bclark

6 Saturday 5 Sunday YTD:45 Last year YTD:30

We had an instructor who unwittingly stood on a "small" fire ant hill while in line to board the Otter with a tandem last year. This was a hot load and as the Otter pulled around and we all started boarding he started getting the SHIT bit out of him. He did what he could to slap as many of them off of him as he could before reaching the top of the latter. He spent the rest of the ride to altitude getting bit. Many of you in "the North" have never had the opportunity to experience fire ants. Let me just say they SUCK! Certain times of the year our landing area looks like a giant connect the dot puzzle of ant hills. You actually have to dodge them while landing. We had another instructor who had an uncanny knack for center punching fire ant hills while sliding in tandem landings. (Hi Yoshi!) As I recall he was allergic to fire ants, so when this would happen it was relatively serious.

Don't be an STBDMF. (Soon To Be Dead Mother Fucker). The Rules: #1 DON'T DIE! #2 No matter how hard you try, you cannot fit the planet up your ass. #3 Keep the bones on the inside. Oh, yeah. "Q:Why don't blind people skydive? A:It scares the shit out the dog!" and "Q:How do blind skydivers know when to pull? A:When the leash goes slack." Thanks Dennis. "Go big or go home." Ok, I think that's all I can come up with.

Spaceland: $22.00 to 14k. $12.00 hop 'n' pops. First price increase since I have been here. (4 years). Impressive considering fuel costs. And it's nice to see that the money is going into improvements to the DZ. (New security system, remodeled video room, soon to be remodeled bathrooms, packing room soon to be doubled in size.) And a DZO who when he says it's going to happen, IT HAPPENS!

Brian, Before you unstowed the brakes and started trying to steer out of the line twists it looked like you were trying to twist the risers together into the direction of turn. This is how I get out of alot of tandem line twists. I find it to be very effective. Can you explain why this works so well?

Did the Nova not have a reputation as an unstable canopy in general? Some people have told me that they loved their Nova's. But were they not pulled off the market after several fatal canopy collapses?

Not for nostalgia...because they are COOL!

Beech 18 or DC-3.

I've seen more than one instructor who couldn't hold heading under a drogue!

DO SOMETHING! BUT... I am not going to waste my time cutting away. I know how to deal with 2 out. If the main deploys it is more likely to end up in a 2 out configuration than an entanglement. And if they DO entangle, I think they will be far more controllable with the main risers attached to my harness than fouled in some nasty fashion in my reserve suspension lines.

I don't think that forgetting / remembering to hook your student up has anything to do with WHEN you do it. It is about doing it in a standardized way. I understand and respect your opinion, but when comparing tandem / aircraft accident statistics between the U.S. and the UK, I would take into consideration the vastly greater numbers of skydiving flights and tandem jumps conducted in the U.S. It is the instructors job to hook up his student AND double check that the student is properly secured before exit.

MOVE THERE! Salt Lake is a fantastic place to live. If I could work year round I would still live there. There are alot of Mormons, but there are alot of other people too. There are many activities and things to do concentrated in the valley. (You mentioned walking distance.) If you are into the outdoors you have the mountains, fishing, hiking, camping, biking, skiing, skydiving, etc... The price of living is a little higher than some places, but much lower than others. It is a very clean city, beer is 3.2 percent alcohol, liquor must be purchased from a State owned liquor store. (I guess I am a little biased, as I was born and raised there. I miss it every day!)

I agree with you camamel. Interestingly I was reading the new issue of Skydiving today. There was an article about a U206 that crashed and sunk in a pond in Australia. 3 tandem pairs on board. One pair got out alive. Article said that one of the pairs still in the airplane was hooked up at the lowers...

What is the TSO'd limit of the seatbelt? ( I don't know ). I was wondering about that. The reg states that each person must be wearing a seatbelt, but I can't see where it specifies that each person must have their OWN seatbelt. Seatbelts are certified under TSO C-22. Everything I found online states a 1500 pound limit, that when tested should fail at no less than 2250 lbs. It is hard to find the specifics, they apparently are contained in SAE AS 8043, seems is not available without BUYING it.

FAR 91.107 requires that EACH PERSON on board a U.S. registered civil aircraft must occupy an approved seat or berth with a safety belt and, if installed, shoulder harness, properly secured about him or her during ovement on the surface, takeoff and landing. (the "approved seat" is exempted for skydivers, allowing them to sit on the floor). Side connectors are not seatbelts.

***That is a matter of opinion. *** Which is exactly what I was stating. Never claimed to have facts. But my OPINION is that the IDEA of third party marketing via the internet is not illegal, and USPA probably decided that the benefits of pursuing a lengthy legal battle that may or may not come to fruition were not worth gambling its limited resources on. And to get back to the original topic of this thread. What has the USPA done in the last 50 years? Anyone out there own a turbine aircraft that does not have a TCAS installed in it? THANK YOU USPA! Or how about "ticket taxes"? Where DZ's would have potentially had to pay a percentage of every jump ticket they sold in taxes? THANK YOU USPA! Seems like with all you geniuses out there, by now you would have all opened your own DZ's and elected your own representatives to USPA. Because after all, they are ELECTED OFFICIALS!

These people have not truly been screwed until they pay for a skydive and don't get one. At that point they do not differentiate between skyride and the dropzone. One of you asked if I attributed the decline in USPA membership and recruitment to DZ's not accepting Skyride G.C.'s. No, I do not. But you cannot deny that a great percentage of students are directed to the DZ through internet referral. And unfortunately many of them don't research any further than the first web page they come upon. So what percentage of the potential student base for your DZ do you turn away? Someone in another thread suggested that because the customer paid through S.R. they were unlikely to continue or return. I suggest that instead of treating that student like a leper due to their misfortune, you welcome them into the community and show them that not ALL skydivers are a bunch of A-Holes (well at least not MOST of them....). You may call me a skyride supporter, but what I truly am is someone who refuses to turn my back on people who want to skydive, but may not have done their homework before spending their money. The few of you out there who know me know that I am nothing but one person. I work in this industry because I love to skydive. I have no affiliation with ANYONE! I am a SUB CONTRACTOR! Just another poor slave who lives in a trailer on a DZ. How about taking that person skydiving, showing them a positive experience, and bringing them back (directly) to the dropzone with all their family and friends? Or teaching them how to skydive, at the same time spreading by word of mouth that they need not pay a middle man to do so. I did not make my previous post to get into a pissing match with all of you who have repeatedly expressed your sentiments about skyride. (If you were capable of reading my post with objectivity, you may have seen that I agree with you in many ways.) In fact, I recognize that their are a few closed minded individuals out there who are uncapable of objective thought, and I don't give a shit what they think. I am putting my opinion out there for those who may be willing to look at the picture in its entirety. Student Response A: These Skyride people ripped me off and the Drop Zone turned their back on me. I'm gonna tell ALL my friends about it. Student Response B: These Skyride people suck (maybe I should have done my homework first), but the people at the Drop Zone were GREAT, and skydiving rocks. AND I'M GONNA TELL ALL MY FRIENDS ABOUT IT!

I can't think of a single advantage or reason to do this when you are going to land in the aircraft in the event of an emergency below 1000' / 1500'. I can understand the student next to the door scenario. I suppose that there may be some people who may not be able to attach or tighten the lowers next to the door of a 182. But except for those reasons WHY?

Way to go BillVon! I respect you for standing up against popular opinion and speaking your mind. I disagree with Skyride's business practices. I always have. Once upon a time I would have been right in the middle of this Anti-Skyride bitchfest. But I watched things play out and remained objective. I STILL think that it sucks that people are being misled, and are paying more for their jumps. These people are being screwed by Skyride, often with little recourse. But they are not TRULY screwed until they go to their local dropzone who refuses to take them skydiving because they were uninformed and paid money to a third party booking company. Now they have been screwed coming AND going. They leave the DZ not only angry at Skyride, but at skydiving in general. And they will either get their money back or not, but chances are they will never try to jump again, and will tell all their friends that skydivers are an unscrupulous, dishonest lot as a whole. I work at a Dropzone that takes Skyride gift certificates. I work there because it is a great place to work and Skydive. Now when I come in contact with a person who bought a Skyride G.C. I go the extra mile to show them a good time, and to show them that skydiving is a great sport that they should become interested in. I also discreetly mention that they will ALWAYS save money by going directly to the local DZ. We sit and complain about our decline in membership and recruitment, yet you have a whole list of DZ's, and in some cases entire STATES that are turning away future skydivers in great numbers because they bought a Skyride G.C. And all you Anti Skyride Zealots are further contributing to the demise of your sport because you are blacklisting your local dropzones simply because they refuse to turn away potential SKYDIVERS. I hope Skyride burns in hell. I hope that they go to jail and get buttraped. But trying to put your local DZ out of business is not going to accomplish that. I hope that you all get it. Support SKYDIVING support your DZ's. IF SKYRIDE GETS PUT OUT OF BUSINESS IT WILL BE DUE TO THEIR OWN ACTIONS, NOT YOU BLACKLISTING DZ'S!!! (or USPA who stood up to the extent of their resources, but probably recognized that it is not in their best interest to pursue a likely unsuccesful multi million dollar lawsuit.)

No, that is not what I was referring to. But, you gave me ONE example of a logical reason for it. (Which IS what I was after.) What other reasons (other than a student sitting next to an open door) can you think of for hooking up the lowers below an altitude at which you would attempt an emergency exit? I ask because I was taught that having the lowers hooked up in the event of a crash on takeoff could impede evacuation of the aircraft. Particularly if you are incapacitated or unconscious. I can only imagine my student trying to drag my corpse out of a burning aircraft.

Why hook up the lowers below an altitude at which you are willing to attempt an emergency exit?

I have taken alot of very neat people with interesting stories on tandems. Yesterday I took an 80 year old WW2 Veteran named Harry on a jump. He was a paratrooper in the War and did 26 static line jumps in his career. He was also part of a glider crew (those very scary gliders they used to tow behind C-47's). I got to take him on his first parachute jump since 1946. He made his last jump 30 years before I was born. He was an absolute pleasure to jump with and arched better than many "physically fit" 20 year olds I have jumped. I also jumped with a man named Albert this year who was celebrating his 90th birthday. He had also done tandems on his 88th and 89th birthdays. I jumped with a man named Victor a couple of months ago who was from Russia. He was in the U.S. visiting some friends, one of whom is a recent graduate from our STP program. He spoke NO english whatsoever, but with the help of Alex his friend, we were able to teach him enough that he exited strong, was aware of his altitude, and pulled. It was interesting in that after we left his friend on the ground and boarded the aircraft, I could not speak with him at all. In a little over 4000 tandems I get to jump with alot of very inspirational people every year. Each of them are challenging in their own way. Those people and their stories, and the various challenges involved in getting them jumped safely, make them the most rewarding tandems students you can take.

I will let you form your own opinions based on your usage of these helmets. Subjected to daily use, consistent with working in the skydiving industry, mine literally disintegrated in about 6 months. If you only jump on weekends, or NEVER bump your head it will obviously last longer. I will say again, "You get what you pay for!"

Scott was a great guy to work with. As previously stated he was a very hard working guy, who did alot of the behind the scenes work that people take for granted. He always had a great attitude in a sometimes very high stress work environment. I did not know him much as a person outside of work, but always genuinely liked him and respected him.

I don't think anyone is intending to make this personal. Simply discussing various ideas about how to deal with a bad situation. I am open minded to any logical input that anyone else has on this issue. Especially given the many various opinions people have on the subject. It seems that some reinforcement or other redundancy in the drogue attachment to the bag could by design eliminate most of these problems. It seems like it could be an easy problem to solve and would prevent a scary situation.