BlindBrick

Man, I've only been in the sport five years, but I feel like an old timer on this issue. And also please note that this isn't aimed at any one poster but the group that objects as a whole. When I did my first two night jumps, I was very much night blind. Before both jumps, I called my family to let them know how much I loved them, because I honestly felt there was a decent chance I wouldn't come back. And of course, many will cite that as an example of why it shouldn't be required. But the thing is, it isn't required. You don't want to do a night jump, that's fine, take the restricted D lisence and be done with it. Just please quit trying to denigrate the effort of those of us who have went the extra mile to earn our unrestricted lisences. "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

the question that was never satisfactorily answered was what happened to the poor vidiot shooting outside video on the guy's swoop to the tank? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Of the three, I feel the R-Max was better than the other two, but the difference is slight. Of the three, I'd actually rank the PDR at the bottom(again just by a small margin). That's not saying the PDR is bad, it's just a case of the PDR's setting the bar and then the SMART and R-Max, as later releases, having the chance to improve on the standard that the PDR set. When it comes down to choosing between the SMART and the R-Max, I think it basically comes down to two questions( asuming all else is equal). 1. How biased are your against Precision? I won't quibble on Precision's past history, but I've found their /current/ line of products, and customer service, to be rock solid. Having said that, you should have absolute confidence in your reserve. If you have doubts about Precision, then by all means go with the SMART. 2. How big are you? If you are a large jumper who likes to fall fast, the larger R-Max's are specifically built with you in mind. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

26 was way worse than 25 for me. At 25 you realize you are a quarter of a century old. At 26 your realize you're OVER a quarter of a century old. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

AFAIK, I'm currently flying the biggest Safire II there is, a 269 which I load at ~1.3. It takes a lot of effort to intiate a front riser turn, but it has a very noticable effect. I'd suspect the "not much" you are seeing is more the results of your wingloading than the raw size of your canopy. -MaxGrav "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Precision has never made a Falcon smaller than 150, even though they listed smaller in their literature. The only thing you'd get by using a 9 cell for a reserve would be larger pack volume and (probably) slightly less reliability. And maybe a few curses from your rigger who's trying to figure out where all the extra ^@~# lines came from, before he mentally reprograms his flaking procedures for 9 cells.

Here's a couple of my two boys, Riley (2.5) and Jacob (9 mths), taken at my wedding. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

could someone please pm me names, i know people there. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I jumped an MT-1 reserve at Bridge day last year. On my first jump, the canopy opened great. Took the water on landing, and then repacked the rig immediately. There was water literally running out of my rig as I threw it on my shoulder to catch the bus. My second jump was a relatively short delay but the most absolutely brutal opening I ever experienced. The only thing I can compare it to was the time right after I got my rigging ticket and was fucking around with sliders and took a Raven III bikni slider to 140 mph on a 288 sf 9 cell main. The Bridge Day opening was slightly worse. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Marie Sharp's http://www.mariesharp.com/prodline.htm This stuff is hand's down the best stuff I've ever tasted. She uses a carrot rather than vinegar base, so it has a smooth flavor and a relatively slow on set of the heat. And the heat is there but it doesn't overpower the other flavors in the sauce. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

There was a Paraflite MT-1 there -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

No, it's per month. My base quote was ~$50 a month for $200K on a 20 yr term. After the rider, it's now over $250 -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Just got done meeting with my State Farm agent. He told me the underwriter assessed a $1 per $1k of coverage rider for skydiving. I seem to recall that some jumpers here are with State Farm and have a much lower rider. My agent feels that the excessive rider is due to an underwriter who's unfamiliar with the sport. He believes that if we can get her info on State Farm policies where the skydiving rider is lower, then the underwriter will lower my rider. If anyone , who has State Farm life insurance with the skydiving rider, could PM me, I'd sure appeciate it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Wouldn't happen to have been Jim Brewer flying "Island Aire" would it? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Resist the urge. Now I'm positively not saying they are unsafe, but LD:OCP's are a cost savings measure by the manufactuer. Any cake that does not get package, yet is still considered "edible" is run through a crumb grinder. The contents of the grinder are then mixed with a small amount of oatmeal and an industrial stregnth(like burns unprotected skin) bottle of flavoring to create the cake. The Creme is a mixture of vegatable shortening, sugar and air. OTOH, if you want to fell good about a corp, whose products you buy. The maker of LD's is a private company that offers above average pay, great benefits, profit-sharing for their employees, and tcontributes heavily to the communities they are in. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've attached a file with data from the fastest bellyfly I've ever done. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Wonder what you'd get if you mated this technology to HMA lines and PD's new fabric? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Note that in America, there's no government mandated shelf life, as there is in some European countries. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Doesn't work. All that made me do was have to get a bigger canopy!

Along those lines, When I was in high school, I went to a college literacy center to be studied because I had taught myself to read at three and was like post-college vocab at eight. While there they introduced me to this speed reading test on the computer. Playing around with the settings, I was finally able to get real close to 2,000 per minute while maintaing 100% comprehension, but only with a custom display set up. However, the great about it was that it worked with any text file. So in theory, if I couod find the program, or one like it, I would have a lot easier time with my first year of grad school. Anyone know about those types of programs? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

At similar WL's, my Safire 2 269 on a straight in approach will outswoop a smaller Stilletto coming in on double fronts. Things get even more interesting if you put a little more energy into the system, but then again, 1.3 isn't exactly a light WL. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

This past weekend I repacked a rig with ROL and and cloth channels for the cutaway cables. -Blind I forgot, you are from Arkansas.

This past weekend I repacked a rig with ROL and and cloth channels for the cutaway cables. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Meh that's nothing. Mossad once used one to blow the head off a palestenian bomb designer that was notorius for his cleverly concealed devices. -blind. "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I don't have a lot of jump numbers, but virtually all my experience is on 250+ sf canopies. Currently I'm flying a 269 sf Safire II at 1.3. Based off my experience, I feel the "bigger = less agressive" argument is innacurate. While it's true that the bigger canopy responds slower, there's more energy in the system which means that when the canopy does respond, it's going to do more than a smaller model of the same canopy. That sluggish response also means that any corrective input takes a while to be felt. From experience, I can tell you this can get you into trouble on landing when you do something relatively minor and discover you're suddenly coming in hotter than intended and your canopy isn't wanting to respond to input to counter the situation. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."