The questions you are asked....

[jumper03 0]

So I had this newly minted A license jumper come up to me this weekend. He's starting to buy his gear. He was asking me about a Cypres. He says he would like to buy a used one in January but wants to make sure it works. He asks "Should I do a jump and just do nothing to see if it fires?"


My answer of course was an emphatic NO.

Jump

Scars remind us that the past is real

[beowulf 1]

ha ha , with ideas like that he just may one day win a Darwin award.

[beowulf 1]

You should ask him what is he going to do to test the airbags in his car?

[airtwardo 7]

...I would have said No too.

Then suggested he instead just throw the
rig out of the plane and see what happens!

"They test 'em like that ALL the time!"

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Ron 10]

Quote

So I had this newly minted A license jumper come up to me this weekend. He's starting to buy his gear. He was asking me about a Cypres. He says he would like to buy a used one in January but wants to make sure it works. He asks "Should I do a jump and just do nothing to see if it fires?"

sounds like a dependency to me.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Dougiefresh 0]

Quote

My answer of course was an emphatic NO

Followed by an emphatic bitch slap, I hope.

NO! NO! NO!

Get it? Good!...

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[skyyhi 0]

ROFLMFAO. . .

Oh wow, my sides hurt. . .gees, some people. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[sunshine 2]

I realize that by having his A license, he should know better, but apparently he doesn't. Rather than make fun of him, perhaps educate him.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[bigway 4]

How can you justify giving anyone a license to skydive when they think like that???
Take his license off him and THEN educate him.
I thought it was important to know what a cypres was when you jump one. I am sure he would have had one on his last 25 jumps.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[jumper03 0]

Quote

I realize that by having his A license, he should know better, but apparently he doesn't. Rather than make fun of him, perhaps educate him.

Oh I did. I told him to forget the thing is in his rig and pull every pin he has if he has a malfunction.

I just still can't believe he asked the question.

Jump

Scars remind us that the past is real

[Ron 10]

Quote

I just still can't believe he asked the question.

I believe it.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[sunshine 2]

Quote

How can you justify giving anyone a license to skydive when they think like that???

I'm not the one that signed off the A license card so i don't have to justify anything.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[bigway 4]

oh, i am sorry, i know i replied to your post but that comment from me was not directed at you or anyonelse that had posted. sorry.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

[Fast 0]

Quote

Quote

I just still can't believe he asked the question.

I believe it.

Me too, I have heard questions asked that are much more un-intelligent, right here on DZ.com even! People come up with crazy ideas all the time. Experience guides us away from them or helps us develop them into ideas that aren't quite as crazy. Impart your experience in this new jumper and he is better off.

I can see the logic that he used to get to that conclusion though. Just doesn't make sense in a bigger picture.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[rower 0]

Agreed.

Perhaps this is more of a reflection of the training that he received rather than his intelligence. Also, maybe testing your cypress is common sense to some, but as a new person, I can't say that there's much about this sport that I feel is instinctive.

[dorbie 0]

Quote

but as a new person, I can't say that there's much about this sport that I feel is instinctive.

Perhaps so, but there's nothing instinctive that tells you not to test a cypres like that. Simple logic and 2 seconds of thought should tell someone not to do it.

The issue is not training, experience or any other such thing, it's plain old intelligence IMHO.

If you need to ask someone if you should test a life saving device where your life depends on the test's outcome then you have a screw loose.

[Douva 0]

I really think every DZ should keep a few of these behind the manifest counter.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[rower 0]

While I've never wondered about this particular thing, there are definitely things that I'm embarassed to admit that I've asked about or thought about that might just qualify as ignorant as this.

In any event, I hope that someone told him about this and didn't make him feel stupid. The only thing that does is ensure that he'll keep the rest of his stupid questions to himself.

[Douva 0]

Quote

While I've never wondered about this particular thing, there are definitely things that I'm embarassed to admit that I've asked about or thought about that might just qualify as ignorant as this.

In any event, I hope that someone told him about this and didn't make him feel stupid. The only thing that does is ensure that he'll keep the rest of his stupid questions to himself.

You should never berate somebody for asking a question, but in answering this type of question, you should make sure the student understands why his idea is so horrifically bad. He should walk away pondering, "What the hell was I thinking?" without feeling afraid to ask further questions. Sometimes a little twinge of embarrassment goes a long way toward snapping somebody back into reality. That student needs to realize that he is obviously not taking this sport seriously enough.

I don't have an M.D. or a law degree. I have bachelor's in kicking ass and taking names.

[kansasskydiver 0]

I haven't ever had someone ask that question but we ran into an interesting situation at the DZ this weekend.

Student with 4 jumps, after being told a NUMBER of times by 5 instructors and our S&TA that he did not need to buy a rig and especially the one he was bidding on on eBay, showed up with the rig...

Here are the details of what he bought:

Stilleto 135 (he's 190 out the door)
Swift+ 145
Infinity (velcro all over it)

Then for $200 more, a cypres with 2 years on it, needs it's 4 year and new bats...

To boot, the main is covered in sand. I shook it out for a good 5 mins and there is still a layer of fine fine sand all on the insides of the cells.

He didn't have it looked at before he bought it and went against everyone's opinions and then rebid on it anyways.

As a result, I have the canopy and none of our riggers will pack the reserve for him in the event he tries to go somewhere else and jump it

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[flyangel2 2]

There once was a student, off AFF, that wouldn't stay current. He'd jump, then not jump for months, come back out to the DZ, and we'd have to get him re-current again. This went on for some time. Then he goes up to do a sole jump and couldn't find the hacky/handle. So, he admits that he just laid there waiting for the cypress to fire. Needless to say he got the bowling ball speech.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[Paulipod 0]

On a lighter note.....

I was in Spain with some friends and a newly passed AFF jumper who was to be last out of the plane on a consol, asked us, as he was last leaving the plane if he had to close the door!

We did chuckle for a while

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

[Deuce 1]

If he was trained on your DZ, there are some questions about the groundschool training.

I like to use a logic train when teaching adults.

At some point you may find a gaping whole in the training.

Trainer: "What is your hard deck for going for your reserve?"

Student:

Trainer: "At what altitude does a sport cypres fire?"

Student:

Trainer: "How much altitude does it take to deploy a main parachute that malfunctions and then cut it away and deploy a reserve?"

Student:

The student probably will get more than one of those wrong.

Think about finding out why the student doesn't know those things.

[Morcyk 0]

Ack what are the answers? I think I could get reasonably close on 2 of em, but I wouldn't be positive.

1)Think for me it was ?2500ft?
2)???
3) Wild guess based on reading.. about 400ft for a main to open? guessing about 200 on the reserve?? guessing about 1k total???

And yes I did read the SIM, but since I only have 4 jumps, I wasn't all that interested in what altitude a sport cypress would fire and I don't remember actuallly reading how many feet a cutaway/reserve pull takes.

[bigway 4]

Quote

1)Think for me it was ?2500ft?
2)???
3) Wild guess based on reading.. about 400ft for a main to open? guessing about 200 on the reserve?? guessing about 1k total???

You will learn these answers soon but you should know the first and third from your ground training, the sport cypres does not concern you at the moment as you have to worry about the student cypres. a sport cypres activates at 750 feet.

It is very unlikely that your main will open in 400 feet, more 500 feet to 1000 feet. reserve should open around 300-400 feet if i am correct.
At your level 2500 feet is a good hard deck but you will find that it will soon become 2000 feet.
Myself, if a friend is in trouble i will go down to 2000 with them and make sure my reserve is deployed by 1500 feet otherwise my hard deck is 2000 feet.

Students need to ask questions, this is your job!!
Just a shame that some people are not good listeners.
For someone to buy gear on 4 jumps is pathetic and a person who has no clue as to the sport they are getting involved in.

For someone to think it is okay to use their 'emergency activator'(cypres) as a test is not a pewrson who goes through life the right way. Do they test the airbags on their car or the oxygen in a commercial plane or the fire extinquisher in their house? no! your emergency things in life are there for when they are needed and they have been tested by the people that make them, if they do not work when it comes time well that is how life can sometimes be.

Students you must ask questions but do realise that skydivers also use their common sense just like in everyday life.
Blue Skies.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.