pilotdave

My best advice is don't try to learn too much before ya get there. You're probably best off going in "blind." Just have fun and don't think too hard. Dave

I know it's been done many times, but wow, that's gotta be a tricky climb out. I've flown a few cubs and I know that getting in and out of the thing is a lot harder than flying it. I guess once ya learn the technique its not so bad. I'd definitely practice on the ground a bunch of times first before trying it in the air, but i'm sure that's assumed. Dave

I think Terraserver has better resolution, but the color on mapquest is nice. Dave

I was exagerrating about throwing it together... I know how long the "tweaking" stage can be. Of course the cost of software has nothing to do with development time. It has everything to do with intended audience. Good luck selling it though. Dave

Was this the few seconds right after exit? Maybe you were still "on the hill." That's when you still have some horizontal speed from the plane, and you haven't reached terminal velocity yet. For a little while, you're not falling straight down but rather following a curve. Just a guess. If it lasted longer than that, maybe the fatter JM was just pulling ya down on one side.

I can't say I've been around too long, but I'm the president of a collegiate skydiving club so I've helped a lot of people give skydiving a try. I've seen lots of people make a first jump and get really excited about the sport, then kinda disappear. I've had plenty of people tell me they can't wait to jump again and will make any sacrifice to be able to do it, but they get convinced by family, friends, and their wallets that it was a silly thing to do. My club has probably brought a couple hundred people for their first jump, and maybe 10 people have actually gotten their licenses and continued with the sport. A few more have gone through most of, or even all of AFF before quitting. I think the cost is the biggest reason people quit. It's hard to justify spending all that money on student jumps only to know you'll need to spend a whole lot more on gear not too much later. It seems like you can tell if someone will stick with the sport pretty quickly. They come back for more as soon as possible, and keep coming back frequently. The ones that say "can't wait to do it again, see ya in a couple months" aren't coming back even if they think they are. Dave

I dunno, skydiving's full of computer people. My job right now is my 3rd summer of creating and editing access databases (for 3 different companies). When I started the first job 2 years ago I had never touched the program before. Now where I work, they consider me the Access guru. I definitely don't consider myself an expert, but heck, if that program could bring in more than $550, maybe I should make this a career path.

Looks cool, but $550? Ok, I realize that there is only a tiny market for this type of software, but that seems just a tad on the high side to me. Obviously I've never worked with it or anything, but from the screenshots it looks like something I could pretty easily throw together in MS Access. Wouldn't look as pretty, but I'm pretty sure I could get all the same functionality. If I was running a DZ, I'd want some good info about the robustness of your software before I bought it (even if it was free). How about support? Got an 800 number? By the way, I'm not trying to say your software is no good. Just saying if it IS good, put more info up. Dave

Like others have said, just figure out the landing pattern on the ground before you go up. On the ground, stand facing into the wind and look at where the sun is. Under canopy, if you're too high to see the windsock or flags, you'll still have an idea of wind direction (at least on the ground, 20 minutes ago). Start thinking about your traffic pattern right away and get yourself to your "playground" if you're not already there. By the way, airplane pilots can have trouble visualizing traffic patterns too, even though they know what direction they'll be landing in ahead of time... Here's a cheat. Dave

I don't have digital cable where I'm living, but when I'm home I pretty much flip between discovery wings, tech tv, discover, tlc, and history channel. Comedy central has some great shows too. Dave

My brother double majored in math and computer science, then went to law school. He's making gobs and gobs of money now. Good choice.

Hmm, how'd it come off on exit? On opening I can at least imagine it getting yanked off by the risers, but what could take it off on exit? Mine has never made me feel like it wanted to come off. Do you not have a chin?

There are a few on my server in the /cutaways/ folder. Lets see, there's CRW_gone_bad.mov, foxsports_canopy_collision.asf, and wrap.mpg. Also in the /CRW/ folder, foxsports_crw_tangle.asf. Also, in /From TV/, disc - crw wrap.mpg. Thats all I can find right now. Can't watch most of them from work so there may be more I'm not thinking of. Dave

...No officer, I swear I never jumped my illegal square parachute in your state before I was 21 years old... . Ya know what would be fun? All of us that have broken that law should turn ourselves in all at the same time. What do ya think the penalty would be?

Doesn't sound to me like you should be too down about the jump. It all seems like so much to remember in the early stages of AFF, but by the end you'll get some of your training as ya walk to the plane and you won't have to think about every single time you're going to look at your altimeter and all that. I remember going over AFF 1, 2, and 3 in my head soooo many times before the jump, just getting more and more nervous that I'd forget a detail. By levels 6 and 7, it all starts becoming natural. Just relax and have fun. My (first) level 4 went pretty bad (spinning out of control, opened above the clouds and ended up landing in someone's front yard about a mile from the DZ), but it was still the funnest jump I had done to that point. Don't worry too much about failing levels or any of that. Just try to learn something new on each jump (it's impossible not to, really) and enjoy it! The good news is it only gets better. Dave

found the article: http://www.avweb.com/articles/foam/index.html. A fire extingisher cannon exploded. Dave

I think that was originally posted on AvWeb. It was the fire extinguishing system in the hanger. Went off by mistake when nobody was around. Dave

Used to love adcritic.com. It was gone for a while. Just checked and it's back up, for $70/year. Yeah, great. Thats what I call defunct. Another great one, on a smaller scale, was a website at the university of maryland called terpidiots.com. Started off as a bunch of pictures of drunk people doing stupid stuff, but it got really popular and kept growing. It became like an unofficial online gathering place for maryland students. The message boards became really popular, and the site was getting like 2000 hits per day, and up to like 15000 on days after big events like basketball games, riots, and when a tornado came through campus. There would be pictures of recent events up within minutes. The university didnt like the site too much, and threatened the creators with a lawsuit. Everyone was hoping they'd get a lawyer and take it to court, but they chose not to and shut down. The site was hosted off campus, so the lawsuit was simply over the use of the word "terp" in the domain name. The word is copywrited by the school, but copyrights are very specific and chances are had they gone to court, the website would have easily won. A couple sites came along to replace it, but it hasn't been the same since. The latest one is http://www.terrapinsgonewild.com. Dave

Depends if thats my ONLY $20 million. I could think of better ways to spend that kinda money if I only had one chance. Dave

Didja see http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=247;? Now LAUGH damnit! Sorry, at work and REALLY bored.

It's not the one going faster than the fuselage that scares me, it's the one going slower! Helicopters encounter tip stall when they're going too FAST, not too slow. That's messed up!

I just dont even wanna know... In my case it might take a supercomputer to figure out how many zeros there are after the decimal place. Dave

hehe good. I'm not the only one that can't figure it out. I thought maybe I was just dumb. Or maybe I am and you are too.

Hehe I would if I had one, but that's it. Couldnt find any good high res pics of dr. evil and mini me (in the extensive 5 minute google search I did). If you can find a high res version of that picture, maybe I'll redo it. High res means I need to be more careful though so it might take a little longer. Dave

Read the subject and had to do it. See attachment. Dave