murps2000

http://www.clipaday.com/videos/luckiest-pilot-ever Hopefully someone will make it a clicky for me, but it's worth checking out. Guy really digs after a loop.

The only difference that wingloading really plays on turbulence is that the canopy flies through it quicker. It doesn't mean that the canopy is less affected.*** You sure?

I've read this thread with a heavy heart, and it's tough to add to what I've already read. I see now that Cliff was to many what he was to me, and more. It surprises me to feel a tinge of jealousy at some of what I've read. People actually had more fun with Cliff than I did? Dammit! But I can't complain too much because I was one of the lucky ones who crossed paths with him, both in the air and on the ground. I'm one of the lucky ones who got to eat gross things with him once, and drink and discuss good malt beverages on several occasions. I'm one of the lucky ones who got to freefly with Cliff, and debate the finer points of canopy flight. I'm one of the lucky ones who reaped the benefits of his free guidance, and sarcastic wit. I'm one of the lucky ones who got that complex yet unrivaled sense of humor. And I'm one of the lucky ones who enjoyed the challenge of debate with him. People say Cliff was argumentative, but that's not accurate. Cliff was engaging. He was one of those rare people that you meet that you just can't evade in conversation. He requires your full attention. I would always approach Cliff when I saw him at the DZ just for that interaction, and I was never disappointed. How often will you meet someone with an expert opinion on everything from canopies to cognac, from head down to hip-hop? I've even had discussions with Cliff about the pride people should take in the proper use of the semicolon; it was one of his favorite punctuation marks. Yes, Cliff was a smart fucker. This brings me to why I answered your post, Jason, and not others. Cliff didn't argue the importance of the east coast punk scene simply for the sake of argument. He did it because he was right, and as long as I breathe you will never have the last word. You are right about one thing, though. Cliff was an asshole. But God, I love a good asshole, and he was among the best. I met Cliff briefly at Z-hills back in'03, but I didn't really get to know him until moving to Cali in '04. Many of you may recall that Cliff narrowly cheated death at Davis that year by hand deploying his reserve after a cutaway and entanglement with his reserve bridle. I moved out west and saw him at Hollister shortly after that near incident. After hearing his story, ironically now, I remember thanking him for not dying before I got out there to meet him again, because I had heard so much about him from Aviva & Aimee. I didn't know it at the time but I really did owe him thanks for that. I've had some good Cliff memories accumulate since then, and some good Cliff skydives during the past two years. To Cliff's family, I am so deeply sorry. The too short amount of time that I have known Cliff only tells me that the magnitude of your loss is inconceivable. Thank you so much for blessing the rest of us with his presence. To Jen, words can't begin to convey. Thank you so much for blessing the rest of us with Cliff's presence after he met you. To Cliff, fly free bro. Dock on us sometime... Sean M

This truly sucks but I knew had to happen sometime. Glad I got to see him back in '93. It's ironic. I listened to James all day at work on my birthday last week. RIP Godfather. Thanks for bringing some soul into this white boy's life.

Did he get video?*** No, he didn't I'm afraid. If he did I'd be showing it.

Think he'll trade golf lessons for coaching?

Nope, but I once had a tandem passenger try to hurl on me under canopy, and man I couldn't believe how much came out of that guy. He must have eaten at Denny's or something. He puked at about 2500', then at 500', and he really let go after we landed. I was a pretty green TI and I couldn't get him unhooked right away so I got a nice close up. Biggest smack talker out of the tandem group that morning, too. Luckily I was able to avoid getting hit. Somehow I found the strength to do about 1/2 a blind man (men?) with all 400 lbs. of us and I got him to aim right. The threat of puke can be quite compelling.

>My Governor can crush your Governor's head like a grape. Yeah, but our governor is always being crushed by hydraulic presses, and dropped in vats of molten metal, and having his arms ripped off and whatnot. *** But he'll be back...

what is cutting away going to do to you?*** One person you could ask is Mike McGowan. He spun into the trees at Cross Keys years ago after first cutting away from a PC in tow. In the Skydiving mag article, he said he'd never do it again. Choose your own path, but I'd suggest you expect no guarantees either way.

If you're talking on Lou's cell phone with clips on your nipples...we are gonna need to talk! *** Oops! Fixed it. Thanks. I meant to be funny, but not THAT funny!

I know I'm not supposed to talk on my cell phone while at the pump, but is it okay to watch funny movies on it if I'm bored? Also if I take some alligator clips and ground my nipples to both the car and the pump, can I make a call then?

I've never gone to Cross Keys and not had a good time. I'm very sorry for your loss, but you guys are lucky to have one of the coolest drop zones in the U.S., if not the world. And your lucky for the people who jump and have jumped there. You were also very lucky to have PJ. He gave me some lessons in packing strong tandems to help me get my rating back in 2002, and he even packed one for me so I could get on a load for the course. All he wanted was a six-pack. He got it that night at Ottley's along with several cigarettes that he bummed. I then got the benefit of a lengthy safety discussion with him. I didn't know too many people at X-keys, but he made me feel like one of the regulars that day. He definitely touched more people than he knew. Hell of a guy PJ was, and I'm sorry that I fell out of touch. I'm curious if anyone remembers an article that PJ wrote for Parachutist a few years back in which he discussed the phenomenon of having your bridle occasionally tie itself into a knot after tossing your pilot chute. That's happened to me once since then and he was the first person who popped into my head.

Is that a cross-braced canopy you're flying for that trick? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes *** Sweet. Old time jumpers are cool.

Is that a cross-braced canopy you're flying for that trick?

I still don't know what the hell they meant by "no lift", is that just Moron speak for headdown? And wtf? Flying Blind???? *** Since it was the second term for it that came out, technically "head down" is Moron speak for no lift. It's okay, though. There's almost no way you could have known.

One of us is planning to go there with a 120 sqft airlocked canopy with a PDR113 and planning to have 180 degrees rotation on landing. His WL is about 1.5/1.6 and he has about 400 jumps. Do anything you can to get this guy not to go on the demo. I couldn't care less if someone who lacks the maturity to exercise good judgement busts himself up, but it is not worth the risk to our sport. A demo jump is not about you or me or any other jumper performing one. It is about the crowd. No one watching cares about how well a demo jumper can swoop. They have no understanding of the skills involved. All they will think, if he pulls it off, is that he is going to crash into the ground until the last few seconds when he recovers from the dive. He'll get some ohhs, some aahs, and a few gasps, then some sighs of relief, and possibly a few sadistic mutterings of dissapointment from the few who might have liked to see a crash. Trust me on this, you and he will both get way more applause from an accuracy approach which results in a dead center on target. Way more. The jumper in question sounds quite selfish and unprofessional. This is not another skydive. You guys have a job to do. Your friend should act like it.

Learning that with many or most starting canopies you can land from partial brakes, make small corrections while in brakes, etc, would keep people from making ill advised turns and landing mistakes. Always seeing people flying full out doing high performance landings doesn't make newbies aware of slow flight capabilities.*** Can't agree more. You can also safely perform braked approaches under some pretty small canopies, including cross-braced designs. But they're not the best to learn the technique on. It amazes me how few people in the sport get this.

That said, I'd love to see some basic CRW in the USPA license regiment. I think there's too many people who just don't know how to handle themselves while being close to other jumpers under canopy. *** Also agree. And some of them even fly some pretty hot canopies. It makes me chuckle when they bitch about traffic in the packing area.

Funny, you got me looking through the logbooks. I found one from when I was doing my last tandem with an experienced jumper before I finished the course, and became "full fledged". The guy I was taking weighed 230 lbs., and we planned to go unstable on exit, but he agreed to settle down when I tapped him on the shoulder around ten seconds after exit. I didn't know it, but he went and asked all the experienced TI's what the best way was to F- with me on exit. It worked, and we got really unstable, so I got a little poetic when I went to log it. #646 5/19/02 Well, we left the Otter, and everything was cool, then Josh decided to act the fool. He flipped us & spun us & turned us around, and all the while we're getting closer to the ground. I slapped his shoulders, I said "Hey! Stop jerking! If you're trying to kill us, then brother, it's working!" I got the drogue out after we got steady. Holy shit! Six grand already!? Time to pull, and take us out of here. Pretty soon I'll be sippin' beer. Opening was good, and then what do I see? Is that my my old instructor Joe flyin' next to me? Sorry, Joe, if I can't hang around, but I've got a big boy here to get on the ground. Landing was okay, just some dirt on the gear. I thought "Hey, it happens, now about that beer..." Makes me wish I still cared enough to log like this.

Well, a "Kallend" patch wouldn't be advertizing someone's product, would it?*** No it wouldn't, but it would be showing loyalty to a particular area of science. And if we're into physics we should wear it with pride, right? I subject myself to physical laws everytime I jump, so I almost feel like I'm already sponsored. Where can I get one?

I was not there, I only heard about it later so I don't know how well she was trained, but she said that there were holes in the first main so she did not feel comfortable landing it. Jumps around 250.*** Oh, then maybe that was the best thing to do. The reason I ask is that about 5 years ago I witnessed someone doing very nearly the same thing with the Tridem, and there was no reason I could see to chop the first main and go for the reserve at that time. The first main was landable. The use of all three canopies rendered the rig unusable for the rest of the day, so no one else got to do an intentional cutaway.

The jumper instinctively pulled the lower cutaway handle, which did not release the opened main (it cuts away the middle parachute, the "second main"). Fortunately she was heads up enough to figure out what was going on, so she then pulled the upper cutaway handle, and the lower reserve handle, and landed under the real reserve. It could have turned bad very quickly though. *** How many jumps did she have? How well was she trained in the use of the Tridem? Why was it necessary to cut away the first main, and then go to the reserve? Could she not have just landed the first main, and then reattached the second main?

A jet pack. It can be your jump aircraft and rig all in one nice package. Plus no more waiting for loads, and no more packing. If a cheap enough one ever comes out that can run for a while without using all of it's fuel, I'll be the first on my block to have it. I wonder how much H2O2 is a gallon these days...?

and most importantly try not to look gay while you swoop. We all know it's not what you do, but how good you look while you do it. (mooth) *** You know, we've butted heads on these forums before, but I have decided that you are cool.

No-brainer, dude. It is axiomatic that if you are going to be near X-keys, you should bring your rig.