davelepka

That's why this conspiracy talk is nonsense. The number of businesses and organizations involved is significant and international. Many of them had nothing to gain from the ban, and most of the manufacturers had customers to lose if it came to light that they were involved in such a conspiracy. Beyond that, I'm not even sure that Argus had such a market share or even potential growth that they were a threat to the rest of the industry. Even if they were, the ban itself in no way guarantees any sort of additional business for others in the industry. Some of those effected will just not jump until the ban is resolved. Some will just jump without an AAD. Some will buy a second hand AAD to replace their Argus. None of the above does one lick of good for the AAD industry. Even if I conceed that additional sales may have been realized, how many do you think it was? Enough to warrant a multi-national, industry wide conspiracy? My final point, anyone who has crossed paths with the likes of Bill Booth, John Sherman, Ted Strong, or any long time industry figure-head can attest that the one thing they all have in common is that none of them are about to roll over for anyone. If you tell them to do anything, you better have a strong case with solid documentation, or you'll be shown the door in short order. These are not the types to be easily influenced in any respect, and when it comes to their rigs and their businesses, even more so. Do we know for sure that they Argus has a problem with cutters not cutting loops and possibly locking rigs shut? Maybe not, but enough 'odd' things have happened that closely match that description, and that's just not acceptable in skydiving. Once or twice, maybe, but beyond that you have to stop looking around for outside factors take a closer look at the one thing all the incidents had in common, the Argus.

This is a myth. If you leave your slider above your links, it only restricts your view up and to the rear, and guess what, so does your canopy and there's no way to eliminate that. What is true is that if you pull your slider down past the links and do not secure it, the slider will limit your vision directly back, and is more likely to interfere with your head. That's the reason that if you pull it down it also needs to be secured. However, leaving it above the links remains the safest way to handle a slider. Pulling it down has the risks I outlined above (along with the time and effort it takes) and jumping a removable slider has it's own risks with mis-rigging and failure of the release mechanism. This is another one of those areas where everyone thinks you 'need' to pull your slider down, but that's based on all of the 'cool' swoopers doing it, and everyone wanting to be cool. I have 1000's of jumps leaving my slider above my links, and they all involve swooping and shooting video, with a good number of them with a full size, full face, top moutned 8mm video camera. You know what the slider does up there? Nothing. Nada. Zip. It just sits there, like it's suppsed to. It doesn't move, or go anywhere, or touch anything it's not supposed to. It's the least work, and the least invasive way to handle it, and the one that most people should use. Of course, common sense never plays much of a role in skydiving anyway, so people will keep doing what they do.

There's no exact line in the sand where one side is slider up and the other side is slider down. In general, I would suggest that unless you're swooping, you probably don't need to pull your slider down in any case. Even on a faster canopy, unless you need the flexability of being able to better manipulate the risers, pulling the slider down isn't needed. In fact, the faster your canopy the greater the risk. A bunch of things can go wrong with a slider that can get to your toggles, and higher WL just mean fatser spinning when shit does go wrong. Even on a faster canopy, a collapsed slider will create little drag up at the links, and whatever drag is does create you can just deal with. If it's always there, you'll never notice it. Again, if you're not swooping, what difference does an extra 1/2 mph of airspeed make anyway? Even if you disagree with the above, a Triathalon 210 loaded at less than 1 to 1 is certainly on the 'slider up' side of the line. Let's remember that drag increases with the square of speed, so the inverse is also true. The slower the canopy, the less drag the slider will produce anyway. I've had to mess with slider/toggle weirdness too many times to reccomend it to anyone who doesn't really need it for one reason or another. I fly 99% of my landings on rear risers, so I need to be able to manipulate them independantly from each other, and the slider limits that ability. Having a slider above the links doesn't prevent you from using or landing with the rear risers if you need to. You can still pull them down symetricaly to rear riser flare if you have to (or want to). I rarely pull my rears straight down or symetricaly, so the slider needs to be down for me. Like I said upthread, I'd leave the slider up if I could. I also miss the floaty nature of my Stiletto, but deal with the ground hungry Velo because I like to swoop beyond what the Stiletto can offer. I also dislike jumping camera wings, but need them for some of the work jumps I do. My life would be easier without all of the above, but I also wouldn't be able to do the things I do without them. I just want people to be clear that some things are a comprimise done out of nessecity, and not something you should do when there's no real reason for you to do them.

Invest the very few dollars it costs to have slider bumpers installed, and forget about pulling your slider down behind your head. You're not getting that much out of the manuver, and it's a big time and attention waster, as well as several potential problems all rolled up into one. There are several things I do in skydiving that I wish I could do without, but live with them because I 'need' them to do what I want, and stowing my slider behind my head is one of them. Pulling the slider down introduces all sorts of problems, and with no real benefit to you, these are needless risks you're taking. -Failure of your slocks or slider hold-down device. This will casue your slider to come up your risers, and potentially interfere with your unstoed toggles, or restrict your rearward vision. - On a hard opening your slider can shoot past the links and lodge itself partway down the risers. It can unstow a brake in the process, or get tangled in loose extra steering line. -You can unstow a toggle while attempting to pull your slider past them. Now you have one side above a stowed toggle and one side below an unstowed toggle and your canopy will be spinning. Have you thought through your actions in a such a situation, because time is not your friend when your canopy is spinning. - If you have a brake fire, your slider is able to come past the links and get involved with the fun. One toggle is unstowed, and the slider may stop over top of the stowed toggle, preventing you from unstowing it to stop the turn. You'll have to pull the unstowed toggle to counter with one hand, and sort out the slider problem with the other (single) hand. Consider the above, and consider that it's not a complete list. You say you'll never downsize from your 210, and I assume it's for safety reasons. That being the case, what is the benefit for pulling your slider down in a risk/benefit analysis of the situation, and is it greater than the (multiple) risks? Forget about pulling your slider past the links until your canopy gets much, much faster. Do collpase it after checking for traffic, and leave it above the links for the remainder of the ride. Bumpers or PD 'hats' are very inexpensive, and the 'hats' come with excellent instructions so you can install them yourself. Have a rigger double check your work, or just have a rigger do it for you. Total time for a rigger to install on an unpacked rig should be about 12 mintues. Doing so will remove the need to even consider any of the above scenarios, or the issue of when to deal with your slider. If it remains above the links, it will have no effect on a controlability check collapsed or not. Leaving your slider up will simplify your canopy ride considerably over pulling it down. (By the way, not installing bumpers and just not pulling it down is not a solution. The bumpers are what makes sure it never comes down. Just because you don't intend to pull it down doesn't mean it can't get there itself if there are no bumpers. It can and will)

I don't know how many valves you're talking about because you left that out of your post, but the answer whatever that number was, is that they use enough valves to reach their goals of power, efficiency, longevity, and manufacturing cost. Take a lawn mower, for example. Very low HP per CC, but they run reliably for years with almost zero maintenance, and make enough power to turn the blades. What's wron with that? To take another angle, your 20v turbo motor, I'm guessing it's a VW/Audi product, and it has cams, so I have to ask, what's up with the cams? Seems outdated to me, F1 teams have been using pneumatic valve actualtion for years, with a high degree of precision and reliability, so what's up with your 'old school' motor, and it's cams and related mechanical components? The answer is the same answer to your question above, there is a difference between the top of the technological mountain, and the technology required to perform a certain task. If a machine meets it's intended goals, then the technology employed in it's design is 'correct'.

The marketing does employ their historical significance, but at the same time, the current Hemi is the highest powered engines they offer, so in that sense, the are 'special'. The reason they are more commonplace then in years past is the manufacturing efficiency of the company. When the original Hemis were introduced, auto manufacturers offered scores of different cars, engines, and options to the consumer. Fun for us, a manufacturing nightmare for them. In today's world, it's all about platforms and packages. They'll produce a couple of major platforms, and then re-body them to make 3 or 4 different models. They'll offer two, maybe three, different powerplant/powertrain options across the platform, reducing the R&D, manufacturing, and parts supply costs. So when the Hemi came out, you could get any one of a half-dozen different V-8 engines, with different intake options to make even more choices. So in those days, a Hemi could be more rare in a dealership full of V-8 muscle cars. Now they only offer the one V-8, that being the new 'Hemi', so you see them all over the place. Sooner or later that prevalance will burn out the cache of the 'Hemi' and it will go away again.

I wasted my time reading your post, where do I send the bill?

Jumping once every 30 days will keep you current as per the USPA written regs. Jumping once every 30 days won't keep you very current as per reality. This doesn't mean you shouldn't jump if you can only jump once every 30 days, it just means you need to remember that you only jump once every 30 days, and make your decisions accordingly. For example, once you have 100 jumps, your wind limits might be different than the wind limits of a guy with 100 jumps who jumps every weekend. Likeiwse, you might need to jump a bigger canopy than that guy as well. Even if you show up every month for two years, by your math that's only going to add up to 75 jumps. You'll make friends and be a 'regular' at the DZ. Maybe you'll get invited onto 10 ways or 20 ways, or some other type of advanced jump based people 'knowing' you, but you need to remember your overall expereince, how you came to that level, and your recent currency at the time. It's OK to be a guy who only jump once a month for 2 or 3 jumps, as long as you act like a guy who jumps once a month. It's easy in the beginning, but as time goes on. some people fall into the 'I've been jumping for two years' trap, and forget to act like a guy who jumps once a month.

Every try to run leaning backwards? I'm think a big part of it is biomechanics, not aerodynamics. You cannot be accelerating and putting one foot in front of the other unless you're leaning forward. Try running 50ft and see which direction you lean. For fun, try stopping as quickly as possible, and see which way you lean then. Additionally, think about your launches. Do you lean more forward when there is less wind? When there is substantial wind, don't you somtimes just take one or two easy steps, or maybe even just hop up and apply input create some lift? In those cases, the forward lean isn't needed because you're not running anywhere. The wing will launch just the same because the airspeed is provided by the wind, not the pilot. From a pitch perspective, you're just a piece of meat hanging from a hook. Case in point, look at paragliders, and which direction they lean for their entire flight.

Start looking around before you get home for a used rig. Aim for one that will hold the type of canopy you used to jump, or maybe one size up. Most rigs are good for a downsize on the main, so you have that option when you feel the time is right. Here's why - you can have a rig sitting there ready to go the day you get back. Then you can jump it for 50 jumps and get back in the swing of things. While you do this, you can zero in on what size canopy you might need for the 'long haul'. There's going to be an 'adjustment period' when you first return, so the used rig can truck you through that, and then new gear takes a couple of months to build, so the used rig is right there for that too. If you buy at a fair price, you should be able to turn it over and re-sell it for almost even money in couple of months and 50/100 jumps. Way better than paying to rent gear, way better than jumping rental gear, and way cooler than jumping rental gear.

170 is a pretty average weight, but it depends on your height. I think 5' 9" or 5' 10" is an average height, but if you're taller than that, you weight would be below average. First, make sure you have a tight fitting jumpsuit with a nylon front and spandex arms. If you have any 'boosters' or 'pockets' on the booties, have them removed and go with a basic bootie. If you're still too slow, then start adding weight. Also, what have you been doing for the last 200 jumps and 15 years? It seems like you would have figured out your fall rate issues a long time ago. Have you resently lost weight? Have your freinds recently (or slowly over the last 15 years) gained weight?

Without going into an extended explanation, I'm with you on this one. It's been discussed ad nauseum here, but the simple fact is that we're hanging from a single point, the pilot's weight will always center itself under the attachment point. It's called gravity. In order for weight shift to effect the pitch of the canopy, you need a second attachment point which you can lever yourself against to hold your weight in that alternate position. Hang gliders are the model for this control input, as that is their entire basis for control input, hence the classification of 'weight shift gliders'. In terms of the drag reduction, and it's potential as a side effect of pilot position, reduction in frontal area will always casue a reduction in drag, however, let's remember that drag increases with the square of speed, which means the inverse is true, so the effects of drag (and any advantage pilot position may afford) will decrease sharply as your airspeed decays toward the end of your swoop.

I don't know, I put a couple thousand on a few Stilettos, and am coming up on a thousand on my current Velo (which already had 100 when I bought it). A jumped a Racer for 3000 jumps, although it got a new harness halfway through that. It wasn't damaged or worn, I had them update it to an articulated harness. My current Infinity has about 1000 on it now, and I have no plans to replace it anytime in the next few years. Hell, I'm still jumping a Bonehead I bought 13 years ago when they first came out. It's held 10 or 12 different video and still cameras in different configurations over the year, but it's still going strong. Although, I did replace all the padding a couple years back, those certainly don't last forever.

Gear depreciation is not a linear curve. Similar to a car, new gear depreciates faster than used gear. On top of that, things out of your control will effect the value of your gear, like color choices and new technology. You can order a new rig today, and if your colors suck, the resale value will be lower. If you order a brand new Sabre2 today, and three months from now the Sabre3 comes out, say good bye to your top dollar resale value. Owning a rig is nto rocket science, or that expensive in the scope of skydiving. For the price of one weekends worth of jumps, you can own and maintain a rig, including repacks, AAD maintenance, and repairs for a year. It's not big business, and doesn't require that much thought. In terms of replacement values, if you lose your main, you need to buy another one. You need 100% of the vaule saved on the first jump if you're trying to 'budget' for rig ownership, and that's not practical. Do what everyone else does, wait until you lose your main and worry about it then. If you have zero dollars, borrow a canopy and save your penny. If you have a little money, but a cheap replacement. If you have money in the bank, buy a better one than you lost. Of course, there's always credit cards. Aircraft owners have a known cost per hour for their engine maintenance and overhauls, but most of that it based on those components being life limited by the number of hours flown, or the detailed record keeping of 1000's of A&Ps, so they know how long things last. On top of that, and overhaul can cost upwards of $20k, so you might want to 'save up' for that. I'll admit that gear isn't cheap, but once you buy your first, it's not so bad. Ownership isn't overly pricey (1/3 less thanks to the 6 month repack cycle), and when you want to change your gear, you sell what you have and buy something esle with the proceeds. Like I mentioend above, in the general scope of skydivign economics, it pales in comparion to the cost of jumps. if you can afford jumps, you can afford to own a rig.

When you go to collapse it, try the trick with one hand on the trailing edge of the slider applying forward pressure, and the other hand pulling the drawstring rearward. You might even position the 'forward' hand such that the drawstring goes inbetween your middle and ring finger, so your hand is centered behind the drawstring channel. Even a correctly built slider does take a stout 'tug' at the end to lock it closed. This is to keep the slider fully collapsed, and make sure everything is 'tight' and secure. Maybe just struggle with this one for now, and then 'treat' yourself to a new slider over the winter. A new slider and a new set of risers will make you feel like you have a new canopy and rig while you're flying around. and they make great stocking stuffers (hint to the wife, just be sure to leave a couple of completed order forms laying around so she orders the right stuff).

Now that you're to the point where you figured out how to pay off the old car, and get your hands on something else, you should figure out what to do with the old one. My thoughts would be to talk to your mechanic buddy, and see if he's interested in trying to fix the motor. Not replace it, just fix it. Then you sell the car, use the proceeds to pay for the repairs, and split the profits with the mechanic. As it sits right now, the car is DOA and will get you nothing but a couple bucks from a junkyard who will come pick it up. If your buddy can fix it, the car will be running right again, with two new cooling fans and new plugs, etc, and should be worth something. Blue Book value on a 2000 Altima GXE with 190000 miles in 'fair' condition is $1980. You might not be able to get that much out of it, but it you clean it up and write a good Craigslist ad, you might come close. It has some value, and even if you can only pocket $300 or $400 after repairs and splitting the profits with your buddy, that's well worth the trouble for both of you.

Does your rigger 'happen' to have one in stock that's the right size? Or is your rigger busy as shit, and would rather solve the problem by making a phone call to order a slider than working on yours? Now for some support for your rigger - you did say upthread that the slider appears to have been worked on, so there's a chance that it might have been 'fixed' one too many times already. It's like with a car, you can only bondo over a dent so many times. Eventually you're putting bondo over bondo, and there's no more 'car' underneath. That said, as easy fix to replace the kill lines. The stiching at the leading edge gets unpicked and the old ones come out. New ones are just dacron steering lines with some little 'nipples' of dacron fingertrapped and sewn into the line, then the line is sewn back down at the leadng edge. It's probably a 45 mintue job if you take the slider off yourself. Add 15 minutes if you just hand the rigger your whole rig and expect him to remove/replace the slider. The whole thing 'should' cost less than $50, or less than half the price of a new slider. Of course, that's only if the slider is still easily repairable. If it's already been worked on to within an inch of it's life, you might be out of luck. If the seller was a rigger, see if he'll cut you a deal on fixing it, and mail him just the slider. It shouldn't be more than $6 or $8 to ship, even if it's all the way to the west coast.

For the record, I'm not getting down on anyone, or Jen, for the choices she made. Each jump is different, and in her case the right move might have been to depart the scene and let the student sort things out on their own. As an AFF I, she as the option to either stick to the coach plan and break off at break off, or deviate from that plan, fall back to her AFF training/experience, and take a different course of action. Which she chooses is up to her and dependent on the jump. My point, and keeping in mind this thread started with a video of a coach chasing a re-cert jumper down the Cypres fire altitude and almost going in themselves, is that a coach has no such option, and they MUST leave the skydive at the predetermined time. They are not trained to catch, stabilze, or pull for anyone, and not trained to be engaged in a skydive below break off. An AFF I has options available to them, while a coach is limited by a definite line in the sand, and that line is the break off altitude. Having the discipline to stick to that is the 'job' of the coach. It's like tandem video exits. Ideally, you leave just ahead of them, and look up at them leaving with the plane in the background. If you're late, and you leave with them, you could end up next to them on the hill, which is downwind of the relative wind, and where the drouge goes when they toss it. So the rule is that if you miss your exit timing, and don't get off ahead of them, you have to shut down instinct to exit, and let the tandem go by as you wait on the camera step. Once they go by, you trail them off the plane, so now you're looking down at them, and not in the 'hot zone' where the drouge is going. Having the presence of mind to stop yourself if you miss your leading exit and let them go by is a tough lesson for new video guys. Same thing for the coach. Yes, things might not be going to plan on the bottom end, but that doesn't change your job. No matter how bad you want it to, you need to follow the break off plan, and remove yourself from the situation.

Indeed. Here are their choices then - she could recognize that she's going to spend $2k paying for car that she's not driving for two years. Add in registration or insurance fees, plus the loss in value from sitting for two year, and it will be worth less than zero when it's paid off and she has the title in-hand. Her credit is already bad, so what's the harm in defaulting on the loan and just stop paying. Now the bank has to eat $2k, plus the cost of a repo (or attempting to repo) plus the admin costs of a bad loan. Their losses are mounting. OR They work with her to sell the car. Payment for the car is remitted directly to the bank. Now they have $500 and are only out $1500. If they issue her a personal loan for the $1500 over 24 months, and that pays off the car loan, the bank has that 'in the bank' and done with, are left with a $1500 liability, as opposed to the $2k+ they currently have. Even if she defaults on the $1500, there's no repo cost, so the bank is still better off than they would have been if they stonewall her on selling the car. If she's made regular payments on the car loan, and is expressing an interest in not screwing the bank, while reducing their overall liability at the same time, it sounds like a deal worth talking about. Again, none of this is going to be easy, but when you're buried in shit, you have to shovel some shit to get out from under it.

Here's the idea. Bill needs a new car. His car is 10 years old with 150k on the clock. It's a good runner, but maybe not the prettiest car on the block. Bill goes to the dealer and talks to Bob the salesman, who shows Bill a new car he likes and can afford. Bill offers his car as a trade in because he doesn't have time or the desire to sell it himself. Bob can only offer Bill $200 for his trade because the dealer can't sell Bills car on the lot due to the age and milage. All the dealer is going to do is pawn it off on a junkyard (or some other backdoor deal). Bill agrees to take the $200 in trade because he doesn't want to bother trying to sell the car, and it allows him the ability to drive to the dealer to pick up his new car, and leave the old one there. Over and done. This is where you come in. Bob explains to Bill that he has a friend in need, who could offer him $300 for the car. Bill gets to make another $100, and the dealership still sells a new car. You meet Bill at the dealer the day he picks up his new car, and you (instead of the dealer) get the old one. It's a win/win for all involved, but you really get the best deal in the bunch, which is why you need a friend at the dealership to make it happen.

Indeed. She could just keep the car and make payments while she drives the 'new' car. Provided she could find a buyer, she might talk to the bank about issuing a personal loan for the difference so she can sell the car, and use the proceeds plus the loan to pay off the car note. The bank get's their money on the car, her credit gets a bump due to the succesful servicing of the car loan, and she gets a much smaller loan with a lower payment to pay off the difference. If she has a good payment history on the car note, and explains this to the bank, it might help to make the whole thing happen. If anything, go to the bank and ask them their opinion. If she states that she's not driving the car, it's only going to lose value sitting for two years while she pays down the loan to get her hands on the title, so she (not her credit) would be better off just defaulting on the loan and leaving the bank hanging. If she expresses a desire to not screw over the bank, they might be willing to find a way to make it work. Nothing about this is going to be neat, easy or clean, becasue she's in a tight spot.

If you mean you doubt you can get a cheap trade in from the dealer, that may be true with that friend at that dealer, but it doesn't really effect the dealership to give you a deal. They're not losing anything by not taking the trade, and you're not a potential customer they're hooking up as you could never afford to buy one of their 'regualr' cars (even from their used lot). It is, however, a favor they would be doing you, so that's why you need 'friends' at the dealer. OK, so plan B is this - Attention Atlanta area jumpers, if you work at a car dealership or have any good friends who work at a dealership, start asking questions and see if you can't get this fine young lady into the middle of a bottom dollar trade deal. Atlanta is a big place with a shitload of dealers, someone here works for one or is tight with someone who does. It's time to hook a brother (sister) up and make something happen. There might even be some free pack jobs in it for you...

Please note paragraph 6 in my reply

What does your friend think about the overall condition of the car? $400 one week, $110 a few weeks later, and continued problems? Are these different systems or all related to the same component? Here's my idea, and this is a looooooong shot. If you have a friend at the dealership, see how many friends he has at the dealership, and see if you can't get a 'back door' deal on a low dollar trade. Dealerships take cars like yours in on trade from people who can't (or don't want to) sell them themselves. There's nothing for them to do with a 10 year old Altima with 200k on the clock, so they 'offer' you $100 on the trade, then they'll jack up some other fee by $100 so they really give you nothing for the car. They can't sell the car because of the age/milage, and for same reasons it won't bring anything at a wholesale auction. More oftent than not, they call the 'recycler' (junkyard) and have the car hauled off and maybe collect $100 on the deal. What you need to do is see if you can get yourself in on that deal. See if the sales guy can clue you in if they have a bottom dollar trade coming in that seems like reliable transportation. It's a long shot, but I did this a couple times as a car salesman many years ago. I saw trades appraised at $200 or $300 for good running cars, then connected the buyer with people I knew looking for cheap transportation. They paid $100 more then the dealer was offering, and the buyer just came in without their trade when they picked up their car and paid the difference. The new car buyer gets a few more bucks for their car, the dealship still sells a new car, and you get a cheap car you can pay for outright. Then sell your Nissan for whatever you can get for it, and pay off as much of your outstanding loan as you can. Make the remaining payments and be done with it. Then (the hard part) while you drive your 'new' paid-in-full car, sock away half of what your previous car payment was every month. You cut your car bill in half, and you save up some money for a replacement car when the 'new' one takes a shit. You can use the money to buy an inexpensive car outright, or make a substantial downpayment on a 'fairly' inexpensive car to keep your payments low, and so you start off 'on top' of the loan. If you put $2000 down on a $4000 car, you'll always owe less than the car is worth.

Like I said, I'm all for the work he does with NBC, those fuckers deserve what they get. When Shah tries to excuse the guy because the 'other woman' is hot, I have to disagree. It's not going out on a moral limb to say that a married man with two young children should have the self control to either keep it in his pants, or formally end the relationship with his wife if he cannot. There are woman you have a commitment to, and women you have 'open' realtionships with. When you're single and dating around, sometimes that line gets fuzzy and things happen. When you marry a woman and have two children with her, there's no question you've made a commitment to the woman, and that it's a scumbag move to hook up with a hotter, younger version of your wife. Point the finger at me if you want, but I don't think I have to stand up very far to above that guy. I'm no saint, but I never cheated on my wife who I had two children with. When the relationship wasn't working out, I put on my big boy pants and ended it before going out searching for someone new.