pilotdave

I found it in the 1970 book of all the Journal of Aircraft articles from that year. We had the 1965 to 1970 editions at work and I was told to throw them out. Asked if I could take them home instead. Apparently someone had saved them when the company library was disbanded years ago. Last time this one was checked out, the information was still current.

In theory, skyvans trail well defined vortices from their fuselages. The corners of the rear fuselage is squared off for that reason. The vortices draw in the surrounding wake, giving the stubby fuselage more effective length (aerodynamically). Dave

Figured I'd post a link here... see http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1038178#1038178 Dave

I recently came across a 1968 technical paper on the ongoing testing of ram-air (parafoil) canopies. The paper was published in the sept-oct 1970 Journal of Aircraft published by the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics). This paper was originally presented at the AIAA 2nd Aerodynamic Deceleration Conference, El Centro, CA, Sept 23-25, 1968. The paper is somewhat technical in parts, but there's a lot of great history that I had never heard before. You can see the paper at http://www.skydivingmovies.com/parafoil. Sorry that it's just in huge jpeg scans. I'd have made pdf files if I could. Who knew we all owe so much to the University of Notre Dame? Dave

Not saying that being in shape is a bad idea, but seriously, take a look around the dropzone. You'll find people of many shapes. Some work out like crazy, others sit at computers all day long. I know that skydiving works muscles I don't use on a daily basis so I'm sore after a busy weekend of jumping. But I just don't think any special excersize routine (or yoga) is necessary to get through AFF. Afterall, we're just falling. Again, if you wanna excersize, you're better off. But it's probably not necessary. Dave

Sometimes they do. Real TV did a nice segment on pond swooping once. HERE Dave

I thought it was portrayed very positively actually. Student went out of control. That was a FAST spin, not a "normal" spin. The instructor really did a great job getting in there, stopping the spin, and pulling for the student. And I thought they did a good job explaining it from the instructors perspective, not the freaked out student's. Considering they interviewed the instructor, I'd bet she was the one that sent it in. The video makes the instructor the hero. Very positive toward her. Dave

After talking to a friend that was browsing the site, I realized that a couple things that some people might not notice. You can see the most recently uploaded files HERE Highest rated files HERE Most downloaded files HERE For all of those, just go to "view all files", and change the sort option at the bottom. You can also do this within any category. The search feature has 3 options. All words, any words, and exact phrase. So for example if you wanted to find all student videos anywhere on the site, you might do a search for "student aff tandem iad static" with the "any words" option. That will give you all videos that have any of those words in the filename or descriptions. Don't use commas or quotes, it'll try to search for them. Likewise, the all words feature will look for any files that have all of the search terms associated with it. Again, only split the words up with spaces. To find all videos of cobalt canopy cutaways, you might do an "all words" search for "cobalt cutaway" or "cutaway cobalt" (makes no difference). Exact phrase will search for exactly what you typed in, including spaces. A search for "king air" will not give the same results as a search for "kingair." Hope this helps! Dave

While you're at it, tell him I posted the story of the time he met prospective tandem student Lotta Fagina. Actually he might come up to CT to kick my ass for that... better not.

Just so we're clear, a naked kennedy will NOT be appearing on skydivingmovies.com. I say strap the camera to his head and tell him not to look down. Dave

At least its a paraglider not a parachute. Dave

Same clip with a different talking idiot is available on skydivingmovies.com... I THINK that one's part of the stupid student tricks video. Dave

I'm as confused as everyone else. If you don't have all the details or any type of proof the manufacturer was responsible, and you had already decided not to sue before this thread (contradicted by your previous posts), then why would you come on here asking if you should sue? The way I see it, if you think maybe you should possibly sue, put your case together and see for yourself if it makes sense to sue. Some people on here wouldn't sue for any reason whatsoever so its not worth asking them about a particular case. There were like 5 discussions about generally suing manufacturers no more than a month ago or so, including polls. You were asking about a particular case though. But how can anyone tell you objectively whether or not you have a good case if you dont present ANY facts about it? Get your facts together, decide if the manufacturer DESERVES to possibly go out of business over this, and decide if you ever want to skydive again. I think skydivers should feel free to sue but be banned from the sport forever afterwards.

At the very least, contact the manufacturer that may or may not be at fault and make sure they know what happened. If there's a problem and it's their fault, they will want to know about it. Any chance you could explain what went wrong without mentioning the brand? Dave

I hope ya had a lawyer go over your agreement. If you lose, well, thank goodness we're at different DZs now. But 1000 miles apart doesn't seem far enough if you're gonna be naked... Dave

Westwind is a turbine mod of a beech 18. Dave

Love that show. I call it the commish though. New one tomorrow night at 10 (eastern) on FX. Dave

Saw Mitch Hedberg live a couple years ago. That guy is hilarious but SO strange. He did most of his act with his eyes closed and his hair in front of his face. He had a bottle of water in his hand, but he had to open it each time he wanted a sip. He forgot to open it a few times and tried to drink the mic a few more. Almost fell off the stage at one point. Toward the end, he couldn't remember any more jokes so he pulled out a notebook and started reading em off. Finally the audience would shout out the topics of jokes they wanted to hear. It was freaking hilarious to hear someone yell out "Carrot!" and he'd without hesitation go into his carrot joke. As soon as that one ended, someone else would yell out the next joke they wanted to hear. He kept going like that for maybe 10 minutes. It was great. Dave

I often like to see how many views a post of mine has had. For example, sometimes I'll expect a post to get a lot of replies but will get none. But I can see that the post has only gotten 5 views, which explains it. The # of views is not part of the "mini profile." It has to do with the site, not about the jumper. Dave

snivel is a good one. Looked it up at dictionary.com: HERE. Not even CLOSE to how we use it. Dave

I only recently started carrying one (bought it with my new container). I never thought too much about it before since I always figured I wouldn't know what to do with it even if I needed it. The only situation that most people talk about using them (other than for camera jumps or CRW) is reserve lineovers. But I have serious doubts I'd be able to figure out which line to cut anyway, so the knife would probably be useless. When I saw a hook knife was an option on my new container, I figured it'd be a good thing to have but I still doubt i'd know what to do with the thing and would probably waste time trying. But then again, I've also heard the best use for a hook knife is to kill time while you're spinning wildly under a malfunctioning reserve. Dave

Ok, you said don't ask. But I have to... dead body? Please... discuss.

I don't have one but I've heard a few people mention that the visibility sucks when it's open (big blinders on the sides), so they have to keep it closed under canopy. If it fogs, that's a big downside. Dave

Here's me landing a few months ago. Dave

Anyone planning to attempt a Mr. Bill should probably check out THIS VIDEO first. It's a little hard to tell what happened, but it looks to me like Mr Bill's foot gets caught by a suspension line during deployment. Very nasty. Dave