ROK

After being pulled from a flight to Paris, I'll be on my way to Barcelona tomorrow. Paris being a good 650 miles (1046 KM) from Barcelona presents a small problem... I've booked a flight to Orly leaving right after I arrive Tuesday morning, but I'm a bit doubtful that it will be a success. The trains...forget about it! Between the railway strike and the overload, I waited on the phone for two hours, and still didn't get to the reservation people. If there is anyone in the Barcelona area who would like to make some good cash and go on a road trip, let me know. Small planes are a plus

This gives me all of the information that I needed. I've booked a place to stay. I appreciate your help. I told my wife that this was the fastest way to find a place For each of you that responded...ask for Robert Kelley next time your in Z-Hills and one of your jumps will be on me.

That's probably where my son will want to stay, but I'm not permitted...

I'm definitely interested! I appreciate everyone's help. It's my wife's first time in Paris and we're celebrating her birthday with an Eiffel Tower dinner. I'd like to stay in a managable place without going too broke.

My wife and I are meeting our son in Paris in April, traveling through London and then on to Africa. I haven't been to Paris in twenty years and I'm having a difficult time finding a hotel for three people (4 nights) within a reasonable distance of city center for around 150- 200 euros a night. Does anyone have any recommendations? I can just pick one off of the web, but it's like rolling the dice. One room- 3 people WIFI Shower/Toilet

Carbon credit trading. He who has the most gold CARBON CREDITS rules. Cap & Trade baby! Support your leaders who push it, and all of your problems will go away

I too have a large egg. I really wanted the Hurricane, but got the HR2. It's taken a beating and still looks and wears good. Trying on the XL Hurricane at Skysystems, they took it away from me when I pried it open and slid it on. I thought my eyes were going to pop out. There is one helmet that I like better. The Skydance ION. I use mine with camera equipment. It's made with Kevlar, and is very light. It also doesn't look like a space helmet when I place it on my head. As far as the music...distractions =

First... There are always going to be choices that are either good or bad. I don't believe we should regulate everything to the Nth degree. Be smart enough to make informed choices that go beyond the cool factor. I ordered a brand new rig a little over a year ago. I also ordered soft handles. More for the cool factor than anything else. In the mean time while I was waiting for my rig to be built I had a total mal during a wingsuit flight. The resulting aerial acrobatics I was performing made it difficult to see my handles. Lots of material everywhere. I easily located that steel handle just by feel. I had two thoughts when I landed shortly after deploying. The first was "I'm glad I have a cypress" (even though I deployed with plenty of altitude before it would have fired), the second was "I'm calling and changing my new rig reserve handle back to steel". I like the fact that I can reach down and feel that well designed piece of metal when I need too. I don't have to worry whether what I'm pulling on is harness, wing, or anyting else. I know a lot of people who have soft handles and have never had a problem when needing to use it, but for me, I'm sticking to steel. Peace

I have two of the paragear crosswise racks and they work very well, look good, and leave a very small footprint. I too investigated building them and said the heck with it. I'm glad I bought these and have seen no problems with my rigs.

If you really want to do it right... Pay for AFF1. It's literally just a couple of dollars more with high quality video at our DZ, or less with a video that isn't edited. You'll spend half of a day learning in ground school, and you'll get to jump with two instructors and your own canopy(s). If you look out of the door, and puss out...you have a better excuse when facing your friends The fear (concern) part comes on occasion, but being on load one staring out the door in the morning while the sun is coming up replaces it in an instant with a feeling of peace that I've never found anywhere else. You just can't wait to get out! PS- you also can't wait to get out if someone on the plane has eaten eggs and sausage for breakfast

My wife is awesome. She has no desire to jump, but she knows that Saturdays and a few yearly events are sacred. We go on about two vacations a year that last a week and I always spend two of the days at the nearest DZ. When possible, I get her a ride in the jump plane. She has to wear a pilot's rig, but she's fine with it. I stopped bitching when she asks me to do the occasional chick thing with her, and the trade off has worked well. (you have to pretend like you're having a good time though) I also take on special projects when I want new gear. My last canopy cost me an exterior house paint job. Next month it will be Red Rock near Sedona! PS- Don't have the DZ chicks drop you off at 2:30 in the morning in front of your house

I ordered my TJNK on June 23rd, and picked it up last Wednesday. It seemed like forever, but the rig is awesome! I'm also pretty pleased with the Sunpath customer service. Now I'm waiting for my Icarus canopy. Hope it won't be too much over the quoted time

I watched you land and must say you did a very good job! Especially with the rotors rolling off the buildings that morning.

I love night jumps! Remember to take your goggles off when you're under canopy. If not they may completely fog over when you're on final causing you to break your shoulder

Reading a good book. Finishing a crossword in less than 10 minutes. Having all of my work done early on the job. Listening to the sounds of kids playing. Hanging with my lesbian neighbors and helping them work on their John Deere tractor.

Most modern implants are made to sustain a continuous 14.7 pounds per square inch just about indefinitely. In order to pass AMA standards, they're TSO'd at 120 psi as an upper limit of non sustained pressure. Much higher than a firm mattress press, or normal jaw pressure. If "they" remain harnessed securely and are not permitted to lash about, the normal boxman position should not have an ill effect. Warranties will very depending on manufacturer. Dr. T

Night jumps are awesome! I do them as often as I can. The last was a wingsuit flock (I was scared), but it was really fantastic. Where I do them, the landing area is really dark. When you look down from altitude, you just see pin pricks of light. It's nice if they key the runway lights, and they stay on long enough to help you. Here's my advice...FWIW Know the drop zone well. Pay attention to where towers are, ball fields, parking lots, power lines, etc. At night, you won't have the same visual land marks to use as during the day. If you have to land off, be very prepared. I swear that my night landings are much faster than during the day. Be very comfortable with landing your canopy. Don't be afraid to PLF. Sit through a couple of night jump briefings when others are doing them, and don't let ANYONE give you a hard time about waiting. See if the DZO will let you ride up with the load, but not jump. It will cost you, but the experience and visuals will be very valuable for when you do decide to try it out. Pay close attention to every detail in the night jump training. Example: I did one jump on a night where it had just stopped storming. Very cool 4-way. I was pysched! Turned on final and my googles fogged over 100% from the humidity. Broke my shoulder. Yes, I forgot the small detail taught to me about removing my googles after under canopy. Landing blind sucks You don't need them until you are prepared to go for your D license. Waiting will only make you more experienced in the air, and landing your canopy. Besides, if you're on schedule with your sig line, you only have to wait till the end of the summer next year!

Don't know if this will help, but I have a TJNK being built. I was told that if I went with an Optimum, I could use a 126, or a 143. The chart quotes up to a 135. If I use a Smart, I'd need to stay right at a 120.

The Phantoms use them every time they jump (about once every three weeks). First pass at 1000' over the peas, toss em, do a "go around", watch where they land, jumpmaster calls the offset for the next pass. Second pass at 800' to 1200', one go, two go... Unless you're right in the door, they're hard to see (Otter).

["For any thing you should be able to create a list of pro and cons and then decide based on the list what your opinion is."] What Eric said above is exactly what I have done. I've read, reviewed, talked with people, and walked away with a list of sub rules and changes to the general rules taught to us. I read about the incidents, and may make changes based on what makes sense to others and me. I'm a calm guy under extreme pressure and trust my ability to handle any emergency. This has been proven several times in my life travels. I'll look at something and say to myself "that makes sense, I'm now better prepared if that happens to me". Until recently I didn't have an AAD (because of the cons), and my RSL was either hooked, or un-hooked (based on what I've read, and heard)depending on what I was doing. Your statement about "pulling relatively high" is a good answer. but if you're like me, it ain't gonna happen full time. Well, a recent epiphany changed my views a bit... I was demo-ing a wingsuit while mine is being modified and I had a total mal. No problem, I'm a cool guy, and pretty smart too. I worked at it deligently for a bit which of course was during the aerial acrobatics that I threw myself into concentrating on deploying. Before I knew it, I was between my decision altitude and the ground. FLIP OVER, SILVER, BAM, a very beautiful white canopy. I landed in a field where kids were playing ball, they ran over and handed me my freebag. I was calm when I landed, but the first thought that went through my mind was, damn I'm glad that I put that AAD in my rig. I deployed before it would have fired, but the thought was there anyway. My second thought was, I'm leaving all of my safety devices hooked up from this point forward. Was I scared into these decisions? Nope. It was more that reality hit me square in the face. I'm convinced that when you scream through that red zone on your Alti, time speeds up. The luxury of pondering and playing grab-ass goes away very quickly. If there are devices that help me "see white" sooner, I'm using them. I'll leave the pros and cons decisions to the guys and girls with years and thousands of jumps experience. Me...my devices are staying attached and in pristine working order.

Things I should practice or think about as I jump more? I'll give you some that I believe have helped me... 1. Learn to fly and land your canopy well. Make certain you are skilled in accuracy and landing in tight spots. Your odds of landing off in the beginning will increase. Your odds of landing off will increase again after you discover cloud flying. Landing off can be bad. 2. Learn how to spot and how winds aloft effect your flight. You'll cover a lot more ground very quickly in a wingsuit. You'll still need to make it back under canopy after you open. I'm not just talking about getting spotting signed off on your card either. Know before you leave the ground where you want to open in a best case scenario. Expand that place to include the fringes of where you know you should be ok. Take into account the safety aspects of everyone else on the plane going for that good spot too. Be prepared with a plan "B" if jump run changes. Don't be afraid to ask the pilot for corrections if it doesn't look good. 3. Pay attention to everyone on the plane and learn what they are flying. Know who has big floaty canopies, and what altitude everyone is supposedly opening at. Keep in mind that you may be doing everything perfect and by the book, but there's a damn good chance that someone else on the load isn't. 4. Spend a lot of time learning to fly formations with other people. Diving down to them, flying relative and comfortable, turning points, etc. 5. Become good at tracking. Let your body feel the little changes you can make that cause you to fly faster, slower, smoother, farther. After you become comfortable, track with someone experienced and learn the dangers of high speed close proximity flight. 6. Pay close attention to how the relative wind effects your exits. Be comfortable recovering when you're tossed around like a piece of paper in the wind. Recovery should be second nature and not something you have to concentrate on at the moment. Feel the hill. Learn how to turn on it while remaining stable. 7. Study and practice your emergency procedures. This mantra is impressed upon you all of the time and it's for a reason; to save your life. Train until you can perform your EP's in your sleep. Make your decision altitude a hard fast rule. Things get out of hand f-king fast in a wingsuit emergency. The natural responses you make with your body can turn you into a flailing mass of limbs and material in less than a heart-beat. Don't just know what to do, do it without wasting precious seconds. 8. From the time you exit, until the time you land, stay out of your head. Look around and know what's below you, above you, and on each side. Stay in the here and now, even if you get unstable. 9. A big difference between anvil jumping and wingsuiting is that your odds of "in flight" emergencies are much greater with a bed sheet attached to your body. Talk to other wingsuiters about 7000' flat spins on your back, zippers breaking, potential aircraft tail strikes, pilot chutes bouncing around on your back, how fast you can flip over at pull time by making one small mistake, instant line twists, and the complications that are added even after you're under canopy. 10. Hang with the birds. Listen to the stories, and read everything you can about wingsuits. Ask questions. Research the suits and manufacturers, and seek out the wingsuit instructors. 11. Go slow. There's a reason for requiring a minimum number of jumps before squeezing into that wingsuit. It's not just about successfully completing steps and mile markers, it's about a mind-set that takes time. You'll find yourself going through psychological changes as you progress; changes you can only acquire through time in the air. I only have about 100 wingsuit jumps and I'm still at the infancy stage of learning to fly. Is wingsuiting easy? Perhaps for some, but I believe it depends on what your goals are. It's going to take me a lot longer to master flying my suit properly, but every second I spend with those wings on is an awesome experience.

I can't tell what your experience is because you don't have your profile filled out, but if you have the required number of jumps, buy a $1000.00 camera and mount it to the top of your helmet

This is interesting... I'm 5'9", 215lbs out the door. I'm built pretty solidly. My center of gravity is close to the center of my body. I have a difficult time with forward speed in my Phantom. I tend to be "floaty". When I put my camera on, my speed seems to increase a bit, as well as my flight time (about 9 seconds). So if I were to move my center of gravity closer to my head, in theory my glide ratio should improve? Or if I increased the size of my leg wing, the same should occur? Am I correct?

Maybe some good data would have done the trick. Question... In order to get an accurate representation, wouldn't we need to know how many people in each group are flying "highly" loaded canopies, as well as the number of people in each group damaged under highly loaded canopies?

Driving up a hill I thought I smelled something burning. I lifted the seat on the cart up and noticed a small flame when half a second later I heard BOOM! The battery exploded, covered me in acid, including my eyes. If there wasn't a hose about thirty feet away, I would probably be blind. As it was, I ended up with chemical burns on my eyes, and my clothes were trashed. Screw golf