bfilarsky

Mix it with Purple Koolaid.... and you have Screaming Purple Jesus

Don't really jump at Lodi, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night. Oh, and I used to live nearby, which is probably a bit more useful than staying at the Holiday Inn. Yes, SMF is the closest big airport to Lodi, Oakland is next and its about twice as far. About 40 miles from airport to DZ. No idea on the bunkhouse.

Civilian flight instructor - I try to keep students from killing me, no matter how hard they try.

Paperwork - most likely. Extra equipment - most likely. You would need to contact NorCal Tracon and talk to them about it. That close to SFO, you probably would need a transponder and a radio. I don't have their number anymore, but if you call FSS (1800-WX-BRIEF) you can ask them for a number for the Tracon. They may be able to just give you an IFR clearance number, which you can call and ask to talk to someone about what you want to do, and they should transfer you right over.

Yes, there is a DZ I've been to that I tell people not to go to. Not sure I would have as much of a problem going there and jumping my own gear, but I steer friends going for tandems away.

Throw a few skydivers out of a boat without scuba gear..... good chance to survive for at least 60 seconds. Throw a few scuba divers out of a plane without rigs..... and 60 seconds later there's some used scuba gear on the market.... For a proper comparison, have a few skydivers get out of submarine at 150 ft, and see how well they survive

Nope...then ya gotta sit in the corner with ALL your gear on and abuse yourself. ...like THAT'S something new! If ya need me, I'll be in the corner............

This is from news hound Dave Barry's colonoscopy journal: I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis. Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!' I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies. I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon. The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground. MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently.. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet. After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous... Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough. At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked. Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying d own. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house. When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like. I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ. On the subject of Colonoscopies... Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies: 1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before! 2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?' 3. 'Can you hear me NOW?' 4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?' 5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.' 6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?' 7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...' 8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!' 9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit! 10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.' 11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?' 12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.' And the best one of all. 13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'

Hahahahahaha that's some funny shit right there. You just made my night. Thanks!!!!

No, that's Corona!

Red Bull Boobies Boogies (&skydiving, of course) Aerobatics driving fast Stone Beer Snowboarding

How about Skydive San Diego? That's where I jump - I paid a little over a grand to go through AFF, and about another grand to go up through A license. So roughly $2k to go all the way to the A (I didn't keep track - figured it was better that way ) I'll be going this friday (and taking an AFF level 1 student) if you wanna go!

Breathing pure O2 while fighting a fire? What the hell could go wrong? Good point. Guess I had a disconnect between a couple neurons.

You using O2 or air on those? If O2, be careful going underwater with it. Go too deep (around 20 ft is enough) and you can encounter Oxygen Toxicity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

Ditto for me. Granted I've been in the sport less than a year - but I jumped a Sabre 1 170 twice, and each time it just slammed the shit out of me. The second one felt like someone had nailed me in the back of the head - and I got the worst line twists of my life to top it (almost had to chop it). This was after the best pack job of my life, to boot.

Tailwinds and Blue Skies

Ummm ya.... for stealing their music. From what I hear, they are one of the few bands in a position to be able to stand against piracy, and many other bands are thankful that they're doing it. I don't see any problem!

Another resource you can look into is IAOPA (International Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Association). Sounds to me like the gubmint over there just doesn't feel like dealing with skydivers. What a shame!

I think he pretty much emptied his back of luck all in one shot there!

I'm too lazy to look up the reg, but I'm pretty sure you need RVSM equipment above 28k. RVSM stands for reduced vertical separation minimums - where aircraft can now be separated by only 1,000 ft instead of 2,000 ft vertically when at those altitudes. In order to get the required accuracy to keep aircraft from swapping paint, they need VERY expensive RVSM equipment. I can't imagine that if a block of airspace was allowed to be used for jump operations, that they would require RVSM. All they would need to do is protect an extra 1,000 ft of airspace above you.

There are exceptions to the rule. I know, for instance, that the Soar Minden (Gliders at Minden Lake Tahoe) have a Letter of Agreement with Oakland Center where they have a box up to (I think 50k) somewhere in the flight levels where they can get the VFR gliders up high. I don't know the details on it, but I know Skydance Skydiving does 30k jumps every once in a while. I would imagine they have a letter of agreement with Oakland Center for those as well. So yes, exceptions are made to that rule (as well as nearly every other rule in FAR Part 91)

User fees are a BAD idea altogether! They are a very inefficient way of collecting revenue in the first place. Second, the purpose of them is to tax more. Third, it is just the fucking airlines trying to get other people to foot their bills. While the first round of user fees (if implemented) likely won't be THAT bad, its a slippery slope. They will get jacked up more and more, making GA (once again, US) more and more unaffordable. The airlines have been pushing this for a long time now - we cannot let them win (unless you're alright with subsidizing airline ticket prices with your jump tickets). FUCK USER FEES!!!!!!

I HIGHLY recommend CSC. I flew out there last year with a few buddies and was VERY impressed by the DZ there. Granted, I've only been to 6 DZ's in my short time in skydiving, but they were by far the most well run that I've seen. Amazing gear, beautiful grass runway, amazing aircraft, cool staff. I really want to go back - and I'm all the way in Southern California! GO!

Hell yeah. They can't see straight up when they're sitting inside at manifest. One of the jumpers at our DZ painted a big target on the roof over where the DZ manager sits.

Ya the rules can be pretty dumb on that. Take a look at FAR 105.25 - you need to notify atc always, even in class G airspace.