NickDG

>>Some times old shcool need to be updated,its called the new age>Just curious though what everyone thinks on this, and also how many people are filthy cheaters.

>>Obviously you weren't around in the '60s.

I don't get it . . . The first version of Saddam's demise is broadcast across America sans sound and it presented a warped view of what really happened. Then the cell phone vid followed, showing the truth of it, and the powers that be hunt down the fellow that shot it and look to arrest him. It eludes me . . . NickD

>>A smoke stack is a damn smoke stack...if it wasn't it would be called a building

Look at any plane form wing cross section - the rounder the top (or the further the wind has to travel) the higher the lift. What really messes us up is our heads. Best to leave those on the ground. NickD

This month's PARACHUTIST (Jan 07) features my former AFF student Yong Son Chisholm in the "Profiles" section. I did good . . . NickD

The real hero, and the fellow who saved USPA, was Bill Ottley. When I first joined USPA in 1975 they didn't have two bucks to rub together. And they were always worrying about getting the money just to pay for the next general membership meeting. Ottley, with his Harvard MBA, turned all that around and I recall how amazed we were when USPA first became worth over a million dollars. The real threat to skydiving, bar none, are access issues. And USPA should be throwing our money at that more than anything else. Fancy new buildings in the middle of nowhere (which will never appreciate like the HQ in Alexandria did) are a waste. USPA HQ was in an old run down San Francisco Cannery Row brothel when Norm Heaton ran things and they should do something like that again. "Being close to the seat of power" as they like to say means nothing these days. Besides, (global warming notwithstanding) USPA HQ should be in a sun belt state. They would get more people banging on their door with imput when those people are actually jumping year round. But maybe hiding in the woods is their real play . . . NickD

>>If you are not doing anything wrong what do you have to worry about???

>>If revenue was roughly 3.1 million and expenses were roughly 2.9 million. Where is the other $200,000? I used to think it went into an interest bearing account, but now I think it just goes into the beer kitty . . . NickD

The real issue is not what anyone prefers. We'd all like to be first out . . . The problem is that Tandem, AFF, and up-jumpers all have some possibility of opening high. Its separation (time in the door) that counts. I really think we should rip out the green lights in cabin class A/C and toss them out the door. Then we should issue "Spotting" certifications and no load goes up without some one so rated. In too many places it's total anarchy with every monkey on-board screaming go . . . Gee, when we jumped rounds from big airplanes that almost never happened. To have it happen now with all of us wearing double square rigs is just ridiculous. NickD

Goodness . . . >>Chirtopher Needles, Executive Director, made $102,055

>>a sell phone buster

What happend to "live free or die" ??? Oh yeah, chickenhawk re-punk-licans is what happened . . . http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/485561p-408789c.html NickD

When (the late) Jack Bergman was the treasurer ('70s and early '80s) USPA ran a yearly budget report that was very transparent and detailed. The ones they run now aren't so much, like this one below. I'm no bookkeeper, but if "compensation" refers to salaries, it seems pretty high. . . NickD Compensation $ 1,049,100

Gee, we've been telling you guys for almost 30 years how cool "proximity" flying is . . . I guess video has become the new imagination NickD

>>we get students who refuse to jump on occasion, and these people have paid to jump, want to jump,

Damn . . . I feel old. I broke my first bone jumpng the year you were born . . . NickD

>>that even when faced with imminent death, a good fraction of them would choose death over jumping out a window, rig or not. Our primal instincts are too strong.

>>and was as quiet as church mouse about the whole endeavor.

Apex has been selling the HOPE (High Office Parachute Escape) system for many years now, and without giving away any company secrets, I can say these systems, which started out kind of slow, are getting more popular. And wuffos don't have the same prejudice that skydivers seem to hold for these rigs. Also terrorism isn't the main concern for them either, as every time a more apt to happen high rise fire makes headlines the phone starts ringing at Apex. "It's better to jump and try - than stay and fry!" NickD

On a demo once we were suspending M-18s below us with Dacron line using a hose clamp attachment (don’t do that). We had primed the igniters by unbending the pins (don’t do that) and carried the M-18s in the front leg pockets on our jumpsuits (remember those) prior to use (don’t do that either). One of the jumpers, a woman, under canopy reached into her pocket to deploy the smoke grenade and with her gloves on she accidentally pulled the pin while the M-18 was still inside the pocket. Then she couldn't get it out. She rose to the occasion by using one hand to steer (fairly tight LZ) and with the other hand trying to hold the jumpsuit away from her leg. She landed in a heap, and safely, but had very severe burns on her upper leg. We stopped using smoke (hot or cold) after that and went with colored paper ribbons which you can get pretty creative with and they are lighter, safer, and don’t misfire or go out too soon. And with ribbons you don’t need the bucket of water on the LZ. We also had trouble from time to time dong 4th of July demos, where fireworks are set up, and the fireworks crew didn't like the fact we are descending with hot smoke bombs above all that gunpowder sitting around . . . NickD

Very well done, very true, and very funny . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAL3ceozbRQ NickD

Hi Joe, It's obvious the passion you have for this but I think this board may be the wrong place for it. While I see the parachute connection makes this an obvious place most here are too young to get excited about it. It's like asking for fresh information on John Dillinger or Al Capone on a hip-hop gangsta site . . . Joe, you should put this in front of the world and that means a stand alone website. You'd still only be fishing, but you'd be dropping your hook into a much larger pond. Website names like DBCooper.com, "net" and "info" all seem to be in the hands of cyber squatters but DBCooper.us is an available URL – and would probably get hundreds, and eventually thousands, of times more eyeballs than anything you posted here. Another thing, Joe, and I'm apologizing in advance for being blunt, but if you want people to take you seriously you should dial down what comes across in your writings as a bit of hysteria and your being too convinced Duane was/is Cooper. People will be more apt to respond if they think you have more of an open mind. Again, you may not really be that way, but on the internet a book "is" judged by its cover and you need someone to filter your passion for public consumption. I would think, compared to the rest of the Cooper websites that already exist, yours would be of more interest than most if it was presented correctly. And I'm sure there is some tech savvy person out there who'd love to sink their teeth into this – but you limiting yourself by trying to find that person on DZ.com. Once the natural lifespan of DB Cooper passes, which is right about now, the whole thing will morph from fact into legend. So, for your sake, the time to act is now. And either Duane was Cooper or he wasn't. And the way to go about it is, if you find out he was, you win, and if you find out he wasn't, you win too. There's no third way to look at it. Good luck, Joe . . . NickD

>>"with zip under the hood"

In the early '80s on the twisty back roads around the Otay DZ in San Diego we invented something we called, "Roofing." Wearing the big baggy jumpsuits of the day we stood riding on the hoods of our pick-up trucks. Using the wind to support our bodies and going 40 or so mph we'd lean into the turns with the wind holding us in place. How none of us were killed is a miracle. Of course we did it at night and never sought publicity like these guys. Now there's this, it's called Ghost Riding. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/26/AR2006122600994.html We had drivers at the wheel, and we went faster, but hey, we were the trend setters . . . NickD