pilotdave

My parents got a dell desktop a few months ago. I'd stay FAR away after seeing it. Tech support is in india, and you will need it. Recently I decided I wanted to pull the hard drive out of their old computer, which had died, and put it into the dell. I was shocked to open it up and see there is no slot for a 2nd hard drive in it or even an unused IDE cable or place to plug in an IDE cable. I've had dells before, and for the most part they've been disappointing. But they seem to be making them especially cheap (in the bad way) now. I didn't buy a complete system from them, but a few years ago I bought a motherboard, processor, memory, etc from http://www.mwave.com. I was very happy with them. You can even order any components you want and they'll build it for you and test it. They also sell standard systems. Dave

Right click on the Download button and hit "save target as" or "save link as." It actually works properly as of last night for the first time ever.

I'll be at a boogie not far away in Williston at that time. I mighta tried to go if it was less expensive. I just wish some of the manufacturers that'll be there could bring demos to the boogie. Dave

This the show? Ushuaia - The Ultimate Adventure Dave

Mine probably took about 10 or 20 jumps to become really noticeably more comfortable. I thought those hard housings in the shoulders were gonna drive me nuts, but I only noticed them on the ground for the first few jumps... never bothered me in the air. Now I don't feel them at all. Dave

I use NoteTab Light. Course I don't give a crap what my site looks like... it just has to function correctly. I had planned to pretty it up a long time ago but I like the black and white for when I'm at work...doesn't stand out.

The slices tool in photoshop (or is it imageready?...same thing, they come together) splits an image up into an html table. That's how I got started designing http://www.umdskydiving.com. It still took a lot of tweaking to fix the margins and stuff (btw I stole code from dropzone.com to fix the page margins

I'll be there. Can't wait to get to some warm weather. All I know is about 8 or 9 people from the university of maryland will be coming down. Dave

Ya know I'm sure I taped that when it was on a while back... Never put it on my computer I guess. I'll see if I still have the tape and haven't taped over it yet. EDIT: found it. I'll try to capture it and put it on my site. Dave

Get a rigger or someone that's measured people for rigs before to do it. Not a friend or a tailor. You need someone that knows how a rig fits. Dave

Almost everything depends on where the plane is. How much does fuel cost, how many jumpers are there, etc... How many jumpers you need to cover cost depends on how much you charge them. It's gonna be a pretty big minimum load for a DC-3, so you can only fly it every weekend if you have enough jumpers to meet the minimum. How'd ya inherit it? Is it too late to be adopted? Dave

This is what it's all about... the 2nd record: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=51 Dave

They've already realized their little mistake, but google's cache never lies: walmart.com Dave

Posting links straight to videos (ie to bypass the login system) on the web. A link posted on one message board can travel across the internet very quickly and end up on one of the really big link sites or forums. When I find a link I usually just rename the file to break the link (which is why the Jeb Corliss video was renamed yesterday). Now I can ban the user that posted it. Not that it really does much good. Banned one yesterday but he removed the links so i unbanned him. I'm just not mean enough... I've heard about 20 gallons per load for a super otter to 14k but I dunno. Dave

Well that confirms that the email I just got from a friend with that link is NOT fake. Hit's haven't started going crazy....yet. We'll see what happens. Luckily registration keeps MANY people out. But in case there are any trouble makers out there, just yesterday I implemented a system to ban people from the site. Yeah all this time it's just been an idle threat, but not anymore. BTW, site will be down for 2 or 3 hours tomorrow for the new 160 gig hard drive to be installed. I'll enable uploads as soon as I see it's back up and running. Dave

You'll be fine with that. My first canopy was F111, loaded at about 0.86. I was very surprised that the guy I bought it from (my rigger) gave me a kill-line pilot chute with it. I figured it didn't make much sense for such a slow canopy. But his opinion was that if it's starting off very slow, don't do anything to make it even slower. Bad spots do happen... Sometimes you're asked to get out a little short so you don't screw the tandems getting out last. Might end up having to fly upwind to get back to the DZ. That's when a faster canopy really comes in handy. But I have no idea what the change in airspeed or glide ratio is with a collapsible vs noncollapsible PC is. Might be a very small effect. Dave

Looking at the RWS options list... Not 100% necessary, but you'll probably want a centerline pilot chute. Adds one step to packing and could cause a pilot chute in tow if you forget to set it, but it'll give your canopy a little bit better glide ratio - which can come in handy getting back from a long spot. Also consider the hook knife. It's something you might want in the future, and they give it a handy little pocket on the leg pad when you order it. A hackey handle is another nice thing to have. I find it easier to grab than the "standard" handles and it increases resale value. But it's part of the pilot chute which can easily be replaced later if you want to save a little money now. I didn't go with the deluxe backpad so I don't know if it's worth having. It's not something I wish I had or anything. Mine's comfortable without it. Mine also has the variable geometry harness. Probably makes it a little more comfortable on the plane...not sure if it really helps at all in the air. Dave

Cause people like to babble? Not sure what your point is. Dave

Oh, that sounds MUCH better. Instead of fighting, they're gonna try to compete? Don't get me wrong, that's good news for group member DZs. But it's not the kind of action I was hoping for. Dave

No. I didn't see someone offering a different opinion. I saw someone avoiding the hard questions only to once again let us all know that ASC is a great DZ. I don't have a "cause" to shoot in the foot anyway. Skyride isn't going to go away because everybody will start refusing to jump at ASC until they shut down skyride. This whole mess is going to be settled in a much uglier, more expensive way, far from the dropzone.com forums. When somebody from ASC will speak about the bait and switch tactics in an objective way that makes any sense, maybe I'll say "oh, i get it, and i fully agree with you. Now I understand why skyride's tactics make sense and are a wonderful thing for me and my dropzone and all other dropzones across the country. thank you for clearing up this issue for me." Dave

Full face helmet helps a LOT if you don't already have one. With a neck warmer too, I have no exposed skin in the winter. I could jump all day down into the 30s on the ground if I could find a way of keeping my hands warm. Never found gloves that prevent my hands from getting very cold under canopy. I wear football gloves with a pair of liners under them. Works pretty good down to about 40 on the ground but below that, it's just painful unless I'm just doing a hop n' pop. Dave

I'd rather pack on grass at an honest DZ than hire a free packer at a DZ that scams the public and steals from skydivers. Why don't you want to comment on the bait and switch tactics? THAT is one of the main arguments here, not that ASC doesn't have a comfy packing area. I realize this is a very long thread and many people only hear what they want to hear, but I just don't understand how anyone that reads even a little of this thread can argue that skyride is good for anybody other than its owners and employees and jumpers at ASC and the other DZs they own. Dave

One more movie for your list... meet the fokkers has a villalobos. Dave

I assumed that my off heading openings were due to body position for a long time, but I just can't believe I haven't had proper body position at least once, even if by mistake, in my last 200+ jumps. I honsetly don't remember the last time I had an on-heading opening. I think I may have when I rented a sabre2 at Deland over the summer...not sure. I don't know what I could be doing wrong with my body during the snivel, because it doesn't turn until the very end of the opening. It always turns JUST as I'm saying to myself "wow, it opened on-heading!" Anywhere from 90 degrees to 360....usually more like 180. But I still love the Sabre2 and would recommend it. I know they don't all do what mine does, and it might very well be my fault. Off heading openings don't bother me too much anyway. Almost never causes line twists, and when it does have twists, it flies straight for me. And I just don't "get" racers. I hear they're extremely comfortable and the company is great. But what are the real advantages of a racer over a vector3 or anything else? My DZ has a LOT of racers. Everyone that owns them just seems to keep buying them cause that's what they always have had. Dave

Not to mention the seating conditions in a jump plane. Compare the seats in a Cirrus with the floor of a 182. "Hard landing" has a different definition for each of them. The floor of an aircraft isn't a nice place to be in a hard vertical impact. But I agree about BRS chutes in Cessnas. Cessnas are not prone to structural failure like an ultralight. BRS chutes do make sense for pilots that constantly fly over rough terrain though. I'd prefer a controlled landing in a field after an engine failure than taking my chances with a BRS system. But if I was over mountains, it'd be a different story. Dave