burbleflyer

Ha ha, I think its funny too...that you think that way. Thats why you lost YOUR rights! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah! I really do think its funny!

God, please take care of this soldier who has served so that others may be free. Please bless Paul and welcome him to you. Amen. Man this hurts. I have drank many a beer with Paul. Does anyone know where Willie Lee is or how to contact him? Please PM me if you do.

You know what? If they paid a decent wage there would be long line ups to do the job. Then they could pick and choose instructors and that would make the instructors in the job work harder knowing how easy they could be replaced. Or, they could hire MORE instructors and not work their staff to death but provide a decent living with days off. DZs continually mismanage money and the instructors get shorted becuase of it. If they can pay ME 30 bucks a jump for rig rental they should be able to pay themselves as well. 2000 tandems x 30 bucks is nearly 60 grand in profit just from rig rental. Student gear as well. It goes at 30 bucks a jump. DZs are always cryin poor but its bad management in MHO. Dont even ask about all the free labor we're asked to provide at the DZ. I get paid to jump, but I'm supposed to empty garbage and build shit for free. Then, along comes a weekend warrior who gets paid exactly what I do who doesnt do any of the shit work. That my friend, is BS.

Dont click the link if you cant handle a few tears. http://www.ehowa.com/features/takingchance.shtml

I did at least a couple hundred jumps with your Dad as an organizer and we developed a personal friendship. I also drank a lot of beers with him and smoked a few cigars.(I hate cigars but I tried to see his thing about them) I remember his time away and stayed in touch with him while he was away. I gained great respect for your Dad and considered him one of my best friends. We spent lots of time on the ground talking and lots of time in the air skydiving. If you'd like to talk, send me PM and I'll give you my number. I loved your Pa.

I think his interpretation of the rule is wrong. The way he explains it a feather would break the rule. You need to wait till after the forward throw and some time have passed then no matter what object left the airplane it will end up 45 degrees from the aircraft. Its longer than you think but Kallend quit looking. Look at this way: If you drop a bomb out the bomb bay of a B52 at 50,000' eventually the aircraft will travel far enough to be 45 degrees from the bomb. The way Kallend did his little experimennt was wrong. OK. Flame away.

Only one way to get over the 'door monster'. You have to go thru it. The only reason you feel so scared is you know too much unlike when you made your first jump. Good luck man, just do it!

Find a local DZ and go hang out for a few weekends. Learn to pack parachutes and make some cash while you learn about skydiving. You will become what is known as a dropzone rat. Some of the best skydivers were dropzone rats. Is it worth it? Hell ya.

He was useless. He never amounted to shit. He meant absolutely nothing to us. In other words... Hurrah for us and fuck him Or better yet, hurrah for him and fuck us. Please!

Make room for Bill Klase. So long bud.

Its like a gun. If you need it, you REALLY need it. You hope to have to never use it but you should carry it always. A hook knife may have saved my life once. I was glad I had one and dont jump without one.

Bill, Was it Red Adair who did the other ad? Man I thought you guys were f'n cool.

Well, I'm baffled and intrigued. I won't betray your confidence. PM sent. Murray aka Commander Salamander Sorry "Commander" my bad. PM answered. It was good to see you last time you were here. Ah, the old days. Hey Pup! Drop me a PM or PM Murray.

Bill, what kind of beer was that in the ad? Seriously, I cant remember and its buggin me. Javelin, PD120. My other rig is a Javelin as well with a Sabre and PD 143. If everyone feels I personally attacked him then I apologize. I work in the industry and could not post here under my real name and not have what I said tied to where I work. Thats why I have a nom de plume.It entitles me to have my personal opinion something I could not enjoy otherwise. Hi Pup. We have jumped together before and Captain Salamander is a friend of mine too. Hi Murray. I'll go stand by the wall now. This summer I shall join the even smaller goup of Canadians who have made 10,000 jumps. Etited to add: Rob and Murray, if you promise not to out me, send me an PM and I'll tell you who I am.

I lost two. One complete helmet, one camera.

