andybr6

How about this one as seen on Red Dwarf. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I travelled around europe this summer, spain, france, switzerland, germany and holland. It was all great but as far as best city i would say it has to be Barcelona you cannot go to europe and not go there it is amazing!!! and for best country probable switzerland. I would recomend a good guide book like lonley planet or europe on a shoestring [i guess you have them in the US] this will help your trip no end. As far as airfares go have you looked into those ones where you are allowed get limitless connections so long as you are travelling east some friends have just left for a round the world year long trip on one of those. Bon Voyage ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hey I was faced with the same decision as you. In the end i went to Skydive Sebastian in Florida and did AFF. You can do everything through Mick Hall at Freefall adventures and it is all BPA certified. I had an absolutley great time there everyone was so friendly and keen to help you out. While i was out there i met a load of other people from all over the world many of whom had come on their own and we had DZ outings to the cinema and restaurants in the eve. I camped cause it is free but i think there are motels and places in the vicinity. Anyway the web is http://www.ffadventures.com/ I am sure there are other DZ's that do a similar thing but this is just my experince of sebastian. Whereever you go i am sure you will have a great time. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

This web site is really good just get the postcode for hinton http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/TN27 I was planning to go to Headcorn myself this sunday but not so sure after looking at the weather. I have a symbi suit myself and have to say I am very happy with it. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Cheers for the info guys i just wish i could remember more about it, i seem to recall old pictures of people skydiving while they were talking about it. Still it is possible that had taken a few of those little jimi hendrix's BTW a great Hendrix album is the BBC sessions if you can get hold of it. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I was just remembering watching some kind of MTV type thing and something about Hendrix skydiving[possibly inspiration for "Kiss the Sky"] . This was before i was jumping myself so i dont think i took it all in, does anyone know if this is true or not? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hey I am treasurer of the University of Kent skydiving club, our uni does get a little concerned sometimes but we have a good safety record etc. I would mention to them that there is a national association for universitys British Collegiate Parachute Association and that BUSA may soon be awarding league points for skydiving. Also remember to get it as a sports club not society as they are covered by BUSA insurance then. If there is anything i cna help you with then send me an e-mail aib2@kent.ac.uk and ill be happy to offer any advice i can, we also have a website http://www.su.ukc.ac.uk/societies/skydive/index.php Good luck and hope to hear from you ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I only have 40 jumps but had one experience which made me very cautious about getting others to give me pin checks. I was doing a solo jump as i was half way through WARP and wanted a relaxed jump to just play around. All through my WARP jumps my coach had been checking my pins and he was familiar with the rig and this gave me more confidence when i was in the door. On this particular jump i turned to a experienced [1000 jumps] skydiver and aske him to do a pin check. He did but did not replace my reserve flap correctly, rather than put the tuck tab under the flap, he put it under the wire leading to the resere pin [i jump a mirage G2] luckily a instructer noticed it didnt look right and stopped me and corrected it. Ever since them i have a strict policy; I always check my own main pin on jump run and only if there is someone i know and trust i will have them do a pin check as well. I am confident that my reserve pin will not move because of the container i jump and the precautions i take in the plane. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Thanks for all the help i will try out the suggestions on the next pack job. I have got one further question though, if you dont quarter the slider what do you do with it? is it just a question of pushing it into the packjob as you would with flat packing? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I recently bought a second hand Mirage which was my first ever rig purchase. In it there is a spectre 210, i love the canopy i think it flies and lands great but i am having trouble with the openings. I realise they are slow openers and as such have to be packed for a faster opwing, the last time i packed it i shoved the nose into the pack job a LITTLE and rolled the tail LOOSLEY a about 3 times. I did not roll the nose in and i quatered the slider. I double stowed all the lines except the mouth lock which are the only two on my d-bag where the bungees come through the lid of the bag. After a normal freefall i deloyed at 4000 ft. When my canopy was open i was at just under 3000ft, allowing for inaccuracy in the alti it still took around 1000ft for it to open. I know the pilot chute was properley cocked and that i did a good deployment but the canopy seemed to snivel for ages. I do have a trouble getting the canopy into the bag and have been told that the bag is a little small for the canopy but dont know if this makes much difference. Can anyone please give me any advice to make this open faster?

I got mine on my 30th jump. I was jumping club kit up until then and because i am tall the harness came up high and i was very uncertain about my abilty to perform emergency procedures with the handles so high up if i had a spinning mal. Also i like to have my own stuff ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Thaks guys, Hookit you were dead on i pushed it 3 times rapidly and it worked, Cornholio you were right about having to be quick it took me a couple of go's to get fast enough. Thanks to everyone for all your help. A ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Thanks for the replys guys. I will probley let it switch itself off. But if anyone has experience with switching them off any and all info would be appreciated. A ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hi I have just bought a second hand rig which is equipped with a CYPRES [mfg in 98]. I know to turn it off you must press the button 4 times the same as the turn on procedure but when i do it it does not seem to work. Can anyone give me any advice? A ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I am afraid i can provide no statistics without more research but i have a close friend who lived in SA [JoBurg] until she left because she felt it to dangerous and another aquantence who was shot by car jackers in the same city [he survived - just], it is from the former that i draw my information. I realise that coming from two different countries with two very different set of rules regarding guns we are unlikley to agree, but i am glad we could exchange opinions. Maybe if i lived were you did and vice versa we would both see it differently. I hope you never had the need to use your gun in anger and i hope i am in never in a situation where i wish i had a gun. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I can understand your point however i would say that most criminals would not assume they would get shot just as they assume they wont get caught. Further more i would like to point to South Africa as an example of a country where not only gun ownership but carrying guns on the street is common. I realise that SA has a whole set of social issues unique to its self but if you look at it on a very individual level you find that SA criminals shoot there victims first becasue they assume they are carrying a weapon. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I thought gun crime actually increased since 1997. *** Unfortunatley it has, though i am always cynical of home office statistics you are right. I here of more shootings now than i did a couple of years ago, i only hope the governments actions over handguns stopped it being a greater increase. We are seeing a gradual increase in [not anti-terrorist] police carrying guns a sure sign that the use of firearms is on the increase. Much of the gun crime you hear about in Britain is inter-gang rivalries in the major cities like manchester and London. At the moment all of these guns are illega,l but i see no reason to make it easy for the criminals by making guns and perhaps more importantly ammunition easier to get hold of. Sawn off shotguns have been used in robberies for decades i think criminals will always find a way whatever you do, but i think the key thing is to make it as difficult as possible for guns to become available. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Silly Brits..... Perhaps, but we find that by not selling guns in supermarkets [eg. Walmart] less people tend to have them and therefore less people think they need them. In addition the law only regarded hand guns not shot guns which tend to be owned by farmers or people into pheasent/rabbit shooting and those have always been controlled by gun licences. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

In Britain the government actually did a very similar thing. After a man walked into a scottish school and started shooting and killing children and teachers the government made all handgun owners turn in there wepons or make them safe, eg poor lead down the barrel. I think many people just went over to France and kept them at clubs over there. Not being a gun owner or enthusiast i dont know the exact way of doing it. I suppose it worked though as it got most of them out of the country which can only be a good thing. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

QuoteI'd like to thank the good, unkowingly generous, people of starbucks for this new mug. reply] Dammit i have the same mug as that but actually bought it, it never occurred to me to steal er i mean liberate one. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hey I know what you mean i have been looking for a rig too but having difficultys because i am tall [6'2"] and being a mere uni student i have little money to spend though i am allowing about £1800 [$2500]. What makes it more difficult is the lack of second hand rigs here in the UK. Ironically enough though i may be able to help you if you were willing to ship from the UK a guy e-mailed me this its too small for me but sounds right for you. "JUST SENDING THE DETAILS OF RIG, JAVELIN-J1 CONTAINER IN BLACK with red white blue flap. B.O.C with hackey. 120 JUMPS. MAIN-SABRE150 red blue black. 120 JUMPS. RESERVE-TEMPO150. 1 JUMP. CYPRESS- 1997,just back from service. The complete rig is in very good condition,will come with a new pack job. the rig is sized for approx,5'6-6'0 person. I'm selling for £1400, I am in RUGBY, WARWICKSHIRE" He was responding to a "wanted" as so i dont know anything about him but i can e-maiol you some contact details if you like??? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I am a newbie have never had a mal, but i was always taught my reserve drills in the normall Cut, Away, - Reserve, Arch method. I was wondering if you have to cut away if your main was still in the container, e.g. your pilot chute was stuck in the pocket. By not cutting away are you risking having an entanglement if the main comes out during reserve deployment due to the lack of pressure on the main tray? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

As someone who started learning on Static line [RAPS for all us Brits] and then went on to do AFF i can say that for me AFF is imeasurable better. I could never get my exit right on RAPS which becomes discouraging. However i completed AFF without having to retake any levels, this is because although my first exit was a little unstable i had two instructers that could say, dont do this do that etc. That being true i know people that graduated through static line easily in the minimum number of jumps. I beleive that it is an individual thing some people will be naturals and easily progress through either course others will work better with instructers [eg me]. I would also like to point out the safety issues of a, having two instucters with you should you have a problem in freefall and b, opening at higher altitude giving more time to deal with any possible malfunctions. I only speak with the experience of a student who has friends who graduated through both systems i dont pretend to have the understanding of an instructer, but thats my 2 cents for what it is worth. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

yep, sorry meant to put that in http://www.geckoheadgear.co.uk/geckoen/fly.htm I dont know how to make it clicky. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Has anyone got or used a gecko helmet. I have been looking around at headgear and the gecko seems quite good value for money [though i have only seen it on the internet and in catalogues]. It would seem to stronger than a gath and only about £20 more and seems to have the advantage of being made for particuarly for skydiving. Any opinions? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"