nightjumps

Happy Birthday, SkyMonkeyOne!!

Most excellent, Stacy. Cool head, logical thought processes, good emergency procedures, good solution to a problem.

Am I the only one that sees the contradiction here? Congratulations?

Well... IMO, he is in the wrong. Its not about the American Flag. Its about ANY flag on a flagpole. When he bought his home, he signed a covenant's contract. He agreed to honor the covenants when he signed. You think we'd be having this discussion if the flag was a skull & crossbones, or a state flag, or a Harley flag? Just more media sensationalism. If you buy a home that has a "covenants" clause and you agree to abide by the determinations of the Homeowners Association, then you have to abide by those covenants. If you don't like the covenants; walk away. He agreed prior to 1999 and signed the agreement. And, since 9/11 he probably decided to show his patriotism and go against the covenants. Then, when he was called on it, played his Marine/Patriotism card and turned it into a fight. I spent 15 years in the Army, believe vehemently in the constitution, apple pie, mom, and chevrolet, etc. He can demonstrate his patriotism in other ways. Go get a Marine corps tattoo on one arm and the US flag on the other, put a flag on his car, buy a US savings bond, etc. Sorry, but the tears ain't flowing.

You think sharing that Vanessa Williams is gonna kick your ass is a good thing? Congrats man... Live life large.

If a lady jumps nekked... I can never remember what color her rig was...

1. Don't park the Harley in the living room. Its hard to get the oil outta the carpet. 2. Never say "Thank you" after sex. 3. If you're wrong; apologize. If they're wrong and don't apologize; a bitch-slap is justified. 4. Bitch-slapping one who outranks you in the military has dire consequences, no matter how wrong they were. 5. Toilet paper has one use; Duck tape has many, but toilet paper is not one of them. 6. Having lots of money will get you a lot of things, but having a large penis will get you one thing - lots. 7. If you're unsure of your gender, look between your legs. If you're still unsure, please don't look to me for guidance. 8. They're not lesbians as long as there is a man in the room. 9. Your Mom can whip your ass no matter how old or big you get. 10. Pull the red handle on the right before you pull the silver one on the left.

Virtually every manufacturer of every country pursues not only U.S. military contracts, but other international military contracts as well. I feel fine about giving them my money for two reasons, 1) I'm not buying a rig in support of their military contracts, I'm giving them my money for my rig, 2) more folks jumping anywhere in the world means more future skydivers, which means more folks to jump with, which means more boogies, which means more turbine aircraft, which means...

Question 1 - "I'll address this issue with my JM on Thursday..." That's absolutely the best answer. Question 2 - I do a lot of Hop-N-Pops in the winter to 1) keep current, 2) have a change of environment, 3) feel the cold. Personally, I find the blast of cold air invigorating. To me, a sunny, brisk day of getting slapped in the face with some cold air while jumping helps keep the winter duldroms away.

I started to select Instructors AND Tandems, but deselected the Tandem switch because I think you can encompass SL/AFF/Tandem all under one since they are now are all "Instructor" ratings. I strongly oppose a "Students" section. Instructors have a hard enough time with Non-instructors on the DZ giving advice to students. Its very frustrating and time consuming to have to overcome objections or seeds of concern before continuing a linear path of instruction. edit: After re-reading the thread and the forums, I'd like to add that an "Instructors" forum would be good, but wonder if it would be locked to only Instructors so we can share training methodologies, training aids, visual aids, etc. If not, then the Safety & training thread satisifies the "Instructor" request.

I didn't vote because it would be a bit unfair to say that one is better than another. Its been my experience that they all get an A+ for quality, price and service. I owned Flitesuit "silly suits" in the 80's (which are now called "Freefly Suits") to Tony Suit tie-dyed freeflys. And, I've known folks who have owned most of the other manufacturers. I've yet to hear anyone complain about price, quality or service.. Most of what you'll hear refers to fashion more than function. Who has the coolest design of the moment. So, go with what you like in design and the rest will be a by-product of that decision.

I went to Airborne School in 1980. In 1981, I was asked to start getting prepared to go to Jumpmaster School. So I got the FMs and started reading. Concurrently, I came home on leave. While home, I had a few of those "everyone's at work or doing something else, so I have to entertain myself" days. In the FM, they talked about "spotting" and the only thing I knew about spotting was planting my nose on the guy's helmet in front of me and following him out the door. I heard about skydiving down at Muskogee, so I drove down there to a huge old WWII Air Force base (Davis Field). I walked on to the field and there was this scraggly looking, hunched over, unshaven guy standing next to a hollowed out C-182 with no paint on the tarmac. I had a copy of my new Airborne certificate in my hand. I walked up to the guy and said, "I hear they teach skydiving on this airport, would you happen to know who I talk to about that?" He replies, "That would be me." Course, me being a high speed, strac, spit-shined Airborne trooper with images of rock-hard retired HALO instructors is thinking, "This fuckin goofball is going to teach me how to skydive?!?!?" So, I think, "Well, I can always decide not to later" and proudly whip out my Airborne certificate and say, "Does this mean anything?" Cause ya know I'm thinking "discount." And, he looks at me and says, "It means I gots to unlearn you some bad habits." "Shit... what is this guy talking about?" And then he says, "Son, now since I used ta be a Black Hat Officer at Benning, we're going to be able to use some o' the things you learned at Airborne school like PLFs and canopy control and stuff..." As he continues, my mind tunes the rest out while I'm thinking, "This stumble-fuck was a Black Hat at Benning?!?!?!?" Well, he was. And the training I got was no less than professional. In a day and a half, I was off static-line and in freefall. I spent the rest of my leave and all future leaves at the DZ. And, there's no doubt, that skydiving made me a better military jumper and prepared me to pass this wonderful session on abuse called, "Jumpmaster School" - the first time.

OH YEAH!! We did nightjumps last night too. We had three folks making their first nightjumps and it was beautiful. Full bright moon and mars close to earth entered in the logbook.

Yep.

Two cases. 1300+ (1100+ skydives and a couple hundred military static-lines) and still no reserve rides.

I would rather take a chance on spending the rest of my life earning a hundred million, than receiving it based on a risk of seconds to live.

And the rest of that story is; that particular incident is on "Students at play" video for those who attend the AFF course. The student who hit the power lines; as it turns out is an attorney who sued the AFF/JM (who invented new signals to get him to pull the reserve and took himself down to 1500'. In court, the JM was found non-negilgent and the attorney lost, so he sued the power company for putting the lines there. sheesh.

Did you know the Pentagon; Headquarters of the Department of Defense, is one of the world's largest office buildings. It is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building in New York. The National Capitol could fit into any one of the five wedge-shaped sections. The Pentagon is virtually a city in itself. Approximately 23,000 employees, both military and civilian, contribute to the planning and execution of the defense of our country. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 11, 1941

Man, if you only knew how much it chaps me when I'm on a plane and people start getting fidgety and dancing around the plane without being cognizant of what they're doing. I've had them brush my pin, my hackey, my cutaway & reserve handles, etc. On more than one occassion, I've had to turn to the person and say, "Bro, could you have some respect for another's rig while going up?" It's like some mathematical formula of; for each 1000 feet of altitude, the adrenaline goes up at a factor of 2:1 and the fidgety disrespect for other's rigs about 4:1. On one occasion this guy was bouncing around and sweating so profusely, I asked him how high he was going and he of course said, "13.5." I told him, "Well, if you don't settle down, the altitude your gonna get is what's on your altimeter right now." Glad its not just me. Respect each other's rigs folks.

What John Kallend said and if they are a USPA Group Member, they can check it online.

Mold spore count in the TX/Okla area is in the severe range. I been feelin like crap for two days as a result. If its an allergy you have, you might want to take the approporiate steps.

Very artistic. I love B&W photos of semi-nudes. My favorite part of a woman's body is that curve of her back at the bottom part of the hour glass. Picasso did a painting of a woman's back once that was two brush strokes. I found it very elegant. Thanks for posting.

Observing Speed Limits.. Paying tickets is part of my monthly budget.

I seem to have a gift for being resistant to authority. Therefore, I'm really good at pissing off those in power. It doesn't seem to work well, but everyone around me seems to enjoy it.

Hey Chuck, Haven't talked to you since Rantoul. I've been having some problems with the Eclipse Student Harness Leg Straps rolling up on the students and have been thinking about getting one of Vector's newer Student Harnesses. Your thoughts?