skytash

Note - I'm not an instructor. My sense is that if you are worried about low turns, you are sufficiently aware about them and won't do them. Ask your instructors to explain how to do flat turns so that you know what Tom was talking about. Stay aware of the dangers of low turns throughout your skydiving career and you are far less likely to make a mistake. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

There have been other posts for finding a rigger in London, a search may help on that one. My experience from having lived in London for 10 years is that although many skydivers live there, those who are riggers tend not to. The cost of property is just too high to have enough space... Skydivers living in London jump at many dropzones around the country, Weston, Hinton, Netheravon, Langar and Hibbalstow all require a car to get to, Headcorn can be reached by train and is actually closest to London of all those. Check out the dz reviews here. Posting on uk.rec.skydiving may also help find people and places to jump. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

depends on where they are. I've had a riser take a (small) chunk out my little finger, because without knowing it I reach for my risers on deployment. (good call on big ways 'cos I can steer away from other canopies quickly if necessary) I now always wear gloves as I don't like to take my rings off. If a riser can do that my skin, who knows what would happen if I caught my ring on it - I like having all my 10 digits! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

I used to dream that I didn't pull, but still managed a landing as if under canopy then sheepishly open up my container so that I would walk back to the packing area with an open canopy because I felt guilty for not having pulled and didn't want anyone to know that I hadn't flown my canopy. I'd always be worried that the creases in the canopy would be too obvious that it hadn't actually flown on that jump. v strange! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

under the UK system. If you go abroad, eg Spain, you may find yourself with a USPA instructor who will only issue a USPA A licence which I think requires more than 18 jumps. Many Spanish DZs do have BPA instructors as well, so check when you book which system they use. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Update on Skyventure tunnel from Simon today: If you are interested in investing, further details from their website: http://www.skyventure.co.uk/skyventure.html?/investor_information.html (can't remember how to make clickies pretty ) tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

There is one DZ in India that I know of, just outside Bangalore. It is listed on the Dropzone directory here and I have been in touch with Santosh (who runs it) by e-mail. He also posts here, recently about loosing his gear on his return to India from a summer in Europe. Unfortunately it's a bit far from me here in Bombay, but Bangalore is a little closer to Madras, so you may be able to make it! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

I spent last November (and December) living in a ghetto trailer at Z-hills (electricity but no water) and absolutely loved it thanks again to all the locals for adopting me! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

It depends on whether the 170 will fit the racer properly. Check with a local rigger (NOTE: I AM NOT A RIGGER!) In general I would always recommend spending money on a custom container rather than a new canopy. Having a properly fitted container makes jumping a lot more comfortable and FF safer too. I'd go for the container and demo canopies. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Brian Vacher also does courses in Spain, if you check out uk.rec.skydiving he has posted links etc there. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

I just tell people that no-one would say that to a skier, and how many skiers break their legs skiing and get told to 'get back on the horse (slopes)' as it were. I also tell them that more people break legs skiing than skydiving (but that may be a factor of more people ski than skydive). I do find it annoying that breakig a leg skiing is bad luck and breaking a leg is stupid according to many people. I think both would be the result of a misjudgement! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

just to add, the SDU is a coaching programme after AFF, so in the first instance choose where to do your AFF. I would go an visit the DZs which are close to you and see which one you feel more comfortable at, ie do you like the instructors etc and do your AFF there. All DZs in FL have good instructors, so it's down to which ones you get on with! After the AFF, check with your instructor whether they feel you would be better off with SDU or coaching based on the USPA A-licence system. I'm convinced that people learn better if they get on with their instructors, so I would think that should be one of the main determinants as to where to learn. tash (PS - the parties are definitely better at Z-hills than at Deland from my experience!) Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

LOL! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

I'm trying to think if there is a reason why the plane couldn't climb to a higher altitude. This would then allow more working time for the JM. That is if the student knows what is going on. Wonder if there is a way the JM could communicate what is going on to the student in tow. I remember being on a plane on one of my early freefalls, the others were first timers and an instructor. No three out of the plane had a hang-up. He put his hands on his head, the plane circled and climbed higher so that the instructor could cut the SL over the spot after which the student pulled his reserve. The others on the plane were asking whether they would jump now (the plane started decending) and having seen the face of the instructor I told them that I thought not. I had been around long enough to know that 'these things don't happen' and was rather freaked out (as the instructor was). For them it was just another malfunction they had learned about and had been dealt with. Hats off the the instructor too (Dougie Peacock). The DZ had three planes but only two of the big hook knives. Dougie checked the plane before the jump and noticed there was no knife on board and asked the pilot to radio for someone to bring one over which they did. Little did he know that it would be necessary. tash btw this was in around 1997 or 1998. Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Does the harness have hip rings? On some harnesses without hip rings, the leg straps are part of the sam strip of webbing as the main harness. There is a fair amount of unpicking that would need to be done to replace the whole length which will contribute to the cost. With hip rings it's just a replacement leg strap. One way or another, the most expensive part of harness mods can be the unpicking. You may be able to agree with your rigger to do the unpicking yourself which should lower the cost. That's what I did when my harness needed to be re-built after being cut off me. Having unpicked a harness I have far more turst in them - it's a hard job tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Me too! but it was in 1997. My spring loaded pilot chute went over the front of the canopy and tied it into a bow-tie when I tried to flare (doing my control check). Decided I didn't want to land it and chopped. The same happened on my 16th jump, this time I didn't do a control check just 'Not again!' and chopped again. Was called 'malfunction junction' for a while after that. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Same in the UK. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

When I did my first dive exit it all suddenly felt easy! I felt far more comfortable looking where I was going rather than where I was coming from. To the extent that I didn't like floating for the next 500 jumps and only decided last season that I really need to get over that and start floating! I love diving! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Sally at Paragone made dive loops for a friend of mine which were discussed a while ago: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=904993#904993 He doesn't post much here but really likes these loops as they are bigger than standard he can get his fingers into them more easily. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

7% - keep going tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

I took my old one to a general hardware/electrical store and they had one there. Alternatively check your local dealer, although in my experience dealers can be more expensive than just local shops. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

You'll keep asking until your comfortable and one day someone will ask you and you will answer and help them as much as they need because you remember what it was like! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

your instructor will tell you if s/he feels you may need them. But with good coaching and the right suit most people don't need to wear weights unless they are really tiny. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

Or like me the only way to ensure I get to have the fun of freefall again - not really that annoying in the long run! tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

getting back on-topic.... Working for an insurance company I have to sort of agree and disagree with you. The principle of insurance is spreading risk across the population of clients. Everyone pays the same amount and those who need it get the payout. The advantage of insurance is that if the costs of an injury are a lot higher than what you have paid to date they are all covered, the disadvantage is that you pay even if you never have to claim. The high rise buildings are a small cost in relation to the claim payouts made. If you feel that you can save enough to cover any costs you may incur you can be sure that you won't be subsidising other people's claims. I know that my grandfather did this and covered two hip replacements for my grandmother and cataract operations for both of them. Health insurance suffers from negative selection. Those at most risk of needing the payout are more likely to want the insurance (eg overweight smoking skydivers who don't look when they are crossing the road ) so if you can find an insurance company which specialises in something particular (eg only teachers if you are a teacher) you have a smaller population from which negative selection takes place and cover is more likely to be cheaper. I am trying to get the company I work for to start including skydiving injuries and deaths but the actuaries don't feel the market in the UK is large enough to cover the cost of working out by how much the premiums may have to go up . I keep telling them that they would get the whole civilian skydiving market in the UK as they would be the only ones offering it, but they won't listen (even ) I also agree that skydiving without 'cover' if you have dependents is stupid. By 'cover' I mean insurance or adequate own wealth to cover future earnings losses. tash Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe