howardwhite

I think I know what you're trying to post; it's that fake video of a wing coming off an aerobatic plane, after which the plane lands. Anyway, you can't attach a video here; you can only post a link to it. HW

Ripped from the headlines... The cast of characters etc: SOUNDBITES: * Mr. Kim Titus, Public Relations Director, Samsung Mobile * Troy Hartman, Pro Skydiver/Stuntman * Sara Bratcher, Pro Skydiver * Additional Spokesperson TBD B-ROLL INCLUDES: * footage of skydivers jumping from airplane; descending towards the ground; pulling their parachutes; landing * shots of mobile phone devices used during event Pix just in!! (This is a great example of viral marketing.) HW

Thanks for these; I hope to see more. It's amazing how good a "consumer" scanner is these days; I have an Epson 4490 Photo. I hope you have or will get Photoshop or something similar to help make your pictures even better. Attached is a quick 'n dirty modification of one of your pix. As for higher resolution -- this one was 96 dpi. For the web, 72 is pretty standard. (I've scanned some my old slides at 300 dpi anticipating I might want to see them in a printed book or magazine some time.) I wish I had Pope pix; I spent a few days there in 1976 but don't seem to have taken any. HW

Siemens washing machines. The commercial did not run on TV but on the company's web site. You have to click an "I am 18" button to see it there. HW

... wearing what appear to be BASE rigs, not encumbered with canopies... HW

Here is another screengrab from the same video. Note: The image has been altered somewhat. HW

...currently making the rounds on the web.... HW

Clay Schoepple isn't (I think) jumping any more, but was at a reunion in June in Salt Lake City. Mike Schultz is at Skydive Delmarva in Delaware. See the History and Trivia section for more on SCR/SCS stuff. HW

I didn't make the typo, but I notified the person who did and she fixed it. HW

Typo has been fixed. HW

I'm posting this wearing my hat as the public info dude for PIA: 180-day repack FAQ for Riggers: http://www.pia.com/piapubs/PIA-180FAQ.pdf 180-Day Repack Answers for Skydivers (already posted above by USPA): http://skydiveuspa.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/180-day-repack-answers The USPA Repack Answers and PIA FAQ for Riggers were developed by USPA's Executive Director & Director of Government Relations, and PIA's President; reviewed by PIA's Technical and Rigging Committee Chairs, and the FAA. HW

Why would an old disc work better on a newer Mac? Cleaner optics? Better drive? HW

This, from a well-known writer on computer stuff, is interesting. HW

That noted source of totally reliable information, Wikipedia, says: It does not provide any any source for this claim. HW

USPA has published on its web site the attached document addressing this issue. Up to you to interpret it for your case. HW

I use Mozy. It's owned by EMC, one of the big players in storage, so is probably not going to run out of cash suddenly. And I have recovered a fair amount of stuff that had been on an crashed external drive. That said, the Mac client version is cranky at best, and maybe buggy. HW

See this page. But I'm not sure it's reliable. Airborne Systems used to have a link to its own Caterpillar Club page but the link has been broken for some time; I pointed it out to an Airborne Systems person in September but have not followed up with her to see if it can be revived. HW

A sequence? Wing flying ("the cape!!") was pretty much the whole plot of the skydiving part of the movie. "Birdmen, Batmen, and Skyflyers..." by Michael Abrams devotes a full chapter to Garth Taggart, who did the batwing jumps for the movie. The blurb for the book quotes him as saying "It turned out that almost everyone from the thirties and forties had died.That just made me want to do it more." HW

Sticky (English): http://www.1olav.com/en/home/

Interesting. He was the guy who met with people from USPA and PIA on Nov. 19. You quote his email as: This sentence does not quite make grammatical sense; is it an accurate representation of his mail? Also you quoted: I assume he meant the 19th of December. HW

Can you share the name/FAA office/title etc. of the FAA person who sent you this? Local? DC? HW

A publication called "Airshow Pro 2009" has a cover story entitled "A Historical Review of 'Danger' in Airshows." The cover shows Red Grant in his wingsuit, and there's another wingsuit picture. The story talks about 'danger' as an airshow attraction, including low-pull contests, multiple cutaways and batwing jumps. "Until it halted in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this inclusion of the 'danger image' has been going on for all of airshow history," the story says, adding parenthetically "we.. are very glad that the era is over." The story quotes one source as describing "...parachute races to the ground where the winner furled as low as a hundred feet. The jumpers would try to coordinate the race and fix it, but one guy would cheat on the others to win the money." It described Charlie Hillard, a participant in the first baton pass, as one who bridged the gap between the danger era and modern airshows (and misspelled his name, as many do.) It also said Eddie Green, an Air Show Hall of Fame member, was "on the first team (with Doug Dailey) to do the baton pass east of the Mississippi River." (News to me.) It's good reading, if you see a copy lying around somewhere. HW

No. All the Qatari skydivers are in Deland. (See the the thread in General Skydiving Discussions.) HW

I think the only face-to-face meeting on this among FAA, PIA and USPA was held Nov. 19, the same day the change was published. According to the USPA blog and other sources, the FAA is working to resolve the remaining questions and will, one hopes, issue clarifications before Dec. 19. HW

Charlie McGurr. Picture and discussion