wolfriverjoe

I can see how this would happen. Even skipping my student jumps for a week or two makes me more nervous. I'd have a tough time waiting half a year and returning. Exactly. Between 9000-12500 feet I'm thinking Why am I doing this? but once in freefall I'm thinking Oh yeah, that's why I'm doing this! When I'm in free fall I'm thinking "Why am I falling so much faster than everyone else?" Once I land I look at my beer gut and say, "Oh yeah, that's why." BTW, are you missing one cartoon? I seem to remember one where there were two experienced female birds and you looked at them and were impressed with how fearless they were? Am I imagining this? It's still there. The tandem jump (first link in the first post of the thread) is in 2 parts. The panel you are looking for is at the end of the 2nd part. And Namowal: The first jump of the season (I live in Wisconsin and don't jump when it's realy cold) is... Interesting. And my regular jump partner is used to me looking at him around 8k or 9k and saying "I hate this part." I will often ask him "Tell me again why I'm doing this." He usually responds with something like "Because it's really, really cool and you love it." "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I'm going to guess that the car owner's insurance company will be paying for the cost of re-doing the pavement work. Although it's possible that the insurance company will refuse to cover the accident because he deliberately drove down a road that was clearly marked "closed" (some policies exclude coverage for accidents that happen in an area that the driver isn't supposed to be). "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

You seem to feel that if someone doesn't want to watch what I'm doing, then I have to be a "watcher." That if I don't accomplish something spectacular, then I must be relegated to the audience. Well, I haven't cured cancer, nor will I ever be dumb enough to try out for "American Idol" (I'm neither good enough nor bad enough to make it past the first intern kicking the majority of the contestants out). But I don't care about that. I don't ride my motorcycle to be seen. I'll never have the skills to race competitively. I do it because I prefer it to sitting on the couch watching motorcycle racing. The same goes for the other things I do. I do them because I enjoy doing them. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Unfortunately, you can't be home 100% of the time. Most guns used by criminals are stolen from legal gun owners.. A widely held but incorrect MYTH Well, it's a report from PBS, which has a known anti-gun slant. It's quoting an ATF agent. And the ATF has been proven to "massage" the facts to attack gun owners and their rights. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

There's a bit of difference between a professional certification (that's what being "Chartered" means, right?) and USPA membership. And getting a USPA license or membership revoked really does take a major incident. And that major incident usually has to be publicized and widely criticized (or legally sanctioned) too. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I dont believe you. That's not how the carrier pilots do it. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Which canopies are you referring to? I know the Diablo is notorius for that sort of behavior. I'm sure there are others. But my current Sabre2 and the Triathlon I flew before that are both very well behaved. The turn stops as soon as the riser is released, no matter how hard it was pulled or how long it was held (yes, it takes a little longer to recover from a longer turn). And even though I jump at a small DZ, I was shown a couple close calls on video and learned very early to check traffic and be prepared to use the rears to make an avoidance turn (to the right) as soon as I was open. And I don't see any indication that the camera worn by the jumper in the video had any direct influence on the situation. But it is one of many things that show less than ideal decision making. He never looks out the door. He never looks around during freefall. If I lose track of the others on a jump, my head is whipping around a lot until I locate them. He never checks his canopy after opening. There wasn't a lot of time, but he never looked up towards it before the collision. He never took any evasive action prior to the collision. He never did any sort of check after the collision. Not a visual check, not any "turn left, turn right, flare" controllability check. From the reaction of the guys on the ground, the canopy was pretty heavily damaged. One guy says "if that thing had let go, we would have been picking you up with a sponge." That tells me that the fabric was pretty badly torn. This dude got lucky. I'm happy he didn't get hurt or dead. But he could have. Very easily. I'm kind of curious about his experience level. My guess is not a lot. But I could be wrong on that. I'm really curious about what the canopy looks like. I'd love to see how badly it was damaged. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Read the sticky in the Photog & Vid forum. It has a few suggestions. VAAST has some good training videos available. http://vasst.com/store/sky-diving-training/aerial-camera-what-you-need-to-know.aspx Your best resource would be the camera fliers at your own DZ. Ask them the same way you put it in the OP - "What should I work on now to put myself in the best position for the future." If you ask that way, as opposed to what usually happens (But I'm GOOD!!! Why can't I fly a camera NOW?!?!), you will probably get some good advice. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, since the plant is located in Augusta, if a tsuanmi hit the plant, there would be a lot more to worry about. And yes, I understand that there were failings in backup systems that weren't entirely related to the tsunami at Fukushima. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, if all the people that wanted to come to the US were allowed to, I think the population growth numbers would be different. The US has very low migratory population growth because the (legal) immigration is pretty limited. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, there are other reasons not to overstuff. Potential deployment issues. It would really suck to choose an appropriate size reserve, but have it not open in time because it was stuffed into too small of a rig. Damage issues. Repeatedly squeezing too much fabric into too little space will pull out grommets, tear out stitches, that sort of thing. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It's about politicians. Classy and politicians in the same sentence just doesn't work, at least not without a clear and definite negative component. I'm not sure which one I find more offensive, repugnant and disgusting. Politicians or "Frothy fecal anal lube." Probably politicians. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I wonder at what proximity their marriage becomes cheapened. Do same-sex marriages in France devalue a marriage in Huntington Beach? What about those in New York? Or are they only affected by same-sex marriages in California, or Orange County, or just the City of Huntington Beach? Blues, Dave And aren't the marriages of those members of the "Upright Citizens Brigade" also cheapened by the (hetero) marriages of, say, Larry King, Liz Taylor, Cher, Britney Spears, Dennis Rodman, and on and on?? "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It is far more annoying to have someone say "I don't care how it works, just pack it." Really. I much, much prefer a jumper who wants to learn how the gear goes together, how it works, why stuff is done a certain way. They are far more likely to catch a problem in it's beginnings, when the fix is simple. They are more likely to catch a problem that could potentially be very, very dangerous during a gear check (of their own or someone else's - maybe even mine) Although there are exceptions, mainly during very busy times, any rigger who isn't willing to answer gear questions is a rigger you may not want working on your stuff. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Because even though it isn't going to do anything, it is probably still around the reserve ripcord, and will still need to be pulled out. It probably will pull free without a problem (if the rig isn't a Racer), but disconnecting it eliminates any chance of it snagging or hanging up or anything. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I can always depend on Chuck to hit the nail on the head! My suggestion for replacement: "What? Me worry?" That statement wasn't on the actual bill featuring Mr Newman. http://www.cointalk.com/t111430/ "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Prove it. Ok, after reading your more detailed expanation behind the "prove it", DOT regs for smokeless container construction are covered under CFR49 173.93, but I can't find any text of that. SAMMI has recommendations for smokeless storage HERE and mention "DOT approved containers" without actually saying what those are. And it's 25# not 40. My mistake. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Stay hydrated and fed. Don't eat a huge meal, but make sure you've eaten in the past couple hours. Listen to the instructors. Ask any questions you might have. Really. If you don't understand something, ASK!!! I highly doubt that you will come up with a question that hasn't been asked before, and while some demonstrate a lack of understanding or even naivete, if the instructor isn't willing to explain what's going on thoroughly, then you might want to find a better instructor (there are limits to this, but they are pretty extreme). DO NOT under any circumstances say to the instructor "But they said on DZ.com..." Have fun. And stay out of the DB Cooper thread. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It doesn't matter. The guy that posted the video (rekcomputers?) responded that it was 63 miles away, came out of the horizon, and flew off "into space." He ain't gonna believe anything except that it was flying saucers. I've always liked it when they don't need the sign. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

