rmsmith

Correct, Bill. The state of California simply has too many parasites for Joe Six Pack to support!

That's great news! Jay is an MBA holder. I would be interested in how the decision was made for another Porter rather than a Grand Caravan, which can accommodate more souls for roughly the same operating costs. However, if you have lots of European visitors like DeLand then the Porter is a wise choice. Maybe Jay has a significant inventory of spares for the Porter? The Pilatus company has refined their successful design over forty years. Porters are an awesome STOL aircraft!

Did they put a PT6A-27 in the PC6 that had been for sale for some time, or did they get newer PC6/H2B4?

It might surprise you to step into a parachute canopy "sweat-shop", which looks like any third-world garment factory. The big outdoor shops like REI have done many tests around the world, and it has been found that uneducated petite asian and latin-american women with small hands are best suited for long hours of precision sewing.

Did you download the form from the dealer's site, or did they mail you the form? If yes to either mode of delivery then I'd say you have a valid argument, and the dealer has a piece of colorful rental gear.

However, a picture (regardless of the numbering scheme) is worth a thousand words particularly in your case.

Here's what my Crossfire looks like using PD's canopy designer and the "Alt-Print Screen" function in Windows to paste the screen shot. It took about 3-minutes to create this image. Good luck!

I just bought a Sabre2-210 for my second rig. The snatch force with a pullout 28-inch ZP pilot chute is moderate, it snivels just long enough for me to grab the rear risers, and then the slider quickly hits the risers. It does "hunt for a heading", but that's life with a high aspect ratio canopy. Look at it this way: with the brakes still set, the canopy doesn't hobble, and it holds a dead-on heading. Thus, any turns on opening are due to body position. Overall, I'm very satisfied with my Sabre2-210, which I load at 1.19-lbs being 6'3" and 250-lbs out the door!

No, no smoking gun here. Take the earlier advice, Performance Designs!

Please see the FAQ(s) regarding the uploading of JPG attachments. Thanks!

Be careful when you exercise your homeowner policy as you could easily "blacklist" your home causing a loss of resale value. Read on: When a call can hurt your insurance score! By Kenneth R. Harney WASHINGTON -Did you know that an innocent phone call to your insurance agent about the deductible on your homeowner's policy could trigger a loss report on your home to a national database, even if you never file a claim and pay for the repairs yourself? Sound bizarre? Welcome to the emerging Alice-in-Wonderland world of homeowners insurance, where you have a personal risk score and your house has its own electronic dossier accessible by insurance companies nationwide. Depending on what's in that dossier, your house may already be stigmatized as high risk -- rendering it more difficult to sell since insurance may be unavailable or extremely expensive. Worse yet, your ``homeowners insurance score'' could be tainted by the scoring software's heavy reliance on your personal credit file -- information that recent national studies have documented to be too frequently riddled with errors and omissions. The information is available to the insurance industry in a privately run database called the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, or CLUE. Insurers who write more than 90 percent of the United States' homeowners policies contribute information to it, covering more than 40 million claims records on homes. Each house has its own file that lists every claim or piece of property damage information supplied by local agents over the past five years. Even if the file indicates that nothing was paid to the homeowner -- where the agent learned of damage below the deductible threshold through an innocent inquiry by the homeowner -- the file may contain a loss notation on the property record. To the insurance industry, CLUE is an invaluable source of risk-prediction information. In the words of Joe Annotti, vice president for public affairs of the National Association of Independent Insurers, CLUE ``is just an automated loss history that speeds up the process of underwriting and pricing insurance.'' It is nothing more sinister than the 200-million-plus credit files maintained by the private national credit repositories -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. But CLUE reports and homeowner scores can also be unseen weights on houses and their owners. Houses with just a couple of small claims listed on a report can suddenly be more difficult to sell. A homeowner who filed a damage claim on her last property in one state may find her score too low to qualify for insurance on a new house she wants to buy in another state. Both she and her former house may carry insurance stigmas -- the new scarlet letters of American real estate -- for years.To see a description of the CLUE system and obtain your home's current CLUE report, go to www.choicetrust.com. The cost is $12.95. You can obtain your homeowners insurance score for the same price.The CLUE system -- and rapidly rising homeowners insurance rates nationwide -- have prompted the formation of a task force by the National Association of Realtors. The group is expected to make recommendations for reforms to the 890,000-strong association next month at a meeting in Washington. One of the task force's members, Nick D'Ambrosia of LaPlata, Md., cites what he calls a typical example of how the CLUE database can trigger unexpected problems for homeowners. A report on a house in Upper Marlboro, Md., included two relatively minor insurance claims -- one for a ruptured water heater that spilled onto the basement floor. But, says D'Ambrosia, ``that was enough to stigmatize the property'' and render it difficult to insure by its unsuspecting purchaser. Six major insurers turned down the buyer's applications for insurance. Another member of the Realtors task force, Nick French of Santa Fe, N.M., cites the example of a Florida homeowner who mistakenly phoned his insurance agent to ask about coverage on a fallen tree in the yard. ``The tree didn't hit the house,'' French said. ``There was no claim filed.'' But it was listed as a zero-payout damage report on the home's CLUE file. The Consumer Federation of America's top insurance expert, Bob Hunter, says ``for years we've told people to call your insurance agent and ask questions about your policy. But if questions are going to be used against you, that's ridiculous.'' How should you handle the tricky new realities of homeowners insurance? For starters, order a copy of your home's CLUE report so you know what it contains. If you are buying a home, ask the seller for a copy of the CLUE report as a contract contingency item. And perhaps most important: Be aware that even the most casual inquiry to your agent about property damage could end up as a black mark in your home's electronic dossier. Kenneth R. Harney is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist based in Washington, D.C. You can e-mail him at: kharney@winstarmail.com.

