thelem

When I rent a rig from my DZ, I expect it to be in fully working condition with a main packed by a qualified packer. I do not expect to have to get the reserve inspected by a rigger before I jump. Therefore, if the rig does not work as expected I would expect the DZ to pay. Of course I would do my best to locate the equipment (not likely to be a problem at my dz though). Renting a rig is a business transaction, but If I am borrowing a rig from a friend, then they are doing me a favour and it is my responsibility to return it to them how they gave it to me. Obviously if there was an agreement, which make you pay for lost gear, that you had to sign before renting the rig, then that would be different. In that case if you didn't like the agreement, you shouldn't have rented the rig.

Tonto: What do you mean "complete the program"? Get their A-licence, or just do their Level 8? Also, do you have any figures on how many get their B-licence. South Africa's not like the UK - if you have the money you will be able to complete AFF fairly quickly, but may well not stay in the sport. For example, our university club went to France last summer for a progression trip, we had 4 static liners (one still on the rope, the rest on freefall) and 4 AFF (IIRC all had completed a static line course, but may not have jumped). Of those 8 students: * The one who went over there on the rope is still on the rope, hasn't been to the DZ recently and plans to take up AFF. * The other 3 static line students (myself included) all qualified and have visited the DZ in the last month (maybe not jumped - but thats britain for you). * The 4 AFF students all got their Level 8, some of them possibly got A-licence too. They have been to the DZ at most twice each since coming back from france in june, and I haven't seen any up there since christmas. There was another 20 or so students who trained on the static line courses in the UK but didn't make it onto freefall. My point was just that just because someone gets and A-licence through AFF, it doesn't mean they will be a skydiver for any significant length of time.

I trained static line in Britain, and I wasn't taught about a horseshoe malfunction until my first ripcord jump. We used the ones without a pilot chute, so the bag stays attached to plane (a bit like a reserve). The only way I can see a horseshow happening is therefore if you get the static line wrapped around your arm (or whatever), which would turn it into a static line hangup

Oh yeah, and jumping from 2k freefall? That seems WAY too low. How many jumps did he have?

13 years olds are actually quite intelligent you know, although it does depend a lot on the 13 year old in question if they have the maturity not to mess around. The limit is 16 in the UK, but one of the riggers at my DX has 13 and 15 yo kids, and I would have thought he would happily let both of them jump now if it was legal.

What are "the peas"? Are you literaly talking about a field of peas? If so, why peas and not another crop? (I've seen it in several places, so I'm assuming its not just a crop that happens to be grown at one dz). What about on a sheep? They have a bit of soft padding :)

I live in Portsmouth, and I normally get the train to Bristol/Cardiff and get off at Salisbury (no changes). Going to Pewsey involves 3 or 4 trains. From salisbury, I either hitch a lift or get a bus. IIRC during the day there are busses to Netheravon village, but after 6pm or something the nearest bus goes to the Stonehenge Inn. Don't forget your FAI either, without it (or APA) you won't be able to get on the base.

Another option in strong winds, which you can do closer to the ground, is just to go into mid-to-deep brakes. The wind will blow you backwards, but at a slower speed and with no need to turn. I did this last weekend when I was at about 200' and realised I was running the risk of colliding with a fence.

I became a skydiver when I did my first skydive - i.e. my RAPS 3-second delay. Surely only a skydiver can perform a skydive? I wouldn't count people who have only done tandems as skydivers - they are merely passengers on someone else's skydive. I have stayed a skydiver because I have kept jumping. Even someone with 25,000 jumps won't stay a skydiver if they don't keep current.

I don't see why you should have to give up tandems. Giving up incase people don't want to come to the dropzone because of you is a bad reason. Most tandem students are unlikely to hear about your illness, and even if they did they could (be unreasonable and) ask to jump with a different tandem master. Giving up tandems for reasons like this will only serve to maintain the irrational fear some people have about HIV (obviously unsafe sex and sharing needles would be rational fear). The only other reason to give up is the chance of infecting the student. Would you ban everyone with HIV from playing all contact sports like rugby? Consider the chances of: a) You both being cut and fluids mixing b) The student getting infected even if that does happen (fairly low) c) You both dying due to a malfunction, a risk the student is willing to take. If you are a responsible, experienced tandem master, the risk of death of serious injury to the student well probably still be less than a less experienced tandem master.

