yoink

And: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5kWu1ifBGU I agree. Diamonds are intrinsically worthless. Much like money. But much like money they have a perceived value, and that's what you're paying for. That the perceived value came from an ad campaign makes no difference to the outcome. For a recent example - Beats headphones sell for $199+. The intrisic value of them is less than $20. https://medium.com/bolt-blog/how-it-s-made-series-beats-by-dre-154aae384b36. Same of pretty much any product by Apple, really. It's a reality of the world we live in. To say diamonds are worthless is a shallow view of the picture.

Couldn't agree more about the wedding. We had a courthouse ceremony and open bar for a few hours for only about 20 people. None of this 'you should invite your great aunt Matilda and her 3 children who you've never seen' and end up paying for 300 people you don't give a shit about nonsense. Total tab was less than $1,500. We spent the cash we saved on a really nice Honeymoon and a deposit for a house. (Don't get me started on people who ask for cash donations for wedding gifts... Tacky as hell. Probably shouldn't have planned a wedding and honeymoon you can't afford, eh? )

I had a really good experience with a similar budget from Blue Nile online. I also did a lot of research before I bought anything. I also went with the best cut, color and clarity I could get, and the smaller stone. Comparing it to my sister-in-laws (who's husband went for size over everything) and my wifes not only looks a million times better, but it looks bigger too.

Lets not complicate matters with unnecessary stereotypes. I've seen lots of hugely experienced 'old timers' doing S turns in the pattern and lots of people with less than 200 jumps doing great approaches. The educational message is 'yes. They're a tool and you should have them in your repertoire. BUT they're not appropriate for everyday situations.'

I could care less, dumbass!

Register a name with Companies House as a parachute manufacturer, stick a label on it and jump away. Some things I'm a big fan of the BPA for. But they're about as an inflexible old boys network as I've ever seen.

I don't disagree with that. Just that picking a discipline to focus on before you know anything about it, or its alternatives is a little backward. For me, that's what the B license is - try everything! Have fun and make friends in all disciplines. Then pick one to focus on...

Even more sad when you see students start pigeonholing themselves before they've even got a license. 'I'm going to be a freeflyer!'

Your data set is skewed by your initial bias and the construction of your questionnaire. I know a load of people who would categorize the instructing they do as fun jumping. I also think you're wrong about video falling into one of the other categories, but given your stance on cameras there's no surprise you've got that wrong too. What are you trying to prove? What question are you trying to get an answer to?

It doesn't make sense. It doesn't. I've followed this case over the last year off and on, and I just don't understand the time, money, and effort KG has put into her Citizens for Quiet Skies. She's like any other type of fanatic. The is no reason with them. All you can do is fight to protect your corner - you'll never change their opinions.

It wasn't.... don't believe the BS.

You're old enough that you used the work 'miffed'.

Oh c'mon. Do you really want a semantic discussion? There is a varying scale of the amount of lift a wing produces and you know it. yes. Parachutes produce lift. Fair enough. You win. So do skydivers in a track. And paper airplanes.

What's the example here? Pretend it didn't happen and it'll all disappear? I get where you're coming from, but to my eyes, someone in a position of authority and respect fucked up in the worst way possible. They hit a spectator while grandstanding... Taking their medicine would involve saying 'mea culpa' and accepting some form of discipline. That's what I've not seen, either voluntarily, or enforced.

Sinus pain is a BITCH. The only advice I'd give is not to try and gut through it and 'just make 1 more jump'. It can get sever enough at deployment that it can really affect you. Sounds lie you're doing the right thing. Hop n Pops are ace anyway.

In terms of impact rating only. It needs that caveat right after that sentence. For the OP: You need a helmet that is comfy, doesn't' obstruct your vision, and critically has no snag points associated with it. Actual impact protection is a way down the list for skydiving unless you're doing HP landings IMO. In general, the impacts you'll get in this sport are things like hitting your head on the door jam on exit, or getting a boot to the head in freefall. It's not the 'what if I hit the ground' protection that some beginners imagine. For HP landings & speedflying I used a paragliding helmet. That has the impact protection AND jaw protection of a full face. Not only that, they're about a quarter the price of a skydiving one. The drawback - the chin piece is longer than you'd find on a skydiving fullface. That has its own potentially serious drawbacks... Like most things in skydiving, it's going to be a compromise. Just make sure you know what you're compromising on. If you don't have the experience to know it, ask folks who might.

I agree, so comment on these 3 examples, please A 'barrel roll' in aviation maintains a positive G load all the way through the roll. Planes can do it because they generate lift. Skydivers typically do an 'alieron roll' while in freefall as Paul pointed out - rotating around the horizontal axis only. Even under canopy like the videos you posted, we're not doing a aviation-type barrel roll. For it to be a barrel roll the axis of rotation must be above the wing. We just can't generate that type of lift. The rolls we see under canopy are seen much more frequently in speedflying wings (and usually performed badly - getting away with luck more than skill) due to their difference in controllability. There is some really good info here: http://www.schnellcraft.com/index.php/knowhow/114-barrel-roll-secrets as well as some good videos of well executed and not-so-well executed ones. Regardless - personally even under my speed wings the risk level outweighs the cool-factor. I've done a couple and that's more than enough... They scared the living shit out of me each time. For me, that risk is increased when you try to do it with anything but the most aggressive skydiving canopy. If you get it wrong you unload the lines halfway through and can fall into the bottom skin of your canopy, covered in lines. A that point you're properly fucked. I wouldn't make it an aspiration.

The reality is that students can only absorb so much information at a time. We'd love to teach them everything immediately, but obviously that isn't possible so we need to prioritize what we teach. With that in mind, I'd see S-turns as a skill they should learn, but later in their progression before they get their A. Honestly, I think they're taught so early now not because they're the best tool, but because they're easy to teach. For me, Braked Turns are FJC material. They're a survival skill. The Accuracy trick is from jump 2 or 3 onward... Students should be encouraged to practice both of these on every jump. S-turns can be taught as part of a predeclared landing requirement for the A-license as an option for landing, but by that time the student should have a basic awareness of deconfliction and the hazards of other parachutes. Of course, this requires an commitment to ongoing training by the DZ above the usual AFF stuff.

The joke about student gear is 'one-size-fits noone'.... Unfortunately all student gear I've used is pretty uncomfortable. The best advice I can give is this: When gearing up make sure the legstraps are all the way up your legs. Really make sure of that. Next, make sure they're well tightened. They shouldn't be cutting off circulation, but you don't want to be able to slip fingers between the straps and your legs. There should be a little range of motion if you sit down with them tightened - if there isn't, it's overly tight. Next, after deployment, do your canopy checks and have a look for traffic, then take hold of the risers on each side before they split and do a little pull-up (just to take pressure off the legstraps, not a full 'haul yourself up' thing) and then wiggle your butt. As you're doing that you should be able to cross your feet easier and the legstraps should come a little way down. (Only about an inch) Do not go crazy and try to get the legstraps far down your legs. That position will hopefully be a bit comfier for you. Remember though - comfort is secondary to safety. Make sure you're in clear airspace and have done what the jump requires (including planning your landing) before getting comfy. Don't fuck around with stuff like this below your hard deck. Priorities are important to remember.

When were these taken? If they were taken prior to the incident, they're kinda pointless. We know he was doing it... if they were taken since then it's a whole 'nother thing. It's proof that he doesn't give a shit and hasn't learned. September 18, 2013 6:09 PM no time zone noted . Thanks. I'd hope that he wasn't still pulling this stuff!

But in the same way that we don't teach toggle-whipping any more as a technique for HP landings because there are better options, can we do away with the need for S-turns if we start teaching canopy accuracy earlier? Braked approaches and the Accuracy Trick of finding the unmoving spot on the ground aren't that complex of an idea. Hell, make the predeclared landings part of the A card - it would give the students stuff to work on during their consols.

When were these taken? If they were taken prior to the incident, they're kinda pointless. We know he was doing it... if they were taken since then it's a whole 'nother thing. It's proof that he doesn't give a shit and hasn't learned.

At this point it doesn't matter what your intent was or what you pretend it might have been. The real outcome of this thread is that you've successfully come across as an arrogant 100 jump wonder, and have alienated a bunch of skydivers. You've provided a great example of what NOT to do in a society. Like I said, it's a small community. Don't be surprised if this comes up when you start travelling to jump.

That's YOUR belief. Our experience actually you know, skydiving, suggests something else for 99.9% of people. Again. I'm done discussing with you. You're a 100 jump wonder who is absolutely convinced they're right. I've seen your sort a dozen times before. Any time I see you giving advice to another beginner, I'll refer them to this thread so they can make judgements about how you form your opinions. If you're wrong on this what else might you be wrong on...

Per the FAA: "Complaint data i.e from homeowner complaints filed with the airport, are generally not statistically valid indicators or measurements of a noise problem. Therefore complaint data is usually not an acceptable justification for a restriction. While complaints may be a valid indicator of individual annoyance, they do not accurately measure community annoyance as reactions of an individual to a particular level of noise vary widely while community annoyance correlates well with particular noise exposure levels." Basically, those thousand calls Gibbs and here loonies were making? Worthless. Question time in the video starts at 1hr 09mins ish.