Tonto

Today was Freedom Day in South Africa. 13 years since our 1st Democratic Election. The DZ was closed. I thought it would be as good a time as any to teach my 13 year old daughter the basics of shooting. Since we have fairly draconian firearms regulations the best tool for the job today was a .177 caliber spring piston air gun. First I determined master eye. All 3 of us are right handed but shoot left handed as we are left eye domemant. After a 20 min chat about the dangers of lead, and there being no substitute for trigger/muzzle control, we set up a target in her back yard at 20m. She did OK, and had a good time too. Her little sister is 8, but wanted to try really badly. The rifle is WAY too big for her, and her 1st shot was not as good as her big sisters, but she stayed out there, practicing, and practicing. The sun was going down, it was getting cold,(going into winter here) and wrapped up in a blanket, she put in a pretty good 3 shot group with 2 flyers, in blustery 15 kt crosswind and failing light. All shots were prone, over a rest, at 20m. I've attached some pics. The target pics have a 22LR round to show scale. t It's the year of the Pig.

That's him. Still going strong.

Well... we'll fall fast there. At 1.5 times the size, we'll all be a lot heavier. t It's the year of the Pig.

You WANT me to work in that incidents forum, don't you! t It's the year of the Pig.

What. No Wingsuit? He's a wimp. t It's the year of the Pig.

Would she be allowed conjugal visits? t It's the year of the Pig.

No, I never. I spelt it the same way it's spelt everywhere in the instructions apart from the heading. I suspect that an armed hamster is known as a hampster. t It's the year of the Pig.

Absolutely. Her name was cool enough for me to fall in love with her. It's cool enough for her to keep. Edit to add: Google your name. View your life's achievements, publications, contributions you have made to our society. Now randomly change your name, and google again. If you just disappeared into a nobody, or someone you or your friends or your future employees don't even know - that's how it must feel. It's a stupid tradition. t It's the year of the Pig.

Follow attached instructions. t It's the year of the Pig.

My 1st realisation of this was in a gunfight. On the range I had always said I would fire the 1st shot double action in a gunfight, but here on the range I would thumb the hammer back and fire the 1st round single action - cos double action sucks. Come the gunfight the cockroach that critiques my performance off my left shoulder was yelling "told you so!" as I thumbed the hammer back as I brought the gun to bear. As for martial arts, formal martial arts do a poor job of preparing us for the real world. I've been involved with martial arts for 39 years, and there is a world of difference between "We're sparring" and "This guy is trying to kill me - or not." While the attack is easy to simulate, in training we know the person won't really hit us in the head with the ball hammer, and keep hitting till out skull is pulp. That takes a lot of consequence away, and we perform well in the absence of that pressure. Generally I think our "live" martial arts performance is probably 10 - 15% of what we are capable of in a training situation. Some systems, like "Impact" and "Model mugging" concentrate heavily on the emotional response to attack, and are hugely functional when push comes to shove, even though they lack the pretty/beautiful moves of some formal martial arts. I think this can be duplicated through most training, from advanced driving, to being in the military. You only KNOW when the chips are down, and in my experience, while training helps, some people just cannot deal with pressure. Just my thoughts. Not saying anyone else is right or wrong. For more info on impact training.. http://www.impact-africa.org/training.htm t It's the year of the Pig.

This sounds like an issue I had with my cypres after sending it away for its 4 year check. It wouldn't turn on, turned off etc. Airtec came up with a string of reasons, from the unit was under too much physical pressure (so I downsized to a 120 reserve) and it was too hot in the boot of my car (which was bullshit) but the problem persisted... until it was time to change the battery after 2 years. Then it was solved. Dodgy battery. t It's the year of the Pig.

Thanks for posting this. Yesterday, on my last jump, I did a hop and pop from altitude and flew down the side of a really big cloud, and looked at the rainbow around my shadow and thought of the people on the Otter that morning. I'd been at Perris since the beginning of March to do the AFFICC, and some of the people we lost had been on that course with me, others had been on the dropzone, some had shared my 1000th dive with me. Some memories, maybe correct, maybe embellished with time.. Scott was the 1st AFF Instructor to let me go on the main side, and gave me gentle, positive feedback on how to be better. Still an inspiration to this day. Geoffery was such a massive talent. He cruised the AFF course in 4 eval dives - and that was back in the Don Yahrling days. I remember his bike, and the cream cheese bagels he ate every morning, and his long, blonde hair. Jacqui, with her limp and her smiles seemed awake from early morning, and then worked in the bar till late, and yet never seemed sleep deprived. Larry, always smiling, seemed too small and too old to be a Tandem master, and yet proved me wrong, day after day after day. James (and the rest of Airmoves) made me just want to be better. Dave, and his camera, and his Corvette. He seemed like he was on almost every load. He made me want to be a working skydiver, and still had the energy to share a beer at the end of the day. Kiwi.. and falling off the bar stool one night at Silver Saddles, where the DC-3 had flown for an away weekend. (We colonials should stick together!) I never knew the Tomscat guys very well, nor the pilots, nor the students, but still feel the same sense of loss when I think of them. Blue Skies.. t It's the year of the Pig.

