MWGemini

Ok, Beat it. 125 levels. I think the key to the last ones is hitting the exit while the big moving box is on a white box, but im not sure. Might be random. Mike

Ok, how do you beat 100? I get the box, but it keeps killing me.

Ouch- at 80, there are invisible walls.

Ok, at 50, it says you are halfway there. I'm stuck on 69 now though. My arm is tired. Mike

How many are there? I'm at 44 now. Mike

At least for a day or two, right?

I really hate to do this, but I'm going to have to sit out on this Friday's activities. Sarah hurt her back and isn't very mobile right now. If you guys still want to do the fondue thing this Friday, let me know and I can bring my fondue pot out to the DZ. If you want to just postpone it (again), that is also fine. Sorry for the last minute change. I won't be out Saturday, either. We've got plans to go look at houses is she is feeling well enough. I should be there Sunday, however. Dawn- yes, you can still call me floaty. I think I'll always be floaty. I'll probably be the first person to successfully land a freefly suit with the way I fall. Eric- Good idea. Do you think Nancy would be opposed to us putting up a flyer about it somewhere around the DZ, or discreetly asking for donations? Mike

Ok, so far, we've got Me & Sarah Marion Justin Dawn #1 has suggested we postpone it again due to the weather. Any votes for or against that? Mike

I started skydiving with the intent to BASE, and I'm trying to focus my training and education on skills that will be needed once I am ready for BASE. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Mike

Wow. Sounds like a lot of pie is going to be thrown this weekend. So, the official list right now is: Floaty Mike Marion Anyone else? Mike

Here is the original message I sent to you: As an added note, if *I* personally were to purchase one (which I'm sure I could never afford), I wouldn't need the programmed flight ability. As long as there is some system to keep it from impacting, that would be enough for me. Possibly even a Cypress with a modified, reusable cutter, in the event the jumper does not activate the timer. Like I said though, I doubt I would be able to afford one, but it would definitely be cool to jump. Thanks, Mike

Hey Dawn, Are you or John going to be there for fondue this Friday? Right now, I don't have anyone confirmed, and we need to know by tomorrow so we can get enough food. Thanks, Mike

I sent you an email offering to contribute what little cash I've got. I'll also (in the event this goes through) contribute my time and energy to help clear the land. Mike

So um..... when can we buy them, and what's the sticker price? Also- how do you handle the recovery of them right now? Are they (as advertised) programmed and self piloting, do they have their own parachutes, or do they simply get destroyed on impact? I also sent you a private message a few days ago with several more detailed questions. Thanks, Mike

Oops, I meant Chile. Really. The belt has helped me some, but I've still got to work on flying my body faster. It will be good to see you again. Mike

Repost, but still funny. It was nice meting you this weekend, although briefly. Unfortunately, I missed your seminar. Maybe next time. Mike

Well, generally the majority of the people who come out on Fridays are freeflyers, so they've had their "Freefly Friday" thing for a while now. Adding fondue to the mix just makes it harder to say three times quickly . RW people are invited, just let either Marion or myself know if you'll be attending ASAP. We're trying to have a solid list by Wednesday so we can know how much food we need. Right now, I'd estimate that we'll start cooking around 6:30ish, and last about 2-3 hours, but that might depend on what time the last load goes up and how long it takes people to get packed. Mike

Did you ever get the piece rotation math working? If not, let me know, and I'll see if I can figure out why. Mike

Sounds like you're doing it for the right reasons and already have the answer, then. When I was in the Army, I had a few friends who had gone through sniper school. I'm not sure if its the same one the Corps uses, but I'm sure theirs is just as difficult. Good luck. Mike

I know the boogie isn't over yet, but with the weather forecasted for the next few days, there won't be much jumping. I hope you all had a lot of fun, despite the low number of jumps made. Also, those of you who I met for the first time, it was nice meting you. Hope to see you again in the future. Come back again soon! Mike

