MarkM
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Everything posted by MarkM
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There's no rule, it's bullshit. Next thing you'll know people will say you need an AD license to wear tie died suits or rigs.
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I never saw any skygod attitudes at Skydive America. I loved both dropzones. PB is like the ultimate place to hang out at all weekend. Great food, great sleeping arrangements, great people. Miami is fun place if you just want to show up and jump for a couple hours. It's not really a camp at the DZ type of place, but it's an extremely friendly place to jump at.
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See http://www.ushga.org/media/USHGAComment.pdf page 11 for more recent stats on hang gliding fatalities.
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1> Modern hangglider harnesses contain a reserve parachute in case your wing fails. 2> You don't need steep terrain to hangglide. Florida has some premier hanggliding schools. There are 2 really great ones up in Orlando. Aerotowing is becoming more and more popular and is quite safe. 3> You don't need experience to hang glide. Tandem hang gliding is common today and has quickly become the primary teaching method for hang gliding. Good schools will see a student do 10-20 tandem flights before letting them go solo. When hang gliding started in the 70's it averaged 30 deaths a year. The last couple years that average has gone down to 3 deaths a year. As for accidents not being an "eventuality" in skydiving, it seems like a lot of the regulars I meet have had a broken bone or two.
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20 jumps + 205 exit weight + 150 canopy = see ya on next month's post at http://www.skydivenet.com/fatalities/ I got a 1.1 loaded Triathalon(probably the most docile canopy you can get) sitting in my living room depreciating in value because I don't have the skill to jump it yet. But hey, it's his body.
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SL perks: Doing your first jump solo is a big confidence booster. The costs are spread out over a longer period of time. It's a little easier to book jumps. There's less to do on each jump. Cons: I think AFF instructors go through more training. Learning freefall skills can be a pain. You usually have a lot of jumps before seeing enough freefall to get past sensory overload.
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If it's true it's probably the 3rd incident I've heard of a bootie getting caught on the step of a C182. I think the last time the pilot ended having to land the plane with the guy still hanging from it. Luckily the guy walked away with bumps and bruises.
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Just today? The really sad thing is, I didn't mean to misspell that.
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My brain isn't working quite right to day.
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Didn't know they moved and started doing AFF. I did my first jump at Fort Wayne. AJ is an awesome DZ owner. Had a couple days where he pulled the plane out of the hanger when I was the only one around to jump.
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And you got this story where? I couldn't find drek about this in AP or Reuters.
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Bring a snack and some gatoraid.
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I remember when Micheal Kennedy slammed into a tree and got killed skiing.
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Start looking here: http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/listState.php?CountryStateID=59 Get professional training if you can afford it. In any risk sport professional training is the number 1 way to avoid injury.
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You weren't banned, you were grounded. Big diff. You usually get banned when you do something stupid that can kill someone else, or the DZO feels like you're heading to make a crater and doesn't want to be the one to pick up the pieces.
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Don't think I've heard of that as a problem before. RSL's aren't just a student tool, I know of plenty of experienced skydivers that use them. I wouldn't recommend to use one or not, it's a personal choice and there are people here better qualified to go over the details. Do a search and you'll probably find tons of threads on them.
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What were the specific reasons he recommended against one?
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Used to use Windowmaker, now I use XP. Yeah, I'm a traitor.
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I don't understand all of this "openly gay" crap. I live in Fort Lauderdale and I can guarantee you there's plenty of gays here. But never in the 2 years I've been here has anyone ever came up to me and said, "Hi I'm Tom and I'm gay". A couple guys holding hands in public is in no way forcing their gayness onto you. Can it make you feel uncomfortable if you're not used to it? Sure. Well guess what, I don't date and to be frank watching a hetero couple make out in public can be real annoying if you're single. But that's my problem, not the problem of the couple. If you walk outside, watch tv, or interact with the world you're gonna get exposed to things that make you uncomfortable. But don't treat your problem as their problem.
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NYTimes aritcle...now bill booth is *really* famous!
MarkM replied to emartin's topic in The Bonfire
Anyone got a version that doesn't require registration? -
So what am I, the only person here who's just a couch potato that likes to jump out of planes? Skydiver 1: "Last weekend I hit Aspen, did some slopes". Skydiver 2: "Yeah, I did some mountain climbing, what about you Mark?" Me: "uh, got in a few hours of Counterstrike...."
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1 fatality per 100k-ish jumps sounds about right.
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It's all good.
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You take a DZ plane that isn't equipped to provide O2 to all the jumpers above 15k it's a violation of the oxygen equipment regs. Same difference, don't nitpick. My point was there's rule bending and rule breaking. Just because a rule is bent now and then doesn't mean there's something unsafe going on.
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Yeah, I'm sure no other dropzones have ever put out a load over clouds(*cough* *cough* industrial haze *cough* *cough*). Just like I'm sure no skydiver here has ever gone above 15k without O2, because you know, that'd be illeagal. There's shitloads of less than perfect activity going on at a lot of dropzones, plenty of ammo to go around if you wanna start throwing mud at dropzone names. Does the odd cloud jump and dusk tandem really make SDC an unsafe dropzone?