chuckakers

Can't get much more humid than Houston. Most of our vidiots at Skydive Houston shoot CX100's (including myself), and I don't know of anyone experiencing problems from it beyond the usual lens fog at the cloud level on extra-humid days with big temperature differentials between exit and opening. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

The 28-inch Zero-P pilotchute (very common) generates approximately 160 lbs of force at terminal. I bet it required no more than 10 lbs to pull your pin. So, no worry. Old rule is: "If you can close the container by hand, it is not too tight". Bet on the 'tight' side, you don't want a horseshoe... For different PC sizes and delays check the attached file. How do you explain the drag forces on that chart continuing to get greater beyond 12 seconds of freefall? That is - give or take - the amount of time it takes to reach terminal. According the chart, I would still be accelerating after 18 seconds. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

And most Americans probably have an objection to parents hitting their kids in public. As long as it is contained to in the house or school (as allowed by the supreme court) they don't have a problem with it though. Why are you claiming the moral high ground on this issue? Are women more valuable than children? I'll take that high moral ground on that one. There's a difference between spanking and beating. We discipline without physical injury. They mame with intent. They're freaks. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Peace loving muslims at it again. And where exactly are the women's rights groups and bleeding heart libs on this one? Hmmmm? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Salads Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Yes. That'll probably end when he has to sign that check. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Stick it in your helmet. You do wear a helmet, right? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

http://verdenews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubsectionID=1&ArticleID=38780&ref=nf COTTONWOOD - It was a rough start to Cottonwood's Airfest 2010 Saturday when a paraglider apparently flew into the path of a hot air balloon, tearing a hole, and became entangled in the balloon's load ropes, causing both to fall from the sky. About a dozen balloons lifted off the airstrip around 7 a.m., as the second annual event was getting under way. Two paragliders, with their motorized wings, then joined the balloons in the air. The collision occurred about 7:30 when one of the paragliders maneuvered too closely to one of the last balloons to inflate, became entangled in the ropes and tore the balloon fabric. With the balloon losing air, the two entangled aircraft plummeted to the ground, a distance Cottonwood Police estimated at 500 feet. The falling aircraft crashed, first onto the perimeter fence of Unisource Energy building, just north of the airstrip in the airport industrial park. The balloon then spilled over into the parking lot. There were two occupants of the balloon in addition to the balloon's pilot and the pilot of the paraglider. Gareth Braxton-Johnson, Cottonwood Police spokesman, said all suffered some injuries, though not life-threatening. The three occupants of the balloon were taken to area hospitals. The paraglider pilot suffered a head injury and spinal injuries and was evacuated by air. Both Cottonwood Fire and Police departments had crews at the Airfest and quickly responded to the accident. Braxton-Johnson says there has not been a chance to interview the pilots, but it would seem difficult to make rapid change in the path of the balloon. He did not know if the paraglider suffered mechanical problems. Braxton-Johnson citations and prosecutions could occur at a later date if merited by the investigation. The pilot of the balloon was identified as Eric Wadleigh, 53. His passengers were Susan Evans and Jon Bidolf. The pilot of the paraglider was Kenneth Ritchie, 65. The National Transportation Safety Administration and the FAA have been advised of the incident and will investigate. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Wendy P. Wilco - Out Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

You're welcome, and we're all still learning - at least I am. Unfortunately there is a long history of aircraft maintenance issues in the sport (and numerous crashes attributed to it), and you're right, the average jumper is never exposed to any evidence that a plane is being maintained properly. There are guys out there following the rules. I know a DZO that grounded his leased and about-to-buy primary aircraft after a pre-purchase inspection showed it wasn't technically legal. He lost a lot of revenue with airlift interruptions while rearranging his aircraft situation, but his customers understood that he was looking out for them. I think if you suspect there are maintenance issues, as a jumper of that bird you should be presented maintenance records upon request. Any DZO that is properly maintining the bird should have no problem plopping the records in your lap. 5 left and cut. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Leave it to Mr. K to sum it all up so well!! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

First, go learn about aircraft maintenance requirements before spouting off. The FAA doesn't arbitrarily fine people for going beyond "reccommendations". If they slap you with a fine - especially a big one - there's a reason for it. Second, you ask if the plane had been grounded. The fact is the plane SHOULD'VE been grounded since life limited parts were beyond their limit. That's the point. Bill apparently flew the plane in question well beyond those limits. Finally - and nothing against Bill personally - this is the kind of sh*t that keeps us under the FAA's spotlight. You haven't been around long enough to see the pattern, but many of us have. The FAA is famous for "stepped up" enforcement actions within specific industries or activities after discovering something like this. And the fact that skydiving as a industry has an longstanding bad rep when it comes to maintenance makes the situation worse. Look, kid. Even if operating the aircraft with timed out cables wasn't dangerous (and it is), the fact is Bill's actions WILL bring unwarranted scrutiny to us all in one way or another. Here's a great example of just how closely we are watched. A know a skydiver that operates an import brokerage business here in Texas. One day some customs guys came to his business to get copies of some customs documents for a case they were working. One of the feds sees some skydiving photos on the wall and says to my friend, "you a skydiver?". My friend says "yes", and then the guy says "you know Roger Nelson?". True story. The feds compare notes, ya know. If you are willing to ride on illegal airplanes for your altitude fix because Bill has done so much "for the sport", that's fine with me. However, Mr. Dause's blatant disregard for the rules hurts the rest of the DZO's out there, and that eventually has a negative impact on all of us. Now go eat your puppy chow. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

As I understand it, Dausneyland is not USPA. How do you figure he's getting their support (other than the fact the a director apparently jumps there). Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

They wear seatbelts at lodi now? Dave According to the USPA Regional Director that jumps there, no they don't enforce seat belt use. Ya might think a USPA Regional Direcor would steer clear of a DZ that doesn't enforce FAR's. A Director jumping there sure looks a lot like an endorsement of the operation. But then again, hypocracy has never been a problem with some at the head shed. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Come on buddy, if you read the earlier posts you can tell it was done by someone other than mirage. You are just trying to be a pain and pretend to take everything so literal Actually I mis-read the post I was replying to. Are you accusing me of trying to be a pain and pretending to take everything so literal? I believe you are. MODERATORS!!!!! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Send it back? You mean they sent it to you that way? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Like when Tommy Piras failed to turn his on? So are you implying that he did turn it on, and that the facts were changed after the incident, in favor of manufacturer? No. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Like when Tommy Piras failed to turn his on? No. Fails like AAD fails to cut reserve loop at preset altitude, life not saved. And apparent answer is: "Yes, we should know but we can't" That's it if you're lazy to read. Maybe I am "lazy to read". Lighten up, Francis. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Like when Tommy Piras failed to turn his on? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

From: Hal Lewis, University of California, Santa Barbara To: Curtis G. Callan, Jr., Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society 6 October 2010 Dear Curt: When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence---it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be? How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d'être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society. It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford's book organizes the facts very well.) I don't believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist. So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example: 1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate 2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer "explanatory" screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake. 3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work. 4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind---simply to bring the subject into the open. 5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members' interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council. 6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition. APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization? I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people's motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don't think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I'm not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question. I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends. Hal Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

1987 Nats in Muskogee. I was using an old "wings wars" style RW suit to video 4-way team L.O.S.T. (Lack of Support Team) from Ft. Hood. I had rigged up some swoop cords using Dacron 550 line. After opening, I stripped the swoop cords and reached up for my toggles. Oops - the left and right swoop cords tied themselves together from the wind. It was like wearing handcuffs under canopy. I probably would have figured out a way to steer back to the DZ, but hacking it with my hook knife was easier and may have saved me from an embarrassing landing. If you don't carry a hook knife while skydiving, start today. After all, if you don't have a hook knife when you need one, you may never need one again. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

How would uspa talk to someone with 2000+ jumps and who shouldn't be on crossbrace???? How will uspa undo one's landing habit which will eventually lead to eat shit if lucky?????? How about problem lies in jumpers not reading shit???? SIM book has enough information on what to work on under canopy. Also parachute and pilot will be another good start. Whenenver i suggest new jumper about the book and what do they do????? Nothing, cuz they know everything right????? yeah...uh, ok... I think. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I was just asking if you think instructional rating training is advanced training. I wasn't splitting hairs. But on the issue, I personally think USPA would better serve its' membership by focusing on things like advanced training, including the instructional side as warranted, and a sh*tload less on other stuff, primarily the group membership program. Of course I'm talkin' recommendations, not BSR's. The ones we have now are plenty. One thing is for sure. We have a big problem with the canopy issue. And so far, from the Excaliber through the Comp Velo, USPA has sat on the sidelines from a leadership perspective. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Do you not consider instructional rating training advanced training? That too, is one of USPA's primary functions. I'd call getting an AFF rating pretty advanced. At least it used to be. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

This is one area where I with agree and disagree with you. There are very few jumpers out there who could not benefit from a canopy control course. Some jumpers need different courses than others, but we all have room to learn. I picked up a tidbit or two listening in on Luigi giving a canopy control course last year. The point is that everyone would be a better, more informed pilot if they dedicated some time toward developing that skill. That very dedication can lead people to put a little more thought into their canopy flight, and take some pride in 'doing it right'. So I disagree that a canopy control course isn't a good idea for everyone, but I do agree with you that the USPA is going about it all wrong. One of the key purposes of the USPA is to train and educate skydivers. Case in point, the safety advisory being discussed here. It's their position as a training and educating body that allows them to even release such an advisory and expect people to read it and take it seriously. Know why the Muff Brothers didn't put out an advisory on canopy control? That organization is not looked at as the authority for skydiver education and training, but the USPA is. So for the 10,000 time, the USPA reccomends taking a canopy control course. OK, fine by me, when and where is the next USPA canopy control scheduled? I'll go anywhere, in fact with the end of the season coming up here in Ohio, I could work it into a winter trip down south. Just let me know the dates and location. You could e-mail it me, or just print it in Parachutist, I'll see it there. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX