pilotdave

Brian Germain wrote the book. Why don't you ask him what he meant by it. Maybe he would never recommend exceeding the listed wingloadings to anyone for any reason. Maybe he'd make exceptions. But since you're all worried about his wording, ask him! The airspeed indicator of your plane has a never exceed speed marked on it. But to be certified, it's gotta be exceeded by 10%. Should they rename it "V_never exceed unless you're a certification test pilot"? Why are you so worried about exceptional jumpers exceeding some "arbitrary" limit? They're exceptional, not average. They can handle it, right? It's just wording... Dave

Seems unnecessarily rude. But anyway, you're using 182s. Donthca know you'd make more money with a PAC-750XL? Who's stupid now?! J/k... i think Dave explained what he meant farther down... though I still don't believe it. Dave

Take a picture! Dave

Yeah, there was an article on bird-man.com but it looks like they took it down. He's also a friend aquantence (j/k bobby!) of mine, so I've heard the story. He CLAIMS his wings were collapsed. You can't trust anyone with spikey hair though. But anyway, he managed to go up on exit, with his legs together and arms in or whatever wingsuit flyers are supposed to do on exit. The stabilizer hit him between the legs, but luckily he's got nothing there except wing material, which ripped. No damage to himself or the plane. Dave

Sitflying really does look pretty silly. I'm sure it's just a fad that will pass. Dave

Someone always has to cause trouble: wingsuit PAC-750XL tail trike. Dave

I bought paralog. It's a nice toy, but at 11 jumps, there are probably much better ways to spend your money. Honestly, all the graphs start to look the same after a little while. You get the most important info right on the neptune's screen. I mean, its not a bad program or anything, and it can be useful every once in a while, but i'd use that money to buy a jump or two. Keep in mind that if you don't have a laptop, you need to wait till you get home to even download the data to see it. You can't just quickly check out your max/min speed for a jump right afterwards, which is when you are most likely going to wanna know that kind of thing. Dave

Same here. What's your point? Just cause Cary doesn't come around kicking ASC jumpers in the balls doesn't make SkyRide ok. And earlier you said you didn't think there'd be any lawsuits because they're too expensive. EXACTLY why there haven't been any yet! But so what?? Since nobody has put up the money to sue makes SkyRide ok? The purpose of this thread is to educate people on what is going on. Consider yourself educated, assuming you read the whole thread. I really don't care if you continue to jump there. It can be a real pain in the ass to have to switch DZs. Ya know, adding an hour to the drive every weekend, etc. Oh wait, you've got another DZ right in the same town. How convenient. You need to understand that it's not the ASC jumpers people have a problem with. Sure, it'd be nice if one day everyone refused to get on an ASC plane until they shut down skyride. But ya know what? ASC probably doesn't need fun jumpers any more than Skydive Las Vegas. I'm sure ASC is an awesome dropzone. Way more stuff going on than where I jump. More loads, more jumpers, etc. Great calendar planned for 2005 too. Sounds like paradise. I can understand why so many people want to jump there. Not to even mention a great staff, gear store on site I think, great riggers, etc. It's EASY to make an argument why you'd want to jump there. The hard part is to acknowledge that ASC is run by scammers. You're educated now. You know that. Do you dispute the fact that SkyRide is a scam? What's wrong with not agreeing with how your DZ does business? You should feel welcome, if not obligated, to walk up to your DZO and tell him how much you love ASC but that you really don't agree with his business tactics and you'd really prefer if he changed the way he does business. BTW, how many other DZs have you been to, for comparison? Dave

Ya had to ask? http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1776 Comes from http://www.rgstudios.com/. Dave

I know you werent asking me, but I have some ideas. Add the word X-TREME to the websites, blinking text, more colors, more stolen pictures, but higher quality ones. And no more advertising tandems... advertise skysurfing, cause that's what most people really wanna do. If you're gonna lie and steal, do it XTREME! Might really help business. Dave

Only 2 Al-60 prototypes were made in the US (lockheed 402s actually)... the rest were made in mexico, argentina, and under license in italy. Not many were made. Big 400 horse piston engine.... big bucks to operate and overhaul i'm sure. I bet you're better off with a couple 182s, just cause it's so rare. Interestingly, it was designed by Al Mooney. Ok that's probably not so interestng to most people. Dave

My vector was very stiff and uncomfortable when I first got it. I was really worried that the cable houings in the shoulders would bother me. Loosened up after a few jumps and it's very comfortable now. No riser cover issues with mine though. Dave

Would the code of ethics apply to fictional DZs? I figure we're better off petitioning the National Skydiving Association for a code of ehtics... Dave

Tried replacing the battery yet? Some people have had their logbook reappear with a new battery. Dave

High wings are less common in general. They have certain disadvantages over low wings. But they have some advantages too... You'll see a lot more high winged bush planes or anything designed to land on rough strips, like a twin otter (or single otter or beaver or porter, etc...). There are some high winged large aircraft...but mostly military aircraft. There's a structural disadvantage... there's no easy place to mount the main landing gear on a high wing, so they tend to end up heavier. But lifting the engines up is better for taking off from rough strips to keep debris out of the engines or props. Also lifting the engines up higher loows for kneeling landing gear, like the C-5 or An-124 have. In small planes, they're a lot more common, but still less common than low wings. Cessna has always stuck with em for their singles. They also use wing struts in most of their designs, which saves a bit of weight but adds drag. The point is that there are a lot of high wing aircraft out there...but the reason is not because low wing aircraft are difficult to control. Most aircraft are in fact designed with low wings. Dave

I always have trouble reading mine...course it's inside my helmet... I'm not sure why you're worried about reading your altimeter during opening... I mean if the canopy keeps snivelling for more than a few seconds, I'm having an emergency. I dunno if I can read my altimaster 3 during most of the opening. Dave

My neptune is so loud, I have to make sure the speaker faces AWAY from my ear or it hurts. The protrack is solid and reliable, but limited. The neptune is new and more likely to have issues, but it has a lot more capabilities and can be continually modified through software updates. Customer service is great too. I'm an alti-2 field service member... it's a great program. I've got a kit full of spare parts in case anything breaks, including galaxy and altimaster 2 lenses, just in case. I can upgrade the software, and alti-2 even provided a couple spare batteries that I can use for the upgrade so I don't waste the owner's battery. And if something really goes wrong, I can use their special software to dump the data off the neptune into a diagnostic file to send to alti-2 for analysis. And the neptune is less expensive. If the neptune and protrack were AADs, I think I'd be buying a protrack. But since a failed audible is just an inconvenience, not a safety issue, the neptune is the way to go. And of course the problems that people have had have mostly been fixed with software upgrades anyway. Dave

2 trips to the dz:0:1 I guess Our otter is down for maintenance, so we were a busy cessna DZ on satruday. All hop n' pops for an accuracy competition. I manifested for load 14. Plane taxied into a portable helipad on load 11... no more cessna. Today we flew in a twin otter. Got a load together, went up to 14,000, opened the door, waited for a green light, and then started to descend. Someone on the ground reported gusts to 30 knots. And that was it for the day. But at the DZs annual dinner dance last night, I won the most improved skydiver award and got a big trophy. Not my first skydiving trophy but it still seems beerworthy. Oh also won $195 off a bev suit in a raffle. Woohoo! Dave

342 jumps, 1.05 wingloading, 135 square foot canopy. No desire to downsize. Dave

Nobody's accusing ASC of not being a good DZ. The problem is That's what the complaints are about. Not that you don't have a fun filled schedule planned for 2005. We don't care about that. We care that your dropzone has made up the National Skydiving Association which has supposedly certified certain dropzones, including fictional ones. We care that skydiving.com shows locations of fictional dropzones. We care that your dropzone promotes fictional dropzones using images stolen from real dropzone websites. Etc, etc, etc... I know how Skyride is good for ASC and its owners. But how is it good for skydiving? Face it. You're just scamming new/potential skydivers. Sure, some will continue and finish AFF and be happy and all that. But you still scammed them and they probably don't know it. Dave

When you're flying a piston engine airplane to 50,000 feet, you need some way of burning fuel. Don't think I'd wanna ride a 182 to 50,000 though! Not to mention he probably gets an overhaul after every few flights. That'd suck. Dave

I think comcast bought tech tv... then immediately merged it with G4, a video game channel, to create G4 tech tv. Then they proceeded to fire almost everyone from tech tv. They left a few of the tech tv shows, but most of the day is really boring, poorly scripted, pre-recorded video game shows that i cant watch for more than 3 minutes. I wouldnt care much if my cable provider dropped it. I think they did drop the speed channel, formerly speedvision. Not a redneck area I guess. Dave

First it was SpeedVision. Bought and turned into the freaking nascar channel. Then came TechTV... basically turned into a video game channel. Now the last straw. Discovery Wings is becoming the Military Channel. Why does cable tv hate me?? And I just bought a new big screen high definition TV. High def cable box comes monday. Can't wait. Dave

You are half right. The prices are available online: http://www.relativeworkshop.com/pdf_files/05257.pdf Main assembly, inspect: $40 Reserve assemble, inspect, and repack: $80 skyhook install: $275 So the main packjob includes an inspection... he was asked if he wanted his main repacked, he said yes, they charged $40. True story. Not saying a factory main repack isnt worth $40 or that a reserve packjob isnt worth $80. Just saying that's what they charge. No reason not to get a skyhook... it's worth at least $275 + an $80 repack. I'm just glad I bought mine with my rig and had my rigger install it and pack it for $40, and throw in a main packjob too. Dave

This is: Home address & email addresses removed by slotperfect. Posting anyone's home address, phone number, or email address (other than your own) unless you have express permission is not acceptable in the forums. yvonne@SKYDIVECENTER.COM Cary1@SkydiveCenter.com CASC, Inc. CASC Inc. (5649037.fly@spamfly.com) 770-684-6909 Fax: none PO Box 440383 Kennesaw, GA 30160 US Atlanta SC Inc. (domains@skydivecenter.com) 770-614-3483 Fax: 493 Airport Road Cedartown, 30125 US (all the above info can be found with whois searches of their various domain names. Some of the fictional DZ websites are registered directly to the DZ, not Cary. Oh, nice! http://www.skydivingalabama.com/firstjump.htm That was one of my AFF 1 instructors in the tandem pic, and I've worn the jumpsuit the girl is wearing. That's stolen from an older version of Ocean City Skydiving's website from back when I started jumping. Dave