AndyMan

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Everything posted by AndyMan

  1. AndyMan
    I've always practiced my emergency procedures as: 1. Deploy Main. 2. Cuttaway Main. 3. Cuttaway Helmet. 4. Deploy Reserve. I'm hoping that when it comes to it, I'd be smart enough not to cuttaway my helmet if I don't need to. I figure it's better to practice including that step so that I'll do it when I need to. I've been thinking lately that I should change the order, so that I cuttaway my helmet before my main. I'm concerned about the what will happen to my neck if my main is hungup on my helmet and I cut it away with my helmet still attached. I'm thinking I should practice choping the helmet first. How badly does a cuttaway main hungup on your helmet suck? Thoughts? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  2. AndyMan
    Airlocks have do a good job of keeping the wing rigid in slow flight. Maybe try a Samurai? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  3. AndyMan
    I used to like my Suunto Vector, but I've since decided I like my Neptune better. I do keep my Suunto, but I find I'm looking at my chest-mounted Neptune more than my wrist mounted Suunto. Suunto: Pro: always on my wrist, I never forget it. it works. Suunto Con: small text, hard to read at a distance, hard to read while freeflying. small face means its easily obscured by my jumpsuit cuff Has no 'auto zero' - it constantly moves up and down by up to 50 feet / day - not a safety issue, but is annoying. Neptune Pro: big text, easy to read Auto zero - adjusts throughout the day to changing air pressure. auto backlight, turns on right after exit, turns off when you land. Builtin logbook. Neptune Con: Battery indicator is weak. Unpredictable performance when the battery is low. Freefall speeds seem incosistent with my Pro-track. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  4. AndyMan
    Either that, or its generally true. Most fast-food employees are not students. Most are adults, not unlike those who work for retail at Walmart. Of those who are students, they may be intelligent and get good grades at school, but they are often young, are often working at their first job, and don't yet know what is normal for work and what is not. Student workers often find themselves in situations that full-timers would not preciely because they lack the judgement that experience provides. To answer your question, yes: I've worked in fastfood restaurants. Generally, the people I worked with weren't very smart. The exceptions were smart enough to only stay a short time in favor of a better job. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  5. AndyMan
    Generally speaking, smart people do not work in a McDonalds restaurant. When I was in highschool, a 17 year old friend of mine got promoted to Manager of a local corporate owned restaurant. He was pretty smart, but he was still 17. When the bosses often have the wisdom of a 17 year old, think about the people who don't get that promotion... People with the total acumulated wisdom of a 17 year old are pretty likely to do some dumb stuff. Likewise, people working for 17 year olds have even less wisdom, and will probably do what whatever they're told, especially if they value their job. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  6. AndyMan
    It doesn't matter if he's fit or fat. I've never met a 130 pound tandem instructor. Tadem gear load limits are important. They need respect. Tandem terminal reserve rides suck. I've had one friend get carted off to the hospita with a broken back because his tandem reserve blew up. I'd rather not hear of that happening again. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  7. AndyMan
    Thanks, Brian. This thread has needed some well-informed opinion for quite some time. Let's all keep learning, _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  8. AndyMan
    The Samurai seems to perform well above 2.0. Airlocks - the fat mans crossbrace. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  9. AndyMan
    1.9ish on my Samurai 136. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  10. AndyMan
    I think that would be well publicised. His career, on the other hand... Died long ago. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  11. AndyMan
    I have absolutely no objection to anyone selling an expired Cypres. Some day I plan on buying one, to play with. He clearly indicated the Date of Manufacture. That's good enough for me. Quite frankly, anyone who buys a Cypres without checking the date is a fool. Nobody should ever buy skydiving gear unless they know what they're buying. While many gear retailers do actively try to protect their clients from buying the wrong stuff, that is not their job. I certainly do not expect that from individuals selling on Ebay. It is our job as skydivers to buy appropriate gear. End of story. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  12. AndyMan
    I'm a big fan of chiropracters, since I hurt my neck in a hard opening this past summer. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  13. AndyMan
    I think you misunderstand. You certainly do need to zero your altimeter at the start of every day. You also need to zero it when you move to a different location. Indeed in both of these cases, wild swings are the norm. A bright sunny dry day will have a very different pressure than a bright sunny humid day, for example. However, it is entirely unlikely that you need to zero it again and again, throughout the day. Large swings in air pressure only happen when there are corresponding large swings in weather. When large swings in weather happen, jumping either stops, or starts. If a large storm passes, it'd be wise to check accuracy when that happens. It would also be wise to ensure that it is close to zero on every jump before loading the plane. Zeroing before very jump is a "nice to have", not a "must have". I digress. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  14. AndyMan
    With the Pc120, I don't think you can avoid cutting the strap. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  15. AndyMan
    I've never seen anything remotely approaching "hundreds of feet". Throughout a day, even with changing weather conditions I've not seen more than 60 feet on a day where it was jumpable all day. If it's changing much more than 60 feet, it wasn't jumpable before the change, or won't be jumpable after. Zeroing throughout the day is a "nice to have", not a "must have". _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  16. AndyMan
    So what? When somebody crashes their car, gets ejected through the front window and run over by a dump truck, we don't say "Avoiding the accident would have saved his life". We call him a dumbass and a redneck for not wearing his seatbelt. No difference. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  17. AndyMan
    That's VERY poor advice. In many jurisdictions the penalty for refusing to blow is just as bad (if not worse) as positive blow. It may be good advice in your hometown, but I would definately NOT be broadcasting that advice nation or worldwide, like you are on DZ.COM _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  18. AndyMan
    I've actually had them catch stuff at Costco. In one case, it was a 50 pound bag of flour that was on the bottom rack of the cart, the checkout clerk had missed it (so had I). The security dude was SO proud of himself, he marched me over to the check-out clerk and pointed out the error. No biggie. What made it really funny? The check-out clerk was actually the store manager. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  19. AndyMan
    I had to pay to get my rating, so I really think it's only fair to earn it back. I get paid $10 for a coach jump. Now once they're off student status everything changes. I regularly jump with low-timers, sometimes offering free video, sometimes offering free coaching. When I'm getting paid I offer a level of instuction and profesionalism that far exceeds what I do when I'm doing it for free. Students get at least a half-hour of one:one ground school before the jump when I get paid, but that gets skipped when I'm doing it for free. When people pay me to jump with them, they get more than what they paid for. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  20. AndyMan
    By that standard, I am CLEARLY a wussy. That said, I much prefer Rebecca's option. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  21. AndyMan
    Before the invasion, I didn't support the war. I didn't believe there were terrorists in Iraq, and I didn't believe that Sadam had WMDs. Now though, well - now there ARE terrorists in Iraq, to the degree that Iraq is really the new Afghanistan. Iraq is now the worldwide center of terrorism. Once the Iraq terrorists tire of blowing up Iraqis, they'll start blowing up westerners. Terrorists in Iraq must be dealt with. Invading Iraq was one of the stupidest moves America has done in decades. However, the instant they invaded Iraq I became a supporter of the war. America can not leave Iraq until Iraq is safe and stable. In a sense, America made the mess - America must clean it up. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  22. AndyMan
    I do. Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by "fly fine", but I've not even seen either my Samurai or Jedei ever give any indication that it would ever collapse. It certainly will be affected by turbulence, and that may be dangerous - but odds are it will not collapse. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  23. AndyMan
    I would only disagree with your characterisation of the Vengence. IMHO, it's a step BELOW the Stiletto. It really does suck at many things. High riser pressure, high toggle pressure, ground hungry. The Sam and the Vengence really have nothing in common, other than the obvious. IMHO, The Vengence has a lot more in common with early Jedei's than Sam's. I digress. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  24. AndyMan
    Uncollapsing your slider is important on any canopy. When I had my hard opening under a Saber1, I found a good chiropractor who helped tremendously. I STRONGLY recomend chicropractors for all neck and back issues. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.
  25. AndyMan
    Living in the cornfields around pretty much any midwestern DZ is dirt cheap. A small 2-3 bedroom house would go for $180,000 ish. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.