skypuppy

...Gasp.... "No Jesus cord, man?!"... Are you an atheist, for God's sake?! If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

All you need is a hook knife, man, you can still win if you try.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I think most jumpers know somebody that has had an AAD fire. I saw 2 live in about 5 years. I know of a few others at my dz as well. Experienced jumpers. So glad they had them. _________________________________________________ In 30+ years I have never seen an experienced jumper saved by an aad, or know an experienced jumper saved by one. I have however seen several two-out situations caused by aads that could have or did result in injuries. AADs should be a choice. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

You could kill someone else on the ground. _________________________________________________ As far as I'm aware, no one has ever killed anyone by actually bouncing on them. There have, however, been SEVERAL incidents where people (spectators) have been killed by people during uncontrolled canopy descents or swoops. I could be wrong about no one ever bouncing on someone, but I doubt it. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Because you don't want folks whispering at your funeral, "Dumbass died and left an extra $1,100 for his wife. He should have bought an AAD." My wife could use the eleven hundred bucks. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Usually around 6 or so a year now-a-days. Used to do quite a few more -- one or two years around 25 or so. Nowadays they're mostly freebies for charity or low pay -- favors for friends. The few that do pay, it's 100 bucks per jumps. In the 90's money seemed a lot freer -- there were more airshows around. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

OK....A guy does a static line jump in West Jordan, Utah nearly 30 years ago. Hated it. 25 years roll past and he wants to try it again. In 5 years, he racks up 1600 jumps. He can truthfully say he's done 1600 jumps in 30 years. Would you suggest he has greater knowledge and longevity than Skydiver B, who got just as many jumps in 2 years? _________________________________________________ I would be more likely to give him credit for 1600 jumps in 6 years, and I would say, yes he does have greater knowledge and longevity than someone who got the same number of jumps in 2 years. However I would never agree he had been involved in the sport for 30 years if he hasn't done at least some jumps in each of those years (if he worked as a manifestor, packer, or judge, or something like that, I might have to modify my opinion, but it still isn't 'jump' experience). If you make 105 jumps in one year, leave for 5 years and then come back to make another 105 jumps the next year, you have accumulated 210 jumps and 2 years experience over 7 years. Your average rate was 105 jumps/year. If you make 105 jumps one year, then 10 jumps/year for 5 years, then 55 jumps the next year, then yes, you made 210 jumps and 7 years experience over 7 years. 10 jumps a year may not be a lot of experience, but it is something. Of course your average is now 30 jumps/year, so you may not meet currency requirements. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

"...time in sport alone, cannot be a measurement of anything significant." __________________________________________________ Well, I would say time in sport alone is indeed a measure of longevity, and in a sport where many will fly fast and burn out or just sort of fade away, longevity is, on its own, significant. To me, anyways. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

And yes...if Skydiver B was that good after one year, he'll likely be 2X better in two more years. But....Skydiver A isn't remotely as good as Skydiver B on his best day, in spite of more than a decade of additional experience. Ergo; time in sport alone, cannot be a measurement of anything significant. _________________________________________________ The question isn't who's skills are better, but are Skydiver A's skills 'good enough' that tempered with his experience he can perform the job well. And if Skydiver B is so happy and enthusiastic about skydiving that he needs to get paid to skydive tandems or he'll lose interest and quit, then maybe he isn't really that in love with skydiving anyways. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I was recently questioning the tandem statistics myself, and emailed Bill Booth (along with Ted Strong the tandem gurus of the world).... Here is what he sent me. "as I remember: USPA put the solo jumper fatality rate over the last 10 years at something like one in every 80,000 - 100,000 jumps in the US. The tandem fatality rate, over the last 25 years, is around two per year in the entire world. (Or 4, depending on how you count it. Does one tandem jump count as one or two jumps? Is one tandem fatality one or two fatalities?) While I'm not sure how many tandems are made each year in the whole world, I suspect it is well over one million (or 2 million if one tandem jump is counted as two jumps.). Based on these assumptions, the tandem fatality rate is less than one per 500,000 jumps, or 5 times better than the solo rate." There you have it. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

This is not the first cut at this dz either. Not too many years ago all staff got a 20% bonus added to their account if they used the money for fun jumps. A few years back (after the incident in bc where a pff instructor was injured on a working jump) this bonus was rescinded, ostensibly to cover the costs associated with paying workman's comp for everyone on staff. The net effect was that, for a $30 tandem (at the time) the instructor actually got $36 value if he used it jumping. So between now and then we've actually lost about $9/jump in compensation. All other staff also lost the 20% bonus at that time, packers, j/m, etc. but the tm's/vidiot's lost the most since they got paid the most. We could go on.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

I had been under the impression that even though Joe is known for his 'fiscal frugality', he did pay equal or higher than average for staff pay. _______________________________________________ Not surprising you thought that, I guess, that IS what he tells everyone.... From a quick, very unscientific poll I conducted with some friends recently, I'd say Joe pays on the low end of average. Several places are paying more. Rather than having more part-timers, Last year Joe brought in a couple of Russian tandemmasters for the season, who live right at the dz and do most of the jumps during the week. We have been told that this year he is bringing in more, and one of the trailers has been made over into a bunkhouse for them. Partly the reduction in pay was said to be because the Russians couldn't train their own students (English not the first language), but were getting paid the same. So whoever trained them supposedly will now get the $3 per student for the training. However, what it means is you show up at the dz, they push someone at you, say she's been trained, and you get less money for taking them up. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

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Yes, that's what I was asking, rates of injuries to instructors, not even necessarily serious injuries. But like you only seem to find anecdotal injuries, no stats. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

So in your examples you talk about two jumps where the instructors were injured ON THE JUMP and had to modify the game plan in order to land those jumps safely. Seems to me you don't have to be old to get hurt ON A JUMP. And if someone is hurt on a jump, and has problems on the same jump after that injury, it doesn't make them a bad flyer. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Yes, after talking to Bill Booth I am pretty much convinced, certainly about fatalities. Would still be interested to know about injuries.... Not sure if your dz would be an average sample, I imagine your tandem inst.s generally have more experience than the average inst. worldwide -- but I could be wrong. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Found this. Dale assisted Bill Cole in getting his balloon licence in 1977, which led to Bill's adding a tethered balloon to skydiving team act. Bill first flew for Toyota for 2 years, then when they decided to mothball the balloon he sold the idea to Canadian Tire, who had the same colors, and simply changed the banner with the name. After a couple years of that balloon, he started flying for the Yellow Pages, and was getting so much for that that he quit jumping. Figured he couldn't risk getting injured and not being able to fly. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Ok, I did get a reply from Bill Booth. He's travelling and didn't have all the numbers and everything right with him, but what he said was uspa claims to have a fatality rate of about 1 in 80,000-100,000 jumps over the last 10 years. He figures over 1 million tandems are made each year with about 2 fatal jumps (4 deaths) on average for that last 25 years. So he's figuring 2 fatal jumps out of 1 million for a fatality rate of 1 incident (2 fatalities) per 500,000 jumps. I would probably call it 1 fatality per 250,000 jumps in that case, but it is still safer than solo jumping, I guess, fatality-wise. I have to wonder about the rate of injuries among tandem masters, though, compared to solos. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

No, categorically he was saying that UPT claims according to statistics that a tandem jump is the safest kind of jump you can make, whether you're the passenger or the TI. This would be partly because of the built-in systems on each jump -- ie, recommended handles checks, etc. I would it if someone from UPT could chime in here, giving us the stats and exact wording. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

My dzo claims that upt states doing tandems is the safest type of jump you can do statiscally, not only for students, but also for the tandem instructor. Does anyone know where this information is? I find it rather hard to believe myself, expecially jumping out of 182,s I find tandem jumps really beat a body up. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

32 gores of cotton sail-cloth with a flat diameter of 32 feet or more. at the apex a wooden circle 10 inches across, 4 1/2 feet below that a wpoden hoop 8 ft diameter was sewn inside the canopy. a wicker basket 2 ft wide and 4 ft deep was suspended below the parachute by 36 lines, each 30 ft long. June 1797, Jardin de Byron, Paris, he attempted and could not get the balloon to fly. 22 October he tried again at the Parc Monceau, and did a jump from 2000 feet. I don't have a picture of the first descent, but here is a picture of the same man doing the first jump in england in 1802 near where Marylebone Station now is, and uses a similar parachute and balloon. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Man, you got too much time on your hands. You're totally missing the point of the article. The IOC doesn't care. The Canadian Olympic Committee doesn't care. The Canadian Hockey Federation doesn't care. Even the US Olympic Committee said "My only comment would be, I wish it was the Americans who had been in a position to do that," U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun told the Associated Press. The girls apologized to be polite. I probably would have, too. But not until I'd finished my beer. It's not like the US mens team trashing the hotel in Nagano. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Huh? It took 22 years for them to come back this time, this episode will be forgotten by next week.... As for the Olympic Committee owning the ice, I paid for the damm thing, the IOC can rent it, but they don't own it. I'd like to see the specific rule where it says they can't go on the ice for a beer. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

soccer players in certain south american countries, among others. Or cricket players.... i'm canadian. My taxes paid for much of this. I think it looks good on them. Not one canadian citizen on the canadian network news has said anything other then good for them, hope they had a good time. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

Example from my own experience. In 2004 we got the 357 way after a long and hard week. Everyone started celebrating, buying beer from the vendors that magically appeared after we had landed at Thakli. One woman could barely stand up, she was in so much pain from her shoulder. Another guy had passed out on the final jump. We had lost several people to injuries and sickness. We all deserved a celebration. Then we had to fly back to Udon Thani, so we loaded the C-130's to fly back. The Thai military didn't want beer on their planes, so Larry went around telling people to get rid of the beers. We did, out of respect for the people who gave us their airplanes basically for free. Did that mean that the Thai military were assholes with sticks up their asses? Should we have protested, and said "FUCK YOU! We have the right to celebrate in the place we started the record attempt from!" Perhaps. But instead we dumped out the beer, flew back and had the party back at the base. And that didn't seem like a huge deal to me. It seemed more like showing respect for some of the people who allowed us to get the record in the first place. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Real skydivers would have kept drinking and hired a blind cab driver to drive them back.... Even if it is a 14 hour cab ride. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone