LawnDart21

Speakers Corner, you mean the DMZ of DZ.COM? I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I read Lions Game (Loved it) on a business trip. My sister (as a joke) handed me the book at Logan airport in Boston as I was flying to LAX and said read this "You'll love it". Once airborn I take the book out and start reading. I must have put the book down 3 times during the first chapter and nervously peered around the cabin. Then I totally got the joke, and my sis and I had a good laugh when I called her from LA. I spent every free minute of that trip reading the book. Loved it. Great book. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I absolutely agree that there exists a large number of "Sunday believers", people that only stop and give thought or pause to their religious beliefs for 60 minutes on Sundays. But I think it's better that they are there only on Sundays, than not there at all. I mean most people aren't on the same timeline of religious enlightenment, and some take longer than others. I think if you asked your pastor their opinion on the 180 that left, they would say they are pleased to have them there in church on Sundays, regardless of how they spend the rest of their week. If they are in the church each week, then the pastor has the ability to get the Lord's message through. Again, while I see where the message is in the gunman story, I can't say I blame the others for leaving. While I admit that I do not percieve to know or understand God's will, the idea of the Rapture coming in the form of 2 masked gunmen, it's not really plausible........... Look at it in real world terms, did the Branch Davidians die for Christ becuase David Koresh asked them too? It's agreed he stated he was the second coming of The Christ, and he probably genuinley believed he was. His "followers" were asked to die for Christ, and they did. But did they really die for Christ or for their belief in David Koresh? I don't have all the answers, but I would have attributed the 2 masked gunmen's demand to be ordinary people suffering from mental illness, and I would not have stayed. That makes no more or less Catholic than the "believers" that stayed. Just my .02. Tom -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I think my wife would say that her life is better because I am in it. (I would hope so anyways.....lol) Currently my purpose in life it to make sure that my wife's jump account is always $0.00, that her reserve is always in date and packed with love, that her gear is newer than mine, and that it all matches.

Hi, I'm gonna guess you attended our "Skydiving 101" seminar at Skydive Pepperell last weekend?

Whenever my tandem students say "its a beautiful day to die" or something like that, I always reply: "See that beautiful woman in the hangar packing her parachute? That's my wife. Trust me, today may be a beautiful day to die for you, but it's a better day to live for me!" sometimes I adlib: "That beauty over there in the hangar is my wife and she is cooking me dinner tonight, and I am NEVER late for dinner!" I've got about 800 tandems now, and we are a very friendly DZ. Fun jumpers almost always talk to our students while waiting to jump, and hanging out waiting to board the plane, and I'll be honest, I can't think of one time a fun jumper said or did anything that really made a negative difference in my student's mental state. I think good intentioned pep talks from fun jumpers to my students are okay. I just hate that frigging "5th point of attachment" comment I hear from time to time......... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

By "the loop" I can only assume you mean Rt 610? I used to fly to Houston for work every couple of months for years, and yes getting on and off that road at 5pm can be tough, especially at the Galleria exit..........lol Beautiful part of the country though! You mean this place isn't WWW.DROPZONE.TOM?

As an elderly gentleman ran a red light in front of me as I attempted to cross an intersection yesterday, I honked my horn as my tires came to a skreetching stop in time to avoid a collision, I asked myself, did that old geezer really just give me the finger? The answer is yes. Somebody's Grand Father flipped me the bird as he ran a red light, angered I assumed, by the fact I blew my horn at him as he illegally sped through the intersection. It got me thinking about an article I read. When was the last time somone flipped you off for cutting you off walking through the door of a restaurant? Probably never. At the restaurant door, we are apt to stop, say "you first" and then politely open the door for the other person while exchanging a polite smile. Put that same person behind the wheel of a car or in front of an internet connection, and they may act very different in a stressful social situation. Why? Of course the annonimity of being able to drive away or of hiding behind a fictiuous screen name make it much more temping to lash out at others, but the real interesting thing from this article was that: We (people) have been walking around each other for thousands of years, and as such have developed deep rooted polite social customs as a result. Where as we have only been driving around each other for less than a century, we as people are not as accustomed to this newer form of societal interaction, and as such, we are less polished in providing courtesy to others than we would while on foot. That idea regresses even further in the fact that most people have really begun online interacting within the last decade and this medium is so new in terms of social interaction, that the levels of hostility otherwise "normal people" will exude are even higher than those stuck driving in 5 o'clock traffic. The OpEd piece ended by saying that the longer the social medium exists, the less negativety will be expressed as we as a people learn over time to co-exist better on the road and in cyber space. I thought it an interesting parallel. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I've seen one up here with New Hampshire license plate: GIGAWAT -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Skydive New England is approx 60 minutes due north of Boston. Skydive Pepperell is approx 50 minutes North West of Boston. Jumptown is approx 60 minutes due west of Boston. Edit to add: The toughest part about any commute will be the "getting off the Cape" part up Route 3 with traffic. Once past the bridge traffic and up Route 3 into Boston, your about an hour from all 3 DZs. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

April is usually cold, especially for your Floridians...lol May warms up and it usually stays nice till the end of October. If your going to Robbie's new place it is in a beautiful location. The Cape is a great place to spend a summer, it can be expensive, but rooming may not be that bad. As for the other DZs in the area, you can't go wrong with any of them, Skydive Pepperell, Jumptown (MSPC) and Skydive New England are all great dropzones filled with great people. The best part about jumping up here is there is so much skydiving history at all three DZs, plus all three DZs have great LOs. My wife and I work at Pepperell, so we spend most of our time there during the season, but we love to road trip to Jumptown and SDNE and see rest of our extended skydiving family.

Good point about the unintentional volume up there. I have told every one of my tandem students as part of my pre-jump briefing: "Okay, when we get ready to jump and the door opens, it gets a little noisy. In freefall, its really noisy. If I am yelling anything at you in the door or in freefall, like 'Cross your arms!' or 'ARCH!", I may even yell 'Go Red Sox', just remember I am totally not mad at you, its just that yelling in your ear is the only way I can effectively communicate with you." I make a joke about it beforehand to loosen them up and then if I have to (rarely) yell anything, they don't take it personally. Once I got this in the door: Me: "GO RED SOX" Student:"GO YANKEES!" Me: "WHO"S PULLING THE RIPCORD?" Student: "YANKEES SUCK!" "GO RED SOX" Me: "READY< SET

I think this thread has fractioned into two questions. 1) If you knew you were gonna die skydiving someday, thie next jump or on any jump through 20+ years from now, would you still jump? and 2) If you knew you would die on the next jump you made, would you do it? To anyone that answered "Yes I'd keep jumping" to question #1, thats certainly not an "insane" answer, and yes, everyone has different views on "Carpe Deim", and how they choose to live. I don't agree with a "yes" answer to #1, but I don't have to, we all are entitled to live our lives as we see fit. And I would respect everyone's opinoin on this one, yes or no. There are good reasons to answer either way. As for #2, if any one answered yes to this question, then, again I say I think Dr. Phil should be called ASAP.....lol. If any sane person went to board a plane and were told that they would not survive, no one would board it. This isn't the big wave off Bell's Beach in Point Break, and you guys (and gals) aren't Bodey...... "We'll get him when he comes back in." "He's not coming back." So yes, I applaud all views to question #1, but I think anyone that answers yes to #2 is "posing", unless, say they are 100 years old and don't want to learn a new hobby....... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

If you stood at the door of your jump plane tomorrow, and told each jumper that was about to board the plane: "This WILL be your last jump, you are NOT coming back from this jump." The plane would take off empty, despite all the "High Speed Dirt!" mentalities out there. It's all talk. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

My AFF Level 1 instructor took Slash on a tandem a few years ago. On the other end of the spectrum, I took a nun on a tandem for her 60th birthday. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I'll admit, when I had a 100 jumps, I was "dying" to get on any plane I could too.......but I think your taking it a bit too literally........lol Like I said before, skydiving isn't the Holy Grail, it's not the end all be all of existence. When I was 27 I read Anne Rice's The Mummy on the steps of the Notre Dame catherdral. I once even threw dice at the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco. Both events are just as meaningful to me as any skydive I have made. I've got a long list left of things I plan to do before I cash in my chips, and a single skydive isnt worth giving that up. If I had the choice to make one more skydive that would definitely kill me, or not skydive and maybe be able to wake up next to my wife for another 50 years? You can have that last skydive, I'll keep waking up to my wife and my next book. Edit to add, I don't see in my post where I: "you can ridicule or demean if it's not in line with your beliefs" If your referring to my Dr. Phil comment, you might want to reference the word "sarcasm" in Websters dictionary. I certainly hope you didnt take my comment literally........... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

If anyone answers yes now, we need to call Dr. Phil ASAP! -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a trend of posers, er um, I mean "posters" that publicly post their personal agenda vent/flame situations that shouldn't be vented here in the first place (the Colorado accident comes to mind), then when they realize they are not holding the "majority opinion", they just split. They take off, never to be heard from again on the subject. It's almost like a "preaching from the soap box" version of ringing a door bell and then running away.......... These people publicly throw out these serious allegations, and when they get called on it............POOF! They disappear from the thread. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I'd quit in a New York minute. Life holds way too many other mysteries to be discovered. Skydiving is not the "Holy Grail" or "The Meaning of Life". I would die for my freedom, my religion, my wife & my family. Not for a hobby, regardless of how much I love doing it. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

"It would have been easier to edit your post to keep yourself out of hot water than to claim that you have a three canopy/one harness system..." ROFLMAF!!! C'mon now Bill, he's got a good point there, with all of your years in the sport, you think you would have known better than to make up something like that. Next thing you know you'll be telling people that you have a tiny little magical mechanical device in one of your rigs designed to deploy your parachute in the unlikely event you are knocked out in free fall, AND that you put it in there knowing full well that there is no gaurantee that it will work................. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I thought it said: "I nearly died and all I got was this lousy t-shirt." -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I agree with you Mark. Saying a canopy collapsed behind a hangar in turbulant conditions doesn't really signify a dangerous canopy. I think it would be a fair statement to say (air locks aside) most any canopy is capable of collapsing in those conditions. As for its flare-ability, I have seen people of differnt shapes and sizes (equalling different arm lengths too) fly the same canopy where 1 person cannot flare it and the other can. I just think there are too many variables (brake line setting, riser length, arm length, etc) to deduce this canopy as completely unairworthy becuase one jumper was unable to sort it out. NOTE: None of my above comments are aimed to justify this persons actions. misrepresenting a canopy's condition or jump numbers is flat out wrong, but also yelling from the watch tower that this guy has sold a dangerous canopy is also a little bit over the top. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I was "taught" low turns are dangerous and not to do them before I made my very first jump. I didn't figure out the mechanical specifics of "exactly why" until a little later. Superman0710 has asked a very valid question and this is part of the learning process. Don't flame him for it. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

The speeds of impact in these types of turns can be the equivalent (or greater) than that of a car accident. Image getting into a car wreck without a car. Another issue is once the trun is started, there is little the pilot can due to correct it. The canopy must plane out of the turn (return to level flight) before it can be slowed down. Unfortuanetly in these instances, the jumper impacts the ground before the canopy returns to level flight, thus nothing can be done to reduce the impact. Somberly, I hope that helps. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Another consideration is that your altimeter isn't giving you precise altitudes, especially below 1000ft. You could read 800ft and really be at 500ft or vice versa. +or- 500 feet from your reading altitude isn't totally unreasonable. The best defense is to ensure to the best of your ability, you do not have to consider chopping below 1000ft, which requires opening at an appropriate height to allow time to deal with problems, and then to fly your canopy like your life depends on it (defensively, becuase it does). Blue skies, Tom -- My other ride is a RESERVE.