pilotdave

I believe its the hypoxia. Makes ya feel euphoric. Ya get addicted to it like some people do to sniffing glue. Ok, it's either that or the heroin DZOs secretly spread around the planes. Not enough to notice, just enough to develop a physical addiction over time. Dave

Cameras aren't allowed here, and I wouldn't take pics of my coworkers if they were. I try not to even look at them if i dont have to.

Oh that's a big nono. Gotta log your time throughout the day when you finish each task! At least thats what they tell us here. I had to take government labor charging training the other day. The whole thing seems so silly to me. We have a contract with the government. We charge our time based on our budget. But the government cant just charge us based on the budget, it has to be based on ACTUAL time worked. But it's not like I have any choice in how much time I charge. Luckily I only deal with a few charge numbers. One for my normal work, one for overhead (meetings unrelated to normal work, training, etc), and now i'm using a third for a mandatory continuous improvement test i'm taking. They have a pretty good internet policy here. We are allowed to use the company network and email for "occasional personal use." They don't specifically define that, but we're told that it means sending an email to a family member when we really have to, etc. But its a gray area, Dave

I think they are afraid of misfires due to hook turns. I could be wrong but I think the minimum speed for a cypres to fire is attainable in a dive with a fast canopy. Dave

Macs have their place in the world, but you can get a much more powerful PC for the same price. And a LOT of the older windows problems (tons of crashes, etc) are solved in win XP. My record uptime in XP is 26 days between restarts. Finally had a website (relative workshop of all sites) crash it. (My computer doesnt like their 3D vector coloring thing for some reason). Yeah, there is lots of mac software out there, but there is probably 10X as much PC software. I'm not a mac hater, but i just dont think they are necessarily BETTER for all uses. Easier to use? Maybe. But if you've used a PC before, maybe not. Gotta look at what you plan to do with it and what software amd hardware is available. I do a lot of graphics (photoshop) and it works just fine on a PC. Dave

Looks like the cutaway vid failed. You can try again, or I can grab it off your site after work today. Sorry, can't move the vids out of /uploads/ till i'm home so they won't be accessible till later today. Dave

Ya finally get to experience what a fish feels like in a bowl.

Next time get video!

Ok, that's just nuts. When skydiving gets so boring you need to do THAT, its time to take up model trains or something exciting like that! Dave

Here ya go Dave

But of course. /exits/negg.wmv at skydivingmovies.com. Dave

But what is the reason for putting that info on the license? I mean my jump number and license type is on all the waivers I've ever signed. They get updated once a year too (where I jump, maybe not everywhere). My logbook is in my bag right with my license. I mean they might be able to figure out if I'm jumping an appropriate canopy really quickly if I tatoo my wingloading on my ass. If they have to figure out which bag is mine in the packing area, go through my wallet to find my USPA card, and check my allowable wingloading, what advantage did they get? Ok, maybe some jumpers carry their licenses right on them when they jump. So great, they save 10 minutes by going through the pockets of a corpse to figure out if he was jumping the wrong canopy. I understand your thinking but I just dont see any good coming from it. The focus should be on preventing people from jumping canopies they cant handle, not figuring that out after they're dead. Dave

I dont really care if it would speed up an investigation. That doesnt help safety in any way. It would probably cost a fortune to get the USPA to keep all that extra info. Anyway it would only be accurate once a year. How many people do 200 jumps their first year in the sport? All of them would have a card that says they have 25 jumps and jump a manta 288. Accident investigations happen fast enough. Once the guy is dead, who cares how long it takes to find out how many jumps he had? Dave

First I've ever heard that said about the Z1. Was that Parasport's service or another company like Unfeathered? Dave

Ahhh...thanks. My brother's computer has been shutting down all day because of that. I fixed it for him my own way but i had no clue what the problem was. Dave

How about medic-alert style bracelets for skydivers. Forget blood type and allergies... have number of jumps, gear type, and wingloading. Dave

The first time i saw that site I musta sat there playing for like 15 minutes before I realized it was meant for LITTLE kids. I was having so much fun. Yeah, I'm easy to amuse.

Wish I could have gone. I was there in '96. You guys were awesome then, by the way.

I have a feeling sangiro is REALLY rich. From the looks of his pictures, he's had a LOT of cosmetic surgery. Dave

Yep, and I'm late for work. Ack! Dave

There's only one and it's back to flying. Dave

I have yet to REALLY scare myself in a plane, but I've been nervous a few times. I was once flying in a piper cub (as a passenger) at 500 feet over a lake. We had the door and windows open and were waving to people in boats. We were low enough that they could actually see us waiving and waived back. Suddenly we heard a loud pop and the engine sounded like a lawnmower, but still had power. We closed everything up and climbed, and headed back to the airport. After an uneventful landing on the grass beside a 9000 foot runway, the pilot found out a spark plug had popped right out. Only scary jump plane experience was a kind of long takeoff run in a CASA once. We lifted off, settled back down, and lifted off again. In the meantime I saw trees off to our left which meant we were down to the last few hundred feet of runway. For a couple seconds I really didn't know if we were gonna clear the trees at the end of the runway. We did. I don't know by how much, but I'm sure it was less than I'd be comfortable knowing. Actually that liftoff can be seen in /exits/throw_dave_speedstar.wmv at skydivingmovies.com. Dave

I can't watch the video you're talking about right now (at work) but I've seen plenty of videos of him, including deployments. Those openings don't look like any fun. Some videos are available at skydivingmovies.com in /from_tv/german_tv/ and in /wingsuit/. As far as the channel crossing, I can't believe he simply faked it. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some of the numbers floating around are way off, but I believe he really did it. Dave

...in /students/... Dave

Looks like the upload failed (or is it in progress now?). Sorry bout that. Try again if you can. Dave