SkymonkeyONE

That's not the case everywhere. We do a pretty damn good job of policing our own here at Raeford. It may help that my DZO is the regional director. It may also help that I have more "teeth" than others may in my S&TA role here. Chuck

Actually, the safety aspect of velcro slider stows is a complete urban legend. In 22 years of skydiving I had never, ever heard of a "snag" incident, but that was not good enough for some people. Our Gear and Rigging Moderator, Derek (Hooknswoop) is the complete techie rigger. He did a full series of tests on his tertiary rig and posted the results for all to see. Answer? There was no perceptible delay whatsoever during any number of actual cutaways with various types of slider stows tested. As to the annoying sound of me playing with the proper pre-jump mating of my velcro: "sorry". Chuck Blue D-12501

I bet you wish you had some monkey noises, don't you boy?......."HAHAHAHAHAheadDOWNcrosskeySIXTYdollaHAHAHAHAHA!

I just wear my Gatorz. The "Ice" frame blocks nearly all the wind. I only very rarely wear goggles anymore; generally only towards sunset.

My Harley runs great on 100LL. It ran even better on 110-130. I love it when I am idling and mine and everyone else around me's eyes start burning. Lovely.

I jump very short, eighteen inch risers because I don't like fighting to reach my slider. I also like that when I reach back for my transfer to rears that my grip is up near the Slinks. I have jumped longer risers, but never noticed any percievable difference in flight characteristics, only that it was more of a pain in the ass to get to my slider. Hell, I almost had to bail on a round during the PPPB meet at Perris in June 2001 after a brake fire made it nearly impossible to get my slider past my toggles after clearing the other brake. That was incredibly stressful. I ditched those risers immediately after that meet. In the end, I think it just boils down to personal preference. Chuck

I have slider stows on every suit except my BM suits, plus a separate one that I keep on my reserve pin cover flap for when I am in those BM suits or am swooping in shorts. There are loads of threads in this forum on the subject. Chuck

Outstanding chow, my brother!

Exactly. Craig Girrard kicked complete ass under a Stilletto in 2000 and 2001. Ivan did the same, under an identical US team canopy unless I am mistaken.

Go for silver?? We are talking a partial malfunction here, so no, you would absolutely not "go straight for silver"; you would positively first cutaway the malfunctioned main. That said, there are instances, especially under larger canopies, where it's totally possible to clear a lineover. It is not, however, generally possible to un-fuck a sub-100 square foot elliptical fast enough to keep it from spinning completely up on you.

I have done some very, very cool demos and get great satisfaction out of putting a canopy down on target in front of a big crowd. That said, I have had some incredibly hairy experiences where crowd control got lax, weather conditions changed dramatically, or equipment malfunctioned. Oddly, my favorite, highest profile demo which, luckily, worked out perfectly, almost ended up with me chopping my main and malfunctioned American flag and it's line 1500 feet over FedEx field at 9:00pm on Monday Night Football. Unbelievable. I got the line semi-unfouled and landed on the indian head with the flag flying proudly, but it was very un-nerving until I had the field goal net suspension cable made. I have also had just as much fun jumping into small fourth of July celebrations out of a Cessna 182 with my dad and them back in my hometown. Demonstration parachuting is a rewarding discipline. I was lucky enough to get exposed to it at a very young age. I clearly remember my dad posing as Santa Claus, landing on top of the Roses store in Midway Plaza under a ParaCommander. I didn't actually figure out it was him until I was five I think...LOL Chuck

BWAHAHAHAHHA!

You may have to hide from him sooner than that, Joe.

I have the cajones, but unfortunately have no nice chow photos of myself. Your's are lovely though, my brother... Chuckie

LOL. At what point did I give you any indication that Katie and I had an open relationship? Possibly my comment that I recognized the person in that photo? Dude, I know a ton of people, as does Katie. Just because I am friend's with some females does not mean that I am fucking them. And, no, you can't have Katie's number.

No shit. I have done ten in a day out of a C-182 in the middle of the summer and packed every one of them myself (Flat, of course, as per the manufacturer's guidance). LOL.

um this may be dating you, or dating me one.. (or just showing my lack of knowledge of movies) but what the hell movie are you talking about? :) Stanley Kubrick's "2001, a Space Odyssey"

I am from the deep south and I got my ass worn out on a regular basis. It, in my and everyone else I know who grew up this way, was a very positive tool for teaching manners and respect to your elders. Hell, the worst tannings I got were from my grandmother and mother. I was never hit anywhere other than my ass, but I can assure you that I never got away with any nonsense as a child. That said, I, to this day, call anyone more than ten years my senior "sir" or "M'am". I show respect and demand it in return. Chuck

Nope, That's not Scott. Not sure who was jumping a white helmet, but Scott's is Black.

Hey Wyat, great seeing you at the convention. Nice meeting your girlfriend as well. See you soon. Tell Bryan Harrel I said "hello". Peace, Chuckie Blue

It's pretty naive to think that PRO packing is the answer for everybody; it's not. It's much, much faster to flat (roll) pack a parachute and I refuse to PRO pack anything over 150 square feet. Hell, I roll pack my Sabre2 97 when I am in a real hurry. No, it doesn't open any differently than when I PRO pack it. I never, ever PRO pack tandems and I have never, ever experienced a line-over malfunction on one as a result. I would never consider PRO packing a StarTrac or a ParaFoil either, but have cause to jump them on occasion. You can't arbitrarilly state that every packing method other than PRO packing is obsolete. As to the other points, I agree completely. We use BOC hand deploy pilot chutes on all of our student gear and do not have "look" in the pull sequence. Chuck

We have real bathrooms and showers.

I am very hard to miss

I was just picking on Lisa. As to the RW: yes, there are some great RW folks at Thomaston.