danrossi

Thanks Rev. Much appreciated. I'll try and drop in when I can. I should write up another story or two some time soon. I owe Brian Byrd, the editor of my outdoor club's news letter, a couple of trip reports as well. I finally got the photographic proof of me on the summit of Kili and so I now have to write about that trip. So many things to do and yet they still insist I show up at work every damn day. SHEESH! Flare when you hear the crickets.

HA! Nope, I learned to drive way back when I was a teen. Did some driving when I was jumping at Albany Skydiving. Had my first, and only, wreck at Parkman back in the early 90s. Even managed to learn to drive a stick. At a party at Parkman one night, a buddy jokingly tossed me his keys saying he was going to be drinking so I should hang onto his keys. I pocketed them and eventually lost him. I snagged a friend and she helped me steal his truck. I parked it at the end of the runway. The announcement over the P.A. first thing in the morning was, "Lary! Get your damn truck off the runway! I've got students to take up!" I work for Carnegie Mellon University and they are a leader in autonomous navigation. I keep pushing them to let me have one of the vehicles but they won't give me the damn keys. Flare when you hear the crickets.

Hi folks, Ignore Brian, he is just too much of a wuss to jump out of an aircraft. :-) Another friend must have been searching out some of my stories and stumbled across this thread and pointed me to it. I'm still out here but haven't been jumping. After the world record dive in Sept. 2003 I got a bit shaken after the no radio landing. Add to that that virtually no one from around here is driving out to Parkman anymore, it makes it kind of difficult for me to get out and jump. Plus, I spent last summer and fall preparing to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, which I did at the beginning of this year. Anyway, I've just spent over 300 bucks to get my CYPRES 8 year check up and reserve repack, so I had damn well better make a jump or 20 before the end of the season to make it worthwhile. Thanks to everyone for keeping me in your thoughts. It is very flattering to know I have so many friends around the country. Flare when you hear the crickets.

A little bird from Texas told me to drop in here. Since it is always fun to feed the ego, I thought I would see what kinds of things you guys were saying about me. :-) Seeing as this forum can take mark-up I thought I would try and see if I could make my post black on black to mess with everyone, but didn't feel like spending the time. :-) I'll take a quick shot at some answers: I have, in fact, been totally blind since the age of 7. Made my first jump at the age of 16. Two-way radios would definitely have prevented several of my more memorable landings. Props are easy to find, their really noisy. I don't know what a function sounds like, as I've never had one. I pack too carefully for that. Nock on wood. :-) I'm pretty certain that I will know what a function feels like though. A line over will be pretty noticeable from the spinning. You think those stories gave you the chills. Wait until you read this Fridays installation. :-) All the stories are true. I might ham them up for better reading, but the facts are all there. I'm not the only blind jumper around. BJ Fleming is a very experienced skydiver in Oregon with about two thousand jumps, to my 300. However, I think the majority of his jumps were made prior to his total loss of sight. There might be other blind jumpers around but neither BJ nor I know of any personally. Erik Weihenmayer, who became the first blind person to summit Mt. Everest in May of 2001, made a couple of dozen jumps a few years back. And as retaliation for my getting him involved in skydiving, he dragged my ass up to Everest base camp with him last year. I jump with two TimeOUts that have been modified to beep every thousand feet. I always wear two radios. I always have multiple people on the ground ready to talk me down. And I always have someone check my spotting. :-) Hope that answered some of your questions. Don't know if I'll be able to drop in here all that often but I'll try. Flare when you hear the crickets.