Kris

Yeah, Jay is the shizznit. If he ever comes back your way, I'll give you $20 if you load him up on fluids so that he has to stop in at my DZ on the way back again.

Heh, thanks. It's a 190. If you really want to see some purple, here is a pic of a 45-sec delay that I went on with a student three weekends back. It was just after exit and I'm just about to throw "flat-boy" an "arch-like-Hell" hand signal. The weird patch on the right leg of my Barney-purple freefly suit is a pocket made out of a fabric with aliens all over it.

Wow, that wasn't called for! The information that Brandon gave was accurate and can be found on some manufacturer's websites. As for his canopy skills, I think that would be better left to himself and the staff at the DZ he jumps at to judge, not for anyone here who hasn't seen him fly. My first main off of student status was loaded at 1.32:1 and I'm still here. If anything, the fact that his main is semi-elliptical should actually fly and flare better for him better than my square sabre did. Kris

Glad to hear that you went with the Mirage! Bill and the crew did a great job on my rig. The only thing was they forgot the alien logo on the "D-flap" but I'm not going to sweat it. Bill apologized for it and I think I might just get some custom airbrush work done there anyway.

I had an Oxygn A3 for about a year and really didn't like the way the visor closed. I really wish I had bought a Z1 instead. Kris

No, Pammi. I'm a guy, I lick.

Attached is the design for my new Heatwave that arrives this week.

Man, what a weekend! I and two other staff members ordered new, custom Mirage G3 UNISYN's on 8/20. The rigs showed up at the DZ last Friday (9/7). That's EIGHTEEN days kids!!! The rigs are perfect except for one very small, tiny embroidery detail. Absolutely outstanding service from Mirage. My reserve will be in by next weekend and my new Heatwave should show up this week as well. Bill, if you're reading this, you and your team worked a miracle on this order. And we didn't even tell them to rush them. (too much)

Heh. I ordered my custom Mirage G3 UNISYN on 8/20 It showed up at the DZ on 9/7. 18-days. Not too shabby... Kris

Ned is "The Man"!!! A week after I sent off my Heatwave order I realized that I hated the color I chose for the ribs on my new canopy. I sent him an e-mail and he got it changed right away and quickly answered some other questions I had. Excellent customer service! Kris

Good question. It won't be a problem at all. The reserve risers will deploy just fine and to the inside and back of the still packed main risers. The reserve system on your rig is designed to operate completely independant of your main. If you still have questions, I'm sure your local rigger would be happy to give you a demo the next time a rig needs a re-pack. Kris

I got to see Luigi land his VX46 at Quincy 2000 during the swoop competition. When his feet touched down after the last blade he was running like Carl Lewis to try and keep up with the canopy.

Fred, you worry me sometimes...

The rule at my DZ is don't touch the students until they graduate and try and stay away from the "townies" since we're located in a small rural town. Myself, I don't have a problem with it and I can see the logic in it. Students can be vulnerable creatures at times... Kris IAD/JM

Yup, that would definitely ruin someone's day! As it is, I will be doing a *LOT* of practice pulls on the ground before I go up with my new toy. I want the pull to be pure reflexive muscle memory before I try it for real in the air... Kris

[William Shatner Acting Voice] Must. Find. Cold. Shower. Fast! Damn! Too. Late. [/William Shatner Acting Voice] Kris (whoa...)

Clay, the container was probably a Mirage or a Wings. They both have the option of having a "freefly" handle now. The handle attaches just as you said. It is not a true pull-out as the handle is still connected to the apex of the pilot chute. Bill Hallett of Mirage Systems was demoing their new freefly handle at the Freaks Flock Together boogie at Skydive Dallas a few months ago. You can pick up the entire rig by the handle but give a little twist and it comes right out. I ordered it on my new Mirage UNISYN. Kris Less than two weeks to wait until I have my new Mirage and Heatwave...

Okay, this one was too strange not to put here. This is a true story. Sad, isn't it? ARKANSAS CITY, AR, USA (EAP) -- A Little Rock woman was killed yesterday after leaping through her moving car's sun roof during an incident best described as "a mistaken rapture" by dozens of eye witnesses. Thirteen other people were injured after a twenty-car pile up resulted from people trying to avoid hitting the woman who was apparently convinced that the 'rapture' was occurring when she saw twelve people floating up into the air, and then passed a man on the side of the road who she claimed was Jesus. "She started screaming "He's back, He's back" and climbed right out of the sunroof and jumped off the roof of the car," said Everet Williams, husband of 28-year-old Georgann Williams who was pronounced dead at the scene. "I was slowing down but she wouldn't wait till I stopped," Williams said. "She thought the rapture was happening and was convinced that Jesus was gonna lift her up into the sky," he went on to say. "This is the strangest thing I've seen since I've been on the force," said Paul Madison, the first officer on the scene. Madison questioned the man who looked like Jesus and discovered that he was dressed up as Jesus and was on his way to a toga costume party when the tarp covering the bed of his pickup truck came loose and released twelve blow up sex dolls filled with helium which floated up into the air. Ernie Jenkins, 32, of Fort Smith, who's been told by several of his friends that he looks like Jesus, pulled over and lifted his arms into the air in frustration, and said "Come back here," just as the Williams' car passed him, and Mrs. Williams was sure that it was Jesus lifting people up into the sky as they passed by him, according to her husband, who says his wife loved Jesus more than anything else. When asked for comments about the twelve sex dolls, Jenkins replied "This is all just too weird for me. I never expected anything like this to happen." Remember kids, truth is stranger than fiction. Kris

ARGH! You had to bring up the psycho, didn't you?

From the Tampa Tribune: Navy Parachutist Dies At Stadium By GEOFF DUTTON gdutton@tampatrib.com TAMPA - A veteran military parachutist based at MacDill Air Force Base died Thursday after crash-landing at Raymond James Stadium while practicing an exhibition routine. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Rock E. Blais, 40, suffered a broken leg and internal injuries, emergency officials said. He was treated at the scene and taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 12:41 p.m. Blais was one of four members of a crack U.S. Special Operations team who jumped from a plane about noon. Their parachutes snapped open, and they began a graceful and spiraling decent to the field. Mike Davis, a stadium employee of 26 years, had witnessed the spectacle often but couldn't resist watching the blue and yellow parachutes glide down again. The first parachutist touched down at the 40-yard line and ``came in picture-perfect,'' Davis said. Blais, the second parachutist, seemed ready to do the same but suddenly faltered, spun and plunged about 50 feet to the turf, landing in the north end zone. ``I guess he was trying to recover, and he spun to the ground,'' said Davis, the director of stadium operations. ``It happened very quickly.'' Blais, a second-generation Navy SEAL, joined the Special Operations Command unit in May 2000 and had logged more than 1,000 high-altitude, free- fall jumps. He joined the Navy in 1988. He is survived by his widow, father and two children. The Special Operations Command, known as SOCOM, is an elite group of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and U.S. government civilians that runs U.S. commando operations. The parachuting team, formed in 1991, is based at MacDill Air Force Base and practices at the stadium regularly for appearances at professional football and soccer games. The parachuting team canceled training exercises and exhibitions pending an accident investigation. It was the team's first fatality during a routine. In 1991, however, a member was killed while giving lessons to an inexperienced jumper in Zephyrhills. Army Sgt. Maj. Santos Alfredo, a Green Beret who was moonlighting as a parachuting instructor, and his student, Lynn Sommerfeld, plunged to their deaths when the parachute failed to open during a tandem jump. About a dozen people who work at the stadium saw Thursday's accident from the field. A crew of caterers setting up for an event also looked on from the press box. Craig Bergeron, a supervisor for Fine Host Corp., said Blais landed feet-first and bounced forward, hitting his head. ``Everybody freaked,'' Bergeron said. Other witnesses told rescuers Blais' rainbow-shaped parachute partially collapsed when he seemed to dip the chute to slow down. Reporter Geoff Dutton can be reached at (813) 259-7800. Reporter George Coryell contributed to this story.

Heh. I guess you have been out of the loop for a while. I met this girl about a year ago and the timing was just off. About two weeks back she calls just to make sure that "I have her new number because she just moved and she wanted to be sure that I had it". Umm, yeah, right.

Hmmm... Here's my agenda: Friday: Sushi with the redhead at noon, run by the mall to take care of some errands then drive like a madman to the DZ. Help pack up the student rigs left over from last weekend and then chill. Saturday: Sleep until the DZO kicks me off of the couch and points me towards the shower. Hopefully someone shows up with breakfast by the time I'm out because I hate going on the breakfast run. 9:30, help with the first-jump course then when they're done I'll grab the pilot and start flinging them out like the IAD-madman that I am. After sunset, head to dinner with the crew, come back, partake of the frosty beverage of life then sleep. Sunday: See Saturday Monday: Damn! 40 students! Monday is going to be a killer day. We have a big church group coming and I hope we have enough packers. After the day is over, I'll cash out for the weekend and I should have hopefully made enough to pay for my new reserve. Now, you want to know what the REALLY sad part about this whole thing is? I CAN'T JUMP!!! ARRRGGGHH! The largest staff canopy we have is a Sabre 170 in a Mirage G3 and while I'll wear it while I'm flinging the students, it's too damn small for me to try landing at my experience level. Yeah, I probably could land it all right but then again, I have no urge to femur-in any time soon. Like the quote says, "It's one thing to tempt fate, it's another to bitch-slap her." Let's all say a prayer so that my Heatwave 190 and my new Mirage G3 UNISYN get here FAST! Kris

Glidepath Nova: The only collabsible canopy to go with your collapsible pilot chute... Kris

I listen to just about everything except polka. I'm weird with music.

Hmmm... I'm in the mixed category on this one. I like them both but I use Tube Stoes for my locking stows and I use microline rubber bands for the rest of the pack job. That was after having tried just Tube Stoes for a few dozen jumps and just rubber bands for a few dozen and now mixing them is the best solution for me. YMMV, Kris