MrFreefall383

I used to want to be ATC. Went to U of North Dakota, trained for a semester on their approach/depature simulators, and it kicked my ass. You really need to have your head on your shoulders for that shit. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

They must have put stability control in the later models, because a good friend bought one a couple years ago now, and it had a side-panel button labeled "DSC" for Dynamic Stability Control, which he stupidly left engaged at his first autocross after telling himself a dozen or more times to disengage it, and slowed himself down by a few seconds. And as I said, with two years of use and only one autocross, his engine mount is busted, which he researched on forums and determined was a common problem in the Mazda 3 of all years. As for power, the basic Mazda 3 doesn't have the type of power it should. And quite frankly, it wasn't tuned to be a high performance car. The Mazdaspeed 3 certainly more than made up for that, I'd never debate that, but in terms of classing, it still doesn't have the ability to keep up to a car properly tuned from the factory like a WRX. I'd love to see a Mazdaspeed 3 kick the crap out of a WRX on an autocross course, but until I see it firsthand, I'm going to go with the experts on this one. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Too bad you can't shoot them, I was going to suggest a really good measure of projectile weaponry to use. But really, you live on an Air Force Base and you don't have the readily available means to get rid of a few squirrels? That sucks. I would suggest placing some well-hidden snares on the lawn, trap a few and interrogate them. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

To answer you quite simply, I just don't feel like being nice. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Well, on the street, it could roughly compare to WRX. Size and power-wise, the WRX is a fair match. The WRX has a far superior suspension, meaning it puts the power down better, and it has all-wheel-drive. And if you look at the SCCA's classing, the Mazdaspeed 3 is in D Stock with the WRX, G35 sedan, Maxima, Dodge SRT-4's, Chevy Cobalt SS, etc., cars which easily maintain the top of the class regularly. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

But she doesn't have a Mazdaspeed 3, does she? And even if she did, I've read enough pre- and post-release reports on it to figure out that performance-wise, it's still outclassed, both in racing and on the street. I mean it's a comfortable car, shifts reasonably smoothly, steering is tight enough, but toss it into a high-G corner, it'll give it up quicker than a fat kid in dodgeball. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Both are straight evil. Just kidding, I love both. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yeah, not sure what you were thinking. But hey, thankfully that's not my problem. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I see you caved in and bought a manual tranny. Nice. Can't say I would've bought a Mazda 3. Silly little underpowered stability-controlled pussy car with crappy engine mounts that fail all the time. But enjoy. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Right, it's the idea that if a repair operation goes bad, you could do more damage, and worse yet, more damage than can be repaired by the crew. It's risky enough that you have to debate it for a while and figure out the logistics of the decision, what it's going to take, what can go wrong, how to account for that, etc. It's not like a repair on your car where if you fuck up you can still take a bus to work, you screw up working on the shuttle, you've got no other way back home, and the ISS can't support that many people for a long period of time. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Good news.... Well, I mentioned again to my mom during a conversation about a future vacation home on Cape Cod, that I really want to enlist in the Coast Guard and become a rescue swimmer, and that when I do I could request posting at CGAS Cape Cod, and I could watch over the house in the off-season. She thought that was amusing, and seemed much more willing to listen to my reasons for wanting to become a rescue swimmer. I would almost say that it sounded like she thought it was a good idea, but I hesitate to say that because she's never thought any military job was a good idea for me. But that said, she seemed much more accepting of it, so that's good news as far as I'm concerned. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Couldn't agree with you more. And those are some of the nicest curves I've ever seen. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Nasty.... "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

That sucks. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I average about 16mph right now, but I'm brand new to road cycling, and haven't yet become one with the bike. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

That's simply insane. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Sierra Hotel! That's some fancy ass flying. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yeah, that would be cool, jumping from a C-47. Of course static line is the only way to go if you do that. Gotta get the full experience. And on military gear with round parachutes... Hell yeah! "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yeah, that would be cool, jumping from a C-47. Of course static line is the only way to go if you do that. Gotta get the full experience. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

No, I said I'd like to snap my fingers and suddenly know Mandarin Chinese. But I said it would help to make learning Arabic easier. So if you key into the focal point, the real goal is Arabic. Completely a pain in the ass. I definitely need it to get where I want, but it's among the more difficult world languages to learn. As it is, I've already spent at least $120 combined on a low level CD program for the language and Arabic for Dummies, and neither one has done much for me, so I'm hesitant to drop another $200-$300 on another CD program that won't work. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

The "borrowed" Rosetta Stone CDs. Yeah, sadly I don't know anyone learning Arabic from whom I can borrow Rosetta Stone CDs. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Following the threadstarter's line of thought, I'd like to snap my fingers and instantly know Mandarin Chinese. It would make learning Arabic a shitload easier, as well as Farsi. But sadly, that would never happen, anyone know good language courses besides the $400 Rosetta Stone CDs? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Actually, I do jump out of it Here are some real pics of it from the inside at 17,999 feet while I was at work Dude, that's badass. Wanna hook me up? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

That's one hell of an R/C plane. I've flown some small little POS ones, never even seen one that big. That's just goddamn impressive. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

As far as I know, any newer than '02, there are no service manuals for except by asking a dealer. The reason I say this is because our buddy with the WRX got his manuals, all of them, for his '02 from the dealer. Cost him somewhere around $150 from what I recall, and he said he looked around before buying them. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche