gearless_chris

When the search function gets fixed there is a lot of debate on it, I'm a big fan of it. It's not just easier to bag, it slows the openings at least a little. My Cobalt was pro-packed 3 times, two out of the three it broke something from the opening shock, the first broken steering line and my helmet(riser strike). It can also be a faster pack job because you may not have to roll the nose or any of the other special tricks to slow the opening. The down side is that there may not be anyone at your dz doing it, so you may not be able to get help if you have questions. It can damage your canopy if you don't add the bridle extension. People are going to say all kinds of bad things about it because they tried it and had a bad opening, once. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

AFF was developed in the late 70's and early 80's, when turbines were still very rare at the DZ. Most of us were still jumping C-182's, Twin Beeches, and DC-3's. Perris use to jump scores of FJC static liners out of their DC-3's. Most DZ's today still have a C-182 that would serve a S/L FJC quite nicely. During that time, most DZ's still used military surplus main canopies and front mounted round reserves. In fact, the requirement in AFF of a back mounted reserve and and Paracommander or better main canopy for the student sent most of us shopping for a suitable student rig. Thanks John, I hadn't heard that, I was going by what my DZO told us. I assume since they were jumping rounds, they were dumping multiple students out on each pass, like in the old war movies. How many students can you drop on one pass, and still have most of them land on the dz? When you switched to squares did you still drop staticlines from the DC-3's? "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Yes, if you did it in a spectacular fashion, or at least better than you stumbled into a gravity heavy zone. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Here's one of mine that I sent out to my email friends. So for the next childhood/non skydiving story we'll go with setting the timing on my Trans Am because it's funny, short, and I can remember it well. It's winter, late February or early march, somewhere in the low thirties, just barely above freezing. I need to set the timing on my Trans Am, it's a hot rod, it requires constant attention, but I still love it. To adjust the timing you loosen the clamp that holds it in place and twist it by hand. You use a strobe light to see marks on the engine to check it. The ignition system on my car put out around 60,000 volts, it's enough to get your attention but not kill you, not enough amperage (power) to kill. In order to reach the distributor on my T/A I had to reach through the hood hinge. With my arm through the hinge up to my shoulder I could just reach far enough to turn the distributor. This process is done with the car running and at normal operating temperature, so I had let the car run for about 20 minutes to get warm. Keep in mind that it's 30ish degrees out so I have my winter coat on, and the driveway is covered with thick ice. Well I went to turn the distributor and the coil wire came off and landed on my hand. So here I am getting shocked but the car is still running because the high power coil is able to jump the gap. My natural reaction was to jerk my hand away. Guess what, with my winter coat on I couldn't get my arm back out of the hood hinge, but I did manage to hit my funny bone. And remember the ice coated driveway? Well when I had the car running the exhaust had melted some of it so I was standing in a puddle of water on the ice. After hitting my funny bone I slipped on the ice, still stuck in the hinge, and fell on my right knee. My chin hit the fender, of course making me bite my tongue. Since my chin was now the path of least resistance it grounded out the ignition and finally stopped the engine. Now I've got an electrical burn mark by my thumb, hurt my funny bone, bit my tongue, oh and remember my knee, well I found out I couldn't stand on it after I tried, and fell a second time. I say I dislocated it but I don't know what actually happened. If I tried to stand with it bent at all it would immediately collapse, so the only way to stand was to keep it locked back straight. So now I'm seriously hurt and would love to sit and cry for a while but can't until I limp back to the house. I'm sure it would've made the yearend video, or America's funniest videos. Last but certainly not least, when the ignition grounded out with my chin it gave me home electrolysis so I can never forget the wonderful experience. I have a spot on my chin that hasn't grown hair since. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular. You know why AFF was invented right? Turbines don't make money climbing to 4,000 feet, circling the airport to drop off each static line/IAD, climbing to 6,000 feet to drop off a 10 second delay, and then climbing to 12,000 feet for whatever is left. They make money climbing directly up and down. Static line/IAD is good for 182 dz's because they're going to use less fuel only climbing to 4,000 feet. If you have a good radio operator you can have several students in the air at a time, to cut down the fuel also. I like static line/IAD because it puts more emphasis on canopy flight. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

I'm pretty sure this is the worst I know. Three guys drinking in a bar. An American, a Mexican, and a Arabian. The Arabian stands up, drinks his shot, throws his glass in the air and shoots it with his pistol. He says,"I come from Saudi Arabia, we have so much money we never have to drink from the same glass twice." The Mexican does his shot, throws his glass in the air, shoots it, and says,"I come from Mexico, we have so much sand we can make as many glasses as we want, we never have to drink from the same glass twice." The American does his shot, throws his glass in the air, shoots the Mexican, and says, "I come from America, we have so many Mexicans we never have to drink with the same one twice." "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

In any case, I personally choose AFF first because A) I didn't want to waste money on a Tandem jump, and it seemed a little gay to me, having some dude strapped on my backside , You do realize you'll be holding hands with/docking on dudes right? . Wait 'til you get some swoop pants/capri's. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

That sounds like a good reason to downsize, just kidding! I'd like to have some pants made out of that dragon skin armor I saw on the Discovery channel. Bulletproof, yep, that's what I need. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

I started static line, my dz didn't have tandems at the time. I don't think I still would've went static line given the choice anyway. My DZO says he gets much more return students from static line/IAD. The poll numbers so far show the same thing. They had a contest last year between the IAD instructors and the tandem instructors to see who could get the most points, the losers bought the winners a steak dinner. They got one point for the first jump, 3 points for a second jump, and 5 points for a graduation. The tandems won but only because there were far more tandems done. The IAD's did almost all of the return students. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Pegasus. I haven't jumped many of the old canopies. 4 on a Fury, about a 100 on a 300 Falcon, 5 on Ravens (all reserves). "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

I'm pretty sure they were squares, but just barely. Sabre's might have been out then. Oy, We had squares before ZP!! Yep they would have been Fury's, Stratoclouds, and I don't know what else, 7 cell F-111's. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

I'm pretty sure they were squares, but just barely. Sabre's might have been out then. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Is that because that's all a 182 can get up to with a load of anvils? My DZO says they used to only go to 7,500 and turn just as many points as we do from 9,000, then I asked when they opened... "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

I've been out at less than half that altitude in the UK So it seems there may be a difference in what the rules say and what you can get away with . Many years before I started there was a DZO that got out at 400 feet, he said if he knew then, what he knows now, he wouldn't have done it. He also won't tell us what the lowest altitude he got out is. He just says,"You gotta remember we were landing in the ocean." "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

2007 USPA stats: Male: 85% Female: 14% Other: 1% If you can't work with that... The DZ hotties (from CK) are in FL right now. All you had to do was send Skittles and airline ticket for New Years Eve. Nah, Donny Osmond (aka Tadpole) is way too young for me. And he's in FL now, too! He might have been safer with you, or maybe not

Well that wouldn't exactly be a hop-n-pop then would it?

You probably shouldn't get out below your minimum opening altitude, unless it's an emergency. On my lowest exit I went last out of the 182, jump run started at 2,300, it was a pretty short ride, and a bad idea. I wouldn't do that with my current canopies. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Low numbers this year, 114. Like many others in this area didn't start until May due to the weather. We didn't do near as many tandem videos in Angola this year. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

There are a couple people I jump with that still have round reserves. Other than the fact you have to actually be able to PLF, there's nothing wrong with that. 35007 is another good one. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Sounds like exactly the same thing I'm going through with my 150 Comp Cobalt. 3 broken brake lines in less than 150 jumps. No response ever from Atair. There was a lady there to answer the phone, but the rest of the staff was always gone. I sent it to Skyworks where I was informed the line set was installed wrong. At least after I buy a new line set for my brand new canopy it won't try to kill me on opening . "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Some people pulled a nice prank on Stan at Rantoul one year. Waited for him to pass out, took off his shoes and socks, painted his toe nails, and put his shoes and socks back on. He didn't find it out until he was in the shower. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

The pink wasn't bad because she did a good job, the blue on the other foot left something to be desired. Luckily it's not my splooge on my foot, they pied some guy that night because he finally got laid, at least that's the story I heard. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

After many hours of drinking the girls snuck up on Tod and went to town on his toes. Then a couple of us let them do ours so he wouldn't be alone. One of them was way to drunk to be painting toe nails, it looked like it was done with a roller. There must be something wrong with you if they want to put make up on . "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

Well if you start driving now you might get here in time . "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

So far I'm planning on going to Treerat's house for a very small gathering. "If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane. My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.