aironscott

Is there an option to turn it into a Talon? Or maybe a Mirage, or a Javelin. How about a Vector or Infinity or Icon. Any one of them will do. Seriously, I haven't seen a rig less favored by riggers, including myself, (other than Racers and Strong Tandems) yet. But lots of people are buying them. Price speaks volumes. Kind of reminds me of when Dolphins were the "it" rig cuz they cost so much less. And we all know the resale value of a Dolphin today. Whatever you decide on, I hope that you are happy with it. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

SkyHigh- I kind of have to agree with you. I've only put about 500 jumps on Strong tandem gear and I'm quite surprised that I lived through them. Fortunately for me, and my students, the rest have been on modern gear. I don't know Ted personally, but I do know that Strong tandem gear is at best second rate and i will not use Strong gear again in its current configuration. I don't know you either. Its all good. But let me guess.....you're a Racer owner and think that its the greatest thing since sliced bread. Please stay happy in your oblivious world. (it means clueless) Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

I'm just sorry that you have to begin your tandem career on Strong gear. Oh well, it can only get better. Yes the Master does fly like shit. But the rig makes up for it with its lack of functionality and its extreme discomfort. Good job on doing the right thing. Soon you will develop a list of one-liners to tell your students right before you chop. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Thanks for refering to what I do for a living as hauling meet. Maybe we should consider ourselves bus drivers on the singles express instead of skydivers. Hopefully lots of potential tandem skydivers will read your post and decide that they want to be meet. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Brett- Every once in a while somone on this dz.com website comes up with a good, honest, and helpfull peice of advise. On the rare occasion that it happens I try to recognize the event. Your post here on tandems I would like everyone who wants to be an instructor to read. You have obviously been around a bit and know what's up in the tandem community. Too bad we don't work at the same dz as I'm all but retired from AFF and do almost exclusively tandems and am very happy with that. Anyway - thanks for a good post. aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Release all common sense and reasoning from your brain. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

I would like to back up John and Tom and their opinions on this subject. My job is done at 2000'. As a new AFF/I you have a lot of learning to do over the next couple of hundred of jumps. Please don't ever think that you can fix everything. You are not (nor is anyone else) superman. That being said if I find myself in a situation where I may need to chase someone down to 2000' I have not my job as an AFF instructor very well. But sometimes shit happens. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

If you are wanting to go to a rigger course, go see Dave DeWolf in Elizabethtown Penn. www.paraloft.com. Although I'm sure that Tom will give you excellent instruction and guidance, you can't get any better than DeWolf's course. Either way, best of luck to you in your training. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

I haven't talked to KB in a few years but I bet he would back me up on this tandem landing program. When you sit them down on their butt, you remove most of the possibility of them breaking a leg bone. I say most because nothing is 100%... but this is the best system that I've seen yet. If you sit them down you are able to quickly release the shoulder attachment points. In windy conditions, you will be able to dis-connect from your student and deal with the big parachute yourself - without a student in tow. That's a good thing. And when its a hot day and the density altitude is up there you really what their feet out of your way so you can do a safe landing. Flips suck Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

I like doing the tandem and the video both myself. Handcam is a wonderful thing and it is helping me to get paid close to what I think that I should be paid per tandem jump. I know that most dzs aren't doing hadcam yet, but the more dzo's that realize the profit potential there is in them, the more they will be done. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

It depends what we are talking about. I, myself, don't often slide in on my butt. But my passenger gets sat down on their butt 95+% of the time. I slide in on my feet and support their wieght until we've come to a complete and total stop. I'm not saying that I can't stand most of my students up, but why risk it? It is much cooler looking to sit a student down safely on their butt than it is to risk standing them up and have them break an ankle. Not to mention how much safer it is to me to have them get their feet up and out of my way so I can properly exicute a safe landing. Think Aaron I wonder how many accidents have occured from people getting crappy information from this web site. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Bill- Thank you for posting here as often as you do. Being the "Big Daddy" of tandems I think that its great that you let us all know your opinions and suggestions. I know that you have done tons of research and development on the skyhook but I got to tell you that I have not noticed much of a difference in opening speeds on slow speed tandem cutaways between skyhook and RSL openings. I should say that I don't see many high speed tandem mals. Even with the cool canopies that we have out now. To me the skyhook is a bit overkill. After all we are opening up at 4000- 5000', there is time. There are a couple of things about the skyhook that bother me. The fact that I no longer have access to a crystal ball with my right hand (or teeth) bugs me. I have also seen bag strip with a skyhook equiped rig(Wasn't me but I was watching it with my student under canopy about 200 yds away). And even though you sent out that circular on how to set up and pack the skyhook, I still open rigs and find that they have been packed wrong. I'm sounding kinda bitchy here and I apologise for that. Just so you know, the Sigma is by far and away the best thing to happen to tandem skydiving since the drogue. I say that as a tandem I and as a rigger and I thank you for coming up with as good as a design as any of us could have hoped for thus far. As to the person who is wondering about wether or not he sould use his RSL.....don't ever unhook it until you have a good main. Oh what the hell anyway....what could possible go wrong? Here - hold my beer.....watch this! Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Jen - I've never understood this pulling the rear riser thing. It is unnecessary. All you need to do is grab the rear risers with your hands backwards, then twist your hands to their natural position and you've half wrapped the rear risers around your hands. No pulling involved. Just twist the risers around your hands. Its kind of like taking a wrap on your steering lines. I do not recommend this techinque for front risers though. Try this next time you are up high. You'll find it much easier than hanging on the rear risers for a couple of minutes trying to make it back. Hope this helps, Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

I'll help you out with this one Gary. Two words - collapsable pilot chute. (OK that was three words). We could do a whole thread on this (my guess is that its already been done) but larger collapsable pilot chutes only create higher snatch force, not faster openings. By the time that the canopy is out of the bag, the pilot chute is already collapsed. I know you know this already, just hadn't seen that information here yet. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Good thread good question. Personally I have about 1000 jumps on 365 Icarus's another 1000 on sigma 370's and several hundred under sigma 395's, EZ 384 and 425 and a couple of dozen under SET 400's(Not to mention the couple of hundred of 421's and 500's from PD.) I've heard great things about the HOP and the Firebolt but haven't jumped them. I love flying the Icarus but I dislike the openings. These things dance around on opening. The Sigma 370 flys and lands every bit as good as the Icarus, but the openings are much more predictable. SETs and EZ's are old technology. But I also remember when they were the shit hot canopy for tandems. All this being said, I'd rather have the 370 Sigma than anything else (that I'm familiar with). Although they fly just like the Icarus, the Icarus will open hard or "searching" at times. Maybe 1 time out of 4 openings. Part of that I chalk up to the no brake settings and part of it I blame on the vectran lines (no stretch). All I want out of a tandem canopy is one that it opens soft and it flys like a modern canopy that I can control the landing on. There is no reason that we shouldn't be able to fly tandem canopies that have similar flight charictarisits to what our regular canopies are like. If you have a tandem rating, you had better well know how to fly a parachute already. But why put you back on a Manta (SET 400) when you already know how to fly a Stiletto (Sigma 370) well? Just make sure you adjust the harness so that they can get their feet up. Take it for what its worth, Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Very cool! Welcome to the world that is tandem skydiving. Here's the deal. You're going to get the shit scared out of you for the next 100 tandems or so. (If you don't........quit). After then, you may start to feel somewhat comfortable in this environment. That's a good thing. Of all the new tandem I's that I've worked with it seems to me that it is better if you jump into tandem skydiving (no pun intended) with both feet. Do a whole bunch of them in the shortest time period that you can. If you do tandems "once in a while" it is way harder to get your program figured out. Currency is a real issue. Let me tell you a story. I used to be a full time tandem guy. Last fall I decided to take some time off of skydiving. So I did a little experiment with myself. Having done several thousand tandems I kind of thought that I had it down. But I was always doing 20-40 of them a week. Very current. So I took 8 months off and I wanted to see how I'd feel on the first one back. - I hope that Bill Booth doesn't read this (please don't pull my rating) - In this little experiment, I went to the DZ and was asked to do an AFF jump. Cool, now I'm current on skydiving. Right after i landed, I was asked to do a tandem. Back when I was previously current on tandems and having done large numbers of them, drougefall seemed to last about 10 minutes - at that time. Not in a bad way mind you, but you can only geek the camera so many ways. But on the first one back after my sabatical, drougefall was reduced back down to the 50 seconds that you get from 12000'. And I gotta tell you it felt kinda good. Now (having gotten back into the swing of things) its all back to normal. Once again, that's a good thing. So what is my point? I probably have none. But I would like to encourage you to be safe. You know this already. Get through the first 100 tandems or so. You owe it to at least go that far. At that point you will be able to make an informed decision about what you want to do with tandem skydiving. Hopefully you'll dig it. No matter what anyone else says, tandem skydiving is the best thing to happen to our sport since, well its just the best thing to ever happen to our sport. Be good. Be safe. Be afraid. Be less like Tim Strauss Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

The Bernina 217 is a far superior machine to the 20U. And yeah - good luck finding one (Bernina) with a cam attachment. If you do...get it! And its not that all 20Us are bad its just that they are hit and miss. Singer has had a lot of their machines made in China and the quality is no where near as good as the ones made in Japan. If I could have only one machine in my loft, it would be a Bernina. Fortunately for me and my customers, I have enough room for all the other ones as well. Thanks to Kevin for turning me on to the 217. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

What Ed said. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Jay- You are right. The thing that we should be taking from this is that it can happen to any one of us at any time. It happened to Roger, it happened to Gus, it happened to Tommy. There is a real possibility that it may happen to you and me.We know this. We accept that possibility. You know what's worse than one of your friends going in? Not being there to see it. With out taking off my shoes, I can't count the number of my friends that have gone in. But with out a doubt, it sucks every time. On a lighter note...I'll be up in boulder next weekend. Would love to see you and exchange some lies and bullshit. You and pope and the rest should consider making a trip out here this summer. We've got some pretty cool stuff to huck off of. Be good. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

This is one of the best, most relevant posts I've seen on dz.com. I don't think I know you hookit, but you have given a response to a information request that is informative and inpartial. Well done. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

That's no fair. He's not dead yet. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

You have former students that are still alive? Wonders never cease. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Brad- At first they'll all be quite exciting. Scarry even. Tandem skydiving is a whole other aspect to this sport that most skydivers don't ever want to experience. But they don't know what they are missing. I've known a whole lot of people that never made it past 100 tandems. To them the risk wasn't worth the reward. No problem with that. We all choose our own paths. Hopefully when you do start doing tandems, you'll be in an environment that fosters safety and education. Choose your mentors wisely. And remember, just because someone has some more experience that you do at this doesn't mean that they are right. Use your head. Common sense rules. Never feel afraid to say no to a situation that you are not comfortable with. If you do that you may have a chance to give advise to the next person that asks the same questions that you are asking. With all that out of the way, I agree that the smiles and the yahoos! that you get from your tandem students make you feel on top of the world. You never know who is going to give you that energy. Could be grandma, could be the sweaty hairy italian dude. Could be the big fat chick. Maybe you'll jump up and down when you get your paycheck. Maybe it will work for you when you take that hottie 22 year old and she meets you in the bar later that evening and you are her hero. But this is not nearly as glamorous as some may think. You will get puked on. You will have people freak out, even pass out on you. There will be days when you can't buy a decent student. What it will come down to is if the good stuff out weighs the bad for you. And you'll never know until you try. Good luck! Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

94 last 4th of July. Up here in Washington State. Made sportscenter and cnn and a lot of local tv stations. Very cool dude with a lot of cool family members there too. Nazi death camp survivor. The next weekend one of the other TI's at the DZ took a 96 year old. Of course it wasn't either one of our first days nor was it the first 90+ for either of us. Elder people are some of the most rewarding tandem jumps for me. They can also be some of the most nerve racking but at least I know that if they freak out, I can take a little old lady a lot easier than a 22 year old. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

inhale “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”