New Tandem

[skydude2000 3]

Hi guys,

I didn't think this should be in the 'Greets' Forum, only because I'm not a new poster here, nor was it my f**st jump.

I did a tandem checkout with a new TI yesterday, and it scared me to death, lol. Everybody was ribbing me the whole ride to altitude; It's the weirdest feeling climbing into that plane with no rig and no helmet on.

I'm looking to check handles that aren't there, I'm bugging everybody in the plane to show me an altimeter, meanwhile they're all trying to make it worse, lol. 'That doesn't look right. Are you sure that's how you hook it up???' Once we were out of the plane, it was cake. But it was bizarre. Just hanging there, watching everything happen without being able to do anything.

I never thought I was a control freak until now, lol. We landed fine, hug & high five, laughed all the way back to the hangar, but ohhh man, it was weird.

Anyone else whose done a checkout on a new TI have a similar experience??

Just wondering :)

Blue skies.

PULL!! or DIE!!

[diablopilot 2]

Yep. 54 rides on the front, and they were all spooky.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[feuergnom 29]

Quote

Hi guys,

I didn't think this should be in the 'Greets' Forum, only because I'm not a new poster here, nor was it my f**st jump.

I did a tandem checkout with a new TI yesterday, and it scared me to death, lol. Everybody was ribbing me the whole ride to altitude; It's the weirdest feeling climbing into that plane with no rig and no helmet on.

I'm looking to check handles that aren't there, I'm bugging everybody in the plane to show me an altimeter meanwhile they're all trying to make it worse, lol. 'That doesn't look right. Are you sure that's how you hook it up???' Once we were out of the plane, it was cake. But it was bizarre. Just hanging there, watching everything happen without being able to do anything.

I never thought I was a control freak until now, lol. We landed fine, hug & high five, laughed all the way back to the hangar, but ohhh man, it was weird.

Anyone else whose done a checkout on a new TI have a similar experience??

Just wondering :)

Blue skies.

No alti? seems your were playing pax for a sigma/vector tm.

no handles for you as a passenger? definitly sigma/vector

that is what i really like about strong tandems: as a pax you get the drogue release and if you play pax for a TI in training you also have your own handles for cutaway and reserve (and you get trained on how and when to use them)

with that as a background: tandemrides in the front are fun

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[skydude2000 3]

I could have sworn he said it was a CDN Aerosports rig, but I could be mistaken. It was either that or a Sigma. I did ask about using my chest mount, but I was told it was not a good idea. Possibly because it wouldn't fit on the harness, or something else, I'm not sure. Either way, it was extremely weird, and a bit scary, lol.

PULL!! or DIE!!

[riggerrob 643]

If the skydive felt scary and dangerous, it probably was!

If you had no handles or altimeter, you definitely were not following Strong Enterprises' procedures for Phase Two dives = doing stupid and dangerous things.
It has been more than a decade since I have jumped Tandem Vectors, but I vaguely remember RWS/UPT introducing chicken handles a long time ago.

Any licensed jumper - on the front of a tandem - should rehearse patting the drogue pouch (BOC), drogue release handle on his right hip, supplementary cutaway handle on his right shoulder and supplementary reserver ripcord on his left shoulder. If he cannot consistently touch all those handles (during dirt-dives, gear checks in airplane and in free-fall) he should cancel the jump.

If buddy asks you to do a second jump - on the front without chicken handles - your response should be loud, profane, rude, disrespectful and conclude with suggestions involving sex and travel!

[NickDG 23]

Hi Rob, (hope you're feeling better by now)!

When I got my Strong Tandem rating it was five jumps with my factory authorized tandem examiner, and then five more jumps with experienced jumpers as passengers, none of which were tandem masters themselves.

We had "chicken handles" during all the jumps where my examiner was on the front. But on the last five jumps with the experienced jumpers I didn't use them. Some of these folks had never done a tandem in their lives so it didn't seem like a good idea in case they thought something was going wrong when it wasn't.

And from his post it sounds like this is what skydude2000 was doing.

If I was helping an already experienced tandem master get current again, and because I'm TM, then yes, I'd put chicken handles on the rig too. You bet!

Once in the mid-90s there was a Tandem examiner doing a training class of two Japanese who had no other Instructional ratings and we were at a small DZ during the week. These fellows spoke a bit of English but it was weak. And I got asked to ride up front on a bunch of their second half jumps. This was after the DZO refused the offer, which I thought was a bit cheesy, since he sold tandem jumps for a living . . .

My own early experience with Tandem, before I became a TM, had all been bad. Back when tandem first started I saw some of the growing pains. I almost got myself killed on a tandem rig in 1984, saw two experienced jumpers, jumping together, come within seconds of going in on a tandem at Elsinore, and knew two very experienced jumpers, also jumping together, who did go in on a tandem at Perris. So after that to say I avoided tandems was an understatement. I hated them . . .

About ten years later I figured the knowledge, technique, and technology level had risen substantially so I jumped back into the game.

But I did know one thing, while I enjoy teaching the teachers and sometimes more than teaching students, I'd seen enough videos of initial tandem examiner jumps with their want to be Instructors and knew it wasn't on my to-do list. But lot's of props to those who do it as they are very brave people.

So I made damn sure both these fellows knew my showing them the finger meant pull the drogue release, and then with the chicken handles in place I figured I could handle anything else that happened. And I also emphasized not throwing the drogue until we were stable. The first jump went fine. It was fun trying to turn him, doing daffys, and stuff like that.

The second jump with the other guy tumbled unintentionally out the door. And even with me helping it took a good bit to get face to earth. I was just thinking that took him way too long when I realized he hadn't yet thrown the drogue. And we didn't have a signal for that one. I could see his hands on either side of my head and knew he was brain locking. So I gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs. But that didn’t do any good and I knew giving him the pull signal might make him pull the drogue release with the drogue still stowed.

So I reached back and tried to deploy the drogue myself. While that is something you do at least once in your tandem training course (deploying the drogue from the passenger harness) it's not all that easy sometimes. But my fumbling around back there woke him up and he pushed my hand out of the way and threw the drogue himself. I looked at the clock and saw we were going through 7-grand but I'd had it with this guy. So I waved off twice and pulled the drogue release. I wasn't going to give him another chance to mess up.

On the long canopy ride down he keep saying he was sorry and I kept saying don’t worry we'll talk about on the ground. But I'll tell you this. The eight or so minutes I spent in that passenger harness were very uncomfortable. Sometimes I still hate tandems . . .

NickD