AndyMan

I've just tested uploading anonymously, and it worked for me. If you have anywhere you can put it, even temporarily, put it there PM me, I'll grab it and put it on my server. I'd like to say email it to me, but I've got a 10 MB limit on emails... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Yeah... it was weird. She just kept diving into frame. Dunno why. Actually, I had a lot of other pics I didn't post, largely because they were out of focus, blurry, flash didn't go off, etc. I'm sure if I posted those it would be more balanced. _Am (who wouldn't want to take a picture of Amy?) __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Debatable. Pulling my reserve in a head down would kill me just as quickly as the ground would. If it didn't kill me, it would leave me a parapalegic, most likely. Going to my belly, then pulling asap would probably leave me initiating a deployment around 700 feet. Given muscle memory, I would probably pull my main, and die. If I was smart, I'd pull my reserve, and live. Most likely, I'd have a cypres fire at 750. Hopefully I'm on my belly, cause if I'm on my head, it won't be pretty. Given the situation of being on my head at 1000 feet, I'm given two equally bad alternatives. Each one might kill me for very different reasons. One has a chance of me walking away from, one has a chance of me suriving with serious spinal damage. The odds of surviving either case is small, but I'll take the one where I walk away. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The Blonde on my arm was our very own ltdiver. Yes, I'm the guy in the orange shirt. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Every set of 'standard rules' has an exception. "Pulling stable" is not enough. I can be perfectly stable on my head, where deploying my reserve would likely shred both the reserve and my spinal chord. Even should I find myself at 1,000 feet, I would take the time to go belly, first. Not to "get stable", but to slow down. Granted that I would not take the full 5 seconds I usally do to slow down, but I would be on my belly. It is possible that with how common freefying is becoming, it might be time to re-adjust this "standard rule". While I respect both the individuals who say this, and the idea in general, to me - personally, it's something that I'm unwilling to attempt unless absolutely necessary. I am flying a Stileto loaded at about 1.65ish. Landing entirely on rear risers (whether intentional or in an emergency) seems like a sure leg-breaker to me. I'd be willing to do it on bigger canopies, but not my Stileto. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Dave, I dunno whats up, but you'll always be a friend. Hugs from up north. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Mine's made of steel. It has... advantages. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Molly was in pretty good shape, actually. I just have a habbit of taking and posting embarasing pictures. Just ask Amy! Molly was really, it was really fun to meet her. Yes Paul - you do get bonus points. The fun part was that K knew I was taking that picture... But I can blame that pic on Green Bob and LemonHead. It was their idea. _A __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Answered without having read others... Ensure belly to earth, pull silver. Standard landing pattern is Into the wind, dropzone policy, or the direction of the first jumper down. Load organizers do not override this. Should I be the first jumper down on a no wind day at a DZ without a set policy, I choose the landing direction. Also, load organizers are not jump masters, and have not necesarily communicated with all jumpers on the load. Wave off, turn 180 degrees, and track. Personally, I would track as far as required to ensure separation, at the risk of pulling at a lower then normal altitude. Point, and yell. Same answer. Point, and yell. 1,500? Chop. 1,000? Chop. 500? Rear riser landing. While many recomend being able to do a rear riser landing, I am not interested in landing entirely on mine during an extremely stressful situation. I'll take the odds with my reserve over the odds of pulling off a good landing with my risers. I understand the question to be in a large aircraft, and the first group (not the TM) is exiting. The TM is still at the nose of the plane. I would look straight into the eyes of the TM, tap my shoulder, or hip as appropriate. Ensure he figures out what I'm telling him. Keep the door closed, tell the pilot, then the jumpers. Have the jumper sit on his pilot chute to compress the spring. Turn 5 degrees to the right. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Did you really expect them to grant a high level meeting with some joe who walks in off the street? I think it's unfortunate that you ran into some employees who didn't know their own policy. Shortly after you posted the initial story, I emailed Delta and asked for a letter on official letterhead outlining Deltas policy on Parachutes. I'm told it's in the mail. I asked a simple request, and they quickly granted it. I will fly Delta again, but I will fly prepared to explain what my gear is, and I will back my explanations with the Cypres card, and Deltas official policy. Angry rants over email making unrealistic demands will get you nowhere. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

How I spent my winter vacation. Pics of me being stuck in traffic on the way to Tahoe, New Years Eve at the Bomb Shelter, and lastly a few of the RW group I was shotting video for all week. http://bombshelter.ca/~andy/photos/Perris/ _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Was that you? Poor guy! I was standing with you, Laurie and Jack just over the fence. Glad you got your rig back, but its a small world! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I've also had very good luck asking the individual airlines for a letter documenting their policy on official letterhead. So far, Delta and Southwest have both complied. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

BTW - Jack Gramley at Perris mentioned he'd like to do a dz.com boogie, too. Sounds like we got something good going! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My cypres is due for its 4 year. I am not a rigger. Is it legal for me to remove it myself? Is it easy for me to remove it myself? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Glad you guys had fun. Sorry I missed out. I'm still at the Bomb Shelter at Perris. Spent New Years with LtDiver, Billvon, Amy, keskeie, even Molly. Later met up with SudsyFist, and Quade. I even managed to get a 'talking to' by the one and only Jack Gramley over a botched swoop that I didn't expect to walk away from. (He's not THAT old!!!) I've spend most of the week at Perris, but have travlled most of California in my road trip. Lodi was interesting, and getting caught in a blizzard near Lake Tahoe tested my driving skills. Elsinore was fun, but I couldn't stay long. I've ran into so many old friends, and made so many new ones, this'll be a trip I never forget. I'll be posing some pics and some particularly nasty video later... The lowlight of my trip was seeing a popular load organizer tumble unconscious through 7000 feet, fortunately he came to just in time. My video will be posted when I get back. Perris is at the top of my list of cool dz's. Jack has taken care of me well. I look forward to jumping the DC-9. (hint, hint) Thanks all! ps. California drivers rock. There's nothing like doing 95 on I-5 down the mountains into the San Fernando valley, running a 55MPH speed trap at 85, and doing a 400 mile trip in 6 hrs. BTW - I smelled LA before I saw it. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I did not vote. A valid question would have been, How do you close your container? a: the way your friends do b: the way the manufacturer instructs. Manuals are available on the websites of all the container manufacturers, as far as I know. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My 'd' is back there too! D-25698. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I am SO in love with you. That is all. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Have fun and be safe. You missed seeing me crash New Years Eve at the Bomb Shelter. May next year be better then the last. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Nope. At least two fatalities that I can think of, a canopy colision over Lake Wales about a month ago. Dunno why Parachutist didn't mention it. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I will be whispering sweet nothings to crackhead over the phone, in a similar manner to Jessica. However, I'll be doing it shortly AFTER my midnight jump! It remains to be seen how much trouble I get in for this short delay. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Not only that, but SUV's are tax deductable to farmers the same way a tractor is. A minivan isn't. So, every farmer who buys an SUV gets half the cost back in taxes. Nice, eh? This was a gift from the democrats to the farm states, or Detroit. Not sure which... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Isn't smoking at something like a 50 year low right now....? In Canada, smoking rates among high school students (when most smokers start) largely has mirrored (inversely) the price of those cigarettes. Back to the point, SUV sales dropped sharply during the high gas prices of the last Gulf war, and rebounded imediately afterwards. Low gas prices not only encourage people to buy inneficient vehicles, which only manifests the problem, but also is the central issue in many of the US's current foreign relations problems. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

How far do you drive on weekends? I've been doing a lot of renting lately, and usually try to get something that's reasonably efficient... just because the price of gas is killing me. I once had to rent a Suburban for a weekend, and blew $80 in gas just getting to and from the DZ. The same weekend in an escort cost me $12. Buy whatever car you want... But if you're going to try to justify poor fuel economy, make sure to consider all uses. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.