SkymonkeyONE

Actually, you will see everyone except my wife and I.

can you guys just not take a hint?

I am a "flyer", not a "builder." Apparently there is a big difference to the people who bother to join the modelers' associations. I could really give a rat's ass about taking the time to build something up only to fly it hard and wreck it badly over and over again screwing around. That's the beauty of planes like the Stryker. Not only are they pretty tough, they are amazingly simple to repair. Gaffers tape and foam-safe CA (super glue) have saved my ass many a time. They are cheap too! My local hobby shop has every single replacement part in stock for every single plane I own. There is very little to fuck up on a Stryker and you can do some amazing tricks with them. I am only on my second replacement airframe with that plane as compared to my fourth fuselage on my P-51, which is just as much fun to fly, but WAY more delicate and expensive to repair. Chuck

You funny, HA HA.

I just put new "plasti-blades" on my CP. They are supposed to be nearly indestructible! I also just spray painted the tops of the elevons, the top of the nose cone and the vertical stabilizers blaze orange on my Stryker. Maybe now I won't lose attitude awareness so easilly in the late-afternoon dusk. "Which way is it going?" "Uh, I can't tell" WHAMMMMY!

It's 80 degrees out and sunny here in North Carolina. I just got done with a little two hour jaunt on the Buell.

I bet you could land a tandem rig with no problems even without a student! My tandem main is a 350. That's 25 square feet smaller than the main canopy I had in my "work" HALO rig when I was in the Army. I never had any problem safely landing that canopy, standing, every single time, with or without a rucksack hanging on me. I never weighed more than 155 the entire time I was in the service (21 years). "Underloading" that canopy when I was jumping Hollywood is an understatement, but I, and every other lightweight HALO jumper I know, had no choice in the matter. That's was our only choice at work, so we simply dealt with it. You are not underloading your canopy. You may not be loading it at the recommended "perfect" wingload for your experience level, but it's plenty safe and you definitely ought to be able to land that canopy fine. Chuck

Lots of people have taken boards across ponds. Tim Bernard planned to cutaway from his main and finish out the run just on his board (or was it a slalom ski?) in the freestyle/canopy expression round of the Pond Swoop Nationals in 2000. He did it perfectly in practice and then, in the actual competition round, neglected to drop his right toggle before cutting away. He veered sharply right and had a tremendous wreck, right into the judges. Ugly. That was the last year that people were allowed to cutaway their mains for any reason at the meet. Edited to add that yes, it was a slalom waterski he jumped in that meet. Chuck

Another question would be what KIND of 210 square foot canopy? A zero-P Navigator in either the 200 or 220 size would handle a tremendous amount more weight safely than some worn out 210 square foot seven cell. What exactly do you have to work with?

I vote "roaming DZ". There will be a ton of motherfuckers in that one. Wait, I won't be there, but there will be some other motherfuckers there! Hooty HOO>

I agree. I would love to show up for this, but need a solid date to see if it is going to interfere with my moving schedule.

Hey Ron, do you think it would be possible to get a float-equipped gasser in the air from the swoop pond at Z-hills?

Man, there are a ton of cool looks these days. If I had room I would have more bikes. My "naked" Buell is really cool and fast, but I would love to have a Ducati as well after spending some quality time on a friend's 999. I don't ever want another Japanese performance bike; I have been there and don't need to be compared to all the 20-something kids buzzing around wrecklessly. I would just as soon do a burnout on my Harley dresser than go 200 on a rice rocket. I ride the Buell very hard, but not wide-open fast, so it doesn't bug me at all that it tops out around 140 mph. Chuck

What's up with you, Nathan?

I was the instructor who trained and flew Joan Lunden in the Fort Bragg wind tunnel for her military jumping/skydiving episode of "Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden". It's been replayed at least 100 times on A&E and Discovery.

There will be a ton of people jumping at Raeford on that day, so come on down. I will be out of town in Savannah (actually Tybee Island), but there will definitely be a good crowd here. -school number is (910) 904-0000 -manifest number is (910) 875-3261 Parkton (Southern Comfort) is a fun place to jump as well, but I am not sure if they will have their King Air issue resolved by this weekend. You have to go by us to get to them, so I don't see any reason why you couldn't jump both places if you liked. They are 23 miles from us and there are a bunch of local jumpers who jump at both dropzones. I worked at Parkton last Friday all day and Raeford the rest of the weekend. Chuck

Katie and I have some real piece-of-shit neighbors who have horrible dogs. It's their hobby to get a new puppy, keep it in the house till it's no longer a puppy, then relegate them to the back yard permanently until they die. No attention from humans whatsoever. When then feed them they just dump dry dog food over the fence into the back yard. They used to have a kiddy pool in the back yard that the dogs drank from. I can't count the number of times that they have barked all fucking night and I have walked outside to find that they did not have any source of water and had, clearly, not eaten lately. All the while their P.O.S. owners are partying it up in the house. Fucking morons. Before anyone asks, yes, we call the cops and animal control routinely. Anyway, what do you expect a dog to do if you start out raising it as an inside dog and then lock him away outside? If you can't train the dog, or it's simply untrainable, then get rid of it. Your neighbors will appreciate it, I promise you. Listen, I have had an untrainable dog, so I know your pain. I got rid of the dog since he simply refused to stop shitting inside, no matter how many times I let him out. Our dog Billy Bob is fantastic. He stays inside with us, but spends a ton of time outside at the DZ. If we are outside, he is outside. He has his idiosynchrosies though: If we leave him inside and both have to go to work, he's going to shit in the den. We figure it's to punish us for leaving him alone. I have no tollerance for that AT ALL, so if there is simply no other choice we will put him in our large, fenced back yard until we get off work. He will bark his ass off when we do that and he used to dig out of the yard until I concreted around the bottom of the fence gate. There is nothing worse in my opinion than taking a pet dog and locking him away for good in your yard. Worse yet is tieing one up on a fucking chain in your yard! Can you imagine how you would act if that happened to you? I know of no person who has a "yard dog" that shows it any affection at all. If you have become this person, get rid of your animal. Animals require attention, just like people. If your animal is not a member or your family, then you do not need it. I recommend dealing with your barking dog in an appropriate manner less your angry neighbors take the matter in their own hands. Our idiot neighbors just chained a young Husky to a tree in their backyard. This one on top of the two (formerly three) others which roam freely in their fenced yard that go into barking frenzies almost every single night. I am seething right now if you can't tell. Chuck

That's a good thread as well and it has several camera options. I think I kind of like what BillVon has rigged and I figure I will just ask him for a full description of what I need. Thanks, Chuck

Here's how we do it at Raeford: -you show up and you put your name on the instructor board and you check which blocks you are available for. I generally check AFF, Tandem, and Video. The manager plugs me in where he needs me. If only one or two video guys are there, but there are a ton of tandem instructors signed in, then I may end up shooting video. If not, then I will simply end up doing AFF all day. We do a ton of AFF and tandems here on the weekends. Ultimately, equally qualified people are going to get an equal amount of work. If you have pigeon-holed yourself into a position where you can or will ONLY do video, then you have done yourself an injustice. It's pretty laughable to call yourself a full-time skydiver if you do not possess the skill-set and ratings to do whatever work is available and is needed. Get some ratings; seriously; or don't whine about not making enough money. I have every "skydiving" rating there is and will happilly do whatever is asked of me. What chaps my ass, though, is getting "stuck" doing tandems all day long because some kid refuses to jump anything but his sport rig. Hey motherfucker (not you Spence, this is a general bitch here), how about giving ME a break so I can jump my Velocity, shoot some video (to maintain my proficiency) and rest my weary 42 year-old bones? Once again, don't whine about eating ramen if you don't have all your ratings or you refuse to use them and have let them lapse. I don't want to hear it. Sincerely, Chuck Blue D-12501 AFF/SL/TM-I, BMCI-4, PRO, and a vidiot when I am not doing all that other shit.

I have Rob's glove and a buddy of mine here at Raeford has the WayCool neoprene one. My glove has never turned my camera off in freefall; his has. Something to do with the way the neoprene stretches around his on/off switch during exit. I think he could fix it with a hot knife, but I was just pointing out that he has had this problem. Fit? I like both. Mine feels a bit more like a rollerblading wrist guard than his. Neither hampers our dexterity. Both are extremely well made. The rigger at SkyCAT looked at both of ours and made a hybrid version of his own: neoprene arm sleeve and cordura camera sleeve. He also made one very similar to mine (the one Rob makes). Edited to add that I jump a .3 on mine, but only because that is what I already have. a .25 would be a wiser purchase choice in my opinion for handcam and "inside" AFF. Chuck Hope that helps, Chuck

sure, don't go in... Inappropriate response in this topical forum.

Thanks for the call the other day, Jimbo. Having to work during this "reunion" event makes me want to shoot myself in the face. Chuck

A: you are not going to get them to build you a Velocity bigger than a 120 B: you really don't need a Velocity (or a Vengeance for that matter) Clay I have owned Velos in three sizes, but before that I had one of the first Vengeance canopies off the line. They both dive very steep, but the Velocity is a much faster canopy that holds its speed longer after the turn. Neither of those canopies are appropriate for a jumper who doesn't maintain currency. I could list any number of reasons why that is so. PM me for my recommendation of another PD canopy you would be better suited for. Chuck

Dan, if you weren't so big I would send you one of mine. Chuck

I knowz you wuz kiiiiiilllin it, boy!