larsrulz

Yeah, we joke about the Iraqi civilians blowing up all the time. [/sarcasm] Thousands of people died....it's not a joke. Nothing about it is funny. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

News to me, but I stand corrected. This is for a first officer slot for a major airline? I know regionals don't require it. I have plenty of pilot friends who get their two year certificate, CFI for a couple, then get a regional position. I know a UPS recruiter said that a bachelors isn't required. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Add Rashomon to the list....looks at a rape and murder from four different points of view. Each having their individual contradictions...again, had a huge influence on "The Outrage" if you've seen it. Definitely an excellent film. Early 1950's, so one of Kurosawa's early films. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

While this is true, that is because so much emphasis is placed on getting your ratings through a Part 141 school, whereas when it comes times to get a job, the airlines could careless how/where/when you got your hours. They want you to smile and hand them your logbook. If you have more, better, complexer (shush, it's not a word) hours than the next guy, you'll get the job. The important thing is when there is a downturn in the airline industry, especially early in your career, what will you do when you are laid off for 2-3 years? With a degree, there is always something to fall back on. Without, you might be stuck flipping burgers with 1000 hours PIC and $25K in debt. As per Part 141 or Part 61, unless you intend to get a degree on top of your professional pilot certificate, then there is no reason to go through a Part 141. They will spend hours upon hours (meaning your money upon your money) babysitting you through all the information you need to know. When the information is right there for you to get. A Gleim or Jeppesen kit for private pilot through ATP and everything in between can be purchased for $800, throw on a headset and you're paying $1000. Go to your local Part 141 and they'll ask for that same $1000 for the books, plus another $10K over the next two years on top to teach you everything which you could learn on your own; don't forget that doesn't yet include an hour of flight time. Some people need these direction, some don't. On top of that, they'll force you to fly their $135/hour Archer with instructor when you could go down the street and rent the 152 for $40/hour dry plus and old-timer CFI for $20. 200 hours starts adding up if you are taking loans or scrounging for every last dollar. If you got the money or someone else paying you to go to school, go to a 141 school hands down, but it's far from necessary, and your future employers could care less. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Not basically, it is a Japanese interpretation of King Lear. And definitely an excellent movie. Kind of wierd to say, but I read King Lear a few months before I first saw Ran quite a few years ago, and I liked Kurosawa's version better...is that wrong? Seven Samurai is hands down his best work. Yojimbo is definitely up there, but I think Ran is his next best work, considering it isn't that well known by people who really liked his four samurai works. Kurosawa was truely in his prime for Ran. It was released a good 20-30 years post-"his samurai classics." Some movies just take a certain type of director, and Ran was one of them. If you didn't like Ran a whole lot, then I would say you probably won't like Kurosawa's non-samurai films, so only get them if you can't think of anything else. And Crotalus, better be careful of declaring Star Wars as a remake of Hidden Fortress. It was a basis, but a far cry from a remake. But Hidden Fortress is definitely a movie to watch in a humorous sort of way. Not really that great a movie, but the correlation between that and Star Wars provide constant amusement. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Trim and hardness definitely should be different colors. I say go with what's behind door #2. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

By exaggerating that badly, how can people possibly believe you? No genetic disorder can force someone to eat 50-100 pounds in a week. That said, genes certainly have an effect on people, controlling primarily their metabolism, but also a number of secondary effects. No matter ones genes, they are never the sole blame. Any overweight person can eat right and use more calories than they eat (whether or not they excercise to do this), it may be more difficult for some, but never impossible. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Very unlikely that from the get go you'll have someone paying you to get your pilots license(s) to work for them afterwards. Also, as a pilot with a slight color deficiency, be prepared for an uphill battle to even get a job in the industry. There is no regulation (as there is in the Air Force) to not allow you to fly, but if you failed the Air Force color vision test, then you will most likely fail the FAA one. You can get your licenses, but you'll have to get a SODA (statement of demonstrated ability) to be allowed to solo night fly. This SODA, in essence, is merely doing a checkride at night to show you can tell the colors of a rotating beacon, which colors you see on a VASI, etc. Quite simple unless you have complete color blindness and only see grays. The problem is that the airline industry looks down on pilots with SODAs. When you have an equally qualified pilot without a SODA, why take one which, they see, is sub-par? You'll probably have no trouble being a flight instructor or working as a jump pilot, but those industry slots will be extra difficult to obtain. As for the state of the industry, it is improving a lot. Estimates are that it air traffic will double within some number of years (forget exactly, but certainly before 2020). You may wish to directly contact some non-airline companies. See how UPS and FedEx treat pilots with SODAs. Directly ask their HR if they penalize pilots for having one. In any case, best of luck in your endeavors towards pilothood. I spent a lot of time deciding if fighting an uphill battle with a SODA is worth it, and I ended up choosing against it. I'm certain it's possible, but hard to tell what challenges will occur. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Quote?? You've gone from unbelieving of a $37 gallon of gas to claiming a $25 gallon of gas is a non-issue? OK.Quote I'm merely commenting on that fact that you are trying to quantify something which can't possibly be quantified, at least not with the lack of data you appear to be using. I don't disbelieve that gas could hit $37 a gallon, but you're just pulling numbers randomly out of no where. There are two sides to the oil dispute, I obviously tend more towards the optimistic one, but there is no way of knowing which will come to bear. The optimistic viewpoint has much more data to back up their ideas, whereas the pessimistic one merely states that there will be no more oil discoveries. What the future entails, no one knows, but pulling numbers out of the air really advances nothing. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

In the 1950s, my parents could get a hamburger for 10 cents...that certainly hasn't stopped people from getting fat today. Inflation is a fact of life, salaries increase as do the cost of goods and services. If gas becomes $25 a gallon next year, then that is certainly something that will have effect, but $25 gallon of gas in 2060 will hardly be an issue. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Of course the price of gas will go up as it gets harder to obtain oil, but the question becomes, within the next 50 years how severe will the increase be? You seem to think $37.85/gallon is a likely result, whereas there is no backing of this idea. Europeans certainly don't mind paying $4 a gallon, how will Americans be different? Only time will tell. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

The biggest thing which this obviously one-sided page fails to consider is that oil wells which have produced (i.e. the oil has been obtained from the field) at current only obtain 35-45% of the oil present. That means that as technology continues to be developed, so many no-longer-producing wells can be redrilled and reproduced. Check out a company like Schlumberger to see just how advanced some of this technology is. Head out to western Texas sometime and you'll see that so many of the old wells are being repurchased by companies and they output lots more oil. The pessimistic viewpoint of the page you provide fails to consider many other things, while there are fewer "giant" fields being discovered currently, the number of smaller fields continue to increase. Take countries such as Angola and Brazil for example, during the 1990's, their proven reserves had a 400% and 200% renewal rate respectively (i.e. in Angola for each barrel of oil drilled, 4 more were discovered). Not to mention the number of off-shore rigs which continue to increase. Compound that with the advances in deep off-shore technologies and the potential advancement in shale oil technologies, and it's quite obvious that oil will not be a problem for quite a long time, certainly not within the next two years. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I had this *exact* problem with UPS when my Mirage was sent out. UPS left my brand new container sitting outside my door for 1.5 weeks while I was away on vacation! Since you are personally shipping it, either company will allow you to request signature confirmation upon delivery. Then you know there is a human being accepting the rig. btw, whatever you do, don't use the US Postal Service. Their past history of insurance claims is quite sub-par. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

That's an awefully big jump to say that the war alone is responsible for the current state of the dollar. Considering our economy has grown very very considerably (27.5% for the Dow and 43% for the Nasdaq over the past two years since the war began), that can be construed in the same way to say that the war in Iraq has caused huge dividends in our own economy. Both are completely bogus statements. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Hard to follow the link given without knowing much about skydiving equipment. Basically, the canopy is folded up a certain way and placed in a deployment "bag". The canopy goes into the bag and the lines are kept external. Once the canopy lines are secured via rubber bands to ensure the whiplash occurs at the canopy and not at you, the lines and bag&canopy are both placed into the "container". Without getting technical, the container is the rig that you wear on your back that keeps everything tidy. The bag comes out of the container when you deploy, and then the canopy will come out of the bag. There are a number of reasons for all this, but that's left for a rainy day at the dropzone with a rigger. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

More specifically have trouble finding a rigger to close your rig up. Mine looked bad the first go around, my rigger, being the good rigger he is, took it back and repacked it. He ended up needing to lengthen the closing loop about 1/4" I believe. Talk to your rigger about this...he shouldn't be packing it to look excessively poorly and if he is then maybe find a new rigger. Especially when the reserve flap is popped out a bit and is dangerous. (this was my problem caused by too short a reserve closing loop. The flap did not pop out until I actually put the rig on and tightened it up.) I got it back after the re-repack, and I can't tell the difference between his M2 when it had the same canopies with the old cutter location and my M2 with the same canopies and new cutter location. It isn't that it can't be done...riggers are used to needing a certain length closing loop or putting the bulk in certain locations....changing the cutter location means riggers have to relearn their tricks. I'm sure the old dogs can learn new tricks. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Cordura /= Zero Porosity nylon. PD does lemon for their staff canopies, and it is very much a neon type of color, compared to the duller yellow color. I would assume since the fabric all comes from the same place(s), that the two lemons are the same. Think about the classic katana (with yellow and lower katana logo) picture....that is lemon not yellow. But going with Frog's recommendation, any gear dealer will have Zpo swatches. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Lies I tell ya, LIES! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I would guess you have a really damn good chance of getting the canopy into the container. My M2 fits my samurai 150 (listed as "tight as a brick") with a bit of room left. Mirage lists the M3 as "snug" with a Sabre 150, and "tight as a brick" with a spectre 170. My comment is that while my smart 150 is only listed as "snug" it is worse than "tight as a brick," with the moving of the cutter, I believe (non-rigger opinion) that it is more difficult to make a very very tight mirage look good, so while you may be fine with a PDR 160 according to the chart, that combining with an already tight main could mean a huge pain each time you pack it up. Is there a reason *not* to get a G3 M5? I can tell you flat out that I wish I would have gotten an M5. Unless you fully intend to downsize both main and reserve in the near future, then why get a container that just isn't made for what you want it to do? I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

As it in no way involves George Lucas...this one is sure to be much better! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Without a doubt and so much more. Even sloppy hand writing can be converted from as-written to text, with dynamic conversion to allow for corrections if needed. Will allow you to record lectures and combine them with notes, diagrams, presentations, etc. Definitely a laptop with oh so much more input allowed. The disadvantage....you will pay out the ass for a nice one. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Who needs their SIM when you can just go here? I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

As they say, sex sells! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

What? That's when you call her your ex-girlfriend's name and see how long you can hold on. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

So basically you had a two-way sidebody spinning around a point. You, as the guy who wasn't taking grips, were in the best position to correct the situation, as you had both hands and feet available. Think about how you would correct the situation if you were doing it solo, and do that to an extreme. In the case of orbiting, you are doing both a sideslide and a turn at once...you need to correct both. Simply dig your side going into the orbit while dropping your knee to counteract the turn. It's really hard to tell without video of the manuever or at least a picture of your body position, but my inclination will be towards you having your feet out driving the formation around in a circle while your sidebody buddy was trying to correct it, just causing you to spin instead of drive forward. You may be able to try just bringing your feet closer to your butt. It is unlikely you will drive the two-way back much and it will stop the spinning if this is the problem. In all honesty, I really don't have a clue. Ask a videographer to go up with you once or get a good RW coach to go out with you guys....surely neither of those would be a problem getting a Deland. Certainly save a lot of money over fixing this after 5 or so jumps on your own. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF