SkymonkeyONE

The president of USPA and the Chairman of the Board are two separate positions.

Jess, not only did you miss out on all the fiesta activities that Katie and I were up to in the desert, you are now suffering in your HOME STATE. What's the deal? Chuckie

Betsy and Lew are both complete boozehags, but I am loving them both. Carlos Azul

Hey, it's all goody in the hoody.

I am assuming you are talking about a new CHAIRMAN of the board; the position GPT will be leaving upon his official retirement this month.

Dave Lund is a menace to society! That boy ain't right. Chuck

It was an eventful evening. I drank more than my fair share of Kentucky moonshine.

I have met a lot of dropzone.commers in person. Far too many to even remember at this point. Chuck

Then you have never met Ron Plunkett, my former roommate who worked as an MFFI at Yuma until he bent and was permanantly grounded. He is registered on dropzone.com as "bodie". Well, I doubt Scott is too worried about it in his work capacity in Northern Virginia, as they follow MFF protocols. As to what a person can "get away with", that is very subjective. Just because Tony D's tests proved one thing in his case, it does not mean that the same results would occur for a lot of the fat, out of shape slobs I typically see on many "pay for the priviledge" big-ways. Personally, I don't have any problem going up into the 20's without o2. Then again, I lived at altitude for nearly eight years and have an incredible tolerance for alcohol. I am the idiot who is always the last to re-mask during chamber rides. Still, as an MFFJM, I always keep a keen eye out for others when I am on civilian high altitude jumps. You will wouldn't be caught sleeping above 12,999 if I am on the plane with you. Hell, 16k is too high for many people. My dad (a former MFFJM as well) nearly passed out on jump run at the last Quincy because someone thought it would be nice to get the extra altitude. There was, of course, no supplimental oxygen onboard the CASA in question. My point is that high altitude jumps are not to be taken lightly. While the highly trained athlete may be able to sustain him or herself under those rarified conditions, the great majority of other skydivers will just "follow the leader" unless they are warned of potential consequences. I too have seen people passed out on airplanes with no o2 available and I was not impressed by the risk analysis checks; something I have lived with every day for the past decade of my military service. Chuck

Well, as Ron also knows, Raeford has freeflyers out before belly flyers. I don't buy it AT ALL, but I am not the DZO or the S&TA. Personally, I think it's that way here because certain individuals like riding in the back of the plane and then getting out and being able to land first. This is all fine and dandy with me up to the point that I catch one of them sitting in brakes at 1500 feet right over my turn-in point under a parachute that is 30 square feet larger than mine. Their argument is that they also have to suck it up in the winter when it's cold in the back, so that's the trade-off. I can truthfully say that I have never once had to dodge (in freefall) to avoid one of our first-leaving freeflyers, so in my (quite extensive) experience I don't see any reason to stand up and fight to change it right now. Still, I would be a lot happier with an Eloy-type exit order. Chuck

This would be better in Talkback, as it does not really relate to skydiving per se.

Corn is obviously evil, but corn cobs are generally what are up people's asses when they are acting cranky. Just ask Sunshine. For that matter, you could have asked me at Eloy when I was at the height of my illness. "Get that cob out of your ass!" Chuck

Jess, are you back in Hawaii yet?

Jess, you are such a dirty little girl.

Anywhere down south where you can skydive all year round. Being near the ocean is a plus for when your relatives visit. Chuck

Jay, upload that to skydivingmovies. Anyone want to do it for him? This computer is too slow or I would do it myself. Chuck

Read all about riser inserts in "gear and rigging", but they are the tubes you put up in your risers that prevent your excess cutaway cable from binding up together during a spinning malfunction. There are two common types: plastic (Sunpath), and metal (like the cutaway cable housings on most rigs). Chuck

I will be there as a member of both the Atair and SkyKAT contingent. I retire on the 24th, so I probably won't be on-site in Jacksonville until Sunday at the earliest. Since I am one of ten Pro team captains in the PST, yes, I will be at the swoop fest also. Chuck

I am VERY Virgo. Chuck

I am tempted to just delete this entire thread due to some of the several WAY off base posts, but I will not. I am going to lock it though because it is not terribly educational in my opinion. There is plenty of guidance out there provided by the manufacturer. True, many, many people blow those "requirements" off just so they can "go faster and be cooler", but that is a systemic dropzone problem. I had a thousand jumps on a "square" before I ever jumped an Excallibur (then Sabre, then Stilleto), so I was covered. I also had a thousand jumps on those mains before I jumped a crossbrace (as recommended), so I am covered in that aspect as well. That being said, if a person can get some real coaching at about 500 jumps, he might have a better chance of not piling in due to his or her personal vanity. Yes, tiny rigs are cool to look at and wear, but they tiny mains and reserves that fit in them will hand you your ass if you don't respect them. You cannot gain that respect without experience. You cannot get that experience without jumping out of an airplane a LOT of times. Being friends with an experienced skydiver or swooper does not mean YOU are experienced. At the same time, don't get pissed because there are people who are younger than you, that have been jumping for much less time than you, yet have amassed the requisite jump numbers to get away with jumping heavily loaded mains. There are plenty of trust-fund kids running around big dropzones that make 1000 jumps a year. No, they are not infallible either, but what I am saying is that one probably ought to know all the facts before they march off and order that VX because "that kid has one." The end. Chuck

Yes, everyone should see that video. It's horrific. Actually, Eric has landed mains at over 3:1 (original Onyx prototype) with only the rear risers, so yes, he would have been much better off. The poster was making a specific example. I would also not hesitate to land my 2.34 loaded main on rears, but I fall into that rarified catagory of people who do this on a regular basis. It's not easy, but it's certainly something that quite a few practiced people are capable of. I am, of course, not saying that everyone should start using this as their personal SOP; only that for some, it's a more than viable option. Chuck

It is for that reason that we have one individual per plane dictate landing direaction as per guidance from manifest. The two days during the Eloy Holiday Boogie that the Collegiate Nationals were going on led to a complete and utter abortion in the main landing area. I cannot count the times that I stood there with Katie, Derek, and Kelly watching people come at each other head-to-head in that grass. I saw one canopy colision where one jumper turned and flew right under another person (leading to a 'meat wagon' call), and many, many instances of people just not following the leader. It was so unsafe that I recommended that Katie not attempt to jump that day. This after repeated calls by manifest to follow the prescribed landing pattern. This is not rocket science. Chuck

Who held Trevor's hair as he barfed in your sleeping bag? Oh wait....That was Betsy's bag. Chuck

Pammi and Merrick. Anything else would be like drinking Red Bull instead of GoFast! Just wrong. Chuck -currently sporting my second Loveland Family necklace.

I am not Bill, but I do have a no-nonsense answer to your question. What I would do is stop bankrolling the many, many countries we currently do. I would go for an entire year without giving a single penny to any other country or entity and pay that money back into the national debt. I would also put my fist down and demand repayment of the thousands of "loans" we have so freely given out. With this, I would also ensure that I never again see hungry people in our country. It's fascinating that we leave thousands of tons of agricultural harvest to rot because we are too stupid to just hand out the surplus to our hungry. I figure any country that can't stand on it's own two feet for a year without our near-total subsidization isn't worth the effort. Anyone that thinks we don't have plenty of our own oil in the continental US is mistaken. We are just too caught up in "land conservation" and protecting Red Cockaded Woodpeckers to just drill and thus support our own habits. Chuck