slotperfect

For my answer I assumed that you were referring to first-time students. For first-time students or students I have never jumped with before, my personal minimum is 6000 FT. If I have jumped with the student before and had no issues, I will go a little lower. I have two successful emergency exits with tandems from 4000 FT. Arrive Safely John

I moved it because the first two posts gave no indication that it had anything at all to do with skydiving. Correct! Even USPA folks like me may not have understood - I haven't read my Parachutist yet, and not everyone reads every single article. The moral of the story: the author should have made his subject clear so it was evident to all that it was an appropriate fit in S&T. Arrive Safely John

A friend of mine is looking for First Sergeant Larry VanHorn, a Golden Knight during the Vietnam era. At one time Larry was a resident of San Antonio, and owner of Alamo Skydivers. If anyone has his contact info, please PM me - my friend would like to catch up with him to drink beer and tell stories about back in the day. Thanks! Arrive Safely John

I''m traveling right now but I'll be back to work tomorrow afternoon. I'll see what I can scare up for ya. Arrive Safely John

I had a tandem student who was given the jump by her mom for her birthday. She went to the sign shop and had a banner made - "Happy Birthday Jamie." I had my kids hold it up in the landing area and we landed next to it. Good stuff. Arrive Safely John

Shamless bump. Arrive Safely John

Exactly! I expect the "Cool Factor" option to rank quite high. Arrive Safely John

Nope. That is for "I wear Vans for reasons OTHER than provided in the poll. I edited the "other" poll option to make it clearer. I see a ton of skydivers wearing Vans. I am simply trying to find out why they make that choice. Arrive Safely John

Umm . . . so why do you reply to a post asking about wearing Vans? Arrive Safely John

I will be in the Perris area tomorrow; planning on dropping by the Bombshelter for a bite and a beer at about 5 PM. Stop by and join me - I'd love to meet y'all. Just look for the large lad with the huge noggin - I'm hard to miss. Arrive Safely John

I'll take "Needs To Get Out More" for $500, Alex. The first round is on me at PIA in February, Senor Aficionado. Arrive Safely John

Edited to add: responses from Vans wearers only, please . . . If you wear Vans on your feet while skydiving, what is the main reason you choose them over other brands/types of shoes? I wear them myself for specific reasons, but would like to hear from others as to why they choose to skydive in Vans. Arrive Safely John

I have as well. I even got a call to go to "step two" for a potential recipient. That case resulted in a better match coming from another donor and I never made the trip to get the big needle. Arrive Safely John

Forum Search Results Arrive Safely John

Relative Workshop requires a current FAA Class 3 Medical or military equivalent. Arrive Safely John

Coach Course prerequisites are a USPA B License and 100 jumps. The B License itself is 50 jumps. Kudos to you for not hijacking the other thread! Arrive Safely John

Push the toggles all the way to the keepers for full flight. Wrap your thumbs around the rear risers and squeeze. That will effectively lock the toggles in place, so even if they pull down to get leverage to lift their legs, the flare happens when you want it to. Arrive Safely John

I locked the thread in General so that this important conversation doesn't get split between two threads in two different forums. cpoxon's pointer with the clicky link will remain so we don't lose MicDon's solid input on the subject. A reminder that anyone (not just instructors) can post in this forum - as long as the content targets the subject of skydiving instruction. Thanks, Arrive Safely John

We don't need two threads on the subject to split the conversation - let's keep this thread going. Posting in the Instructors Forum is not limited to instructors - anyone can post there if the information is pertinent to the subject of skydiving instruction. Arrive Safely John

I always jump with one, but I don't depend on it. There are some situations in which I would (comfortably) jump without one. Arrive Safely John

I have two: -A complete line group came loose from the riser due to an elongated french link. The link had been overtightened and the barrel nut became damaged. The threads stripped right out the bottom. It was a borrowed rig - I checked the links to make sure they were tight (as I always do) but did not catch the fact that one was overtight. -I had an incredibly hard opening and broke three nose lines side-by-side. The first one was about jump number 1885 and the next one was only 100 jumps later. I have had several more malfunction type issues that I was either able to clear or land safely. Arrive Safely John

I think you'll find that most "altitude only" altimeters (vs. free fall computers that log other jump data) that have higher altitude faces are made for the military. These are larger, heavier, and much more expensive than a conventional skydiving altimeter - several hundred dollars each. My recommendation is the Neptune. Small, light, and a digital display with a range up to 40K FT. Backlight for night jumps, and can be used as an audible as well. If you order one, order the armor for it to keep it protected. Alti-2 is working on new armor with a glass lens that protects the LCD screen. Ask them if that is available. There is a ruggedized version as well, for which I have not seen pricing yet. Retail for the standard Neptune is $249.00 and the armor is $7.95. Arrive Safely John

Cliff - did you add this to your list for Reno? Arrive Safely John

Copied/pasted from another thread by 3331: http://www.uspa.org/news/index.htm#081506 (updated 08/17/06) The World Championships of Freefall Style & Accuracy Landing and Canopy Formation began August 12 at DZ Stupino, 100 miles south of Moscow, Russia, with 25 countries entered. In addition to the world championships, the drop zone is hosting the Anton Malevsky International Cup, which included a formation skydiving event. Three 4-way teams from the USA—Fastrax, Synchronicity and Thunder—were part of the field of eleven teams. When the ten-round meet ended August 16, Fastrax had placed third for the bronze medal behind the Russian and French teams. By August 17, two of the four canopy formation events, 4-way rotation and 4-way sequential, had ended with the USA winning the sequential competition. The other two canopy formation events continue with three rounds of each to finish on the last day of competition, August 18. In the freefall style & accuracy landing events, the USA was challenged by very seasoned competition, and only Elisa Feldt and Chris Moore will continue into the tenth and final round of accuracy. But when the freefall style event ended August 16, Feldt had finished third of almost 60 competitors, winning the bronze medal. A huge party with an expected 10,000 spectators will help the skydivers celebrate the end of the competition Saturday, August 19. Arrive Safely John

Let's keep this thread going. Arrive Safely John