SkymonkeyONE

bring more sweethearts.

Did I actually do that? Actually, Lew and Ed have been the brunt of several of my late-night manic phone-calling episodes and have been good sports each time. I totally expect to get similar calls at any and all hours of the night from like-minded individuals, but will, in the future, refrain from calling Andrea then. I think I broke her "sleepy mechanism". Concerning Ray's comments: yep, we were there drinking excessively for some time. I had the pleasure of meeting quite a few dropzone.commers on my Deland trip. Ray is taller than I guessed (and very cool), and Sarge does NOT look like a bloated Freddie Mercury, as someone stated in a previous post. Sarge is fucking cool as hell also; we have a lot in common. Also, TB 99 is NOT a tall, black, fighter pilot. He is, on the other hand, a great guy and a decent wingsuit pilot. I had a blast jumping with him. Later, Chuckie Chuck

Oh yeah, I am running a BirdMan course during that time also. If I have a suit to fit you (LeRoy and I have three extra), then you can use them at no cost. Chuck

OK, we will have some very good GK organizing (and ex, 9-time world champion Chris Wagner, etc) in effect. I will teach a nice canopy seminar as well as coach whenever I am not busy working (I DO have a real job on the dropzone, as do Sunman, SP, and others). Anyway, I can't stress how good Bob Steel's band is and how good a time we have at Aviators. It will be a hoot, rain or shine. Chuck

For over 18 years of my military carreer (now retired). Chuck MFFJM (among other things)

You fucking GO, Hans! That's my boy! Southern boys representing! Chuckie

That's the place we are staying. Troy, I am not sure how many a room will hold, but currently there are three in my room. Chuck

I was in Deland for the entire joke; it was fucking HILARIOUS! Jari and I were cackling and high-fiving all over the BirdHouse. I wish I lived in Deland; everyone there is great. I, in true Skymonkey fashion, set the pace early in this trip. I made four flights on my new SF-3 while there with TB, Jo, and another British guy (sorry, forgot your name) in his also-new SF-3. Can't wait to see you guys again. Chuck

Just a quick interjection here for those of you who may have been wondering: TB is not a tall black fighter pilot. He is, in fact, a guy around my size of some sort of possibly Indian or Pakistani descent. Is that correct, Kozmo? I had a good time jumping with him at Deland. Chuck

The skyflyer can and certainly will get away from you if you are letting it fly you. You REALLY need to have confidence in your flying ability in that suit. I can tell you from first-hand experience that the SF-3 is far easier to fly while at the same time having far greater "pop" and acrobatic capabilities. As an instructor, I would sometimes have first-flight students "pop" up on me when I was in my skyflyer. I would have to speed up to get the lift I needed to get back up, then hit the brakes and back up to them in order to give signals. It was actually easier for me to instruct when I was flying in my GTi. That has now changed, as there is NO way you can outpop me when I am in my SF-3. Chuck

I am walking out the door right now and headed to Deland. I will be there until at least Thursday evening, so look for me on the dropzone or over at BirdMan after eleven every day. I will be taking some rep training over at PD in the mornings, so don't be calling me on my cellphone until after lunch. See you if I see you, Chuck

OK kids, I just found out that my favorite blues band, The Bob Steel Band, will be playing at Aviators (our dropzone bar and restaurant) that weekend. Bob is the lead singer for The Heaters (90 mph) also and his band kicks ass. They played at my retirement party. I am stoked. Chuck

Andrea, not counting the one thing that put a damper on my fun, I had an absolute blast at my 20 year reunion. As we did not have a ten year reunion, this truly was the first time that I had seen the great majority of these people. Of the 73 people in my graduating class, at least 50 were in attendance; awesome. Anyway, what surprised me was that at least two classmates who live IN TOWN still were not there. They were ashamed of their looks, which made me sad; both are great friends that I regularly see on my annual trips back home. Go to the reunion. You will have guys absolutely pining away after you. Chuck

Arvel just ain't right. I made many a good skydive with him back in the day, when he was still stationed on Fort Bragg. Arvel is lucky to be alive and luckier yet to have been able to continue skydiving. Perhaps he will tell the story to you all one day. Chuck

Watch your mouth, Boy! That there is a LADY talkin!

More outstanding shit, Josh. Right on. Chuck

I guess "idiot" is a bit harsh, but nowadays it just makes sense. True, there was no such thing as tandem when I started skydiving, nor was there AFF. I saw plenty of students back then (and even now) who start SL progression then get to the longer delays only to find out freefall terrifies them; very unfortunate. Chuck

The only thing I don't do well is backwards footing. I took some horrific falls doing that and my neck was already worn out from shooting video back in the day, so now I just don't do that. I tumble, one foot (either foot), flip, toe-hold and toe-up (longline and boom). I have two SkiWarm Violator barefoot suits and a kevlar rope with a masterline trick/toe handle. I have some good photos somewhere of me doing a flying dock-start off a 20 foot high pier; no big deal. Footing is fun and easy to learn, once you get past the fear of faceplanting. I have found no other activity that gets you in that good of shape, ever. Chuck Chuck

Correct. Technically, you can start on anything as the principles are the same. Hell, Rick Neely used to hook a ParaFoil! Nothing wrong with learning to swoop under a Hornet. Chuck

I have been DEEPLY involved in a great number of outside sports and expensive hobbies; all of which took me away from skydiving to the degree that I would get the always-funny "hey, didn't you used to skydive?" when I would show back up at Raeford. Har-de-har-har. Never mind that I had 1000 jumps in 1990. Anyway, I was a competitive slalom waterskier, wakeboarder (since there was such a thing), barefooter, and snowboarder (also since there was such a thing). I have had as many as three motorcycles at one time and raced motocross for a while on both two and three wheels. I have built a Toyota truck that had 22 inches of lift and a Chevy V8 and have built many a hotrod. I had a Corvette fetish for some time and have owned three. In the end, I needed to get back to serious skydiving because I knew that is what I "needed" to do. I hated that I was out of the loop. Like Ron said, once you are on the dropzone all the time, that is pretty much all you hang out with. That being said, when you stop hanging around the dropzone all the time to partake of any other activity you truly relish, then your dropzone friends forget about you. Well, not truly "forget", but I can promise you that you get way out of the loop. Still, as a result of being so serious in those other activities has made it so I have WAY more friends than I could ever keep in touch with. Once you stop being heavily involved in those other things, then, of course, you fall out of touch with those other people. There is just not time enough in a day or you life to stay up with everything, so in the end you have to either compromise in some way, or just commit wholeheartedly to one activity and not fret about anything else. While I truly LOVE skydivng and all my jumping friends, I do miss my other buddies. I often get jealous knowing that while I am here skydiving, another huge circle of friends is down on the river, cutting up, drinking like vikings, and skiiing their asses off. Chuck

Absolutely not, but anyone nowadays who commits to five to six hours of ground school and the $260 cost for that and the Cat A jump before at least making a tandem to see if they "like" freefall is an idiot. Tandem will let you know right NOW if you need to pursue the sport any further. Still, if you just "know" that you are going to love it and you don't want to waste you money on a tandem, then no, you don't have to make a tandem as part of a true AFF program. Chuck

I am absolutely sure I have the issue and every other one for the past 22 years, but damned if I am gonna dig in my attic for it. Arvel, what are you going to do with it? You may be better off writing or calling jumpshack and seeing if they have the ad in some sort of poster form. later! Chuck Blue

Nice pics, Josh.

All in fun Paul. All in fun. I taunt you a second time!

Here, our TMs and Vidiots get paid the same amount as if the customer was a walk-in. On our dropzone, there is no "separate" video concession; they work for me. Chuck