pilotdave

If you ever need it, you will bet your life on it. Dave

Do you have a function key (Fn)? You can probably hit Fn+F5 (toshiba) or Fn+F8 (dell) or something similar to switch the video output. Dave

Err, I meant tachometers that measure time. Turbines have gauges to measure gas generator and power turbine speeds (N1 and N2), but I don't think they use that to generate a "tach time." Dave

tach time is the time shown on the tachometer, which is actually measuring how many revolutions the engine makes, on a piston engine. The tachometer is used to measure sort of realistically how much wear is being put on the engine during normal use, not just how long it's running for. Hobbs time comes from a hobbs meter. It starts recording actual time as soon as there is oil pressure (in Cessnas, anyway). Hobbs time is actual engine running time. Tach time slows down when the engine is at idle and speeds up when the engine is at full power. So if you idle a Cessna's engine for an hour, you'll get somewhat less than an hour of tach time and exactly an hour of hobbs time. Jump planes run at high power all the way up... so an actual 30 minute climb in a cessna might register over 30 minutes of tach time. When you rent a plane, some places rent by tach time, others by hobbs time. Usually they charge for the hobbs time used directly, or 1.3 times the tach time (to pay extra for all tha time you spend at idle and also extra for running at higher than necessary power). What's this have to do with skydiving or pimped caravans? Pretty much nothing... Dave

Well, technically .2 "tach time" isn't necessarily 12 minutes. It'd be 12 minutes at cruise power. Less at climb power. But I assume he just means flight time, or like you said, time to climb, since I'm not sure turbines even have tachometers... And how's a constant speed prop factor into tach time in a piston? Complicated stuff.... Dave

No photoshop at work but I can give it a try tonight if nobody else has.... Dave

Don't bother with forecasts. Meteorology is a totally fake science. They make that stuff up. Last saturday was supposed to be rainy all day in CT. Ended up being sunny almost the entire day (never actually rained). I waited and waited for the rain to start until almost 3pm when I finally decided it was a nice day afterall and headed to the DZ. Still got 4 jumps in. There are gonna be helicopter jumps at CPI tomorrow... the weather WILL be good. Dave

For me, not at all. I like being in the air. I don't do dangerous things for the sake of living on the edge. If you want to say skydiving is too safe and not an extreme sport at all, that's just fine with me. Course I don't agree with you about that at all. If you're at the point (is your jump number up to date??) that skydiving is boring to the point you might want to take extra risks (as opposed to just trying new things because they look fun), you might want to consider why you jump at all. If it's ONLY because you thought the sport was dangerous, you might be in more danger than you realize. Dave

I use 3 fingers too when I'm not wearing gloves... 2 with gloves, which is pretty much always except maybe the middle of the summer. Dave

You'd have filled those slots in about a minute if you changed the subject line to "Big Ways with pilotdave and some other guys." Dave

Yes, I was getting tons of it. I got like 35 of them in my inbox one day last week....the first time I'd ever seen them. I figured I pissed off a german who had trouble registering for my site and he signed me up for spam. Just getting a few in my bulk folder now. Good job yahoo! I'm actually surprised they haven't cancelled my account yet...sending tons of nearly identical emails to addresses all over the world... Dave

I'd love to know how many skydivers get helped out of trees in that county compared to cats. If there was a $750 fee for the fire department to help get a cat out of a tree, you'd see old ladies throwing rocks to knock em down... Dave

...or really don't land in a tree... http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=728&NewsID=632797&CategoryID=3481&show=localnews&om=0 $750 charge for emergency services related to skydiving. As if the dropzone politics didn't make skydiving there disgusing enough... Dave

Other than when not properly cared for, what is the weak point in a riser/link/suspension line system with rapide links? If rapide links are strong enough, I don't think the extra strength of a slink is such a big advantage. I can't imagine it's a bad thing, but if rapide links never fail just because they aren't strong enough, you don't need anything stronger. Again, stronger isn't worse, but I don't see it as better either. But the other advantages of slinks do make them better, in my opinion. Dave

Well designed is the key. I always cringe when I hear people talk about homemade weight belts. Not that they're bad... it's just that I don't know how much thought went into them. Dave

I'm pretty sure the neptune wave is an audible only. They advertise it for those that already have a neptune to use as a visual. It's more like a pro dytter (though way better). Dave

I think it's pretty much designed to be a caravan alternative. I'm guessing it'd be perfectly useable as a jump plane... if there are enough of them on the used market in the future to make it worthwhile. How many DZs are using brand new caravans? It's gonna come down to the used availability/price. And they aren't likely going to be made in anywhere near the numbers of the caravan so I just doubt you'll be seeing too many of them at dropzones. But if they have decent financing like the PAC-750 and try to sell to DZs, who knows. Dave

Switched to the DivX version you uploaded. Much better. Thanks! Dave

gorilla: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=486 tube: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1547 Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=2308 Doesn't work right for me though. Need to know what codec it needs. Dave

Geez this poll makes me feel silly... I'm definitely in the 11-100 range (though much closer to 11...so far!). I haven't kept track, but I can think of a lot of off landings. Once on a 12 NM cross country. Well turned out I only made it about 10 NM back. Once when I had a brake fire... ended up just a little low and picked a back yard near the airport. I was on the first load at a boogie in FL... entire caravan load landed WAY off... I never even saw the landing area under canopy...airport was a few miles away. One day I landed off (mighta been airport property) 3 times in a row in the same field of very high weeds. I was in the first group out all 3 times and let experienced jumpers talk me into getting out short to not screw the tandems 3 times. Learned my lesson after that. My favorite off landing was just a normal jump with a long spot. Realized I wasn't making it back and chose an alternate field. It was long and narrow, but aimed perfectly into the wind, which was pretty strong. At maybe 500 feet I noticed some people at the far end of the field. At 200 I realized there was a huge crowd of kids running right toward where I was gonna land. As I touched down, they arrived and surrounded me. It was apparently the coolest thing they'd ever seen. They were just cheering like crazy. One kid just kept yelling "you're cool!" over and over again. An adult finally came over and offered me a ride back to the DZ. I asked her what was going on... "tractor races" she said. I didn't know what that meant until we were pulling out of the parking lot and I spotted a couple lawnmowers, with numbers on their sides and everything, driving around a racetrack. Who knew that happens so close to where I grew up....scary. Dave

Seen this one? http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1538

I bet its the nude RW clip from german TV. Don't trust me though... Edit: checked skydivingmovies.com...it is 4.2 megs. Dave

How would ya know you're not sliding all over the sky when you're solo? Dave

You can solo a sailplane at 14 in the US. I don't see why (aside from legal reasons) that 14 year old shouldn't be allowed to try a tandem skydive. But it's not about what makes sense, it's just about dropzones and manufacturers protecting themselves from lawsuits. As far as USPA rules go though, I believe 16 is higher than it really needs to be, but I also think 14 year olds can deal with waiting 2 years and could be better off. I started learning to fly at 11 though. More seriously at about 13, and soloed at 16. Flying is much less of a shock to the brain than skydiving so in some ways its easier, but it's a far more complex task. Dave