diverdriver

Your condescending tone is not appreciated and not helping this debate. These are serious people trying to do something serious for the sport. Let's all try to remember that we are all skydivers and we all hate seeing our brothers and sisters broken in a field. There are going to many answers to this question and an effort to educate along with regulate is probably the best answer. We need to do both in my book. Many schools have taken it seriously to give quality canopy control education while in early student status. Too many DZs have not. Another analogy I'd like to point out from the world of aviation is that stunt pilots flying high performance acrobatic aircraft normally can only do them high off the ground. The airshows that you see where pilots doing acrobatics close the ground must have special permission from the FAA. When you fligh that high performance canopy in a high performance landing you are effectively doing an acrobatic manuever. What qualifies you to do that? A pocketbook? Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

She's an excellent cook. I've been eating her cooking for quite awhile.

Available? Well she can start the job anytime really. That's what you meant, right? RIGHT?

Thanks. Yes, she has made one tandem and would like to make a second.

Any and all leads will be looked at. I appreciate it Cheryl.

Ummm....just gotta get past eeneR first.

Ok friends. I need a bit of help. I have a friend who needs a job. She has extensive background in the healthcare industry and is looking for something in Performance Improvement, Health Education, and Infection Control. If you know of ANY lead that could help my good friend out I would be forever indebted to you. Please send me a PM if you can. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

You are in the same air as me. You may or may not be able to handle your canopy. You could take me out from behind and kill me. That will suck when I can't talk to more people about aircraft safety. See why I'm interested in this? Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Oh Bill, you walk that fine line like a cat I tell yah! LOL.....well done.

You calling me skinny? Wait a cottin pickin minute. You jump in the same air I do. What you jump IS important to me since you could collide with me if it is beyond your ability to control yourself. It absolute IS my business. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

John, I completely disagree with everything you said. You say regulation doesn't help. I say it does. Look at the airlines. They strove to get 0 passenger deaths in a year by regulating training. It worked. So how can you say it won't work here? No, we don't need regulation to the level that the airlines have. That's silly. But there are things we can do in this sport to improve it and guide new jumpers. This BSR is one of them. We regulate that student must have RSLs and that other jumpers are encouraged to have them except in certain situations. Why is this so hard to conceive that a regulation can't help? Well John, I guess you have your work cut out for you. Would you please do the statistics for fatalities for the past 10 years and tell us what percentage of canopy/landing fatalites were people under 500 jumps to how many over. Tell me that the percentage below 500 jumps is not higher than above 500 jumps and I will reverse my view. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Yes, and that's why people need time in this sport to identify issues they have personally. They need to see more. Every year since I've been in the sport (1995) Parachutist has run the annual fatality report and every year it is a hot topic that people are killing themselves under perfectly functioning canopies. 8 years of questioning. How can you say this is superficial? I think some people get a bit hung up on the numbers and forget that each number is a human being. The airlines strove for 0 passenger fatalities and have actually achieved that goal in recent years. Not consecutively but it has happened. Why can't that same effort be made in skydiving. There's regulation for recurrent training. And you have to be type rated on each plane you fly. Why is that such a hard concept in skydiving? You must recieve training to fly any canopy you fly. It's regulated that way. In this proposed BSR you can do the training early or you can wait until you meet the jump number requirement. If you really feel that this BSR is bogus I expect you to try and repeal the 500 jump requirement for people to be Tandem Masters. You state that jump numbers mean nothing. How can you let this injustice stand? I know you won't but I'm trying to make a point. Jump numbers is an accepted form of judging experience in this sport. We are currently raising our D license requirement to 500 jumps to get the license. Why? Because we recognize the sport is not the same as in past years. I agree change for changes sake is bad. But in this case change is necessary or we will continue to see many people every year becoming quadraplegics or killed because they are flying canopies beyond their ability and jump numbers. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

And that's what I call communication interference. It must be turned off. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Ok, I agree with all that Bill. But here is the other fact that the flying public has to accept. If your cell phone is on you might be on it too. When would a cell phone get a signal? Taxi, takeoff, and landing. What is the most critical phase of flying? Taxi, takeoff, and landing. I don't want any passenger on a cell phone in case of an emergency. And not all emergencies are obvious to passengers. I need them ready to hear crew member instructions. That's why the headphones that plug into the aircraft system are allowed to be used during these times. The PA system can break into the broadcast. Anything else it can not. Then there's the whole projectile issue. If you are talking on or listening to messages the phone could then be a projectile in a crash. Not a good thing. And jumpers should understand that issue well. So, with all that I know, I have many reasons why people should turn their cell phone off while on airplanes. Even if they totally get rid of the interference that cell phones could ever cause I still don't want anyone using them. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Hey, they got Slim Pickens playing me and I don't think he looks much like more or is about the same age.

Bill, I'm telling you as someone who flys airliners. I hear clicking in my headset when a cell phone (even the f'n precious PCS phone) is turned on in the back of the plane. It CAN interfere with me hearing what ATC just told me. That instruction just might be "Go around there is another plane on the runway" but if I didn't hear the call sign I might not know that was for me. Cell phones DO interfere with communication and we DO suspect them of causing certain anomalies onboard highly advanced electrical aircraft. Heck, we even had one guy get put onboard and his inplanted defibrilator started going off big time. We pulled him off with the paramedics. It went off a total of 12 times and you can hear it each time. The ramp agents said that was really weird because the same thing happened to him 2 weeks earlier when he tried to board. So don't tell me aircraft electrical systems can't be interfered with by an outside source. They emit a field and they can be influenced by a field. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Yes, and they are also hardwired into the aircraft's electrical system so they are not going to interfere with it! Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Nathaniel. It does matter how they die. That's how we've gotten to this point. The rule is not arbitrary. It has basis in total experience. Jump numbers is the method for determining some background. In order to accumilate 500 jumps you need to have been around a bit. Look at Tandem ratings. You need to have been around awhile so they say 500 jumps AND 3 years in the sport. Since higher wingloadings may not be as complex as Tandem jumping the jump number requirement will have some effect on when someone will be able to get a higher WL. Will this cure everything. Sure as hell not. But it most definitely will have an effect. A good one I think too. Skydivers think we need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to flying. We don't. We mearly have to look at how pilots are certified for flying high performance and complex planes and recognize that we as humans have limitations. There are times where we need more education to do something different. No one is born knowing how to fly. We have to be taught. And that teaching comes in blood. It is the result of years of broken bodies. Are you going to listen to me now Nathaniel? How many years have you been in this sport or in aviation (if you are a pilot) total? What have you seen? Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Ummm.....it was shown to have crashed a plane in Europe. It's not impossible. The problem is that some times cell phones can impact systems or communications with their repeater and a lot of time they don't. When the conditions are right they can. Many will say that the wiring is shielded. But what if the shielding is chafed? Wire chafing has been a problem at some point on any aircraft. Any aircraft has issues while they age. You willing to bet your life on it not happening on this flight? Turn your cell phone off. It's the law. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Fallingilweenie Uh huh..... Thanks

Of course the report says nothing about the cell phone theory. There's no proof. This is from my company. I have a bit more of the inside than most.

Well sure. And there's the alternator whine you can get. But those are wired into the electrical system already. When I hear clicking from a cell phone I have to wonder what else it is effecting from the outside. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Bwahahhahahahahhaha.............aahahahhahahahahhahaha!!!!!!!!! Who do I have to thank for this?

I'll have you know that both on the Dornier 328 prop and the Canadair Regional Jet CL-65 I can hear when a cell phone is on. I get clicking noises in my headphones. Hopefully no one says anything important to me just as the clicks happen. Look HERE for a report on an uncommanded gear retraction during landing. A cell phone was suspected of causing the gear retraction but it could never be proven. No other cause was found. Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125

Yah, cuz the pilot tried to float them out the door. Riiiiiigght? It can be done safely with a normal jumprun and no action from the pilot.