kkeenan

Yes. You should be sure that the main has actually released from both sides before pulling the reserve ripcord. But as far as purposely delaying the reserve pull in order for the main to get out of the way - That is not necessary. As soon as the risers are released (and nothing else is attached to you, i.e. lines, PC, etc.) the main is accelerating away from you and should not interfere with the reserve. Some people choose to not use an RSL-type system. There are various reasons for this. Since you use one, you have committed yourself to having your reserve activated immediately upon riser release. You cannot change this without releasing your RSL connection, something that would not be advised in the middle of a malfunction. The Skyhook does not activate the reserve any quicker than a standard RSL, but it accellerates reserve deployment by effectively "static-lining" the reserve to the departing main. This works to eliminate any reserve pilot chute hesitation. As with any of these "automatic" systems, you should practice and complete the manual reserve pull as part of your EPs. Any number of things can interfere with the "automatic" functions. Considering the time frame of most EP initiations, there may not be much spare time available to work with any anomaly which may occur. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Sounds like you were destined for success. I don't think you will get too lucky at the DZ. Women are looking for successful skydivers, and you are, well... a student jumper with a broken leg. Not too impressive to the average Skygoddess. Of course, if you were to cite your phenomenal DZ.com Post-to-Jump Ratio, that may excite a few... _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

I think there were no lights visible in TX this time. The approach path was farther north, across the CO, OK, AR area. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Nice landing by Discovery at Kennedy Space Ctr. a little while ago. This approach had a hell of a sonic boom - seemed louder than usual. Here's what it looked like as it flew over my building. Just before this photo, it had some nice wingtip vortices trailing it. Beautiful sight. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

From Urban Dictionary: Keagels - Sexual exercise wherein you penetrate yourself with a doggie toy, then make it go squeak-squeak all day for practice. Variant of kegels. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Stored fuel often accumulates water. Fuel trucks often have water in them. Ron - I'm curious about your responses (shown above). You are quite right that fuel storage tanks and fuel truck tanks both accumulate water. That is the reason that they normally have their sumps drained regularly, along with the aircraft fuel tanks. Also why failure to do so can be considered negligent on the part of an aircraft operator. Are you agreeing with the OP on these points or are you saying that one should expect water in these tanks and that's "just the way it goes" ? Kevin K.

I recently heard that the FAA (in the U. S.) can (and has) issued personal citations to individual jumpers for violating cloud restrictions. These may carry a fine of up to several thousand dollars. This is not issued against the pilot, but against individual jumpers. The fine carries the force of Federal Law and can be enforced through seizure of personal financial funds. So, unless you're an undocumented alien or a packer, you may actually have something to lose. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

This has been a bad year so far. Four folks that I am closely connected to have died in skydiving accidents in the space of about a month. These were not students or noobies. They were all highly-experienced skydivers. They were all doing things in ways that had been safe for them for years, when something beyond their control took over. Every time I see the many friends I have, who are jumpers, I have to wonder if I'm seeing them for the last time. But they are probably wondering the same thing about me. Kevin K.

What a shock. Burt was a great guy and a great team player. He will be missed by many. Blue Skies, Buddy. Kevin K.

N/A

I think that the spectators, Many of whom delight in seeing crashes, should get to share in the excitement. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2010/04/15/pkg.moos.blind.porn.cnn?hpt=T2 _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Hey, we're always up for someone new to kick around. Tell us about your biggest mistake. Maybe it qualifies. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

If you feel that is necessary to express yourself. It seems that it is protected as free speech... http://www.kctv5.com/news/23161005/detail.html?hpt=T2 _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Bounce or Bowl - Take your choice. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

I know what you mean. Last month, we lost two friends in our state on one day. The following weekend, another friend in Texas. This sport seems intent on convincing us of our own mortality. I don't jump as much as I used to. After reading Incident Reports and such on DZ.com for a few weeks, I'm always amazed when I go to the DZ and don't see dozens of mals, botched landings, and injuries. I guess the truth is: 1. Our friends will continue to get hurt and killed skydiving, usually from well-known and documented causes. 2. We will never get used to it. 3. If we do not treat every jump as potentially lethal, the next bounce could be us. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Kudos to John for fixing the issue rather than cutting away an otherwise good canopy. I know that we don't want to encourage Newbies to mess with in-air problems too long, but there's a lot to be said for experienced, knowledgeable jumpers taking a moment to analyze an issue prior to initiating EPs. Once again, if you are a newer jumper, never hesitate to follow your training with regard to initiating EPs. But, if you have the experience and mental stability to recognize a simple fix, then fix it. The most common issue I've seen is a brake line released on opening. If you're turning under an otherwise good-looking canopy, unstow your breaks. When you find that one was already unstowed, but now you're flying straight, then, Voila!, you've fixed it. Once again; If you don't know what you're looking at or how to deal with it, do not hesitate to execute your EPs. Reserves ALWAYS work... except for when they don't. There's no point in worrying about it, but some people say you only have so many Silver Bullets. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Why do you care why I care? He cares because he's fighting in the new class-war of "Noobies vs. Oldbies". The Noobs are mad because they get yelled at for doing stupid shit with low jump numbers, not even knowing how stupid their shit is, and the "Oldbies" get a big laugh for doing stupid shit, even though they do know how stupid that shit is. The Noobs want the more experienced jumpers to get chewed out for their equally stupid shit. That's my take on it, anyway. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Reminds me of the time, back in the 80s, when the local DZ stopped selling beer at the manifest window throughout the day. Progress indeed. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Weapon of choice among the low-pull crowd of the 70s. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Had a steering line knot itself when the brake was unstowed on a Sabre 150. After trying unsuccessfully to unknot it, I cut the steering line and landed on rear risers. Much simpler to replace a lower steering line than to cut away an otherwise good canopy. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Ha. Good luck finding 40 PUPS who can belly fly. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

As I recall, Bill Newell wasn't a big Chet fan. Something about selling SCR stuff and Newell kicking Chet's ass. Chet seemed to be at all the boogies in the 70s and 80s. He really was a great guy. Kevin K. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

Are you sure he's not the black guy ? _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?

A Pilot's Story One fine hot summers afternoon there was a Cessna 150 flying in the pattern at a quiet country airfield. The Instructor was getting quite bothered with the student's inability to maintain altitude in the thermals and was getting impatient at sometimes having to take over the controls. Just then he saw a twin-engine Cessna 421 about 5,000 ft. above him and thought, "Another 1,000 hrs of this and I qualify for that twin charter job! Aaahh.. to be a real pilot going somewhere!" The 421 was already late and the boss told him "this charter was for one of the Company's premier clients." He'd already set MCT and the cylinders didn't like it in the heat of this summer's day. He was at 6,000 ft. and the winds were now a 20kt headwind. Today was the 6th day straight and he was pretty dang tired of fighting these engines. Maybe if he got 10,000 ft. out of them the wind might die off... geez those cylinder temps! He looked out momentarily and saw a B737 leaving a contrail at 33,000 ft. in the serene blue sky. "Oh man," he thought, "My interview is next month. I hope I just don't blow it! Outta G/A, nice jet job, above the weather... no snotty passengers to wait for .... " The 737 bucked and weaved in the heavy CAT at FL330 and ATC advised that lower levels were not available due to traffic. The Captain, who was only recently advised that his destination was below RVR minimums, had slowed to LRC to try and hold off a possible inflight diversion, and arrange an ETA that would helpfully ensure the fog had lifted to CATII minima. The Company negotiations broke down yesterday and looked as if everyone was going to take a huge pay cut. The F/O's will be particularly hard hit as their pay wasn't anything to speak of anyway. Finally deciding on a speed compromise between LRC and turbulence penetration, the Captain looked up and saw Concorde at Mach 2+. Tapping his F/O's shoulder as the 737 took another bashing, he said "Now THAT'S what we should be on... huge pay ... super fast... not too many routes...not too many legs... above the CAT... yep! What a life...!" FL590 was not what he wanted anyway and he considered FL570. Already the TAT was creeping up again and either they would have to descend or slow down. That dang rear fuel transfer pump was becoming unreliable and the F/E had said moments ago that the radiation meter was not reading numbers that he'd like to see. Concorde descended to FL570 but the radiation was still quite high even though the NOTAM indicated hunky dory below FL610. Fuel flow was up and the transfer pump was intermittent. Evening turned into night as they passed over the Atlantic. Looking up, the F/O could see a tiny white dot moving against the backdrop of a myriad of stars. "Hey Captain" he called as he pointed. "Must be the Shuttle. "The Captain looked for a moment and agreed. Quietly he thought how a Shuttle mission, while complicated, must be the-be-all-and-end-all in aviation. Above the crap, no radiation problems, no dang fuel transfer problems...aaah. Must be a great way to earn a buck." Discovery was into its 27th orbit and perigee was 200ft out from nominated rendezvous altitude with the commsat. The robot arm was virtually U/S and a walk may become necessary. The 200ft predicted error would necessitate a corrective burn and Discovery needed that fuel if a walk was to be required. Houston continually asked what the Commander wanted to do but the advice they proffered wasn't much help. The Commander had already been 12 hours on station sorting out the problem and just wanted 10 minutes to himself to take a leak. Just then a mission specialist, who had tilted the telescope down to the surface for a minute or two, called the Commander to the scope. "Have a look at this Sir, isn't this the kinda flying you said you wanted to do after you finish up with NASA?" The Commander peered through the telescope and cried Ooooohhhhh yeah! Now THAT'S flying! Man, that's what its all about! Geez I'd give my left nut just to be doing THAT down there!" What the Discovery Commander was looking at was a Cessna 150 in the pattern at a quiet country airfield on a nice bright sunny afternoon. _____________________________________ Dude, you are so awesome... Can I be on your ash jump ?