BlindBrick

So, ummm, who is the baby's father? Her instructor/boyfriend. He's the TM in the Skydive Radio pic. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

There was not knot on the ground; however, I did find a kink set into one of the upper control lines on that side. Some have suggested that it was simply the results of folding the canopy and not the results of a knot. I tend to disagree with that theory because I would have expected to find simlar kinks in the other lines if it had been the result of folding. A number of riggers more experienced than me have said that even if a tension knot did occur it couldn't have hung the slider. It was also pointed out that if you watch the video, the right side of her canopy is not inflated either and that would have been totally independent of the tension knot on the left side. It is worth pointing out that we got lucky in the FAA investigation and drew a master rigger as lead investigator. He ruled it an incident but listed cause as undetermined and assigned no fault. And in case someone ask again, I never saw the final report. I got this directly from the investigator who's based out of the Little Rock, AR FSDO. I don't recall his name but if you call and ask for the guy who handled the parachute accidnet in Oct., the'll connect you. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The pregnancy wasn't a surprise. She strongly suspected she was pregnant, the lab work the hospital ran just confirmed it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not rumor, fact. It was purchased from a jumper's store and sold to them by a sales associate who is also a jumper. I heard it directly from the associate. Interestingly, what I would put in the unverified category is the fact that she got her dental at least partly done by a jumper and that he wrote off a significant chunk of the bill. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I was part of the team that did the on-site investigation. We found no damage to the slider or canopy that would indicate that the canopy fabric had got sucked into the grommet. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Got to go with Bill Von on this. Jewel Staite as Kaleigh in Firefly/Serenity. Perfect mix of beauty, brains, navievity and horniness, -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I think what everyone is upset about is the fact that 1. She's sensationalised her story in order for it to generate more press and 2. She's willing to harm others. Not just the sport in general, but also a particular DZ in order to to generate income. She was not a student were the accident occured. Our DZO had reservations about allowing student jumps outside of our program but graciously sold them two lift tickets anyway. Now his business(and his livelihood) is getting dragged through the mud even though all he did was provide two slots on an airplane. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Could be worse. I've got a custody hearing in a weekand I'm fairly sure that this got the attention of my kids' mother and that the dangers of skydiivng used as a reason why I shouldn't have custody. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The way she explained it to us was that Medicaid was picking up the tab for medical but not the teeth which were supposed to be a very pricey item. However in the past week, she has not only got new teeth but also an engagement ring. Makes one wonder. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I was jsut curious about who will make a bailout harness designed to hold a sqaure reserve? I know that RI does the P-124 but I was under the impression it only uised their proprietary reserve. Anybody else make them? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That's a standard 42 BASE PC. I took that same PC off the bridge this year attached to a 370. Marta assured me that it was more than adequate for a 370, and I know the canopy Alex jumped at BD 04 was way smaller. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

This was an odd situation. This was a student jump that was conducted totally outside of our student program using a technique(AFF) we don't even offer, taught by a third party instructor. Even the rig was brought into our DZ by the AFF instructor and not one of our student rigs. Manifest verified that the rig had an in-date reserve as well as an AAD and RSL(our standard check for a sport rig that's going to be used by someone on student status). Normally, if a student is jumping a sport rig, they check with their Instructor to make sure it's approriate. Since her Instructor brought the rig, it did not occur to me(or anyone else AFAIK) to check the canopy size. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You do realize that these are the very traits that drive the advancement of the human race? -Blind Thats arguable, but beside the point, what about hose traits would make an intelligent, peaceful race want to contact us? The thing is that I don't think that such a race is possible. As long as you have intelligence, you are going to have disagreement. Disagreement builds conflict and conflict abolishes peace. I would go as far to argue that a truely peaceful race is a race on the fast road to exstinction as it signifies a race that is no longer advancing. We spend so much time, as a race, bemoaning our agression as if it is curse. We seek to abolish it, but that is the height of hubristic folly. Virtually everything we ahve today is based off agression. most of our technology is the result of things developed for war or stands on the shoulder of such tech. Our greatest literature is often about battles or violence and machinations to take power. Even our religions are usually phrased as a conflict. People may not like it, but it is what we are. We would extingusih what makes us special. Far better would be to to wish for a way that we can positively channel our agression. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You do realize that these are the very traits that drive the advancement of the human race? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Right now, I can pull down the risers less than an inch. The resulting turn rate is less than what I see with harness shifting. I've also tried the brake trick which yielded a very minimal improvement. I'm am not the most in shape guy, but I have no trouble doing front riser turns on larger canopies. There is just something about my current setup that makes it impossble. This canopy just wants to fly straight and level. I can bury a toggle and physically lock my arm straight down, and at about 300 degrees in, despite my arm being locked and me expending all my stregnth to resist, the canopy begins to lever my arm back up. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Things in my size have to be custom built. With the exception of you and Canuck, everyone's told me that the Crossfire 2 has significantly lower riser pressure than an equally sized Safire 2. I only have enough money for one new canopy. If I get the smaller Safire 2 and it retains the high riser pressure, then I'm in roughly the same boat, as I'm in now, of not progressing in a crucial area of my discipline. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I can't speak for everyone, but I do have a very clear idea why I want to go to a lightly loaded X-Fire 2. I am a big guy who flies a 269 sf Safire 2 right now. I'd call it the perfect canopy for my current skill level if it wasn't for one thing. Safire 2's tend to have high front riser pressure, and when you combine that with the sheer size of my canopy, and a moderate wing loading, they are virtually impossible. I have a very definite goal of one day becoming a very high performance canopy pilot doing high performance landings. I feel that learning front risers is very crucial to that. After discussing this with my CC mentors, I feel that at this point in my progression, a lightly loaded Crossifre 2 is likely my best bet. The light loading will would be in line with my skill level while the lighter riser pressure should counteract the sheer size of the wing and thus allow me to begin learning front riser techniques. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Why would it not be OK with R-Slinks? -Blind With a PD Reserve it'd be ok, but I'm not sure about using PD Slinks on an Aerodyne reserve, etc. Ok, I see what you are getting at. OTOH, if he's got 100 rides on his reserve, he has bigger worries than slink compatibility! With the main, TSO is not an issue. I use R-Slinks on an Icarus main in a Mirage container. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Why would it not be OK with R-Slinks? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Call me a heretic, but a secret I learned for my mom was to start off with a quart of V8 Bold and Spicy as a base. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Is there any other kind of rigger? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've seen a whole litter about that shade before. Didn't know it was from the placenta. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Yes. And it's f'ing dangerous as all get out. I was in a bad , bad truck wreck(head on into a concrete culvert at 68 mph) and I had that moment of peace and then I came to the conclusion that I wasn't comfortable with going gently into the good night and put the wheel hard over just in time. Saved my life as if I hadn't, the driver's side floor board would have went like the passenger's side and knifed throught he bottom of the dash. I'd have been a double amputee and almsot certanly would have bled out as it was a good 15 mintues before someone came by and got help. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The DZ's in my area each have at least a couple of rigs set up for big students. A DZ that's purchased a similar set up new, like an RTS or Vector Student sized to handle a 300+ main and carrying the larger Jump Shack, R-Max, or PDR(to a lesser extent) reserve, could handle the bigger students. I wasn't advocating buying specialty gear, just trying to point out that I thought a DZ with newer gear might already have an adequate setup. I made the mistake of assuming that most DZ's would be setup like the ones around here, which I thought were pretty typical for 182 DZ's. I hsould have remembered that warning me about making assumptions from rigging school! -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Used to be about 330 OTD. Nowadays it's a little closer to 310. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."