Niki1

Whoffos. I was driving up Marsh Rd. in DeLand and happened to see a cutaway canopy comming down. A few seconds later I come around a bend and lo-and -behold there it is, Right in the middle of the road. (I should have been so lucky with any of my cutaways.) I put my flashers on and get out and start to pick up the canopy. A pickup come screeching to a stop and out jumps a guy about early 20s. He is SCREAMING, "Get away from him. I know CPR." I drop the handful of canopy and back away. The look in this guys eyes said he was going to be the hero here if anybody was. He starts looking under the canopy and is mystified as where the victim went. I told him this was just the canopy and the jumper most likely landed at the DZ. He seemed kind of miffed that there was no one under the canopy. Whoffos Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Yep. That's a guess. My guess is, I think, more likely. That rather than "standing in line" he parked his car nearby and walked from there rather than wait. I'm not sure why your guess would be more likely but what's the difference? If he did park some where else, it certainly wouldn't have been in the line of cars that stretched a mile down the road. So he parked in a safe/leagal place or he parked in an illeagal/unsafe place. If it was a safe/leagsl place, I see no difference than walking from his house. The kids walking from school with their dad seems much safer than walking alone. Also, I would think that expediting the process of getting all the kids home would be to the schools benefit. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Of coarse there's no disrespect or competition here but I'd say there's a 130-150 ft between his shoe and the wing. Now, what's the rope length, I don't know The plane doesn't have to hit the canopy pilot to ruin everyone's day. Go fly a kite. No, really go fly a kite and have some one run into the string. What happens to the kite? Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

It looked to me like the planes right wing was maybe a foot from the tow rope. Could have been a very bad day for all concerned. I've "paraacended" (we called it kitting) on a 1,000 ft. rope. That's a really cool ride. From that height you can fly back to the launch site after tou drop the tow rope and be ready to hook up and do again in just few minutes. I don't remember if we thought about a plane running into the rope but we were young and dumb and there wasn't much traffic at Palatka at the time, "79 or "80. We could've run an accuracy meet without an airplane. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Back in the '70s there was friction between the relative workers and the style and accuracy crowd. (Now it's the bellyflyers vs the lawn darts) The relative workers were fond of saying, "Style is how you walk to the plane. Accuracy is getting on the right plane." Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Big difference between pea graval and crushed rock. The rounded edges of pea graval let the rock move around one another. Crushed rocks sharp edges make them pack together. DeLand had pit in the '70s that was crushed rock and not very deep. It was almost as soft as the runway. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Please say he was not texting while driveing. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

That's entirley reasonable. Every summer there are several stories of animals and children being left in cars. I would like to see the person responsible put into the car foe a while. It can reach 120, maybe more inside a closed car. I hate it when people or animals are hurt by the stupidity of others so I may not be entirely reasonable. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Actual skydiving reserve containers are made so as to hold the bag until the pilot chute is anchored. I've tested the extraction force with a fish scale but I don't remember the number now years later. The 2" polyester bridle used on most rigs will not be enough drag to extract the bag. The 3" type IV bridle the Racer uses comes a little closer but not enougy to bet your life on. I made a 4" polyester bridle by zig zaging 2 2" polyester pieces together and that was ineffective. I think I might have done the same with 2 3" type IV pieces but memory fails Most of the time, the bridles stood the bag up a little bit and the bag flopped around on my back. That's why I had a "life guard". Billy Weber was about 5 feet away and had to come in and put the bag into the air most times. Bridle deployment was a selling point when Para Flite first introduce ram air reserves in the early '80s. They tested with a totally open container. That is, all the flaps opened down to the pack tray. The weighed platform or rubber dummy was hardly stable. It tumbled and threw the bag off. But it may have looked like the bridle did it. If it helped to popularize ram air reserves, then I don't fault them a whole lot. The "free bag" part was the real main safty part. In all of those test jumps, I held the pilot chute and the canopy came out og the "free bag" nicely and I never lost any equipment. (In this series of tests anyway). They really ought to be called loose bags because we know they are not free. What are they now? $150, to $200? Not free. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Tandems are the best way to learn canopy control. You can't be a good skydiver if you're not a good parachutist. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Mark Hewitt did indeed invent the skyhook. I don't remember if he named it that or not, but he had it when I worked at RWS. I worked there from "83 to '93 so I got to be there "at the creation" of a lot of cool stuff that is taken for granted now. Mark had the skyhook in the early '90s. He sold it to Bill for, I think, some cash and a 7 class sewing machine. Not long after that he and Marta Empenotti (sp?) started making base rigs. I think he used the skyhook on them but I didn't follow base jumping much. I wish I were still at RWS for all the test jumps that I'm sure went into developing it. I did all the testing for the balute reserve pilot chute and did 40 jumps disproving the "bridle deployment" myth. I also got to play with the drouge al lot when Bill made the first one for the Vector Tandem. But, yes, Mark thought of and made the first skyhook, sold it to Bill who got the patent and made it marketable. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Jumpers would want no rain and the farmers would want rain. Maybe let the skydivers control it on the weekends and the farmers have it the rest of the week. And there are a lot of other groups of people who want the weather to do some thing else. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

The problem started with the manager who hired this incompetent "analyst". That manager, it seems, is not likely to admit a mistake in hiring said incompetent person. Does he have to rely on the faulty reports? Does he know the difference between a good report and a bad one? She's been doing these bad reports for 2 years? What is the result? Any repercussions? If not, then the reports may not be all that necessary. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

This past season on "Justified" was all about someone who jumped with a large amount of cocain years before. It sounded a lot like who ever wrote it knew quite a bit about Driveway Drew. Also, back at that time, I heard that before he jumped Drew threw out a couple of duffle bags of coke. When the cops found them there was a dead bear near one of them. That was the story I heard and I always wondered about the bears final moments. "Hey, that looks like sugar." SNIFF "Oh, that's not sugar. That's... that's ... that's pretty tasty whatever it is." SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF SNIIIIFFFFF. "WOW. UH OH." Thud Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

When my friends form Fla ask me how I like living in North Carolina, I say that it's not unlike any other third world country. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/03/17584491-first-amendment-doesnt-apply-here-nc-lawmakers-push-bill-for-state-religion?lite Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

All you have to do is pick the right 6 numbers. Or get born to the right parents. The odds are better pinking the right 6 numbers I think. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

To be ignorant is not a sin. That just means you haven't learned something yet. To willfully remain ignorant is stupid. If "two heads are better than one," for smart people, can two stupid people togerher be more stupid than either one? I think yes they can. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

I was Niki (pronounced "Nick-Eye") for a long time. Until a little trouble in Arkansas. Then I tried to go back to Bob. That would have been easier if I could've quit answering to Niki. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Try this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwH4wPz-URM Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

The 8th or 9th beer goes with anything. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

There are actually a lot of doctors who don't speak the language of their patients. They are called veterinarians. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

One thing I wouldn't do is shoot through a closed batrroom door without getting some kind of response from the person on the other side of the door. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Falling 9 or 10 seconds and only 27 feet? More like 971' to 1138'. I got 1.6 seconds which might be around 35 to 40 ft. As he was hanging on before he fell, I'm wondering what was going through his mind. Besides, "Oh,shit! Oh, shit!". Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

Ya know.... Back in the middle ages, manuscripts were copied to reprodue the texts. One monk brought up the fact thet if a mistake had been made some where it might have been perpetuated through the years. The head monk went down to the cellar where all the originals were kept to check them against the current copies. After severel days he had not come back up so the other monks went to find out how he was doing. They found him sitting there crying. They asked what as wrong. He said, "The word was CELEBRATE." Pardon any misspellings. I copied this. Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?

"The mustashed Colonel wanted to know when Clevenger didn't say it." Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossilbe before they were done. Louis D Brandeis Where are we going and why are we in this basket?