MakeItHappen

Gee Bill, why do you say that? I have something to say about this: see avatar. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Relax. It's got nothing to do with honesty or integrity, and everything to do with realism. After nearly a quarter century in this sport, I've seen this deal before many times. This one is no different. This too shall pass. As for putting one's head in the sand, I can't think of a better example than the endless keyboard flexing on this subject on these forums. Thousands of post, and practically nothing has changed in five years, except USPA fell over their own damn feet dealing with it and wasted a shitload more of our dues, whilst emboldening the very practice they sought to stop. This essentially was the jist of my previous post. Posting about it here is like those magnetic Support Our Troops ribbons on cars everywhere. You know, it gives the impression that you're actually doing something, when in fact it's the barest minimum effort you could possibly put forth. Skyride survive because dropzones take the money, and instructors take the students and passengers. If they didn't, Skyride couldn't exist. If the general membership was really engaged, they could boycott the drop zones, and the instructors could take the financial hit of the lost income. Like I said though, it's easier to post and pretend that action substitutes for real hard choices. Dammit. Now I'm just as guilty of perpetuating this useless discussion, when I could be at the drop zone earning cash. Dear Father, please forgive Gareth for he also does not know what he's talking about. I know him too. He's an ok guy - well, most of the time ;) . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

High Wind Landing Approaches High Wind Landings Get-Home-itis also Avoiding Canopy Collisions - not targeted to high wind issues, altho it is mentioned. Do not jump in high winds on purpose, but the winds can come up after exit (even with a ground winds check on jump run). . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Hey Bill, I need issues from 1961 to 1965 to complete my collection. Any way to get those mags from you? PS - I have dups for many other years if anyone is looking for them. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Is that a joke? You realize that the USPA had did not have to settle a huge lawsuit with skyride for getting involved. Part of the settlement, apparently, was to remove their involvement from the issue. The owners of skyride belong in prison. The proper authorities should be getting involved, not USPA. Dave Forgive them Father for they do not know what they are talking about. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Another small national organization (not much larger than USPA) to which I belong distributes its ballots (by bulk mail) to members. The original ballot has a unique identifier key and the pre-printed member name. The ballots are counted by an independent firm of auditors, so HQ never sees the completed ballots. Hey John can you send me info about your 'other org'? Or info on the auditors, cost and time to count x-many votes and cost of the ballots with pre-printed identifiers? Thanks . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Chris - you will fit right in as a bod member. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Attached is an open letter to all USPA members from me. You may also wish to read pages 16-17 and 25-32 from the summer 2007 BOD meeting and the 2008 Governance Manual. I may be contacted at Aerosoftware_AT_MakeItHappen.com replace _AT_ with @ or 951-658-3526 . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Is this what RH meant by "And to an insufferably remarkable degree, they are [right about everything all of the time]" I do my homework and verify everything. I am kind of curious about some of the posts 2-24. People were arguing about something that was not even true??? Not that it is a bad thing or that means anything. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I think the pax might have been asking about the pax harness coming loose from the TM's harness, not about a fall-out of the pax harness. It all depends on what 'you' means. (a Clintonism??). . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I don't follow what you said. You said you were groped on a tandem jump and that is why you took up skydiving???? Do you have some sexual fetish thing going on here? But yet you say most people don't know what's going on unless they see pics or vid. As they say if its not on video or a picture, it did not happen. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Just when you thought things were clear…. Many moons ago SL and tandem did NOT count towards your licenses. Today they (S/L & Tandem) do count, as well as IAD, towards the # of jumps requirement for each license. This change happened at approximately the same time the definition of a student was changed from ‘cleared for self-supervision’ to ‘obtain an A license’. c 1999. Now, a sharp jumper may ask, ‘Gee, why was that?’ The answer lies in the marketing of student training programs and the influence DZOs have on USPA policy. At the end of the 90s, some DZOs had an extended student training program that ranged from 15 to 20-ish jumps – no matter what training method or more often hybrid training method they used. Other DZs advertised the 7 level AFF training program. The DZs with the longer progression methods (long in terms of number of jumps) complained loudly to USPA and said something to the effect “Hey my hybrid program is safer and educates the jumper better than the conventional AFF 7-level program, but customers go to the DZ with the 7-level program because all they see is that they get to be ‘free’ of training within 7 jumps as opposed to 20ish jumps.” So the definition of ‘student’ jumper was changed to be ‘obtained an A license’. The complaining DZOs were happy because no one could claim that they got students licensed in fewer jumps that another DZ with a different program. Or so they thought – at first. The next DZO whining that came was about S/L and tandem jumps not counted towards the A license. “That was totally unfair.” So USPA changed the rules, once again, under pressure from DZOs, to make the marketing aspect of the various training methods essentially equal. That’s how the rules came about and you can verify dates and such by reading the USPA minutes from 1998-present day. One thing to note is that the FF and # jumps awards do NOT count S/L or IAD, but they do count tandem. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This was probably the 'closest' thing you'll find in that area. USPA added questions about seatbelts to all exams, added seatbelt requirements directly to the BSRs. No one (NTSB, FAA or USPA) did anything about the improper MX, no/low experience or training of jump pilots, improper W&B, aft cg. AC fueling ops (except for the PIA hot-refueling SOP) etc. BTW, today is the anniversary of the Perris crash. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

You had to send in the actual logbook. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I don't know when your lapse in membership occurred. According to your expiration date of 3-31-09, you did NOT pay for Mar 08. Your 12 months goes from Apr 08 to Mar 09. I do know that 3-21 is past the deadline for mailings for the April issue. The mailing addys are sent out several weeks in advance. I think the mag gets into the mail around the 20th or so. You might want to ask HQ if they plan on sending you Apr 09 instead of Apr 08. That would be 12 issues. Or you can ask for Apr 08 and be done with it. You can avoid all of this by renewing on time. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This is one point that cannot be stressed enough, IMO. NOT landing downwind of obstacles has always been my going "Plan A" for landing in windy conditions for a long long time now. Basically because of what I was told by the experienced folk when I was coming up and from what I've experienced and observed along the way since then. In otherwords, if the winds are up, my plan is to set-up and land in an open area that is very much well away from being downwind of an obstacle... even if it means walking further or waiting for a ride. Failing not being able to land away from being downwind of an obstacle... get as far downwind as possible from it, would be my 2 cents and be ready to PLF... I've seen lots of folks find that "elevator shaft" when landing downwind of an obstacle... flare their canopy for all their worth and it do nothing to arrest the descent rate, just only change the attitidue of the canopy and hammer in... sometimes with just bumps, bruises and a dirty jumpsuit/rig... sometimes with broken bones. I too have used the "cut-away once on the ground" technique to keep from getting drug or to not have to deal with trying to collaps a hundred plus square feet of nylon and lines once on the ground. I realize that it doesn't help much if you're already under canopy and the winds come up... but very rarely does it go from calm to 30mph in the space of load with no evidence available prior to a keen observer... but one thing that I was told as a newb that helped me out and that I try to pass on is, if you're at the DZ looking at the wind meter trying to decide if you want to go up or not is to add 7mph of windspeed to what its doing "now" and decide if you'd like to be landing your main (or reserve) on (or off) the DZ in "that" wind-speed and then decided whether to manifest or not... just something to think about... others may think differently. Oh I forgot to cite this article. High Wind Landings . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

High Wind Landing Approaches . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

NEW World Record for SOS at 43!! Set at Skydive Elsinore today. Congrats to all. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

So here I am working on my rigger's ticket.... Now I'm just wondering about this *weird* jumper friend of mine. The guy tells me that he buried a 1946 twill parachute in his backyard in 1971. I go along and say 'uh-huh'. Now, from what I understand twill may be the weave used in the mfg of parachutes, whether cotton or nylon. In 1946, I don't think nylon fabrics were used for parachutes. I might be wrong on that point. The question I have is that if this 1946 parachute was buried in 1971 and uncovered today, wouldn't the material disintegrate or be almost dust-like today? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Really? I've been a member of a number of world record attempts and actually have 4 'official' FAI WRs and who knows how many other bragging rights records. Not once do I ever recall any organizer or me (if I was the organizer) mention that 'the show must go on'. On one bragging rights record load we stood down for about 2 hours while people 'collected their thoughts'. If they wanted to jump again they could. If they did not want to, no financial penalty for dropping off the load. This sentence is pure BS. I can only think of 7 fatalities associated with record attempts (wr or bragging rights) in the 27 years I have been jumping. Only 6 of these were associated with FAI WR attempts. Two of the 6 fatalities were on 'practice loads' - not an actual WR attempt. This is a far cry from 'a fatality per record was pretty common'. I have records of previous records before that. There are no documented deaths associated with those records either. In fact, in the early days the record loads only reported a sprained ankle or two. To the OP: stand downs are not called for in this sport. 99% of the time the jumper did himself in. There is no reason to penalize others for another jumper's mistake. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The guy was a regular at Antioch. Packer there too for student rigs. There is a book called Trace Evidence about this. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

The cab of a pickup truck. but that one was not for jumping - just getting on the commercial airplane. Then I repacked at a terminal at SFO. That one was jumped and worked. I used a gate that was not being used and it was after 10 pm, so not many people were around. This was pre-TSA days, so no one said anything. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Over the years, there are many parachutes used to recover 'items' that satellites send back to Earth. Some of these parachutes are the guide surface and hyperflo parachutes. FMI Historical Review . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Anatomy of a Burble see also What Determines Fall Rate? . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

This post does NOT represent USPA views. It is a personal post made by me. This decision was made at the Summer 2007 meeting. You can read about it in the minutes. There were two documents that were changed. One was Section 3-1 of the GM and the other was an internal USPA document. These changes were sold as 'housekeeping' changes, as noted in the minutes "To the best of our knowledge, this separation of documents does not consist of any change to the existing Nominations and Election policy." These documents were only given to the committee during the meeting. Technically, they should have been given to the full board at least 15 days in advance of the meeting. [GM Sec. 3-1.2.B] The FB never had a copy of these documents at the Summer 2007 meeting. During the N&E report out we started to review the documents by showing the documents on the big screen. We only got about 1/3 of the way through one document. Then someone asked if there were any significant changes or was this just housekeeping. Then the vote was taken. What most directors did not know, including myself (and I'm on the committee) was that this line was deleted: "C. Photocopies of ballots are encouraged but acceptable only if the voter individually marks them in original handwriting." from Section 3-1. As a historical note, this rule was put in place after Ray Ferrell distributed pre-marked ballots at Skydance during an election in the 1990's. On Jan. 8, 2008 I sent an email to the Secretary and the Chair of the N&E Committee that was also CCed to the FB and Executive Director. See attachment. My concern was that these changes eliminated photocopies of the ballot and that the FB did not understand that this change was made. It was not clearly explained at the Summer 2007 meeting. I wanted this issue to be brought up at the Winter 2008 meeting. I asked both the Secretary and Chair of N&E (twice each) to put it on the agenda. The issue was never put on the agenda. At the Winter 2008 meeting the N&E Committee did discuss the issue. There was a lot of heated debate about the pros and cons of this change. When I gained the floor, I said I did not want us to debate the issue in committee, but instead bring this to the attention of the FB during the plenary session. I knew that many Directors did not know of this change and were opposed to the elimination of photocopies. During last Sunday's plenary session the Chair of N&E did bring up the issue. Mr. DeSantis then made a motion. He was cutoff immediately and never was able to state his motion. I surmise that it was a motion to allow photocopies of the ballot. The President prevented Mr. DeSantis from making his motion and declared that he did not have the right to make a motion. I appealed the President's ruling stating that each member of the assembly has the right to be heard and make motions, that are in order, at any time. Mr. DeSantis' motion was in order. An appeal means that the assembly must vote on the ruling. There is no debate in such a case. The vote upheld the President's ruling. There were some Directors that voted to uphold the President's ruling because we were running out of time, not because they agreed with the ruling. The vote was just over a 50-50 split. In the end, the issue will be taken up again at the Summer 2008 meeting. Dr. Lee requested a ruling from HQ on whether or not photocopies of ballots are allowed. He thinks that even with the deletion of the line that photocopies may still be allowed. Time will tell. I've been evaluating online voting for more than a year and a half. There are several security and workflow issues that still need to be addressed and resolved. It is not as simple as setting up a poll here. This is the major reason. Voter turnout is generally above 10%. That is good. A quote from the 1989 Parachutist report states, "It should be emphasized that in elections of this type any participation in excess of 10% is considered a very positive response." FMI see USPA Voter Turnout ditto here. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker