headoverheels

I think you have the Sluggo and Mr. Bill names reversed. i.e., Sluggo is the one who deploys first.

Jumped my own gear, starting on jump number 8. They didn't like that, as it was a high-performance Para-Commander (more likely to malfunction) rather than a 28 foot 5TU.

Hey that Mrs. Howell babe looks better than she did 39 years ago... Edited to add: She was the same age then as my girlfriend is now.

I don't have any more objection to raising animals for fur than to raising chickens to eat. Same thing to me. More mink stew, anyone?

So, did anyone actually watch the show? I channel-changed through just as Kerry was leaving.

You beautiful people are so shallow. Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone.

How do you know when it's time to replace your Type 17 risers?

Wow, it's not unusual for some customers to be less happy than others, or not supported as well, but I've been consistently impressed with the folks at Alti-2. They regularly show up at events with free altimeter checkups, free lenses for Altimasters, did on-the-spot software updates for my Neptune, free battery if you wanted one.

My only significant complaint with my Neptune is battery life. I replaced the battery in June, have made maybe 60 jumps since then, and the battery is already low enough that I can't view the logged jumps. They definitely need to provide a way to turn the device off, then wake it up with a button push. As now, it shouldn't go totally off by itself, just into a low power mode. I think the problem comes in when I go home. The last thing I do us drive uphill 2 miles to my house, with a 700 foot elevation gain. The Neptune doubtlessly thinks that I just took off in an airplane. When I first got it, I pushed a button to "play" with it a day after I got it home, and it gave me the "very slow climb" message. i.e., it had been on for more than 24 hours. I've had software updates since then, so maybe that's been improved a bit, but the battery life in my case has been poor. I also get an "extra" skydive logged each way to the DZ, as I usually fly to get there. Roger says to remove the battery when travelling by airliner, in order to avoid draining the battery, but this is too inconvenient -- it should be fixed, not worked around.

I'm going. At least 4 others from my DZ are going.

Javelin's sizing chart shows a maximum of 120 for the NJ. Is that NJ one you have locally? You should try packing a 135 in it to verify fit. Your wife is pretty light. If she wants to do formation skydiving, chances are that she will end up wearing weights, in the range of 10 pounds, which would push up her wing loading. PD recommends a maximum of 126 pounds exit weight for an "intermediate" jumper, whatever that is, and a maximum of 135 pounds for an "advanced" jumper, on the Sabre 135. Your wife is right at the maximum for "advanced" with gear, no weights. In other words, she would be overloaded for her skill level. She will almost certainly learn to fly the 135 quicker by first putting another 100 jumps on the 150, then flying the 135. At 200 jumps total, she would be flying the 135 better that way, than if she started in flying the 135 now. I only have a couple of jumps on the Spectre. I wouldn't load one over about 1.3 (next size down for me would be 1.48), since I wasn't that impressed with the flare, compared to the Stiletto I usually jump. There are a lot of other people jumping them more loaded. I just don't think you'll be very happy on no-wind days, unless you like to run. Be sure to demo any canopy on a no-wind day. You can probably land a handkerchief in a good head wind, so don't let a demo on such a day mislead you. If you haven't already, check out the info on the PD website. Find the "Education" page, read about choosing canopy sizes. Also read about flying characteristics under the various canopy types.

I haven't jumped a Nitro, but have put some on the Nitron. It is very much in the class of a Stiletto of the same size, with a similar short recovery arc. Less oversteer, seemed to have openings more on heading. Flare seemed about the same to me, but I didn't make enough jumps to zero in on that. People that regularly jump them say that the flare is better than a Stiletto. Katana of the same size definitely has a better flare, and dives more in a turn. I personally wouldn't load the Nitron over about 1.65, probably less if jumping regularly at much higher than sea level.

Thanks. I voted for karate.

The Sluggo in this case is very inexperienced. At the American boogie, he was positively drooling watching swoopers come in to land. So, he was shopping for a tiny Velocity, when he had ~100 jumps. He has a severe disconnect between what he wants to do and the reality of how that might be accomplished. Another jumper was trying to caution him, and that was before she found out that he only had one-third of the jumps he was claiming. He has publicly stated words to the effect that he doesn't care about dying. The mister bill episode is just further evidence that he has really really poor judgement. Mr Bill in this case should have known better that to encourage this particular Sluggo. Sluggo may find that he's running out of local dropzones at which to jump. DGIT.

Okay, sunshine.

Roughly 20.1% of the income taxes, with an average income in the $1.2 million range, as you could see if you bothered to read one-fourth of the link in the post that started this thread. For a better comparison of tax rates as a percentage of income, you really need to include social security taxes. For many people, these taxes are larger than the other federal income taxes.

I surprised that nobody has pointed out that vegetarians taste better.

The surf should be good.

I'd fetch Chrissy's panties off the stage...

Well, very similar offers abound. There was an L-39 at the American Boogie 3 years ago, flights were about 40 minutes from fire-up to shut-down, aerobatics, rolls performed by the client, more challenging stuff by the owner/pilot. $500, worth every penny. True training, at that time, ran about $950 per hour in an L-39.

Tops out at 10k, but gives an idea. I'd give it more time following several consecutive days of diving. http://www.ndc.noaa.gov/pdfs/AscentToAltitudeTable.pdf

One word - mayonnaise.

No, I meant the Hollister folks weren't thinking.

If any event that weekend, I'll probably go to Brian Germain's canopy course in Hollister. Did they schedule that conflict without thinking or what?

Trying to "parasail" a wing-type parachute is nothing like towing a round behind a car/boat. Chances are that you will end up severely injured or dead. Any practice you could get with your flare would be minimal, and would not apply very well to an actual parachute landing. If this worked, you would see all of the accuracy competitors doing it.