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Elisha, Both the four page card (ISP version) and two page card are accepted by USPA. IMHO, you'll get more personal benefit as a skydiver by performing all of the tasks on the four page card under an Instructor or Coach. Arrive Safely John

MERDE! I just missed you, bro . . . I returned from Tucson last Saturday. Let me know next time you'll be there! Arrive Safely John

There is a Dr. John Hawke on faculty at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. He is a poet, critic, and editor of literary publications. There is New York artist named John Hawke. Another John Hawke is the Associate Professor of Aquatic Animal Health at Lousiana State University's School of Veterinary Medecine. There is a Washington D.C. attorney named John Hawke There's a genealogical record of a John Hawke born in 1570, in Hingham, Norfolk Co., England. There's a picture of a John Hawke from Seattle, WA that caught a rather tiny fish while on vacation in New Zealand. My website shows up about two thirds of the way down page 2. Switching to an image search, the picture from my home page shows up in the fourth row. Arrive Safely John

Development of a PD tandem reserve that will handle a rigged weight of 550 lbs, with no increase in opening forces or toggle pressure. Testing & certification of the Sigma tandem harness/container & passenger harness to handle a rigged weight of 550 lbs without a marked increase in fall rate (bigger drogue). Testing & certification of the current line of PD tandem main canopies to handle a rigged weight of 550 lbs. More to follow . . . Arrive Safely John

Very nice! Well done to both you and your son! Arrive Safely John

Incidents thread here There is no condolences thread in Bonfire yet . . . I'm amending the subject line for this thread and moving it to Bonfire so it can become the condolences thread rather than locking it up here in General. Arrive Safely John

That is REALLY cool Kelly! Congratulations to both your sone and you as the proud Dad! My son Logan is nearly 14 and will learn to pack this summer. He eagerly awaits the day he can make a skydive with his Dad. His sister Meredith is now 11 and talks about it all the time. Their patience is admirable as is their enthusiasm. Reading your post made my day. Thanks for sharing it! Arrive Safely John

Last Saturday I took a reporter from the Moore County (NC) newspaper "The Pilot" up for his first tandem to help promote the Raeford Parachute Center School. The article came out in today's paper and I was very happy with it. It's a HUGE article, front page continued on the back, with four photos including three by our very own Arvel Shults (BlueSBDeath). The only item I saw that wasn't from me was the "parasite" reference - that was pure poetic license. Like a Lamprey on the belly of a shark, I reckon. No biggie. Chalk up another victory for positive skydiving press. Arrive Safely John

In Florida I recommend Scott Miller. I have been through his course and I learned a ton! A forum search revealed these threads about his courses. Here is the website for his business. Out of curiosity - what specific canopy are you jumping now, what is your body weight, and what is the elevation of the DZs where you jump? Arrive Safely John

I had a male AFF student who had two of them . . . he told me of them when I asked the jewelry question. I had him take them out. This was right after the blurb in the incident reports of Parachutist. I have a friend who has both of his pierced so there must be a way to keep them from getting irritated. Surely someone here will pipe up. Arrive Safely John

Clicky!

She sent me this link that she had used . . . I looked up both of mine and found out that my first bracelet's service member had been returned as well! I know several others who have his bracelet . . . I am contacting them so we can return the bracelets en masse to the family. It was the highlight of my day yesterday! How cool is that! Arrive Safely John

The scholarly BASE aficionado Tom Aiello (Moderator of the BASE Forum) wrote this great article which should be a great place for you to start! That is NOT a dumb question, BTW. Arrive Safely John

Safer than an actual free fall jump. Jumping combat equipment sometimes adds a whole new equation to the process. It is much better to learn to fly it in a low-risk environment first . . . it mitigates the risk when you enter the higher risk environment of free fall. Arrive Safely John

I'm on the road so I don't have mine in front of me, but Poynter's Parachute Manual would be a great place to start. I have the original black cover Vol I, the updated blue cover Vol I, and Vol II. PM me your contact info and I'll look in them when I return home. Arrive Safely John

The AR2 is mechanical - no electronics or pyrotechnics. Arrive Safely John

I learned this technique from John LeBlanc in 1993. His definition of it is in the attached article. I had always used rear risers to make it back from long spots . . . after Scott Miller's course I am now using toggles. It depends on the canopy, but he really made a believer out of me. I have been doing HAHOs all week, and have been using the Accuracy Trick successfully every jump. That and toggle input a la Scott Miller have put me on the DZ every time. Edited to add the file Arrive Safely John

Thanks to you and Karen for the invite! I came last year with my family and some other Raefordites. I am returning from a trip on Saturday and need a couple of days to recover. I will ask for a rain check! You guys have a safe and beautiful weekend! Arrive Safely John

I'll step up to that challenge! That much power makes it attractive to military organizations for training. The value of being able to fly big loads like that in a safer tunnel environment is huge. If I have any skin left on my face we can go have a afterward! (Iced tea for m'lady). Arrive Safely John

I just thought I would stick this again for a short while. This forum has really taken off, and there is a LOT of really useful info being passed on here. Thanks to all of you for respecting the importance of keeping thread content on topic! Arrive Safely John

Amen to that. I am 6'2" and 230 - both of my "interesting" tandems were young women 115 to 120 lbs. I always thought the tall wide people were the ones to watch out ofr. You need to be prepared for them all! Arrive Safely John

Chuck hit the nail on the head naming those very important drills. After getting proficient at this, repeating the drill while holding a hand signal where the mock student can see it provides added benefit. Arrive Safely John

I got him a l logbook, filled out tandem #2 that I did with him, and plan to talk to my friend that took him on his first tandem to complete the first entry. John O Loves the DaVinci quote, so I plan to include that as well. Arrive Safely John

Well done brother . . . I'm glad you came away with only minor owies. Add me to the list of people that puts all four fingers in the toggle and uses only three in the front riser loops. I was taught to do it that way long ago. I have landed canopies with rear risers, but only huge military canopies as a result of a broken control line. This post has convinced me to train on all of my canopies (except maybe tandems) landing with rear risers. Arrive Safely John

My favorite skydives are (in order of priority): 1) Tandems 2) AFF 3) 16 way RW & larger 4) Sunrise HAHOs (cross-country jumps) I joined the Army 21 years ago for other reasons than skydiving, but I chose my career specialty (Parachute Rigger) because of a recruiting film I saw about Airborne Paratroopers. I fell in love with jumping out of airplanes because of that film. I chose to be a Rigger because I could jump my entire career. 21 years later I have never been off jump status. That being said, I make the skydives I do because 1) I love the experiences, 2) the knowledge and experience I gain from those types of jumps boosts both my civilian and military proficiency, and 3) it pays me a little money every month. I am really not in this for the money - I have a career for that. Most days I leave when the students are all gone - not because I don't like jumping with low-timers, etc. I go home because I am blessed to still be married to my best friend after 17 years, and I am the father of a teenage son and 11 year old daughter. I get to have my hobby and my family too. People skydive for different reasons, and they get into teaching for different reasons as well. I respect others who do what I do strictly for the money or other reasons that differ from mine. Since I don't judge them I am able to have great relationships with them and on occasion share a skydive with them as well. I do a lot of freebie tandems and AFF for friends, and my fellow staff members do the same for me. Most times the value I get out of a skydive goes way beyond the money I get paid for it. Arrive Safely John