Jimbo

You've got that backwards. Set it 3K and pull at 3.5K. If you hear it and you're in freefall, you fucked up. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

The S&TA has as much power as the DZO chooses to trust him with and as much of that power as he chooses to accept. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

The next few pages of this forum have posts about the TSA, the USPA, and you. They're worth a read. My TSA Complaint letter, just emailed Post TSA or USPA letters to help carry on your rig TSA and what the USPA is doing. There are more, you can find them using the 'search' function. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Is there something Wrong with the way it's being done? I don't know if there is or if there is not, I was merely commenting that "because we've always done it that way" is a poor reason to continue doing it that way. I think that I wouldn't mind if I thought that a ZP reserve was a better product. Notice that I didn't ask why reserves aren't made of ZP, I did ask why they are made of F111. I think that there's a difference there. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Neither is doing it that way because that's the way it's always been done. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

So, why are they? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

I had a situation over the weekend that could have very well ended up as a two out situation. I didn't pull low and I don't think I'm a dumbass. It isn't just low pulls that put people in that situation. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Don't stall your canopy near the ground. Seriously, one of the reasons you want to practice stalling your canopy up top is to learn where the stall point is so that you won't stall it near the ground. You need to know this because one day you might find yourself flying your canopy just at the edge of a stall to sink it into a tight out. After all that you should know that stalling your canopy up high is pretty fun too! Stall it, ride it for a thousand feet, and reinflate. It's a cheap thrill. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Unless you're jumping an elliptical canopy all you have to do to fix this is let up on the toggles. The canopy will most likely reinflate and you'll be on your merry way. If it doesn't, cutaway and use your reserve. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

It was deleted, the gist of it though is that someone was offended by the term 'girl', even when accompanied by '18 year old'. Apparently the term 'girl' made this person think of pedophelia. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

How? What was it that you did, as the S&TA, or that the DZO did to slow this kid down? No one is questioning your level of trust, I think though that people are questioning is your level of commitment. If this kid really was a "not if, but when" kid, then why didn't you ground him? Why didn't you take steps to prevent him from jumping at your DZ? Why didn't you call the neighboring DZs and warn them? Or did you? I don't know, because you haven't told us. You're right, all they need to do is go to the DZ down the road. However, if you ground him at your DZ you've prevented him from going in there, and maybe sent him a message that his actions are serious enough to warrant such an extreme tactic. At least it's a start, right? Better than nothing? Or were you worried about losing a customer? Edit: We always talk about how skydiving is a self regulating sport, we talk about the need or desire to keep the FAA out of sport. We talk about keeping excessive regulation from the USPA out of our sport. None of that will happen if we don't do the self regulation we're so proud of. None of that will happen if we just turn a blind eye to safety or to those who obviously need help. Every injury, and worse, every fatality, is bringing us closer to forced regulation. Self regulation DOES work, I think, but we need to make it work; we need to take responsibility for ourselves and for those we have been charged with watching over. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Bill, what's your definition of an expert canopy pilot? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Stay in the plane? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

It can. It's not unhead of to either pad the main tray or the main bag in a larger container to accomodate a smaller main canopy and a larger reserve. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Wrong. I know first hand of at least a few cases where the Cypres fired because the jumper had lost altitude awareness; the jumpers would certainly be dead if it weren't for the Cypres. I don't know of a single case where the Cypres fired on an unconscious jumper. (Edit: Ths isn't to suggest that it doesn't happen, just that I think it's more common that the Cypres saves jumpers who have lost altitude awareness) The reserve is definitely there to save you, highly loaded reserves save many people each year, significantly more than than they kill. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

There are bargins every day, don't use the bargin as an excuse to get into a canopy that you aren't ready for. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

"Dude, you're a danger to yourself and others, you're grounded at this dropzone." You are the S&TA, right? Uh huh. I also read the part about 200-ish jumps on a Stiletto 135 @ 1.5. I also read the part about "not if, but when". Did that all happen while you were out of town? I hope so. If not I hope that you, as the S&TA, have a direct line to the DZO who certainly can ground him. I certainly hope so! I don't disagree that younger skydivers listen when experienced skydivers talk, a lot more of us would be dead if this wasn't true. But I don't think that keeping information from budding skydivers is the key either. If this guy has watched ANY of the decent swoopers land recently then he's seen them use rear risers; he probably would have tried it himself, without any instruction, sooner or later. I have to believe that he's at least a little bit ahead of the curve after having had at least some professional instruction or comment. Keeping information from skydivers will only ensure that we hurt more skydivers. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Not true. And I resent that you're suggesting that it was the swoop seminar that put this kid in the hosipital. The reality is that, like any other accident, it was a series of probably avoidable conditions that ALL contributed to his current condition. I'm taking the following from your post in Incidents. Sort of frightening in itself, especially when paired with this one from your post in the S&T forum. Then there's this: Bullshit. Words are nice, but actions are better. If you were that concerned about this jumper why didn't you ground him? Why didn't you do something to change the situation? Don't go and blame the swoop seminar, or the instructor for that matter, for your jumpers poor judgement or his recent accident. I wish your jumper a complete and speedy recovery. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

You're placing an awful lot of importance on that altimeter if it is indeed something you depend upon with your life. Just something to think about.... - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Canopy mode? What is it? What other neat whistles and bells are on the Neptune? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

You think so? You don't think any differences might be because you're jumping two different canopies? - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Not soon enough! I haven't been to a good looting in I can't even tell ya how long! - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Ha! That's funny stuff right there! - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

Here's the original thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=591134#591134 And here's a little something from the CrossKeys website: There's also going to be a big charity event at CK this weekend called Jump for Joy. If you were ever thinking about visiting CK then now would be a good time. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

The Cypres isn't a magic bullet, it's an electronic device that is prone to failure (just like every other device on the planet). If you can't get over that then skydiving might not be for you. - Jim "Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed.