skykittykat

Thank you to those of you who are bumping this thread - much appreciated. The whole thing is still bugging me and making me angry, especially as I wish that if a theft had taken place then my skydiving stuff would have been taken instead of t-shirts raising money for a charity that affects a hell of a lot of people. Liz

Hey Aljaz, I'm glad that you have Neal lined up for your tunnel camp - shame the tunnel at Eloy will not be finished for your shedule. Neal is an awesome coach. If you do make it to Eloy for some sky jumping, look up Kirk and Neal for coaching. I reckon you will achieve more than an 11 point average by the time you are finished Liz

Nothing as yet Vicki. Liz

Thank you to everyone that replied and pm'd me. I wasn't looking for people to donate, but to those that have - a HUGE THANK YOU. I was blown away by the offers of donations. I was selling the t-shirts on behalf of Rhonda Joyce - so for anyone that has donated, it goes towards her fundraising efforts. I feel ratsh**t that I took on the selling of the t-shirts and then they went missing. Regards, Liz

Hi, Unfortunately, I had some limited edition "Save the Boobies" T-shirts at Skydive Arizona that I was selling to raise money for JFTC. I spoke to a friend of mine who told me he had taken a t-shirt before he left at sunset on Sunday and he put the cover back in place. On Monday morning I turned up at Skydive Arizona and found the t-shirts missing. I had stored them in the hangar with a cover covering them. 2 t-shirts were pushed into the loud speakers (needing a ladder to get to the speakers) and one was found covered in beer, etc. The rest were gone... No skydiving gear was taken - just the t-shirts. Whether they were stolen or it was a prank, either way, it was pretty low down as the t-shirts were to raise money for Breast Cancer. If you see anyone wearing a t-shirt with "Save the Boobies" on the back and JFTC on the front, please ask them where they got it and then pm me. Myself and Rhonda know who we have sold these shirts to. On a nicer note, I was telling a guy at the bar tonight and he donated money without asking as he thoug it was a down and dirty thing to do (either theft or prank). Liz

Apologies - the riggers that I have met in the UK all have instructor ratings, so I basically meant anyone who had the relevant ratings could sign off, etc. My view was to put the onus on the dzs, eg, from the thread that I quoted, the dz could stop that person from jumping the gear that they turned up with and could potentially stop an injury/fatality. Personally, I think that during student training there should be a minimum number of hop'n'pops so the student can focus on canopy only. This comes from personal experience (I wish I had had that) and from the difference in canopy control between students that have gone through the AFF system and those that have gone through static line. Those students who progressed through static line are generally way better at canopy control than those who went through AFF. My 2 cents worth Liz

I was reading the accident awaiting to happen thread and on it was a few posts about regulating wingloading. I think this has some good merits to it, however, rather than bringing in more rules, what about following the British system.... You turn up at a dz there and a rigger or CCI checks out your gear and log book. It is up to the rigger whether you can jump your gear or not. Reasons being, either unsafe gear or the wingloading/canopy type is too unsuitable for that person and their experience. That person could leave the dz and go to another one, but chances are the rigger or CCI at the next dz will say exactly the same thing, or has been informed beforehand if necessary. Information for buying gear could be made more available, eg, a little handbook handed out with the A licence for guidelines, wingloading, different types of canopy, etc. Wondering what people's thoughts were on this. Liz

Totally agree with the seat belt option - I was a passenger in a car accident years ago and where I lived you didn't have to wear seat belts by law. To cut a long story short, if I had been wearing a seat belt, I would have been killed as the seat I was in was sliced in half after I had been thrown clear. Yes, I know that many other people have been saved by seat belts, but it should be a personal choice apart for kids under the legal driving age. It's the curse of Nanny State Governments. It is easier to pass laws that face the least resistance and garner those all important votes... It is mandatory for all skydivers skydiving in the UK to wear helmets as per the BPA rules. You do need a minimum of a C licence (200 jumps)to wear a frapp hat though Liz

Mouth is witty, kind, a lot of FUN, and a wonderful person all round. Liz

take a brake in between Thank god you skydive better than you spell Big kiss, Liz

Oh go on, I'll play as well.. 1. Whats your name? Liz 2. How old are you? 31 3. Why did you decide to start jumping out of airplanes? I was made to by an old boss. 4. Are you single or taken? Married? Single 5. Do you have kids? No 6. What do you drive? Ford Aspire 7. Have you ever done a kisspass? Yes 8. Where do you live? Eloy 9. Do you have any pets? Not any more 10. How many jumps do you have? 1000+ 11. What color eyes do you have? Hazel 12. What is your nationality? Scottish 13. Have you ever dated someone you met off the internet? No 14. Favorite Movie? Shawshank Redemption, The Life of Brian and various others 15. What do you do when you arent skydiving? My other life in the UK/Europe 16. Have you ever BASE jumped? No 17. If not... do you want to? Still on the fence. 18. Do you have siblings? Little Bro. 19. Where do you want to travel to the most? All the countries I haven't been to yet although the Antarctic would be the coolest. 20. What's your favorite color? Green or red 21. Where was the last place you flew to ( not skydiving )? Caribbean.

Hi, I'm Liz and it has been 5 months since my last tunnel fix. I have 30 hours in the Orlando tunnel all RW with a bit of back/bootie flying thrown in. Currently waiting for the Eloy tunnel to open.... Liz

A Niggle Liz

I agree and from what I say is NO reflection on the above teams, it all comes down to the following: lThe desire to succeed and the training involved to do so, no matter of the so called "competition". Whomever gets the gold at Nationals has all of the above. Liz

Ditto. I bet she is totally excited about it and I hope she has the time of her life. Have a fab jump. Liz

They are training in Deland. I really hope that they make the podium at the World meet next year. The Italian 8-way does not include Sinapsi, unless they form a different 8-way team for their Nationals. Sooo, to all the 4-way nuts out there, do you think that to be in the top 3 at Nationals a 22+ point average will be in order? Liz

Todd Hawkins did his first jump on Friday since his accident last year. The smile on his face when he landed was awesome to see and he got a huge ovation from all the resident jumpers that saw him. Liz

Personally I think they are going to be strong this year but they could focus a little more of their time on 4-way seeing as how they are so far ahead of everyone else on 8-way already. *** Never underestimate the Russians or the French. The Italian 8 way are training hard as well. I think that they have a great chance at walking away with 4-way and 8-way at Nationals this year. My 2 cents worth for the battle for 4-way at Nationals will be between the 2 Airspeed teams, the new Majik team and the Golden Knights. The tunnel, when it is built, will be a huge asset. Liz

I did it due to weather in the UK and also wanting to seriously improve my skydiving. Your biggest hurdle will be getting a work visa. I am not sure of the status of most US dz's regarding hiring non legal workers - I know quite a lot don't. I would suggest applying for the Working Holiday Visa for Australia where you are then legally allowed to work for a year. They are pretty easy to get as well so long as you are between the ages of 18 - 30 (could be 28, although I think they upped it to 30). From there, you can do one of two things. Work on a dz packing, or such like and skydive when you get a day off, or, Work in the mines for a couple of months where you will earn heaps of money and can go skydiving hard on that money. Good luck. Liz Liz

Thank goodness for that. Liz

He is AWESOME belly flying in a bootie suit. Exactly, but there is no tunnel rating out there, so hence my original question. Liz

I feel strongly about this. When Dr Kenny went in, someone posted about the timing of the post reporting his demise. Having had a pm conversation about another fatality at Skydive Arizona (which happened exactly a week after Dr Kenny) and nothing was posted, the person said that Betsy was probably being cautious about posting this fatality because of previous posts about her timing. My reply to this was: Bollox - Betsy NEVER posts before the family has been informed. She is in a catch 22 position in that Eloy is the biggest dz in the world and a lot of skydivers know people that jump there. She has to post before the grapevine starts working and the chinese whispers gets out of hand. Unfortunately, this does not make a good learning environment. Liz

Out of interest..... Would someone who had over 1000 jumps and 30 hours of tunnel time in the last year (all coached by Airspeed) qualify for a tunnel coach (not a tunnel bunny/catcher)? Liz

Skydive Arizona is building the biggest commercial tunnel to date and they are building it from the ground up, so how are you confident in building your tunnel in a smaller time frame than them? I am not trying to be contentious - just interested. Liz

Yeah, saw it with a few skydivers and I must admit it made me cringe. We all peed ourseleves laughing only because it was sooo bad. Liz