SkySlut

I have seen shows on discovery about volcanos and what those do to damage the environment. A single eruption puts out more toxic gases & crap than what humans have ever put out. Think of all the eruptions that have happened since this rock was created...I dont know how much of all that tree hugging crap I follow. I will agree that we shouldnt be blatantly trashing the planet though. Everything is good in moderate excess.

I have dive blocks on my risers with slinks...I find it a nice combo. No problems with the slider coming down past the link and its still easy to get the slider over them.

Hey, I grew up in NH too...I dont miss it much! It can get raging cold up there!

You can always go outside and let your car run for a few hours while you start spraying aerosol cans into the air... Just kidding God, I love Florida...I have the A/C cranked in the office at the DZ.

I am assuming that PD is coming out with a Stilleto 2. When I was in Deland, I saw the PD guys test jumping a 9 cell, elliptical, non crossbraced and non-airlocked canopy. It had no labels on it, so I am assuming that they are making changes to the Stilleto.

I would also recommend checking on the ball at the end of the reserve ripcord. If that thing breaks off...you are stuck with nothing but a handle in your hand. A friend of mines mother whistled in because of that...

Its part of my gear check...

I have personally seen the results of someone intentional f*ck w/ mains causing a potential reserve ride 3 times (Don Yarhling, Hunter Roberts & one of the british guys rigs') in Deland this year alone. There was also an investigation several years back in Deland for a person who was cutting the reserve ripcords and then putting them back together with an elastic inside the hard housing...virtually indetectable unless you really tugged on the cable itself to insure that it did move within the housing. No one was ever charged, but an investigation was done by "johnny law". There are also incidents of ants and other pests getting into your rig causing problems. Heat can also melt your freebag to your reserve. There are loads of things that can happen to your rig that you wouldnt even think of. I saw an interesting thing the other day. A friend of mine sent his rig into get repacked and it was totally grounded. Apparently, he didnt have stainless steel 3 rings and was doing beach jumps. I guess at some point he had gotten the 3 rings wet and they started to rust and cut through the webbing of the harness. You had to look inside and underneath the webbing to see the rust damage. I would have never thought to have looked that closely, but Terry Pike said that if that had cut through the webbing the entire structure of the harness would have gone. So he had to send the rig to get a new harness installed. He is a very current jumper...lives and works at a DZ. Just some thoughts.

Hypothetical question: PD has those 40 squares on the warning label of their reserves. Every time that reserve is packed, the rigger puts a slash in one of those boxes...if its been jumped they put an 'x'. IF something should happen to anyone, god forbid, whether the reserve was involved or not...the FAA is going to see that the marks on the warning label do not match the reserve data packing card. I would think that a situation like this would get the pilot, DZOs, S&TAs, plane owners, etc. into a potentially very uncomfortable position. Any thoughts on that?

morpheus.com

I have been looking to rent that movie...It seems as though not to many stores carry it though. Blockbuster & the Movie Gallery dont have it. They looked in their computers and found nothing. So I rented Roger & me instead. Great movie that I havent seen in a while.

As an AFF instructor, I always spot for my students. If my student lands off because of a bad spot, its my fault. The thing I hate is when pilots bitch at you for doing a go around with a first jump student ON THE PLANE. Its not professional and quite rude. I refuse to play games with my students because of a pissed off pilot. Big deal, go around...do a downwind jumprun.

Couple of things...to do forward movement, use your legs and keep your arms in a neutral position. You have more surface area in your lower body and bringing your arms back only changes your angle of attack (steeper) towoards your target which can cause docks that are not on level. Docking on level is essential in RW Keeping your arms neutral also assist you with taking grips. Also, we cant see our legs...what we think is fully extended may only be half extension. It is pretty hard to actually lock your legs out totally. It takes a lot of strength. You may also want to examine HOW you are extending your legs. It is much easier to start the extension from your largest muscles to the smallest. Kinda like throwing a baseball. If you start twisting at the waist go through the back, then shoulder, bicep, forearm, etc you will get more power than just starting at the elbow for instance. Same principle applies to skydiving...gain more power with your hips, thighs, calves, toes. Make sense??? It could also be that you are physically built different. Shorter people, like me...have difficulty in flat tracking compared to taller people...but I can turn in place like a top. Recognizing this is important...going on tracking dives, I put on more surface area...no big deal.

Should've come to Sebastian...we have been flying the Super Otter and the Skyvan back to back...all day long!!! Who wants to be crammed into porters all day either???

Pete Allum did have a baglock the other day...he isnt sure that it was the new d-bags fault though...

yeah, from what I have heard...I think that they are designed to be used with a specific size canopy...I am not sure if they are testing a downsized canopy for the bag...we will just have to wait and see. I am really interested to see what happens in the long term...how well are these tuck tabs going to stand up to 100s if not 1000s of jumps.

I got mine from Sunshine Factory. Also Terry Pike at AeroTech product makes a great gear bag. The smaller part on the front doubles as a backpack. You can zip it off and wear it around...pretty cool. I have also seen quite a few people with those weelie luggage things to make it easier to carry around. The hard case versions can be a good idea as well.

When I was working at Deland there where quite a few people that used to do that...My personal feeling on the situation are this: my rigs are my babies. They are my source of income and they continue to save my life on a daily basis...never let them out of your site!!! If it takes an extra bit of hassle carrying them on, its worth it to know that they are safe. I have never had any problems with airport security...yet. Take it with you. JMHO

There are no bungys at all...just bartacked tabs.

Little quicker to pack??? It takes stowing the lines a total of about 30 seconds from the first "stow" till they put it in the container. I would say much quicker!!!

I was talking to Terry Pike last night and he had also mentioned something about Jumpshack developing some new D-bag. He didnt have too many details, sorry...but I thought that I would throw that out there as an FYI.

Right on, I may see if I can get there for a couple of days anyways to see some people. I gotta see when I can get out of Sebastian.

what are the dates on that again??? 22nd through the 26th???

you can also put on latex gloves underneath your regular gloves. It keeps your body heat in. I would recommend not to put them on too early, because if you start sweating...they can freeze on the way down. That has usually worked for me, plus I dont have to wear big bulky gloves that may inhibit pulling. I guess some of the 300 way participants were doing that as well. I

I just asked my buddy and he said that they are indeed different. They use diapers and they arent meant to take it to terminal, especially with lightnings. I guess that it may be the same type of idea, but with terminal openings in mind.