Pulling one toggle all the way to the canopy is exactly how we were taught to handle high-wind situations (medium you just run 180deg round the canopy, therefore making the back of the canopy face the wind), The tandems have people 'catch' them in high winds - ie as they are landing, grab a toggle and run away from them until the canopy has colapsed.

If you look at the fields, those were actually giant babies. Plus, look how much space they are taking up in the aircraft. OK, maybe I'm looking at this too closely now :) It is a great video though, I love the head down bit. Heres a good quality quicktime link for it from another thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=22167;

If the rig is anywhere that someone might want to pick it up by the reserve handle, then tie the chest strap round the handle. That makes sure no one deploys the reserver, and you won't have forgotton to take it off if you ever need the reserve.

What are the laws about trespass in the US? According to our university law lecturer who used to run her own legal practise, in the uk there is no law against trespassing. You can get in trouble for refusing to leave when asked (not likely to be a problem) or causing damage, but not actual tresspassing.

I assume the advice here is for US regulations (please say when you post). At my dz in the uk (netheravon), if you are on RAPS then every time you go up and get a free refresh on emergency procedures, exits and anything special you're doing on the next jump, you are made current for the next 3 months (subject to having had a refresh shortly before your actual jump).

Tonto: What did you're tandem student think of your double mal though? Congrats on landing safely.

For a minute I thought you meant after you have jumped out - I'm sure most of you have seen pictures of porters keeping up with skydivers for a few seconds. I've landed in the plane once - on what would have been my first jump. There wasn't any gap in the cloud unfortunatly. Of course by the time we got back down, the clouds had cleared but the winds had gone over ;)

Those are all a bit high aren't they? 10 deg is comfortable, but much below that and I don't have much feeling in my hands by the time I land. I'd probably say 0 was my limit, but that isn't an option!

Lets come back to the coins. Someone mentioned earlier that if you tossed a coin 600 times and got 600 heads, then on toss 601 there would still be a 50/50 chance of getting heads on the next toss. You said you thought there would be something wrong with the coin if toss 601 was not a tail. If I work through the first few tosses, hopefully you can see the theory will go on forever. We will keep tossing the coin until it we get tails. On the first toss, there is a 50/50 (or 0.5 out of 1) chance of getting a head, so: H = 0.5 T = 0.5 On the second toss, there is still a 50/50 chance of getting a head, so: HH = 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25 HT = 0.5 * 0.5 = 0.25 T = 0.5 Total probability of throwing tails so far = 0.5 + 0.25 = 0.75 Third toss, still a 0.5 chance: HHH = 0.25 * 0.5 = 0.125 HHT = 0.25 * 0.5 = 0.125 Tail thrown already: 0.75 Total probability of tails so far: 0.75 + 0.125 = 0.875 Forth toss: HHHH = 0.125 * 0.5 = 0.0625 HHHT = 0.125 * 0.5 = 0.0625 Tails thrown already: 0.875 Total probability of tails: 0.9375 So, we can say that after tossing the coin 4 times, there is a 93.75% chance that we will have thrown at least one tails, but there is still a 6.25% chance that we will have thrown only heads. As you keep throwing the coins, the chance that you will have thrown a tail AT SOME POINT keeps increasing, but the chance of throwing a tail next time stays the same. FYI the chance of throwing 600 heads in a row is approximatly 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000241 : 1 (or 2.41e-181) The probability of throwing 601 heads in a row is approximatly 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000000120 : 1

One of the pages suggests she has already done the jump. From http://stratoquest.com/default.cfm?page=25 The rest of the page however talks in the future tense.

My first freefall - I was s***ing myself so much ;) (but I only have 61 to choose from at the moment)

Even as someone who knew Steve, can I ask that people don't try and guess who the people who have been arrested are. Imagine you were one of the people who were arrested but you were totally innocent, but your name got leaked out to the press. Do you think people who be too happy to be anywhere near you, let alone jump with you? Journalists DO read these forums, so any names mentioned are likely to get into the press. Of course, if you do have any real information, tell the police, not us. A moderator has already posted elsewhere that if any names are mentioned, the relevant posts will be deleted and the poster will be banned from dropzone.com.

Hacky Sack - The game played with a ball that doesn't bounce by people who might.