pilotdave

I'm nearing #80 myself. When I'm 3 jumps away from 100, I'm not opening my mouth. My friends have been waiting to pie me for over 4 years now. Once I have 101 that pieing is null and void, right?

Ummm... did you tell me who you use? I mighta been able to scrape together $3 for a better option. Heck the money is coming from my club so I don't really care what it costs as long as it's reasonable. Now on the other hand I'd pay a lot extra if they'd steal your car! So, who do you register domains through? There's always next year... Dave

The 727 low pass plays fine for me in Media Player 9. The other file also plays but appears stretched horizontally. I can try to make wmv versions if you want. Moving them to the /misc/ folder. Dave

The first time I left it open was a 3 way horny gorilla. Being "vertical," I really barely noticed it. After a little while I was wondering why there was some wind on my face and realized my mistake. The second time, the next day, I was doing a solo. On my belly I sure noticed it quick!

I found a better deal... I registered http://www.umdskydiving.com through Stargate. Their servers have gone down a couple times now that I know of, but they're only $8 a year and let me put whatever I want for the whois info. They haven't been the easiest place to deal with, but now that it's set up its working fine. Also their email support has been of help. Dave

I did the glasses under "Kroops for the blind" goggles for my first 45 or so jumps then bought a Z1. I looked into prescription goggles but found out they don't make them as powerful as I need them (the company that advertises (or advertised) in parachutist only handles very small corrections). I hated the over the glasses goggles. They're so big they catch a lot of air and would lift off my face a little all the time, no matter how tight I had them. Some people wear certain brands of normal goggles over very small glasses, but I've never found a pair that would fit for me. The Z1 works great for me. Fits fine over my glasses. Make sure you try on whatever helmet you're thinking about buying before ordering one though. Whether or not glasses will fit under it depends a lot on the size and shape of your head. The downside of a full face is that it can fog up and it blocks some of your vision. I can't see my handles wearing mine (I can see where they are, but I am looking underneath my glasses), so that changes my emergency procedures. You might want to start with a simple protec and goggles, then later go for a full face. Dave

Check out http://store.yahoo.com/unfeathered1/thinyoushoul.html. They have all kinds of tips about the Z1 including how to prevent fogging: "ABOUT LENS FOGGING: Although your lens has an anti-fog coating on it, warm air on the inside applied right next to the lens (ususally from your nose) will cause fogging. The problem is usually easily corrected by a simple adjustment of the liner -- disconnect the liner under the nose and reattach it below the actual helmet (visor) opening. This allows better air flow and typically eliminates the problem." Breathing out with your mouth through the holes in front helps too. I've had no problems with fogging in freefall, just under canopy. I always leave it open until just before exit. Of course I've now left the plane with the visor wide open twice now. I've started to never put it up so high I can't see it when it's open in the plane. By the way it survives just fine open in freefall.

I learned a little welding a long time ago. I couldn't do it at ALL. That's HARD! Sucks how things came out but congrats on the compliments. Dave

Selling life insurance to first time skydivers is just plain old bad advertising. Seriously though, it really isn't part of a club's responsibility to offer insurance, and your school might have issues with a club that expects people to get hurt. Also, knowing college students, nobody's gonna want to pay anything extra. We can't sell $10 t-shirts to people that just spent $340 on AFF1 (with video). Good luck with the club! Dave

I see this doesn't apply to you, but it's never legal in the US, at least not yet, unless the "microlight" is certified and is not a "part 103" ultralight. (Ultralights in the US can only ever carry a second person for the purpose of flight instruction). This might all change with the new Sport Plane class of aircraft, which will hopefully make european microlights legal in the US to pilots that hold the sport pilot license (which will require minimal training). With everything else going on I kinda doubt they're in a hurry to get more planes in the air, so who knows when this might actually happen. Supposedly making progress though. Dave

My attempted 9 way speed star exit: HERE (3 megs). That's me, umm, first out. Ended up as a 5 way. Perhaps not a legal exit for competition.

I agree that real tv has shown a lot of the bad stuff, but i've also seen good skydiving stuff on there (such as pond swooping where absolutely nothing went wrong). Skydivers are no different from anyone else. They like to see the malfunctions too. It's easy to say we want to see it to learn, but I think skydivers like to see that stuff for entertainment just as much. Now skydivers understand whats going on and realize that the narrator always makes things sound much more dramatic than they are. But the /cutaways/ folder on my site is the most popular section, and there are plenty of videos available for purchase that show the best of the worst. I've also heard real tv (no idea about this other crap that doesnt even seem to air in the US) pays quite well and treats people nicely that supply videos. I understand why skydivers dont like real TV, but i dont understand why so many seem threatened by it. We all know what the general public thinks about skydiving. Real TV doesn't hurt. People already think skydiving is far more dangerous than they even show on TV. And every once in a while real TV shows something positive about skydiving. Maybe a few people have made a tandem because of a cool clip they saw. Who knows. Maybe instead of complaining about the videos they show, skydivers should send in their positive videos. Interesting, fun, or special jumps. If they actually refuse all of that, then fine, they're only after gore. But until someone proves to me that they are ONLY looking for the injuries and malfunctions, I'll just go on assuming thats mostly what they show cause thats mostly what they receive. Dave

I jump a PD 9 cell. I guess it's an antique now. Does that mean it'll go up in value? I can see my ebay ad already...

CTRL+R?? Thats way too slow. Try F5!

I like the way it looks... at least I think. Can ya get a real picture? Dave

Ugh...ceiling predicted to be 1200 overcast in the morning. No freezefest for me. Dave

I am also impressed at the length you've gone to. But I still haven't found the show. What channel can it be found on? Dave

Jan 19th... a night jump in FL. Next jump would be tomorrow if the predicted ceilings weren't 1200 feet. Dave

I saw him live last year. He has a pretty funny act. Did he have his friend with the guitar when you saw him? That guy opened for him and then helped with part of his act. He SUCKED. Nearly got booed off the stage during his opening. But Jim was hilarious. Dave

Let us know how the study guide is once you get it. I'm curious... Dave

Lets see, my name is David and I'm a pilot. Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/beerolympics.jpg for the wet t-shirt contest. I just love where he's holding the camera...

A few pics from last year's beer olympics: http://www.inform.umd.edu/studentorg/cpsc/freezefest.html Dave

If the snow (in MD) and the rain (at cross keys) holds off, and the plane will start in the cold, I'll be flying in. I dunno what I'm thinking... I was there last year. It was COLD. And if I fly in, I'll be leaving before dark which is when the real fun starts. I got my fill of cold weather jumping in florida a couple weeks ago. Oh well, here I come to freeze my ass off.

Yep, crop dusters are often reinforced in case of power line strikes. Some have a wire going from the top of the fuselage to the top of the tail to prevent the tail from getting chopped off by a powerline (not the same as ADF antennas common on single engine cessnas). I read one story of this happening a while ago in the "I learned about flying from that" article in Flying magazine. The plane ended up with a dented spinner and a nervous pilot. Dave