pilotdave

Yep, that's them...apparently trying a LITTLE to hide their info: Inc., CASC t629s5z235s@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com ATTN: USASKYDIVING.COM c/o Network Solutions P.O. Box 447 Herndon, VA 20172-0447 Phone: 570-708-8780 This is exacly what I went through when I needed to get in touch with a spam company. Gotta contact them through their domain registrar. I'm not surprised they are using the same tricks as spammers. Dave

BTW, watch out for factory packjob prices. I love RWS, but they charge an arm and a leg for reserve and main packjobs. I think a guy I know was charged $80 for the reserve and $40 for the main after getting a skyhook installed. Shipping would probably be cheaper without the main installed anyway. I guess you could get it shipped back with the reserve unpacked too... Dave

Usually I hate the look of voodoos, but that's actually really nice looking. While it's white anyway... Dave

What changes is the angle between the graviational force (your weight) and the relative wind. You are (i hope) moving forward when you track. An angled tunnel would work for tracking, but think about what would happen if you turned just a little by mistake. In the air, the direction of your track just changes a little. In the tunnel, you could slam into a wall (assuming there was a wall). Dave

I took arlo's advice and stayed their twice. I was actually there during hurricane charley, watching palm trees falling outside my window. It's perfectly nice and I plan to stay there again next month when I'm getting some tunnel time. As Jib said, no shampoo. But the walgreens around the corner has little 99 cent bottles...

Geez. My private took me 6 years/100 hours. Course I was 17 when I got it. Soloed at 16 with 50 hours. And they'll come with the Gel ear seals installed. Getting the fit right is a little pain since you need a wrench to adjust the size. That's one thing they improved on some of the later models like the H20-10. BTW, mine hasn't seen very heavy use, but after nearly 10 years it's pretty much in like-new condition. No probs at all with cracking or anything. Dave

If you plan to carry less fuel, be very careful to read the flight manual and make sure you are still going to have enough USEABLE fuel in the tanks. I know of one jump plane accident in an early model 182 caused by this. Useable fuel in level flight is (in older 182s) higher than it is in steep banks. The plane had enough fuel to meet VFR minimum fuel requirements IN LEVEL FLIGHT. Apparently it went something like this... During the descent, the engine sputtered. Pilot leveled off to check everything. Engine came back to normal. Pilot continued descent. Made too wide a pattern, and the engine quit while turning final. Plane crashed short of the runway. (Don't think the pilot was injured) Fuel tanks were checked after the accident, and plenty of fuel was found in them. The flight manual solved the mystery. I don't know all the details... just had a conversation with one of the investigators about it. Just make sure that by flying with less fuel you aren't getting into a situation like that. Dave

Doh! You're right... I missed it. Oh well. Jan's page is getting closer to the top anyway. Dave

The day of my second ever night jump, I was demoing a spectre 135. My normal canopy was a PD150. I'd been jumping the spectre all day though, and decided I'd be safer using it for the night jump than my own canopy even though it was a lot faster (fastest canopy I'd flown, no wind day) and I had a lot less experience with it. The flare was very different, and I had been working on getting the timing right all day (maybe the day before too...cant remember). It was also a bit easier to land than my own canopy, and my accuracy with it during the day was pretty good. Worked out fine. Stood up the landing. Wasn't my best landing of the demo but wasn't my worst either. I eventually bought a sabre2 135. Still have the PD150, but I'm too scared to jump it now... don't think I remember how to land it.

Google can't tell how many hits a website gets unless they come from within google. But some good news... a google search for "skyride" brings up Jan Meyer's skyride scam page before the real 1800skyride site. http://www.google.com/search?q=skyride&hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&start=10&sa=N A search for 800skyride brings up a dz.com thread about skyride first, and a search for 1800skyride brings up Jan Meyers page right after the real 1800skyride site. Dave

http://www.freefallaccessories.com/Homepage.htm makes the smiley face one. But alti-2 will put any custom face you want on their altimeters for free. Dave

I was flying 172s before the tigers. Tigers are awesome. Don't think I ever got around to flying a cheetah, but it's the same thing minus 30 hp. MUCH lighter on the controls than a Cessna. The traveler was a little weird... had an upgraded 160 horse engine and would redline at full power in level flight so ya had to throttle back before leveling off. And I couldn't get that thing to hold one altitude no matter how much I tried. Took constant trim adjustment. The cheetah fixed that problem with a new tail section design. The big difference between the grummans and most other singles is the nose gear design. The #1 insurance claim on grummans is prop strikes due to porpoising. Hit the nosewheel hard and you will hit your prop on the ground. My club has a rule that you just can't put the nose down at all below 10 feet. That meant I'd often float down the runway for 1000 feet before touching down. No problem where I fly but I'd want a lot more short field practice before trying a real short runway. Grass is also out of the question cause of the low prop clearance. They don't slow down like a cessna either. Very ineffective, tiny little plain flaps, unlinke a cessna's big slotted fowler flaps. But man, they're fun. I'm getting the urge to fly just by writing this...

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1870 I can't download it right now so let me know if my description needs revising or if you have any info to add. Dave

Nuttin/nowhere. Haven't flown in right around a year now. I'm still paying gobs and gobs of money to a flying club every month, but just haven't gotten around to getting current. Was jumping too much all summer to fly on weekends, and started grad school which takes up a couple of evenings every week. Pretty much leaves me with monday and wednesday nights to fly, and only if I don't have homework to do. BFR expired about a month ago too, but my medical is current. My club has 7 grummans...tigers, cheetahs, and a traveler. Plus 2 moonies. I either need to get my ass to the airport one of these days or drop out of the club... costs a fortune. I don't wanna drop out of the club though, cause those payments are my biggest motivation to get current again. Stupid jumping takes all my time then leaves me with nothing to do all winter! Month and a half till I go to florida for a week though! Dave

Thanks, got it: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1868. Lemme know if I left off any info. Dave

Try http://www.skydivingmovies.com/fileupload. Doesn't require JAVA. Just let me know when it's done uploading and send me all the pertinant info to display. (or just email me the file/info). Video of the first jump mentioned in this thread: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1866 Dave

What makes you think "parachute" only refers to the canopy? I'd assume it refers to the entire system. I'd get that clarified before trying to get away with something. Not that I'd wanna be wearing a base rig if I had to bail out of an aerobatic plane. Dave

Yeah when I bought my 13.4 I had the choice of regular or stereo, with 2 volume knobs. I never understood that. Dave

I'm no instructor, but I'd say it depends on both the maturity of the kid and who the parents are. They're the ones that can cause you the most trouble. You better trust them as much as they trust you. I took my first flying lessons when I was 11. Gliders can be soloed at 14. I soloed a plane at 16. And I've never signed a waiver to fly a plane. If it wasn't for liability issues, I'd have no problem with younger people doing tandems. Dave

Dick though, not Burt. Not sure what his aerodynamic expertise is. Burt on the other hand seems to be able to visualize aerodynamics in a superhuman way.

Superman, move over! I have a new hero! Dave

Ever seen empirical data to back up any claims by a parachute manufacturer? Air locks, cross braces, skinny lines, no stabilizers, slider sizing, etc. Ever seen wind tunnel results or any aerodynamic analysis of a canopy? Do most canopy manufacturers even do real aerodynamic analysis or wind tunnel testing (i'd imagine a canopy would be a complete pain to test in a wind tunnel). How about the wingtips on a piper archer (or similar). They're designed to throw the wingtip vortices outward, giving the aircraft more effective aspect ratio (lower induced drag). I'd imagine they did some testing. Think they published the results? I wouldn't expect a canopy manufacturer to share that kind of data if they had it. But I do agree that aerodynamics isn't subjective. But it's also not always obvious either. Dave

Da Vinci was a genius that dreamed of creating a flying machine. Why's it so hard to believe he made a few assumptions about what it'd be like to fly? Dave

Ahh I meant the events forum, not the calendar. You can post all the details there. By the way, any manufacturers coming with demos? I missed my chance to try a Pilot last year... Dave

Uh huh. I was just adding to it.... that high wings can cause stability problems of their own. Dave