SunWukong

That'd be a pretty convincing argument, except that it doesn't actually say that anywhere in the United States Constitution. Think otherwise? Post the article and section number. I'm not particularly happy that Arnold got elected--he gave way too few details of his plans and refused to participate in far too many debates. On the other hand, a higher percentage of the people voted for him than voted for Davis in the last election.

What's the alpha? Even on a pale ale you can overdo it and end up with something like Hop Devil, which is a decent microbrew but pretty much a one-trick pony in terms of flavor.

I haven't really brewed any beer since I was president of our college's beer brewing club. It was a friend who had the magic touch for it. Anyway, my favorite two recipes were Nosfaratu's Return, which is a really strong ale made with lots of grains and something like a half pound of honey, and Cram Session Porter, which is brown porter with half a pound of fine-ground French Roast boiled along with the malt and grains. I can get detailed instructions if you want. Also, any pale ale made with Cascade hops is pretty much bound to be good.

The technique that worked best for me was to lie down as if I was on a creeper and have a friend exert a steady pressure on my feet. Then I praticed doing arm turns, practice pulls, and altimeter checks. At first, my legs would go slack whenever I concentrated on something else. Eventually, though, I got to the point where I could push back without needing to think about it.

Maybe it should be in the SIM.

Wouldn't it be better to PLF instead of trying to buttslide if you're going that fast? If you smack you ass into the ground hard enough you can injure your spine.

Great job! You stopped the cascade of problems (line twists lead to less altitude to get back from a long spot) from turning into another "Low Turn Injury" post in the incidents forum. I know we've all read far too many already. Practice your PLFs, they are a lot safer than falling straight forward. The next time the DZ is a long way downwind, try going to quarter brakes or hanging on the rear risers a bit. This can slow your fall rate and let the wind carry you back more.

Don't buy a canopy that's beyond your current skill level because you're worried about getting bored later. You'd be a lot more bored lying in traction because of a bad landing. Also, it sounds like you've been flying F111 canopies. Last Saturday, I jumped a PD F111 canopy instead of the Spectre I'd been jumping. By comparison, it handled like soggy toast. I think that you'll be able to find a canopy that's fun to fly without ramping up your wing loading. By the way, I'm 5'11", 185 lbs, and anticipate getting a lot of good jumping out of the Spectre 210 I just bought.

I'm not complaining about the result for me--I would have been OK with my decision to ride the plane down even if I'd had to swallow the cost of the jump ticket (jump ticket vs. femur, choice is clear). What was messed up about the situation is that there actually WAS the guy with the wrong rig on the load, and HE jumped with a chute 70 ft^2 smaller than he expected!

I've ridden the plane down twice. The first time was pretty straightforward: AFF level 2, overcast day, the plane couldn't get above 6,000 ft. I rode the plane down with one AFF/I, the other one jumped. The second time just over a week ago was seriously messed up. We were at about 10,000 feet when the pilot turned his head back and shouted something that got passed down the plane: is there anyone with a Square One Infinity? It has a 150 in it, not a 200+. Well, I was jumping a Square One Infinity and no one else was. It didn't FEEL like it had a 150 in it, but since I'd never worn that rig before I wasn't 100%. I normally jump a 210. I rode the plane down. When I got back to the gear shop, I found out that the message had been seriously garbled--I had the right chute. Some other guy on the load had grabbed someone's personal rig instead of the Square One Vector he was supposed to be using. He jumped. He landed OK, though he apparently slid. It all worked out OK for me too--manifest gave me a replacement jump ticket because the message had gotten screwed up. (I think it helped that the next load was really light). Then the guy who'd jumped the wrong rig felt bad for messing up my two way, so he bought me a ticket. --MuddRoy

It seems to me like lighter jumpers would be better served by having multiple sets of wingloading requirements rather than a flat-out limit on canopy size. For instance, amend Cat II to allow no more than a 1.1 wingloading on canopies of 170 sq. ft or greater, and no more than a .9 wingloading on canopies of less than 170 sq. ft.

A friend of mine had a little trouble finding his handle on one of his jumps, and ended up grabbing the instructors altimeter and yanking it around a few times. On my AFF 5 I had trouble finding my handle and the JM moved into position behind me. I found it by following the bottom of my container and deployed, but I felt something hit my leg. I was sure I'd kicked the JM in the head. I looked down after my open and was real glad to see him deploy about 2000' below me.