jimmytavino

Yes,, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology,,,minor in History. in 1975... Also graduated with 353 skydives,,

"In the face of a Thanksgiving unexpectedly alone" you are never alone when you are a skydiver... and your thoughts and willingness to share them, validate my point.... ..Excellent narrative Michele. I could feel the shiver running down my back....both from the cold damp air which you described, and from the "lurker" who walked up past you from behind....... ( I too feel uneasy when that happens..)....I hope that your feet are doing better. .. rest assured that your head/mind...is in the RIGHT place....gratitude.... it certainly varies....from person to person...

I checked out this post..then after I finished it I checked your profile............... Now I understand your nick name.... When you failed to include the attachment in your first post.........shouldn't that have been a HINT to you??????..... (please) do not do anything like THAT again. thanx......One of the things about free speech,,, should be...... "Remember,,,,,,not everyone wants to hear you"... True enough though,,I'll give ya' this..., ya' did WARN us.....so I figured we'd see a poor fellow jumper... with some big time black and blue bruises..so I opened the attachment......I was wrong,,, wasn't the first time..... won't be the last....

Many decades ago Johnny Carson made a "Harness Hold" Jump with Bob Sinclair,,,,,,60 second delay !!!!!! waaaaayyy before The advent of AFF skydiving... He wore a chest mount reserve and did well. The jump was aired on the Tonight Show in 1968 Of course the ex Pres.. George Bush the first,,,, did a couple as well... AFF,, out of a tailgate plane... Banged his head on the door, as he exited,,,, on one of them....most whuffos would remember the newspaper and cable TV coverage for that skydiver....

Don't forget ..... "Masters of The Sky",,,,,early Relative Work footage....OLD gear,,, Round Mains Chest Mount Reserves ... great Original Music. Very entertaining...

Cepheus.....I know what what he meant.. Bro...... and I understood her willing participation,,,,still. gimmee a break....He set up the situation with his comment,,,,,.. he seemed to dig the attention... and I stand by my statement..... The dude can take YOUR sister... on a tandem,,, but not mine.....get it??? hey friends,,,I'm not tryin' to be a jerk here,,, but let's get serious.. Tandem Mastering should be about the first jump person,,,, not the T M (too many of whom seem to be closet comedians.....) some of whom do it for the wrong reasons....(like prestige, free skydives, or some kind of ego trip....) although I'll admit........ maybe not in this specific case with this specific TM.... sorry if I over reacted..... peace..

....Yeah Well.... You can be sure that if I came to your DZ with a person who wanted to make a tandem,,, and if THAT person was At ALL important to me ,,, i.e. a family member or friend,,,,,YOU would not be taking them on ANY kind of skydive.. and I ain't kiddin'... There WAS a case a few years ago where a female tandem student felt the TM's flirtatious behavior "crossed the line",, she filed a lawsuit,,, claiming that the guy was a pest from the get go.... and that in the course of the opening and canopy descent,,,he "groped" her.....made for real difficulty for the drop zone,,, the DZO and the instructor.... Lets be SMART out there!!!

Was listening to.... The soundtrack from "OH Brother Where Art Thou",,,,,, which IMHO was a VERY good movie...good dialogue,,,, good music....Great characters

great responses ,,, one and all.... What a wonderful sport.... where each of us can feel so comfortable and "At Home" on so many different Dz's in so many different places...... and the GREAT thing ..... is that every one of us,, is correct... and properly proud,,,, of the drop zones which we frequent...... I was glad not to hear to many "horror stories",, about people who had to move on to another DZ due to safety concerns, or inadequate training , or clashing personalities.... Very little of THAT ,,, it seems....bravo... .."support your local D Z ". skydive hard ,, skydive often,, skydive with friends,, skydive with love....

Roger That Cepheus...

Made my first jump (static line, T-10) at a sport club which has since closed....I DO still jump in the same geographic area,,, but have been a "regular" at about 5 different places, over the years.(and I have many many wonderful memories of friends and skydives made,,, at each one) ..... Most of those dropzones,, have since closed, or relocated. I have since found a real HOME, where I now skydive.

Interesting topic,,, and we all know that skydivers have great ( twisted ) senses of humor I like to joke around and have fun too.. but It's important to respect the students' frame of mind, and THEIR degree of nervousness,, at the moment they are making their first jump.. I have been videoing tandems for eight years now,, and have seen most of the gags, and heard most of the jokes,, even made up a few over the years.....But I feel strongly that, that sort of stuff should be over and done with, before boarding the plane... sure a little light hearted banter helps while getting geared up, or shooting a pre jump "interview" with the first jump student.... But it really should be "all business" once the flaps go up, after rotation.....That doesn't mean you can't be funny ,, or joke around a little,, but NOT the type of teasing where the "unknowing" student,, is made to feel even a little uncertain... ya know??? We spend much of the training time telling the students, to listen to the TM , trust the TM, the TM will be your partner and "hero" for your jump..... and then go ahead and abuse that,, for some cheap laugh,, which the student,, doesn't even understand...The longtime TM's have developed the techniques to relax the student, keep things light, and still maintain the students' attention and assure that the first time jumper will perform properly... They don't have to rely on sarcasm, or deceit or some "stand up Comedian schtick" ..... which amuses their buddies, or the RW crowd, or the Freaks, or the other TM's,, at the expense of the students' frame of mind.. .It seems like it's the more recent TM's ,,(who by the way, had THEIR knees knocking, not long ago) who seem to think that they are obliged to demostrate their MASTERY, of jumping,, by teasing the person who is basically paying their WAGES on the jump...Think back to EXACTLY how nervous YOU were on your first jump,,, Joke around on the ground,, but once it's wheels up... act professionally.!!....I have never attended a Tandem Certification Program... but I bet there is NO part of it, which says to betray the trust of the student, by making a bunch of macho, and scarey (to a first jumper, whose mind is not always as relaxed as the local "big mouth" experts ) comments, at a very critical phase of a students first jump.....TM's be sparing in your wisecracks,,,, and regular jumpers,,,,,mind your own business,!! Think about YOUR.. skydive, if you say ANYTHING to a student, make it short, sweet, and POSITIVE !!!! or else say nothing.....Save the Don Rickles routine for the fire pit..have fun,,, but be sensible..ok?

