Nutz

If there is a tornado warning should I put my rig on just in case the tornado picks me up so that when it spits me out I can throw out and land safely? (Please note - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! Only at the dz after much drinking.)

You need professional help.

"As God as my witness - I thought turkeys could fly." As said by Mr Carlson after they got to the ground. That episode is hilarious but I like the "monkey on my foot" episode better.

I was thinking of driving up on Sunday morning. (The afternoon looks wet.) Are you going to have some sort of packing area set up?

Mad Jack Rackham Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Man, can you believe this guy?!! Always carry a sharp knife with you, you never know when you may have to remove a limb!!! The things you do to survive.

That is some funny crap! Well, as long as it is someone else. LMAO

Someone has been reading other forums.

How does the fatality rate in skydiving compare to other common activities? Since most adults in America drive cars, let's compare skydiving to driving. Roughly 40,000 people die each year in traffic accidents in the United States [ref]. That's 1.7 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles. Therefore, if you drive 10,000 miles per year, your chance of dying in a car wreck in any given year is something like 1 in 6,000. In other words, we accept a higher level of risk by getting into our cars every day than people do by occaisionally skydiving. You would have to jump 17 times per year for your risk of dying in a skydiving accident to equal your risk of dying in a car accident if you drive 10,000 miles per year. I took this from the website "How Stuff Works". So if I only jump 17 times a year then it is no more dangerous than driving. But wait, I drive at least 30,000 miles a year so that gives me 51 jumps. That is about half of what I have jumped per year so far. Geuss I am going to have to slow down a little bit. Interesting

I have been having a problem with this myself. How does something like this happen? This was a very experienced skydiver (over 1500 jumps) with a lightly loaded canopy (1/1). He landed off but that shouldn't be a big deal. I guess you said it, it can happen to anyone. It makes me rethink my statement last week, maybe it should be that skydiving has the potential to be very dangerous. (14000 feet + your exit weight = alot of stored energy) You dissipate most of the energy in freefall and then your parachute, hopefully, dissipates the rest. But you can make it to within a hundred feet of the ground and still have enough potential left to kill yourself. So what was it? Overconfidence? Complacency? Fate? I guess that you must remain vigilant. You can't think that it won't happen to you. Practice emergency procedures, always have a backup plan. Don't panic in an emergency. (Thats alot easier to say than to do.) Practice braked turns. I guess for me, I just want to rationalize something like this. If I can learn something from it then it wasn't a waste. It is still a waste because it didn't have to happen. Lets be careful out there! Skydiving is as dangerous as you make it. (How bout that one?) CCC

I know, I saw later. Let the flogging begin.

http://laugh.or.die.net/music/viking_kittens.swf It is hilarious! And you will learn the words to a Led Zeplin song! (How do you make it clicky?) I can't take credit for this - someone in another forum posted it there and I felt the need to share.

You guys are funny, well some of you anyway. Others have trouble with reading and comprehension. If you have a collision in freefall - someone didn't execute properly - hard opening - same thing - canopy collision - ditto - collision with the ground - duh. I don't have figures but it stands to reason - there are less idiots in the air than there are on the road. Edit to add: And more room to aviod them.

OK I am opening up a BIG can of worms here but here goes: When properly executed, skydiving is safer than driving your car. Have fun!!

Friction.

Well, you know, all of these TM's that are letting me "lurk" them all know my abilities and they let me do it, so, I don't know, it must be safe. If it wasn't then they wouldn't let me, right?

Actually, the name does fit. I am a very conservative skydiver, I believe. Lets face it though, skydiving is not rocket science, and I should know. When I "lurk" a tandem it is not really lurking, I am following them out and after the drogue is out I go by about fifty or so feet away. The reason I go by is because I fly about like the space shuttle - like a rock. I am not that good a skydiver. Fortunately, you don't have to be that good to survive. (It does require a certain amount of luck and you MUST have all your body parts intact - See the name.) I am ALWAYS watching out for other people and my coservative nature makes docking difficult for me. But then again, I am not skydiving for other people. (There is a story about a coach asking a player, "Son, what is your problem, ignorance or apathy?" And the player says, "Coach, I don't know and I don't care." That sort of sums up my feeling on RW.) I have had TM's tell me they don't want me "lurking" them. (Usually they are doing an IAF skydive and don't want the added distraction.) However, I have never been and will never be a danger to them or their "student" by falling by close to them and tracking away and opening lower than them. I apologize, but I just don't see what the big deal is.

I don't see what the big deal is. I lurk tandems all the time. (Mostly I just blow by them trying to get big.) You just give them at least two seconds and then don't get above them. I usually will track over and then wave as I go by. Then do a back flip for the student and track away. (Perpindicular to the jump run of course.) Oh, by the way, I have over one hundred but less than two hundred jumps.

All this talk about wing loading got me to looking in my logbook. Up until jump 20, I was just barely under 1, at jump 21 I went to just barely over 1, at jump 27 I went to 1.31 where I have been ever sinse. It took until about jump 40 until I could stand it up consistently. I now have 154 jumps. I don't think that I am ready to downsize any more just yet because the flying and landings are still fun. I am sure some people will say that I went down too quick and there are some places that won't let me jump, although I haven't found any just heard about them here. I guess the point I am trying to make is that wing loading depends on the individual and not some magic jump number formula.

You are from ALMOST as far back in the woods as me! :-)

The funniest thing was watching the DZO try to ride one of those catapillar (sp) pool toys. He tried to exit on top of it but went right over and started spinning. Finally, he got off of it and held it in his left hand and deployed with his right hand, I thought that was kind of scary. Then there was the first time I caught the skyball, I was so excited that I threw it back way too hard and hit my buddy right in the face with it, now that was funny.

You know, that is where I meant when I said East LA. (Opelika IS in the bottom half of the state.) East Alabama Medical Center was just plain old Lee County Hospital when I was born there lo those many years ago. It is probably three or four times bigger now. And geez, there is a four lane in front of it too. (I didn't even know they paved the road!) LOL

The only way that I pack is Phsyco. (I don't know about the spelling.) I have tried PRO packing but my canopy is too new for me to be able to pack that way. I have only had one mal in 140 jumps packing this way. Of course - I only have about 160 jumps total but I have had some real bad openings on canopies that were PRO packed. Some by me, some by others and on different canopies. My first main I finally got rid of because I could not get it to open softly. My new one has ALWAYS opened soft. So it may not be your packing. Blue Ones! CCC

I was born in East LA (That is East Lower Alabama.) Hyuk, hyuk, hyuk

Greetings fellow skydivers. I have been lurking this forum for awhile and thought I would start posting. I jump at Skydive Alabama in Cullman, have a Javelin with a Flight Concepts Sentry 190. (I fall fast) I love those sweet openings that it gives me. I suck at rw and everything else except for pulling and pulling on time. And having a good time. (I guess that goes without saying) Anyway, Hi ya'll!!