pilotdave

I disagree. I think a jumpsuit is a good thing to go ahead and spend some money on, unless you can find a used one that fits right. A good fitting appropriate jumpsuit (ie tight if you fall slow, baggy if you're fast) really helps with RW skills. I'm small so I really need a tight fitting, slick suit and weights to jump with most people. If all I had was a generic suit, i'd be fighting it on top of learning to skydive. Also, my RW jumpsuit needs aren't changing as my skill level changes. I got a suit without booties since I only had maybe 15 jumps when i bought it. I may want booties soon, but those can be added. If you want to freefly the minute you're off student status and never do RW again, ok, maybe you don't need an RW suit. But that's probably not a great idea anyway. Dave

Demoed a javelin odyssey a couple weekends ago. They do a great job. The canopy type and size is embroidered onto a riser, and the harness/container sizes are embroidered on the cutaway handle. Kinda funny though, after all that, I thought I was jumping a Sabre, not a Sabre2. Didn't realize what it was until i put it down after jumping and noticed the label. Dave

WHEW! I'm about ready to buy a vector 3 and don't wanna be finding out a vector 4 is coming along soon. Can we start giving suggestions for the vector 4 though? CUPHOLDERS! And an AC outlet so I can plug in a laptop for those long canopy rides. Dave

13 dollar skydives on sunday:8:1 Got my C (well, faxed the form in anyway). Took me 5 years to hit 100 jumps, so I should have that D in only 20 more years. Dave

All I can say is don't try it slowly and "evenly" with an undented can. We did a lab in one of my aerospace engineering classes that involved crushing empty beer cans and measuring the force it took to get them to buckle (studying thin walled aluminum structures, like planes). The average force required to buckle an empty Milhaukee's Best can was around 140 lbs. My can (the random one i picked out of a box) didn't buckle until over 299 lbs were applied. Alright, it wont take 300 lbs to crush a can on your forehead but its still surprising how strong a can is. Dave

I jumped a manta 288 a couple times when I weighed under 110 lbs (without gear). They weren't windy days so I didn't have a problem with backing up. The problem I had was a 360 degree turn must have taken like 20 or 30 seconds to complete (at least it felt that way). Every turn was a flat turn. I COULD NOT get that canopy to dive at all in a turn. I was coming in high, so I did full-toggle s-turns all the way down to about 50 feet. The flare was very weak too. The problem was probably just the length of the brake lines more than anything, but I don't know if it would have been more responsive at a higher loading. Dave

Just relax!

...and thats not even funny to those that do. Dave

I've done a bunch... Here are a couple that I like. My PC in tow, and my scary scary packing machine. Dave

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So we should all just suck it up? I hate the stupid lawsuits people file. Like "McDonalds made me fat, give me money." But when someone damages someone elses property, they need to pay for it. That's what insurance is all about. What if some guy in a 1977 chevy nova hits a tractor trailer and puts it out of service? You know how much those are worth? Maybe it's not owned by a giant corporation that can just suck it up. Maybe it's everything the driver owns. Should he just say "oh well, it happens" and go find a new job because he cant afford to fix his $100,000 truck? Or should we ban trucks from the road because they're too valuable? Nothing you said makes any sense to me. Dave

It's a blurry pic. It's not really twisted. Dave

It's looking like thunderstorms will be keeping me safe most of the weekend. But that's still a day away. They can't predict the weather more than about an hour in advance.

Without the insurance, why in the world do I want to be a member? Why will any dropzones want me to be a member? Dave

Mine's been hovering just above the price of a new rig lately. I think I know how to take care of that...

Call the DZ you want to go to and ask. Every DZ has different rules. If it's a non-USPA DZ you want to go to, the rules may be completely different from where you jump now. I've been to one that was allowing non licensed jumpers to compete in an RW competition. Dave

Upload it to skydivingmovies.com if you want. Just go to ftp://ftp.skydivingmovies.com/uploads and drag the file in. It won't be downloadable until I move it to another folder so send me an email or PM when its there. Dave

I was told it's lavendar or magenta or something. All I know is it's not technically pink.

Just attached a demo spectre 135 to my container. Never attached a main myself before. Everything LOOKED normal when I packed it (except for a couple of missing cells

Never been to england (except a stop at Stansted airport) but I just want to say that I'm really enjoying all of your cute british "accents." Dave

Can you send a gulfstream 5 to take me to vegas for dinner? I'll settle for a learjet if i have to... My job is mostly boring but it's a really interesting place to work. I mostly sit at a computer all day, but for example today I went to the credit union, which happens to require me to walk through the comanche helicopter assembly line (well, not much of a line...there's only 1 being built at the moment). Yesterday I was on a trip to Boeing Helicopters and toured the V-22 production line. I get to see some really cool high tech things here, but 95% of the time I'm bored out of my mind. Dave

you win. coolest job here. Nothing beats driving a train! That's so cool.

I demoed a javelin odyssey last weekend. The sunpath guy told me they did hire more people and they are changing their production to try to bring down the delivery time. But they are giving worst case scenario numbers so nobody can complain. It MIGHT not take quite so long (still long though). He said they recently got some very large sport orders from dealers which is the cause of the long waits. Dave

I flew right over that racetrack a couple weekends ago. Sadly any of those cars could lap the plane I was flying pretty easily. That's really cool. Congrats on the 2nd tandem too. Getting another video?? Dave

...for demo canopies? I've been thinking of getting a new spectre. I got to demo a sabre2 last weekend (in a javelin demo rig) and loved it, so I figured it would be a good idea to demo a spectre before making any decisions. Went to PD's website, filled out the demo request form, kind of assuming i'd be waiting at least a month. No more than 5 minutes later I got an email letting me know the canopy was ready to ship. I'll have it by this weekend. How cool is that? Dave