pilotdave

I left the site in good hands while I was gone. Craig Poxon musta answered about eleventy billion requests for help and approved something like 30 new videos. But there is a new bug thats been causing a lot of upload problems. Should be fixed as soon as I quit being lazy.

Get firefox and install the image zoom extension. Comes in really handy for getting a better look at avatars. Dave

I was at a boogie. Sue me! So who did I meet in lake wales? Dave

I'm with the "what's a packer?" group. Sounds good though. Going to florida on tuesday. Maybe I'll try to find one and bring it home with me. How do they work? Just insert money and your parachute magically gets packed while you relax? That's freaking awesome! I hate packing but to me it's just part of the sport. I probably hired packers under 5 times in 2005 I would guess. Mostly due to lack of availability though... Dave

Had me scared that we had speed issues now... 710 KB/s download for me. I can deal with a minute long download! Dave

FYI: site is generally fixed. This search problem is persisting for some reason, but login works correctly and uploads are turned back on. Dave

Ok, never heard of such a thing. Curious to see it when it comes out. Sounds like an oxymoron to me. Dave

The upload issue at SkydivingMovies.com is now fixed. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=userupload Thanks!!! Dave

Yep, this is an odd one I can't explain. Adding stuff at the end of the URL shouldn't matter (that stuff is only used for one little case of one feature anyway). But I dunno. Like he said, just strip off the end of the URL and it works fine. Dave

You sure it was an AD and not an AC or a letter of interpretation or something? ADs are written toward specific pieces of equipment or aircraft. I don't know how they'd write an AD on main parachutes. I can't even see how they could write an AD on a particular type of main parachute, but just on all main parachutes doesn't sound right to me. If there was a question like this one about what maintenance an airplane owner can do as opposed to an A&P mechanic, there's no way they'd issue an AD to clear it up. Dave

Red and black huh? Weird. I figured you'd have gotten a blue one. Dave

Oh great... new bug from out of nowhere discovered. Anyway, it's at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1654 Apparently things go haywire when you go to a video from a search page. Anyone wanna buy a website? Make an offer! Dave

The FAA is going to issue an airworthiness directive to interpret a FAR? Can you explain? Dave

And please: CHECK THE "REMEMBER LOGIN" BOX WHEN ATTEMPTING TO LOG IN! Also, uploads are not available yet. Dave

Site is back up in case you didn't notice yet! CHECK THE "REMEMBER LOGIN" BOX WHEN ATTEMPTING TO LOG IN. I knew the site was back up when I got like 10 emails which I assume all say "I can't log in!" like the 50+ others I got from before the crash. I have no clue what caused this problem. No changes to the site... I'll try to get it fixed ASAP. Dave

Never heard of him. I write the code that makes the server crash, Bubbles XII is the hamster that powers the server. Matt (mcrocker on here) is the hamster wrangler that keeps the server running. He also pays the bills, so he's the guy that the donations and ad revenue go to. And Craig Poxon (cpoxon on here) owns and pays for the domain name (can't forget him... the site would probably still be known as http://129.2.256.192 or whatever it was before he gave it a name). Unfortunately I've got nothing new to add. Matt was going to try to fix the stability problems the server's been having with an operating system update. Don't know what the current status is. Dave

Well, after 152 votes, there's a little data to work with. Used container: =200 jumps on first canopy: 43% New container: =200 jumps on first canopy: 67% Used canopy: =200 jumps on first canopy: 39% New canopy: =200 jumps on first canopy: 79% So clearly people that buy new stay on their first canopy longer than people that buy used. This doesn't mean much... the jump numbers could average 199 for used equipment and 201 for new equipment for all I know. But also, when buying new, people probably often go a size or more smaller than they'd buy if they were going used. So what do ya think? Was your canopy progression slower because you bought new equipment? Was it faster because you bought used? Did you buy something smaller because you were buying new and you knew it'd last a while, or did you buy something bigger knowing you'd get rid of it soon because it was used? Dave

No Maryland this year... slackers. Not me either. Doing the Great White North boogie at Lake Wales the next week instead. Dave

Dunno how many jumps you have so far, but I'd say don't buy anything until you've at least gotten your license and talked to your instructors. If you're learning to jump JUST for the airborne medical team, it might make a big difference in what you'd want. But that sort of jumping is probably very different from sport jumping. What you want for each one may not be the same. Being stronger doesn't necessarily make a military rig better for sport use. Our rigs have a lot of advantages for what we do with them. Military rigs are purpose built for a different task. For example, ripcord deployment systems have nearly been phased out of sport equipment because they can cause certain problems and are harder to pack. A 370 square foot canopy would be a pain to pack (I assume it has to be flat packed?) and would probably have you grounded on days with moderate wind when others can jump safely. Military rigs aren't designed for freeflying, so while stronger, it may not be safer. Already it sounds like you'll have AAD problems. Does it have an RSL? I know almost nothing about that rig. It may be perfect for you. But just make sure you understand what you're buying and what else is out there and why one may be better than another. Dave

I guess I just wonder why you want one. I'm sure they're perfectly useable and safe, but what advantages do you see over a sport rig? I can understand it for extremely large jumpers, but 225 isn't so big. It seems to me you'd be buying one big pain in the ass. Dave

Don't have any updates yet. You can send donations through paypal, to matthew (at) crocker.com. Can't guarantee it'll speed anything up, but it sure would be appreciated. Dave

At the same fuel burn, it will climb faster. Dave

I believe it's a French company called Mecachrome, located near Montreal. Pretend they're canadian... it'll make ya feel better! (J/k frenchies!) Dave

Price is directly related to the size of the market. We're just not a big enough bunch to get anyone to make us cheap helmets. Dave

I did AFF over a long period (probably a year or maybe a little more to do my first 8 jumps). Every time I'd head back to the DZ, I'd be asking myself "Why am I doing this? This is just stupid!" Then I'd jump, have a great time in freefall, and as soon as I'd open, I'd sit there under canopy thinking "oh yeah, THAT's why I came back!" All you can really do to get over it is jump. A little wind tunnel time while you're in FL might make the freefall part easier so you can focus more on the canopy stuff. BTW, I'll be at Lake Wales for the boogie too. Dave