pilotdave

.doG sex at noon taxes goD http://www.palindromes.org/ Dave

Nothing new. Here are a couple I've posted before. Can't attach THIS one because it's NSFW so I can't open it. Dave

After (or was it before?) by first jump in 1998, I started reading rec.skydiving (which has a hilarious whiney post by a now former dz.com member today...what a baby). I came across dropzone.com at some point way back, but there wasn't much here so I wasn't a "regular." After I started skydivingmovies.com (then called ftp://129.2.226.158 or something

Spinning that fast, do the bullets even flip over at the tops of their arcs? Could be coming down backwards.... Dave

Damn. That's pretty freaking amazing. I wonder if the download speed is decent. Also, I wonder about running an ftp server. I s'pose with a properly designed website, ftp isn't even necessary. I've done a little PHP/MySQL, but I'd definitely need help getting a full web-based site up and running. I really like this idea though. Lemme think about it. Dave

I don't believe those numbers. Saw a show about that bike on TV a while ago. The 0-100 time wasn't exceptional, but the 100-200 time was great. Just make sure the guy behind you at a stop light give you plenty of room or you'll melt his front bumper. Dave

I'm late with this... or did I already reply a long time ago? who knows... Anyway... Ever seen ferrofluid? It's a magnetic fluid. I guess it's just oil with very fine iron dust in it. But when you hold a magnet next to it, it'll get spikey. But with different shaped magnets, you can make it do really weird things. Some videos at http://mrsec.wisc.edu/edetc/cineplex/ff.html Dave

0.9 hours flown:0:0 Finally got to fly for my first time in nearly 3 months. Had to do one landing to get current to carry passengers, then took my dad for a short plane ride. Amazing visibility today. Probably too windy to jump anyway. Dave

I have serious doubts that's really a flaw in the design. Possibly more due to how it fits on particular heads. I have a Z1, and I REALLY doubt it could come off my head without opening the chin strap. With the combination of the chin strap and the neck collar (which I've noticed some people keep very lose... I keep mine pretty tight), it's very secure (on my head). Dave

I like it! Actually one thing you might want to check into before ordering... the lettering on the front fades toward the top. That may not be possible or look very good with silk screening. They might be able to make it look great, just be sure to ask before submitting the design. Dave

I wonder if dz.com needs some seller/buyer ratings like ebay has. It may not be too useful since I'm sure the majority of people selling anything have never sold anything before, but it still could be useful to warn others of a bad experience. Dave

Just send me the rig and I'll take some smaller pics. Dave

For AFF1, being small won't matter. It might matter later on though. I'm also a small person. Before my first jump, I got suited up with a 190 sq ft canopy. The instructor came over, took a look at which rig I had been given, and said "nonono...you'll fly away like a kite with that," and he handed me a container with a 170 to put on instead. Switched DZs for the rest of AFF, and the smallest canopy they had was 230s, which I thought was way too big for me. Turned out not to be something to worry about. The first DZ happened to be right on the ocean, and so they're afraid of someone being blown out to sea. By the time I reached AFF 3 and 4, I discovered that my fallrate was way too slow for some of the instructors. They really struggled to stay with me even though I was wearing weight. Solved that by continuing AFF with the skinnier jumpmasters. I'm still a slow faller, but with the right jumpsuit, a little weight, and better technique, I rarely have problems anymore with falling too slow. So size matters a little, but not much. Better off being too small than too big. Dave

Well, at least it's $100 and not $1000. Could always call the person's DZ and see if anyone has an opinion. I bought my new canopy through the DZ.com classifieds and had a great experience, but I was lucky enough to be able to make the transaction in person. But for a $100 item, unless there was something really fishy about the deal, I'd personally just risk it. Dave

Sure they do. How else would they know where to go?? Skyventure is called an In-draft wind tunnel. There are ways of reducing turbulence in a wind tunnel that has the fan underneath, but it usually requires a great big diverging-converging duct. Expand the flow, then contract it suddenly. With a few screens in the duct, it can really reduce the speed variations in the flow and straighten it. The advantage is a wide angle diffuser can be used under the tunnel, so the whole thing can be built shorter (unless a second diffuser is used to slow the flow back down before exiting the tunnel, which increases efficiency). But an in-draft tunnel will produce better flow if it's designed and built right. Dave

Well, since I designed em both, thanks for liking at least one of em!

One more thing... if you plan to do white print on a black shirt, make sure they guarantee the white will be white, not gray. When I was getting quotes for our red shirts, one company suggested the design should be screened twice to ensure no red shows through the white. The cost of doing that is still less than a two-color design because they'll reuse the same silkscreen. But the company we went with didn't make the same suggestion and a little red ended up showing through, giving the lettering a slightly pink appearance. Course I wouldn't mind gray as much as pink... Dave

Not sure I understand. When you're last out, assuming an upwind jumprun, you're the farthest upwind of the airport. Are you talking about using rear risers when you're downwind of the airport? Dave

One thing you might want to check on... I'm guessing it's not an issue at your school, but at Maryland, I wasn't allowed to put "University of Maryland" on anything I sold. The club was always the "College Park Skydiving Crew" and then became "Maryland Skydiving" to try to fit in more with the other club sports, but we could never be "University of Maryland Skydiving." The reason was we were associated with the university (an official club) but we didnt represent the university like the basketball or football team does. Probably just a silly rule they have to ensure students need to spend $30 on any shirt that says "University of Maryland" on it. We were also allowed to use any university logo on anything, as long as we didn't make money on it. We put a nice university logo on some jackets we had made up, but being somewhere in the area of $170 each, the club actually absorbed the majority of the cost so it was allowed. Dave

Someone say safety? Safety's my middle name. Ok, at least it's in my job title. Dave

You could get one of THESE for only about $150. Dave

You in college? Does your school give you a web page? Dave

PPCs fall under the same rules. If it meets the part 103 requirements, it's an ultralight and doesn't require a pilots license. If it doesnt, ie if it has 2 seats, it's not an ultralight and doesn't fall under the part 103 rules. Then it's gotta follow the same rules as a 182 or a twin otter. Dave

This is my whole point. I keep hearing everyone say spiraling will keep them close to the DZ. While spiraling, I guarantee you will be moving away from the DZ faster than you would be if you were holding into the wind. I can see that spiraling could be beneficial to reach lower winds more quickly, but under a manta, you're still going to be exposed to those uppers for quite a while during the spiral, moving away from the DZ faster than you'd be backing up if you held into the wind. If it was a smaller canopy, things might be different. I remember one jump I did... Left the plane at 13,000 feet, opened at 3500. Behind me was a tandem then a guy with a velocity doing a high pull. The velocity opened at 11,000 and BEAT ME TO THE GROUND. I bet I could have done some RW with him....me in freefall, him in a spiral. Dave

I've designed a couple shirts for the club i was president of. First was a double sided, multi-colored shirt, then the second one was single color, single sided to save money. HERE's the second one. I decided to go with a red shirt, which was more expensive than white or gray, but I figured it would sell better to our students since everyone wears red shirts to the basketball and football games. I made a few different versions of the design... the one shown has a canopy, another had a swooper, and a third had a head down freeflyer. I went with the canopy since it's the most universal and the first timers will associate with it the most... and hopefully buy it. Just keep it bold, and something that a one-time-only skydiver might wear. You can also "prototype" your design by ordering one through http://www.zazzle.com which is what I did except with a red-on-white design. Dave