wolfriverjoe

What difference is there between the rights of US citizens and non-citizens? I always thought the rights laid out in the Constitution applied to all in the US. That's why the "enemy combatants" were interred at Gitmo. It's not US soil, so they didn't have any US rights there. And I'm not aware of any special rights US citizens have when overseas, as far as being targeted by the US. I could be wrong on this, but I don't know of any difference in the rights of citizens or non-citizens for this sort of targeted killing. "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

Wow! Thank you. Very nicely put. Especially the "I'll have lots of friends when I get there, I just haven't met them yet" part. "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

Would it fit? Probably. It depends on how different the original owner's body shape is. If he/she has a short torso and/or you have a long one, it might fit well. If the reverse, it might not fit perfectly, but may fit well enough. The best way to find out is to ask the manufacturer. Have your measurements taken, then send them and the serial number of the prospective rig to the manufacturer and see what they say. The measurments you need should be on the manufacturer's website. Have them taken by someone else, preferrably a seamstress who knows how (some riggers know how, but not all). They would also be able to tell you how much it would cost to resize the harness. "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

He repeatedly told his story on YouTube and Al Jezzera. In doing so, he renounced any loyalty he may have ever had to the US and was an active recruiter for terrorism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki Again, fuck him. Anyone who wants to defend this asshole or shed a crocodile tear on his behalf can also go fuck themselves. I'm not defending this asshole or shedding any tears, crocodile or otherwise. I'm just not completely comfortable with the US government acting in this manner. He wasn't convicted of any crime (you know, that presumed innocent until proven guilty thing). Renouncing loyalty to the US isn't a capital crime. He never had his day in court. Al Jazzera or YouTube don't count as testimony. In this particular case there didn't seem to be any practical way of taking him alive, so they killed him with a drone strike. It is far to easy for the government to start with the extra-judicial killing of assholes like this, who clearly deserve it, and then slowly progress down the list to those who someone doesn't like, or who represent an embarassment to the government. I don't have a whole lot of trust that the government won't go too far. They certainly have in the past. "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

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=4197894;page=1;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25; The link is to a similar discussion a while back. My opinion was and still is that he represented enough of a threat to warrant this. Not an immediate threat, but considering his reported direct involvement in the "Underwear Bomber" and his reported involvement in the Ft Hood shootings, he was a real and serious threat. "Clear and Present Danger" anyone? I am a little uncomfortable with the lack of court judgement or trial, the fact that he never told his side of the story before he was killed. That can turn into a very slippery slope. BUT... He wasn't under a "Kill" order, it was a "Capture or Kill" order. Capture simply wasn't an option under those circumstances. Yemen has no effective police force. It's not like he was in a country that could arrest him and then go through the extradition process. He was also aware of the C or K order. I believe it went to court (his father maybe?) about the legality of the order. He could have given himself up and gone to court to state his case. He probably could have renounced his membership in AQ and stated he would no longer attack the US and the C or K order may have been lifted. But he continued to be active in AQ and to threaten the US. And he paid the price. "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 a lot harder than it looks" When you have to worry about lighting, composition, framing, flying to the proper position, not flying to an improper position, ect.; all while plummeting towards the ground at terminal, maintaining altitude awareness, keeping all your EPs in mind (including the ones specific to having a camera on your head) then they may realize how much is involved. "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

Don't put this all on the DZOs. They will be more effective -- and so will we -- at addressing this problem if our elected officials in the USPA stepped up and did something other than issue a press release to group members. Example: Some time ago, a young jumper with about 50 jumps was about to purchase a complete kit with a Sabre150 canopy. This represented a significant downsize from the DZ's spare 190's and 210's that the jumper had been using. The DZO sat down with the jumper and advised him that this was too much of a downsize and jumping the Sabre150 at just over 1.3 was asking for trouble due to the jumper's very limited experience. The jumper proceeded to purchase the kit anyway and survived ... despite numerous scrapes, bumps and bruises. The jumper used up a fair portion of their bucket of luck. The DZO did what he thought was necessary at the time, but knew that the jumper could go somewhere else if he prohibited the jumper from flying the Sabre150 at his DZ. The jumper was already hitting other DZ's anyway, so how could this one DZO stop the jumper? If there had been a more widely accepted set of rules regarding downsizing and those rules were more consistenly accepted and applied like pull altitudes, this DZO probably would have simply laid down the law and stopped the jumper immediately. The DZO could have laid down the law and said "You aren't jumping that here, period." He then could have called around and warned the other area DZs about this DGIT. Some would have then prohibited the guy from jumping the too small of a canopy. Others may or may not have. There are DZs that won't allow this sort of thing, and if they get that sort of call, would be grateful for the information. "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 lots of good DZs all over the country. Even in Colorado. I won't put down any place that has been suggested, but I will recommend going to where you will be jumping in the future. You say "in Colorado currently". Will you be there in the future? Or are you planning on being somewhere else? There's a lot more to "Learning to skydive" than just the skydive part. Building friendships with the people you will be jumping with in the future is important 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

I like that idea, but the pilot may have a few things to say about that... Grippers? Since they get gripped, they should be called Grip-ees, no? p.s. At least I didn't call them the "little yellow sleeve thingies..." #1 - Be nice to the airplane. It gets you safely to altitude. Your "Door Fear" isn't the planes (or the door's) fault. #2 - For RW purposes, taking "grips", they are "grippers". For AFF purposes, "handling" out of control students (spin stops, roll overs, et cetera) I think "Handles" is perfectly appropriate. Thanks again, these are wonderful.

