tkhayes

Jerry's Dead - Thanks God......

N/A

not a skydiving accident..... Rocky Weidner, most people knew as just Rocky - was killed today in a motorcycle accident on Chancey road, actually pretty much in front of my house. Rocky either cut in front of the semi-truck or the semi cut in front of him - whatever, it does not matter much at this point. Rocky was one of those fun and happy guys you saw around. He started jumping in July 2004, tall, lanky and every bit a redneck motorcycle kinda guy with a missing tooth and everything. Did AFF in a week, and his license in a month, and jumped pretty regularly. Always happpy to see you and would take the time to stop to say hello. He seemed a bit strapped at times, I remember giving him one of my old jumpsuits as a gift when he had about 50 jumps. It was perfect for him, but I was far too fat to wear it anymore. His face lit up and you could tell it really meant a lot to him. He thanked me for that jumpsuit for more than a year every time he was out. He had his demons and vices too. Had to 'go away' for a while last year due to some problems he had now and then, I am not sure why. But he never had a mean bone in his body, and he was really torn up about having to leave his friends. He spent the last while working hard on getting squared away and you could tell how much it meant for him to have his DZ friends. Spending time at the bar, smoking his motorcycle tires for fun and just being around. He was on his way to the DZ to pick up his rig today from the rigging loft when it happened. Very sad - gonna miss his big stupid grin. Hug your friends folks - life is too short to smoke cheap cigars and to not pay attention to the important stuff. TK

I do not know of any dropzone that has so much excess cash that they take it out in mutual funds. Capital gains, income tax on corporations etc is pretty high. You are not going to invest that $125 gift certificate because at the end of the year, you might pay 30-40% tax on that money sitting in the bank on your books as 'profit'. At the end of th eyear, you are either going to pay yourself (individual tax is lower), or invest in some new equipment or whatever to 'burn up the money' at the end of th eyear so you do nto show a huge profit on the books. If you are S corporation, it does not matter that much as it is just a line on your tax return, but if you are C corp., then the corporate profit AND the shareholder profits are taxed. anyway, we beat this to death - and there is no point in it - we will be putting cash values on our certificates and NO expiry dates.

yep, I have their money - my original post was not for some vast concern that i have with the issue - it was just to inform people out there of the new bill. I really do not care either way - we will alter our gift certificats to have a face value, and there will always be a few that never come back

That's probably the route we will go - put a value on it of max. whatever so it looks like cash in case the price goes up. Most of our do come back quickly, but I still see plenty from years ago that have never been redeemed This also reflects on the airline industry I expect. I regularly have received a travel voucher that expired if I did not use it. Of course the bill does not mention 'travel vouchers' TK

I am not worried about having to 'honor' them, no, as I said in my post, which you apparently did not read, that we honor them almost always anyway. Do you want to give a tandem to someone who bought the gift certificate in 1998 for $125 on sale during some special you had, and now you have to honor that in 2007 when the real cost is closer to $180? There are always exceptions, this bill does not appear to address any of them. I see their point on a cash card for example - cash is cash. We sell a certificate for a tandem jump, which could cost us $20 more next year if oil goes to $100/barrel. we currently say that they are not refundable after 6 months and they expire in one year. I like to give them incentive to come out, not wait forever to use it. So do we stop selling them or do we just sell the cash gift card now? According to what I read today, 23 states have similar legislation. TK

The Florida Senate just passed a bill, yet to be signed, but will likely pass through to law, regarding the handling of gift cards, gift certificates, etc. Basically they are concerned about cash gift cards etc expiring and having fees added to them to devalue them. The link to the bill is http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/view_page.pl?Tab=session&Submenu=1&FT=D&File=sb1638er.html&Directory=session/2007/Senate/bills/billtext/html/ and if I read it right, you cna apply a 3 year expiry to a charity donation, a 1 yr expiry to somethign given as an employee incentive, but NO e[pxiry dates whatsoever to gift certificates. This will probably impact dropzones some, - we sell $50-60K each year in gift certificates and they all have a 1 year expiry. We generally honor them anyway just to be nice, but we still get calls from people with gift cert's that are literally 7-10 years old, wondering if they are still good. This legislation now says that they are. Any legal beagles out there that can do a better interpretation ? Thanks TK

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2693514;search_string=bill%20nelson;#2693514 And I started this link as well. Dropzone need to do the same, contact their jumpers, their local base of skydivers and start writing letters. Bill Nelson said in a recent speech that this bill for the add-on increase in fuel taxes may well go out the door. As he said "File 13". That does not mean they will not come up with some other tax or fee based on whatever they want. Stay on top of this. AOPA is very involved and is a good source of info on who to write and when TK

I'm not pissed off, I just get frustrated. there is NO reason in the world one cannot hang a 10lb shot bag, with a 4x8' flag by a caribiner from your chest strap OR main lift web. If you gear is that weak, then you should probably buy a different rig. I have never seen any damage from such a move. And yes, you can hang D rings from your lift webs too, with a large 30x30 banner using a harness that connects to the lift webs/rear laterals and/or to the legstraps. I know because I have done it on many occasions. And again, if your harness cannot handle that - get a different harness. The stresses are bugger-all compared to opening shock. You are talking about a hundred pounds hanging off a harness designed to handle a thousand of pounds of stress. TK

y'know, i am just going to step out of the conversation. I was offering simple advice based on years of experience and dozens of flag jumps. i do not need it to be over-analyzed, thanks anyway TK

I was not talking about during deployment, the flag gear needs to be in a container on the front of you, attached appropriately to your harness, or stuffed in your jumpsuit. Either way, there should be no load on your harness from opening shock, sure TK

depends on the size of the flag. a 4'x8' flap with 10lb shot bag under the leading edge will fly nicely and can all be stuffed in your jumpsuit for the jumps, hang it with a caribiner (sp?) from either your lift web or chest strap. Also consider what canopy you are flying. If you want to present the flag nicely, you need a LARGE parachute. faster airspeed just makes the flag streamer, even with more weight under it. 220-260 sq ft at least is nice. - do a test jump or two Larger flags, 10'x20 require an external container, usually something like Mark Schlatter designs, and they deploy down between your legs from the front and the weight bag can be 20-40lbs. a Y strap connects the flag to your laterals, and has a cutaway system, be very aware of the length of stuff below you and what you are flying over when on final. Snagging a power line at 70' will be horrible, no time to do anything about it. Again LARGE parachutes to make it fly nice.

mmmm, Seal Flipper Pie, one of my favorite delicacies. trouble is, I can never find an flippers in Florida, even during the hunt season. Have to rely on my Mom to come to FL to visit and bring some. TK

to be honest, I think it is a waste of time. Most training involves some sort of pass/fail criteria. The only fail for water traiing would be drowning I guess. I think we should focus our time on what is really killing skydivers. Drowning, overall, is not one of them. So to put people through more realistic training for water training than i often see people doing for cutawys for example, is plain silly. Yes people drown. More die in plane crashes. But we do not do 'airplane escape/evacuation" live training, which, if we wanted to save lives, might be more effective. Instead we tell them to take their seatbelts off at 1000' and get out if the wing falls off. When in fact, most people in a Twin Otter, suddenly out of control, would not have a chance of getting out of at 1500' above the ground. That sort of 'minimum' training can be done for water emergencies as well. We would be better advised to set minimums for wearing flotation gear. Having people recognize and avoid the water hazards that do exist, instead of trying to simulate the actual experience, which happens to only a very very few. But whatever. Each year it gets argued about, each year it gets upheld. We offer the live water training at Skydive City because we have to, not because II feel anyone will ever benefit from it. TK

well? Did they get it? We want to know?

probably - the Spectre packs much smaller. It is already smaller in size, and with only 7 cells, then it will eb loose. Maybe get the Dacron lines will help with bulk and with softer openings.

Packing a parachute is not rocket science. It never was. The main reasons we have stringent rules about who can pack a reserve is 1. It is your last chance, and 2. it is federal law (here in the USA). There is no reason a competent person cannot pack their reserve parachute. There is a lot more to the process if you get into the inspection and materials, but as a general rule, anyone with some level of training and knowledge could do it. In Canada, dropzones rroutinely hire students and such to pack student parachutes in the summer. Great summer jobs for teens, hard work, but good pay. Riggers still pack reserves, but the rules are more flexible since it is not bound by law, just bound by Sport rules (CSPA) Packing a parachute is pretty easy. Yes, I know, everyone will tell horror stories, but the fact of the matter is there are plenty f horror stories about gear packed by real riggers too So I am not surprised that there are people out there who pack their own reserves without being a rigger. no different that the guy who fixes his own airplane but has a mechanic sign it off. TK

we're going to host the August Boogie at Z-Hils. BLACK jumpsuits are mandatory. Everyone must be fully geared up on the 20 minute call or you can't get on the plane. Jumping starts every day at 11am, just in time for the lightning and thunderstorms. Tent camping only. We are taking down all the shade areas just in case the storms damage them. Of course we will have a huge supply of tepid water to drink - Stay Hydrated!! TK

Alec Baldwin can say whatever he wants to his daughter. This is supposed to be a free country. You have no idea what the source of this audio is. It proobably came from the opposition in his divorce, which makes it, at the very least unreliable. Who says it has not been altered? What context led up to it? Maybe his 11 year old daughter is a spoiled brat who cusses out her Dad on a regular basis. Again, no one knows and it should not be in the publiic view as far as i am concerned. Judges and civil courts are there to deal with this. Leave it alone. NOYB NOMB TK

yes, but we have already seen the mentally handicapped pick up a gun, The radical right wing has mentally handicapped people too.

Once, Twice, Go to plan B That applies to 'looking at a bag lock' It also applies to trying to fix a malfunction that may be considered 'minor' There is nothign that you can do for a bag lock except watch it for another second or tow and hope that it clears. Then you get rid of it, Immediately. trying to fix high speed malfunctions is like trying to steer the car before going over a cliff, versus simply applying the brakes to stop before you go over the cliff. You gain nothing by continuing on the same path you are already on.

I wonder how long before one of those wackos picks up a gun to carry out 'God's wishes' thank God they have a 'constituional right' to own and carry a gun, especially in Virginia..... TK

So these two Newfies are driving a truck and come to a bridge. The sign says 11'6" Newfie asks the other Newfie "How high is this truck? The other Newfie says "12 feet" Newfie thinks for a minute, looks around and says "Well, I don't see any cops around - I say we go for it." TK

I would ask first if you discussed with the packers how you wanted your rig packed? Just as in getting your car serviced, if you do not like the service, you go somewhere else. I make sure I tell the packers how I want the nose folded, how I want the line stows, etc,. Often I get negative responses, like "I know what I aam doing" or "I don't want to scare you with that slow an opening", to which I say "If you want to get paid, then do it my way" and "Go ahead, try to scare me with a slow opening" I also discuss my car repairs at length witth my mechanic. That way i do not have to argue with them after the fact about what was or was not done and how much was charged. TK