MakeItHappen

I think you are mis-characterizing the failure mode on RWS/UPT systems. I believe that the 'reserve pin' that you mention is the pin that is attached to the RSL lanyard. It does not and is not supposed to go through the reserve RC cable housing. The RSL reserve pin is routed through an eyelet on a terminal swage at the end of the reserve RC handle and then through the closing loop for the reserve container. The reserve RC with the terminal swage does pass through the housing, provided the RSL pin is not caught on the housing in a perpendicular fashion. IOW the RSL pin must clear the eyelet on the terminal swage in order to allow the reserve RC to be pulled through the housing. If the RSL pin does not clear the eyelet then a potential RC stop exists when the eyelet is pulled up to the entrance of the housing. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

uh-huh.... . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Do you know what type of rig it was? There is one rig on the market that can have an RSL system act as a 'ripcord stop' in some situations. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Try this . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I have a program that calculates trajectories based on input variables of velocity, lift and drag coefficients, WL and density altitude. These input variables are not linked to specific geometric specifications of canopies. The code is only two dimensional right now. The simulation starts at the time from the end of a speed inducing maneuver to natural recovery (hands off flying). It does not model any type of flare maneuver. Some sample results were posted here awhile back. If you find me funding, I can develop it further. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

ah yes it is. It should have been 309r3. Been fixed thanks. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The Omniskore! web site now has the scores and first round videos of the 1st FAI WC in VFS. Sorry for the delay, but it was a server side problem that did not render the *.asp pages for a day and a half. R1 and R6 are up also. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Thanks for all the wishes. I took yesterday off. Today I'm back at work. Blue Skies to all. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I am at a loss for words. Harry would be the last person you'd think would go in. He apparently did everything right. He packed for himself, so I am sure it was his normal pack job. How strange to have such a hard opening on a canopy lightly loaded (~1-1.2) Today was the 39th anniversary of his first jump. He turned 60 about two weeks ago and proudly wore his SOS shirt that day. Harry was looking forward to being on his first SOS load this January. He was so enthusiastic about it, he even was organizing a SoCal base that was going to be rock solid and practiced by the time January came around. He helped with coaching at this year's SOS event too. He was someone that always had fun on every dive - no matter how it went. Harry we will all miss you. Janna - my heart goes out to you. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

A lot of stock prices are freefalling to new lows. That's ok because it presents a very good buying opportunity. GOOG is down by 50% GS is down by 50% and Warren Buffet just bought stock in them. What industries would you buy in the near future? I think that the companies that make 'must haves' would be the best bet. Things that people must have everyday. stuff like, toothpaste, TP, soap, food, gas food being the cook at home type stuff, not restaurants or prepared meals in the frozen food aisle Things that people may DIY instead of hiring a contractor. PG is only down 17% and pay dividends. XOM is down to its price of two years ago - and they pay dividends too. CPB has dropped, but only a little bit. Anything that people use discretionary income on would be out. So what would you buy and why? What are some of the other 'must have' products or services in your life? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Larry, I think in time you will be able to deal with Shindig's death better. We all miss him and have compassion for his wife and kids. Take the time you need more surfing more whatever. I think Hammo will let you back at the DZ soon. Think of all the fun times you've had. Remember your 4000th jump? That was the funniest thing I've seen. Here's the story. Larry was the vidiot for a team coached by Chris Irwin. They had a pass at 10.5 and were sitting by the door. When Larry got on the plane he proudly told everyone that it was his 4000th. We asked 'Hey aren't you going to do anything special for it?' He said, 'just another team jump'. Kudos were given to Larry all the way up to 10.5. On jumprun, Larry climbs out as usual. The team lines up and does its exit count. Only what they did not do, was jump. They faked Larry into committing to his exit. They climbed back in and waved to Larry on his now 'special' 4000th jump. The plane was full of laughter all the way to 12.5. The team even went all the way up to altitude. Larry stayed in the grass and started packing. The entire plane load came over to congratulate him on his 4000th jump. Times like those are what you need to remember now. Have fun surfing today. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Just an FYI I want to make it explicit that I am making this post in my personal capacity as a citizen of the United States of America Here is the important information. State of Georgia v. 1800Skyride . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

