wolfriverjoe

I have to admit to be a little confused by your response. Are you suggesting that the PD Reserve manual is not to be trusted as a source of information? I did research the 1.4 WL recommendation elsewhere and could not find any reference to it. However, that lack of data does not disprove the information from what I would consider to be a very reliable source. I recognize that I have a huge amount to learn, but I am not sure why you are chastising me for posting a relevant response to a question, and backing it up by providing a reference to a reputable source. Now, if you are maintaining that I am wrong, then PD are wrong and I would like to see some more proof of this as this seems like it could potentially be a very important issue. I assure you that it is not my intention to come across as thinking I know it all. I would consider an owners manual from a parachute manufacurer a "reliable source", but not an infallible one. It is a single source that goes against what I know of the FARs. And it is coming from someone (the manufacturer) who has reason to protect themselves from idiots who choose to ignore recommendations. I know FAR part 105 and AC-105-2 fairly well, and do not recall any reference to wingloading. I took a quick look at both of them and was unable to find anything. If you can find a FAR anywhere that mentions loading a parachute of any sort (other than the max weights in the various TSO-23s), or one that requires following manufacturer's recommendations (for anything other than AADs) I'd love to see it and be proven wrong. "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

My fairly limited experience tells me that it's either the brushes need to be replaced and/or the commutator needs to be cleaned. If it's been sitting a while that would be my first guess. The copper commutator can get dirty/oxidized and that prevents the current from getting through properly, Sometimes you can get away with cleaning the brushes, although that's usually just a temporary fix until you can get new brushes. If you try to clean them, make sure you maintain the proper curve in them or you'll just make it worse. "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 always been fond of the Mouse Organ myself. "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, this is at least kinda funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqnOeatbDWs It's the "Hitler in the bunker" video re-subtitled (again). Not quite as funny as Nick DG's one about Emergency, but still pretty good. "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

If we all made the “is this sport for me” decision based on our first jump performance, there wouldn’t be very many of us still jumping. You did fine. I can’t even see you and I know you are grinning from ear to ear when you think about “voluntarily” stepping off an airplane at 13,000 feet. Have fun and welcome to the fun. I don't know about you (either of you), but after my first jump, I landed with a huge grin on my face. The first words out of my mouth were "That was awesome!!" The second were "I've gotta do that again!" The jump had gone fairly well, but not perfect. And I knew the minute I landed that I was going to do it again (and again and again). We don't make the decision based on the first jump performance. But many often make the decision based on the first jump experience. Your (KevinP, not david3) recognition of the level of cool of jumping gives me the impression that you aren't going away soon. "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

Oh, no doubt. But, for example, zillionaire Richard Branson also pulled his cutaway handle on his AFF-1. He just wasn't a weasly dick about it. Well, then the OP has at least two AFF-1s that were worse than his

The courts told them they couldn't stick their noses in APCP rocket fuel. But... But... But... Isn't rocket fuel an explosive? Or at least almost the same as one? Or can be used as one? That's why they think they should be able to. Just like everything else they do. "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

While I agree with you that Lutz's most eggregious behavior was his attitude about who's fault it was and his eagerness to put the video on every TV show that would show it, his actions of pulling the cutaway handle instead of the main handle, and his choice of landing area are still well below par. And to the OP - I've never heard of "Frosted Stupid" for breakfast. I've had my share of "Stupid-O's", but never Frosted Stupid. Does the commercial have some kind of big cat saying something like "They're Rrrrrrrretarded!"? "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 how you got stable very quickly after that silly instructor stopped spinning you on your back. Your backflying is pretty darned good for a first-timer You landed safely with a smile on your face. That is all it takes for a successful skydive in my opinion.

Does anyone else need to go googling every time Nataly names a dish she ate, or is it just me. Isn't that the one she made a while back. The multi-meat, potatoes, and veggies layered into a crust. It's supposed to have moose meat, but she couldn't find any. Moose meat. I will repeat: You can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take the Canada out of the girl. I bet the dog enjoyed 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

Like DBCOOPER said. No filter, just a screen. The standard aviation oil isn't all that expensive (it ain't cheap either, but not as bad a synth). I don't know for sure, but I don't think synths would extend it any. The oil isn't "worn out", just dirty. We don't run the plane all that much anymore. It certainly isn't going full blast all weekend long. "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

Hard numbers are very difficult. You have to take into account regional variations in costs for various things. Wet or dry? Fuel isn't cheap. And skydiving burns a lot of it per hour. Tach hours or Hobbs? Because skydiving is a lot of climbing, the Tach hours accumulate faster than under normal ops. General maintenance. Oil changes every 25 hours. Not too bad if you do it yourself (legal in the US). Pretty spendy to have an A&P do it for you. How much is an annual inspection? And how many of the lease hours per year? More hours is less per annual, but then you have to take into account the periodic inspections (here in the US inspections are required every 100 hours in addition to the annual). And keep in mind, once an airplane reaches a certain age, the costs of fixing the stuff the annual finds that are wrong often equal or exceed the cost of the inspection. Maintenance reserve funds. Primarily for the engine. Again, skydiving is hard on the plane. If you know what you are doing and are careful in the operation of it, the engine can make TBO just fine. But it isn't too hard to do a lot of damage pretty quickly through shock-cooling, and that gets expensive fast. Depreciation ususally isn't an issue because the value is pretty stable. These are the issues I can think of off the top of my head. I am certain I am missing some. "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

