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I'm in! (But it will have to wait until next weekend). Arrive Safely John

That is a crucial first step. Your Instructors who know your canopy piloting skills from firsthand experience are the best people to ask about purchasing your first rig. There are also helpful articles here. If your profile is correct, you are in the middle of your student progression . . . there are always good gear deals out there - don't be in a hurry to buy what pops up on your radar screen. Arrive Safely John

From the ProTrack Manual: I have some experience with a ProTrack, but not with the JumpTrack software. I assume by reading the above that the only thing missing is free fall profile data past the previous 10 stored jumps. You may already know all this, but I wanted to point you in the right direction if you didn't!

Removed Anabel Durham who has moved west and no longer handles the PD Demo program. Arrive Safely John

Happy Burfday, girl! Arrive Safely John

If his profile is correct: 400 jumps and 2 years in the sport, and loading an elliptical at 1.63, then I would say that yes, there are likely a few people in these forums with more experience under their belts that might just have seen his "situation" before. Agreed on the first comment - customer service is extremely important. My personal experience with PD, both for my own personal gear and for military equipment I deal with, has been excellent. They have made mistakes - those mistakes were dealt with professionally and responsibly. As to the second comment - skydivers are an opinionated bunch . . . if you throw an opinion out here in a public forum, you are almost guaranteed to get feedback (not all of which you might agree with). Quite frankly, that attitude can kill people. Can you imagine one of my AFF graduates coming to me for advice on buying their first canopy because they trust me as a professional, and I told them "your grown - you can make that decision yourself." The Incidents Forum and the USPA Fatality Summary are full of details surrounding the death of skydivers that made poor (sometimes uninformed) canopy choices. I can close my eyes and see the faces of my dead skydiving friends. So can many of the folks at PD that have been in the sport and in the industry for a while. I know the senior leadership of that company personally, and I can vouch for the fact that they are very careful about making decisions that forward the sport, not destroy it. None of us want to lose any more friends. If I am driving my car through a neighborhood full of children at play, and I run over a kid who chased a ball into the street, it may not be my fault in the eyes of the law, but I am still responsible for his death. No piece of paper can relieve me of that. If I loan a small high-performance canopy to a low experience jumper who loads it well above 1:1 and augers himself in, am I responsible? Or can I just say "he was grown, he made his decision" and walk away? Arrive Safely John

I made my own ID for long runs - a Brother P-Touch with my name, blood type, NKDA, and emergency contact number. I just wrap it around the horizontal end of my shoelace. I suppose onje could do the same with their skydiving skips. NKDA = "No Known Drug Allergies" Arrive Safely John

I have never had a passenger completely freak out. I have had two of them get kind of wiggy on exit and try to grab my arms . . . where I put them they are out of reach anyway. The worst I have had was a non-listener. He was kind of nauseated, holding the sick bag I supplied him in front of his face, and would not do anything I told him. On landing I pretty much pushed his feet up with mine and did a decent sliding landing. He "came to" right away talking about how great it was. Awesome! My Mom is coming over in June to jump with me - she's 75. I am greatly loking forward to it. About 80% of my tandem students tell me that. I ask them how they react to being in high places, they say that they are very afraid they are going to fall off and get hurt. When I tell them "ME TOO!" they relax a little, and I explain that it is quite different being at 13000 feet with two parachutes between you and the ground, and standing on top of a cliff looking over the edge. Unhappy students are few and far between. Crying because of being scared is OK - it's their natural human reaction. After they land it is quickly replaced by a HUGE feeling of accomplishment, because they conquered their fear. I will never take a student out of an airplane that doesn't want to go - therefore I tell them they did it, not me. They had to make the decision to answer affirmatively my question: "Are you ready to skydive?" I would be careful about the roller-coaster comparisons. You really get that stomach-in-the-throat falling feeling on a roller-coaster, and on some of the older ones you really get jerked around. Also, some of the G-forces on coasters are much more physically disturbing than a tandem. You have got the hard part in the bag - getting her to commit. Answer her questions to the best of your ability, choose a Tandem Instructor you are comfortable with, then trust the process. If each of us described in detail the feelings we experienced on our first skydives, you would find a wide variety of stories. The reason for this is that for those who connect with the experience, it becomes very personal to that individual. That's what makes it so hard for me to describe what it feels like. She is gonna have a blast! My only question is who will have the bigger grin on their face, you or her?? Arrive Safely John

I just pulled my rig out and played with that routing. Routing it exactly the way pictured, it holds fine. Therefore I would say it's a little strange, but not unsafe. There is a way to route it such that the running end comes to rest behind the chest strap which will not hold. I don't have my digital camera with me, so all I can do is describe it: Instead of routing the chest strap webbing behind the floating center bar and coming around the front, if you route it in front of the floating center bar first, then come around the back, that configuration will not hold. I just did it four times with my Odyssey with the Type 17 chest strap and I pulled it all the way off each time. Arrive Safely John

Nope. The hardware won't bind on the webbing with it routed that way. You can grab a chest strap routed that way and pull on it - it will come completely loose. Arrive Safely John

I registered sometime in 2000, what month I don't remember. My profile shows January 2001, after the "do-over." I had posted for a while before that. Arrive Safely John

I didn't delete the thread in the Swoop Forum, so I can't comment on why it was deleted. Let's not hijack this one . . . get it back on topic please. Arrive Safely John

The thread was deleted - not sure why. Arrive Safely John

If it will be 70 on the ground, I suggest you wear shorts, a t-shirt, tennis shoes, and a long-sleeved t-shirt under your jumpsuit. Bring a pair of sweats or jeans in case they have you jump in street clothes. There is no substitute for calling the DZ though. They can make the best recommendation based on their local knowledge. Arrive Safely John

Two weeks ago I was in a restaurant bar waiting for my table with friends. I asked the bartender: "Do you have Bacardi O?" He said: "Yes, we have that." I said: "On the rocks, please." I waited several minutes and watched him serve two other people. I leaned way over the bar and caught his eye. He said: "They're changing out the Coke canister sir, I'll have your drink right up." When I told him I hadn't said anything about Coke, but wanted it on the rocks, he disappeared for a minute and came back with my drink. I paid him, and took a sip - NOT Bacardi O! When I told him he said: "Oh, we don't have Bacardi O, all we have is Silver." Another example: A new Best Buy store opened in town, and being a gadget-oriented man I went on opening night. I wanted an XM Radio for my car. I decided on what I wanted, and asked the sales person (who wanted to ring me up right away) if I could just continue shopping and put it in my basket. They told me the units were locked up because they were not allowed to be carried around the store (even though they have someone checking bags and receipts at the exit). So I let them ring me up, and I asked for a bag. They said they are not allowed to keep bags back there, and that my salesperson would have to escort me to the front to get a bag from the register. So up to the front we went, where she put my XM Radio in a bag and handed it to me, so I could go right back to shopping in the same department with the bagged item in my hand. The department manager said it was company policy. My buddy I was shopping with said they were going to get pissed that I was walking around with it in the bag . . . by this time I was very irritated and he had pushed my button. I told him I hope they ask me about it - I have something for them. It was my property at that point, so $%^&* em. Arrive Safely John

Here you go!

Congratulations William! Way to go on completing your training! You are on your way! I am a little concerned with your new-to-you rig . . . if your profile is correct you have in the vicinity of 9 jumps, and wing load your new Spectre at 1.1 to 1. Personally I would never recommend someone in your circumstances take that step - at least not at this point in time. I don't know you or what kind of a canopy pilot you are, but I join a huge list of others in showing concern for the rise of incidents concerning jumpers landing a fully operational canopy. For that reason, I choose to speak up. Please comment on your exact number of jumps, body weight, and DZ elevation. I'd love to help you make an informed decision about jumping your new rig. Arrive Safely John

www.combined.com Clicky! Arrive Safely John

THe one I linked you to is the four-page ISP version. Sounds like you have this one, which is for students who trained using other programs. Arrive Safely John

My sister-in-law gave me a cool hanging sculpture for my desk at work. It's the two way skydiver hanging sculpture from http://www.boltpeople.com/html/wheels___rec.html Notice they have several skydiving selections. The guy told her he can make anything . . . even a tandem pair. He commented to her that if the tandem pair has boobies he can weld those on as well. (This guy must be a skydiver). Arrive Safely John

If your Rigger has a concern with the reserve line trim, he should not pack it until his questions are answered by PD. Any component whose serviceability is in question should be brought to the attention of the manufacturer or a more qualified/knowledgeable rigging professional. Many issues can be resolved quickly through emailing digital photos of the affected component. If the issue can't be resolved over the phone or via email, the component should be shipped to the manufacturer for inspection. Arrive Safely John

Strong's website used to have a Tandem Examiner Directory, but I can't find it there anymore. I found the crossover requirements on this website from folks who offer Strong Tandem Instructor Courses. 100 tandems is the Strong crossover requirement - I did mine that way from Vector/Sigma to Strong. Arrive Safely John

The canopy should be fine, but you may need to use the MC-4 risers when you switch canopies. The MC-4 risers are longer, and I'm not sure you can use the MC-4 canopy on the MT1-XX risers (steering line length compatibility). Email Giorgio Piatti at Para Flite with your specific questions. He will get you the specific info you need: gpiatti@paraflite.com Arrive Safely John

USPA A License Proficiency Card You can pick the RW requirements out of th elaer Categories. They are fairly straighforward. Good luck in finishing up!! Arrive Safely John

Now THIS is going to eat up a lot of bandwidth! Arrive Safely John