I'd say there are plenty variables involved. I have 20 cutaways. Sometimes the main is down WAY before me. Sometimes I can't stay with it regardless of how much/long I stay on brakes. Freebags can be more consistant, but sometimes they telescope into themselves and go really fast. t It's the year of the Pig.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one. t It's the year of the Pig.

If anything can go wrong it will. The worst that can happen is you die. t It's the year of the Pig.

I jumped a borrowed one of these into the closing cerimony of the 5th World Parachuting Championships in Kooralbyn, Australia in 1994. Compared to all the AR-7's and Rubis's etc - it seemed pretty fast for it's day and the 1800 odd jumps I had at that time. Wow. 1994. That was like... last century! t It's the year of the Pig.

Difficult students I have taught in the past were ones that had a specific problem, like spinning, or being a paraplegic. These problems deal largely with airflow over the human form, and sometimes extend into slightly altering the way equipment is required to operate. Before you see me as capitulating.. 1. He's not my student. I cannot capitulate from a project I never started. 2. Lets see if he recovers before we deciede if I've capitulated. 3. If he recovers, lets see if he wants to skydive with a crushed T12. 4. If he wants to skydive again lets see if the CI will allow him to. 5. If the CI allows him to lets see if he wants to do AFF. 6. Of all the difficult students I've taught, not one had a problem with attitude. Personally, I don't think coming back in this case has anything to do with balls. I'm staff. I'm not the DZO. I'm not the CI. I don't get to deciede who jumps and who doesn't. I just get to choose to work at DZ's that make good decisions, and I think allowing him to jump again would be a poor decision, so I would either decline the offer to teach him, or change DZ's if someone else took on the task. I feel when all the experience I have says "Don't to this. There is no value in this for you or the student. Walk away." that the right thing to do is listen to what my experience has taught me. t It's the year of the Pig.

I feel vulnerable with under 200 dives a year. Those jumps are usually spread between AFF, Canopy piloting and wingsuiting, so I have multiple skills to maintain or perhaps improve on. I'm currently doing between 300 and 400 a year, weekends only. t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm no longer a SL instructor or Jumpmaster, but his attitude certainly concerned me. The previous weekend he'd come very close to hitting the clubhouse and was taken to task by the SO, and ended up giving her a lot of lip, and then leaving in a huff. Of course, there are many skydivers with a bad attitude who never hurt themselves. And then there are those who's attitudes eventually catch up with them, as mine did around jump number 150. t It's the year of the Pig.

This was their 9th dive. 3 no task SL - Arch and count. 5 PRCP. 1 1st freefall. t It's the year of the Pig.

So... will the 70 be "good" birds? Or will they be the 1st 70? I'm guessing the week before will give the organisers some idea of what's possible.

I've had 2. The 1st was on my 44th Tandem. I cut away and deployed the reserve. The 2nd was caused by a failed PC. I cut away and deployed the reserve. I've attached my incident report. t It's the year of the Pig.

Generally when gear is owned by a very senior jumper (with the possible exception of competition Canopy Pilots) their gear is in excellent condition. I have a 3 year old Mirage G4, and the only signs of use on it are where the legstraps go through the friction buckles. Have a look through the classifieds to get an idea of price. I don't know many people who would accept a Stiletto as a trade in. I exchanged mine for 80 pack jobs. t It's the year of the Pig.

Info needed. DOM of Harness DOM of Reserve DOM of Main No of repacks on Reserve No of uses of Reserve No of jumps on main No of jumps on lineset $2500 sounds a bit steep to me. Maybe $1000 for harness Maybe $500 for reserve Maybe $500 for main Edit to add - Is this the Peter Carides origionally from Zimbabwe? t It's the year of the Pig.

Firstly, congratulations on surviving. For me, it's a little scary to hear someone with 80 dives call someone else on the load a rookie, but I think you did OK under the circumstances. The root cause of this problem was the (not very) senior jumper. He changed the plan mid dive, and in doing so placed the 2 of you at risk. While we all want value from our jump ticket, boring a hole down the tube under your 2 way was not cool. The rookie did well. I'm guessing he knew Mr Senior was low, and he was clear of you, and so he pitched a little high. Good for him. You were dealt the worst hand. The senior took it 500 ft lower too if he was close to you. I think that was your window. Best response from you would have been to carve the track off a bit - maybe even as much as 90 degrees as you mentioned, and deploy at your planned altitude, and so give the low guy the basement to play in. Again, well done on the awareness you showed, and on making a desision. Many people don't even get that far. t It's the year of the Pig.