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The problem with this idea is that the student progression is already established. What you're quoting from the SIM is for people who are switching methods because they have to. While I agree with Rob that a training method that incorporates a variety of methods would be ideal, it's not how it's done in the 'real world'. Either AFF or S/L-IAD will get you to your A. Never forget that the A isn't the end, it's just the beginning. Either will start you off on a big, docile canopy appropriate for students. While the majority of accidents do happen on landing, student injuries aren't super common. Switching around between methods, and particularly DZs will hurt more than help. You'll spend a lot of time & money repeating stuff and demonstrating skills you've already shown to someone else. I believe you are overthinking it.

Nothing. Unless you call spending donation money on political activism "free exercise of religion". And that political activism is simply another way of forcing that religion on everyone. I have no problems with religious organizations using their money to further political purposes... As long as they give up their tax-exempt status when they do so.

#51

Easy one. SAVE ALL THE MONEY, go to FL in the winter and crush it. Seriously. Not feasible? Pick the DZ with the BIG plane and stick with the AFF program. Stop looking at stats, because the category your looking at usually involves experienced pilots... YOU need only focus on YOUR next jump!

Dear tstar, I agree with your logic. The emotional training benefits of tandem fade after 3 or 4 jumps. The canopy training benefits of S/L and IAD fade after a half dozen jumps. The freefall training benefits of AFF fade after a dozen jumps. Tunnels are just cool and can extend to advanced skills. But again, tunnel will teach you nothing about steering your parachute. No one system is perfect, it is just "best" at a different level of the learning process. I have taught with all the different systems and prefer the sequence above with a bit of tunnel time before progressing to AFF. I have dropped hundreds of S/L and IAD students. I have done harness-hold jumps with hundreds more freefall students and more than 4,000 tandems.

Here in the UK, we have a "buyers card" type system. A local police firearms officer processes the application which includes character statements from two responsible people plus a medical statement from your doctor. It lists the firearms that you own and you must demonstrate that you have good reason to hold the firearms that you want. I can, if I wish, own a rifle chambered for .50 BMG but as I live 200 miles from the nearest range that's licenced for that calibre and I'm not involved in long range shooting there's no need for me to have one. I have one rifle chambered for .308, a 12ga shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle with a 30 round magazine and suppressor but which has to be, by law, chambered for .22LR. It has an AR style body kit but it's essentially a Ruger 10/22. The doctor who completed my medical report for my application has a mandatory reporting requirement with regards to my mental health status. I've had two bouts of clinical depression in my life and in both circumstances, the firearms officer was notified by my doctor. He came and visited me to discuss my options and in both cases I voluntarily moved my guns to storage at the local gun club where I could still access them for use. When the doctor gave me the all clear, I was able to recover my guns from the club gun safes.

Some old pictures of Bobby and the Lockheed from 1977-1978 time frame.

The name Ronan Candle was given to a pure sik canopy used for the first chutes and when due to dry weather the Canopy would not open properly, due to static electricity produce sparks within the "streamer" lighting it up, which obviously could be seen in the dark. Modern Canopies are nylon and does nog produce static electricity, so it will not light up. Factually we haven't seen Roman Candles for many years gone past.

Forearm mounted alt is don’t work for those needing a lot of drag from loose fabric on the arms. A hand mount where you put the finger loop only through your index finger (a smaller than normal finger loop might help) and placing the alti more toward the thumb improves visibility without requiring so much rotation of the hand. I say getting an audible alti is a good idea even if you accept the concept of needing to be more alti aware before using it for break off indication. You can program the audible to give you only the lowest warning-reminder you don’t have time to try and fix it. I see no harm in that.

One advantage to an old-style analog altimeter is that it has a different failure mode from the digital. No batteries to run out. You should also be training your eyes and your sense of time -- they are how people whose equipment fails keep from dying. On the way up, look at how high the cloud bases are if there are any; look at what the ground looks like periodically. No, there won't be an aha moment when all of a sudden you'll know exactly where you are in freefall without needing instruments. But gradually you'll begin to notice when you get that "the jump is going to end soon" feeling -- that's altitude awareness, too. Wendy P.

Forearm mount gives you much more flexibility when it comes to placing the altimeter, and adjusting the angle for ease of viewing. You can also adjust it during your jump when required (when flying a high performance canopy, you need your altimeter under canopy much more), as viewing angle for belly freefall and canopy piloting is not the same. Because of its greater accuracy (which is why they are used for swooping as Binary mentioned), I would always recommend a digital altimeter over an analogue one to a licensed jumper. However (and this might not be what you want to hear), I would recommend holding with your altimeter purchase for 30-40 more jumps, and only then getting a digital. When you are still learning, an analogue altimeter with a colored scale (the kind you can rent at your dropzone) is much easier to process in your head (ie you do not need to see the actual number to asses the situation, it is enough for you to process that the needle is entering yellow vs checking if it is actually pointing to 4000 feet). A digital one just gives you a number and it is up to you to interpret it. While you will eventually learn to process the numbers, imo it is better to have a color coded fail safe while you are learning. As far as an audible is concerned, they are great tools, but if you don't know how to properly fly without an audible before you get one, you will train yourself to become a robot who waits for an audible command to perform an action. One day that command will not come (your battery died, you forgot to turn it on, you lent it to a friend and forgot it isn't in your helmet), but the ground will keep coming closer, and you will find yourself with a problem. Only when you are proficient in breaking off, tracking, and pulling at proper altitude without an audible should you get an audible.

Thats awesome man! I will look them up. I think the more vets we can help the better. I got tired of seeing my bros kill themselves so I started to think of what I use as tools for happiness and then dedicated my life to sharing the information with others.

My wife has been best friends with the same person since they were in middle school. They were roommates in college and they still get together at least once a week, after several decades of being close. My wife and I are fairly progressive, her best friend is a Fox-watching conservative who voted for Trump in 2016 because she was 'sick of poor people getting everything'. At least once a month they have a blow-up fight due to the friend parroting some Fox talking point and my wife telling her that she's wrong and awful for believing that shit. I agree with my wife when she points out how horrible it is to compare government shutdowns to Nazi occupation; it's complete bullshit drummed up by Fox to rile up the masses. But screaming at people that they're stupid, racist, horrible etc... just reinforces the 'Elite democrats want to control you' narrative that Fox et all are pushing. For way too many people, Fox is 'the real news'. I don't know a way to get people out of that bubble, but I know that aggressively calling them racist is more likely than not to cause them to dig in their heels.

I think it’s somewhat different; they want an America that’s comfortable, where they know where they fit, and how to react to things. However, that’s generally the America of their childhood, when, yes, the power structure was white and male and Christian. An awful lot of people just want to be in their comfort zone. That their comfort zone depends on other people fitting into the structure around them and their preconceptions is secondary to most. Wendy P.