des

well done. 14000' in adi!.hell that must have been slow. we had that plane here on saipan.

there are 2 sides to this coin.it's a huge buzz for us average joe instructors, who train someone who becomes a national rep. des

as most tandem rigs have a cypres set to fire at around 2000', under 3000',i'm hitting my reserve.

true story. 1986,practice demo for brisbane commonwealth games. i think 4 people exit at around 3000'.peter nobbs and rick collins both get caught in storm,peter manages to spiral down,rick gets lifted to 14 or 15000',still going up,so cuts away,opens reserve under cloud around 1000',lands somewhere in city.incredibly main is found and returned,(not sure of free bag, but could have been a diaper in 1986). don't know all details ,(i started jumping 1989),but knew peter nobbs real well,(now deceased),and he swore this was what happened. another time got a call from the pilots wife, t/storm approaching with high winds.so we called it for a while,then it hit! shit winds must've been 50 or 60 knots,our wind meter was off the gauge.answered the phone, it was a brisbane local asking if we'd lost a skydiver,she saw someone heading toward the cityat a huge speed,under a parachute. turns out a dz 15 mls away had dropped a s/l student (1st jump),apparently an instructor was chasing him down the hignway at 80 mph,and falling behind! he landed ok and did his second jump a few mths later. t/storms in qld,australia are particularly vicious,and approach at high speed,always preceeded by very high winds. scary shit. take care, des

took my filipina girlfriend for a jump,don't think she really knew what it was about. froze in freefall,and at 4000',under canopy says,"can we stop now please".guess i'm a mean bastard ,couldn't stop laughing. she was totally incapable of sitting, standing,or talking after landing.took 5 mins to get her off the landing area.then said she loved it! but then,i've never understood women. as an aside,99%of all our japanese students are totally unafraid,i get the feeling they think they are doing a ferris wheel ride,or similar.blows me away.

as a kiwi/ aussie,new orleans was really something else.wot a place! the river walk in san antonio is also really cool,and san an is really a nice place,(also the alamo is there,which, even being from somewhere else ,was a place i felt a real sense of history). texas is great! had a ball in pecos!

the landing area is bloody huge! the whole airport basically. crosswinds are not usual ,but of course happen a few days a year,and then are generally not strong winds. relatively speaking there are a lot of outs .although not great,are better than forest,urban sprawl,or water.

icarus is a relatively new name. all canopies from aerosports (nz) were called jyros,because that is the nickname of the guy that started it all. i'm sure skymonkey nows this too.

"stood on the tm's back holding the drogue in his hand". i know this incident ,and know both jumpers concerned,both of who are quite competent to do this. the photo was published in a skydive mag.there was no licence revoked,but both did recieve a slap on the wrist as for swooping tandems,all the tm's i work with do at least a 120degree hook turn,90 degrees is not enough,all get stand up landings in front of video man nearly everytime.the only time i've seen anyone thump in ,was using a straight in approach.(they don't work here anymore). the "double brake" approach is very good ,if you are a learner ,or using an older type canopy. (all the tm's i'm talking about have way more than 2000 tandems.) i was intending to keep out of this thread,but alcohol got the best of me. des F372,,TM193

hi fatz i'm an inst from oz. 9-12 jumps(depending on dz programme ,and your ability)should finish yur aff programme,(it can take manymorejumps than this).allows you to jump solo,or with an inst. once you get A licence,which has accuracy,and canopy control requirements,you can jump with other licenced jumpers with dzso approval. B licence is a minimum of 50 jumps ,including a relative work table( called B/rels)of about 10jumps with a rated "coach".among a few other things. once you have B licence you are no longer considered a student,but a novice. C licence is a min 100 jumps,and allows yuo a chice of headwear (subject to dzso approval). D licence , min 200 jumps,and in the usa ,would be classed as "expert" !!!!! E licence , a min of 500 jumps. F licence , a min of 1000 jumps. the higner licences do have benefits,but not worth going into here. you will need a min B licence ,and an australian star crest to jump with 10 jumpers or more. you will also be required to have an aad,until yuo get E licence.this really sucks ,imho, and is the only bad thing the APF has ever done.but they are an organisation we can be really proud of. haven't been in oz for 3 years ,so some details may be incorrect,sorry if this is the case. des F 372

lol!,kinda reminds me of the us. military bombing themselves in bahrain(?) taking out a cable car in italy,and sinking a japanese fishing boat. thank god for our militaries.hahaha

hey mm, i do tandems 7 days a week 364 days a year,(get xmas day off),and it's the most satisfying and enjoyable job i ever had. some days i feel guilty getting paid for this,but windy ones i earn my money. sometimes i have to do video,and hate it,i can fun jump free anytime i'm rostered off a load,but usually try to take a ground crew or office staff for a tandem,way more fun! if you think you will like doing tandems, you probably will. learn all disciplines you can,I believe freeflying is very good tandem training,and as the others said canopy skills are paramount. go for it! des

hi diverds, yes, have jumped set 400's and 360's.all in strongs. imo,the set 400 is just too goddam big.but still an improvement in the f111 canopies. the 360 is way better,but has a very flat glide ratio( not good for hooking,because they plane out too quickly).the are toggle light till shoulder height,then get fairly heavy. the icarus 360,and 330,on the other hand,are very light toggle pressure(comparitively),and have a steeper glide,which makes landing a lot easier.they also have many brakeline configuration options.imo they are the best tandem canopy so far.(also jumped ezi's and blue tracks,which rate somewhere between the set 400 and 360.)this is just my opinion,i've done quite a few tandems. des

if that's golden beach,caloundra,it's on the sunshine coast of qld.dz there jumps a lett410,similar to an otter.1 1/2 hrs drive from toogoolawah. coolangatta is on the gold coast of qld.closest dz is byron bay,about 1 hr drive.and 2 hrs to toogoolawah,(togoolawah,of course is the mecca). coff's harbour is a pretty cool place in nthn new south wales,and there is a dz there,right on the coast,and run by an old friend, mark brody. all these places are on beautiful coastal beaches,with good weather all year round. sorry,dunno where port stephens is. heard of it but can't place it,maybe down in mexico (victoria). hope this helps, des

if you have a cypres on your gear ,you will have very few problems jumping in oz.with -500 jumps you must have a cypres in australia. i am sorry,embarassed,disgusted,that this is the case.imho it's the only really bad thing the apf has done. except for this rule,oz is a great place to skydive. have fun. des

yeah, it sure has a great sound to it. keep it. des

started at 43 ,8100 jumps later ,still going,and aint finished yet.now 54. des

ok. just read the thread in another forum,and you say you are not referring to toogoolawah,please make this clear to everyone and please be a little more careful if you are using a dz name.even innuendo can be very damaging to a dz. who are all struggling at the moment. thanks. des

please do not post this sort of stuff using your t'wah name! this does NOT happen at toogoolawah,i know ,cos i was dz manager there for 4 years. the pilots and instructors at t'wah are truly professional people! i am very angry ,the way your post came across. please explain that you are not referring to toogoolawah! or at least apologise, for perhaps being mis informed,or exaggerating. yes,people there drink a lot of beer,and have some pretty wild parties,but that is normal at any good dz. i am very angry, and demand a retraction!. oops ,just realised you are a troll. silly me. des

there is a webpage somewhere on the darwin theory

5 plus pilot in a wide -bodied c182 is normal and comfortable. had this conversation before,no more to say. des

well,it depends a lot on the pilot. remember 5 of us in a c182 ,we couldn't get over 9000',(9500msl),told the a/c owner,who said "bullshit!, get in!). the same 5 got in,he had us at 12500' in 25 mins!,got down,and gave the 1st pilot a flying lesson. i'm no pilot,but apparently,settings,airspeed,trim,and a few other factors all have a lot to do with performance. so 6pax on a 182 can get to height easily and quickly if flown right. des

bill, i agree 300% the drogue should not be used to get stable! but undeniably ,once deployed,thestudent can do anything they like,(i really don't care what they do,touch there toes if they like),and the drogue will keep you in a stable position,with the help of a good tm arch.all the tm's i work with now keep their legs inside the students,and this allows a far better arch.it took me a while to get used to this,but i swear ,it's sooo much more comfortable than tm legs outside. yeah the new sigma has some great features,but check your reserve loops!we have had 2 wear completely thru,and the reserve popped when the flat was lifted! no shit! des

the drogue basically has 3 functions. 1;it acts as a stabilizer. 2;it slows the tandem pair to a" normal" freefall speed. 3;it acts as a p/c. it is attached by a 3 ring release ,similar to a cutaway system,so when you pull the r/c you are actually releasing the drogue ,which in turn pulls out the main canopy.(most tandems use a system like this,but i am referring primarily to a strong system.).so the rule is; no drogue, no main! you can therefore convert your rig to a simple boc deployment , by pulling a r/c(drogue release),before exit. so if the drogue cannot be deployed cleanly,(if it wraps around part of the tandem pair,your only option is the reserve. no cutaway!). i hope this makes sense,just got home from the bar. des

ok. born ; takapuna,new zealand. lived and surfed; gisborne, new zealand. 1st jump; toogoolawah,brisbane,australia. jumped; aust.,nz, vanuatu, usa, hawaii and saipan. favourite foreign dz; skydive oregon,elsinore a close 2nd. best visuals: saipan,(a 8x17 mile island in the nthn marianas.) still living and jumping on saipan. des best dz anywhere; toogoolawah ,of course!