tkhayes

GO GIRL! (again) TK

GO GIRL! TK

There is no such thing as 'clear gross negligence'. Everything is subjective when it comes to negligence. It uses terms such as 'reasonable' and ordinary' even in its definitions. http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/n010.htm Just because the DZO/aircraft owner/operator disagree on maintenance does not mean that ANYONE is or was negligent. i.e. Can you fly with a crack in the windshield? Yes, but only to a degree. That degree is not clearly defined. If the mechanic wants to replace it and the owner does not, AND even if the windshield fails, that does not mean necessarily that ANY negligence was involved. Now if someone DIES because of the failed windshield - that actually changes things, especially in the eye of a jury. But did the actual level of negligence change? No it did not. Just because someone got hurt or killed, the assumption becomes someone did something wrong and lawyers start corraling. If the windshield fails and NO ONE gets hurt - there are no lawyers involved at all. The actual act of NOT replacing the windshield did not change. So back to 'clear gross negligence'.... no matter what - it is seldom 'clear'. TK

$3.2M empty, green, no paint, no instruments, no nothing. i expect $3.5-$3.8 by the time it gets on your flightline..... Attached all the stuff I got from Viking yesterday. TK

It is an OK system, but we went from that to BOC for a reason - mostly due to poor velcro maintenance (Velcro kills) Keep your velcro in good shape, always, and it should not be a big deal. Consider going to left hand pull, it was a simple changeover for me.

I alternate from left to right all the time - it is not an issue. I have both my wings set up with a left/right pouch to switch to either one. It is easy to transition. If it took me to 1500' to figure out that it is on the 'other side', then i probably should not be skydiving. TK

Z-Hills of course - but I am biased - I run the place.... TK FYI, we start closing Tues/Wed for the summer on May 1. We operate a Twin Otter every day and generally fly several loads each day, even in the slow summer weekdays. Weekends are still very busy with 20-25 loads each day

I's OK if you do not want to participate. There apparently were 160 others that did. Your choice is yours.

some of those pictures are ealry practice dives - they have done 10 jumsp so far with 160 people at 20,000'. too much cloud today and everyone is grounded, on hold until 4:30pm

no, God put the ALIENS flying UFOs there to confuse us. The ALIENS put the dinosaur bones there to confuse us too. It's all just a big sick joke to fuck with our heads. (God put Saran Wrap on my toilet seat this morning too....) TK

a few updates on our website again this morning - only one load up today, clouds are buildign so they are playing it safe. various pic at http://www.kodakgallery.com/skydivecity or http://www.tonyhathaway.com TK

latest update from our web page: The morning started slower than usual, morning fog and smoke made some visibility questionable. The big formation (160+) has already been rehearsed and dirt-dived so the teams were ready to go. But they were still ironing out issues with the base three airplanes so another practice round of 3 planes, 3 planes and 2 planes went to 17500' about 9:30am. The big way did one more dirt dive, just in time for the clouds to roll in. As of 3pm today, the base went up for one more jump, and the outside folks are on a stand-down until 4pm. We expect our first attempt to be 5pm today for 8 aircraft, 19000' and a single point skydive of 160+. On the down side of the day, Russian skydiver Kirill Samotsvetov, 39 years old, died of his injuries while in surgery in Tampa yesterday. He caught the burble of another canopy on the first jump Monday, and landed very hard. Initial injuries were tended to, broken legs, foot, etc and he was airlifted out to St. Joseph's hospital in Tampa. They discovered critical internal injuries (aorta) and he went into surgery but did not survive the operation to repair it all. Other Russian skydivers, Igor Yurash of Moscow and Vlad Camaev of New York deserve a medl for their tireless efforts to help notify the family, and are helping to make the funeral and transportation arrangements for Kirill's wife. The Russian Consulate in Washington DC is also helping out and things appear to be moveing along. TK Hayes see the blog at http://www.skydivecity.com/html/Z-Team200WayWorldRecordDivesMarch2007.htm I am trying to get the camera guys to post some photos on our Kodak site, stay tuned

I have started a daily update page on Skydive City's website; http://www.skydivecity.com/html/Z-Team200WayWorldRecordDivesMarch2007.htm is the direct link. We should have some pictures posted soon on our Kodak Website as well. TK Hayes Skydive City

reading between the lines a bit, I think that if she argued that marijuana was "keeping her alive", then i suspect she lost that argument, and thus lost the case. So was she arguing that she needed marijuana to 'stay alive' or just to help relieve pain? Courts like specific language and specific reasons. If she chose the wrong reason, she may very well have lost, but not because the courts are unreasonable, maybe because they did not believe it would keep her alive. TK

I will send you vibes when you retract statements about suing people. Everything the world needs - another lawsuit. Malpractice goes up, so the next guy has to pay $1000 for a spay operation, then no one gets it done, then we are overrun by dogs, etc etc Spaying is invasive surgery, opening in the belly, removing organs, large series of sutures, and the anesthesia alone can kill a dog. I am pretty sure that this was explained to you before the surgery. Suing will not get your dog back and it will not stop the next dog from dying in the same circumstances. Go to the local shelter and get another dog that needs a home. TK

I agree in the concept but only to a point. One cannot help but think that something must be broken. BUT, I know of a few dropzones over the years that have had bad streaks of accidents or fatalities. Yet, no one can/could disagree that the dropzones them selves were safe and caring organizations. So how do you explain it? Statistics are hard too look at. Here at Skydive City we just had Johnny Gates die of a heart attack in freefall. Is the dropzone unsafe? Of course not. But if I look at the pure statistical numbers, we were actually WAY overdue for a fatality. Hate to say it, but that is the way it is TK

I even got a call from Bill Nelson's office thanking me for the letter TK

The debate is on about future FAA funding. user fees, huge taxes on fuel, etc. It is time to write your Senator, especially if they are on the Senate Commerce Committee. The list is here http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=About.Members If you want to find out who your Senator is, then go to: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm I have attached the email I got from AOPA outlining a request to write them, as well as the letter I wrote to our Senator, Bill Nelson. The fuel taxes alone would add $1 to every skydive we do here, the savings passed onto the skydivers of course. Time to take action, otherwise the government listens to the lobbyists. Take the time to write, please, and explain how you fit in and what the impact will hurt you. thanks TK

on a scale of 1 to 10, juggling 3 balls is only about a 4. Juggling 4 balls is about a 7 or 8 Juglling 5 balls is about 36 It is quite difficult, I worke don it for years and never got it. 4 was fairly consistent, but there are many variations with 4.

solo certificate in Canada only requires 10 jumps, see www.cspa.ca, locals dropzones offer varying programs, some tandem, some PFF< some IAD, it varies. All programs get you to the same end point.

add knees slightly bent as well - straight tends to have them 'dig in' which is not the intention at all.

It should not be a big deal then to get rid of the 'few bad apples', but it seems to be impossible. I have no idea what would happen if we pulled out. But my bet is that it would be better than what we have today. If 'they' hate the free world so much, then America is not the only target. Other countries might have to buck up too to protect themselves instead of hoping that we will do it for them. That sort of security has already been beefed up all over the globe post 9/11. We no longer need to be there. Afterall, Iraq was not and is not the source of terrorism. One day they are 'insurgents', the next day they are 'terrorists'. Many of them appear to want to kill each other. We deposed the dictator - now GET THE FUCK OUT. Time for America to be selfish, but within our own borders.

I am not denying that Iran is in this thing - I find it obnoxiously arrogant that we call it 'meddling'. But I would also NOT trust anything that comes out of our goverment about their involvement without third party independent collaboration of the information. My trust of this government is shot. They lie, they twist and they cheat. I wonder how the American people stand for it. Personally I think too many are duped into the 'american dream' idea - or they are too apathetic to do anythign about it. Which makes me wonder how bad it has to get BEFORE they do anything about it. Impeach Bush for war crimes and get out of Iraq. Leave it to the Arabic community to sort out. Then come home and protect our own borders..... Spend the war dollars on security at home, health care and education - oops, there I go being liberal again...... TK

WWII is NOT a comparison. We were actually fighting an agressor at that time, Germany, who invaded several countries and occupied several others. The threat there was real, not imagined. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, great, I had no issue with going in there, - an agressive action against an ally of ours. That's the kind of world cop I actually appreciate America being. Not making up all the lies and then invading for no apparent reason. My original point is that America tends to meddle in everyone's affairs far more than it should.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/02/11/iran-iraq.html Duh? So what do they call what we were doing when we got into the war??? TK