PSP . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Spotting . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Mark did an amazing job this weekend. Even tho my fingers are worn out from typing, I'll share a way cool story. I'm going to tell it in reverse order because it's much more exciting that way. So there we were looking at the video in the debrief. Kate freezes the video and says in a very demanding way "Who is this?" She is pointing to Mark. I and a whole lot of other people say it's Mark. I'm thinking to myself "Mark did everything right - why is Kate pointing him out?" So Kate rewinds a few seconds on the video and shows Mark's approach to the formation, his excellent stop in his slot, his waiting for the anchor guy to get there, his 'pause-take a breath' before he takes a grip on the anchor guy. Mark was doing everything right. What's Kate's beef about this? Then she says "This is how to do it right. This is an example of what we want." Then I go "Whewww" Oh, Mark, Kate is pointing you out as how to do it right. Big bonus points there. You won the lottery. The story was not done there. I asked Kate to rewind to the top end of the dive. You see that low guy there - the guy about 100-200 feet low right at the top end of the dive? That's Mark. Mark got tangled up with another floater on exit and then came back to make that stellar, un-rushed dock. That was something Kate did not know. Add that to the awesome dock, Mark got elevated big time. A lot of times people panic when their exit gets screwed, but not Mark. He just did his best slow fall and got back to his radial and did his job as required. That was awesome. Mark got BIG brownie points on that dive. Mark was amazing last weekend. He did a fine job. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

FYI: http://www.ntsb.gov/Pressrel/2008/080911.html snippets: . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Liens are noted on the title even when the seller's name is on the title. When the lien is removed a new title is issued. Make sure it is not a salvaged car. That is marked on the title. You won't be able to get insurance on that type of vehicle. You should also get a bill of sale. That is used so CA can charge you sales tax when you register. The last truck I bought, I bought from the owner. He had a lien on it. I cut him a check and took the truck home. He signed his title that showed the lien. My bank called me and asked if I had written a big fat check. I said yes. He paid off his lender, but it was more than 4 weeks before they sent me a new title. I called his lender and he had paid it off within days of the sale ~ the time it took his check to clear his lender. Also be aware that you might get a double whammy on the smog check. You need one whenever the vehicle changes hands. Then depending upon the amount of time between the sale and when registration is due, you will have to get a second smog check. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Which way was jump run? parallel to the shoreline or out to sea (offshore) or onshore or something in-between? What were the ground winds doing? Was it just one group or several groups? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I know the answer to that question. The answer is: see avatar. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This is correct. A conference call was called at the end of Nov 07. There was no vote by the FB at this time. We were told it was a 'done deal'. I found out much later (summer 08 mtg) that it was not actually a 'done deal' at that time that they led us to believe. The call was attended by all but one bod member. Two other bod members left the meeting sometime during this 2 hour call. One guy went to a hockey game. I do not know why the other guy left the call. That is correct. That is correct. That is correct also. In fact, Larry Hill provided each bod member at the Feb 08 meeting with documentation about a case called CareMark. You can google for the info. It's a case where the share holders sued the BOD because the BOD improperly entered into a settlement agreement for a lawsuit. The vote by the FB was done at the Feb 08 mtg. It really had no effect either way. At the time the EC voted on this interim motion, none of them were familiar with any of the evidence. Only one, maybe two, EC member(s) had read the original complaint. The only good thing one can say about the agreement is that it was a sweet deal for the USPA insurance company. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

No kidding. Larry Hill for USPA PRESIDENT!!! He had the balls (and moolah) to take on Skyride. USPA's EC didn't. However, I don't think it's all the EC's fault. They were advised by their insurance company to settle it. I'd be hard pressed to believe that every member of the EC wanted to. fixed it for ya. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

You might want to think of removing the sticker before the fashion police cite you. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of WT training? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

What you should do is bring an oversized: - short sleeve tshirt - long sleeve tshirt - sweatshirt. The extra size up is to make it fit over grippers and be a bit baggy. This changes one jumpsuit into 4. One safety issue with the long sleeve tshirt is that the sleeves may get pushed over your hands when you track off all the way to your assigned pull altitude. That makes pulling 'exciting'. The cure for that is to cut the sleeves or put rubber bands over the sleeve up by your elbows or fold back the sleeve under itself (you have to do that when you borrow a long sleeve tshirt.) Another safety issue is to make sure you tuck the tshirt/sweatshirt under your leg straps so that it does not fly up and cover your handles, including the main handle. Remember there are three independent ways to adjust your fall rate: - jumpsuit drag - weights - trim position aka body position. The ideal place to be in body position is in the middle of your range. That means you have a relaxed body position. No extreme arch and no mega flying big. The idea - and this comes with experience of going low or being too floaty - is to adjust weight and jumpsuit so that you have a relaxed body position for your particular slot. A camp is a perfect environment to 'experiment'. Another hot tip is to scope out other jumpers that are about your size, make friends with them and find out how many jumpsuits they have with them - in case you need them. Also ask everyone about extra weights or weight belts. Trading like this goes on at all big ways. Also Square1 has demo suits that you can borrow if you really, really need a super, duper big, cotton draggy jumpsuit. And there are also two schools to beg from. (They usually schedule fewer students on these big way weekends.) Hope that helps. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I can't believe no one has posted anything on who the jumpers might be. From the very first post it says If you google Aerial Adventures VA you get this web site. I don't know if these were the guys doing the demo, but it would be a 'likely suspect'. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker