BlindBrick

Basically an XM system comes in three parts: an antenna, a receiver box, and a control unit. "XM Ready" decks have a built in XM control interface and thus you only need to get the XM antenna and receiver box. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

No they weren't. I used to be one, and a huge part of being a police officer is discretion. Unless they are working under an incredibly broad "Zero Tolerance" law, there is no mandate that police officers have to take to task every infraction. A police officer is more than a person who writes tickets and arrest people. They are literally the guardians of civil order and part of their /duty/ is to use their judgement and discretion to enforce the laws of the land in such a way as not to harm society. Arbitraily enforcing every law as a contest is a miscarriage of that duty. And yes, I know some people have taken the "if you broke the law..." position, but let's be honest. |It's virtually 100% impossible to do anythign without violating some law. Mostly this is because city/state/federal codes have been around for decades if not centuries. Rarely does a law get totally repealed, it usually just gets surplanted by a more modern law. Thus if I had wanted to, I could have wrote tickets to everyone driving a vehcile in my part of Oklahoma for failing to send a runner up to the next intersection and firing off a gun or noisemaker to let people know their car was coming. Or if you prefer a more recent example of how strict adherence to the letter of the law can be a miscarriage of jsutice, consider this series of tickets by an Olahoma Highway Patrolman. He was hiding at a busy turnpike entrance and when people took off their seatbelt to get their wallets, he'd popout and give them a ticket for no seatbelt. By the letter of the law, these people had been operating motorvehicles without a seatblet, which is a violation of the Oklahoma trafiic code. However, the local DA used his judgement to determine that this was a miscarriage of justice and then used his discretion to drop all the tickets. That's how the system is supposed to work. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Deploy your main, land safely then go find and beat the ever-living shit out of your rigger? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I generally don't charge unless they want to come to the DZ during off hours and take a packing class(this is only if they ask, I don't try to sell them on it). I figure you got to give something back to the sport someway or another, and this is one of the ways that I do it. FWIW, packing is not as common as you'd think. Heck, I taught myself how to pack mains after getting my rigger's ticket. To say my first few main packjobs opened briskly is a bit of understatement.

No, all those factors do seem to play a part in /some/ people's desire to own guns, BUT she forgot one other vary important thing. We humans seem to have an inborn instinct to collect things, So with this urge, you can have a person who is by the current definition perfectly adjusted, and who just chose guns as their choice of collector's item. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

My hat was used in the filming of the improptu porno that the Bang Brothers did at SD: America PB a couple years back. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

No that's sensible. I do a very thorough check of container, bridle, freepag, reserve pilot chute, risers, toggles, lines, line attachment points, external surface of the canopy, ect. everytime I do a repack. However, I only crawl into the cells on inital inspection and then once a year if I continue to pack that rig, or I have reason to suspect that canopy might have suffered internal damage(terminal openings, immersion, unusual damage to the container, ect.). The reason for this is that the oils in your hair and skin are not exactly great for nylon. Since the reserve is a lifesaving device, I can't, in my mind, justify an action that harms the reserve when all indications are that nothing has changed. Note that I said when nothing has changed, if I have reason to suspect something has changed, be it a terminal opening, or simply aging of the system, I will do an in-depth interior inspection. Bringing this back to the orignal point of my original post. Yes I charge a higher weekend repack rate if I am working on gear that I did not do the last repack on, or rather me working on an unfamilar rig costs more(I charge by the hour on weekends when I am supposed to be packing). This is because if I did do the last repack, not as much time is required. For example, I know the slippage marks on the French links are accurate so that saves having to do the test, I have the reserve closing loop length wrote down so I do not have to measure the old one to fashion the new one(heck I probably already have on fashioned of that legnth if I reguarly work on this rig), I don't have to check part numbers to verify that all the components are the correct ones, I do not have to research the system to see if there are any outstanding SB or AD's, and unless the situation warrants it, I do no do an interior inspection. That shaves 1 - 2 hours off the repack time, which is why it costs less for me to repack a rig I am familiar with. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

yes. If I was the last person to pack the rig, I can check my records and to find out some info about the rig that saves time and I generally don't go crawling around inside a canopy I've already inspectred in the past year unless I have reason to suspect internal damage. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not really. Skydive Skyranch at Siloam Springs,AR is roughly the same distance as Dallas and they are supposed to have a a King Air all summer. We've gotten more than a few people from the OKC area. I was curious and asked why they'd drive to AR and they said the DZ had a rep for safety and cool atmosphere. Now I admit that I am a little more than biased, but Skyranch is tight. We're family, but we're not club-ish. And skygods are no where to be seen. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Obviously you're not a man I must admit that I was suckered too, so I can say from 1st hand experience that no instructions are needed. The game is just a coordination/memorization test. Can you enter a series of control inputs that have nothing to do with skydiving to produce manuevers that , once again, have nothing to do with skydiving. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Kris a Gotcha Covered is a pretty good person and she does good work too. Her website is at http://www.direct-bag.com/gotcha/static_sails.html She should be able to make you somethign at a reasonable price. -Blind P.S. Tell her Jack Da Rigger from Skyranch says hi "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Can't say for sure, but something to consider here is whether or not the rigger is also packing mains. If I am asked by a DZO to be a packer on a given weekend, I will charge a higher rate for repacks for two reasons. 1. In that situation the DZ's student operation depends on me getting mains packed and 2. I can pack a lot of mains in the time it takes me to do one repack, especially if it was not last repacked by me, so it's only fair that I charge the equivalent of the forgone revenue. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Well I lost down from 320 to 227 by getting left at the altar, but it's not a diet method I really recommend. OTOH, I've put a lot of weight back on since being down for a knee injury and two transplants so maybe I need to find another fiancee...

Actually this seems like a fairly lame comment. All your experience with heavy non-tandem jumpers appears to be anecdotal, which makes your jump numbers/experience position somewhat spurious. You can only /imagine/ what us anvils go through while we /live it/ with every jump we make. When it comes to issues dealing with weight, I'd put more credence in advice from a 300 lbs person with 75 jumps than a height-weight proportinate skygod with 7500 jumps. I'd guess that you'll want to rebut something about CG concerns and all that, so I'll put it simply. It doesn't matter whether it's 4 anvils or 40 HWP divers makign an exit. The possibility for CG issues is ever present and it is the responsibility of the pilot and divers(regardless of expereince level) to ensure that CG is respected. That doesn't matter whether you weigh 1 or 1000 lbs. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You know once you and At gets some more jumps in, we ought to find another anvil and see if we can outrace soem freeflyers while doing RW.

First, apologizes to the admins if this is the wrongplace, but I looked over the forum's list and didn't see a place where this exactly fit. Anyway, I have been in communication with Ralph at Western Parachute Sales for several months regarding a Vector 10 & 1/2 he had for sale. Unfortunately Ralph seems to be snowed under with a lot of work related stuff right now and hasn't been able to help me. This is a big problem as I am planning on going to Eloy the weekend after next. If anyone has a category B or D container that will fit me and my canopies for $500 or less, send me a private message for a quick sale. My sizes are below. thanks, -Blind Main: Falcon 300 Reserve: R-Max 288 Height: 5'11 Weight: 300 Waist: 48 Torso: 24 Leg Pad: 36 Inseam: 30 Chest: 51 "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I've seen way too many bad comments about FXC's to just beleive that it's a bunch of malingers just bashing gear. However, my home DZ has many FXC's in service and we've never had trouble with any of them. Heck we have one we use for demonstration purposes that is over eight years out of date and has severe case damage and the thing still fires perfectly within spec. So maybe you either get a good one or you don't. From my experience with them, they are good AAD's IF you respect their limitations. 1. Be aware that changes in weather can affect the setting. Not a real biggy, just be sure to check the setting before you get on the plane, which is easily accomplished since the readout is on the MLW. 2. Be aware that because it is mechanical, the FXC has no abort function. If your descent meets arming conditions, the FXC WILL fire once it reaches its activation altitude regardless of what your rate of descent is at that time. 3. Be aware that the FXC can be triggered by prolonged agressive canopy manuvers. Once again, this is not a big deal. If you are planning such manuevers, simply reach over and turn off the unit. Once again, it is easily accessible because it is mounted on the MLW. So in many respects, the FXC is a lot like a VX, Xaos or other ultra high performance canopy. Respect its purpose and limitations and you'll likely be fine. Ignore them and you can get yourself killed. Do I think the FXC is the end-all-be-all of AAD's? Of course not, there's been well over a decade of technological advancement since it came out. There are better, more capable units out there; however, that doesn't mean the FXC is fatally flawed. For a jumper with a older rig and a tight budget, an FXC can see them through until they can afford better gear. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

It's been a while since I read my Poynter's, but I remeber a section where they said the USAF did a test and virtually no one could pull 25 lbs or more of force. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Spring loaded PC's with a velcro tab where the bridle attches to the base of the PC allow you to switch betwwen S/L and Freefall withotu having to reconfigure the rig. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

You go with what you can afford. I got my FXC for $50 which was far cheaper than anything else on the market except maybe a Sentinel. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Something else that will help is going to a wind tunnel. Us big guys have to seriously hug the beach ball to get significant lift in a tunnel so a little time in there will help make it feel more natural. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Is this a new thing? It's been a little over two years since I packed a Dual Hawk, but as I recall the manual simply mandated a flat pack. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Bummer, I am a thousand miles away from my S&TA. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'm getting ready do hit Eloy and a few other DZ's over spring break. I have one concern though, I never actually got around to getting any liscenses. Back when a "C" was still 100 freefalls, I acheived all the requirements then took and passed the test. My S&TA signed off in my logbook that I met or exceed the "C" liscense requirements. Do you think that would be good enough? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

So where do we find info about this sale? -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."