So I guess those news organizations are moron's too? "In late March 2004, Deborah Norville of MSNBC presented as genuine an article titled "Study: 58 Percent Of U.S. Exercise Televised"." Yep, moron. "In April 2011, the New York Times took an article that was several years old seriously. The article talks about President Obama on the cover of the magazine Tiger Beat with an image of the magazine inside." Possibly morons. I don't know what Tiger Beat is or how plausible that story would be. Tiger Beat. Teen fan magazine. Anyone that believes Obama was on the cover of it (along with Hannah Montana, Justin Beiber and whatever little twerp is "hot" right now) is a... Moron. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Care to test your hypothesis for us and post the results on YouTube? There really isn't any need for that. The containers are specifically designed to hold smokeless powder. Those containers have to meet standards (set by the DOT IIRC) for behavior in a fire. They are required to fail at a certain pressure point to prevent an explosion. That applies to both the plastic and metal containers. And there are storage requirements once a certain minimum is met (40# IIRC). Those storage units have a "pressure fail level" requirement. They have to be certified to release the pressure at or above a certain point to keep the fire from turning into an explosion. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

You can get the sights on a Glock replaced. Some feel that the original sights on Glocks are one of their few flaws. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Case, Bill. Case. You are using your common tactic of perverting a singular event that is only marginally related to try to stir the pot and deflect attention from that which you don't agree with. Ok, here's a case. A friend of mine had a well equipped shop in his garage. He had a fire start. The fire department showed up and asked "Is there anyone in the building?" There wasn't. The firemen set up, and began to enter to attack the fire and upon entry, saw the Oxy-Acetylene setup and immediately backed off. They stayed a safe distance away, put water on it from outside, kept nearby structures safe and let someone's home burn to the ground. The firemen weren't going to risk their lives to save property. They would have gone in, oxygen tanks or no if there had been a person at risk. But not to save property. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I've been debating it. Simply making a "that was a bunch of guys flying formation under open parachutes" comment. Unfortunately, I can predict what would happen: The responses of "they couldn't do that" or "Dude, I was there and I know what I saw, you're an idiot" would come flying in. They want to believe what they want to believe. And they're going to, regardless of the truth. One of the videos has a part where someone says (female voice) "I've always wanted to see a UFO." Do you think she's going to accept the reality that it was a bunch of CReWdogs? And besides, there's a reason that night pyro jumps are called UFO jumps. Did anyone at the DZ make bets on how many UFO reports would result from this jump?? "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo