FrogNog

Kelly is a really nice guy. Maybe he'll show up here and offer to help you get some of the hard housings he (or his riser supplier) uses. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

If your DZ has a hanging harness that can rotate, you could try getting an instructor to hang you in it so you can practice kicking different directions. If you're concerned about it, I mean. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

One thing I like about flat turns is that just knowing how to do them is a comfort when things get a little weird. Yesterday I was in more canopy traffic than I am used and I ended up lower than I like in my pattern, and the wind was in the "it never goes this direction" direction with people on the ground everywhere. I worked my way "down" the list of approach techniques from the hottest ones I know to the safest and settled on gentle turns and prepare for PLF, and it was all good. (If a bit short on grace.) Had I been any lower, braked turns would have been necessary and without them, panic and either ground-hurt or obstacles-hurt could have been in the forecast. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

I second that. I second the seconding of that. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Would this be "Truth In Advertising"?

On the same rig?

It was an injury directly attributable to skydiving participation that requires trained medical attention, I reckon.

I don't know if you can say a canopy dies of UV exposure "before" dying of mechanical abuse (dragging, sand in them, packing, opening...); they kind of complement each other. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Erm, note that my reference to Monkey Kam is only in reference to bullet cameras in general; there are probably camera differences that a videophile (for example, Mr. Frey

They lack at least half the high-frequency vibration damping capabilities of Sony camcorders - Sonys have mechanical as well as electronic anti-shake technology, and AFAIK the bullet cams will lose the mechanical anti-shake part. Other than that, the Monkey Kam website is a nice brochure. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

You've said a few times it's about positional awareness, and I totally agree. In freefall, I believe positional awareness starts on the ground and in the plane. Groups are supposed to separate properly so when they break off and track for a correct amount of time, no person is directly above or under any other person, from their own group or another group. (And people aren't supposed to pull high, have premature mid-freefall container openings, or track for extended periods parallel to the line of flight.) And for people flying around in freefall, knowing what was the line of flight is the "positional awareness" appropriate for freefall. If someone freefalls past a deploying/open canopy 50' away, it seems to me that is a separation screwup plain and simple. Under canopy, it's heads-on-swivels as people say. (And not being a traffic asshat, as people say.) Neon orange canopies help too.

I'm a fan of symmetrical color schemes because I think it makes it easier to diagnose a malfunction that causes a misshapen canopy.

I think I have only ever seen one chest strap that was sewn so the end couldn't easily be unthreaded through the hardware (unloaded, using two hands) - Amazon had one of these for her "Special Needs." One thing that's important to me is ability to unthread the chest strap for a water landing. The narrow chest strap on one rig I rented was so fuzzed and the stopper so tight in the hardware that there was no way I could get it undone in the air unless I pulled at 10k. I don't know if this was related to it being a narrow strap but if so, I would prefer a wide strap like I have on my rig.

I say the red/white/blue. But, then, I am American.

I think pulling one arm in only flips you over from your back if you look over the shoulder of the arm you just pulled in. I have found myself in some very fun freefall spirals from belly-down by pulling one arm in and (I think) leaning on that shoulder, so I would get practice flipping over this way well above pull time... Arching hard to flip over sounds like the best bet. You did it and it worked. I did the same thing on one of my many, many 15-second delay jumps. (I did Static Line.) If I recall correctly, that's also the recommendation in the Poynter/Turoff beginner's book, and I remember hearing my instructors approving of this technique.

They're all over the board. Some of them actually chilled me a bit psychologically. (The one about the people with things on their backs at the party - making the reader question what truth and happiness in his/her life really are...) I wish there were more raunchiness, but such is life. -=-=-=-=- Pull.

Piece of cake if you've ever actually tended a garden for roses.

He means how close to your sacrum the legstraps are. If they are wedged way up into your crotch, they can feel bad. Slipping them a teeny bit toward your knee while under canopy can make them feel more like sitting on a sling. (But I reckon having them like that during deployment could be harder on your pelvis.) Personally, I like 'em as high as they go. I also have double-wide legstraps, which a friend of mine complains makes him have to "fly like a whore" under canopy - crossing his legs with these straps hurts. Well, I guess I like flying like a whore with my bits cooling in the breeze. So maybe leg position could influence your comfort as well. Oh, and legstraps whose pads don't cover the inside front of my crotch (I would say sartorious area) generally leave me hurting. Especially if they're hooked via the MLW and risers to an original Sabre. This reply of mine requires a disclaimer including the following parts: * I said what I think someone else is saying. * I am not a medical, skeletal, or engineering expert. * I discussed fiddling with your harness while skydiving. Doing this wrong (or right) could, possibly, result in death. Please don't die. (Not that I thought you were going to, but please don't anyway.

I got a laugh there, too, but it's possible he's taking weight vests for whomever he ends up jumping with. If I were an anvil, that is one way I would consider making friends at other dropzones... "Hey, want to fly really fast with me? Put this on and let's go!"

QuoteIts not a tracking dive. Its a WHOLE lot steeper then a tracking dive.Quote You just haven't seen our tracking dives.

"This tastes like PISS! Oh, wait..."

This doesn't belong in Safety&Training because I don't want it to really be about learning, more about complaining. I will start: See Dick jump a Stiletto at 1.7 lbs/sf at 95 jumps. See Dick hook into the ground. Don't be a Dick.

If they're copying other peoples' websites and images, then they're not being a legit business and they're asking for legal trouble. I suggest dealing with that problem that way. If they aren't (or, judging from what I saw, if they stop) copying other peoples' websites and images, then they would achieve "loathed mildly honest middleman" status. The thing I dislike most is the "information management." They are a booking service, not an actual DZ (as far as I know, and I have seen nothing to make me doubt this), but it doesn't look like they're telling the customers that. Maybe they should take a lesson from Ticketmaster - they don't claim to play the songs.

That low canopy-jumper collision vid was great. I love that timely quote: "Mother". Nice EPs that guy did. Funny how the voiceover says he struggles with his ripcord, after he pulled it probably 10 inches, surely the pin was out and deployment was beginning, and he was just working on the end. "30 seconds away from certain death." Hey, I'm less than 30 seconds away from sudden death almost every time I pull.

I never mentioned copyright or condoned stealing. And if someone is selling someone else's services without an agreement that it will work out, obviously that's not a workable business practice. But that's not all that upsets people about Skyride's practices. Skyride could have never stolen a photo or a FJC text, and only ever have sold tickets to DZs that had agreed to honor them, and still there would be people upset because Skyride doesn't tell the customers that they're just a middleman who advertises to get new customers hooked up with DZs, and doesn't do much else, for a fee. I believe Skyride is in the unenviable position of having to step on toes to get the most business for themselves - some of their customers would have found the DZ and scheduled a jump on their own, but ran into Skyride's advertisements first and now are paying more money for a diminutive benefit, and the DZO can expect to see a harder time selling video, as well as a harder time getting that customer's friends to come out unless he can reeducate them that his direct price is less. And if the DZ really does have a willful relationship with Skyride, that reeducation could be awkward. Then, there are what I would call "advertising property space" issues. Skyride, I believe it is, has claimed Internet domain names that other skydiving organizations would believe infringing. But without doing this, Skyride can't as well do what they want to do: make money by being an advertising middleman. So all I'm saying is that besides alleged copyright allegations and allegedly selling things they aren't entitled to sell, Skyride is in a business niche that a lot of people look down on, for some good reasons. (That second part is what I'm trying to add to the conversation.) With respect to the alleged copyright allegations and the like, I say use the law. Writing something mean about a company on dropzone.com doesn't hurt or help anyone much. Court-assessed fines and orders to cease and desist, public admissions of fault, juicy monetary settlements, and/or jail time makes real differences. And there's no gain to converting me "against" skyride. I consider the company useless to me personally so I wouldn't lift a finger to help it and whenever I find anyone who wants a tandem I tell them what a great place with great TMs my home DZ is and give them the number.