damion75

Ah - but the important thing is... do you like a BRITISH accent? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Thats nothing! I'm so old that I remember 4* petrol (leaded) and when record stores sold more cassettes than CDs!! Good story! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

That might have been my buddy Ginger Rich. He bought the third one off the line and has jumped it at Netheravon and Perris. It is pretty solid across the front - takes a bit of muscle to pull the 'jaws' apart and get it on but he has a small head and I have a melon so I can't tell you what it feels like. Made him look a bit like a chipmunk though... definitely not just a tunnel helmet. He liked it. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I also recently had an email from Max at Royal Lens suggesting that they will be knocking out 25mm lenses soonish. I suppose that it is obvious that all will follow suit since Sony have made the camera that way! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Easy tiger! I never said that it was the 'correct' way to pack! I have never even tried to pack a ZP canopy that way for instance and even if it is possible I reckon it would be a nightmare of nylon going everywhere! I was saying, and I stand by my statement, that it is a. Easier to see what you, and an instructor, to see what you are doing during a flatpack and b. Easier for someone else to check at various stages that the new packer has not made an error which is likely to resolve in a mal. After they know what needs to occur during a pack job and more importantly, after the CCI / DZO / S&TA is confident in their ability, then by all means progress to a pro-pack. I think it is an invaluable teaching tool, not necessarily the 'correct way to pack'. Peace! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

R&D = Research and Development. Second the above - Protec is supposed to be the best anti impact, but I fly a full face because I have been kicked in the mush before now, and also because I don't like an open face when it is 19F on the ground!! Its all about choice but in the UK you have to have 50 jumps / IC1 to fly a full face helmet. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Just an opinion again - the Swedish Friflaj festival last year (?) was indeed the last one but there is a Hercules Boogie this year which is pretty big, although I don't know how much of it is FF and how much is FS... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

At my DZ they always tend to teach flat packing first - mainly I think so that students can see what packing is supposed to achieve and how it is done properly before they move on to pro-packing. Flat packing is a good teaching tool. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Well I did toy with hooking it over Baghdad airport but I saw the light on that one and reckoned I would rather have a load more jumps in the UK and US rather than one last one over Iraq!! I would definitely have been putting that one in this thread... I was stupid to risk all those twitchy itchy trigger fingered sentries!! Especially since I don't have a camera helmet - no point in doing it without video!! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

My name is Frank and 5 days ago I swooped a General Officer... which was stupid because... He had come to inspect the DZ (military facility) and do his AFF L1 and the CCI had asked us to come in like students and flare at the right height to show him how it was supposed to be done... In my defence, it was a really small swoop (Spectre 170 loaded at 1.15) and I when I saw him standing in the middle of the PLA I couldn't resist it!! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Roger - this demonstrates some of the major differences between the US and the UK then which I did not know existed! In the UK, FS is still largely viewed as the more common way to jump with FF slightly in the minority (although increasing in popularity with new jumpers for all the obvious reasons - finding people to jump with, seen as more exciting etc) Do you feel that introducing discipline related qualifications would aid your cause? For us the gradings are linked to the licences (ie. for a C licence it is necessary to have the B licence and a further 'grade one' ie FS1, FF1 etc) there is therefore no direct requirement to be skilled at everything but to get those gradings you have to prove that you are a competent and safe skydiver as well as good at that discipline. To look at the other issue of 'encouraging' people to do more FS, I believe that this can only be achieved by the FS jumpers ourselves sharing our passion and our jump time with Newly Qualified Skydivers and avoiding being 'cliquey'! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I looked into this a couple of years ago - it is big in the Bavarian Alps... if that helps! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

You joke - that exact thing has happened to me. turns out I have no high frequency range hearing in my right ear... Happily the slot in my Oxygn is on the left... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I have seen a couple of threads about that subject be the final upshot seems to be that this is not the case and that competition in FS is as hot as ever. I am not sure that licencing changes would affect that -for better or worse. Perhaps rather than focusing on licences, which seem pretty limited on the different skills required, DZs and jumpers should focus more on the qualification gradings (FS1, FF1, CF1 etc) which, being far more specific, can really indicate a minimum level of skill in an individual discipline. I don't know if these are standardised between the different licencing organisations but this might be one way to go? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I REALLY really really really hope that you are joking!! I may be being pretty gullible here but some wierd stuff does happen... They won't take my blood - comes from having been to too many of the wrong places! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Good luck with the B - those declared landings can be a bugger... If you come south you should try jumping at Netheravon - being entirely funded by the military it is not a commercial DZ in the sense that you are talking about and has something of the club atmosphere too. Not to mention one of the best views...! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I know this discussion is about US schools, but I think that there should be some similarities the world over... Schools are not just there to teach academic stuff IMHO - they are a training for life. Kids need some discipline. While I agree that forcibly cutting a kids hair is wrong (leave that to the parents) I do think that uniforms are not a bad idea. Kids can decide later whether they want to conform or not when they have a little more experience behind them. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

*Austin Powers voice* "that's not my bag baby!" Damn, we are all just so USEFUL!! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

The foam party was awesome last time... I think. I was minging... Lets just hope that the weather is better this weekend when I will actually be able to use it! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

There is a very interesting article by BillVon in the safety section of the site about using RSLs - well worth a read...

Just one - not witnessed but he came out of the same plane two ahead of me. Solo jump nothing was deployed and nobody knows really what happened. Blue skies EL. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Go for it - If you are there next weekend I'll see you there! Flying out of here Wednesday, get to UK Friday, airborne Saturday and every day for the following two weeks weather permitting! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

And how did that make you FEEEELL?! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

There is always another good time just waiting to happen. Hang in there!

Interesting point - culture / religion are so closely linked that it must be very difficult to segregate which is the real cause. I agree that most wars appear to be either to preserve a 'way of life' or to force a new 'way of life' onto someone else. If you compare this war (cynically) to the original crusades then perhaps that was an attempt to force the western way of life on the middle east - in which case this would appear to be a similar type of crusade (with the endgame of a western democracy rather than a religion type). Of course the original crusades resulted in the cult of Al Sabbah's assassins - an ancient grouping remarkably similar to today's Al Quaeda (or so AQ would like to believe). Fate is inexorable!