Ron

You have been jumping twice as long as me, but have 1/4th the jumps. Why is that? Do you not even jump? See how that works? Maybe you should jump more and stop worrying how people spend their free time? "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You are going to get alot of advice here. One piece of advice I would give is to NOT buy anything from anywhere other than a Local Hobby Shop for a while. There are many good deals to be found on online hobby shops, but a heli is a very maintenance heavy thing and you will need your LHS quite a bit. In fact my LHS is brining me a part to the field tomorrow. Having said that the bigger the heli the easier they are to fly. 50 sized helis are a great mix of low cost and high power. Two popular types are Raptors and Sceadu Evo's. Both are cheap to fix and fly great. I would avoid JR heli's since they are expensive to fix. If you are looking to get into heli's, visit the local hobby shops and see which one has the most heli stuff. Ask about a flying club and then ask them what hobby shop to use. Buy the same model as there are parts on the wall. You will need parts. As for me...Well I am now working on Kaos's and flipping and rolling auto's....Way fun, did two flights today. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You are a very accomplished pilot. You probably have not broken anything on any heli since June. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

No it implies they did something stupid...Thats all, nothing more. I don't think I am stupid....but I have done some stupid things...Even started a thread for others to admit their stupid mistakes. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1130378#1130378 "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Speculate all ya want if I bounce. It might save lives. I would hope that the facts get told by someone EVEN IF IT POINTS TO ME SCREWING UP. Heck, simple fact is that if I die skydiving it will most likely be a direct result of me screwing up. Lets face facts, most accidents are the direct result of someone screwing up, it is the very nature of the sport. Pretending that the person did not screw up is not honest and does not serve the greater good. Nice, smart, fun loving, sexy, good with kids and animals type of people make mistakes....We are participating in a sport that a single mistake can be fatal. Be honest and don't try to hide the facts. The ground does not care how nice you are, or how skilled, or what you meant to do....It only cares what happend. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Most likely some of that. I would think so. Don't think so. Simple really...The people who jump more, are exposed to the risk more. Add in that they are normally the ones pushing it more than the new guy and it all adds up. But notice that the top jumpers who make 500-1000 a year are not the ones getting killed. So I think that all things being equal the hyper current jumper is safer. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

No, not worth the risk. IMO "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Funny, I have met several. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

No. The person does not KNOW the risks well enough to make that call. That is like putting students out on Velo 96's. They don't know that they are a bad choice for a student canopy. We should all be responsible enough to not let those with bigger egos than skill sets make calls they are not qualified to make. A mistake hurts the whole sport, not just the person who made the mistake. People have the right to make choices, but a smart person would not make life or death choices without knowing the full risks and other options. And a guy with 100 jumps and no ratings is not qualified to enough to really guide him. Taking a guy out on an AFF jump with no training and only 100 jumps is not smart, but not illegal. Being the guy taken out is not smart, but maybe the guy didn't know the risks and blindly trusted his buddy. But having to forge a logbook should have been a clue it was a bad idea. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Not even close to the same. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

I just spent a week working with the Airforce Academy RW teams. They get a FJC taught by Sr. Cadets, then do solo skydives for 5 jumps. They do not jump with an instructor. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You do not want the FAA to get involved with regulating skydiving any more than they have now. What the jumper did was not illegal. Smart, no. But not illegal. But some people will not listen and no amount of bitching will make them listen. They will do as they please. So this person would most likely have done it if it was illegal. So all you will do is hurt people who already follow the BSR's. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

You should start flying at the field I used to fly at in Zhills..Good folks and good times. PM for contact details. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Yes, IMO for what he meant, but not what he asked. I thought you do not need more than a PPL to fly a jump plane provided that it is not for hire. For example I could legally fly a jump plane as long as all aboard are not paying for the flight, or we all shared the cost of the flight. He may not fly for hire, or even for hours since the FAA sees hours as compensation. So it would have to be for free for all, or he would have to share expenses. Or did I miss understand the regs? "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Any reason to not let them pull on T1? Not shudder, I just realize that shit can go bad really quickly and two people have a better chance of catching a screwed up student than one...And even more important can PREVENT a bad situation. I have taken AFF students out of a plane that have about an hour of tunnel time on them, a good bit with me. But once in freefall, they realize they are in freefall and not the tunnel....Weird shit started to happen. In the end,a properly briefed and drilled student should not even need an instructor with them, think Airforce Academy FF training....But I think we all agree that at least one should be there....And some think two is *better* for the first release. Having been on AFF L3's where a great level 2 student didn't act like the student they were 40 min ago...Well, I was glad that I had backup...Didn't NEED it, but glad it was there. In the end it is your DZ and your call....And my opinion is worth less than the time it took to write this really....But I see nothing but a safety benefit to the *student* to have two AFF I's. And the only benefit I can really see is that you save an AFF I slot, since you have few AFF I's. So it is a balance of safety vs. efficiency. IMO safety wins any tie. Let us know how it works for you. Good, or bad. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Depends. All those signals flashed in quick succession, was there a check alti, or pull hidden in there The only way you are going to find out WHY she did what she did is to ask her. Maybe the "I's" Alti is off? 1. I would find out exactly what the DZs dive flow is. 2. I would ask the chief instructor what they want. I have seen DZ's that will fail you for going below the hard deck one foot and others that will cut you some slack. 3. I would ask the "I" why she dumped them out. It could be that her alti is 500 feet off and the DZ has a hard rule about going below it. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Watch video...Lots of video. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Then the TI *does* help the student turn when he sees a correct input. That way the student does not have to over do the input. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Same thing. Same thing, just different name. I seem to remember an AAD on the Main is called an AOD. It might be because it is spring loaded, the user can reset it, due to it being on the main, or I could just be wrong. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

If I remember, they have AOD's on the main and AAD's on the reserve. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Before the first non tandem jump...Whenever that is. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

The Airforce Academy used to just throw them out solo on the first jump. It worked well and they have a pretty good safety record. I don't recall if they do that anymore, but I'll ask next week. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Personally I would do two tandems, with the TLO's of AFF L1 and 2, and then an AFF level 3. I would prefer that the first time a student is released be with two folks there. The leg position is the problem that most students have, and tandems are not great for teaching leg position IMO. This would reduce the need for two JM's to only one jump and provide a larger safety margin. With T1 and T2 and AFF3 I see no cons at all. I think this is the best of both worlds. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

That is a really great question. Totally depends on your DZ. Tandems should be cheaper than some AFF jumps. I would say that it is safer for everyone if the student has a tandem before AFF. As someone already said, it takes 25 jumps and passing some objectives to get the "A". Tandems count as jumps. Yes. I think a student that has a tandem is safer than a student that has never been if freefall before. I'll take a student on an AFF jump for their first jump, so taking one that has done a tandem is no issue at all. With out getting into the personal issues like "I didn't want to be strapped to a person for my first jump". I can't really think of a single negative issue with a Tandem/AFF program. I personally think that at least one tandem would be a great addition to the start of any student program. I also like how the TI can give hands on canopy coaching. I had a student that just did not get it under canopy. So we did a tandem so I could SHOW her all the things I, and others, tried to tell her. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

Yeah, my guy didn't suck either. "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334