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Scott Miller's Freedom of Flight School does canopy piloting courses areound the country periodically. You can keep checking here to see his near term schedule, or email him to see when he's coming to your area. Arrive Safely John

There are a LOT of people that have been posting here for a long time that 1) have no profile at all, 2) have a very limited profile - jump numbers very often omitted, or 3) as you stated do not update them very often I log my jumps in an old fashioned paper logbook after every jump day. I use a Neptune, but I only use the logbook function for the data it provides, not to keep track of my jumps. I record them individually. I used to do that as well, now I just record the basic information. On student jumps that always includes the student's name and the jump we made together (e.g. AFF Cat D2). On occasion I'll write something else, but not very often. Arrive Safely John

Clicky! Arrive Safely John

Yup. I had to replace the switch (button), but otherwise going strong! When I grow up I want one like the Clampett's had in their house in Beverly Hills. Arrive Safely John

Oh, come on . . . you know you lookin' good! By the way . . . how YOU doin'? Arrive Safely John

Hmmm - my current MP3 player is old school. Both my wife and my son have a more advanced one than I do. We just can't have that! I'm going iPod nano shopping! Arrive Safely John

If I were you I would not pack the rig until I confirmed this fact by sending Relative Workshop some pictures, or having a conversatio nwith them about their proprietary identifying marks on the lanyard (if there are any). Arrive Safely John

PM me their address. Arrive Safely John

Page 215 has all of the section references you need to study. It's the actual document page number - ignore the PDF page number. Arrive Safely John

Page 215 in the SIM. http://www.uspa.org/publications/manuals.pdf/SIM2005.pdf Arrive Safely John

Click on the link for the demo team scheduls. You'll find it there. Arrive Safely John

A forum search for "Vigil" resulted in at least 15 threads on the subject. Let's keep this conversation going in the most informative of those, OK? Arrive Safely John

I agree. I sure like "there is a plan, albeit a slow one, to make 180-days permanent" better than "we are working on it." Arrive Safely John

Here's what I found Googling "lead seal press" http://eng.grabadosomella.com/productos/tenazas.htm Edited to add: I am still on my original one as well, since 1989. Arrive Safely John

If I'm not mistaken, exemptions have to be renewed periodically (like the tandem exemption before tandem jumping was included in FAR Part 105). So, it can be looked upon as not so bad news - if and when the FAR gets rewritten to read 180 days it will not need to be renewed. Arrive Safely John

Very very VERY (very) well put. I hope he doesn't mind me stealing that one . . . Arrive Safely John

In 21 years I have sustained only minor injuries. Only twice that I recall have I been injured to the point of being grounded, and then not for more than a few weeks. The worst of my injuries was a bruised tailbone and pelvis, along with sprained lower back muscles after a hard landing doing a demo. The spot was waaay long (my fault), and I ate up a TON of altitude making the landing area. I amped out and turned in too tight (plenty of altitude though), did a quick figure eight, and found myself in a very bad place - landing in the crowd. I did what amounted to a very hard turn to avoid the crowd, took out a showline speaker pole (sheared it off), and slammed in on my right butt cheek and tailbone. I couldn't feel that cheek for about three hours, and I was walking very gingerly, but my x-rays the next day revealed nothing broken or out of place. After showing off some very entertaining bruises for the next couple of weeks, I was back in the air again. Arrive Safely John

Another one this weekend . . . a friend from Virginia brought his wife and daughter down to do tandems - the occasion was the daughter's 18th birthday, and Mom had agreed to the tandem only because Dad knew and trusted me. Dad talked Mom into it as well. When they arrived, each wanted to jump with me on separate lifts. Mom was very clear that this experience was all about her daughter's birthday, and visibly subordinated her experience for the exclusive enjoyment of her daughter. I saw right through that. I could tell that this was a big deal for Mom, and a glimmer of that shone through now and again during the training. In the airplane she confessed to me that the prospect of jumping from an airplane scared her to death, but very matter of factly stated that she was committed and would not back down. After landing, the pretense of this not being her event and the effects of fear and doubt all gone, I was joyfully able to show her the blue sky 13,000 feet above, and acknowledge her for making the choice to conquer her fear. Transfer of ownership complete. Knowing what that culmination experience is like gives me a place to focus when I have a difficult student who is repeatedly unsure of themselves, distrustful of the entire process, put off by the verbiage of the waiver, or simply incredibly inquisitive. I just imagine their reaction at ownership transfer time, and it allows me to maintain focus and an optimistic attitude. Arrive Safely John

I guess I am an anomaly - I rarely make anything other than tandems during my weekend skydiving activity (I do a lot of stuff at work), and the diversion is usually AFF. But tandems are incredibly fun for me! I would rather do a tandem than anything else, at least at the moment. I am not in it for the money - I currently donate my skydiving income to a less fortunate skydiving friend. I thrive on the reaction I get from people after we land, sometimes changing the way they look at themselves and the world. It is empowering for me to serve as a vehicle for the empowerment of others. The Transfer of Ownership Arrive Safely John

IMHO there are better ways to convey the inherent dangers of skydiving than through that dramatic statement. I can see that methodology offending a lot of people - most would not like to be marked as "suicidal." From my experience the majority of skydivers enjoy the short trip through the blue sky because they choose to live, not because they choose to gamble with death. Lastly, I will say that it is VERY important that we respectfully and professionally convey the neture of the risks one assumes when making a skydive, whether they are a one-time tandem student or a soon to be career skydiver. Arrive Safely John

As a student at the US Army jump school in Ft. Brnning, GA, my biggest fear was failure. I chose to be an Army Rigger so I could jump out of planes for my entire career. I had a lot at stake. When I went through my Military Free Fall training, I can remember the fear of being at such a high altitude on my first jump, and being a bit unnerved on my first night jump, but otherwise it was a joy, and a race to the finish. Arrive Safely John

Congratulations! Keep it up - continue to stick closely to your training plan and be safe! Arrive Safely John

You have mastered the first step of learning to skydive already - respecting the risk. If you continue to seek wisdom, knowledge, and training to mitigate that risk as much as you can, you will never get complacent and will maximize your chances of skydiving for a very long time. Equipment and training have evolved quite well over the years, so you will receive training on equipment and techniques that will serve you well. I will share with you the best advice I ever got - given to me from two of my respected Instructors when I was a B licensed jumper: "Don't be in a hurry. Get very good at the basics of where you are now in your skydiving career before you move on to other more difficult things." That applied to canopy downsizing, demos, large RW formations, seeking ratings, and other things. It has served me very well. Ultimately it is your decision - gather enough information from trusted sources to make sure its a well informed decision. Bonne chance, Arrive Safely John

OK, thats it! I'm never talking to you again! Arrive Safely John

I live in the Sandhills of North Carolina. We get some flash flooding because of heavy consistent rain, but only in the low-lying areas. Occasionally the Little River jumps its banks in a couple of places, but the people who live there are prepared (houses on stilts). We have had a couple of hurricanes come through this area since I've lived here - Hugo (1989), Fran (1996). A few tornadoes as well - high moisture levels, fast moving thunderstorms, and rapid drops in temperature seem to make conditions ripe for them. Arrive Safely John