nightjumps

I'm partial to Merlots. Sterling Vineyards and Chateau st. Michelle. Both around $16.00

1.

You are not misreading. Its 18 to do a tandem and 16 for a first jump skydive. Having said that, I will not jump anyone under 16; parental consent or not. In most states, one cannot enter into a contract until the age of majority. And, in a lot of states, parents cannot sign a waiver which gives up "certain legal rights" for the child. There has been more than one time that "a" parent and a step-parent has brought a child to make a skydive and are willing to sign the waiver. Then we get into do both have the right to sign away the child's right on a waiver? if not, are both biological parents willing, etc. Personally, I don't need; the heartache, the lawsuit, the need to interpret divorce decrees, or in the case of the 16 year old who looks 14 going to the hospital with a broken ankle, spouting off how they broke it in a skydive to sound cool and some overly diligent Doctor or nurse notifying the state Child Welfare office to crawl up me butt. We've created a much too litigous society in dealing with adults, much less those under 18. Nope. 18 or older with valid ID for me. Maybe someday, someone (or more specifically a body of people) will decide that legislating freedom is more important than legislating personal security.

Hey Chris, BKDice added a hyperlink supporting your statement that the picture is not one of Isabelle. It would appear that a lot of folks were "hoaxed." Regarding your posted pictures - Here in Oklahoma, we see your "Neb" picture a lot between May & June. And there have been times that we've jumped right in front of them. I've had only one close call where we tried timing it and it was moving towards us faster than we thought. We could see the forty-five degree shear of rain and at 7500' bailed out, the pilot rolled the plane & landed just about the time we did. We walked into the hangar as he rolled the plane in and the wall of rain hit. Another time, four guys "thought" they could "beat it." They went to 3,000' for a quick HnP, On jump run, those of us on the ground suddenly saw the trees bend in half as a wall of wind (literally) came at us. I jumped up and ran towrds the radio and started hollering, "No Jump, No Jump!!" But, they had already exited in 60 mph winds. All were very experienced skydivers. All turned into the wind and fought to keep their canopies level. At 3,000' exit, they got pushed a mile backwards as we were runnning and driving to catch them.... knowing some or all were going to be seriously injured. They all landed, did a rear PLF. A couple were able to cutaway, one hit hard and was drug thru about 75 yards of cow manure. No one was hurt. No one. Amazing. We went in the hangar, dropped the gear and everyone toasted a beer to bonus days. We made a deal not to "mess with Mother Nature anymore."

That's the one.

I second what AggieDave said about both your choices.

1. Well, you guys are wrong about half the time, you're either right or wrong about this. 2. The Internet lies 3. Skydivers exaggerate. Therefore, a skydiving meterologist... hehe - You knew I had to take the jab Thanks for clearing this up, Chris. I'm not the only one who got this from a "news media source." http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=670548;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed; Well, anyone can jump a plain ol thunderstorm... well, I'd still jump it just for the back drop.

Kris, I'm not a big fan of psycho-packing, although confess to using it to get new canopies in the bag for about 35 jumps. I had the exact same thing happen on one of my Icarus canopies - except it was the top skin of the 7 cell. I narrowed it down to the psycho-pack as the cultprit because it was the only variable that had changed recently. My theory is that... if the tail is not tight, it gets exposed to the windstream really fast rather than being constrained by the slider. As a result, the canopy deployment is met with an opening force from both the front and rear of the canopy - rather than from nose to rear. I "think" its where the "front to back" meets is where the most force is generated and that's where the tear occurs. Sharing your pain....

THanks for the additional info, Jib

Thanks. It appears more & more apparent that having an attorney draft up a contract for purchase with those items I outlined above "might" save me a lot of money in the case of the unfortunate. You're right... a lot of variables to consider, but being well-informed would help me during the discussions with a contract attorney. Thanks all... I got what I needed.

It's safe to say that it was not PS'd. I received a couple of other pictures from different angles from the same source. As to why the water is "dead calm;" Let me preface with: I'm not a meteorologist and this info was retrieved thru Google. So, I could be wrong. A hurricane's east side winds flow in the same direction with steering winds. The link-up of winds moves the storm forward and increases the wind power of its eastern flank. On the storm's west side, hurricane winds move counter to high pressure system's steering winds. This creates a meteorological head butt of sorts and weakens the storm on its west side. There "can" be a point in a hurricane where convective mixing stops (one sides low pressure offsets the other sides high pressure), the surface wind can slow considerably, or even stop altogether. Hence the term, "Calm before the Storm."

Curiousity at this point. May become necessity next year. I remember "something" about FOB, enroute and delivery issues in business law, but its hazy right now... hence the question. Should I have to do something next year, I think my best course (which the Porter incident brought to light), would be to 1) get insurance first, 2) contractually define deposit as "intent" to purchase, 3) ownership begins upon delivery should it have to be ferried, 4) Seller responsible until delivery, payment and keys in hand. You might just push this past her, but there is definately no sense of urgency. Thanks, J.E.

feel free

I just got this picture of Hurricane Isabelle and I'm thinking, "Now that would have made for an awesome skydiving backdrop on video!" Are ya with me!?!?!?!

So, the bottom line is... have it in writing before you make the deposit or payment. And, if you are the buyer, have insurance in place before you hand them a check. Thanks, Matt.

Man. You could have been on my plane when I was JM'ing a guy that did the SAME exact thing. 'Cept his foot got caught in the riser and he was hanging upside down. Canopy was perfect, slider down. I told the pilot the same thing, "go around." I can remember saying out loud, "Please don't cut that away, please don't cut that away." Thinking... if he cuts that away... what a nasty situation that's gonna make. Fortunately, he was a golden gloves type, kept his wits, did a hanging situp and got his foot out of the riser. whew. During the debrief, he said, "Well, I saw that it was square and stable so I thought I'd just get my foot out." No hand tremors or nothing. To him, it was just part of the package. Calm, cool and situationally aware. I don't think it qualifies as "most stupidest student" as much as one of the "Most heads up" student I've had.

If there's any legal types out there, I am curious about the question of ownership in the situation of a plane wreck/damage due to a recent incident. 1. Who is the legal owner of the aircraft in the situation where one may have made a deposit (or full payment) and an incident occurs (maybe a bad landing that collapses the nose gear, bangs a wing, or whatever) between portal to portal for delivery? 2.Who's insurance company pays? 3. If its the buyer and the buyer was waiting for delivery to have the insurance company inspect before issuing the policy, is the buyer just SOL? 4. Or, is insurance required by the buyer before purchase? Please, please, please don't want to get into a speculation session about recent incidents. Its just a broad situational question that any pilot or new DZO should want to know for the consideration of an aircraft purchase for purchase contract wording.

I loves me Icarus 365. It makes the other Tandem Instructors in the area want one. Low toggle pressure on landing.

You may wish to investigate "Catastrophic Insurance." I've used it in the past and it cost $75.00/month. It is a $5,000 deductible with a cap (in my case capped at 2 mil). How it works is; you pay for all eye, dental, and runny nose doctor visits. Its there in the event you're in a car wreck, fall off a ladder, or something like that as in "catastrophic."

"Flags of our Fathers" should be required reading in High School IMHO.

There are several posts regarding this and perhaps this will help. It really doesn't matter how much you weigh as much as your height and your weight together. I'm not going to get into a whole physics session here; that's more Kallend's department. I can however, provide a tool for determining how to a) dress for success, 2) determine if you need weights, or 3) determine if you need a baggier suit and/or with a ZP wing in it. The optimum number is .3 for average freefall speeds (in RW). If you are below .3 you'll need a a wing. If you are above .3 you'll need weights (if its below .3, you fall faster, if its above .3, you fall slower). 1. Your height in inches. 2. Your "Exit" weight. 3. Divide your height by your weight. So in my case I'm 6'6" = 78." My exit weight is 265 lbs. 78/265 = .294 So, while I'm "near" .3 I use a moderate ZP wing with a little bag on my suit when doing 4 way, because formations float a little. If I'm on a ten-way or bigger, I use my large ZP wing & extra baggy suit. Conversely, someone who is: 1. 78" 2. 200 lbs exit weight 3. 78/200 = .39 will need to "slick suit" themselves or add weights depending on the size of the RW formation So in the case of a coach or student dive. I use that formula to "get close." If they're above the .3 (depending on how much), I may just slick them down and bag/wing myself. If its a small Instructor, they would slick themselves (perhaps weights too) and bag/wing the student. In most cases with a student, I'll overly bag and wing myself so as to be able to stay above them (cause you can always get down, but getting back up is a biotch). And, believe it or not, there's been more than one Anvil that I've had to bag/wing up and me go out in jeans and a shirt. One was 69" with a 285 exit weight (.24) This method is not the perfect solution, but is a good guage when dealing with a first time student or on a first Coach jump with someone you haven't jumped with before. Over time and with some experience, you get a sense of what you need to do to ensure the "best" possible "dress" scenario for success.

I started using a new procedure because students expressed the same problem you have.... Instead of keeping everything on one shoulder. After you flake it and stick the nose between your legs, try splitting the two lines groups where the left line group is on the left shoulder and the right line group is on the right shoulder and the slider is behind your head. Much easier to "see" the line order this way.

For those desiring more information on candidate Clark... his website is: http://www.americansforclark.com

"When everyone had guns strapped to their hips, folks talked to each other a whole lot nicer."

I'm liking you already,