Kris

Okay, here's the answer: The answer is that it is too dangerous at your experience level. Sorry. It sucks. But it's true. You have one accident with a spaceball and you will put your DZ, the pilots and it's staff out of business as they get sued into oblivion. There's not a waiver on the planet that will cover harming an innocent bystander. Hopefully, you will not find the answers you seek on this website. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Is there an S&TA at your DZ that you can talk to? If not, I'm sure Quade can give you some "ugly-but-true information" about the can of worms he is about to open up that will hopefully show him the benefits of patience. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Welcome Back! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Nothing special, just turn it on and jump. When it turns on, it calibrates itself to ground-level. As the day progresses, it will keep sampling the pressure and will stay calibrated during normal weather-induced barometric pressure changes. Now, if you decide to turn it on at your DZ and then fly out to an area with a different elevation to make your jump it will not be accurate. It only knows where 0-feet AGL is for where it was before takeoff. You will have to manully program in the offset for that type of jump. It is actually pretty simple to do. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Yikes!!! I would suggest that you move that strobe to the back of your ankle. One flash and your night-vision is gone. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Everyone has supplied excellent information. One more teqhnique you can add into the mix is to tie your 3-rings together with a pull-up cord. This keeps the risers even and prevents you from pulling the lines on one side of the canopy further from the other side. I do this on my Stiletto, a notoriously twitchy canopy, and you would cringe if you saw my "quick-and-dirty" pack job, but it consistantly opens on-heading. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I went on a beautiful sitfly dive with some friends yesterday. As I came in for a dock on one of my friends, he bobbled a bit, lost a little altitude and drove forward. So I burble-hopped him, popped down to his level and did a 180 to face him again. When he rotated into view I was presented with a really nasty image just 5 feet from me... It was the sight of his PC and bridle wrapped around his arm. I immediately backed off 20-30 feet while frantically throwing him the breakoff and pull signs. Luckily, it only took him a couple of seconds to notice and he was able to clear it with the PC ending up behind his arm instead of in front which would have been a really ugly deployment. He ended up under canopy at 6000 feet. When we got down on the ground we looked at his rig and the spandex BOC pocket on his original Vector was pretty-much see-through with barely any elasticity left. Your gear is your life. Repeat that to yourself. Now repeat it again. This could have been a lot worse if he hadn't had a clean deployment or if we didn't have great separation from the load behind us out of the Otter. If you've been putting off any maintenance on your rig, if you think that ratty velcro or spandex is okay for "just one more jump" before you have to throw it to your rigger, please reconsider. It won't hurt you to wait out the hour or so for the work to be done on your gear and then jump, but it may hurt you if you don't. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Allright, Dammit! Since I can't go to Perris, I'm going to have to make someone else's day brighter. Here's the dealio. I will put a jump ticket on someones account if they can do the following: Make Viking a Rodriguez Brother and then have him initiate a bumpy brother. My gift to you, Viking, for being a cool guy and putting up with everybody's abuse. Photo proof is required, of course... Kris Carné Sonic Rodriguez Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I think Joe Walsh from The Eagles said it best: "It's hard to meditate on amphetamines..." I about lost it when I heard him pop that gem out when he was providing tunes for Drew Carey's improv special on cable. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[Dr. Evil Voice] Riiiiggghhhtt... [/Dr. Evil Voice] Tell that to Skydiverchick's car after Sunshine got through with it. Heh. Good thing I'm several states away from Sunshine right now. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Yup. I've really been wanting to check out a Crossfire2 in a 175-180-ish size but the WFFC was not the place I wanted to try that at. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Dam skippy! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Here I am. Just your average beast... Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Chicken Tikka Masala - Indian Sushi - YUMMY! Shrimp linguine w/ pesto sauce - Italian Pho (noodle soup) - Vietnamese King crab legs Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Washing a container once a year should be enough if you've properly Scotch Guarded it. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

The key is not to use one heavy coat. Use several (4-6) light coats with plenty of drying time in-between. Pull your handles out and put them to the side, just do the container. Don't worry about getting some on the metal, it will come off with just a damp rag. I did my soft handles separately with no problems. Make sure the container is DRY before putting on the next light coat. I found that holding the can 8-12" away worked best for my Mirage. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

UhOh, injured Rodriguez Brother! Take care, glad it wasn't worse and get the nurses to bring you tequila so you can make them honorary bumpy brothers! Take your time and heal fast, the sky will be here waiting for you, bro! Kris aka Carné Sonic Rodriguez Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I have psycho-packed for 95% of all of my jumps. I've used it on my old Sabre, Heatwave and I use it on my Stiletto with no problems. I can get my canopy in the bag very fast. My Stiletto was brand new when I bought it and even with the Slippery ZP material I can do an entire pack job in 7-10 minutes. My opening are soft and within 5-10 degrees of on-heading every time. I have tried the Wolmari pack a few times but for me, it just wasn't as fast as Psycho packing but the opening were just as nice. If you do decide to Psycho pack it will take you a bit to get used to laying the canopy on the ground upside down without disturbing anything. You will also need a 7" to 10" bridle extension between the d-bag and canopy to hel keep the pilot chute from becoming un-cocked and to relieve stress on the bridle-attachment point on the canopy. If someone is having excessive cutaways Psycho packing then they are either not removing the induced half line twist by putting the D-bag on upside down, then rotating it; or they are not being very careful with laying the canopy on the ground after flaking it and before squeezing the air, folding in thirds, and rolling it up. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

When I bought my Mirage G3 I got just about every option, UNISYN harness, freefly handle, etc... except for the stainless. I just couldn't justify the almost $200-$300 more for it. So, what did I do instead, I got standard hardware with nickel-plate. It looks great, kind of like a pixellated-stainless, and was half the price. It wears very well, and, did I mention how great it looks? You might talk to Heather at Wings and see if it is an option they carry. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

ROFLMAOPIMP! That was pretty good, Che. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

I found this on Rec.Skydiving, posted by Carl Wright. Does anyone have any other info? I know several people at Skydive Dallas, and some who do CRW, so this has me worried. Kris ------------------------------- At approximately 8 pm (sunset load) Central Time a plane formation consisting of the Skydive Dallas Super Otter and Caravan dropped a 31 way formation. In addition to the big way load two jumpers exited the Caravan with the intent of doing crew. Witnesses reported to the management having spotted what looked like a jumper with two canopies deployed but not fully open in a high-speed spin drop out of sight beyond the horizon. Local medical individuals responded immediately to investigate, two individuals were found deceased. Early reports indicate two jumpers were entangled in parachutes; due to the high speed impact the landing was not a survival one. No other information is available at this time; no names are being released until next of kin has been notified. Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Outstanding!!! I am so happy to be reading this Pam & Merrick! Too bad Merrick and you are in NC. I have a position open in my group right now for a field tech here in OKC. Merrick would have been perfect for it (great pay too) but I am hoping that they will add another tech position to NC allowing me to transfer. I have family in NC and there's great DZ close by so I'd like to end up either there, Atlanta or Florida. But somewhere on the east coast. There's a position open in Boston but it's a great place to visit, not to live. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Hmm, I might be able to make a November date... Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Blowing out an eardrum is bad. Blowing out a sinus cavity is going to be really bloody and will require some pretty heavy surgery. mandr4ke, good call on the reschedule. The sky will always be there. Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

Joe, It's about time you got tired of the Soju and headed back to the states! Have fun being back in the sky this weekend! Kris Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™