Really? I'd think that's where most of them end up. And that's one funny picture. It sure beats the images in toast, or mold or whereever they show up normally. "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

FIFY "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 agree with you that seatbelts are very important. BUT... If i am literally strapped into a plane, i want to be able to unstrap myself in case of any emergency. If the shit hits the fan, i do not want to be dependent on someone else unhooking me. Good point! I'm glad we are having this discussion. Anybody got suggestions for alternatives here? 1. Somebody belts you in. 2. You leave it off. 3. ???? Sharing a seat belt with another? The plane sits on the ramp for an extra minute and people shift around so that everyone has their own seatbelt and can reach it. Not possible? Not likely to happen? No DZO in his right mind would do that? I've seen it happen at SDC Summerfest. More than once. They made people tighten up the seating, and they had a bunch on one side take off their belt and hand it either forward or back because someone skipped one. "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 difference between having a D-license and meeting the requirements for one. I've done some "C-license" stuff with just an "A", but I meet most of the Req's for the B and C, so various people ok'd 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

Mental illness generally means someone cannot legally own firearms. This has been true for quite some time... No. Mental Incompetence means someone can't own firearms. Big difference. The lack of understanding of that is what DFWAG and Lawrocket are trying to get across. "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 wouldn't be cool to have to deal with the repercussions. Because of the "signs all over the place" the "dumb foreigner" wouldn't work. Especially because you speak English (well, Brit actually, but it's close enough). I used to deliver to an airfreight terminal. Truckloads of auto parts being shipped overseas. It would have been pretty easy to simply walk out the other side of the warehouse, onto the concrete, and right up to the big plane. Past all the signs that said not to. The guys on the dock liked to tell the story of the driver who had his young son (3 or 4) with him and decided to show him the plane close up. So they went past all the signs saying "Restricted Area", "Do Not Enter", "Customs Personnel Only" (really) and walked up to the plane... And spent the next few hours in a small room explaining why he had decided to do that. "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

Yes it's normal. It may or may not subside as time goes on. It hasn't for me. "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 in my house. English muffins rock!! "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

Do you mean like the Rev Jesse Jackson? I wouldn't vote for him, but if the candidate was otherwise qualified, and I agreed with him (or her) on the majority of the issues and I believed that his/her faith wouldn't turn into bigotry against those of differing beliefs, or use that faith to oppress/discriminate against others (like gays) then I would certainly consider it very seriously. I wouldn't consider being a religious leader an automatic disqualification, although there are certain religious leaders that I would never vote for because I don't think they would accept those that believe differently as equals. Pat Robertson is at the top of that list. "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 will be colder up high. Go anyway. The door will open and you will go (something like) "WOW, it's really cold" By the time you get in the door and are ready to jump, you won't feel it. You won't feel the cold again until after the canopy is open (maybe not until you are on the ground). I've gone out the door at temps well below zero (F, not C). I have only felt the cold in freefall once or twice. "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

Ok, Hypothetical situation. Skydiver buys this rig for $X. Returns rig to rightful owner who happens to be a friend of his. Friend decides to file a report to try and nail whoever stole his rig. His friend gets charged for receiving stolen property? Don't DAs have discretion as to whether charges are filed or not? Yes, they do. And the OP would have a pretty solid defense that he was doing this in order to return it to it's rightful owner, not to enrich himself by buying stolen goods at a discount price. This thread could be used towards that. He's making a good faith effort to find the rightful owner. "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

Yes to quicker turns that dive steeper. It would be more responsive to toggle input too, which would compound the issue. Unfortunately, testing this out up high only gives you a limited idea of how different it is because you have no accurate reference to see how fast/steep you are diving. And finding out close to the ground can be very unpleasant. Also, as has been mentioned, is 180 your "normal" weight, or your exit weight? Put all your gear on and step on a scale. You might be a bit surprised. "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

+1 He doesn't seem to be that into it. If he is trying to get a position that requires trust and respect by sending you as a proxy, he is going about it wrong. True, but maybe he doesn't realize that. If he's a new pilot and doesn't know anything about DZs or jumpers, then just walking onto a DZ and asking would be a bit intimidating. We all know that a newer pilot could walk onto a DZ and say something like "I'm interested in flying jumpers. Even if you don't need a pilot, can I hang out and watch and learn?" But he might not. You can't do that at FedEx or UPS or even a small charter outfit. "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 guessing that your friend is a newer pilot. If so, he won't be flying Otters or King Airs, or even PACs or Caravans. He needs to find a Cessna DZ. He needs to go and hang out. As in spend an entire day. Watch the operations. Talk to the pilots (if they have time). Talk to the DZO. Offer to help fuel, run oil out if needed, run the pilot out a bottle of water if needed. He will need to show that he is willing to be part of the team, not "just the pilot". Have him look over this site: http://www.diverdriver.com/. It has loads of good info for prospective jump pilots. He'll need to be up on slow flight, and operating with weird configuations - A 182 with four jumpers outside flies a bit different than normal. He'll also need to be on his game with engine managment. Shock cooling can kill an engine really fast. It's not hard to prevent, but it has to be done right. It can be a lot of fun. I prefer to jump than fly, but I'll happily fly a few loads as necessary, even if I don't get to 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

FIFY - The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. It's already been answered, in a Cessna, the pilot skids the plane so that the relative wind brings the door to where he can reach it, or in a bigger plane, there may be a rope rig for the pilot to close it, ir it stays open. There's a thread on here somewhere about the last jumper in an Otter closing the door, and it has a story about the Otter pilot going back to watch the last tandem pair go and then closing it. I looked around a bit but couldn't find 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 wouldn't worry too much about him getting the "wrong idea". A lot of folks were "only going to do it once." And yes, it is a lot more than a bucket list thing. Another newcomer has put her experiences into a cartoon blog in this thread:http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4200157;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread. It's a fun tale of how that "just once" took off. And an interesting adventure. You can make friends at the DZ fairly easily. We are a pretty welcoming bunch. "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