Andrewwhyte

Depends on the aircraft involved, fuel burn, procedure . . . would vary from DZ to DZ. A go-around for a C-182 is going to be less expensive than a C-130. Actually what's more significant is the cost of a go around per jumper. a 2-minute go around on my DZ costs me $1.25-$2.00 per jumper depending on which plane and how full it is.

Canadian law, much like British and American law I believe, holds that such action would only be libelous if it were false, the utterer knew it to be false, and it was in fact malicious in intent. Furthermore the only damages the Toronto Thugs err,.. Police Association could claim would be direct damage (costs) incurred by them. Since an officer on administrative leave does not lose wages they would not be on the table unless the city of T.O. was doing the suing. Most litigation in Canada is loser pay. if the TPA is too aggressive they will get slapped with some hefty court costs and defendant (formerly complainant) legal fees; the judiciary will cast a very jaundiced eye on them if they feel they are being heavy handed to the public. On the other hand if people are intentionally bringing false complaints against cops, fuck 'em, let 'em lose their house

In Canada we use little pieces of paper that are counted in the same room they are cast in. When I volunteered for an election for a party I took over watching the locked box that people were putting their ballots into from another party volly. I sat there and watched the box, and chatted with the vollys from the other parties. After the polls closed the doors were locked and we watched the officials empty the box onto the table and count the ballots three times. They then reconciled the number of the count to the number of ballots cast. This went on at six different tables in the room for six polling stations at that particular polling place. After everyone was finished and the results were called in to our electoral district office, the doors were unlocked and we were allowed to leave and report back to party headquarters. The ballots were loaded into the boxes and sealed. What's so hard about that? The only people who don't like it is the press. They have to wait for an hour or so for the result.

I served bagged "fresh" spinach from the US to my staff and 36 soldiers today. Some are still here, some have been moved. I got to spend some time making sure medical officers were made aware while people were dealing with the aftermath of a fatal bus crash coming from the base,... fun day.

They belong to various animist sects.

Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

Not trying to hijack the thread but I think that the ACLU wants to make sure that the people who are being tried, convicted and executed as terrorists are actually terrorists. Right now the bar has been lowered to the level of "because Bush or his justice dept said so". That's pretty low. Here's an example. Gonzales says "Gravitymaster was involved in a plot to yadayadayada". Now Gravitymaster is in prison but is not actually charged with anything and if Gravitymaster is allowed a lawyer that lawyer can't get access to the justice dept's files. Now the court/tribunal date shows up and Gravitymaster and his lawyer have to leave the courtroom (or maybe they weren't even required to attend because Gravitymaster is in some secret detention facility overseas getting waterboarded) while Gonzales goes in a back room with the judge to show him/her some "evidence" of Gravitymaster's crime. Everyone gets called back into the courtroom, a guilty verdict is read and "Justice" is served. Now GM's siblings, neighbors and friends are pissed off and swear that they'll do everything in their power to see that real justice is served and vow to organize and undo the great wrong and make sure that this sort of thing never happens to anyone else. Here's a few questions to think about. Is the word of the Executive branch sufficient to capture, incarcerate and convict a person? What if that executive was Hillary, still ok? How do you think the justice dept will categorize GM's supporters' jihad....I mean struggle? And how many "terrorists" were created through the "justice" meted out against GM? Is the world safer? Should I have moved this to another thread? It seems to me that you are a bit too anxious to defend people like that GravityMaster bastard; I think you should come down town for a little chat. We have a litle beam we want to test on you. It wont hurt,..much, and it's completely non-lethal.

Seeing a lot of 'Crazy Bitch' around here lately (pick your spots).

In our case (the Beiseker incident described in G&R) the units rose to ~2450' above 'ground' level before descending to ~500' below 'ground' level. The time frame between summit and the bottom of the canyon is not more than 30 minutes. Altitude changes during this period although not consistent with skydiving would be more or less continuous. It is not surprising that the units remained armed.

The van was going approximately 30 Km/hr in a construction zone during tourist driving season (although the grade may have indeed exeeded 20%). Given many other of the Vigil anomalies I think the altitude below arming ground level is what confused the unit.

Yep! we should have. In the back of my head I knew that van being loaded needed my attention, but I had fifty-four clients that needed herding more. The driver never thought about it.

Add these ones to the list. July 04/06 A van left Alberta Skydivers in Beiseker Alberta (elevation 3026') carrying nine rigs with armed Vigils in STUDENT mode. The route took the vehicle through Banff National Park and Kicking Horse Pass (Max altitude 5476') and then steeply down to the town of Golden BC (alt ~2500'). While traveling down the canyon, but at construction zone speeds, the driver heard one unit fire. She pulled over and watched two more units fire while at rest. The other units were deactivated while at rest.

So I guess Texaphopia is OK on this site is it? A bit of a double standard don't you think?

The British Parachute Association claims that the long term malfunction rate for student oprations is 1:750. I suspect that is accurate worldwide. The bottem line is that very few skydivers have careers longer than one or two years that never have a malfunction. That said the malfunction rate seems to be dropping over time.

Looking at the picture I realised that I've never seen a beaver on wheels before.

What you have listed are prerequisites for a USPA course. Not all courses in the US have to be USPA. I got my Vector/Sigma rating last year in Perris and I have never been a USPA member. If mac2501 wants the rating to use in the US that's one thing, if he wants to get it there because of convenience and or cost, that's another altogether. The manufacturers' web sites are the best place to get the requirements for pure manufacturer's rating. One thing you neglected to mention was the class 3 medical (or foreign equivalent). I found it more convenient to get an FAA one even though I live in Canada. If mac2501 wants to practice in UK he will probably be better off getting one from there, If he does want the USPA rating he will no doubt need an FAA one.

Olympos -Dan Simmons

I think you guys missed the point. I think he is saying that Starbucks is as close to real coffee as is available. Every other offering America has to offer truely sucks.

So does that mean that those of us with pull outs should not ask for nor accept gear checks on jump run?

Couldn't you ask someone else to replace it?

Although Bigun's and others' advice about gradually sizing down is valid, people need to realize that many small DZs do not have the volume of business to justify transition canopies. It is certainly no more abrupt that the round to square transition that us greybeards went through. If you are going to be jumping at Arnprior or Alexandria you would be well advised to accept that staying on student gear for a few more jumps while you get used to the new surroundings is just the sensible thing to do. As far as finishing off your solo, just get right in there; ask your new instructor what he thinks is particular to spotting at this DZ and go ahead and spot the load. Remember, if you really blow it, the instructor won't let you get out. Have fun and remember to buy your beer (one case for the new DZ, one case for your solo certificate).

So do you have four people in a row on the right like a 206 or three in a row behind the pilot? Either way I don't see the the room.

True. Of course the Europeans used to change sides once in a while to make it seam that the last thousand years were different wars (still doesn't hold a candle to Moses taking the promised land by force, and who drove them into slavery under the Egyptians anyway?).

On the other hand it didn't work that well at all in 1914. Two roughly equally armed societies chewed each other to smithereens for five years. At the end of it all (we know now) no-one had learned a damn thing; they did it again ten years later.

Huh? I don't think so. There is no way you can be in balance with seven adults in a 182. I don't care how many horses you have or how long the wings are. Where is the approved seatbelt location for the sixth jumper?