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I've heard of up to 300 people at a time doing pretty much the same thing, only jumping out of airplanes. They get together in mid air for a few seconds and then scatter in every direction and open parachutes. Sounds pretty freaky to me... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just a few weeks ago I was getting on a load with one other guy, we were going to do a warmup 2 way drill for our first jump of the morning. Somehow the plane was overbooked, there were 25 people for 23 seats. I told my partner, let's got off this load. We went back over to manifest, they admitted and apologized to overbooking the load. I asked if that meant we'd each get a $100 bar tab that evening and they said no, but they could guarantee us a flight in another twenty min. That was cool with us. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Pretty scary, huh ? So what kinda altitude did you get ? Bet the ground looked pretty big from the door... In our day, we walked three miles in our bare feet to jump outta Cessnas in a blizzard - and we liked it!! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Doesn't it make a difference if the risers are standard or thin ? I've been following this issue lately and it seems to especially concern thin risers and the use of slink type connectors. PD seems to be saying it's not an issue on standard size risers, or on reserve risers, which are all standard size. Also isn't grommet size an issue, aren't there sliders with larger grommets for people with thin riser swooping canopies, so they can get the slider down quick & easy ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I've never met any of you. But I'm so sad, so sorry for this. My love and prayers to you all, especially you Jess. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd always thought of phallusaurus... To me dick is the more all purpose generic term, it is what it is, it exists and has multi purposes. Cock is more exclusively sexual. Somebody said a cock is an animal, heck yeah, it's a rooster. Roosters strut around with their heads held high, they "keep everything in the barnyard upset in every way" (Little Red Rooster, by Willie Dixon), and it is of course the preferred word in 99% of all porn. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't either, so far anyway. It's just that I've noticed it runs in a cycle where I can handle it better and then no so well, and finally get so fucked up that my best friends say something about it. And it's always somewhere in that range, something that I have to work at controlling. It's too much effort...and for what ? Naturally you are your own person and our two circumstances may be quite different, probably are. But there is new evidence that alcohol gets harder on the body as we age, where a few drinks will slam us as badly as several drinks when we were younger. And unfair as it is, nature has made the aging effects of alcohol even more severe for women. I just think it's good that we all ask ourselves some private and honest questions about alcohol. Good luck. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

How many skydivers do you know that have died skydiving vs. skydivers that died in car accidents? I've known one skydiver killed in a head on collision with his truck, one who died in a motorcycle accident, and one who died in a midair collision flying a plane. I've known one or two other road fatalities outside the sport. And a lot of people, maybe twenty or so, who've died in our sport. I think the most dangerous part is the first thousand or so feet off the runway in the plane, when that one happens it gets a lot of us at once and there's nothing we can do about it. Then there's the last 200 ft on the way back down. Everything in between is pretty safe. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

18 now, 47 when I got started. Skydiving reverses the aging process. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Me too. As they say, God created alcohol so the Irish wouldn't conquer the world. I don't drink all the time either, but can never drink just one. If I have to struggle that hard to keep it under control, it's just not worth it, that and feeling like shit in the morning after not sleeping well all night. The wagon can be rough and bumpy when you're just climbing on. Some people on the wagon are jerks, just like people anywhere else (hell, there are even jerks at drop zones). But the wagon does play music, people dance, and even have great sex. Besides, it's kind of amusing to be the non-drinker in a crowd that's getting sloshed, it's amazing to watch all your friends get so stupid so fast. You will still have your wonderful kinky imagination, it doesn't need a drink. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Is it even worse than "Drop Zone" ? My god, that movie absolutely SUCKED ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

If you're 28, degreed, and looking for career development, definitely hold out for Officer Candidate School. Look at it this way, would you really want to have to live and work for 4 years with a bunch of high school kids ? I'm NOT putting them down either, they're serving their country, but they are the age they are and they've got a lot of growing up to do yet. You'd go nuts if you had to live and work at their level. You've already matured through most of your twenties, and no matter what anybody thinks of college, you've earned your degree by a lot of hard work - earning 130 credits is no cakewalk. So be an officer - you'll be in management and whether or not you want to stay or leave after 4-6 years, you'll be much further ahead on any path you choose. And don't forget that the military is more than willing to continue educating their officer corps, you get a Masters or even more, though you'd probably have to extend your service for paybacks. Only you can sign the papers. I'd say be an officer or forget it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What she said. There are bad years for sure, but you can make it happen. After 22 yrs and 2 kids with the same woman, I still think it's the best thing I ever did. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I've seen some stolen gear notices that involved credit card fraud from Russian buyers. Cash, money order, or tell 'em nyet ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

