indyz

The "other party" was full of sand and yellow plastic? It looks to me like somebody hit one of this big yellow garbage-cans-o-sand that they leave in front of large, immobile objects like bridge footings and the ends of guard rails.

This is going to sound like "are you sure you have gas in the tank," but I guess it's better to answer the simple questions first: Are you making sure that you scroll all the way up to the top of the page?

These probably only makes sense to Chicagoans. Any of the Eagle Man commercials are really bad. Victory Auto Wreckers. "710 East Green in Bensonville, near O'Hare." Not really bad or dumb, but they've been using the exact same same commercial since the early 80s. I must have seen the door fall off of that guy's car 10,000 times by now. Empire Carpets has some really lames ones, too. Dancing elves singing about next day carpet delivery, anyone?

Ducati's are quick. Easily reach freefly speeds.

High wingloading isn't what kills skydivers -- not really. That won't stop the USPA or FAA from restricting or banning small canopies if they think it will save lives. Edit to add: The two accidents I've witnessed caused by too much horsepower didn't really have anything to do with speed. One was a 16 year old with a suped-up Trans Am. Spun it when he got to heavy on the throttle going around a corner. Several thousand dollars worth of damage. In my car, I regularly punch it around the same corner and don't squeal the tires. The major difference is between our cars was a couple hundred horsepower. The other accident I saw was caused by a recently licensed motorcyclist laying out an 1100cc bike trying something that he had gotten away with a couple of times on his friend's 450cc. The accidents in both cases weren't caused by the power of the vehicles, but by the riders inexperience and resulting inability to handle that power.

It probably wouldn't make any difference... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=453925 I don't think that risk homeostasis applies to extremely low time jumpers who choose to buy extremely small canopies. They have no base level of risk to compare to. Same thing with a kid who is given a souped up Trans Am for his 16th birthday.

They have, for students and tandems. The fact is, not many people die because they didn't have an AAD. Last year, 4 people died from no pulls or low pulls. How many people were injured or killed under good canopies in the last week? I think the number is something like 4. In the last seven days! If 30%+ of traffic accidents could be prevented by placing limits on horsepower, you bet the government would do it.

"Call Ralph" is actually Western Parachute Sales. 503-630-JUMP. Something to be aware of, he replaces the labels on the end cells with new labels that say "Call Ralph." It might affect resale value of the canopy. Rigs & Things also used to sell a lot of Hornets and may still have some. (Edit: Just checked the website, it looks like they are no longer selling any PISA canopy).

The sport part of PISA, the company that made the Hornet, has been rolled into Aerodyne International, so the Hornet is no longer in production. Your best bet is probably to look for a used one. Call Ralph might also have some.

I hate my job too, but this year I convinced my boss to give me one full weekend (Fri-Sun) off a month, plus at least one of either Saturday or Sunday every other weekend. And I'm not saving for a rig this time, so I should hit 200-250 jumps by the end of the year, if everything goes ok and I can get some weekday jumping in. If anybody knows of good weekday jobs in the far north suburbs of Chicago that will work around my college schedule, please let me know. I offer a finder's fee of one cookie, hand delivered to Lake, Cook, Kane, McHenry, DeKalb, DuPage, or Kenosha county.

I'm watching the evening news replay (1:30 AM local time) and the sports guy says that "he crushed that pitch." I could have sworn he said "he crushed that bitch." Also, although I generally don't care about what happens on the south side unless the Cubs are playing there, I must say that the Sox were robbed. Foul my ass. That should have been a two-run homer. Holy crap. Did anybody see the video of that Mario Andretti crash?

I think she means the airport defense fund. That and the national team are the only donation boxes on the renewal form.

About a minute if I'm just sitting around. Long enough to swim 50 meters underwater at a brisk pace.

Wheee! Troll on a roll! I just don't buy it. Give me numbers and maybe I'll change my mind.

Try opening the Add/Remove Programs tool on the Control Panel and removing "Common Name Taskbar," if it is there. If you can't find it there, try looking under C:\program files\ Also, read this before trying anything.

So much for my plan to offset the cost of a wingsuit by also using it as my vigilante crime fighting costume.

Dr. Pepper. Helping me stay awake while I jump back and forth between accounting homework (bond issues! yay! ) and a little side project that involves doing Java the hard way. Mmmm, opcodes.

The cockpit in the photo isn't from the spacecraft, it is from the plane that will carry the spacecraft to launch altitude.

That wide angle lense makes it look like you have a nice rack And no gloves! I'm ever so pissed. Just 100 miles to the south it's shorts weather, and here I am torn between whether I should wear my heavy jacket or my light jacket.

Maybe you were thinking about Tards or McConkeys.

This is going unstowed, with the pilot chute held in hand instead of "stowed" in the BOC pouch (apologies to lewmonst for stealing the photo). Why the hell am I posting in the BASE forum?

The following is distilled from a conversation with an older jumper and a read through PPM vol 1. Accuracy is not guaranteed, but I think I have it right. Capewells are a type of canopy release with a cover, then a release mechanism inside. With a 2 shot, the cover is opened, then two buttons are depressed simultaneously to release the riser. With a shot and a half, a short cable loop replaces the buttons. The cover is opened, then you put a thumb through the loop and pull, releasing the riser. With a single shot, all you have to do is pull the cover open. PPM says "the button style Capewell release is often difficult to operate as both sides have to be depressed simultaneously. The cable conversion is simpler." He goes on to explain that Capewells were originally designed only for releasing canopies on the ground (with rounds, you wouldn't break away before deploying the reserve). The shot and a half and one shot were modifications to make cutaways in the air easier. PPM says that the Mini Sytem came with Capewell cable releases (shot and a half).

Lucas hides stuff in every movie. In Temple of Doom, the club that Dr. Jones and the woman escape from is called the Club Obi Wan (the marquee can be seen briefly in the background as Indy and the woman jump out of the window).

Pointless factoid alert... PA also TSOd the Falcon (maybe hoping to start a new market for nine cell reserves?).

Some of the many of the reasons for going to AFF that I've heard cited include: Instant gratification (students get freefall right away), the newer methods are frequently perceived as better by jumper and whuffo alike, up-jumpers want turbines and turbines are more suited to AFF (although I've seen S/L out of a Caravan), S/L is only for old-fashioned backwater dropzones, and the list goes on. For the record, I was an S/L student and am happy with my decision to follow that progression (AFF was also available where I learned). Being a poor college student, S/L allowed me to jump 3-4 times a month as opposed to once or twice with AFF.