pilotdave

Lotsa pre-brown (white) on those. They all look good to me but ya might wanna consider how dirty it'll be if you fall on landing a few times. Dave

You are right that tandem has an advantage over AFF because some people freak out on their first jump. But you've been around a long time... Am I wrong that tandem has a cost benefit over AFF? Am I wrong that some DZs promote/require tandems based on profit? And don't you think SOME people have a better idea than others how they will react to freefall? Some people are gonna freak out, others aren't. Were you a freaker when you started? And I didn't have any tunnel time before I started...that was just an example. Dave

Mines an MH-60S Knight Hawk. I will be working with a certain version of it at work. Dave

Using distilled water? Usually the impurities in tap water prevent it from superheating like that. It can happen when you stick a spoon or tea bag into microwaved water too. You are lucky it happened when it did. Dave

That is a system called selective availability, and it was shut off a few years ago. The military still has some tricks up their sleeves to increase accuracy of their systems, but for the most part ours are pretty good in 2 dimensions (within 15 feet usually) and ok in the third. Dave

They can fix the harness without having to rebuild the whole thing. I had a harness made smaller when I bought a used rig. Estimated time was something like a week plus shipping. (Actually took over 2 months cause the company went out of bidness right after I shipped it, but that's a whole different story). Dave

Geez, they made a mistake. Any reputable company is gonna fix it for you. Don't worry about it so much. It sucks but what can ya do? No need to get all worked up. Dave

Actually a few years ago there was a link from slashdot...but deep in a forum or something so it didnt get too many hits. Worst thing that could happen would be a link from fark.com. Dave

Just started getting a bunch of hits from the SomethingAwful.com forums... http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1024081. Just curious what was posted, but they charge $10 for membership so I was wondering if anyone here is a member. Last thing skydivingmovies.com needs is a million hits from people that aren't really interested. Hopefully our registration will turn some away. Anyone? Dave

If you liked the spectre flare, try a sabre2 if you havent yet. I was about ready to buy a spectre after I demoed it, but decided to try a sabre2 before making a decision. The flare is what changed my mind. Dave

Depends what I have coming up at work... This weekend I'd go in with a smile on my face. Dave

Yeah I think the insurance requirements are what usually set the minimum pilot qualifications, not the FARs or the DZO. But when the DZO allows an unapproved pilot to break the insurance requirements, he's at least putting his own ass on the line, not someone elses. Dave

I happen to have my reflex unpacked at the moment in my closet. Maybe I'll have to pull it out and play around a little. Got any catapult testing videos? Dave

Dunno why I'm gonna bother to reply but here goes anyway... How many jumps did he have? How many times did he do a split-S in a plane to land? Flying's not gonna help a skydiver do a hook turn. But assuming he was flying before skydiving, I bet he had better than average canopy control on his first jump. Back to tandems... Your DZ doesn't require every jumper to do 2 tandems. It doesn't apply to what I'm talking about in the first place. Many small DZs do offer static line. Do you think it's because its the best teaching method out there? Sure, some people here will argue that it is. But I think it's because of cost. But static line is much harder to market than tandem. And it requires a long training class like AFF. AND ya can't charge $80 for video. I have no idea what your DZ charges for jumps or pays the instructors or any of that. But I wouldn't be surprised if the DZ still made more money on the tandem progression even though it's over $300 cheaper than AFF. Dave

I wasn't serious but I'll still disagree with ya for the hell of it. I know the FAA sees it your way though. But not all pilots are flying to build time. The purpose of the flight for the pilot might be to get the jumpers into the air so they can jump. The purpose to the jumpers is to get into the air so they can jump. Just because they have different responsibilities during the flight doesn't mean they are there for different reasons. Well, in my opinion, not the FAA's. I mean what the heck do I care if some private pilot is sharing the cost to take his skydiver buddy up for a jump? It's a different story when a dropzone is using a private pilot to carry paying jumpers. Dave

Wow I struck a nerve! Well, I have a couple more than 20 jumps, and I've been jumping (slowly) since 1998. And I still believe that... to a point. Your DZ may be different than most (or many). But tandem jumps are precisely what keep dropzones alive. They're a great thing for the sport, and a great way to learn to skydive too. But the fact is a 182 can carry 2 tandems or one AFF. Tandem requires very little training time and only a single instructor. It costs less and makes more. Good for the student and good for the DZ. Tandem has a ton of advantages other than cost too. But I still believe many DZs REQUIRE tandems because of the money they generate compared to other methods. Your DZ may be different and that's fine... don't take it personally. If a student with a pilots license and 50 hours of tunnel time showed up, do you think they should HAVE to do a tandem? I started with AFF 1 and didn't even use a radio (had one but the instructor told me he wouldn't say anything if I was doing ok...never heard a peep from him). Did I NEED an instructor with me to teach canopy control? I'm not saying it would have been bad, I'm just saying people are perfectly cabable of learning to skydive without being strapped to an instructor. Dave

That's such strange wording (no surprise coming from the FAA). I mean, the purpose of the flight would be to get up high so the jumper can leave the plane safely. The only time the passengers and pilot don't have a common purpose in the flight is a hijacking.

That's a Rutan Long EZ Dave

I'm waiting to hear about getting the raw footage from Espen, the jumper. Offheading.com asked me to remove the version they edited but the original footage is up to Espen. Dave

So why do we have 2" wide bridles? I was always told they're so wide to catch the air in case of a horseshoe... Dave

Never tried any of em. I almost bought a go fast once until I found out the tiny little can was over $2. For that price it better have more than caffeine in it. Dave

Was it a static line jump? Those freak me out... Dave

Happened to me just today. We all agreed to land to the south. Kinda tough because the spot was to the north, meaning to fly a pattern we'd have to actually make a 180 to enter downwind. I had tracked away from the airport (to the north) and had a long way to get back. Realized I wasn't gonna be high enough for any kind of pattern so I'd just fly straight in. Well, on final, the first jumper just did a 180 and landed to the north. I knew I was too low to turn around so I just landed to the south, opposite just about everyone else. And I was landing upwind. Everyone else was landing downwind. Following the leader sucks when the leader screws up! Never saw so many people walk back all covered with dirt.

A former rigger of mine is a HUGE fan of the catapult system. I found out why a while after buying a reflex from him. Turns out he had packed the "main" reserve pilot chute incorrectly, stuffing the pilot chute material between the hard poptop and the decorative cover. In other words, he made the reserve pilot chute useless. The catapult ended up saving the jumper's life. Now thats a problem that can basically only happen on a reflex by a freaking insane rigger, but nonetheless, the catapult did its job. The arguments against the catapult range from maybe possible all the way to outright crazy. But if the catapult makes you uncomfortable, remove it and you've got a decent, well made, comfortable rig. Dave

You can do a search on here for reflex and find a lot of opinions. Some people swear by it, others have come up with thousands of ways it's going to kill you. All I know is it has worked and hasn't killed anyone. Dave