Well, it's Saturday night and although the boogie is not over yet, the weather looks to be worse the next two days than it has been the last two. It was fun meeting all the new people, however. I'm looking forward to the "new and improved" freefly Friday that is to come. Also- Marion, we need to start gathering a list of attendees for next week's first "Freefly Fondue Friday". If anyone is interested, post in here or let one of us know. We need to have a pretty solid list of who will be coming by Wednesday at the latest so we can make plans for how much food to bring. Right now we're looking at each person bringing an item or two to reduce overall costs. The entire meal should be pretty cheap though, and the food goes a long way. Hopefully the weather is nice next Friday, because fondue dinners tend to take a long time. Right now, the forecast is calling for thunderstorms, but in North Carolina, it is far too early to tell. See you all next week. I probably won't be out there tomorrow. I've got a lot of homework that I didn't get done this week, and I never get any work done at the DZ, so... Mike Edit: When my wife and I first used our fondue set, we had a three course meal, with the following: 1st course: Cheese dip, with Apples Bread 2nd course: Meat broth Beef Chicken 3rd course: Chocolate Marhsmallows Strawberries Other options for the first course are vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, etc. I'm not a big veggie fan, so we left those out. Other options for the second course are shrimp and any other meat, but we left those out as well since I'm allergic to seafood and the beef was plenty. Pretty much anything can be dipped in the chocolate, but by that point, we were already pretty stuffed, so a large number of items to dip probably won't be needed. I think our meal lasted about two hours or so. Maybe we can get some good skydiving videos to play in the background during the meal. Sarah is offering to marinate the meats, but we'll wait until a little later in the week to make a final decision on what to bring and how much. Whoever is planning on being there, please let either Marion or myself know ASAP. I think dinner will start around 6:30ish, possibly later, but we haven't really discussed that yet.

Maybe combine it with the pub, so that users could connect to the IRC server (which could be done behind the scenes) and a script/bot could control the buddy list, chat, private chats, etc. Mike

Well, that's another possibility, but if a team is trying to insert somewhere covertly, as the design implies, you don't want to be raining composite glider materials over a few square mile area. Makes people look up. The cost is not really an issue, since spec ops teams pretty much have a blank check with which to play (at least in my experience), but having the option to re-use them would be very cool. I'm not talking in training, I mean during actual combat use. I'm picturing a team with a high altitude exit, flying over their target, ditching the sled, and letting it fly itself back over international waters for recovery by a sub. That might negate the advantages of extended glide, however, since they would have to ditch the gliders that much higher to allow for return flight. From a technical standpoint, it is a very cool item. From a tactical standpoint, it seems like there are other issues that need to be resolved. Especially if they use a powered version, in which case increased noise would be an extra factor to consider. Mike

If you expect to be asked this, the best answer is your own, and one that is honest. That being said, possible answers are: "I like the thought of having the power of god" (bad answer) "I like working alone" or "The thought of lying in a shallow grave filled with my own bodily fluids for days on end appeals to me" "Ammo is expensive. I'm just trying to reduce taxes." There are plenty others, but are you looking for honest answers, or joking ones? If the latter, I like Dave's comment about cook school being full. Mike

The part that gets me (from their site) is this: Wow. I did some aeronautical engineering in high school, and our wind tunnels were pretty basic, but making something that large and shaped oddly such as it is aerodynamically stable, that's impressive. And very, very cool. On a military oriented note, however, if the pilot deploys and leaves the PHASST to its own devices (programming, AAD, etc), wouldn't that make it more detectable to the enemy? Seems like having a similar system to current military static line jumps might be better (having the rucksack on a line suspended from the jumper). It would definitely affect the flight characteristics of the canopy, but not the flare, since it would touch down before the pilot does, which would reduce the wingloading. I guess that would require a canopy with a pretty broad range of handling characteristics though, to handle a change in wingloading that great. So- what is the latest development news on this? Mike