3ringheathen

I like the theory, but I don't think it's a major factor. Any preference is far more likely to be due to what was originally taught, or the landing pattern(s) required at one's home dropzone and what not. I favor a right hand pattern because it gives me more outs in the prevailing winds at my dz, and it allows me to land closer to the hangar. Others prefer the opposite, just because there's a bit less traffic. Depth perception is important to swooping, and one of the major depth perception cues is binocular disparity. That's the difference between what the left and right eye see, and it gets more pronounced as you get closer to an object. AFAIK, eye dominance comes into play primarily when you close or squint one eye. This probably isn't a great idea on a swoop, because you're losing some important depth perception cues. Anyway, that's my .02 and it reminds me to make a point of practicing some left hand approaches for a change! -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

There's no where near enough information in that article to tell if this is absurd, reasonable, or somewhere inbetween. It's probably somewhere in the middle. The principal could be way out of line, or it could be that this teacher is misusing his power as an authority figure to push a particular agenda. I'd be interested to know what prompted the principals actions. I get the impression that these restrictions were imposed on this specific teacher, and are not a general policy. I'd bet money that the teacher was doing something significant that crossed the line. The article doesn't say, but I'm sure more details will come out. One quote that I found alarming: "...the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment." Does a teacher really have complete and unfettered free speech rights in an elementary school classroom context? I doubt it. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

A bad spot isn't always apparent prior to opening. For example let's say the ideal spot has been "climb out over the big red barn to the north" all day long. If the winds shift between loads, you might climb out over the big red barn and think it's a perfect spot. Until you open and realize that you are downwind, not upwind, or whatever. Also, the instructor might not have thought there was any reason for the student to land out. Maybe the student brainlocked. An instructor can't do a damn thing about that. I've seen many jumpers, both students and licensed skydivers that opened close enough to safely land in the right field only to turn and fly off in some other direction. Go figure. Ideally, yes. But not if I was having gear troubles of my own. Not if I didn't think I could safely land where they were heading. At my dz, there are cornfields and tree farms that a student could probably land in ok, but that would be really dangerous for me on my tiny canopy. I can't help them if I'm hurt. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

You could still have questions, even with all, or most of the details. You don't have enough experience to put the pieces of the puzzle together. That's ok. The problem, as I see it, is that you've come to this forum asking us to help you put the puzzle together, but you didn't bring very many pieces of the puzzle with you. That makes it pretty tough to help you. While it's possible that the instructor made mistakes that contributed to this, it's also possible that this can fairly be attributed to bad luck or other factors outside of the instructors control. Regardless, what can you do to avoid similar problems? If you're convinced that the quality of instruction is poor, go somewhere else or quit altogether. Ultimately, responsibility for your well being rests on your shoulders. However, AFAIK, your dz has a good track record, so that's probably not necessary or appropriate. Sooner or later, you will land out if you jump long enough. So take a cell phone with you on your jumps. If you know you are going to land out, 1st, choose a big open area to land in, then figure out which direction the main road, a house, or building is. After landing, walk towards one of them. Study the dz and surrounding area on the ride to altitude. What are the easily recognizable landmarks? What are the best alternate landing areas? What are the worst? In other words, be prepared. Hmmm...the instructor opened higher than they normally do, or higher than the student? There's a big difference. At any rate, it is possible to have a partial malfunction that isn't obvious on video. Particularly to an inexperienced viewer. A tension knot, torn top skin, stuck toggle and broken lines come to mind off the top of my head. FWIW Some of the best instructors are those that have made serious mistakes in the past. It causes them to be more dilligent. I'd like to stress that it's still not clear that they did anything wrong. I don't think anyone really meant to attack you. However, you did come here with very little useful information for us, and you seemed to have already made up your mind that the instructor was incompetant. Given the lack of details and your lack of experience, that's not fair to us or to the instructor. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

If you'd said ..."there is significantly *less* harm if a Lit prof thinks..." , I'd agree with you. However, citizens, even lowly literature professors vote for politicians as well as vote on specific policy issues that effect us all. If they're voting on issues that require an understanding of the fundamentals of science and they believe creationist nonsense, it has the potential to hurt us all. I'd suggest that such demonstrably false beliefs are also correlated with other questionable belief sets as well. Such people tend to have a set of core beliefs that they justify with selective interpretations of the bible. They are a minority, but highly organized and bent upon imposing their views upon all of us. I would point to stem cell research or our recent presidential election as examples: A whole lot of people voted based upon an unwavering belief that the bible frowns upon homosexuality, when in fact that is a remarkably recent interpretation of selected passages of the old testament. I happen to think that this was a piss poor issue upon which to choose the leader of the "free" world. I suppose the trick is finding a balance between the value and necessity of allowing individuals to believe whatever they want, and allowing said non scientific beliefs to influence policies that ought to be scientifically based. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I think you've summed up Intelligent Design quite nicely. Good point. Thanks. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I agree with your primary point, but it's the shape/design of the airfoil that radically change the handling characteristics of a main Vs reserve. The fact that it's F111 or ZP has relatively little to do with it. ZP reserves are available, and they handle very much like F111 reserves do. They don't wear out as quickly, which isn't a huge issue for most reserves as they don't get a lot of use, and they're a bit harder to pack neatly, which might be a big deal depending upon the skill of the rigger. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

My .02: Given my druthers, I like a reserve to be a completely different color than my main. I want it to be as easy as possible to distinguish between the two in a crisis. Realistically, it's probably a minor point, though. I suspect that the benefits of a larger canopy in an emergency almost always outweigh the possible benefits of a smaller one. If safety were truly the only concern, virtually every experienced jumper I know, myself included, ought to be on a larger reserve. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

What kkk grand wizard are you referring to? The only KKK guy that comes to my mind is David Duke, and he's a republican. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Most of you probably have a free personal web page with your internet account. What if everyone simply devoted one page to exposing this fraud? All it needs is a brief explanation/warning about skyride and ASC, and links to the real USPA website. If hundreds of skydivers took this approach, wouldn't their pages come up before Cockroachy's? Food for thought. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Why would you stop? Personally, the only *why* I can imagine is kids. When and/if I meet the right women, I want to be a daddy. That *might* be when I stop. -Josh ps: I saw the typo, but I like it. If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It's not the least bit subtle. The trouble is that there are so many genuine nutballs out there that the Landover Baptist Church seems plausible anyway. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

PM sent. Details will follow once we're certain the family has been notified. For now I'd just like to say that the search and rescue guys were excellent. What a shitty way to meet such a great group of people. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

1) Of those 85%, very few claim to here the voice of god. 2) For the remainder, the only difference is that their mental illness is socially acceptable. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Scale. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

The founding fathers made a conscious decision to omit references to god from the constitution. Therefore, it's obvious that they meant words such as oath, swear, etc in the broad, general sense. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

No worries. It wasn't exactly crystal clear what I meant. Your take on it was reasonable. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Based upon the original post, he doesn't know, or at least doesn't fully appreciate how badly he screwed up. "When asked about it, the jumper said he had not seen it and did not seem to concerned that he had made such an error." Later on in the thread that seems to have changed. Anyway, my point wasn't necessarily directed at this individual, but rather a general observation about skydiver personalities. When they aren't receptive to S&TA lectures and the like, it really seems like one of the most effective alternatives is some good natured ridicule. Often it's either that or shun them altogether. I'm pretty sure mine isn't the only DZ where you'll get shit from your buds if you repeatedly make dumb choices. That's what friends are for. YMMV. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I've long found it funny that skydivers as a group aren't particularly motivated to change their habits if the only benefit is increased safety. What most of us seem to be motivated by is fear of ridicule. So mock the guy. Embarass him. That's really what seems to work the best. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Kind of like the old saw "there are no atheists in fox holes"? I've faced life and death situations a few times. In each case I was too busy trying to survive to worry about calling out to god. Not only would taking the time to do so make it more likely that I died, it'd also be a blatantly irrational failure on my part. If one spends years contemplating the existence of God and repeatedly draws the conclusion that he's a myth, than it's obvious that a last minute change is born of emotional panic, not reason. This would hardly be an argument for God, but it makes a great argument for the degree of fear of dying that most of us hold. Believe what you must to get throug the day. I didn't suddenly turn to god before, and I won't the next time the shit hits the fan. There are more productive things to do, like fighting back, pulling handles, bracing for impact and such. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Exactly. Further, there's a bit of a contradiction within the *new and improved (TM)* pledge itself. It's supposed to be one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. It reads "indivisible", yet a divisive phrase was added. It says justice for *all*, not justice for the vast majority. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

wrong sport. Yeah, we prefer Scotch. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

As you've seen by now, pretty much everyone is surprised that you were told to chop it. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that it was your boyfriend that told you to chop it, not the instructional staff. Is this the case? If so, what is his experience level and what ratings does he hold? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Blood red and then total, eternal darkness? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

That's the idea. The concept of a stowless bag. So what was your point when you said: "It (line dump) doesn't exist. If you want proof check out the Berger bag Sunpath is testing, or you own reserve."? If the tuck tabs on the Berger bag perform the same function as locking stows on a traditional bag, how does the use of the Berger bag prove that line dump doesn't exist?! -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.