stratostar

I would say wide is better, cuz you can always crop it down and you can fly close and still get a lot of background coverage. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Hey great sign ya got there, can I borrow that in about 5 and a half months. Oh yea CONGRATS! you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yep real easy to do with no profile filled out or contact info listed.(this is why I reposted this thread with those two ad's in question) you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Phil, I don't why you always hold back, just tell us how you really feel, it's ok, really.

Here's a couple more real winners. 1.www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=53482;d=1 2.www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/classifieds/detail_page.cgi?ID=50678;d=1 I guess you just have to PM your appliction? Let's see I'm going to apply to work someplace with no info like, location, what DZ, rate of pay,etc. However most current rig's for sale ad's have gotten better at giving the added info people want to know. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yea right, Chris has known most all the players in the region for about 34 years now, and has a tad bit of a clue what his is talking about. And the fact that you Chris B. would make such a post just shows how much you really don't have a clue what your talking about. Maybe you should spend some time learning your regional history and not just swollowing the line of bullshit your were spoon fed up the street. Then again, I'm sure you "know it all" now just like you did when you were a student @ SWC, only worse now that you have a few hundred jumps and 4 or 5 years in the sport now. While I understand Mr. Grinners point and reason for his post, I tend to agree with him, but that is because I know the regional history and know why Chris has said, what he said in his post. While I wouldn't have picked that "battle" myself to post about, I support his (Mr. Grinner's) right to say as he pleases about the current RD's actions and local politics. So are we done with this pissing contest already or what! you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yea beech 18s too, I've been tellng Steve Stewart for the last few years to fix the 18 he has and we can offer real "vintage" jumps out of the 18 with gutter gear, bet we could charge about 85 bucks a jump. Hey now, my hair aint gray yet! My guess is I'll end up looking like this guy dose today, in the future.(just not as ugly) (see attachment) But yea we do get some strange and looks when jumping old gear, but that is part of the fun. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Jim, You really think some goofy looking SOCAL skybum who didn't think to bring cool weather attire to Chi town in Sept. has a clue what the hell farm & fleet is? Sorry Bill couldn't help it....... you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I got enough 18 jumps to last a long while, but I'm game on the load stall or 3's, don't have any load stalls and only one 3 dive.

Oh really, I guess you might be hanging out with the wrong crowd then? So you did the dz thing for 3yrs and met some peeps. I have been going to the dz every weekend for over 25 years and have met many people of all walks of life, BUT my real friends I can count with only one hand. There are many people in the sport who are nice and kind folks and I call some of them friends even though I have never met them, WHY because they were more then kind! When I was 14 and not allowed to jump, the president of the KSUPC drove from Manhatten Ks. to Topeka Ks. to pick me up to go to Hutchingson KS. and then back to Topeka Ks. at the end of the day, just so I could go to a boogie and not be left out of the fun, and that was not a short drive for some skydiver to make just to haul a 14 yr old kid around with him to a boogie! Two years ago I was going through tough times and couldn't afford to renew my ratings and membership in the springtime, another poster here offered to pay my membership and we have never met face to face, this person only wanted me to "pay it forward" to another. I have had another person I have never met in person, invite me to their home DZ, but when I made plans to go there, this person couldn't be there, but they left the key to their trailer @ the DZ and let me and the wife and our guest stay there for free and didn't expect and ask for anything in return. When I didn't have a rig to jump, someone gave me a rig. When my car broke down @ the DZ on a Saturday, I didn't want to ask people to go out of their way to take me the 65 miles to home, so I set out walking it to the "big roads" so I could use the thumb god gave me and hitch a ride home, yea it was a walk for a few miles, but I did get a ride and i didn't have to ask anyone to stop their day and drive me 65 miles home. I had more skydivers buy me food and booze and bend over backwards to help me or other friends, over the years, while indeed the sport has changed to where there are more self centered types involved then when it was 20 years ago, that is life. I don't know what else to tell you dude, maybe you suck at picking friends, maybe no one likes you @ the dz? Maybe your an asshole? IDK. But I do know I have met more "friends" in skydiving then other places in life (not counting the deadheads) who help out fellow jumpers then those who would tell you to fuck off and walk home. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

