SkymonkeyONE

We may make it up there for a day/night Portia, but I am not sure yet. We are winging it depending on weather as we have two or three other potential commitments already. If we are there it will be Saturday probably.

There are no "real" purple BDU's.

Give up the poop, Chris. Who took the lunch money?

Do not buy a velo loaded at higher than 2.1 then.

Interesting fact along those same lines: only FIVE percent of drivers in Honduras are licensed. I have spent a LOT of time in central and south america and the caribean basin and I can promise you that driving in the great majority of those places is not for the faint of heart.

The only civilians getting into the Bragg tunnel are the GS employees that work at the HALO committee, the two GS employees that run the thing, and the occasional civilian VIP that USAJFKSWC cares to allow a demo. Pro golfers, football players, senators, TV personalities, etc, were and still are a fairly common thing. A tour of and particularly a flight in the tunnel are things most requested by visiting dignitaries. The Skyventure tunnel is being constructed because there is simply not enough time available in the Bragg tunnel even for active duty units. Any unit, regardless of branch of service can request time in the Bragg tunnel, so the roster is generally full. A typical "refresher" day for an MFF team is one entire day of tunnel time per quarter. Some units running train-ups will get multiple days, up to a week. It's during these scheduled train-ups when "other" military guys who are friends of guys on those teams can score some tunnel time. It's very piecemeal and there is positively no guarantee that you will get on the roster. If you are not on the roster, you are not getting in the tunnel. The "availability atmosphere" changes according to who is currently in charge of the unit who "owns" the tunnel (currently the 2nd Bn, 1st Special Warfare Training Group S3, my old shop) and who the operator is. MSG (ret.) Randy Mathews currently actually runs the tunnel. Randy is a former Golden Knight and former airpark manager/chief pilot of Raeford Aviation. For a substantial amount of time we used to get two hours per month for training our first jump course students at the GBSPC. We would take them in there in the middle of the week following their first weekend of SL progression jumps. This really, really helped with our completion rate. We used the time not only to get our students sorted out before their longer freefall delays, but also to prep our younger instructors for the AFFIC and to hone our own skills. It was perfect while it lasted. Anway, the Skyventure tunnel is going up right down the road from Raeford and ought to be visible from the landing area. Tim D'Annunzio's company, Paraclete Armor/Aero will own it outright as far as I am told. It will (hopefully) be up late next year. Chuck

a still-collapsed slider wouldn't cause linetwists so much as a smacker opening. FWIW, I would not jump my Velo from 2400 feet unless it was an emergency exit. A caveat to that would be if I were doing a high-speed pass from that altitude and had to get out.

Noice car, SunCheHag!

They have great food in the restaurant (the Perfect Spot) as well. Definitely watch out for fire ants where you pitch your tent.

There is plenty of affordable housing in PC, but don't think you are going to be living in a bungalo on the beach for cheap. My sister and her husband used to live down there.

This is not at all abnormal and some cultures actually idolize dolphins for their good protective deeds. Read up on diving in the Truk islands. The native divers there sport unique three-dolphin tattoos on their legs symbolizing the bond they have with the creatures. This adornment was later picked up by US army combat divers from the 1st Special Forces Group stationed in Okinawa and is now very common amongst combat divers as a whole. I have "Truk Dolphins" on my left leg. There are two common types of the tattoo: the "trident" form and the "arced group of three". I have the latter.

I actually only (well, 99 percent of the time anyway) dive right because my neck does not turn the other way very well.

That's not it at all. I could care less if some civilian wants to walk around or skydive in BDU's. They are great for hunting and aren't uncomfortable, at least not the lightweight ones. What I am saying is that they are absolutely not stylish around a bunch of people who have to wear them on a daily basis. Any Joe who would wear them on my dropzone would get laughed at. We, as a rule, try to get as far away from "military" as we can on our off time. If they were doing so because they were broke, then I can promise you someone would hook them up with a pair of leftover freefly pants or a jumpsuit.

That would look cool.

I answered "I lose my keys every now and then", but I thought you were asking how "out of it" people are. There are some strange motherfuckers on this site. Some are even stranger in person. I am not sure why I thought that would not be so in some cases.

I am sure that is the case. But, I will hear shit for sure if I start doing right hand 180s or 90s in a left hand pattern. I will work with right riser turns up high and bring down a 270 when I feel comfortable with it. See ya soon! :) -A Actually, I can't imagine you getting any grief at all so long as you aren't throwing those turns right on the beer line in the main landing area. So long as you are not flying contrary to the standard pattern when there is traffic or if you simply land farther out you will be fine. FWIW, our DZ is pretty much left traffic, but all of us who do 270's do them to the right in that pattern. If someone pops up out of nowhere below us, we simply bail to a left 90. No biggie.

Does what really matter? That J. wants to party with me again at PIA? Or that he wants me to bring him a monkey hat (which I will)?

A number of things about getting ink to consider: -you better have an idea before you walk into a studio. Getting some random tattoo "just because" is incredibly lame and you will regret it later. If it has no significance, then what's the point? Junky "kill 'em all, let god sort 'em out" tattos will get you laughed at later in life. -you ought never, ever go in, choose some junky flash, then wait for the next available artist. I would never consider letting anyone get near me with a machine if I had not first been impressed by what I saw in his/her book. For that matter, before you ever get anything done in any studio it is best to go by and check out all their books. If you like what you see in someone's book, then that is who you make an appointment with. Don't get your body smeared by some scratcher. -if you want the best, then be prepared to pay for the best (or trade for it). The best artists only get worked on by other "best" artists. If you like something you see in a magazine, then why not get work by the original artist? My right arm is done by Aaron Cain, the absolute master of bio-mechanical artwork. The best work is ALWAYS worth paying for. If you simply must stay local, but you want the same kind of stuff, then you had better look long and hard at the books of every artist you can visit. Don't trust a black and gray specialist to be able to do your seascape. Likewise, don't let the graffiti specialist do a portrait. Chuck

Gimpy's dog is definitely retarded.

The only times I let go of my grippers are to give hand and arm signals to student, to take grips, and at pull time. It's the constant outward pulling on the wingtips while maintaining the rigid leading edge (shoulders rolled forward, elbows up) that wears you out. You are not near maxing your S3 out if you are not flying with your wingtips in hand.

Bill jumped with me and had coctails with me, and I like him. I neglected to put Derek's name on that last list. I think I gave him his the same night.

Bill, Deuce, and Chris Martin (rest in peace) got their's the same night.

Deuce, you are such a gaylord.

Sorry, Lori, but you couldn't hang out with Bob because your car is RED. Actually, mine was too. I have owned one mustang, an '87 GT. I drove it HARD until it simply smoked too much like a hoopty for me to be seen in and then I bought another Corvette. I had two-chamber flowmasters, a hard-hitting shift kit (it was an AOD car), and a K&N ram-air. It made a lot of racket and looked stylie with the 17 inch wheels I had on it. Chuck PS: Bob, get your ass back in the sky.

There are very few things that I like about the "holiday season." I like seeing relatives congregated together, but I hate spending too much time in one place. I like to snowboard, but I despise the winter apart from that, and I rarely make it more than once a year anyway. Lucky for us, it's only very-rarely too cold and nasty to skydive in North Carolina. It was over 70 degrees (f) Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the dropzone.