genfreefly

sorry, just had to add one more comment. jan, from my experience, was the best at busting the BS. like when a decision was made by the president regarding Robert's rules of order (like, ok, as per this, this discussion is over), jan would whip out her Robert's Rules (not the cliff notes) and be like, 'i'm sorry, its says here...'blah blah blah' the pres would disagree, of course, then usually one staff members would say 'sorry, Jan is correct. or, even better, we'd ask 'can we have this document (for whatever)' the EC or pres would say 'no', then Jan would be like, 'i have that document right here, i got it online' freakin priceless :-)

i must say i'm thrilled that the meeting is in FL, as i hope a lot of people can attend. of course the exec committe won't let you into what they don't want you too. i reccomend taking as many note as possible (or like DSE w/ video, although i'll be curious of their reaction to that :-) talk face to face w/ all the people who didn't reply to you. ask them why. write down their answers. follow them around, keep asking them question, sit at the table next to them at dinner...don't give up. keep asking them question, if they throw you legal mumbo jumbo (we can't talk about this or that) i would not be surprised if its an intimidation tactic to get you off their back. there were several instances during my term when certain people were busted on that stuff (like, can we see the lawsuit? they said no, of course. then its like, oh, right....its available to the public.....right...) even the some of the BOD members (as you all know) don't get answers., but actually the members have more of a voice. for fun, you can count how many times those who don't want to talk to you cringe as you confront them ask them why they didn't respond to your emails. count how many say they didn't get your email. give'em hell, see what's going on w/ our BOD give Jan a 'high five' for me if you get a chance max

not sure about the specs and pros/cons of those hc62 and hc96, but both are 30mm thread sizes.

hi chris, sorry to hear about your father. perhaps my sarcasm was a bit over the top, no need to apologize man. hope things are ok w/ you. max

hey chris, nah, i was awake :-) i was more commenting on how i liked your story. its funny in one respect (calling glenn's bluff on the AFF course example and busting him on it like that). of course, on the same note, its tragic that bs like that goes on (and on and on and on) i agree Jan is very intelligent. IMO, she is one of the most knowledgeable members on the BOD regarding the governance manual (the manual w/ all the procedures, rules, disiplinary stuff, etc..) I don't know all the facts, but i find it hard to believe that there is grounds for impeachment (based soley on the facts that Jan could probably quote the Governance manual and Robert's Rules of Order and i never felt she had supported other's vested interests or folded to political pressure. my opinion (with just knowing a little more of the BOD from being on it for a term) is this is a waste of the USPA members time and resources. I'm somewhat comforted that not all the BOD memebers are crooked, and those who are really looking to represent the membership are probably getting more than annoyed at the secrecy and cover-ups by some of the EC. i can only hope that this situation might create a positive by BOD members and USPA members alike not getting pushed around and kept in the dark.

"I requested to hold an AFF cert course at WTS( a non gm dz at the time.) Glennduh told me no and when I asked why he said because the bod said so. I called his bluff. My wife and I went to the next bod meeting and got the course. It was worth the 2k plus all the other fess associated with the the AFF course(x's2 for me) to see the smoke rolling out of Glennduh's ears.I was sitting next to him when the bod said yes to us." alright chris, you reeled me in on that one. LOL i'm shocked (LOL) that President Bangs (LOL) would do such (LOL) a thing (LOL) in my term on the BOD, i've never felt (LOL) that President Bangs (LOL) ran things like (LOL) a (LOL) dictator (LOL) sorry, i guess i have the giggles today. that's my story, i'm stickin to it :-) max

good excuse to whip out the old log books. my first video jump was in july 97 at 348 jumps. was with a sidewinder/pc7 set up. just did like two jumps w/ it (it was not mine), didn't think much of it, there weren't so many camera's, so there wasn't so much info/awareness on camera safety stuff. got my own PC10 (for a modest $2500!) in march 98 at jump # 629. had it on a bonehead mindwarp w/ an L bracket, had some gaffer's tape closing some of the snag points. found it safe from then till now w/ a similiar set up along the way. only jumped stills a handfull of times. be safe max

for lack of a more technical explanation, yeah man, its nearing the end of its life, pc1 is super old. :-( max

got a list of people on the record? thanks

i wanna one possibility is stockholm skydiving club in sweden. if i remember correctly, you pay 'x' amount to be a club member, then each jump is 'x' amount. if you make 'x' amount of jumps over the season, its like 7 or 8 usd per jump. i'm sure someone else can better explain the details. i've hear russia is pretty cheap too in the US, i think lodi in CA is still $15usd per jump max

yeah man, i'll be around max

oh my god dse! how can you rip people off like that!!! just kidding despite on seeing excerpts thus far, thanks for making a quality product and it costs what it costs to make... thanks for enhancing the professionalism of our sport max

mmm...i disagree for the most part. most of my students, when i used to coach people, i found it easier to teach sit flying. sometimes, if people had a hard time with their legs slipping under them, etc, we'd work on 'butt-fying' a bit, then just get the legs down a bit more , and presto, sit flying laying flat on your back in the sky doens't make sense to me as a beginning technique because one is not looking forward (at a good reference point or at another person, instead one is looking up at the sky, i guess) i've found that one of the most important thing when i coached people is eye-contact. and if doing solos, a reference point. tunnel is great, but sky is different...but if you have all the time and money in the world, do both my 2 cents, i could be wrong fly safe max

well put

anyone know who has the 2nd most amoutn of tunnel time? just curious as i'm sure john is way ahead of whoever is 2nd (i could be wrong) max (a humble couple of hours tunnel time)

1)barcelona spain (1 hour +/- from empuriabrava, 7 days a week, super otter, porter and more) 2) sao paulo brazil (1 hour +/- from boituva and campinas. mostly caravans, mostly weekends) 3) italy is full of porter drop zones. mostly just weekends, unless something has changed, but i think the 'weekday dz's are not that busy) a few options for ya max

see ya there, looking forward to meeting you. max

whew, tough thread ;-) isn't the situation simple? some people say they have taken the AD test, and not gotten a certificate. why doesn't olav just make a post explaining the delay and letting people know when they will get thier certificates? olav can speak and write english and has a computer (or surely can get access to one) no bashing needed, right? we'll wait patiently for olav's reply. his email is olav@1olav.com if anyone needs it. kind regards max

thanks all, very kind of you to notice 1) yes, there was visual contact with the ground and surrounding airspace to check for traffic 2) i chose not to wear the student rig because the dive plan involved a hybrid (with me hanging/standing underneath) and i did not feel it was as safe to use a student rig to go upwards of 160-170mph as it would be to use my rig. The Ranch certainly has top and new (or newer) quality student gear. i would have no problem flying the big canopy, no problem with getting a bruise or two, etc... 3) thanks again. i think it was quite cool to be jump like that w/ carol and gino again (gino cruised up from work all excited to jump, and he does not jump that often anymore, so i felt really special) carol, on the otherhand, is a jump junkie!!! simply amazing. its like yeterday she did my level 1 ground course. also, thanks to sonic for the great pics. maybe i can get carol and gino to do it again for my 15th anniversary :-) max

it is a very nice picture trent. i am proud of the texans. bravo max

go avalore go max (from usa ;-)

hey! i'm proud of them too! max (from the US)

sorry folks, for those of you that didn't hear, the FL state Headdown record attempts unfortunatly had to be cancelled for various reasons. i apologize for the invconvenience. kind regards, fly safe! max

hey everyone, i just wanted to spread the word that the FL State Headdown record attemps will be Feb 10-12, 2006 at The Florida Skydiving Center in Lake Wales. There will also be a big-way camp/tryouts for all levels December 9-11, 2005. see the attatchment for more info and please let anyone know about it who might be interested/qualified. let's make something happen this winter in Florida, freefly style! we are going for 25-way +

ok, cool, see you when you arrive kind regards max