cdunham

Damn, I though freaky weather was just a northeast thing. It was supposed to rain all weekend, and now the sun is out! Shit, where's my gear? Pack up the camper and LETS GOOOOOOOOO!

I've always wondered the same thing about pull-outs. I've always owned them, so I'm obviously biased (of course my choice in gear is the correct one!), but there seem to me to be several advantages. Specifically, there is less of a chance of container lock, because you open the container! Also, the bridle is much shorter, so there is less chance of it snagging anything in the plane or after deployment (pull-out horseshoe mals are almost unheard of). Little chance of a loose pc flying out of the plane unexpectedly. Less drag under canopy, maybe (irrelevent with collapsable pcs). I think I like the deployment sequence better (the bag is stowed lines up), but I honestly am not sure it makes that much of a difference. The only downsides I can think of are that you have to be more careful about getting the pc out of your burble - you have to hold it out in the wind, no throwing remember - and that a loose handle can be a little nerve racking, but easily dealt with - just feel for the bridle. Sometimes it takes a little juice to pull, and you are in a bit of an awkward body position while you are yanking on it, but I've never gone unstable doing it. A hard pull is a hard pull, whether it's you doing it or the pc. I would rather know myself what is going on back there. Notice that the throw outs are all going BOC - this is to get the tucked bridle advantage we pullers have always had. Why not take the next step? --- Damn rain.

Yes, good point, um, 'bytch. Another thing you might try, um, 'bitch, is doing a "no grips" dive once is awhile as a drill. What you want to do here is any random RW dive, but rather than grabbing wrists and grippers, just touch with open hands. Forces everyone to fly their slots, and not rely on the tension from the grip to hold you there (which we all know is wrong, but all do anyway, when we forget or get desperate). Man, another rainy weekend in New England. Rats.

Another nun joke: Four nuns are waiting in line for confession. The first goes in. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I looked at a man's, well, you know." "Well Sister, that is bad. For your penance, you will wash your eyes in holy water, and say 50 Hail Marys." The next nun goes in. "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. I touched a man's, thing." "Oh my, Sister, that is a terrible sin! For your penance you are to wash your hand in holy water and say 100 Hail Marys." Suddenly, the fourth nun pushes the third out of the way and heads for the confessional. "What are you doing?", the third nun asks. "Are you kidding? I'm going to drink that holy water before you sit in it!"

Yeah, then you'd be fucked!

LOL! How about that first step out of a 182 - leg goes flying back. Must....reach....step...must...push....out...of...plane... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, you want your outside line to slightly flake off, with the front floaters leaving a bit early, and the rear floaters a bit late. But you have to be very careful. There is a huge difference between "a bit early" and seeyalater! And probably on

I jump a round reserve. Or at least I did, and will again if it passes inspection this time . I've ridden in on them twice. Once (with student gear), the AAD fired as the main was deploying. Wasn't too worried about both being out, but cut the main and landed in a tree. I found out later that my hand was broken from an earlier high flare landing on the runway. Ouch. Took a while to get rescued, majorly embarrassing and beer expensive. The second one was after a lineover. Worked great, had a good landing spot, remembered the procedure for landing under a round from the student days (basically you mutter "oh, shit, oh, shit, oh shit" until you slam into the ground, do a good PLF and hope to never repeat). I will be replacing the old 'saver as soon as I can afford to, as the DZ 10 minutes from work doesn't allow round reserves (apparently it is a State law! - State airport). I think that because Rhode Island is so small, they are afraid of people landing on the Governor's house, or drifting into Massachusetts (heaven forbid!). Can't pass up the opportunity to sneak out for a long lunch here and there. Otherwise, I would keep jumping the round, acid mesh and all.

Does anyone here have a copy of Dan Poynter's book, Parachuting, the Skydiver's Handbook? If so, turn to the page that shows the picture of the plane (Cessna?) with half the fuselage ripped off at the door, and repeat after me: "Close the door, land the plane. Close the door, land the plane" And imagine how it must have felt to create that large tear. This is one of the few times I would prefer to land in a "perfectly good airplane".

No, he can still use that canopy. Just make sure to replace all the nylon with new material. You will probably want to do a reline at that time as well. Should be fine, and can even be new colors if he wants.

Nice writing! So I had a cloud experience at Lake Okeechobee. Not nearly as cool, but somewhat unusual. This was a Clewiston, as I recall. All around the area there are sugar plantations, and at that time of year they had harvested (farm people, excuse my use of the "lingo") the sugar cane, and were burning the leftovers (chaff?). During a solo jump I noticed a tiny little isolated cloud below me, so I aimed for it, of course. Darned thing actually smelled sweet!

