riddler

Thanks, Mustard and skr for replying (two of my heros

One cutaway on jump 85. The decision didn't come right away, because the circumstances didn't warrant that. But I'm not flying a small highly-elliptical canopy either Don't be afraid to do it if you're in doubt - it typically only costs $50 and you're jumping is done for the day, but you have a wonderful story to tell eveyone and post on dz.com

I love my triathalon. Does that count for Valentine's day? Maybe to show it how much I care, I'll take it out and repack it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Is this a good emergency procedure for two canopies out? I have always learned to ride both canopies down, steering under rear riser of the dominant canopy. The only reason to chop the main is in the event of a downplane. Was he downplaned at all? Or (I hope not) did he force them into a downplane? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Rental gear - tell it to the DZO. I've never experienced anything close to this on my own rig. I have good spandex and check it frequently, and my (older) container has FF mods. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Getting paid doesn't matter much to me - I make enough money in my day job to skydive as much as I like. I want to be an instructor because I just really like the students. But at the same time, I don't want to piss off the "union" by handing out free coach jumps when others are trying to make a living from skydiving. Anyone have thoughts on this? If I don't charge a student for the jump, is it best to keep that between the two of us? Even not charging for coach jumps doesn't make the numbers better - if there's not enough students asking for coach jumps, then it's gonna be hard to get the requirements in. I want the students to have fun, at the DZ, not be pressured by all the people trying to sell them coach jumps, equipment, videos, t-shirts, etc. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just want to add that in my opinion the BOC should be a standard part of gear check (done by the jumper when packing, not by anyone else). Spandex seems susceptible to ordinary wear and tear and the BOC of the container seems to get a lot of contact from setting rigs upright, reclining on benches, etc. I'm kind of sensitive about BOC because I had a premature deployment last year. Cause - loose spandex on BOC allowed PC to come out. Lesson -don't free-fly old rental gear Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm planning on taking Mustard's coach course in March and I'm reading the IRM and SIM, which leads me to a LOT of questions, so I hope you guys don't mind if I pick your brains and start a thread on this, since I didn't see one for questions specific to the USPA course. The first question in on coach currency. There are a few options to stay current, but it looks like USPA is trying to encourage the first one - sit in on a first-jump course every year and do 15 coach jumps every year. Failing that, it looks like you have to retake the coach course (but with only one jump, rather than two, if it's within a year of expiration). I would prefer the former, rather than the latter, and I think USPA would prefer that as well. I do think it's good that getting a higher cert (such as AFFI) automatically renews the coach rating. My concern is that it may be difficult to perform 15 coach jumps in a year. It seems that a lot of jumpers in my area either are or are becoming coaches and there may not be enough of a student market for coaching to let all of the coaches stay current. It looks like with the ISP, that every student requires at least 3 coach jumps (is this correct?). If true, this would mean coaches may need to work with as many as 5 students every year to stay current. I don't know enough about the big picture (ratio of coaches/students) to know if this is reasonable. It seems that, especially at smaller DZs, it may be hard to find five students for every coach every year. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Have any coaches been struggling with finding enough students?

You are referring to seratonin, a natural brain chemical that makes one feel "good" - not good like being high - just good like feeling well and peaceful. And many things deplete seratonin - drinking, drugs (especially X), even skydiving. Any time you get happy and excited, your brain will secret large amounts of this into your synaptic gaps, which will eventually flush out, turn into other brain chemicals and leave your brain. But it does get naturally replenished. Specifically, seratonin is a nuerotransmitter and it's natural to cycle levels of it. Your brain needs two amino acids to produce it - one you will never run out of - the other is called 5-HTP, a derivative of Tryptophan, which is found in bananas, milk, turkey, figs and dates. Controlling seratonin levels is what all the modern anti-depressants (prozac, paxil, et al) do. I think it's great to listen to doctors, but definitely get on-line and research what they tell you - it can be easy to misconstrue information. Depleting brain chemicals sounds bad at first, but when you research more, you realize that it's a natural process, although it can be radically accelerated by drug use. You can even go so far as to control your own levels. Here is some reading: http://www.5-htp.org Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

At 10 cents per mile to operate (not including gas), you aren't kidding. I have this theory that it costs less to buy a new one, drive it until something breaks and buy another new one than to actually get the thing serviced. But it's still cheaper than an airplane Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I didn't realize he was in there until you pointed it out. Even then it took me a few seconds Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You left her in a trunk? What were you thinking?? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Riddler, the BMW snob keeps his trap shut ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Wingnut - I hear your name being called. My ear is still ringing from Eloy. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My advice would be to always listen to your instructors, rather than people you don't know on the Internet. But I would advise you get opinions from a few different instructors. Notice I am emphasizing instructors, not hot-shot swoopers with 2000 jumps. Good instructors shouldn't steer you to a particular brand of canopy, but can give good advice about the size/shape, etc and know your body type and landing skills better than we do. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Why is this exactly? My understanding of crossports is that they allow air to flow between cells. The purpose of this is to keep more even pressure in all the cells in times of turbulence, turns, or whatever else. Is this a correct statement? I would liek to understand their purpose better. So why is it important to teach this to students? It seems like considering how much students are expected to absorb in AFF, the instruction should be limited to things they can change, not things they can't. It seems like they don't really have any control over cross-ports, so why teach it to them? I can see teaching them when they learn to pack ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Err - which version of windows? Most modern versions, you can CTL-ALT-DEL, then select task manager, click the "process tab" and say "end process" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You laugh, but I am working on a special keyboard that translates ordinary english into skydiving speak. For example, in normal mode I type in: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. Now, switching to skydiving speak, I type in the same sentence: Jumping boobies beer beer jump boobies. Right now, it only has three words, but I've found that comprises 97% of skydiver's speech. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Now here's a real example of a gorgeous woman - cute and smart. Any other languages you speak? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Wouldn't ya know that Dave would be the first? I saw that post and it reminded me of when I go diving and the dive masters throw chum into the shark infested waters. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't see a huge problem with keeping them, but I will add that where I took AFF, I *was* trained to throw away the handles. I don't know the rationale of the DZO that told me to do that - he just said "you don't need them". After my real-life cutaway, they were gone. Attached is a photo of my loop cut-away handle. A senior rigger made it for me after my cutaway (he asked first before replacing my pillow, of course). I like it - it's very stiff, has very little bulk or surface area - it lies flat next to my side. You have to really intend to grab it to do so, and you can also put a thumb in it if you want to.

These are both good points that I have considered and I don't really have a good reason why I did things the way I did. I also recognize that you are right about consulting a rigger for these things, which may seem trivial at first, but really nothing in this sport is trivial. On this second point, I think that's valid and I'll probably change the orientation at some point. This is just the way the knife ended up being attached. I thought that there was a small possibility that it would catch something, so I wore the rig and removed the knife quickly a few times to see what it might catch, and the risk is small, but it could potentially catch a few things, but you're right - of all the possibilities, the chest strap is probably the most important. As far as this first point, my first thought was to get (or make) a sheath or pouch that snaps to the mudflap, and which also holds the knife. To do that, I would also need some way to make sure the knife stays in the sheath. The main disadvantages in my (un-expert) opinion was the time required under canopy to remove the sheath and then the knife, and also the possibility that that process may cause me to drop the knife or sheath or both under canopy. I like the idea of being able to retract the knife quickly, but I've never had a line-over on reserve, so I don't know if speed is important. Maybe you or someone else that has some experience using a knife in a real situation may have a better view of the importance of speed with a knife. Another thing I don't like about not having a sheath is the aluminum knife moving around (and possibly wearing on) the lift-web stitches - that is why I asked the question to mr. booth. I think this may be resolved by using tape.

This law must either untrue or ignored. If it were true, we'd hear a lot of screaming from skydiving women in FL every Sunday. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You are a better skydiver than I for jumping in yesterday's cold weather. I was watching it idley from inside my heated house. Brrrr. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I like this format - I think I'll use it this week: