millertime24

Thread over. That pretty much explains it (in detail I might add). Muff #5048

That's cool stuff. Its pretty cool that yall have this to bond over too.

Thats kind of what I figured, but why do they charge SO much less for the upgrade? Why not charge an extra $250 or so? Muff #5048

I was sitting here reflecting on airline tickets and their cost to the average consumer. When you buy a ticket online first class generally cost over $1000 while an economy ticket averages in the $4-500 range. My question is, why is it that if you buy an economy ticket then upgrade to first at the check in it only cost an extra $100? Why do they charge over $1000 when you get them online if they dont actually cost that much to put people in them? Muff #5048

I loveeeeeeee the smell of any Cuban Cohiba. Are you sure they're not counterfeit? Pretty sure. I got them from a guy in the cigar club that was on our base who had connections in Baghdad. Muff #5048

LOL. He's actually my brother. If not for him I wouldnt be a skydiver. Muff #5048

Nah. They're Cohiba's. Pretty good smoke if you ask me. Muff #5048

Yeah thats what I did, but his daughter is engaged so I wont be persuing the "nailing". I may send him a couple cuban's that I managed to bring back with me. Muff #5048

Good luck man. Be sure and bring your cold weather gear with you. I just came from Baghdad and it was pretty fucking cold at night. Im told Afghan gets much colder. Stay safe and keep behind those t-walls. Muff #5048

Thats a fantastic idea. Ill do it. Divot, I would not nail his daughter. She was one of my troops while we were deployed. It would just be "wierd". Muff #5048

So I went to dinner tonight with a friend and her family. The food joint had the word "bistro: in it so I was kind of expecting to spend a little coin. So I'm there and I order the fillet mignon (most expensive thing on the menu) and drinks fully expecting to get out of that place for around $40 or so. Now here comes the wierd part. When the check was brought out my friends dad instantly picks it up and refuses to let me pay for my own meal. So other than saying thank you what do you do? I feel like kind of a dick for having the highest tab out of everyone there, but I was fully expecting to pay for my own dinner. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Muff #5048

Im gonna do my damn best to try and get out there. And no. I was never sane to begin with. Thats why they put me and all the other crazy people on nights. But yeah, Ive got 2 new rigs that desperately need my attention. Thanks to all for the welcome back. It feels good to be back. ETA- If I ever end up meeting any of you during this jump season please remind me to buy you a beer (because I dont know everyones faces yet). Muff #5048

Those are friggin cool. Now I want one. Muff #5048

Sounds like my childhood... Welcome home! Drink beer, eat pork and go skydive! Thanks Dave. Beer and pork CHECK! Maybe even a victoria fillet at outback is in order. Man I've missed GOOD food. Muff #5048

Thanks Paul. Yeah I'm planning on going to either Elsinore or Z-Hills to "air out" my rigs. Thanks for making the transaction so easy for me while I was gone. Muff #5048

Thank you. Yeah I'm USAF and was in Baghdad doing a tour as force protection. Basically we were babysitters with guns. Muff #5048

So after a whole bunch of time sitting in an airplane I'm finally back in the good ol' USA. Right now I'm in the Baltimore USO and browsing the adds and my FB account waiting for my ride to Utah. Ill also add that after sitting in our really cramped plane coming from Quatar I upgraded my civilian flight to first class which proved to be far cheaper than I expected. Customs Guy: "Do you have anything to declare?" Me: "Yeah. Baghdad sucks ass. Dont go." Muff #5048

That may well come in handy when I get back to the states, but RIGHT NOW I have an insane amount of time to kill and litterally nothing else to do. BTW, every time I try to import music files into Vegas it gives me some error saying that is could not open the file. Does the file need to be converted into something that Vegas likes? Muff #5048

So I'm sitting here in Al Udeid, Quatar waiting for my ride home in a couple days. After extreem boredom set in my hyper-creative mind comes up with the idea to open up Vegas Pro9 and make a slide show out of the hundreds of pics I took while deployed. Now my question is how many of you had to use the tutorial SEVERAL times to figure out all the goodies on this software? The good thing is Ive only done about 30 or so pics so far and already burned up several hours. Muff #5048

And in the end that is all that really matters. To the rest of you who would question "MY" decisions, Its "MY" money. Its "MY" canopy. Ive told you why I wont buy a hybrid. It is the same reason I wont buy an origional PD (the canopy not every canopy from PD). The only f-111 canopy I have or will ever puchase is a reserve. That may also be going away as soon as a designer comes up with a zp or zpx reserve. At the end of the day though, its "MY" money, "MY" canopy and "MY" choice and I really dont have to explain myself to anybody because it, in no way, affects anyone other than me. Done with this thread. First off, try to calm down a bit. Nobody attacked you. I never said that you weren't completely entitled to buy what you wanted for your reasons. You absolutely are. Still, your statement about non-ZP fabrics was one particular extreme view that was presented as fact. A little balance was in order, if only to give the original poster a full answer to his question. He deserves that, don't you think? The fact that your reserve is still made of a non-ZP fabric clearly illustrates that non-ZP fabrics actually out perform ZP fabrics in certain areas. There have been reserves available that use ZP. They were not great successes. If ZP was the end-all parachute fabric, it would be used in reserves. But it is not, and thinking of it that way just isn't quite correct. Sorry Paul. I was out of line plain and simple. I wrote that post while under extreme anxiety from something else and basically took it out on everyone. Ill try to manage my temper a bit better in the future. BTW, what is it about zp that makes it no good for reserves? Muff #5048

I would offer $800 and go no higher than $900. Reason is in about 150-200 jumps it will need a new line set (about $250 last time I checked). Also, because it is damaged. It may still fly great, but patches mean damaged in my mind. How much is the seller asking? What is the DOM? Muff #5048

And in the end that is all that really matters. To the rest of you who would question "MY" decisions, Its "MY" money. Its "MY" canopy. Ive told you why I wont buy a hybrid. It is the same reason I wont buy an origional PD (the canopy not every canopy from PD). The only f-111 canopy I have or will ever puchase is a reserve. That may also be going away as soon as a designer comes up with a zp or zpx reserve. At the end of the day though, its "MY" money, "MY" canopy and "MY" choice and I really dont have to explain myself to anybody because it, in no way, affects anyone other than me. Done with this thread. Muff #5048

I just know that f-111 wears out quicker than zp hence, I dont want any part of my canopy made of the stuff. Not now that we have zp and zpx. Be sure that I'm not saying that hybrid canopies are "bad". Thats not it at all. I just prefere to spend MY money on something that is proven to last for a couple thousand jumps. Muff #5048

Here's what happened with me. Verticleflier (Les), came to both Skydive Ogden and Skydive Utah this past season. He asked me what I was looking for in a canopy and let me demo a few. Here's the summary... I started out having a Sabre2 170 that flew absolutely great. I did not however, like the way the canopy opened (closed end cells and more often than I'd like off heading). When Les showed up to SO I had no idea how to go about demoing gear so I asked him. A few pieces of signed paper later he was setting me up with the Pilot 188zpx. I did a couple jumps on this canopy to get a feel for how it opened and flew. I even landed it downwind once (out of the main landing area of course) to see how well I could fly the wing if I ever HAD to do it. I found this canopy opens very smooth and on heading. Also, it is very forgiving of sloppy packing. I decided that this canopy wasn't quite in the performance area I wanted so I asked to try the next size down the Pilot 150. Same opening characteristics, but a bit more responsive to harness input as well as toggle input. I also landed this canopy both downwind and in a 1/2 braked final approach. The flare with the toggles is phenominal from both full flight and braked approaches. Basically the range of flare is quite large. I also landed this canopy using my rear risers to get a feel for how that would be. It seemed to plane out the just, well, stop (probably stalled it right before touchdown). Either way, it got me to the ground safely in every different manner in which I landed it. Performance, I did a couple high pulls with the 150 just to get to play with it for a while and found that input is very responsive. When I pulled a toggle or rear riser the effect of the wing was a, very much, 'right now' response. Front risers were a little bit slower to respond than the toggle or rear inputs, but fast enough to make me happy. In case of a bad spot you need not worry too much. Just release the brakes and get on the rears a little bit and you would be amazed how far this thing can go. All in all, I was SO impressed with the Pilot 150 that I went down to Skydive Utah the next weekend and "demoed" (more like 'played') with it for several more jumps. Exactly 1 month later I purchased a BRAND NEW (something I generally never do with parachutes) Pilot 150 from the factory out of the stock list that they had. I litteraly could not wait for one to be built after having so much fun. I'm in no way saying that the Silhouette is a 'bad' canopy. Ive flown the Silhouette 170 quite a few times, and it worked out very nicely for me. My only thing is that I WONT buy anything that is f-111 or that has f-111 in it. Thats just me. As a side note, the difference in packing zpx vs standard zp is, IMO, negligable. The only advantage Ive seen with zpx is a MUCH lower pack volume. As far as canopy life expectancy, I just dont know and couldn't justify dropping another $250. Again, ALL of this is MY opinion and what I like and look for in canopies. I would reccomend demo demo demo, because what is good for some may not be for others. When you finally jump a canopy that is made for you you will know it (the canopy almost picks the pilot). Good luck and I hope this helps. -Mike ETA- I also jump in Utah. I'm deployed right now, but will be back for when the season opens. Look for the skinny guy with the mil hair cut and thats probably me. Muff #5048

You bring up a good point!?? What does whale go best with?? Baked potato or rice pilaf? White Rhino jus and Tiger steaks with Panda Hearts Lets not forget to add a side of baby seal both tenderized and killed in one fell swoop. Muff #5048