SkymonkeyONE

Why in the world would you monkeys hijack a thread about ME! ME, ME, ME! It's all about me! King of snow-sliding activities My webpage HERE

Please get the facts straight: I am not an employee of Atair Aerodynamics. I still pay for my parachutes (though I do get a great discount). Atair is not a big company and as such only "gives" one guy a "full ride" as far as equipment goes; I am not that guy. I AM a member of the factory team, though, as are Bryan Harrel and Eric Butts. I get out and represent the product, which I chose after much comparison, on my own dime. Dan pays our entrance fees to the meets we compete in; he does not "pay" US anything. We were all chosen as factory pilots and offered the opportunity to test and compete with the new canopies after already buying Atair mains and jumping them on our own at our respective dropzones. All that being said, make no mistake that anything I post to these forums is without bias. I have jumped and owned any and every parachute on the market that I wanted to or had interest in and have written reviews on each of them in the gear reviews of these forums. Feel free to check it out. I loved most of the mains that I owned and have written volumes on my experiences with them. One can simply do a search of any of these forums to see that I have much good to say about not only the Atair products I have owned and currently jump, but also plenty of the current competitors. I will give praise where it is due and call a spade a spade. Chuck My webpage HERE

Once again, I didn't get to this one till it was three pages long! Damn business trips! Anyway, yes I have, on three occasions. Twice with me and a buddy two-tagging some random chick we picked up and once where I was taken home on a Valentines day three years ago by a "married" lesbian couple and worn completely out over the course of two days. Truth is stranger than fiction in that case, I can promise you that! I would never consider anything of the sort now that I am married. I have seen plenty of friends' marriages and relationships ruined over that stuff. Those situations only work for the random encounter and for serious swingers. My webpage HERE

Immortal words of wisdom passed down from my dad, Buddy Blue (D-597) on my 13th Birthday: "Boy, every one you turn down is one you missed, and the worst I ever had was WONDERFUL." He then expounded upon me that that applies to most things in life. How right he was....... Chuck My webpage HERE

It takes me about 20 minutes to get to Raeford if I am not in a hurry. About the same to the old Air Ranch. About 70 minutes to CSS at Louisburg. My webpage HERE

that is some FUNNY SHIT!!!!!! My webpage HERE

I am sure Clay could find a way to both eat and fuck the rabbit. I on the other hand would befriend the rabbit, have it bring it's family over to visit me, then eat all of them. My webpage HERE

There are plenty of places that will let you jump at 16, so look around. I seriously doubt you are going to get any help with that 15 year old though; except now there are several places that will do tandems so long as the parent signs the waiver. I know several on the east coast, but none for sure in CA. My webpage HERE

Very unfortunate....Hope our boy gets well soon. My webpage HERE

Lisa has already earned her hat. She hung with the fiesta king in true viking fashion. My webpage HERE

"All of the above...." No shit, huh? Chuck My webpage HERE

Hooty Hoo! My webpage HERE

I don't want to hear anybody bitch about "the drive". It took me 18 hours last year in the MonkeyBago, but I was very happy to have it once we arrived. I will probably definitely drive the old girl again, so if anybody wants to hook it over from NC with us, get with me. It will DEFINITELY be an adventure, one way or another. Chuck My webpage HERE

Two rides in 21 years of skydiving. One CRW wrap that I chopped from at 900 feet and one mis-assembled on the risers main which I cutaway and landed under a round reserve. I have not had a reserve ride in the past 12 years. My webpage HERE

There you have it. A satisfied 105 owner! I certainly didn't mean to imply that all Cobalt 105's opened hard, it's just that is the only gripe I had heard in the last year on the road. I think it's a perfectly sized parachute for someone downsizing from any other brand's 135, but thats just my opinion. I just hated hearing from one of my best friends every day that the openings were killing him. Yes, I meant "hard". My webpage HERE

My wife has a flexon made out of black antron. Actually, it was the very first one made. It was Bill Jackson's world team rig. It is her style rig as well as her RW rig. The only thing I dislike about it is the poor main riser protection. The covers do not do a very good job of keeping her mini risers covered at he very top of the rig. Besides that, the rig fits great. Chuck My webpage HERE

Not sure why, but every single bitch I have heard of in the field has come from people with 105's snapping them. I can't say what the problem is, because I seriously don't know, I am not an engineer, only a factory pilot. Actually, every problem I have heard of was rectified with either a slider change or a slight trim change. Only that size. I have buddies who have never had a problem with that size, but others who have. That was the basis for my comment. My webpage HERE

Ah. the sorrows of being away from a computer all week. Gentlemen, the here are some truths: The average wingload in the pro catagory (of which I am a regular competitor) of the Para Performance Pro Tour is 2.3. Also, it is a proven fact in competition that a slightly larger main loaded to the same wingload with the aid of weights will sail substantially farther in the distance event. The larger wing is more efficient, but keeps it's "energy" up because of the higher loading that comes without the additional parasitic drag that larger body features add. Jay Moledski, who finished 2nd Overall in the pro standings last year jumps a pretty big main for his size (a Velocity 84). He varies the amount of weight he wears between events to maximize his results while only having one main to work with. I have seen him jump with 30 pounds of lead. Others swap sizes between events. I jump between a 65, 75, and an 85. Jim Slaton generally jumps a VX 72.5. Luigi generally jumps a VX 65. Chuck My webpage HERE

Agreed. YOU need to form your own opinions. While I coudn't care less about Stilettos now, I did jump them for six years in sizes 107 and 97. I never had to chop one and never had one spin up more than a turn and a half. I never got spanked by the opening once and I never did anything special with the pack job. I swooped the absolute dogshit out of both of them and only stopped buying them after I jumped some other, more "high performance" mains which I liked better overall. That is not to say that I no longer consider the Stiletto a high performance main; quite the contrary. That main still kicks ass for people looking for a twitchy, fast main, yet still has a quite forgiving and tight recovery arc. The USAPT still jumps them, as does Airspeed. That should be proof enough that they are still holding their own. I now seriously dislike the fact that they have poor end-of-swoop stability and will bowtie on you much sooner than a Cobalt. I also am unimpressed by the surf distance I can get with a Stiletto compared to a Cobalt. Now, if you are looking for a canopy you can load MUCH heavier without having it dump you on your ass, get a Cobalt. Likewise, it is MUCH easier to pack and is MUCH less likely to spin on you. It is also MUCH easier to get a long surf out of. The Cobalt flies and feels slower at the same wingload as a Stiletto but will surf out quite a bit farther without any crazy input. It has much more lift and is not "twitchy"; it will also not bowtie on you at sane wingloads. I load my 65 at 2.4 and my 75 at 2.23; I land both very safely. Try that wingload with a Stiletto and you are going to be a statistic. Chuck My webpage HERE

Negative. I am the Liaison between the school in SF Dive School in Key West (yes, it's still there) and the Battalion that owns it at Fort Bragg (2nd Bn, 1st SWTG(A). I am in a paid dive slot and am in KW about once every month and a half, but I work in the schoolhouse in the ops shop most of the time. There are only two Skymonkeys who are numbered (me and Kip Lohmiller). Too much trouble to keep up with all the others, though they all bitch and want me to do it. Problem is, the original cadre would fight over the low numbers since they were all there at the inception. Chuck My webpage HERE

Dave, you are a mess. A better idea here would be to pitch in the $350 to have a Dropzone.com tent like they always had at Quincy. You show up and your big party tent is already set up for you. Lots of big groups get them and all the people set up their tents and RV's around it. Just an idea...... Chuck My webpage HERE

Brandon (mountainman) and his wife just happened to be in Key West,FL the same time as me so we got together and had many coctails last night on Duval Street. I took the liberty of having them custom Skymonkey hats made prior to flying down here, so I left them at the check-in counter at their hotel when they got there. Brandon has some pictures of the event, so I am sure he will post them when he gets off his vacation. Later, Chuck My webpage HERE

Get a Cobalt. A stock Cobalt is just the canopy you are describing. Anything but a 105 and you will have butter openings, great lift, beautiful swoops, and easy packing. Chuck My webpage HERE

I would go up and over if it was a smallish child. No problem at all if you have a decent technique for the backside of that maneuver. If there is any wind at all, I can pop up about 10 feet then crank up and down on the control lines, thus sinking me straight down without surging or stalling straight back. Given an out left or right and over a second of leadtime, though, and I will probably lay over a very sharp carve. I would never do this if I could not "beat" the kid around the corner with my body. Catching someone with your canopy lines at 60 mph in a carve is very ugly. Anyone at the PPPB meet at Perris last November who saw that dude standing in the course when I came through can attest to the damage it does. I would not like to ever repeat that move again, especially not with a kid. Chuck My webpage HERE

All true. HP canopy pilots must be twice as vigilant as people jumping larger, less heavily loaded mains. Personally, I dump higher now than I ever did with canopies even 30 square feet larger than I jump now (a 65 and a 75). I am generally in the saddle at 3,000, sometimes 3,500 according to what I was doing on the dive and where I got out of the plane. I like to get open, check my airspace, do my post-opening slider stowing, etc, then aim over to the landing area. I always land in either one of two directions; both directions of the beer line according to what we choose at the beginning of the day. I make no moves whatsoever to beat people to the line. I would rather let everyone in a hurry out of the way, then throw my turn. People 1000 feet below me under larger canopies are in my way in one turn, so I do my best to position myself in a spot where they will be clear, or I will have plenty of time to beat them safely down to my turn point. Loose canons get their asses handed to them where I jump. Our student traffic is tremendous, so people are very well aware of what they need to do to stay out of trouble here. Chuck My webpage HERE