pilotdave

Might stop skydivers, but not other theives. We had a break-in at our DZ over the winter... Only things that seemed to be stolen were a hanging harness (an ugly old vector 1 or something sewn shut) and a training altimeter. I'm waiting for someone to show up at the DZ with them ready to jump. Dave

And I bet you drink it with no sugar too! Dave

Am I the only one that finds something funny about that?

That is SO 2005. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2547 Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3949 http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3950 Dave

I don't open any based on the author, but there are a lot I skip based on the author! Only in the bonfire though... There have been WAY too many threads that I've opened that are either some kind of private joke or just completely pointless. Yet so many people seem to love that stuff. But after a post has been sitting there unread for hours and I'm bored, I'll usually eventually take a look. Dave

Tell them to fill those otters with jumpers friday night and fly em to CT. We're having a special on Saturday for jumpers from the Ranch. They get to jump! Dave

I use the pay version of yahoo mail. It's got a feature that lets you make up email addresses on the spot. So whenever I need to use an email address, I just make a new one. If I get spam, I know exactly where they got my address from. And I can delete the address if I want to. Amazingly I've never gotten a piece of spam at the address I made for the really untrusted sites. I get a bit at my "real" address, but almost all of it gets caught by the spam filter. Dave

I had to show 500 signed jumps in my logbook to get my D license application signed. The S&TA actually counted unsigned jumps until he reached enough to prove I couldn't have 500 signed. So I went around and got signatures. Of course I have a lot of them that say "Fuck (S&TA's name)" and "(S&TA) likes little boys" and stuff like that. Couldn't believe he didn't spot any of em the second time around.

I've been told a bunch of times that I underload my canopy (sabre2 135 at ~1.1) and a smaller canopy would be safer for me in turbulence. Any truth to that? I'm not talking about being able to jump in worse turbulence, I'm talking about the canopy being more rigid in the same turbulence. I've jumped a Manta 288 loaded at under 0.5. I don't believe in underloading.

Sidewinders haven't been made for years... and they sorta suck. Bonehead, you listening? We have money and nowhere to spend it! Dave

Every time I've looked into prescription goggles, I seem to have found that the only prescriptions they ever take are so weak I don't know why those people even bother wearing glasses.

Just wait till you're licensed and all your questions will be answered... or at least you'll have better questions to ask. And ummm... $1500 is about the price of a new canopy. Think more like $3000 for a used complete rig, or more like $5000 if you bought new... plus altimeter, helmet, jumpsuit, etc etc etc. Don't worry too much about costs. Skydiving will cost every penny you have for the rest of your life, no matter how many pennies that happens to be.

Adam. There's no sound in hebrew like the As in Adam. The As are pronounced like "odd." ahDAHM. Dave

Because you're pronouncing them in english, not hebrew. Some of those names accent the second syllable in hebrew, and others have 3 syllables and accent the second. Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=254 Skydiver dislocates his shoulder on exit and someone else deploys for him... Bet the landing was no fun either. Dave

Doesn't seem to say what range of prescriptions they'll take. Any idea? Dave

I had a DZ do that to me once. I had jump tickets, but they made me buy new ones for the boogie and pay a registration fee. Course I didn't have enough jumps to get on any organized loads and I couldn't stay for food or beer, so I made some expensive solos that day. Didn't find out that not all DZs are like that until later. Went to cross keys a couple weekends ago. I asked if I had any money on my account. They said they don't have jump accounts. I said "well you did the last time I was here a few years ago." Sure enough, they were able to bring up my account and I still had $10 on it. No problem putting it toward my jumps, and I didn't ask, but I'm sure I could have gotten a refund for it too. There are right and wrong ways to run a business. I like the idea, at least from a DZ's point of view, of not having accounts but just selling jump tickets. Lose the ticket, you lose the jump. Want to give it to a friend? Just hand it over. Want your money back? Return it. Solves a lot of manifest problems. Dave

It's spelled Schweizer... try searching again. Plenty of pics... Schweizer still sells the flight manual for $5... http://www.sacusa.com/merchandise/default.asp Dave

Reputable DZs will give you your money. But a DZ is not a bank and doesn't guarantee that they'll have everybody's cash on hand at any given time, or even a certain percentage of it. A DZ can have a no-refund policy (no idea if it's legal or not), or it can have a "tell them there are no refunds unless they bitch enough" policy. That's what many of em seem to have... well, except for the ones that actually have reputable business practices.

[whisper]Shhhhhhhhhh.... thas a secret! [/whisper] Dave

Just wanted to thank Bjorn (aka iGGy) for mirroring some of the files from SkydivingMovies.com on his server in Norway. When you go to download a video, for example http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/random.php (random file chooser), instead of seeing the familiar download button, you'll now see a list of available download options. Most of the files are still only available for download from Crocker Communications in Springfield, MA (thanks to Matt), but some will have a link to download the file from Norway. Europeans, that's for you! Should help cut down the load on the SkydivingMovies.com server and increase download speeds for everyone. Anyway, only a few of the top rated and most popular videos are mirrored so far. We'll be transferring more and more files over the next couple weeks, and eventually all new files will get mirrored automatically. FYI, 44.4% of our visitors are from Europe. Only 39.33% are from the US. Dave

Is this it? http://www.merchantamerica.com/discountedelectronics/index.php?ba=product_enlarge&product=75991 Dave

wait. did they shot AT the water or UNDERwater? Both. 2 different episodes. Dave

Yeah when learning to fly I was taught that the wind is coming from the lighter side of the trees, since the bottom of leaves is usually lighter than the top and the wind blows them over on the upwind side. Never been able to actually tell the difference that way though. Dave