NickDG

>>Also, some sit-flyers can slip out of their harness easily if their canopy prematurely deploys and they're in the right position

But just for awhile . . . I started some classes that will take what brain power I have left to get through - so if anyone needs to get in touch, or its something to do with the Fatality List, please use the e-mail addy found on that page. Be safe . . . NickD

Yes, I was working for them at the time and BR used a tethered balloon for first BASE jump training and it was tethered at 800-feet. The balloon owner was a BASE jumper himself and compared to the Perrine bridge it may have been a bit better for first timers as the landing area was large and clear, and the altitude was higher. Of course it wasn't a real BASE jump, and the balloon was very wind and WX dependant, and kind of a pain to set up and take down. But we put a lot of people through that course and it worked fine. As far as FAA legal, it wasn't. Tethered or free flying, at any altitude over a couple of hundred feet its a registered aircraft and TSO'd gear is required. Of course jumping skydiving gear from 800-feet would only serve to make it a hundred times more dangerous. NickD

Looks good . . . You know, this is kind of out there, but as BASE jumpers who are also skydivers we beg for small things like a longer repack cycle when we should be trying to get rid of the entire TSO certification for skydiving rigs. The cost of getting anything new certified is why skydiving gear has basically remained static since Bill Booth came out with the Wonderhog in 1975. Every skydiving rig nowadays may be sleeker and prettier, but how they work is basically the same. We've proved through BASE jumping that many people with the skills and imagination can produce a rig that works, and sure, skydiving rigs are more complicated (too complicated I say) but there are people out there who could be building something better and cheaper in their garage if they thought they had a shot of being able to market it. The high cost of the TSO process prevents that and we, all of us, are the losers. I bring this up as I was thinking of a getting a new Skydiving rig but when I looked at the prices I about gagged. No wonder skydiving is losing steam. There would have to be some kind of regulations, for sure, maybe a committee of experienced builders who check out your design, but the way the current TSO process works right now it basically protects existing skydiving gear manufactures from competition. I know some current BASE gear manufacturers would certainly build dual rigs so their BASE canopies could be jumped at the DZ if it wasn't for the TSO. Unleash their fertile minds on skydiving gear and who knows where it might lead. And Mods, don't move this post out of the BASE zone, as I'm talking to BASE jumpers and don't care to hear from skydivers calling the idea blasphemy . . . NickD

Some Captain is packing his seabag . . . NickD

You'd want to land "across" the hill, but if there's no other way, just slow your decent rate and sink it in. However, that means if you're jumping some super fast swooping machine, or can't make an accuracy approach with a larger and slower canopy, you're pretty much screwed . . . PS. I wrote that before you mentioned GL . . . NickD

This was new to me, and maybe some of you. The Social Security Administration will now add credits to your S.S. account for prior active duty service up to 2001 . . . http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/military.htm NickD

Remember when hot air balloons looked like balloons? The question of, "What's a building," will be academic soon. Here's the future . . . and just imagine the possibilities . . . http://www.ironicsans.com/2006/12/idea_a_building_shaped_like_go.html NickD

"President Bush is claiming that a new postal law gives him the authority to read anyone's letters without a warrant. If you're upset about the law, you can let Bush know by writing to your sister." --- Conan O'Brien (Talk show host in the U.S) NickD

>>I have never been able to find out where the other attendant is living. Her name was Florence Shaffner

I did a couple hundred jumps on my Piglet back in the day. When you say the diaper is different from what you are used to, I think you mean the Piglet is a "full stow" diaper and the diapers used on most round reserve canopies were "half stow" diapers. In the half stow diapers only one left or right side group of lines is "stowed" in the diaper and usually with just a single bight. In the full stow diaper both the left and right line groups are stowed and the lines are put into stow bands all the way to the connector links. If you want, you can pick up the phone and call California City Skydiving and ask for Hank Asciutto (A-shoot-o) as he invented the Piglet system and he'd be glad to help you. NickD

That kind of bruising was more common years ago with round parachutes and surplus harnesses. What jumps out at me is YOU re-adjusted the leg straps after your instructor did it. Did you misalign a comfort pad that's under the hardware? Did you make the leg straps uneven by over tightening one side? I'll also throw some blame at your instructor for not keeping a better eye on you after he dressed you. If you were my student and I caught you doing that on an AFF level one you would have gotten an earful from me . . . NickD

My first Velcro closed BASE rig was a garage made "Frankenstein" sewn to an old Piglet (skydiving) harness. And I got my BASE number with that rig. I have no idea where in the world this fellow is, but if someone gets me his address I'll send him a couple of almost new Apex BASE pilot chutes and a bridle and I'll pay the freight. I don't recommend this as a way to start, but a guy like that deserves a CARE package . . . NickD

>>I don't see him "shitting" on you or anyone else.

>>The city folks agreed to a plan where the dz did not have to contact the tower, yet their motivations for having a tower in the first place was to 'control' the skydiving operations.

>>Bush, Sr. (ditto, and had his plane shot down in combat)

LOL, I guess he does care . . . NickD

>>I'm nearly 30. I'm a father, believe it or not. My sat and iq scores were ridiculously high. I was even sent to a school for the mentally gifted as a young child. But most importantly, I couldn't give a rat's ass about what you or anyone else in this world thinks of me.

>>I'm quite sure you have no first-hand knowledge of the subject.

Clinton was against the war in Vietnam and he took a stand. And the ROTC is not a branch of military service. It's like saying someone deserted the Boy Scouts. I'm not familiar enough with Edwards' background to comment. And the "chicken hawk crap" is as relevant today as its ever been . . . probably more so. NickD

>>You show a great level of disservice to our men and women in uniform if you believe that.

The first silent video gave the impression it was more or less a dignified affair (or as dignified as a hanging can be). The cell phone video, with sound, shows it to be lynch mob . . . I'm not crying any tears for this guy, but we should be leading by example, and this isn't it . . . NickD

For better or worse civilians (politicos) run the military in America. It's why I've never understood it when Bush goes out of his way to say so many times "I let my Generals run the war." Forgetting that you can't bank on anything Bush says, what's the logic of kicking out Army Generals and bringing in a Navy Admiral to command a "desert" war? While I'm on about Generals, and I'm directing this at my brother Marines, what's the deal with General Peter Pace? As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs he seems, to me, more like General Milk Toast. I mean he really seems to brown nose Bush way too much. And you see it a lot at press conferences when they appear together. Most other Marine General Officers would have had Bush out on the grinder doing bends and motherfuckers by now . . . NickD

>>So does that mean that a water tower is an antenna? What about a scaffolding? Here are several definitions of a building:

Forget it, brother. When BASELINE was in circulation most of these people were still crapping their diapers . . . NickD