slotperfect

Hi gang, I'm sure you are as glad as I am that we Instructor types now have our own place to pick each others' brains, learn, and generate ideas to forward the sport. To get us off to a great start, I have a few requests: -Specific advice to students currently under instruction should be avoided, deferring to the Instructors at the student's real DZ instead of their virtual one. This topic has been covered in many other posts, and I feel it's important to bring up here from the git go. -Please remember that this is an international forum. While a large percentage of those posting here are skydivers from the US, we get a lot of great input from other countries as well. This forum is a perfect opportunity for us to see how it's done in someone else's neighborhood and learn how to improve our own individual teaching techniques. -Note that Sangiro's welcome specifically targets those methods of instruction that don't already have their own forum. A question that fits the more specific forums should be posted there. For example, a question about Birdman instruction should be posted in the Wing Suit Flying Forum. Here we will see posts about Tandem, AFF (and it's many spinoffs), Static Line, IAD, etc. -Back up your opinions. Details like where you learned a technique, your experiences using it, and why you choose that particular technique over others will be of great value to all of us. -When posting a poll, leave an "Other, please explain" option. It allows for many other possibilities you may not have considered. Thanks in advance for the useful input. Arrive Safely John

What kind of main canopy are you jumping? What is your primary discipline or focused activity while skydiving? Arrive Safely John

At the risk of sounding schizophrenic and answering my own question, they have all been moved to the new Instructors Forum. If you are the owner of a thread here in S&T and you feel your thread would have a greater impact on our community in that forum vs. here, let me know and I'll move it. BTW - HH asked me to back up billvon here in S&T when he's "indisposed." Happy to be here! Arrive Safely John

Rob kinda beat me to it, but I'll throw in my two cents. 1) Exposing the side of the tandem pair to the relative wind on exit. 2) An irregular student (and sometimes TM) body position, creating a less-than-smooth flying surface. Arrive Safely John

I knew they had it TSOd, quite some time ago I believe, but I didn't think they would ever start selling it. I have a video of who I believe is Vladi Pesa landing the thing. Amazing, since Vladi is as big as I am. Arrive Safely John

I did a couple of demo jumps there in 1992. What a cool location! One of the jumps used the 50 yard line of nearby Soldier Field as the spot. It was cool to be in free fall watching the numbers get bigger and bigger. Arrive Safely John

Can you elaborate a bit? What type of aircraft do you have at your DZ? What is the DZO's reason for this policy? Thanks! Arrive Safely John

Tandem Instructors voting only, please . . . How do you set yourself up for the landing flare? What would you say your percentage of stand-ups is with this technique? Arrive Safely John

Updated to include a couple of new ones . . . 42% of 36 TMs voting wear a hard helmet THREAD 64% of 44 TMs voting wear a big floppy jumpsuit without booties THREAD 89% of 35 TMs voting put their student in some sort of jumpsuit THREAD 81% of 32 TMs voting have their student's harness completely tightened down ready to jump before boarding the aircraft THREAD 52% of 33 TMs voting remove their student's seatbelt after reaching a safe emergency exit altitude THREAD 67% of 18 TMs voting are able to turn a tandem canopy with rear risers (brakes stowed)THREAD 43% of 74 TMs voting have had between 0 and 3 reserve ridesTHREAD Of 75 TMs that shared their "incident history," the results were: -Student threw up 27& -Student passed out 21% -Student peed their pants 4% -Student crapped their pants 3% -Side-spin 15% -Student injured on landing 15% -TM head-butted by student 16% THREAD 39% of 71 TMs voting don't do any type of intentional flip on exit THREAD 42% of 33 TMs voting have been "taken for a ride" once or twice THREAD 48% of 44 TMs voting use the "right hand on right mudflap, left hand on left mudflap" student body postion on exit THREAD Arrive Safely John

All this from a lady who three years ago looked me with the evil eye and said: "Not me, buddy, I DON'T THINK SO! Ain't gonna happen!" All I had to do was nothing . . . except show a video or a pic now and then. Three tandems later, I have shared the sport that I love with a very dear friend, and fostered a new beginning for her. It was a joy and a privilege for me. Love ya Jo! Arrive Safely John

I use that nick a lot of places . . . I wanted it to be skydiving related, so I made a list and narrowed it down to that one as my #1 choice. It fits me because when I organize RW I always make it slotperfect. Arrive Safely John

You have a great plan, but it sounds like a lot of money and effort to spend for only a month. If I were you, I would continue to develop the specifics of your plan, waiting until I could come here for an entire season to put it into action. Arrive Safely John

Identical post in The Bonfire. No cross-forum posting please. Pick the forum that best fits your subject at put it there. Thanks. Arrive Safely John

AWESOME! I have missed it! I like the new look as well. Arrive Safely John

This has already been posted in this forum HERE Let's keep that thread going, OK? Thanks. Arrive Safely John

Search the forums and you'll find that many folks (including me) have had similar experiences. L&B customer service is excellent! Arrive Safely John

PM SkymonkeyONE. He will have it! Arrive Safely John

I have seen two cases of this. Both had injuries to their right hand that necessitated the switch. Their rigs also had an SOS single point cutaway/reserve deployment system so that all functions could be performed with the left hand. Arrive Safely John

Crosspost from The Bonfire. Please choose the best Forum for your specific topic and post it there. Don't waste bandwidth or fragment people's attention by double posting it. Thanks. Arrive Safely John

I put the word "intentional" in the title (subject) of the post. I try to keep my poll options as short and effective as possible. Arrive Safely John

I am exactly the same. I prefer this position to the crossed arms position. Arrive Safely John

At Carolina Sky Sports in Louisburg, NC, when you turn in your ticket at manifest, they have you write your name and your weight on it. I assume this is for manifest to help the pilots build an aircraft lift that is safely loaded. Maybe someone who is a regular at CSS can add something to this?? Arrive Safely John

Here are a few tips for you: -if you want to educate, don't aggravate . . . it's obvious by your "don't take this the wrong way" disclaimer that you knew already this would happen. -fill out your profile. You have only been registered three months and have contributed to only one thread. Your profile will help your credibility immensely here in the forums. -leave your "blame thrower" in its holster. "It's your fault" is inflammatory and encourages argumentative posting which is not supportive of the reason for your post. -be objective and not biased. Your whole post paints you as biased toward larger skydivers (like me). You may not be, but your language in the post, especially the "big mac" comment, present you that way. -personal attacks are not allowed in these forums (see the forum rules). Telling someone else they have a "bad attitude" closely approaches that line. I suggest you be more respectful of others in the forums, especially when you seem to be attempting to post something constructive. Arrive Safely John

Get it replaced or repaired, then rotate the link so the barrel nut is on the other side. It looks to me that the bridle has been getting pinched between the edge of the barrel nut and the grommet, causing the damage. Also refer to the manufacturer's intructions to make sure the kill line PC is installed correctly. Arrive Safely John

Yes. I am 250 out the door and have a Javelin Odyssey with mini risers and a Sabre2 190 with micro lines. No problems at all. Mini risers are reinforced these days to give them added strength. Arrive Safely John