Tonto

I can see the "Vibes please" thread now. "Some bastard instructor stole my GF!" t It's the year of the Pig.

I think we all know the research is bullshit. I think what's scary is 37% of people here think men are smarter. t It's the year of the Pig.

I've tried to edit the Incident thread and remove the multiple request for name and the condolences out. Please post your condolences here. Tonto Condolences removed from incidents PJ was my first tamdem jump instructor and the man who gave me my writen test for my A liscence. He will be missed by many. Blue skys. - dzdaveu47 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- this is nothing short of tragic - pj was a GREAT guy - i've shared a bunch of good laughs with him and know how valued he was in the crosskeys family - though i haven't been around in quite some time, i will think back fondly of the memories i did share with him my deepest condolences to the staff and other friends and family!! blues my friend Kenz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know bonfire is the place but I've had to stay out of there.I met PJ at the United Parachute Club.He flew in with "Captain Mike" from Florida to New Hanover airport during a spring opener.I don't remember how many jumps I had at the time, but low numbers.We did a three way,and at break off he held my arm and wouldn't let go.I looked over at him and he pulled me in and licked my goggles,smiled,and let me go. - DBCOOPER ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I just found out about P.J. he was a great instructor i had him for one of my tandem and my aff training he explaind thing's to me i will never forget about skydiving i'll miss him greatley. thank's for the great lessons. blue sky's forever. JOHNBSKI ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just saw him yesterday. Ran up and got a huge hug and smile after not seeing him in a while... I did my 3rd tandem and 1st AFF jump with PJ. 1st thing he ever said about either jump when we got on the ground was how much fun he had jumping with me. No other instructor has ever said that. Will never forget that, or him. Condolences to other friends and family. skateraviator ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the sharpest guys i've ever met, with a wit to be envious of. Go easy my brother. bozo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have jumped with him before, I would say he is in his 40's. He is about 6 foot also. Great guy, I remember we were the last jump of the day for him. He was so happy he got to jump one more time that day. He said the sky was his office and he had the best job. - suedo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- heard about this today at a neighboring DZ... PJ administered my A license exam...2 days before i left for my first trip to eloy.... he was always there to help someone and ALWAYS quick with a joke... i remember him showing us a video of him in a wrap this past saftey day and explaining how he survived it... he will be missed..and my deepest condolences go to the staff of xkeys..his frineds..and his family... keeping in the tradition of darknits posts..ill end it with this.. BLUE STUFF BSBD my brother - agent_lead ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A picture of PJ jumping with his wife, Donna, is attached. PJ was one of my best friends in the world and will be sorely missed by all who knew him! Blue Skies, PJ. - JumpHog ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I received a phone call from PJ, out of the blue, about a month or so ago. I worked for him on the packing mat at X-keys off and on for a few years. I hadn't been down there for a couple of years though, and consequently I hadn't spoken to him in just as long. He told me that he had gotten married since we had last talked, and that he had recently taken over the rigging concession at Skydive Susex. He was really excited about both of those things, and he seemed as happy and content as I ever remember him being. I told him that I hadn't been doing much jumping over the past couple of years since I had gone back to school full-time. I had actually just sold my rig a week or so before, as I was preparing to begin law school and I knew that the time and financial constraints that I was dealing with were not likely to get any better for the next few years. I was expecting him to really bust my balls over selling my rig, but he was actually extremely positive about the situation. He said that he had stopped jumping for a while when he was younger, and reassured me that it was fine to take a layoff, and that the sport would still be there waiting and as fun as ever when I came back. At that time, I was living only about a half hour from Sussex, and we talked about grabbing a beer or two one evening before I went off to school again. Sadly, I got busy and preoccupied with my move, and I never did make that call. Tonight, I will drink one for each of us. BSBD PJ - sstoer ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PJ got me current in winter 2005 and taught me quite a few things in that jump PJ administered my A-license exam PJ put my rig together He took my girlfriend on a tandem on July 8th 2006 and gave her a memory she will never forget Her and I were having a great day together until we heard this I didn't know PJ well but he loved what he did, was great at it and he had my 110% trust. ...and he put a smile on my face many a time -- not the easiest thing to do. I'll miss his presence at the dropzone, and his hilarious posts on this site. He was brilliant. Blue skies forever PJ, rest in peace. My condolences to those close to him...if there is a public service for him I'd like to know about it so I can show my gratitude one last time. - masterblaster72 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PJ was a great friend, person, skydiver and instructor. He was one of my instructors and my coach while I was working on my A license. Here is a pic when my fiancee did her 2nd tandem and they did an ass slide landing. Before she even noticed her ass was hanging out for all to see he was taking off his shirt (pictured in photo) Otherwise everyone would have wondered why there was a full moon in the middle of the day! Of course I took this photo before he wrapped his shirt around her before the walk back to the hanger.....I will always remember him for that. He always put his students first. He will be missed and always respected. - i1tojump ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will be truly missed my friend. It was a pleasure sharing the plane with you on hundreds of occassions. PJ always made his students smile before a jump. BS forever, my friend. - SuperKat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PJ jumped with me for my third AFF jump. He was/is a great guy, always willing to lend an ear to a newbie. Brightest Blessings PJ... Steve - Stevetaylor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am shocked at this loss. PJ was a great guy with alot of life in him. We will miss him terribly. Bob Controlled Descent barnesrf t It's the year of the Pig.

Do you want to define "Qualifications"? Do you mean the ability to teach, or to fly? t It's the year of the Pig.

I have a story a bit like that. When I was eight years old, I found an owl that had fallen out of it's nest. I climbed the tree and put it back. The next morning it was on the ground again. I took it home, and my parents drove me to a sanctuary. They said "Ring it's neck." Well, I took it home, and my dad said give it raw egg. I went to the library and read all I could, and ended up chewing small bits of steak and feeding it to the owl. Who grew bigger. And bigger. We had racing pidgeons at one stage, and their coop was still there, so she went in there. I spent up to 8 hours a day with that bird, and against expectation trained it for falconry and flew it against squirrels and oddly enough, frogs. At 18 I was drafted to the military, but my parents kept feeding it after they had tried to let it go but it just sat there. For days. When I was 20 I had moved out of the house, but came round on weekends and visited. When I was 30, my parents said they were selling the house. This owl and I had been together 22 years, so I set up my house to let her stay. My parents said that a "Nice German couple" had bought the house, but "loved" the owl and wanted it - or no sale... I met them, and they said "Ja!" a lot, but seemed "nice." They also said I could come round whenever to visit. (The coop was big, about 200 m from the house, so there were no uncomfortable "people" issues.) I taught them all they needed to know. Feed once a day. 1 day something with bone. Chicken necks are good. One day something with fur or feathers. Water only once a week. (Owls get all their moisture from their food.) A month later the owl was dead. They'd fed it spicy sausage. It didn't want to eat it, so they made it. It had scratched them and died soon after that. Fuckers. I never spoke to my parents for over a year after that. t It's the year of the Pig.

Absolutely. Nelson Mandela springs to mind fighting apartheid? Little doubt in my mind who the terrorists were there. t It's the year of the Pig.

I've done 1008 more than I had when I last posted to this thread! Now on 4942! t It's the year of the Pig.

We're just starting summer here... But a former AFF student of mine from 5 years back placed 5th in Speed at the Canopy Piloting World Championships in Austria, and he was also a High Fiver during AFF! It's great to see how our students turn out. I love doing AFF! t It's the year of the Pig.

This is bonfire. The only rules are "No personal attacks" (Maybe you should get onto udder about those) and "Take guns, politics and religion to Speakers." I have an opinion of a public figure who for YEARS has done on television what I most dispise. So he had fans. I was not one. I don't expect respect. I'm a skydiver. Nothing more. The ground has no respect for me. When I make a mistake, it will be waiting. t It's the year of the Pig.

Great! Dizzy, Stupid Sidekick. It's the year of the Pig.

And now he's raised awareness of the "deadly killer stingray" and they'll be screwed over for the next 50 years as a result of it. Bravo. Conservationists conserve stuff. Raving rating driven egomaniacs yank on things tails with their kids in the background to make them interesting to watch on TV. We all have our opinions. t It's the year of the Pig.

It's a Bridle. B-R-I-D-L-E. A bride is something you marry or gets married. t It's the year of the Pig.

Tonto. Choose between the Lone Ranger's Native American sidekick who always saves the day in return for constant ridicule, or "stupid" in Spanish. t It's the year of the Pig.

My bet is he was probably fucking it around the way he fucked everything else around. Long live the Stingray. t It's the year of the Pig.

I've landed plenty wet F-111 type canopies at 0.8 wingload. Never noticed any negatives. t It's the year of the Pig.

Are you set on Analog? Most digitals have much lower bulk, but then you need to deal with software and battery issues, and they can be more fragile. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hi There, I doubt you will notice the bulk for long. I've done thousands of dives with the "Alti II" and "Alti III" (Now known as the Galaxy) and have found it to be robust and reliable. All my AFF students use them, and dispite some less than perfect landings, they keep working. Lara at alti 2 also provides 1st class customer service. t It's the year of the Pig.

Hi Stuart, Peej has given really good input. A couple of questions.. What are you loading your Pilot at? Can you imagine driving a car without using it's full steering input? If you could drive a car without using it's full steering input, do you think it would make you more or less safe? t It's the year of the Pig.

Split this off from the incidents thread. When people start talking Tandem wingsuit - that's a lot of thread drift. It seems acces to the handles was not an issue in the incident. Both wings were unzipped to the elbow, and one wing had been released. There may be some value to discussion here through. t It's the year of the Pig.

Krystal? Wife askes, "Hi Hubby! Where have you been?" Husband answers, "Well hon, I was feeling like a bit of animal style in and out but it was a bit of a drive, so I settled for a bit of Krystal instead..." Texas must be really far away, cos even us Africans know about In n Out! t It's the year of the Pig.

Ahhh. I think I'll read it again. t It's the year of the Pig.

Shhhhh! Please don't get my In n Out Burger thread moved to Speakers! I don't think I've ever had a decent thread in Bonfire! t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm one that likes them. I've used mine for the last 200 wingsuit dives or so. Almost everyone I know has fumbled for their hacky at some point over the past 200 dives. A couple of BASE jumpers have died from it. I tend to take my deployments down a bit (in skydiving terms) to the point where two or three extra seconds would be not good. (Not BAD - but not good.) I'm not the fastest Geko on the wall - but snapping on the pull when wearing a wingsuit has yet to happen to me. The BASE PCP offers me one thing. Consistency. The negatives.. 1. The stitching measurement of the shrivel flap is important. 2. The Velcro wears out FAST - replace every 100 jumps or so. 3. Back flying etc is OK if the velcro is good - but a high speed exit combined with instability could make things interesting. 4. The PC can work itself out if running to the plane or while in the AC, so check it often. 5. The "extra" velcro should be covered to prevent wear on your container. But other folks don't like them... t It's the year of the Pig.

The East coast of Africa? That's where I need them to get to! Not in my lifetime, I suspect. I'll keep getting those odd looks at US Customs when asked "Purpose of visit?" when I reply, "Um... Airtime and In n Out." t It's the year of the Pig.