Mine isn't a turbo and it isn't that bad. Most parts come from the parts store (brakes, bearings, ect.) and aren't all that bad, although the ingnition stuff isn't cheap. I've gotten some stuff from the dealer (interior parts, CV boot, DME relay) and they weren't too bad. The new crank sensor was kinda spendy ($650) but that was diagnostic, labor and the part. It's been pretty dependable. I drive it most days during the spring, summer and fall (it gets stored during the winter). And I've had mostly good experiences with the dealer. The old service manager was fantastic, and while his replacement isn't anywhere near as good, they seem happy to take my money for the parts I need. I haven't had it in for service except the crank sensor going bad, and that was in 06. Even so, I still am on their mailing list and get invited to the test drive and charity drive events. I even got to play when they brought the instructors up from down south and rented the skidpad at the local tech college. We got to slide around to see how the stability control works and slam on the brakes to see how the ABS works. It was lots of fun (the school has the skidpad for teaching cops and semi truck students). "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

$2000? That's a good deal. How many miles on the body? My 83 is appraised at $5500 and it's been wrecked and repaired. It has about 75k miles. What's a "fresh" motor? They are known for breaking timing belts (if you let them go too long), which destroys the motor because it's an "interference" motor. You can do a lot of the work yourself, the Haynes manual isn't half bad. They are really fun to drive. They are almost perfectly balanced, and handle like a dream. And with the 4-cylinder, you really don't find yourself in too much trouble too quickly. They even get fairly decent milage. I can get 27mpg overall if I behave myself. "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

Find a copy of "The Canopy and It's Pilot" by Brian Germain. Read it. Then read it again. Then read it a couple more times. You really should practice finding the canopy's limits, but do it up high, where if you do stall it or something, there is room to deal with it. DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR INSTRUCTORS!!! Make sure they know that you are unsure about canopy flight. It's not unusual. You've never done anything like this, unless you have prior piloting experience. There are canopy drills you can do, and should do, but that isn't a conversation you should have here. Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Welcome to the sky. You are so screwed now!!

Go through many keyboards? Just askin'. She always posts this much. If you think this is a lot, start exchanging PMs with her Love ya Robyn! "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

$4k? That sounds pretty high. You should have been able to get a rebuilt put in for a lot less than that. But that can depend a lot on where you are. It definitely wouldn't be worth putting a $4k engine in a car worth less than $2k. Did you toast the engine when the seal blew? Oh, well. At least you have the memories. "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

... Sorry for your loss. The older Saturns were really great cars. I had a 92 SL2 that was a lot of fun. Are you sure it's really dead? They can do a lot with "transplants" these days. "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

But you're not naked. You're wearing gloves. "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

No, Ron is right. It makes you look new, excited about the sport and anxious to be accepted into an entirely new group of people. You'd be a little odd not to be a little worried about it. Trust me, there are probably a whole bunch of people who are wondering the exact same thing, but don't have the guts to post 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

If you have what it takes to gear up, get on the plane and jump you will be accepted in the communtiy. Short of doing stuff that puts others in danger, refusing to listen when people tell you that you are putting others in danger or generally acting like an idiot, you will be welcomed both in the actual jumping and in the social aspects. Not being a "young, cute and very limber" woman will cut down a little on how much you will have to fend off the "SkyRomeos". But as long as you are willing to put up with the shenannagins (Fuckery), you will be welcomed. What you are doing is a bit off the wall. Not too many of the wuffos understand what we do or why. That's one of the reasons that we don't care who you are or what you do or how you look or any of that. You jump. You are one of us. Peroid. "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

If you don't have a criminal, you don't have a crime. Can't disprove that. This is wrong on at least two accounts. Three if you count the second statement. A person is innocent until proven guilty. Innocent people aren't criminals. Therefore, crimes can be committed without criminals. Not really true. A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Presuming them innocent isn't the same as them being innocent. There are lots of criminals (people who committed a crime) who have never been charged, or charged and acquitted. They certainly aren't innocent of those crimes, even though a court may have ruled that way. "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 might want to read the "stickies" at the top of the forum, especially the one that says "READ ME FIRST". It has the same advice as the SIM, but explains a lot more of the reasoning behind the recommendations. (This is directed at the OP, not Phree) "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

Wouldn't it be simplest just to run another strap/loop between the cushion and the altimiter? If the mount on the altimiter and the mount on the cushion run parallel, then just add a strap running perpendicular to both. Or am I missing something basic and this is too simplistic? "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

Thanks for the response. I tend to be less of an idealist and more of a realist. There are people out there who are willing to hurt or kill me. Whether they have guns, knives, baseball bats, golf clubs, bricks, rocks, or just their fists and feet. Even if the bad guys had zero guns, the cops would still need to have them. I'm not a cop by any means, but I would not want to be attacked by (hypothetical scenario) Aggiedave or Davjohns. Both of those guys are huge, in great shape and up to speed on their hand-to-hand. As a smaller person, I simply couldn't defend myself against them without a gun. And what about women? And what about against multiple attackers? Look at society after serious natural disasters. Hurricanes are the most obvious example. Society breaks down. Those who are willing to hurt others do so in order to take what they want. The police are useless. The only people who are reasonable safe from the looters are those who are prepared to defend themselves. Usually with guns. "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