amen brother! you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

You bring the DC-3 and I'll bring the scary old rig's and we can do it up right. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Some of us still live in that world. As I type on my XP OS HP..... you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yea, but your at a whole other level, then those who I get calls from wondering why they can't get their 3.5K$ windows editing machine to work or burn a disk or some other simple shit they can't get to work right and it cost them more money and hours of time to get trained on it or they were sold some shit they didn't need and don't work in the first place by the retard at best buy. When had they just done as advised when they asked me "what to buy" they had just got a Mac. If you can't make a nice and well put together production with i-life right out of the box,(music, video, photos, DVD) it's pretty stupid proof, then you don't need to be trying to learn the windows shit, you need to hang up the cameras & find a new hobbie! But I know YOU know what I'm saying, others still don't. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Here fixed it for ya, "There is only ONE greatest canopy, an open one." you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Yea well I couldn't help it. But really if you take a good hard look at what all you can do "out of the box" with a Mac, in regards to all media editing and how it all works together seemlessly. Anyone looking to get into production as a weekend "pro" or to just fuk around having fun, ya should take a very hard look @ Mac. I get phone calls from time to time form friends who call up and tell me all about the updated this and upgraded that and all about how they spent a small fortune to build a windows machine to "edit" on, and do I know why they can't get it to work, or it crashes or some other problem that always seems to be a OS issue. I just laugh my ass off and tell them you shoulod have listened the first time I told them and got a Mac. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Mac!

So it might have looked like one of the rigs in the attached photos. Fucking pussy's, go big or go home! As many others have said a well taken care of older rig can be used and still be safe. The trick is finding old stuff in good airworthy shape, there is lots of old junk around and but there is some real sweet finds around as well too. In the photos attached are H/C's and canopies from 1962 to 1984 and reserves from 1959 to 1987. Every type of PC class and size and shape, just about. Oh and yes these rigs get jumped too, the last time these were jumped, Cliff (president PIA) was there, he seemed to enjoy the show. I have personally test jumped each rig or supervised the test jump of rigs I couldn't fit in, there is not one rig in the photo of our collection I wouldn't jump myself. So good job finding the loop, but don't ground a canopy due to age and lack of history alone, that 20 year thing is a bunch of bullshit! you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I replaced m promaster .5 with a sony .6, it's also a silver hard body. Very nice lens and not expensive on ebay. I would like to get a second one for my back up cam. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

Skydive Wayne County, Richmond In. SOS AFF-S/L-IAD. Skydive Greensburg In. is still SOS I think too. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

I married a jumper, so it is easy to do dz time. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

You could always try to make it a family affair, teach the 15 year old to pack and find her something to do as well to be involved, you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

That not a kid, it's Wendy. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

We all know who and why anyone has tried to screw the boogie. At least their getting old too and will croak sooner or later, problem solved. I would have to disagree to a point. I don't think fragile ground is correct, I think it reflects the industry as a whole, we have seen the numbers decline over the last 5 years, same as the national numbers, maybe a tad more with the regional political actions of a few operators that, as you know Chris started competing events once the "arrangements" soured and battle lines were clearly drawn and peoples loyalties were called in to question, if you attended. You of all people have been here to see it first hand with your time in the sport in the region. As I have traveled a lot the last few years, many other parts of the country seem to be doing fine with new student flow and jumper retention. There are a lot of economic reasons why that is. The same can be said for place like this region, to explain the down turn in numbers. I'm sure there many factors as to why we did see the WFFC not run this year, but I have heard their numbers were down too the last 5 years. While I think your correct that new jumper retention is down as is the number of fun jumpers too. There are many factors there too, like people getting sick of DZO's treating people who spend money at their dz like shit. Or giving a staff member or regular fun jumper a ton of shit for going to jump with friends at another regional dz, this has been going on many years as you know. A lot of the older crews are, well, older now and life get's in the way or jobs, kids, all the regular shit, so a trip to the dz now, they find there is not anyone left they knew other then the DZO and a couple staff members. While the old fav's Bob Sinclaire, Orly, Boxman, Tony H., Tony U, Roger H., Brew, Alf-a-bit, AJ, and many longstanding camp grounds were present, there were some longtime friends who didn't show, I think this is the first boogie since 1972 that naked Larry didn't show up at, and he said he was coming this year, there were a few others as well. (floats 18 you pussy) Thats the funny thing about when someone passes, and all the old faces you see at the service. But those people are done and have made their jumps and aren't comming back, many more of us are joining them, then are replacing us. Why is that? Good question. Our student numbers have remained the same and are on the rise for returns in S/L & AFF & TDM. even with the current changes taking place. I would say the numbers have stayed about the same for those who really stay in the sport, but the "flash in the pan" jumpers numbers are now higher. The ones who hit it hard for a few years (2 or 3), then done or dead. And it takes a huge volume of students to get a couple of skydivers these days. We see less still active ten years later. It was nice to Bob and the Greensburg crew drop in and make a few loads again this year. I can understand why you and other posters would feel it would be under-handed of me to set up shop 30 miles down the road from Couch Freaks and holding a compeating event, but it is America, land of the free and stand up guys like you Chris slopped around in some rice patty getting shot at so I can have the right to do just that, if I want to. you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo