ernokaikkonen

>I Cut the box open and pulled out the Dark Blue Bev Suit within. I >changed out of my jeans and into a pair of umbro's and put it on. >The fit is very tight (...) Oh dear. How long do you people think this one will last... Erno

>>>the Macarena? >>> >>If there is one thing that makes me feel ashamed of being Mexican >> (aside from riding a donkey to work everyday after waking up drunk >>outside the cantina) is THE MACARENA! >> > >Just blame it on Canada That wouldn't be fair to the canadians. This time, the spanish are to blame. Read all about in here Erno

Congrats! I just got my new container, so now I almost have matching gear: black/yellow container and jumpsuit, but my main is red. Obviously, I must buy new main. What size and how much are going to be loading it? I'm thinking of buying a Heatwave too, so any comments would be welcome after you've jumped a few with it. Erno

>I'll get back to my watering my tullips on my clogs(klompen) now.. Yeah and don't forget to smoke that joint when you're done...

>People have taken this "conspiracy theory" lifestyle just way too far. >Everything has to be a conspiracy. Nothing can ever be "just what it is." Yeah I don't get it either. Life is complicated enough "as is"...

According to the 72-q test I'm: Introverted Intuitive Thinking Perceiving INTP Erno (edited to add:) The 4-q one says I'm: ISTP: "I See The Problem" And the 32-q one which had way more than 32 q's says I'm: ISFJ "The Helper" Make up your mind...

Ok thanks! I didn't know that.

Ok this extract is from the Lonely Planet website Seems pretty openminded to me? Erno

Whoa! Talk about hitting a sore spot... I do have the impression that Holland as a country is more open-minded and tolerant than most. No need to take it personally...

>Para Commander is not exactly a round canopy. No, it's a round canopy with lots of holes!

Just checked; The parachute-committee of the Finnish aeronautical association states that jumpers under 250 jumps should not exceed wingloading of 1.3:1(rounded down from 1.34). Erno

You're suggesting that a 14-year old girl should have taken guerrilla action against the enemy in an occupied country?? Erno

Zoltan, The way people downsize in Finland would be probably considered insane on many DZs in the rest of the world. We downsize much faster, downsize more than one size at a time, and often in addition to getting a smaller canopy, we switch to elliptical at the same time. AFAIK none of these are generally considered a good idea. That being said, I don't think there are many more related accidents in Finland than elsewhere. That could be partly because most people here are trained in S/L or IAD progression, giving the students more time under canopy than the ones trained on AFF. Erno

>I miss the pre-pc era when you could tell a joke without everyone >getting their panties in a wad Second that. I think the diary-joke was funny, but it still did remind me of the holocaust. Erno

>Ask the manufacturer what the pack volume is, in cubic inches. >Manufacturers should have this info readily available on all their > canopies. The problem is that measuring the canopy volume is an inexact science at best. For example, PD does not give the volumes of their canopies on any of their lists. The results vary a _lot_ even on an individual canopy. The values given by the manufacturers may or may not be results from the standard measuring practise, and may have an element of marketing in them. > Years ago, the industry came up with a standardized >way to measure this. Yeah, the procedure is detailed in here. >Compare that canopy pack volume to the container volume on your rig. ...But there is no standard way of measuring the volume of a rig AFAIK. The best chance would be to find results for your current canopy, and then compare those with results of your new canopy. Some results can be found on BillVons homepage. Do note that there are often multiple entries for the same canopy. Erno

Dang! I was just gonna ask for pics but you beat me to it!

>Truth: You fall out of a tree, intoxicated, and hit the ground >arching. Come to think of it, why were you up a tree, intoxicated in >the first place? Why the hell not! Erno

There are two sides in everything... Option 1: Try to clear the mal. Pros: It might open, and then there's no need to use the reserve. Cons: A student may not be aware enough of the time passing, and might spend the rest of his life trying to clear a mal that's not clearable. Option 2: Cut away. If you're not sure, cut away. Pros: Only one set of emergency procedures. Easier for the students to learn, and thus less chance of an improper response in an emergency situation. Cons: The reserve might not open. IMO, option no2 is better. Erno

>I believe in pulling before impact. LMAO! Good one!

I fell asleep on a ferry when I was coming back from the Parasummer boogie in Estonia a couple of months back. I was somewhat tired from jumping and staying up late and drinking beer and all that stuff. So I fell sound asleep, sitting on a bench resting my head on my hands. A few minutes later a woke up with a start: I was convinved that I was aboard the Let410, and that I should check my gear because we were going to jump out any minute. I was surprised not to find any gear on me... Had the other passengers known what startled me so... Erno

>.my level 1 aff was may 5...since then ive racked up 58 jumps and >climbing...(is that a good progress rate? i have no idea what the >average learning curve is in this game) I'd say that's over average. >if the bare minimum before i can fly one of these things is 200, if i >jump my ass off i might be ready to try a suit by the end of next season. I wouldn't try the suit any earlier. The general experience on skydiving and the increased "awareness"(this is a bit hard to explain but you'll learn it) on a jump help lot. >so: first question is, is it necessary to buy and fly your way through all > 3 suits or can you start by taking it easy with something like a used gti? I've only jumped Classics myself, but I hear that the difference between a Classic and a GTI isn't that big. Don't go rushing to the Skyflyer though.. >im at a dropzone where there ARE no birdmen yet let alone coaching for it, By the end of the next season there just might be, the flock is steadily growing and spreading... So take it easy, get your two hundred jumps, do the tracking jumps, maybe try the camerasuit(but not too soon, no earlier than 150 I'd say. Ask your S&TA.). And remember to learn the other aspects of the sport too! There's plenty of time to learn FS and freeflying before you go jumping a wingsuit. The minutes you spend in freefall will help you fly the suit. Meaning that 140 hop'n'pops from 1000m will not make you ready for a wingsuit. Erno

I have an old version of a canopy volume chart. As I recall it is published by PIA? My version has no Hornets in it, does anyone know where to find the latest version of the chart? Erno

Not that I know of, but there sure would be a ready market for it!

>Are you still getting this? Nope. And I've updated from Opera 6.02 to 6.05... Erno

>This has been attempted and comlpeted before when a person was >injured in a CRW formation. Whoa. Cool.. Still, it is much more doable with matching CF-specific canopies... Erno