grimmie

I like both coaches. Both teams have mobile D-men and great power plays as a result. Both move the puck up ice great, have proven goal scorers and goalies that at time look like world champs or world chumps. This will all come down to two players, the masked men in goal. As usual. This will be some amazingly fast hockey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvliUuXjbL4

Lawrocket called Tampa Bay at the beginning of the season as his East pick. Strong work.

I would add that if you don't do the night jumps you can't apply for a PRO rating. No exemptions. 4 of my last 6 demos have been night jumps. Otherwise it's no big deal.

Here is the first hand account of what happened to Tom Piras. http://www.dropzone.com/forum/Skydiving_C1/Safety_and_Training_F2/What_no_pin_check_P169228-3

I hope I can get a tee time this week. I guess I'll have to stay in San Diego County to golf. Hawks have the experience, Bolts have the youth and speed. This will be fun!

There seems to be a lot of apples and oranges comparisons being made regarding AADs. There also seems to be a bit of an anti AAD crowd, which I really don't understand. Before I get up on my soap box, let me say that I have made almost 4,000 jumps without an AAD and the last almost 1,000 with one. I also own a DZ and do not require an AAD to jump. That being said, please hear my points... Back in the day, not really so long ago, we were all a bunch of belly flyers. We had floaters, a base and divers. Everyone had eyes on each other. Everyone knew no one had an AAD, so I think we swooped our slots with a little more caution than today's jumpers. Everyone kept the base in sight and watched out for others. We were going fast, but not free fly fast. Yes, some people were killed in collisions. Most notably Tom Piras and Sandy Wambach. One with an AAD not turned on and one without. Then we had these cool cats Omar and Olav starting this crazy thing called free flying. Soon joined by a bunch of other talented jumpers, a new revolution was born. Freestyle went cool. Free fall speeds went up, way up. As if that wasn't cool enough, prom dresses started appearing. A LOT! Then we had tracking jumps start being all the rage, because there weren't enough talented jumpers to all free fly in a big way. And now add in Angle Flying. High speed. Some on their backs, some not. So like it or not, our sport has changed. A LOT. I'm learning to sit and free fly just so I can jump with someone at my own DZ. It's hell being an old Mack Truck in a Ferrari world! So why do we need an AAD? Well first let's discuss the CONS... -Adrian Nicolas was a friend of mine. Yes, I know, the can fire in a swoop. However, only about .002 percent of the skydivers in the world can make that happen. And they know better. -It might cut the reserve loop, but the reserve may not extract in time. Yes, this is a problem and I think of Brooke Baum, who went in with an AAD fire and the reserve didn't extract. I think this is something the gear manufacturers should all test and ensure a reserve will extract properly during an AAD activation. (Yes, I understand pilot chutes get in burbles) -If the AAD fires, the reserve deploys and you are still knocked out, yes, the landing may still kill you. So now lets look at the PROS. -AADs have SAVED way more jumpers than they have not. -If you are unconscious, you are a "novice" jumper at best. Why you need one. You can get wrecked leaving the aircraft. I know Rick Thuess (thousands of jumps) is really happy he had one on as he hit his head on exit and was temporarily paralyzed in free fall. He was saved. Unable to pull for himself. Ustewaz, who posts here, had his lovely wife saved at my DZ by an AAD. She was knocked out on a tracking dive. The AAD activated and she landed under her reserve, very injured, but alive. Jordan Janway, young, good looking kid, talented, went in at Skydive San Diego after a tracking dive collision. His AAD was out of his rig for inspection. I miss his smile around my DZ. We were doing a 16 way fax meet a few years ago at a boogie. The Otter pilot was nervous. Never had a 16 way launch before. I was center, outside giving the count. I looked front, looked rear, looked inside and "ready, set...WHACK!" I was knocked out. The pilot had poured the throttle on and we all exploded off the plane. I regained a few of my senses and was in free fall. My helmet had been broken and Dave Leclerq, who's head I knocked into had a really broken helmet. Shit happens and we were lucky. We all broke off and deployed. Zak Fogle went in at Lost Prairie. He had some limited use of his limbs, but had an A license. We were getting ready to board the plane and I went up and said hi to him. Asked if he and his jump buddy were ready. Yup, both gave thumbs up. My skydiver spidey sense tingled a bit, but I didn't give him a gear check. I sat next to him on the ride up and gave him a high five as our 10 way climbed out. As an S&TA I was asked to do the investigation. His AAD was off. I learned a valuable lesson that day. I should have given him a gear check. So you guys get the idea. Yes, I am PRO choice for AADs, but think that everyone in this high speed world we jump in should have one. Bryan Burke had a great line at the DZO conference... "We used to just carpet bomb in a straight line, now we have dumb bombs flying off in all different directions." Thanks for your time, I'll step off of my soap box now.

It's simple. Swooping is a choice. Going in unconscious isn't.

Wrong. And more wrong.

A few good reads... http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/corruption-democracy-venezuela From a while back. Mostly about how Chavez screwed it up. http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/14/news/economy/venezuela-debt-default-citgo/ http://www.academia.edu/3012427/Corruption_in_Venezuela_101_The_Basics_for_Understanding_the_Phenomenon The government is very corrupt. Money earmarked for the public gets stolen constantly. I was in Venezuela for 9 days in 2001. The people had hope for Chavez to fix things. There is more than just Socialism at work there wrecking the nation.

I'll argue that sh*t all day long. Unless you have a good understanding of BASE gear, and experience with it, your "ahhhhh I need my reserve!" response is simply a knee-jerk reaction supporting what you're already comfortable with. The vast majority of BASE fatalities don't result from the gear. Same for sky gear. It's the pilot that usually does themselves in, not the plane. I don't really feel it's my part here to do the research or prove anything. You're putting forward a very controversial idea, against all conventional wisdom, and the laws of some nations. It should be your job to support it, and I'm placing the burden of proof on you. Can you support your point, or is it just that you "feel" that BASE gear is safer? I guess you could be the hero of the PIA if you show us how we're all doing it wrong. I want to point out that your original post in the other thread did not qualify that you meant BASE gear only. Your arguments that everything also has to be done exactly right for this to work just supports the idea that the gear is not as safe as skydiving gear. Both seats of gear might work perfectly if everything is done and maintained perfectly, but your qualification of the point pretty much establishes which one is more forgiving of any factor being not perfect. "BASE gear work just as well, if this and if this, and if that". And cars don't need seat belts if you don't hit anything. We're trying to reduce fatalities overall, for the entire industry, not make sure cowboys who want to jump their BASE gear can do so, many of them no doubt getting themselves killed in the process. Edit: One can ask questions, such as: 1. Which set-up is more likely to let you survive a canopy collision and wrap? That's ugly no matter what type of gear you have. 2. Which one will let you survive a hard pull when pilot chute can't be deployed? Pilot chute in tow? Hard pulls on a BASE rig are rare, due to the way they are packed. Pilot chute in tow is rare on a BASE rig, as they us non collapsing PCs. 3. Which one is more likely to let you survive broken lines or blowing a hole in the canopy? Or do BASE canopies have unbreakable lines? BASE gear has better built canopies. They survive slider off whacker openings. 4. Do BASE rigs support AADs, for the unconscious scenario, among others? You could make that work on a BASE rig with a spring loaded PC I suppose. and so on and so forth. BASE gear might be as safe in a perfect world where everything is perfect. Skydiving from aircraft will always be based on a two canopy system. Regardless of how much it gets argued for or against here. However. You should get with a Base jumper at your DZ and check out the gear.

It will never happen. I really would rather fly my Katana on a skyjump than my Mojo. But I'm not jumping the Katana without a reserve. And I really don't think it's that great of an idea for students and newbies, body position and no AAD as such. The FAA will never buy off on it of course, nor should they ever. My main point was, there is nothing to fear about jumping a BASE rig. I'm trying to think of a BASE fatality that happened from a hook turn or line twists (without an object strike). If we really wanted skydiving to be safe, we would all be doing solos, one pass at a time, from 13,000 feet with a minimum pull altitude of 6,000 feet, wearing a seven cell 250 sq ft main, an AAD on the reserve and a belly mount round.

"But we all know that will never happen." The punch line you missed. However. Single parachute systems are jumped thousands of times per year without incident. BASE jumpers know WAY more about their gear and take WAY better care of it than most newer skydivers. IMHO

Not a problem, if everyone jumps BASE canopies, keeps their gear in tip top shape and leaves the velcro rigs (hey, I still jump one) at home... But we all know that will never happen.

Debating in the comments section of a newspaper solved everything...never.

Sometimes there is a minor mix up at HQ. I moved last year and wasn't getting my two copies (Group Member and personal) delivered. One e-mail to USPA fixed it.

He'll have his hands full. I'm not sure if Scotty Bowman or Toe Blake could light a fire under the Maple Laffs.

Poor skydiving skills usually lead to repetitive skydiving injuries. I'm not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Our complainers (not a peep in months) have either gotten worn down or are in hiding, regrouping for their next PAC 750 attack. This is great news for skydiving and aviation in general. Congrats to Mile Hi for fighting the good fight at their own expense.

Anti airport/skydiving groups across the nation have been following this. Hopefully they got the message loud and clear today.

PAT Moorehead

Agreed. They're the least-objectionable (to me) team left.

Ducks/Hawks will be epic. Both of them are stinging from Kings losses in dramatic fashion. This will be like most series, but even more so, down to the goalies. Edge Hawks. Just slightly.

So who do you guys like for the Cup? I want the Rangers to win. Lundqvist needs a Cup before he retires.

Sadly, I know a few other jumpers that have fogged over, panicked and had a similar experience. And one of them had 2,000+ jumps.