Unfortunately, skydiving is not like skiing in that you can find all sorts of ski resorts with fine lodging, food, & spirits right on the slope, but finding a DZ with these same amenities is next to impossible. But it all boils down to just jumping or relaxing as well.

You're absolutely right. Recall when several states still had legal drinking under the age of 21, and the Reagan Administration, who liked to boast about "States Right to Self Governance", decided to withhold their federal highway funds until they raised their drinking age in line with the rest of the country. Maybe Dubya will put the squeeze on Gray Davis!

I really boils down to what you have to lose. If you are a single pennyless skybum then I'd say forget about the insurance, and simply rely on the compassion of your government's social services network. Term life insurance for any cause of death (except during riots, war, or the commission of a felony crime) is within reach for most employed people. It won't pay for a yellow brick road, but it will pay the bills and keep your wife and children fed long enough for her to re-marry. I don't think anyone can afford a comprehensive personal injury policy for long-term care and recovery. You might survive, but it will bankrupt your family.

I've done business with them before; I knew what I wanted, they knew what I wanted, I paid on the spot with a credit card, and they delivered right away.

Hitler didn't invite the U.S., so I suppose that would be considered trespassing, right?

In 1966, Bronson fell in love with the lovely blonde British actress Jill Ireland, who happened to be married to British actor David McCallum. Bronson reportedly told McCallum bluntly: "I'm going to marry your wife."

Sorry, but these days lunch with your lawyer will cost you $250, not including the meal. Chances are a $5k or $10k deductible would be more realistic, for a turbine DZO anyway. The insurance is only for the serious stuff.

I thought you folks had a turbine 207 over there?

The smaller DZ clubs at public airports will have a tough time without USPA third party coverage, and they will probably fade away. However, there are DZO(s) who operate from private facilities, and they have too much invested to simply fade away. They will buy their own insurance, and the price of the jump ticket will increase. Much like Walmart driving the "mom-n-pop" stores to extinction, the larger DZO(s) will absorb the jumpers from the smaller displaced facilities.

Maybe you should re-examine your lifestyle and where you live before considering the added responsibility of carrying a firearm and the consequences of using it. That aside, a polymer rimfire pistol stored in a pancake style holster will be so light and flat that it will always be convenient.

Well, let's see...$5k v. $83k per incident per claimant for general membership v. demo jumper respectively. I doubt that anyone can tighten up things to balance this issue.

It's not that simple. The primary caveat of joint and several liability is that even if a particular party is found to be only 1% responsible but thay have "deep pockets" then they can be held 100% liable for the awards and damages! This handywork was passed during Ronald Reagan's second term, and the cliche for the people was, "Everyone will get their fair share from these giant corporations who always cheat the little guy." In the end, it may be that group type policies are too much of a target for law suits.

It's a great place if you make at least $150k/yr. Anything less and you're just another shit!

As long as the USPA demonstrates the ability to pay ever increasing dues the lawyers are going to pursue ever increasing awards and damages. A great political cartoon comes to mind: Two individuals are fighting over the proverbial "cash cow". One is seen pulling on its horns while the other is pulling on its tail. Down on his knees is the lawyer...milking it for what its worth!