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Chocolate covered espresso beans! ZING! Arrive Safely John

True statement. I talked to Bob last year to get information on a Laser 9 Hybrid I was asked to sell for a friend. He still makes them in small quantities for anyone who wants them. What is available from his product line I don't know. Arrive Safely John

"OWEN! My God, what a dream I was having . . . my Tandem Master was Louie Armstrong and he was trying to kill me!" Arrive Safely John

More on this, now that I have read the other suggestions . . . I can see where an "Intructor" or "Instructional" forum would serve us better. All of the Tandem threads would be right at home there, along with other disciplines. Also, some general instructional information that applies to all methods would not be lost if Tandems had their own forum. Arrive Safely John

In conversations with other Tandem Masters this usually comes up . . . I thought I'd ask the questions here to get a feel for the average occurrence for each. Arrive Safely John

Relative Workshop teaches it this way. Personally, I like the RW jumper(s) docked on the student for the following reasons: -I am flying the passenger AND myself, so having someone docked on me limits my ability to do that -I signal the break-off by waving, which is harder when RW jumpers are docked on me. -If Joe RW jumper wants to come dock on his buddy who is my tandem student, they get in the video/pics much better with him docked on the student and not me My $0.02

If you had a huge noggin like me, your slider would stay put nicely! Wazzap Steve?? Arrive Safely John

At Raeford we still teach students to flat pack . . . they get trained to PRO pack by the packers later on. We also use Student Javelins with throw-out pilot chutes, which work GREAT! As a result, we no longer train students to "look" at the deployment handle. The pull sequence I teach is wave-wave-arch-relax-reach-throw-check. Works like a charm! Arrive Safely John

BTW - it's GREAT to have another CYPRES expert on board. Cliff Schmucker of SSK is registered but doesn't post much. There are a TON of CYPRES threads here, sometimes ending up in raging debates. I'm sure your input will be a help to all of us. Arrive Safely John

Wow! I did not know that was possible! Thanks, Kai! I stand corrected!

Greetings, Jose! Enjoy the forums. Take a minute to say hello to our host Sangiro . . . we call him "HH." We're glad to have you here, and you're english is GREAT!

I wish you sound sleep, and blue skies. Have a great first (AHEM ) jump, and let us know how it goes?? Arrive Safely John

Hi Tomm, and welcome to the forums! Congrats on the completion of your training . . . you guys are really a jumping family!

I jump PD canopies with the same type of two-line collapsible slider. To prevent the lanyards from becoming entangled with my toggles/steering lines, I throw the lanyards over the front of the slider after I zip it closed. The distance the lanyards have to travel going around the front of the slider leaves less hanging off the back, with the long part lying safely on top of the slider. Hope this helps. Arrive Safely John

Great to meet you this weekend, Marco . . . I hope you enjoyed yourself! I sure did! Arrive Safely John

27.5 miles in 35 minutes Pinehurst, NC to Raeford Parachute Center Piece of Cake Arrive Safely John

2*:3:0 *2 birthdays celebrated - my wife and my son. Arrive Safely John

All of the dogs I have had in my life have done it. I call it "chasing squirrels in their dreams."

You'll need to get it converted to a 1-pin system. Airtec/SSK lists that service HERE at no charge for models with the non-field replaceable cutter. Call them and ask what the specifics are. Hope this helps! Arrive Safely John

I have jumped mostly Vectors and Sigmas. I can't say I have ever had a riser slap. I will say that I am very proactive in getting control of the risers by putting my hand high on the rear risers when they come up. Yesterday, I had a half-twist throught the entire opening. I got my hands on the risers quick enough to intentionally keep them spread apart and away from piching (or slapping) my big noggin in between them. Arrive Safely John

Well now . . . I didn't intend for this one to turn into a flamer!?!?! Anyway, I appreciate all of the input. My conclusion (for myself) is that: 1) A frap hat is better than going without. 2) It provides decent "bump" protection, but not much protection in cracking my head on the aircraft on exit or on a hard object during a bad landing. 3) A hard helmet is the best all-around protection. I did find it interesting how many folks thought frap hats make you look like a dork. I even hear it frim a tandem student or two now and then. Personally, I have always liked the look, and will continue to choose it for some skydiving purposes. Thanks!

I second that! Arrive Safely John

I don't do civilian rigging for a living, only packing my own gear and for a few friends. Whenever I do an I&R, I always cut away the main, clean/lube the cutaway cables, service the main risers, and give the main a courtesy inspection. Of course, I always give my own gear a tune up at repack time if it needs it. I don't think the main inspection at I&R should be mandated by the FAA, but we can solce the neglect problem through education - speaking up when we see someone neglecting their stuff. A small example is stow bands. I see some folks with worn out rubber bands on their d-bag who double-wrap them because they no longer hold the stow effectively. I am quick to point out that if the (previously properly sized) stow band is no longer holding the stow, it is worn out and should be replaced. Just because it's not broken doesn't mean it's not worn out. I reinforce my point by pointing out how cheap rubber bands are . . . well worth replacing them before they fail to do their job when you ned them.

Whew! Is this a blast from the past post, or what? I made it 1885 jumps without a malfunction, then had two within 100 jumps of each other, equipment failure on the same canopy. I promptly retired it. I have a friend with 2500 jumps or so and no malfunctions. I was also at the 2001 Symposium in San Diego, in TK Donle's tandem seminar. He went around the room asking about numbers of tandem jumps to get a feel for the experience in the room. There was one fella from Australia who had over 5000 tandems and no malfunctions. Amazing . . . truly amazing. Arrive Safely John

I did three in a row last year and they were an absolute blast. I loved it! There are a handful of folks at my DZ who are doing them and I have told them to "count me in!" Arrive Safely John