btucker

So freeflyers can't renew their license. droguefall isn't freefall so neither can TMs. Hop n' pops aren't freefall so CRW dogs and swoopers can't renew either. After we take out anyone that meets any of the above criteria, that leaves just one skydiver left! Dave your it. Your renewal (including insurance) is AUS$2Million. On the plus side you have the entire of the APF at your service. Blues, Benno

Here is a few you can try - that are legal and used in very small amounts are not all that dangerous. Bulbs / nitrous oxide You inhale the gas and they makes the world weird for about 30 seconds. They make sounds sound very weird. Bulbs are used to power wip creamers they are found in supermarkets. Always sold out before raves. Occasionally an entire cylinder will turn up a party. Amyl nitrate (SP?) Small bottle sold in sex stores. Often used for umm, anyway, inhale and it makes the world weird for 30 seconds and gives you a headache. Guarana Often touted as herbal speed. Used in some energy drinks. Notable mention: Red bull and vodka. Guarantee to screw you up. Banned in a lot of bars. Trippe espresso shot on an empty stomach (not used to drinking coffee) this will really feel like you just had a line of speed. The best way to spot some one is on the gear is mood swings. What goes up must come down. Blue skies, altered states. Benno

Drug..............................Effects # Cocaine You'll bounce # Meth You'll punch the pilot out, then bounce # "X" You'll hug the pilot, then bounce # LSD You'll hallucinate that you bounced and then bounce anyway # Marijuana You'll get the muncies, giggle and then bounce # heroin You got a habbit and stole then plane, to buy smack. no chance of bouncing for anyone. # errr....others? GBH You'll get date rapped by someone that will bounce SpecialK You'll pull your shoes off rather than the hackey, bounce for sure. Bill Cosby joke: I asked a friend of mine why he takes cocaine. "It intensifies my personality". But what if you are an arsehole? Blues Benno

Is there anyway at all you can keep going on the Sabre? A bigger slider maybe? I think a phone call to PD might be in order. I'm sure they are used to getting calls from Sabre owners about hard openings... For where you are now, a new canopy is alot of cash, I say use that money to jump rather than buy another canopy that probably won't last that long. As when you get 200 jumps up you will want something smaller/faster/better again. Blues Benno.

I spun up in AFF4 and ended up doing it three times. It will eventually click and you’ll wonder what all the fuss was about. I think relaxing is the key, but that is easy to type and hard to do. Aside from the fear of dying, you know have the fear of spinning up to contend with! Tunnel time will increase your confidence and free fall ablilites. I think some tunnel time with the right instructor would most definitely help, maybe you can get an instructor that you could do tunnel and real jumps with. No doubt either tunnel could tee you up with someone, or a local will post a recommendation. All things equal (ie where you live) I'd choose Perris because you can also jump onsite. I really admire your commitment, I think you'll make a great skydiver and be tunneling with the best of them in no time at all. Isn't stage5 & 6 turns, you already got 'em nailed! Blue Skies, Benno

i'll take the fembot. I run gentoo, fedora4 and redhat9 in my place. Screw micro$oft, I'd rather spend my money on jumps. $1000 for office, go and get stuffed. Blues Benno

I remember! We where even on a jump together at Picton, a medium way (about 10), was it a starcrest? You and Rucket's where singing a bunch of skydiver songs round the fire after jumping stopped. You where both pretty wasted if I remember correctly! Blues Dreams Benno

{ I just have to try this } - Do you think it would affect your flying?

!

thankyou all very much for the replies. I've got a trip comming up to the tunnel so I'll even try 'em out "in the lab." Blue dreams, Benno

> probably As soon as you say that it's time for plan B. Good decision. You'd feel pretty stupid if you hurt yourself landing a screwed up main lying on the ground in agony with another canopy unused unopend on your back! Blue dreams, Benno

because the DZO is more often than not male!

Firstly congratulations on your selection to the academy. I work for the Police down under (doing IT) so I know it’s very sought after job which is tough to gain selection. Well shit is going to happen. NYPD sound like arseholes to me. Your going to put your life on the line for them and they won't let you take leave without pay if you trip over drunk in your driveway and bust yourself up. Who wants to work for an employer that won't look after you when things go bad. I wouldn’t want that over my head – I can’t do that I might get a small injury and get fired. You can’t put up new curtains, in case you fall down! You can't go out there you might be mugged. Do you drive, you could get in a wreck and lose your job? Are their other academies or other Police? Federal Police? Transport Police? Spooks? From my work experience {all in IT} my poor coworkers have done this to themselves: Serious car accident Bad motorcycle wreck Minor motorcycle wreck {while racing } Shot {not serious – bloody lucky} Brick vs Foot Mugged Fall off balcony {while drunk} Busted knee doing martial arts With what ever you do: Good Luck!

I see pain in his future! Have a quiet word to DZ management, I'm sure they'll sort it out it. Qudos to you for caring about your fellow jumpers. Good luck, Blues Benno

you should be on the girls back and the rig taking a photo + the rig wearing the shirt.

What is the best way to spin a two way compress 360 degrees? - It's for the buzzard-buzzard block. ????? Cheers Benno

http://bugmenot.com Swoopers skim earth, and mortality By Nora Zamichow Los Angeles Times E-mail article Print view Search Most e-mailed Most read RSS The airplane had just reached 4,000 feet when Jonathan Tagle leaped. He plummeted, belly-to-the-ground, reaching 120 mph before deploying a rectangular parachute. At 600 feet, closing in rapidly on a shallow pond, Tagle plunged into a spiraling dive. He accelerated toward the ground, veering horizontally at the last moment in an L-shaped turn that took him so close to the pond that his heels skimmed its surface. Tagle, 36, belongs to an elite fraternity for whom mere parachuting isn't enough — he is a swooper. The journey starts with voluntarily stepping out of an airplane in flight and concludes with accelerating to the ground in hopes of dragging a limb in the water — proof of a swooper's derring-do. This weekend in Perris, Calif., 73 miles east of Los Angeles, Tagle is competing against dozens of other top contenders at the U.S. Canopy Piloting Grand Prix, one of 60 U.S. competitions. He set a world record for distance Friday, swooping 494 feet. In July, he hopes to compete in the World Games in Germany, which for the first time will feature a swooping — or canopy piloting — event. A campaign is under way to include the sport at the Olympics. Swoopers use smaller, high-performance parachutes that leave scant room for error. A split-second hesitation at a critical moment can mean injury or death. In the community of swoopers, breaking a leg is so common that it has become a verb, "to femur." But to Tagle, the current world champion of swooping, the sport is much like golf. Both demand extreme mental focus, he said, and the amount of time doing the actual sport is minimal. "In a day at the course, a golfer only spends a few minutes actually swinging the club," Tagle said. "In three or four minutes of canopy flight, swooping is six seconds." He said swooping is more about Zen than adrenaline. It clears his mind of everyday concerns, leaving him feeling centered and peaceful. And it has taken over his life like nothing else. Swooper Jim Slaton cannot fathom that someone wouldn't grasp the sheer exhilaration of his sport. "It's like being a Blue Angels pilot but with a parachute," said Slaton, 34, who lives just north of Bakersfield, Calif. "It's like combining NASCAR racing with aviation." Such high-performance thrills come at a price. Eight skydivers have died this year, said Chris Needels, executive director of the U.S. Parachute Association. While swooping deaths are not calculated separately from other skydiving deaths, pilot error, not equipment failure, causes most deaths. And in many cases, a turn executed close to the ground, as divers do in swooping, is the culprit. "There's a certain risk involved with the sport; we all agree to the terms of those risks, just like a soldier does," said Tagle, who has no health insurance and never has been injured swooping. "I know the risks, and I try to minimize them." Most skydivers dance delicately around the subject of danger. Shannon Pilcher, 33, has broken two vertebrae and his leg. It hasn't dampened his interest. "I do it because it's new and exciting for me," he said. John Charles Colclasure, 34, always says a prayer before his first jump of the day. He has swooped for 12 years without injury. Close calls? Plenty. Like last year when he swooped Mont Blanc in France, encountered turbulence and narrowly averted a crash. "I was definitely afraid," Colclasure said. "Would I do it again? Absolutely. If you want the excitement, you've got to put up with the risks." In February, Tagle won the World Cup of Canopy Piloting at the Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales. The event drew 70 competitors from 17 countries. In the course of the competition, Tagle set a record for swooping distance by traveling 479.8 feet along the pond and ground. Tagle's World Cup victory reflects how the sport continues to evolve. Before that contest, swoopers thought that lighter canopies and rigs would allow greater speeds and distances. Tagle, the newest member of the Performance Design team, wore an unprecedented 60 pounds of weight for the competition. He chose his biggest, not smallest, canopy for the distance event. For Tagle, fame has created pressure. "I feel like I have a target on my back," he said. "If I make a mistake, there's 20 guys waiting to capitalize on it." He has thought out his game plan. He must stay focused, he tells himself. He will, he vowed, swoop to conquer.

I'd wait to the end of the weekend. I've jumped with an out of date reserve (by less than 24hours) and I got bloody caught! I was very lucky not to get grounded (another guy was). I was doing 8way training and the team was really pissed at me. It was a rather painful lesson. It's also a very good idea for your safety: one of my reserves had an assembly error (two lines crossed over) which was found during a routine repack (6 months). Makes me shiver when I think about that spinner with three line twists which I kicked out! Going to check my reserves now... thank god they are both in date, even the rig I will take to Perris will be legal (-the seal). Blues B.

pac cresco caravan skyvan 182 aero Commander - hey we just did a day of 8way out of a beaver! Blues Benno

The disk array at work bent me over the table and fucked me like a bitch. Somehow I managed to sneak six jumps in, including my friends 3000. StorageTek thanks for making such a piece of crap. I've made hundreds of jumps due to all the OT I've done cleaning up your shit. Blues Benno

that's the best web page I've ever seen. I'm going to do all those tommorow - but only when freeflyers on the load! now where are those beans I keep for special occasions... Blue Dreams Benno

I know on one: 18: I hate Blue Dreams Benno

she's selfish - we won't more drugs in australia! Trade balance. They again I get drug tested!

Partyboy, Here is my 2c. I too jump a 160 Triathlon (in my backup rig.) I really like that canopy, it really can do everything {except swoop}. I'm currently jumping a 150Sabre1 in my primary rig @ 1.3. If your used to a Tri, a Sabre2 will knock your socks off! BUT, A Sabre2 is an aggressive canopy and it's not a square canopy + has much longer recovery arc. Both attributes which are different from what you've been jumping now. If you make an inappropriate low turn on a sabre2 @ 1.3, it is guaranteed to kill you. As I'm sure you know; as pilots we must know how to turn low to avoid things, [unseen] powerlines, small children running onto the landing area. As you say flat turning is a good tool to have at our disposal. Mate, if your profile is correct I would advise tremendous caution and get some more jumps, no-one wants to see you hurt or set a bad example. Can from day one you land this thing cross wind in a paddock in bad light, swerving around that tree stump? Get a few more hundred up on that Sabre1. Please still be careful, it was the velo back in the day and does have a surprising dive ability. I think it's really good that you are interested in canopy flight, I hope people at your local DZ are encouraging and mentoring you. I've noticed that skydivers into piloting at my DZ love to talk about piloting & canopy's – use them they are often a good resource. Blue dreams, Benno PS: canopy class...

we jump a PAC XL750 at nagambie for 8way. Awsome plane takes up to twelve in comfort, 15 is tight and 17 is pure hell. I'm told with 17 it's not efficent for the DZ either. The PAC's door is very close to the same size as a caravan and similar to an otter (obviously not as tall). A PAC cresco is a mini XL750. Great for 4way and the tandoms, but it's tight. A porter has the door on the wrong side. Rel workers will *HATE* itt. Caravan's are also tight when you fill them right up – you have to sit three abrest. Blues Benno