pilotdave

Yeah but it says with a better control system (with available technology) they'd be getting closer to 50 yards. But I was kidding... They needed a ground based transmitter in the first place. Dave

Do any aerobatics? I got a ride in a 2-seat Spitfire Mk9 trainer years ago. Got to fly for a while myself (full second cockpit), then we did some aileron rolls and a low approach at about 200 kts. Coolest ride ever. Dave

Hehe I get 4 simpsons episodes a day here. I love it. I only wish I could stay up late enough to watch the family guy reruns. Dave

International House of Pancakes? Good for breakfast, or even dinner, but I don't think I'd wanna stay all night.

Yep, I think I need to take up sailing as a backup hobby. Lots of perfect weather for that this year! Dave

Weather's sucked so far this year in the northeast anyway. Summer's on its way, and there's plenty of jumping left to be done. I've done 36 jumps so far this year, with almost half being done in florida in january. If the weather had cooperated just a little bit more, I probably could have tripled that number. So get your reserve back or buy a new one, and get back out there. You'll remember why you liked it so much. Dave

I wonder how effective they even are at that the way we wear them. Sitting against the forward bulkhead in an otter, if everyone on the load shifted only 6 inches in a crash, you'd be flattened like a pancake. And I bet a lot of people would be able to move a lot farther than 6 inches. Dave

Cool but definitely not a new idea. Here's a quote from a 1968 technical paper on the development of ram air canopies (paper available HERE): "The present breadboard automatic guidance and control subsystem for the 500-lb payload system operates such that upon sensing that it is of[f] course by a predetermined amount, the proper steering line is pulled full and is not released until the unit senses that it is again back on course. This results in the system flying somewhat of a sine wave flight path towards the transmitter. To compensate for the relatively slow speed of the available servo motors and this overcontrol dictated byt he available guidance electronics and automatic homing mode turn rate of 13 to 15 deg/sec was selected and has proven successful in winds of up to 50 fps. When the 500-lb payload system flys over the transmitter, it assumes an orbit pattern generally resembling a figure eight. Impact accuracies of 200 yd or less are obtained depending on where in this figure eight pattern the unit is when it runs out of altitude. A more realistic impact accuracy, represtantive of that attainable with a guidance and control subsystem properly designated for this application, is that obtained with manual control inputs. With this present hardware, an operator can insert manual override commands as the system nears the ground and can easily increase impact accuracy to less than 50 yd." So they figured with pre 1968 technology they could be accurate to 50 yards. Almost 40 years later you're still only good to 27 meters?? I really just find it very cool that this technology is back in development. It was one of the original proposed uses for ram air canopies when they were first invented. Dave

Didn't see any other posts about it... I temporarily put up the video of the crash on my site at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1488. If ya didn't hear about it, it was an NBC news helicopter flying over the scene of a shooting. Had some kind of tail rotor failure, hit a 3 story building, and crashed onto the roof of a 2 story building (lucky it was there or it woulda been a 3 story fall instead of a 1 story fall). Everyone survived. As one of my coworkers pointed out, you can tell its a french helicopter cause it spins out of control counterclockwise.

Hehehe, why? Portraying skydiving negatively (not that the episode was even totally negative about it) isn't exactly strange. It's a freaking cartoon. I find what bobby does on a normal episode more disturbing, and the fact that anyone even likes the show even more disturbing. I only watch it because there's a simpsons episode before and after it on the same channel.

Damn I thought I had it bad when my roommate told me EVERY night before going to bed "I'm gonna kill you in your sleep tonight." Or my freshman roommate that literally smelled like dirty diapers when he slept. I'd get home from class to find him sleeping, and the room would STINK. I'd open the door and window to air it out, and my neighbors would come by and tell me to shut my door cause it was stinking up the whole hall. But neither of em ever touched my stuff! I'd take it straight to the RD or whatever you have at a higher level than the RA. If you can prove it (especially with he money), she could be expelled. I'd set her up to catch her red handed. Dave

Why not demo a 170 (or whatever size your instructors would recommend) next and see how ya like it. I'm not sure what your motivation for going to such a high wingloading is, but you might find a bigger canopy is just as fun but might help keep you out of trouble (or at least keep you from getting yelled at). It's also another opportunity to try a different type of canopy too, if you want. You'd get more time under canopy too. I couldn't believe how short canopy rides got when I switched from my PD 9 cell to a sabre2 a size smaller. Dave

What drives me nuts is when people open the door before our seatbelts are off. If that door is open, I definitely don't want my seatbelt on. We take em off at 2000, which seems like a reasonable altitude to me. If something bad enough happened at 1000 feet that the pilot screams for everyone to jump, I doubt anyone not sitting right by the door is gonna make it out. I think its more likely that the pilot will be screaming for everyone to stay put. Dave

Did I miss something? Those are all elliptical... Dave

I always used to take my watch off of my left wrist before jumping, but mostly because I was afraid it would tear my jumpsuit. Got a new metal watch and now I leave it on, covered by my jumpsuit and probably my glove too. Since it's on the same side as the altimeter and much lower profile, I just can't see what it could do. Found mysterious scratches on the bottom of the band yesterday though. Took me a while to figure out it must have happened when I was playing on creepers during a wind hold. Doh! Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1369 ... but its over 300 megs. Dave

Thats nothing. A missing wrench could literally shut down the production line at the company I work for. The tool boxes use foam cutouts with a bright yellow background. Each tool has its place, and if it's missing, it'll be very obvious. I participated in a safety walkaround of an aircraft a couple weeks ago. We had to empty our pockets before getting into the aircraft, and we weren't even allowed to use our own pens. If we didn't turn a pencil in, they'd have to shut down the hangar until it was found. Dave

Facts? You posted that the air force academy had their fleet grounded without saying why. If there was a reason for the rest of the twin otters to be grounded, the FAA would say something. Sounds like it was a paperwork issue so what kind of answer do you want? I mean how do you know ANY plane you get onto is safe? Gotta trust the people that maintain them and inspect them. If you don't trust them, then you either don't get on the plane in the first place, or get on and worry the wings are going to fall off the entire flight. Dave

Hehe forget the bidness world, how about the skydiving world??

If that's a reply to me, yeah, I know what happened. I never said anything about the plane being unsafe. It DID crash on it's way to the US. I was just giving a fact. Dave

Yup, I loved it. Didn't realize it was gonna be so long, but I was surprised when the movie "started" so far into it. VERY violent though. Well, not as bad as the bible apparently.

That just cracked me up. Dave

Since this is bonfire and not gear and rigging, i'll speak freely... Only rigs I've ever actually used myself (other than student rigs) are javelin odyssey, reflex, and vector 3. Wings are great for their price and look great. Mirages are nice for women or metrosexual men (are we still allowed to use that term?). Men with purple mirages are extra special. Javelins are brand X...nothing wrong with em, nothing so special that makes them worth a 26 week wait or whatever they are). Infinities look nice and are apparently comfortable, and good price, but again, what's so special? And then there's the vector 3. Best rig you can buy. Ugly unless you really work at getting the colors right. But the more I looked at rigs, the more I realized the vector is just the best thought out rig out there. And then there's the skyhook RSL. Good stuff. So I bought a vector. Second choice woulda been wings. Dave

I know that the Army Aeromedical Research Lab found a way to keep soldiers awake and able to fight for 4 days straight. Scary stuff. But there's something bomber pilots are given before very long missions based on the same research. Can't think of what it is... I'm sure someone else knows. Dave

The first one crashed on its way to the US. I don't think a second has come over yet. Dave