JerryBaumchen

Hi Secret, I have heard Bill Booth say ( and you should check for yourself if you have a Skyhook ) that if you have a rig with a Skyhook and you suffer a total of the main or a pilot chute in tow, do not cutaway; just go for the reserve only. Now, do not take that from me as being from the horse's mouth ( so to speak ) but check with UPT and see what they say. JerryBaumchen

Hi Ken, Your 'goodies' went out in today's mail via Parcel Post. Not sure how long to get to you. Have fun. JerryBaumchen

Hi Mike, There are probably a lot of things you and I would/could disagree on, but on that, I am with you 100%; if not more. JerryBaumchen

Dear Mr. Lear, Do you actually think anyone believes this crap? For me, that in itself defines your entire letter. JerryBaumchen

Hi girl, I've known him for 44 years; silence huh???? JerryBaumchen

With all the nastiness here in the Corner right now I thought I would try to lighten things up a little. This is from our local newspaper, the OREGONIAN. 25 things you might not know about John McCain & Barak Obama. McCain: 1. He has a stuffed dancing hamster on display in his Senate office. 2. Wife Cindy says her obsession with electronic gadgets & technology is one of his pet peeves. 3. He says his pet peeve is politicians who talk too much. (He admits that he’s guilty, too, sometimes). 4. He’s not much of a shopper, but he likes to buy rugs when traveling abroad. 5. His favorite books is “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” by Hemingway. 6. He was addicted to the TV show “24.” 7. He carries a lucky penny in his pocket. 8. He played Scrooge in the POW’s staging of “A Christmas Carol” at the Hanoi Hilton. 9. He movie favorites include “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “Casablanca,” and “Viva Zapata.” 10. He talks to fellow prisoners of war, those with whom he shared a cell in Vietnam, almost daily. 11. He has seven children. He has four grandchildren. 12. His wife was in Bangladesh on a charity mission & brought home baby Bridget without checking first with him. 13. He describes himself as “a person who is mostly normal.” 14. His parents “eloped” and got married at Caesar’s Bar in Tijuana, Mexico; McCain’s grandfather accompanied them. 15. He’s serious about the finer points of barbecuing, and he likes to deep-fry turkeys in peanut oil. 16. At Christmastime, he likes to supervise the lighting of about 1,000 luminaria candles on their property in Sedona. 17. Going on vacation with him is anything but relaxing. His children call it “Camp McCain.” 18. He’s an early bird, not a night owl. 19. He doesn’t e-mail. He doesn’t surf the web. He likes to read the newspaper in print. He’s attached to his cell phone. 20. He wasn’t happy when Hudson, the neighbors’ black Lab, ate the tenderloin he’d been marinating to grill for dinner at their ranch in Sedona. 21. His office windowsill is overrun with stacks of books. He hands them off to friends once he’s read them. 22. He’s into fruit trees. And birds. He keeps binoculars and bird books at the ready in Sedona. 23. Cindy McCain is super-rich. They have a prenuptial agreement. 24. He programmed digital remotes at the family’s homes in Phoenix & Washington so they can call up DVDs in any room. 25. He doesn’t like to be alone. Obama: 1. His high school basketball nickname was “O’Bomber” & he favored a left-hand, double-pump shot. 2. He has two Grammy awards for recording his best-selling books. 3. His mother’s name was Stanley Ann Dunham – her father, Stanley, wanted a boy. 4. His mother & father met in a Russian Language class at the U of Hawaii. 5. His father, a goat herder as a child, was a member of the Luo tribe. 6. As a child in Indonesia, he was introduced to snake meat & roasted grasshopper. 7. While living in Indonesia, his mother would wake him at 4 AM for three hours of English lessons before he went to school. 8. His maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, was a “Rosie the Riveter” at a Boeing plant in Wichita, KS during World War II. 9. While a student at Harvard Law School, he applied to appear in a black pride pinup calendar. He was rejected by an all-female committee. 10. He met his wife, Michelle, while she was his adviser one summer when he worked at a corporate law firm in Chicago. 11. On their first date, they had ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins. (One of his jobs as a teen was scooping ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins). 12. His favorite movies include “Casablanca,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” 13. During his community organizing days, some residents in Chicago dubbed him “baby face” because of his youthful looks. 14. He considers his worst habit to be checking his Blackberry. 15. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, but he got a D in 8th-grade French. 16. His prized possession is a photograph of the cliffs of Oahu’s South Shore where his mother’s ashes are scattered. 17. He is a good – but cautious – poker player. 18. His musical favorites include Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Yo-Yo Ma, Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z and jazz legends Miles Davis, John Coltrane & Charlie Parker. 19. He carries good luck charms, including a gambler’s lucky chit. 20. He announced his campaign for the presidency at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL, where Lincoln gave his famous “house divided” speech. 21. His office wall has a framed original program from the 1963 March on Washington. 22. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali. 23. He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life. 24. He has promised his daughters a dog this fall, win or lose. 25. He doesn’t like to shop. JerryBaumchen

Hi Dave, If you ever get PD to provide a pack volume, let me know & I'll buy you a beer. JerryBaumchen

Hi Terry, I was taking the exam for an additional rating and when we finished the local FAA-type asked me for my Riggers License as he was going to take it & then issue me a temp on the spot. I told him I didn't carry it with me & that it was home in a secure place. He did NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL. He 'politely' informed me that anytime that I practiced rigging I must have my license with me. OOOOOPSIE He also was a decent guy and 'suggested' that I put in a for a replacement license due to loss and then I would have one for a secure place and one to carry with me. Just a little tip for those who might be interested, JerryBaumchen

Hi square, A little correction for you: Her name would be Miss Stoysenka Jumpenofa. In Russia if the husband's last name is Jumpenof then the wife's last name would be Jumpenofa. Just a little trivia for those who might care. JerryBaumchen

Hi crwtom, I have been thinking about this and a guy named Bill Miller who also disappeared after a national election. I found this about him: William E. Miller: The Man Who Wanted To Be Vice President William E. (Bill) Miller, Republican vice-presidential candidate in 1964, the only Notre Dame alum ever to be chosen to run for the second highest office in the land, Barry Goldwater once used to capture the humor, decency and commitment to public service that his 1964 running mate exemplified: "Bill was a good trooper, fought the good fight, and went home to Lockport, New York, with a smile and good grace . . ." He was a virtually unknown Congressman from upstate New York when Goldwater picked him for this V-P running mate. They got swamped by LBJ and you never heard of Bill Miller again. JerryBaumchen

Hi Terminator, Re: Bad habits to avoid early? Do NOT fart in the plane!!!!! JerryBaumchen

Hi Douglas, I'm with you: If you don't vote then STFU. BTW, I voted last week. Both for the general election and the USPA election. JerryBaumchen

Hi Sparky, Well put. Heck, the beer & BS were 1/2 the reason I stayed with this skyjumper thingy. JerryBaumchen

Hi Cari, You are welcome. Slotperfect: I am a really old guy so it will always be an Alti-III to me. JerryBaumchen Damn young'ens

Hi howard, It looks like a Ted Strong jump with an ATV that didn't go so well. JerryBaumchen

Hi Cari, If you end up with an Altimaster III (and I recommend that you do) then also consider this: http://www.cloudflyer.com/ Jerry Baumchen

Hi Blink, At PIA/Reno the Javelin guys were showing the 'new' Javelin with the Skyhook & the 'new' riser covers. I think they called them 'flying covers' or something like that. The pockets that the tabs go into are no longer rigidly mounted on the yoke. They are now mounted on a flippy-floppy piece that comes from the inside edge of the yoke & upward from the reserve top flap. Does this help; or is that just a ridiculous description that no one can understand? JerryBaumchen

This series of posts are an interesting read. If you were jumping back in the '60's, as this old dinasaur was , you would know that a horseshoe with a ripcord deployed pilot chute was not so uncommon. John Rich has made a good arguement for his setup. I doubt that he has convinced many people to go back to ripcord deployment. On my first jump with a non-sprung pilot chute the very first thing that I noticed was no ripcord to stow away. YEEHAAA. I used to have the packing instructions for the Australian rig that used a hand-deploy reserve pilot chute; I thought of it as an oddity. Also, about 20 yrs ago a guy out at the Sheridan dz made his own rig with a hand-deploy reserve pilot chute. I felt that it was too complicated a set-up and do consider a ripcord launched reserve pilot chute as a very simple system. IMO, when your life is on the line, you can't beat simplicity. With a hand-deploy pilot chute (throw-out or pull-out) and mounted on the belly, front of legstrap, rear of legstrap or BOC it is almost impossible to launch the pilot chute with the unintended hand. I feel that this is one of the major reasons why modern rigs keep a spring-loaded pilot chute in the reserve; you can activate it with either hand. Just my thoughts, yours may vary, JerryBaumchen

Hi Icon, Uhhh, was he white later in the year? JerryBaumchen

Hey DJL, She is a senator, not a member of the US House. JerryBaumchen PS) I think that is what he was trying to tell you.

Hi, I am not an instructor or tandem-jumper. I was up at Skydive Kapowsin a few months ago and saw some paperwork posted on the wall where they had secured local FAA-approval to convert their Sigma Tandems with a Y-mod. Anyone interested in this might contact them for more information. JerryBaumchen

Hi Scott, That would imply that your logbook is correct. Time for some outside verification. JerryBaumchen PS) Whether it is a C-9 or T-10 it is still a 5-TU.

Hi Scott, Uhhhh, 5TU????? JerryBaumchen PS) Or did you have particular name that you called it?

Hi Mike, I have read many of your posts and have tried to consider and understand what you written. For me, possibly, it would take the John McCain of 2000 and not the John McCain of today. A case in point: Back in 1980 Geo. Bush was running for the Repub nomination. When he campaigned here in Oregon he was for Roe v Wade and denouncing Voodoo Economics. The very moment that Reagan picked him for V-P he became opposed to Roe v Wade and loved Reagonomics. Pick your issues/guns/whatevers and stick to them. Yes, I know that Obama has changed his mind on a few issues ( off-shore drilling comes to mind ). At this moment in time I just do not think that John McCain even knows who in the hell he really is. JerryBaumchen

Hi kbordon, As regards Anatomy classes, here is a true story for you. Many years ago up at OHSU there were a number of guys and one girl in the class. The instructor divided them up so the guys worked on a male cadaver and the girl worked on a female cadaver. One evening the guys decided to have some fun so the cut they penis off of the dead guy and stuck into the vagina of the dead girl and covered her up with a sheet. When the female student came in the next day and and pulled back the sheet she hesitated for a moment and then said 'One of you guys leave in a hurry last night?' JerryBaumchen