Not a personal attack. Just a reply to what he said: It wasnt a personal attack. He said crap, I said he was full of crap. He made a statement without the facts to back it up and he was wrong. And, I dont believe he has made a jump in the last ten years. Look, I remember his old TV commercial from when I was a kid. Thats cool, but come on. This sport has come a long way since Mr Chuteless has done any skydiving. If you're gonna call bullshit, you better be right and he was wrong. He wasnt even active in 82 when I started jumping except for one or two demo jumps a year and he took the hollywood demos from the real skydivers. JMHO, YMMV.

I was there thru the eighties and they were training 1800-2000 first jump students a year. Yes, we did jump in the winter, a lot. We even had a snowbird club for those who made fifty or more jumps over the winter. I know for a fact that the staff could have accounted for 5,000 jumps in a good year. The jump numbers are correct. You sir, are full of crap. When was the last time you even made a jump Bill?

I love dogs and cats but I wish you would leave your dogs home.

Is it still legal to marry your sister there? On another note, it is illegal in Florida for unmarried women to skydive on Sunday.

poo

You guys just now figuring that out? About time You have been all along. Happens all the time in here. So who won?

Yes it is. Tandem is all about the money. That's why you have to take care of the passenger;because you took the money. If you think the've had too many cheetos and can't protect themselves on landing, then you have to refuse to take them. Is there a limit to what you are obliged to do in the air to protect them? Yes, I suppose there is. But if that limit is crossed before you leave the ground, you cannot, as a professional, get in the plane. You missed this part of my post: I dont know how many times I have seen skydivers bring their old, fat and frail parents, siblings, friends out for a skydive. If the DZ takes their money and sends them out to me I dont have much choice except to take a walk and find a new job. The simple fact of the matter is some people shouldnt be jumping out planes and if they insist on doing so their chances of getting hurt go up, not mine. Would you take your 75 year old Mom/Gramma out for a game of touch football? No. I wouldnt either. You're right. It IS ABOUT THE MONEY. DZ's for the most part routinely refuse to turn anyone away from doing a tandem whether or not they are fit enough. Tandem skydiving isnt far removed from regular skydiving but people who would never be allowed to jump on their own are routinely allowed to jump tandem and you expect me to get hurt for them. I give them every opportunity to survive the jump on their own but I will not get hurt for anyone. I am already risking my life for their entertainment.

PackinCathy is nothing if not one of the hardest workers I have ever seen.

Tandem instructors are not hired martyrs. Body guards do that and get paid well for it. I do my best to get them to the ground safely but if they cant do their part I aint taken a break for anyone. AFF instructors stop gettin paid at two grand. A taxi driver is not paid to jump into a burning taxi after an accident and I'm not paid to break my leg for anybody. Skydiving is a dangerous and risky endeavor. You pay your money, you take your chances. If you want a nice safe existence, stay home on your couch with your bag of cheetos and your remote. If you want to skydive the simple reality is that you can get hurt or killed. Take it leave it but dont ask me to break myself because you are to fat or old or lazy to do your part. If you cant accept that, stay the F home.

I see nothing funny about his reply. For thirty bucks I am not likely to break myself for someone I dont know who who would more than likely sue me in a heartbeat on a good day. YMMV. I might take a bullet for a good friend who might do the same for me but not for someone off the street who more than likely wont remember my name in a week. ETA. In over 2000 tandem jumps I have had only one broken tandem passenger. 5'2" 220lbs. Stuck a foot out and broke her ankle. It never ceases to amaze me the people who wouldnt put down their bag of Oreos and get off the couch to walk around the block that think they they can just whiz out to the DZ and make a skydive. A tandem instructors job IS NOT to get hurt for the student. Its to provide the oportunity to experience freefall. The student MUST be able to participate to complete the jump safely. DZOs and other people have lost sight of this. Skydiving IS NOT A WALK IN THE PARK. IT IS AN INHERENTLY DANGEROUS ACTIVITY! Edited again to add: This is my briefing for landing, word for word: "When we get to a thousand feet, I will take over for the landing. If you're going to get hurt, this is probably where it will happen. If you listen to me and do what I tell you, your chances of getting hurt get a little bit less." Then I explain what I want them to do on landing. I look them in the eyes when I say that and I mean it. Lots of experience highly trained skydivers get hurt landing and they are just as at risk as we all are.