After all, it IS a religious symbol, isn't it ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Great pics, congrats! Nice to see your new Barbie rig in action too, you were so jazzed when you got it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I quit back in 1976. However I am still sort of fond of Camels and Luckies, so every year or two I might light one up for the exceptional rush. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

As an American spouse of a Canadian citizen, you should have no problem at all with being a resident alien up there. If you really want to be a citizen, you'll probably have to wait a couple years anyway. See how you like it, check it out, the marriage as well. If you're having a happy 10th anniversary and still want to, then I suppose you should go for it. But citizenship in any country should never be taken lightly. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Me too, with my sister's address, she's been running marathons for years. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Somebody should offer her a free tandem ride. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Damn !! Those Coors and Heinie girls are the Bush daughters !! And the "Illusions" picture of the woman blending with the wall and window frame is incredible ! Reminds of something I once ate at a Phish ...oh, never mind... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Batch tracking is a common practice for most manufacturers of any type of structural, medical, aviation, etc., products. Any manufacturer should be able to "time frame" materials they use. I'd be more concerned if they did "not" know. Within the limits of what the law and FAA require, a manufacturer can protect information they regard as proprietary to their manufacturing processes. I'm not saying that Capewell is doing that, but they do have leeway to do so if they choose. The ripcords were made by somebody, whether Capewell or a rig's manufacturer, and apparently ripcords do have alphanumeric codes that will identify the manufacturer. Considering they're building a TSO's system, of which the ripcord is a vital component, the manufacturers would almost certainly be required to keep records of the material lot numbers for pins, cables, handles, etc. So out in the field they start getting failure reports. Whjen they start checking their records for the batch of pins used on a 2001 ripcord, they start to see a pattern and can identify problem batches, as well as eliminate batch numbers that have no failure reports. Somebody else mentioned 100% inspection. Aside from being unpractical and uneconomical, you always have the issue of whether testing can actually damage the test pins. Many manufacturers will scrap out their test parts for that reason. Random sampling is done on an AQL basis, Acceptable Quality Level. Depending on how tightly you want to define your acceptable level, you determine a sample size, say 50 samples from 10,000 pins (I'm making these numbers up, I'm not using an actual AQL table). Then you test your 50 pins and the table may tell you that breaking 1 pin is OK, but breaking 2 pins means the lot's no good. Or maybe even breaking 1 pin is cause for rejection. Or breaking 1 pin might be cause for a second test sample of 50 and if you break one more, then the lot's no good. All depends on the Table used, for the AQL level desired. That's what they do for all those gazillions of nuts, bolts, and rivets on jet planes. It's pretty reliable. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Managed to land it with a rear PLF, but the DZO did mention he was going to have to watch me for awhile. But the important thing is that he remembered you. How else is anybody going to remember you if you don't screw up ? Instead of going, "You new around here ? Let's see, what IS your name ?", they go "Oh right ! You're the screwup who had the cutaway and then put his main on backwards ! We're keepin' an eye on you, pardner. But you're alright, so come on over here and have a beer!" Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Yeah, "Ripcord" got me suckered in when I was seven. It was the first actual freefall film I'd ever seen. It confused me at first, because these guys didn't appear to be falling, but they had to be, right ? Then in Jr. High, I found a cool book on skydiving by Bud Sellick. It was always a passion in the back of my mind. Finally, my first year in college, the Seneca Falls, NY drop zone sent a few of their guys down to our student union with a copy of "Masters of the Sky". We got a $35 discount price because more than 15 of us signed up at once. The jump course was Friday night, then they took us into town to get shatterpated (drinking age in NY was 18 at the time). Then we all crashed out on the floor back at the DZ. Around 7am somebody flicked on the lights and told us to hit the deck and suit up. Was up and down by 8 in the morning. Before leaving for breakfast we watched the local gods do an 8 way from 2 Cessnas and I thought "this really is for me". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

NO JUMPS ON ANY OF IT So how do you even know it's gonna work, huh ?? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !