GroundZero

Christie, I thought I was the youngest skydiver you had ever met... (I frost my hair and glue on the beard to make people think that I'm older.) Being a DZO and Father, I'm willing to take my kids as soon as they want to, but they have to ask me first... my kids are 28 son, 8 daughter and 1 daughter. You know what? None have asked me yet. Because they have all been exposed to the dropzone, it seems almost boring to them. Perhaps they don't understand what we love it so much, (28 son told me many years ago that it wasn't his idea of fun)... Perhaps my girls will skydive someday, but I won't encourage it. Skydiving is evil (hehehe and I want all that evil myself!) I like my kids to think openly and honestly. And at the younger ages, my kids have not wanted to skydive yet... (yet, I wanted to try it when I saw the first skydiver tow a streamer in ... I was about age 5 ... at an airshow... maybe it's not for everyone.) Young Zach has made a very informed decision and by getting an early start, I'm sure he will be a very accomplished skydiver just like his older brothers. All have been trained safely and show an excellent amount of judgement. (it was funny to watch his older brother watch over him as he down sized to the 98, then the 88.) Yes, it is a good thing. To start early, these guys will have a tremendous head start over others. But they need to "want" to skydive... all these guys seem to "want" to do it. I think it's shown by their proficiency and careful progression. Chris

shhhhh! don't give away the ending... quite unexpected! hehehehe

Jeanne, Bring it for sure (the movie to Eloy, Holiday boogie)... I need to prove to the newby Bird-Man crowd that it is possible to land a wingsuit... my proof is in the movie! Chris

721... but everyone that knows me, knows that after the first WS jump, i've never removed it from my rig ('cept when I exchanged it for the new (old) Skyflyer (1)). How can you people do anything else... but I guess I've got an addictive personality. "Guess I picked a bad day to quit sniffing Glue..." Chris

and I was worried that someone finally had a better looking suit than my old wornout skyflyer (1)... good looking suit, (but not as pretty as mine!... cause it flies so sweet!) Chris (see ya all in Eloy soon!)

First... talk to someone nearby... you'll want service well after your purchase... but here's who you want to talk to at the places you mentioned (all good people!) Pier Ltd (Mike Brown) Rigs n Things (Roy Torgison) Fly Vertical (???) Total Control (???) Sky Kat (Tim Denunzio) Square One (JP Funari... the man!) Garlyn (???) Skydive Supplies (???) Note, I'm an equipment manufacturer and I do not know everyone, but all of the above named people try very hard to make every customer very happy. Chris

yea... it's kyle... he's up there to keep the Waco from bustin Vne... Kyle's gotta be about 6'2" or better. The Kyle drag keeps the airplane from exceding Vne..... (yea right!) chris

Woa, ya limp lil newbie... T-bones engines failed as fast as any round engine ( and probably sooner! ). It took real men to drive twinbo failed engines around the sky... when they fail, they usually throw metal parts (pistons and the like) through the cowling and many times into the fuselage... you ain't seen real failures til you saw a gso-480 come apart at 50 inches of manifold pressure! yehaa! the old days were great (thank god they're over!) Chris p.s. my super charged twinbo's would beat most super otters to 14000... but only for about a season or two if I was lucky, 12 minutes to 14000.... bring on the -28 otters, i'd race, (while the engine was still intact). Who you callin' pussy? hehehehe

Hey girl... you need a computer geek living (sleeping) with you... other than that, you're forced to learn everything and deal with the consequences. They all break sometimes. If you need help feel free to call, e-mail, pm or whatever... but long distance it does get tough to troubleshoot. I might have to refer you to our guy Beezy, he can walk you through the F-disk procedure and make you feel his enthusiasm! Hope everything gets solved, Chris

What a fun weekend! Those crack margaritas sure were good (again)! May be flying the Westwind again this weekend... another chance to jump off the turkey tryptophan... Chris

Clay, Great weather forcast in Tullahoma, Tennessee.... come on down! Chris

alright! very few students... so I'm bird-manning all day.... yeeha! let's rock! Chris

All canopies built are built to the tightest tolerances possible... period. We want everyone to fly the best canopy available. I've seen everyone's manufacturing and everyone tries to build the best, for team or customers. (cough cough, we build the best quality and design, cough). Our team guys do drive different iterations of our production canopies sometimes, these guys are the hottest pilots and we use our guys as proving grounds for new ideas... In fact, many times these ideas come from our team pilots. They know the stuff better than we do... shit, I only make 300-400 jumps per year...these guys often make more than 1000 jumps per year. So yes, our team guys jump different canopies for research, but our guys also compete with the production canopies... exactly like the one you're getting ready to order. One thing everyone should note... the logos on the canopies touting our name brand... these sewn-on logos produce huge drag, i.e. your production canopies with clean surfaces should easily out-fly them.... jump into competitions, you probably have an advantage.... Chris

Why... I will be replacing my CYPRES with a Vigil because I want to support competition (and my CYpres expired a few months ago. I do not believe in a fixed life, I operate airplanes that are airworthy based on condition. I've spent many dollars on maintenance and repair on airplanes as old as ...1941... and condition says "still airworthy". (shit I love DC-3's) Now we have something that can perform same operation. As Skydivers, we have a choice... and yes, it is about money (I work in the industry, so that's very important to me). My current Cypres (that expired) is in my Flexon (serial number 0013!), Cypres installed by Airtec in Germany. I have never fired my CYpres, but have seen many lives saved by aad's including a recent tailstrike at my DZ. The need is not disputed. In fact, the need for a backup device is very much recognized by me. Remember, Burger Chef was replaced by McDonalds... McDonalds now dominates the market, but I sure do like the new Hardee's burgers.... It only gets better... competition is the impetus for improvement. Welcome Vigil! Good Luck starting a new company in a small, yet highly competitive market. This looks great for all of us in our little community. Chris

Shit JP... i thought it was a misplaced Bird-man thread.... oy... Chris

Sometimes as much as 30 pounds...

We're seeing our team guys going to loadings of about 2.1-2.2ish.... (primarily for distance/carve/accuracy)... then for the speed event, they add lead to up the loading. This way they jump one size and "dial it in", and jump the same size for speed comp, only loaded higher by the lead. Chris

The Velocity has cross braces on the a, b, c, and d-lines... the FX is only braced through the c lines... Designers differ as to the effectiveness of braces on the rear of the canopy... and designers load the canopies differently. Chris

and balloons... those are nice... the door is plenty big even for a little guy like me.

c-130.... it's the only airplane that I could FLY above at normal jumprun speed (110 kts or so)... Nothing like looking down on the airplane I just exited (in straight and level flight)... that means that I AM flying too! Chris (of course I was Bird-Manning, that's all I do anymore!)

Actually, Belmopan is the capital. Belize City is the largest, though, and most traveled. Belize is beautiful, but hauling your rig around will be a major pain in the ass... leave it at home on this trip, make some contacts and if you can, arrange skydiving for the NEXT trip, take your rig at that time. When in Rome... but you ain't in a skydiving country. You'll open yourself to theft, etc. by carrying something as foolish as a skydiving rig where none is available. Enjoy Belize for what it is, leave the rig at home on this trip. In six days, you'll barely be able to slow down to the Belizean pace... (go to Caye Caulker where the motto is "Go Slow.") Chris (about 8 or 9 trips to Belize, no skydiving available, none needed there...)

We don't even want to mention my Psycho pack reserve pack job.... works very well for the different vessels we pack into, but to try to pull it into a molar bag shape, well, there's the trick... but I'm not a rigger so I can't pack my own reserve that way, and it's not "approved" by the manufacturer... Chris (please don't open my reserve container or ask about the last ride(s) on the reserve...)

yea... great rig, lot of those rigs use to jump here in Tennessee a few years back. Still have one jumper that jumps one currently and he enjoys confusing the younger generation jumpers with the name of his "older" rig.

Hey Wendy? Is that Rapid Transit actually a Lady Astra with the backward handles? or a normal rts? CHris

Why? Wing suits don't have the lines producing drag.... and we can't control a canopy the same way we can "bend" a wingsuit... Bet we land the suits very soon. Chris