Liemberg

IMO The ideal situation would be that same large indicator (tetrahedron) but constructed in such a way that 3 or more meters of wind is required to make it turn, so that it doesn't turn with light/variable winds but turns as soon as the wind picks up. Now everyone can chase the tetrahedron and ignore smaller, more responsive indicators. The skydiver-on-the-ground, formerly designated to control the tetrahedron can go answer his cell phone, help somebody untangle a canopy, impress the female audience etcetera... Build one for a reasonable price and I'm game... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

EXCELLENT PACKER! If he can pack the parachute + a rabbit into the bag and the container maybe he's the one to help me out with my new Set400 ZP tandem canopy... Could it be that this didn't happen as described? "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Granted, I felt rather stupid on the occasion that I had to ask the passenger in front of me to 'redo' my left sandal. But the ones I wear now (on hot summer days that is) never failed me, even with sliding landings. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Why? Regardless of your footwear, you shouldn't throw the drogue around your ankles. Teva's say:" It is not that cold up there and I think that we'll land softly." Might work as an eye-opener that helps your student to relax a bit and stay away from panic-induced dogfights with you... Just a thought. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Voted that I don't do flips at all but it should be "I don't do INTENTIONAL flips at all" I'll 'go with the flow' rather than fighting with a student - so, occasionaly I'll flip (mostly front - mostly C182 as aircraft) Others have already stated why. IIRC there has been at least one tandem fatailty where the habit of a few flips on exit was a contributing factor when something deployed that should have stayed in place at that time... When I was young and stupid I found out how a drogue bridle between my legs felt... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

AND it seems to have affected your memory too... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Don't get me wrong, so would I since Vigil only mentions the fire in Z'hills, that one being a low pull / and the unit had worked as advertised. How big is Florida BTW?

Since you implicitly infer that there are more things wrong than the people at Vigil are willing to admit it would be nice if you could come forward with the particulars of this incident or rephrase it as: "I heard there was a fire in Deland... supposedly at 3,000 feet." "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Don't know how much you load that 150 Spectre of yours but at 1 or higher you will notice the difference. (Slightly off topic) I vaguely remember somebody building a collapsible that had the pin attached to the kill line. When it collapsed, the pin disapeared into the bridle, making it impossible to close the rig without cocking the PC. Since I firmly believe we should build our stuff in such a way that we are protected against our own stupidity: What happened with that design? Didn't work well enough? Other issues? "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

This is a poll for students only - but then again we are all students.

I have always wondered about that line of thinking. Must be military school / boot camp / no pain no gain kind of thing. Learning a technique comes from practice. If you practice a lot in an environment where it is not likely that you hurt yourself, you might master the technique and then you could 'let down your guard' since the technique itself (that you now have mastered) is protection enough. If you start practicing PLF's and from that start you make it as realistic as you could get it (jump from the back of a slowly moving truck on to concrete - to take it to the extreme) all you would learn is that the ground is hard and that you CAN hurt yourself. If that is on your mind when you land it gets more likely that you hurt yourself, not less. In gymnastics this principle is often applied - first somersault done in a harness, with mats on the ground. Once perfection is reached, the harness is taken away. Circus people start with the 'high wire' only 2 feet from the ground. Come to think of it, it is completely feasible that this 'realistic' training of the students is in fact not so realistic at all. Remember that when you land (and roll / PLF) your parachute IS still supporting you in the landing (provided that you do it smoothly) - you bring your own mats, wherever you land! When you trained on the ground (i.e. no mats) and you came from a certain height, to 'ad realism', you could end up with a training situation that is worse than the real thing. If that installs landing fear in you, it might be counter productive. Then again, practicing 'with all the right tools' but without good supervision doesn't appeal to me either... Just my $0,02 "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Strong Master Reserves - see title of the thread. Pisa Tempo Reserves - see title of the thread.

I'm also a TM and I don't like it either. But I and my students survived a few of them without a scratch. One thing that is sure about the weather is that it will change. Sometimes that change happens faster than you anticipated. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

At least each of them will have four grandparents to pay their bills AND a fast growing economy. Pack jobs ' deLuxe' - your personal caterer follows you in a golfcart to wherever you happen to land, helps you out of your gear and hands you a refreshment. (Actually, years ago I saw a precision team from either Dubai or Bahrein. After landing they just undid their straps and dropped everything behind them, on the spot. A subordinate would walk up and pick up the gear. They didn't even look at him...) But: They are all welcome at my place. Fifty dollars sounds reasonable? "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Safety whistles, 180 day Cypres 2 keys... Don't you think you are overdoing it a bit? Now if you had been announcing the new wingsuit with built-in airbag which inflates all around your precious body whenever you induce a canopy turn of more than 90 degrees below 50 feet AGL (patent pending) I would have bought it... "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Is this standard in South Africa or just at your DZ? I ask because I replaced all snap shackles with french links in my student rigs 12 years ago after a similar incident at my place (except the guy in question was stopped by the AAD) I didn't get any followers in the Netherlands AFAIK. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

+ 1000?

I think the parallel would be that there isn't a safety measure available that doesn't have a setback. What the setback of helmets would be? 1. They almost always restrict your vision and hearing. 2. Again, "getting into things you would avoid if you didn't have the gadget" At a skydiving safety congress I attended years ago one of the speakers told us that when helmets became mandatory in American football (?) due to several nasty skull fractures in the preceding period, the skull fractures indeed diminished only to be replaced with severe neck injuries. With your head protected you could bang into the other guys so hard it could leave you paralyzed... if it weren't for the cypres (and things that go "beep-beep") we would see a lot less people falling head-down, sitting or standing. It is a fact of life one can get distracted by what is going on in freefall. One of the advantages of falling belly to earth is that you see the earth coming up throughout the jump, which is a lot harder when you look up at the blue sky above, half the time. Can helmets make up for lousy landing technique? I have seen posts here where people sort of thanked their helmet manufacturer after "getting in over their head" upon arrival with their too small canopy. "Another Helmet safe!" " Uhmm... larger canopy with better training would have done the same, don't you think?" But if you want to wear one because it stops you worrying, that is OK I guess. I wear a frap hat nowadays, after loosing a dytter + goggle. I don't land on my head. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

Swiss precision? (I hadn't thought of that...) Never tried it (don't have a skyhook) but my guess is that the freebag will leave with the main and the reserve will come out of the freebag. However: When there is enough wind during a FJC we always take a parachute out to fly it in front of the students ("come look underneath and see what a good one looks like, what closed endcells look like, et cetera") Even in winds so high that all jumping has stopped long ago we have to "unpack" the canopy - bring the slider down, put the nose up in the wind... When the slider is still up you don't see the parachute come off the ground. The point is however: if you choose to jump with a skyhook / rsl combination (which COULD save you in a canopy collision close to the ground when all other options are gone) the risk of reserve deployment in high winds when you cut away after landing are not sufficient to justify disconnecting it IMO (You don't want to be fumbling with the rsl when you are about to turn on final...) Then again. tandemmasters disconnect their rsl routinely when the catchers are still in the hangar... One "tandemmasterstrick" might safe the day, should you have to cut away on the ground with the skyhook / rsl combination: hold on to your steering toggles during the cut away so that the canopy collapses right there and the whole combination doesn't go far enough to get the reserve out of the bag. You'll have a mess, but it wont drag you.

"That's OK, mine is a cypres2 from that batch they were writing about at DZ.com - Airtec says I shouldn't worry!"

THIS "DRAGGING INTO THE PROP"-SCENARIO WILL NOT HAPPEN. WHEN YOU CUT AWAY AFTER LANDING YOUR PC COMES OUT, MAYBE THE BAG TOO - THERE IT STOPS! (hey, my caps lock work!)

I think my fifteen year old who made 8 tandemjumps - first one at the age of eight - and who is planning to make his first solo (static line) at his 16th birthday would strongly disagree with you. But that's nothing new I guess, 15 year olds disagreeing with something...

= what I think I see... Then again, it is hardly noticable. But it seems to hesitate slightly with the container already open and pilotchute well on its way. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

No, but you may. Can we all learn something from your experience last sunday? All joking aside: when you, like I did during my last chop, think something like "Oh crap, a repack - and I'm stuffed with work already" at the very moment you cut away from a malfunction it is safe to say you have a different perspective on what is going on. Some of the inexperienced readers cannot imagine anybody thinking like that, some of the experienced have thought exactly the same. Got no problem with the "My first cut away" stories on the incidents forum but am not gonna post a "my Nth cut away" story myself unless there was something out of the ordinary which surprised me and might surprise others. Knotted lines on a tandem (reply: "were the lines frayed?" reply: "Of course they were...") doesn't fall in the "learn something new" category. edited for typo "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...

There you might be wrong. I remember seeing a video of a tandem malfunction where the tandempair + the 'ball of crap' started to move to the bottom of the screen. That might be since the camera moves up to film the opening but also keep in mind that the ball of crap puts you in an upright position, reducing drag on your body. On the video I saw, the cameraflyer in freefall had no trouble at all keeping up with the mall. "Whoever in discussion adduces authority uses not intellect but memory." - Leonardo da Vinci A thousand words...