pilotdave

Ahh, I see. I was trying to figure it out but the term "widebody" seems to be a skydiving-only thing when referring to a 182. But then again, who the hell else would use a pre-1962 182 nowadays other than a dropzone?

How much would the reflex cost ya? I own one and I like it, but there are better rigs out there. If the price is right, and the local riggers will pack them (find out!), the reflex might be a good choice. Just don't overpay. After buying mine, I realized I could have gotten a brand new Wings (without any options) for about what I payed for a used reflex in colors I didn't even like. Don't rush to buy anything. Search around, and ask the locals about the Reflex. Rigs are very regional and you may be at a disadvantage being the minority if reflexes aren't popular in your area. Dave

The University of Maryland has a club but no team... yet. We've got a bunch of guys that joined the club this year that have either recently gotten their licenses or will be getting them soon, and at least a few are interested in competing. I don't know if there'll be enough motivation to train enough to be competitive, but I hope they try to form a team at least. I've been the president of the club for the last couple years. Graduating in a week. For the new and future club presidents, all I can say is hold on tight cause it's gonna be a wild ride.

What exactly is a widebody 182? Is that referring to certain 182 models, or is that a modification, or what? I thought all 182s were the same width, but apparently not. How much wider is a widebody? Dave

I know that feeling. I have the last final of my college career today. Then one more presentation and I'm outta here for good. Dave

I'm an airplane pilot, not a helicopter pilot, but I went for an intro helicopter lesson last summer. At $195 an hour for dual time I can't afford to get the license (or rent the thiings for $155 an hour either), but it was a lot of fun. I've HEARD that the company I'm going to work for will pay for flight training, so I might be able to get a helicopter license out of them. But for that kind of money I just can't believe it's that simple. Most of my lesson was at "high" altitude.... flying around at a couple thousand feet. I didn't care about that... I woulda liked to spend the entire half hour never getting more than 20 feet off the ground.

i'm not a pilot, and don't know a whole lot about a whole lot, but who flies the plane when he gets up to reach out and close it??? FAR 105.32(a) states that all single pilot skydiving aircraft must be equipped with a helper monkey to fly the plane when the pilot is busy closing the door. Dave

2 hours by car, 45 mins by plane (although driving is a lot quicker when you include the prep time and all that for flying). Moving in a couple weeks... I'll be an hour or so from a DZ, or probably 20 mins by (much faster) plane. And no more waiting on hold for 10 minutes to file a flight plan and all the other DC-area bullshit. Dave

What, I don't count?

Never been to a real one, but I used to volunteer at an air museum that had a large outdoor and indoor storage area. It was basically the equivalent of an aircraft graveyard except for the most part every aircraft was unique, and many were just waiting to be restored. I enjoyed searching around back there more than looking through the museum. Part of the storage area was at one time a jet engine test facility a long time ago. The huge engine test stand was still set up, including the homer simpson style control panel. Other than the giant bugs and snakes it was a really cool place to wander around. Definitely closed to the public though... way too easy access to some very cool stuff and one of a kind aircraft (many unrecognizable of course). Dave

I loved subway until I discovered Wawa. Sure, the quality control sucked, but as long as you go in after midnight on a friday or saturday night, they had their best samich makers on duty.

Not saying you're wrong, but thats not what it says in the FAR (that you quoted). It says the responsibility is shared by the pilot and the jumper. Now whats the worst thing the FAA could do to the jumper? A fine? The chances of being caught are pretty damn slim. Either a ramp check by an FAA inspector (anyone ever seen that happen?) or a reserve malfunction that probably killed the jumper. I think most jumpers would be willing to take the risk. The pilot on the other hand has everything to lose. The way I see it, the pilot can only go so far to ensure everyone's reserve is in date. The most he can do is check the data cards. If everything APPEARS to be in date, the chance that the pilot would get in any trouble is basically zero. Course it is the FAA we're talking about so things don't have to make sense. But my point is that, as far as the pilot is concerned, you're better off forging a rigger's signature than mistakenly jumping an out of date reserve. Course that's a bad idea for its own reasons, but it's probably safer for the pilot. Dave

Actualy, skydivingmovies are my 'porn' Does that make me your pimp or something?

Well, thats not quite true. The cause of a glory is not the same as the cause of a rainbow. They're related, but not the same. The colors of a glory are NOT caused simply by refraction. It's all about polarization. Dave

You all are crazy! Unwrapped is the best show on TV. Ok, maybe not THE best. But its AWESOME.

I'm Dave and if I survive one more final and one more project, I'll be an RAH-66 Comanche System Safety Engineer in just a few more weeks. Dave

I've been B qualified for a while but have been waiting to find water training. Finally doing it Wednesday. I might skip the B though and just wait till I can get my C... assuming I do my hundreth before the new rules. Dave

Hehe, without glasses I'd be lucky to see that big planet thing coming toward me. I'd be the guy that flares when the leash goes slack. Dave

Made in Belgium. I'd rather give them my $1000 than Germany. Dave

I was reading up on them a few weeks ago. Turns out to be a bit more complicated than a regular rainbow, though similar. The colored rings aren't just due to refraction, they're due to the polarization of the light. From what I read, they are not well understood, but in the center the light is polarized one way, and at the edge a different way. Unlike a rainbow, a glory can only be seen exactly opposite the sun (ie the same spot your shadow is), and can only be seen within about 10 degrees off of that. Course no skydivers in america ever see them, right? Cause chances are you'd have to be pretty close to a cloud to see one of those. And we never go near clouds, right? Eh, maybe they're visible from 2000 feet away.

I put together a CD of my favorite vids that don't use any special codecs (so I can have some cool videos playing at my skydiving club meetings when people are arriving. works way better than writing "skydiving club" on the blackboard

Not only that, but they happened to the same person within a week of each other on his two different canopies (a 105 and an 85...one is labeled wrong on the website but I can't edit it). The guy had over 1000 jumps with 500 on cobalts with 0 cutaways before that. Dave

That was my reaction when I found out too.

If you want, but I don't recommend it. In fact, if there's enough interest, I think I better have my lawyer write a waiver so I don't get sued when ya pass out and hit yer heads. It's gonna take me a long friggin time to upload 11 gigs once the server is even running. My upload speeds aren't nearly as good as my download speeds either. Maybe I can get a temporary full access account set up so I can get some help filling it. But first lets wait and make sure it gets turned on.

I think the point was that you can't apply simple formulas to figure out exact speeds. Yes, Boeing does use mathematical approximations to calculate lift/drag, etc, but those are based on millions of calculations done by computers. It's not as if they plug a few variables into a formula to come up with performance numbers. Dave