MarkM

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Everything posted by MarkM

  1. MarkM
    Spiffy. Anyone have pics of the black Phi's?
  2. MarkM
    See: http://www.miragesys.com/ProductInfo/ArmoredRisers.aspx?Prod=2 The tube is hidden inside the risers. It's a seperate system than the standard hard housings, which are normal for all rigs: http://www.miragesys.com/ProductInfo/HardHousings.aspx?Prod=2 I'd be surprised if student gear fitted with a Manta had them. Mantas are docile and normally won't spin up like a small and fast canopy can, so I don't think a DZ would think they'd need to have them with that type of gear.
  3. MarkM

    Skydiving cats

    MarkM replied to Andy9o8's topic in The Bonfire

    Cat, like flying possums and squirils use their tails like rudders and counter balances too. Hmmm.. I have an idea for a new freefly suit...
  4. MarkM
    I do this every time I change the oil in my Mirage. I only clean my Hornet's injectors every 200 jumps though.
  5. MarkM
    Easily could've happened to me. Jump 16, 15 second delay, flipped onto my back with a really pretty view of the plane flying up and away. Decided right then I'd have to pull while on my back if one good solid attempt to get stable didn't work. It did, but if I was on a lower than 15 sec delay I might not have mentally given myself the time to do that. Jump 5 or so ended up doing a flip off the dope rope and put the PC and deploying canopy between my legs. Ended up upside down in the harness(know other people who did this trick too). Mistakes happen, usually nothing comes of mistakes, sometimes it goes all to shit.
  6. MarkM
    Sounds like a good opportunity to take a weekend off from doing tandems, let someone else advertise the sport and then after they leave pick up the potential students and repeat customers.
  7. MarkM
    I saw that bird posting in the incidents forum on thier site. He was pretty PO'd. Luckily he makes it a habit of checking the air above him.
  8. MarkM
    Hence the 2nd post of this thread where I wrote: It's not a small deal, the pilot of the plane can lose his license if something happened and the FAA found out your reserve was out of date.
  9. MarkM
    The specific question I was answering was about jumping an out of date reserve if there were no enforced rules. If the FAA wasn't regulating it, if the DZ or pilot wouldn't get in trouble if something went wrong. That's an entirely different situation that the one you just described. Where I draw the line is where the consqeuences are for my actions. If they're just on me and I know the rule is drek, I'll bend or break it. But if other people can get into trouble for what I'm doing then I pretty much follow it blindly.
  10. MarkM
    Yes, but can you really put a price on safety?
  11. MarkM
    I'd go crazy hanging out at a boogie and not be able to jump. It was bad enough being a student and having to stay down due to winds when everyone else was up and having fun.
  12. MarkM
    Yeah. I like clean undies and socks after I shower and I also like a fresh towel. But since I only own like 4 towels, I'm doing laundry all the time. Now shirts and pants... hmm I have some "comfy" shirts, and sometimes those get worn a couple times between washes. They'd get pretty ratty and my girlfriend would sleep in them to prevent me from wearing them the next day if we were going out. Of course her tactic would always backfire and I'd wear them anyway.
  13. MarkM
    Damn girl, it looks awesome. Now go rat it all up doing some birdman jumps
  14. MarkM
    You tell me. Do you always come to a full stop at a stop sign? Do you never exceed the speed limit? Have you never gone through a cloud while skydiving? You've never downloaded a mp3? Never touched a beer until you were 21? I'm betting you've broken laws most every day of your life, just like everyone else in the world does. Amazingly enough, society doesn't break down and crumble because of it.
  15. MarkM
    Depends on the rule and how strongly it's enforced.
  16. MarkM
    Because it's more important to understand the idea behind the rules, why they're in place and how those issues affect you, than to just follow them blindly.
  17. MarkM
    I don't know, I'd probably go by my rigger's recommendation. I'd mostly be concerned with 1> Will my reserve material stick like ZP does if you leave it packed for long periods. 2> Mold/mildew (depends on how I store it). 3> Just wanting routine inspection of my rig. I'd be cool with a 6 month repack period, wanting that just for inspections, assuming I was jumping it regularly. I wouldn't sweat jumping a rig with the repack on the reserve being a year old if I knew it was stored in a cool and dry place.
  18. MarkM
    am i the only one that sees a contradiction here? The full quote was "Granted, it means a smaller pack volume and a smaller rig, but hell - I just bought this one - two sizes smaller and i'd need a new container." and it meant he just bought his pilot 188, if he goes down 2 sizes he'd have to buy a new container and his first one was expensive enough. No contradiction. The only time I get jelous of the guys with smaller canopies is when I get back to the packing area and it's full, because they got down before me and took up all the space. But since I'm going birdman now, I'm gonna be last down no matter what I fly anyway
  19. MarkM
    If I wasn't policed and no one would get into trouble if something happened to me using an out of date reserve pack, I'd jump it. .
  20. MarkM
    Most every dropzone I've been to has kept on file my reserve pack date and would likely refuse to let me jump if it wasn't current. It's not a small deal, the pilot of the plane can lose his license if something happened and the FAA found out your reserve was out of date. Edit: oh nevermind, I'm in the US. No idea how it works for you guys.
  21. MarkM
    Most dropzones have a different vibe and whether or not a person likes a particular dropzone can be a very personal choice. You might want to consider looking up all the dropzones close to you and visiting each one yourself, talking with the instructors, checking out the facilities and so on. This page has dropzones in NJ: http://www.uspa.org/dz/states/NJ.htm
  22. MarkM
    Was it cold in the morning then it really heated up in the afternoon? That kind of weather can produce turbulance, especially dust devils.
  23. MarkM
    That's because at 9 jumps, it's a challenge to do even that sometimes. I mean, if you can land near the peas and stand it up it was a damn good landing. But there's a lot more a canopy can do and it's a lot of fun. There are a lot of people who don't rush to downsize, you just don't hear about them much because they're spraining ankles instead of blowing femurs.
  24. MarkM
    That's why I buy my tequilla by the case. Hurricanes supplies....
  25. MarkM
    Right now bytch is going "Oh crap, I ran from hurricanes just for this shit."