there is far to little "sunshine" in this neck of the woods, at this time of the year......So.... sunshine......"How You Doin'??........you seem like a very nice person to have around...

What she said.......everybody is your friend,,,,,, well except for anyone who didn't trudge around in the woods for a half a day to help look for your cutaway main and freebag !!

147

*** I wonder if others like me, had the need for a family of some sort, and were even more attracted to skydiving b/c of it? " PLFXpert __________________________________________________ This wasn't the case for me. I am one of the many UNIQUE members of a fabulous extended family,, (very Lucky) Grew up right next door to my paternal Grandparents,, never saw either of them angry, upset, or cross with anyone..wonderful people. I knew before I was out of my teens, that Family is important,,, It gives one support, it can help build self esteem,, and gave THIS member the confidence to TRY skydiving.......I quickly realized that Jumping offered many opportunities to be part of a "brotherhood" of the sky, as well as the chance to become a member of the Drop Zone Family... I was "able to recognize it" very easily,,, 'cause of my past good fortune within my own family. I already "knew" what to look for,,, in terms of communication, respect for one another,, and how each member can positively influence another. I also knew the pitfalls, and traps which can creep up,, and therefore knew how to avoid them... ........Nothing was lacking,,, which needed "fullfillment".for me....In fact I have been able to assist 2 of my brothers, One sister, One cousin. & my daughter, in making their First Jumps...If not for the strong sense of Family amongst us,, I would believe very few of these people would have ever taken to the air...

ALL perfumes are great!!!,,,so,,,,,,,,,,, I would like whatever SHE likes and whatever that woman feels GOOD wearing... If it puts a sparkle in her eyes, makes HER feel confident and attractive and enhances an otherwise pleasant personality..then that's the one which I would like....

Sure,,, LOOONG lines,,,, Huge D-Bag... We used to use TWO MA-1 spring loaded pilot chutes,,, packed inside the container which was closed with cone/grommet mating,,, and then pinned with a 3 or a 4 pin ripcord.... Pull the ripcord,, all pins extracted at the same time,,,,"bungees" helped peel the container aside,, pilot chutes jumped out.... They (para planes) were fast, compared to the rounds of the day......... No sliders, at that time, so openings were stiff..... But they could cruise.......I think they did not have stabilizers....(Later the para plane cloud and the para plane cloud lite may have) .The first time I jumped one, I was briefed before boarding,,,,,,, had a good opening and was " rippin' accross the sky... the wind noise was impressive....... I thought the toggle pressure was HUGE,,,, anyway,,, landed near the pea gravel.... and as I'm walking in with a buddy he looks over at the gear and goes,,,"Hey Jimmy,,,, you NEVER popped the toggles out of the Brake finger traps.!!!!...

34 points.... you may draw your own conclusions..................

well...... No _ _ _ _ !! there I was....... check out post # 10 under heading "the truth about the para commander...." ( I had a R 3... release on me,,,,, upon landing....) I also did a night jump 2 years ago where due to low/no winds a North bound landing pattern had been established at the briefing.........I was set up on final about 100 feet or so off the ground,,, when I caught sight of a flashing light off to my right,,and slightly ahead of me , coming basically right at me....... front risered and shot through the "airspace of conflict" about 2 seconds before the novice night jumper came through the same chunk of air...He ate some of my "vortex" but made it through and landed off to my left and rear... When reminded of our plan to land North bound,,, he said,,,, "I thought I WAS going Northbound" hahaha One of the instructors on the load barked at the guy pretty good,,, I was just happy that I resisted the impulse to crank a low turn,,,,,. I was moderately scared but the other dude must have been really shaken,,,,,,,He only had under 100 jumps and said he only saw me after I streaked "in front" of him.....NEVER have seen that kid again......hope he's still skydivin'

I thought you were gonna say,,,, " It reads 100 $$ now,, but when I get excited,,,,,, it reads 1,000,000 $$$ hahaha ( has something to do with "inflation" )

Kiss pass at break off, with someone on a student jump.........serious question here.... "Did you remain flat and stable throughout your wave, reach and pull sequence????rockgirl???. Did you tumble or roll...AT ALL...perhaps contributing to that line over???? I am not bringing your abilities into question here......just wonderin' .............. ( tumble or backloop,, as your line stows are coming undone. and pass though a line,,, and you'd get a mal... for sure...) but if you were clean and flat at pull time......then TWO cases of beer.. darling!!!!! One for the kiss & one for the cutaway!!!!!

*** "An instant later she flew around in front of me.....and Kissed me!!!