Try docking with your nose, not your arms. Sounds dumb, but it works! If you can get your face in there where is belongs, you should be able to just close your hands on the grips - no reaching! Also, don't fixate on the slot, focus on the center of the dive (and/or your local part of it), and get yourself into position relative to it. The grips should just be there, if the point is well-designed. Soft eyes. In other words, don't laser focus on one small point. Relax and open up your field of view to take more in. This is a general sports thing, and it also lets you experience and enjoy more of the dive. Hope this helps! God knows I'm still trying to make it work! -- The most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire -- Ferdinand Foch

Yup, another reason to jump a pull-out. Add that to: - you are sure the pin is pulled - shorter bridle (less chance of horseshoe) - cleanly tucked-away handle

Hmmm. This means that size and weight don't matter sub-terminal. Make that first point quickly, boys and girls! --- "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity." --Albert Einstien

A. Eat B. F*ck C. Skydive not necessarily in that order.

A couple of weeks ago, I was travelling on business, and made a couple of jumps over one weekend. I wanted to jump the following weekend as well, so I left my jumpsuit with the laundry service at the hotel. It came back cleaner than I have ever seen the thing! All its war wounds were gone! I think they may have dry cleaned it, not knowing what the hell it was. It looked pretty funny in the plastic wrap on a hanger, but deeeaaammmm, was it clean! Trippy. ---

So, one nice thing about rounds is that they are totally quiet. That's about the only nice thing I can think to say about them. They are huge, a pain to pack, unforgiving of a bad spot, hurt like hell on landing (stand up or not). Oh, and ugly. Sounds like what my wife says about me. f'get abat it.

Yea, not much different than jumping a 170!

Jumped the jet, you bet! The first year they had it at Quincy (92). One of the best skydives ever! First of all, picture this. The day the thing flew in, it buzzed the airport. We were all so stoked waiting for the thing, and there it was at 500 feet! What a rush! I'm not sure what the stall speed for a 727 is, but it is around 200 knots, which means that the exit is quite unforgettable. The plane was kind of rocking back and forth, and people were streaming out one at a time in two or three passes. Down the stairs and into the slipstream, woooooosh! Yahoooooooo! The best part was seeing the thing from underneath as we fell away. That and completing a four-way point (one) dealing with some serious horizontal and vertical separation. The worst was landing 15 miles (yes, miles) off the airport! That's one long jump run (two or three, actually). As far as it not coming back, check out the Web Site. There is a great explaination about why it is such a big deal that it gets there at all. They try every year, and until last year, were able to get it. The problem was that the charter/freight company needed the plane at the last minute to cover its freight routes, so the charter was cancelled. It could happen again, or not. They don't know for certain until a week or so before the boogie! --- "The hardest part of breathing underwater is taking the first breath"

Warning. This may frighten some of the more conservative viewers out there. You have been warned. I just started jumping again after a six-year layoff. The first few jumps left me pretty sore the next day, using muscles that have been pretty dormant. I did this on rented gear. Now it's time to drag my regular ride out of storage. It seems to have faired only slightly worse than I did, but I'm wondering what unused muscles it has waiting to be found. Background: Racer Elite container (pull out, no ADD or RSL), Raven III main, 24' Phantom reserve. Just so you don't worry too much, I am bringing it to the DZ tomorrow to get it checked out and worked on by a real rigger. I'm not dumb enough to just pop in on and go flying (desperate enough, maybe

What's the survival rate on *that*!?

Just email me your bank account #s, credit card #s, social security #, whatever logins and passwords you have. We'll get it all squared away for you --- Never give your user name or password out in a chat room. AOL staff members will rarely ask for them, unless they are hackers as well

Right on! However, one doesn't have to practice emergency procedures by creating an actual emergency condition, that's all I'm saying. Actually, why not? Let's create some bag locks or lineovers and have some real fun!! I always wanted to know if I could survive that horseshoe around the neck thing! Just kidding. --- "The hardest part of breathing underwater is taking the first breath"

That doesn't sound like a very safe day at all!!

I feel your pain! Imagine getting pretty proficient, several hundred jumps, D license, then taking a long layover and having to do a level 3 AFF!! And a Level 7! Cripes! "Well, we don't want you to get hurt, old man" OK, I know, it's for the best, yes, let's drill the EPs, fine, this is good for me, really it is, yes, OK, my landings suck, they were never that good anyway, grovel, grovel, am I done yet? Yes! Woohoo! Seriously, though, as humiliating as the refresher stuff is, it really is for the best, like drinking cod liver oil, or going to the dentist, or paying for the reserve inspection and repack (ouch!). You wouldn't want to be out there cold and forget some stupid thing that you would have covered in ten minutes on a currency jump. I must admit, there was a lot of forgetting going on over the years. It was good to get one-on-one time to dredge it all back up. I probably could have faked my way into a real skydive without anyone being the wiser, but it would have been a bad idea. You will get through this, too. Sometimes you just have to take the leap, and build your wings on the way down.