SkymonkeyONE

Have any of you seen Aggie Dave's website? The one he put together right as we was entering A&M and the corps of cadets? Very, very twisted, sort of like ManBird's. You know, Dave, you ain't right, boy.

Exactly, Bill. I make it very clear in the initial briefing that tandem jumping is VERY close contact, and if anyone has a problem with that, then they may want to rethink it. I make it a point to talk the student through everything that I am doing as I am putting them in the harness and then, later, hooking them up. Chuck

I have dove down to the front of several "regular" tracking dives. I was able to do this in my old GTi by simply flying with my hands on my container, like at pull time, and having my feet well up on my ass. Never found much of a challenge in that.

High: haveing my girlfriend back at home for five nights after not seeing her for seven months. Low: watching her drive off in her rental car to get on a plane back to Kuwait for another 10 weeks.

Agreed. Safety and training fits that bill.

Who burned their shoes? I totally missed that. Was it in our tent?

It's all about the Pantz. I be looking REAL good in mine...

You can call it "freefly", "freestyle", "lawn dart" or whatever, but like the boys say: it's incredibly hard on your wings and seams. I did a mad head-down dive in my S3 at Rantoul to catch someone and I can tell you that I thought my arms were going to rip off when I pulled out of the dive. Vne was reached for sure. It took some time for me to get my wings inflated fully, yet I was pulling some major G's as the wings were flapping like a motherfucker. I much prefer to throw barrel rolls, front and back loops from full flight. Snappy moves that don't lose much altitude are what make me happy. Still, I understand that other people have different ideas of "fun". Chuckie

After (and during) Rantoul my white suit got extremely dirty looking and stinky. I just paid one of my "washa-ho" indians to launder them all for me and now I be stylin again! Chuckie

Yes! The "how many times can I bash my head on the roof of the plane before I exit" record. Chuck Insane BirdMan Posse

I got in by way of Slappie's, but nobody else is there. I am the admin.

I cannot get in

Uh, I doubt your muscles are atrophied after only one week, but my guess is that your injured leg is certainly puffed up still.

Actually, I have roll packed every single student canopy I have ever packed in the past twenty two years without a single malfunction. Not a single one. Chuck

Who? Me?

I have been to Weston on the Green and Netheravon. I had a fucking blast at Nethers. They treated me great there. It did not hurt that I only paid eight pounds per lift (active duty military at the time, on vacation over there). I was not surprised that I ran into several old friends there who had jumped at Raeford. Chuck

Anyway, while I was sick as I dog, I did manage to get some decent pics of me and Katie. Behold.

Dude, you are killing me...LOL

It's not working

No, monkey lip, but I did magage to get sick as a fucking dog the very night that Katie got in. It was a sure case of Rantoul Funk. Every member of the Golden Knights came back with it as did Packaho. She got smacked down by it the day we got back. I, unluckily, got hit with it extremely hard and was wrecked for the duration of Katie's visit. Still, I muscled through it and met mission. Chuck

Scared of what, Bets? Sheeeut, you are a grown woman, ain't you?

Barf bags?

I have never been slapped upside the head with a tandem riser. I regularly jump a first edition Vector (with drogue and an Icarus main now), a Vector II, three Sigmas, and have some jumps on an Eclipse with Icarus main. I roll pack, but have also stack packed (as per manufacturer recommendation) and jumped plenty of PRO packed mains. Never slapped no matter which way they were packed. I have jumped stuff as old as the original HiLifter main, the EZ series, two sizes of Sigma mains, and two sizes of Icarus. I have not and will never have a Strong rating, though we own four and maintain two in jump-ready state. Both have old, piece of shit 425's in them and I loathe to task my staff to jump them. Chuck

The original FTS canopies were constructed in Columbus, GA and in my dad's loft in Opelika, AL. Dave Davenport (now working for Eagle Industries in St. Louis), a former black hat at Benning was the guy who started the company. He later moved the company to Alpharetta, GA, just outside Atlanta and stayed there for some time. He changed the name of the company to Advanced Para Systems before "taking a ten year vacation". When Dave went away, the company was taken over by Bob Chafin and moved to Texas. Anyway, the Bogy was actually made is many sizes. Pretty much all the FTS/APS canopies ended up being made in seven, EIGHT, and nine cell varieties. There were some eleven cell canopies made as well. I, as a small, young guy, was forced to test jump/ TSO prove quite a few canopies back in the early eighties. The three main canopies produced by the company: Rascal, Laser, and Bogy were all TSO'd as mains AND reserves. That said, the only Bogy one would likely encounter nowadays is the 176 seven cell. I, for some time, jumped a Bogy 150 nine cell reserve. I also owned Bogy nine cell 200, 175 and 150 mains. Doing a search in this forum from about three years ago will net you a funny story about when I spray painted an worn out Bogy 150 with vinyl top paint; what a riot. As far as I know, you can still get APS canopies, though the company doesn't really advertise anymore. Their last canopy released that showed any regional success was the Shark. Initially "square", then made elliptical, it was made in sizes as small as 110 square feet. I owned the very first, neon orange with blue ribs and stabilizers, example of the canopy; it flew great for what it was. Man, I got a lot of free parachutes back in those days....People back then thought I was seriously out of my mind for test jumping a 150 square foot parachute. Hell, I didn't weigh 130 pounds! LOL. Anyway, there's your story. Yes, they used to make them in my dad's basement. Yes, they are safe. Chuck

It is for that reason that we do a controllability check on every single skydive. Open, turn left ninety, turn right ninety, flare fully and find the stall point (if possible). People who get complacent and fail to do this are forgetting one of the basic first jump course principles. It must be note that Bob is an ISP AFF "student" and has had plenty of input as to what needs to be done at which category. He has been jumping a Navigator 220, but has also made jumps, since AFF completion, under a Hornet 190. He is light (about 135 pounds) and is about to buy his first rig; one that contains a Sabre2 170. Chuck D-12501 "Bob's Instructor"