JohnMitchell

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content

    19,322

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by JohnMitchell

  1. JohnMitchell
    Wow, enjoy. BTW, my hops are growing great.
  2. JohnMitchell
    Naw, HERE'S how you sell airliners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_khhzuFlE
  3. JohnMitchell
    Boy, I gotta agree with that. However, AFF is easier out of the C182. Anyone out there doing a lot of AFF out of a U206 door? How's the best way to exit?
  4. JohnMitchell
    "Hmmmm, spicy-tangy!"
  5. JohnMitchell
    I need that one for the garage.
  6. JohnMitchell
    His life reads like an amazing adventure. He saw much, did much, lived much.
  7. JohnMitchell
    Do Americans really think the second world war was won by them?? Really?? No, but most of our authors are American-centric, telling the stories of Omaha Beach, the 8th Air Force, and Patton's 3rd Army. We readily acknowledge ALL of our allies, including the Russians, who had their own designs in WWII. In the Pacific, I think our contributions ranked in the majority.
  8. JohnMitchell

    RIP "Ken"

    JohnMitchell replied to Amazon's topic in The Bonfire

    Did they all have the surgery to make it slick plastic in the pants?
  9. JohnMitchell
    It's easy to look at our contribution and think that we won the war by ourselves, but the bulk of the credit should go to the Russians. Very thoughtful piece there, Thanks for sharing it.
  10. JohnMitchell
    It's a big $$$ sport now, isn't it? My first rig was a paracommander in a military surplus container, $140. FJC was $30, class included. These days AFF jumps run close to $200 each and gear will set you back $5k, easily. Tunnel time, coaches, outside video. Great way to learn quickly, but it'll drain the wallet quickly. I guess once again I have to say my home DZ has very reasonable coach rates, basically a free slot on the plane. My DZOs are skydivers at heart, though. Makes me happy.
  11. JohnMitchell
    You're gonna make a lot of guys around here jealous catching fish like that.
  12. JohnMitchell
    I know one woman with an expired instructor's ticket and 30 years experience that occasionally works as a coach without the rating. She does a great job for the students. I also recently worked as an evaluator for a coach course. The two candidates I jumped with did very well. I've flunked candidates before, too.
  13. JohnMitchell
    I have a lot of respect for your opinion, so I'm very interested to hear what you don't like about the program. Feel free to PM if you don't want to air it out here. I have to admit I don't have a position on this. That's why I'm enjoying this input from both sides. We certainly have coach rated people working at our DZ. I don't know if 100 jumps= expertise anymore. I do know I was allowed to handle static line students at that experience level (with training, of course). I've got the usual instructor ratings, so occasionally I work as a coach, but I always try to give them their money's worth. And like I said, our particular DZ is not making big $$$ with coach jumps.
  14. JohnMitchell
    Nice looking formation. Super floating AND 16 pounds? That's some good flying. Must have had a great fall rate.
  15. JohnMitchell
    Thanks for the link. Damn, that's a tough one. It is one reason why I like big turbo props with big doors to do tandems from. Plenty of room to stow seatbelts, do gear checks, etc. Easy exits with no steps or struts to clear really enhance safety, IMO.
  16. JohnMitchell
    At our DZ, it's an extra $20 to the novice to have a coach jump with them. And the coach makes $20. So basically our DZ is giving a free slot to the coach to jump with the novice. I'd say it's not much of a money maker for the DZO. I've also jumped with novices/low-timers for free in the past, spending my own dime. But those jumps are rarer these days due to instructing AND fun jumping with my friends on the weekends. But on a slow day during the week it's more likely to happen.
  17. JohnMitchell
    Damn, I don't remember that one. Do you have a link. Sounds like it's worth re-studying.
  18. JohnMitchell
    I'm glad you shared your concerns. It takes more than a B license, right, 100 jumps to be a coach. That's still not a lot to be training someone else, but it's a start. I agree with you that a 500 jump D license holder probably has more to share. But I haven't seen the program be a failure yet. Every DZO should know the capabilities of each of their coaches. Even if they have the ticket, you shouldn't let the substandard ones work with students until they improve. Hopefully all DZOs can agree with that statement. I know that TI and AFF-Is are often in short supply. Is there such a shortage of coaches that anyone can get work? It takes time and effort to really develop your instructional capabilities. But you can coach safely while you learn to become more effective. Hopefully young coaches and instructors can find good mentors along the way, like I was fortunate to have. What specific problems have you seen?
  19. JohnMitchell
    Same here, and all the instructors I work with try to ensure "stacked" landings to avoid traffic problems. There is a new factor, that sometimes wingsuiters are now landing the same time as we are. Most are respectful of the bigger, less maneuverable tandem canopies, but we should watch for problems. Agree, but extending the base leg may have the same traffic effect as an S-turn, by cutting off multiple "lanes of traffic". We use two parallel landing lanes at our DZ, much as Eloy does. You're supposed to keep not just your landing, but your pattern, on your side of the line.
  20. JohnMitchell
    You could benefit, then, by lots of ground practice (it's free!) and lots of positive visualization on the plane. I know it's hard as a student, but you'll want to control your emotions thru breathing, relaxation techniques, etc. There's an optimum "arousal status" for any task. Tunnel time is the BEST tool, IMO, for training new skydivers. I think you'll be happy with your investment.
  21. JohnMitchell
    What Squeak said right there. That's your answer.
  22. JohnMitchell
    I can certainly agree that women are the intellectual equal to men, and can outdo us at many tasks, esp. involving dexterity, etc. My favorite ortho surgeon (3 operations so far) is a woman, highly regarded by all. I wouldn't see anyone else. Some of the women controllers I worked with could move metal with the best of them. I enjoyed having them on the team. And certainly we have many excellent women at various jobs in the military. The ones I know are amazing. Now women even fly combat missions in fighter jets, attack bomber, helos, etc. But in jobs requiring raw strength, I think the genetics of sex will continue to favor men. Who do you want around to drag your wounded self back to cover when the $hit hits the fan?
  23. JohnMitchell
    [/laugh][/laugh] Perfect rhyme.
  24. JohnMitchell
    Okay, yeah, I think I remember that. I'll give it a try and let you know back. I don't have a chin up bar in the garage, just a couple of handles on rope from the ceiling.
  25. JohnMitchell
    Damn, that's some torn up towns. Any fatalities or is everyone okay?