 or higher. By contrast, the square canopies are more suited for the student or novice at much lower loadings, as low as 0.6 in some cases. Yes, I have stated the obvious, but I'm going somewhere with this.. Now, I'm fine with this, and certainly intend to respect these guidlines.. but I am a little curious as to exactly why.. and "What if...". I'd like to know what the flight characteristics of both types of canopies would be like if these wingloadings were swopped in an experiment. Meaning: (1)How would a square canopy behave when loaded above 1.4 ? Could a canopy god fly it with the same margin of safety as an elliptical at the same loading? How would it behave ? Would it sink like an anvil ..or even collapse ? (2)How would a fully elliptical canopy behave at low wingloadings, (lower than 1.0) Would it not be able to hold its shape ? ..spin up much more easily and/or be especialy vunerable to gusts and cross-winds ? Would it have a total lack of forward speed and therefore virtualy no flare power on landing ? ..or would it simply fly like a 'twitchy' square ? Has anyone experienced or witnessed the flight profile of a fully-elliptical loaded below 1.0 ? If it is believed that no members here have been insane enough to attempt either.. then I'd also welcome speculation from anyone who is confident of their knowledge in this area.

Well, you do jump, dont you? ..and UK dropzones & gear ain't the cheapest. Would you be earning more if you were not qualified?

Poll: Do you or do you not think that Al Gore should have won, or not won, the election over George Bush for president.. or not ? (1) Yes (2) No

I'm not. It usualy takes a measure of education to be employed in a capacity that can pay for an expensive sport such as this.

I have a BS in BS.

Stop playing with your polls.. all of ya!

*cry* Add Placebo in there and you've just 'dissed' my 3 favourite groups.

Don't think too deeply on this. Gotta keep it simple. We wouldn't be sharing a life with her, just a soft surface for a few moments. Britney gets my vote (on this level) any day of the week. PS. I gotta chuckle when I see people with the rank of 'Old Hand' posting in threads like this.

http://www.skydivingfatalities.com Do an 'Advanced Search' on the DMAL category.. ALL years.. ALL countries. The search should return 19 incidents. Incidents #1, #4 and #14 are worth a read. It's debatable whether the RSL can be exclusively blamed in any of these incidents.. but some may argue that it can. Me? I luv my RSL.. wouldn't jump without it. It has saved more than it has killed.

Hmm.. a 727 is listed as one of the jump planes available for the upcoming 'African boogie'. I wonder how that will work; anyone know what the speed of the jump run will be? Loaded with jumpers at at 20000ft MSL with a depressurized cabin (jump door open), at what speed would a 727 stall ? Jumpers would exit from the door closest to the nose, right ?

LOL Muenkel.. you're a salesman.. consider your 'target market' for a moment. Very well said. In addition: Older women are also less inhibited about a lot of things; including passing compliments to guys on their appearances. I personaly think I 'peaked' in my early 20's.. because it was a time when I had the greatest ease in attracting hot, nubile femmes in their late teens/early 20's.. which is arguably the prefered 'target market' of most males of any age. So, being at your 'peak' is relative to your targeted audience. If you can honestly say you'd currently prefer to attract femmes in their mid-late 30's with your appearances.. then you are at your peak... just as you were at your peak at 30 when you were aiming for 20-something femmes.

Could you elaborate on your reasons for this? I'd like to be able to buy used, but from what I've seen for sale so far, it's tough to find exactly what I'm looking for. I am guessing that someone here may argue: "You're a student.. how can you possibly know exactly what you're looking for?" In my own circumstances; we really only have one local manufacturer of rigs (Chute Shop) offering value and quality that makes them the obvious choice for rigs lately (even prefered over Aerodyne). This therefore makes my choices a little simpler. If my harness fits me well (which it will if ordered new), and it has RSL & AAD, and my canopies are of an acceptable wingloading as advised by my instructors.. then what rig options could I possibly regret later? As for downsizing; I would already probably be downsizing from a 285 student square to a 215 'high-performance' ZP square. (wingloaded at about 0.9) Am I likely to get bored with that canopy so fast that it would not even justify buying it new? ..or am I missing something important ?

To get whuffos interested, you often have to introduce the idea to them from a whuffo perspective. I have noticed a well-made tandem video has a powerful effect on whuffos. No less than 5 of my work colleagues now want to jump after watching the tandem video that was made for my boss' daughter. Therefore, not the documentary-style videos where the entire jump just plays out in real-time with no additional music or effects done. Those seem dull to whuffos and often just downright scarey. The tandem video that was done was more like a music video, set to currently popular pop/rock tunes that changed with the mood and stage of the jump sequence (gearing up, plane ride up, exit & freefall, canopy & landing.) The video included both slow-motion and real-time footage of the freefall stage, aswell as a two sequences of 'reverse-spooling' for the jump exit and canopy landing. Looked really professional and polished. Whuffos took the bait.

More than a handful.. is a waste.

The two DZ's I have been to are very thorough.. both instructors at each DZ are AFF-I rated on every student jump. (I checked their ratings beforehand in the members section of the PASA website). But it does get me wondering "What if..." If a student were to complete all Levels of an AFF course with unrated Intructors, would the completion still be recognised by the national skydiving authority (USPA/PASA/etc.) when applying for an A-licence? In the student jumps that most of us (DZ.com members) have done, our log books are signed by our Instructor/JM, who also include their Instructor/JM registration number, right ? So, anyone taking a look at your logbook, with access to the qualification ratings of Instructors and JMs referenced by their number, would be able to tell soon enough if you were trained by an unrated 'AFF-I'. Could this then have negative effects on the student's progression once the authorities are on the case.. making him/her repeat levels again with rated instructors.. or denying their A-licence application ?

The IT (Information Technology) job market, although becoming somewhat saturated in places, still offers great oppertunities for those with ability. The nature of IT is such that a person can specialise in many different areas; programming languages, operating systems, products... and even adapt to learn whatever skills are required to meet a demand in the market as time goes by and the the technolgy evolves. The '$$ vs Training time' equation for IT is more favourable than for most other careers... and $$ will buy you quality skydiving gear, jump tickets and sort out many of life's little complications. And job satisfaction? Some hard (but not long) study hours, troublesome clients, irregular working hours and late nights.. but I mostly get to manage my own work hours, complete my own project plans, have an airconditioned office, unlimited internet usage and filter coffee on tap. It's not a bad deal

"Venting", in the context of this thread, means what exactly? Does it mean making idle threats at the world's criminals that one has no intention of following through with? More simply stated; does it mean saying things that one doesn't really mean? Is this topic simply not serious enough to justify honest responses on what people would and should really do in this situation? Who is more self-righteous? The person that tells it like it is, or the cyber-paladin mounted on his soapbox, wielding a sword of street-justice that he has no intention of using? (PS. If anyone really would lynch these offenders, then post away.. just dont say it if you dont mean it.)

Roger that! I live in a country that is plagued by an obscene quantity of sex crimes, many of them against children.. but would I really want to turn my own life upside down and/or compound the victims trauma by having her father/friend/relative tossed in jail for taking the law into his own hands ? The poll results so far are almost as disturbing as the poll subject matter. So many vigilantes amongst us ? Unless we have court judges amongst us, "Have him committed" is not an enforcable practical option. Anything other than the aforementioned and "Let The Law Handle It" would make us guilty of a criminal offence ourselves. I therefore wonder aswell why people even create a poll like this.. with such an obviously correct answer. Perhaps the poll serves to separate the stupidly emotional from the practical thinkers.