NickDG

LOL, Pat, I bought and read your UWF when it was first published . . . It's the skydiving bible of my generation! NickD

http://www.abcactionnews.com/Photo.aspx?slideshow=0785b230-e8eb-4a24-8172-408ce6d1ce85&photo=e83d728c-5460-4caa-91af-e1fb0c58a59f Edward Duristky, Whoa!!! Dosen't he post here? NickD

Here's an good pro pilot forum, if you haven't seen it. And a interesting thread that sort of follows along with your query . . . The first poster wrote a great line too, "All these striped shoulders clambering around for their piece of the cheese." http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/leaving-career/30274-too-many-pilots.html NickD

>>There's nothing wrong with keeping a duplicate, but I've got real issues with keeping a "secret" log for instructors only. Students pay good money and are entitled to an honest and open critique of their performance.

Very nice Billo. It was my "Rake" post but better . . . NickD

Not every DZ does it. But it's a good idea at larger drop zones where there's a big staff and not everybody is there everyday. I started a system like that when I was the chief Instructor at Elsinore. And Perris did it too, at least when I was working there. Sometimes if the last Instructor is present it's a simple matter of getting their attention while doing something else, and just nodding over at the student. The other Instructor then either gives you a thumbs up, or a discreet raised eyebrow. If the last Instructor isn't there you can go pull the student's paper work and find a smiley face or whatever the issue is, like scared shitless of the airplane ride, can't breath in free fall, or watch out - total meat bomb! And that's better than trying to read between the lines in someone's logbook. And okay, there's a bunch of you saying brutal honestly is the best course. But I've lived both methods and know better. I started jumping in a military club and you either hacked it or packed it. There was absolutely no babying anybody. But in the club nobody cared if you became a jumper or not. It was up to you to rise to their level and not the other way around. But in civilian jumping, these people are hiring me with good money to teach them to skydive. It's like the math teacher I had in high school. He came right out and said I had no head for numbers and I was just wasting his time. On the other hand I had an English teacher who found something great in every paper I turned in. So now if you ask me the difference between the pilot's altimeter and the ones we're wearing I need a frigging pad and pencil to figure it out. But I can read and I can write along with anybody. So guess what kind of Skydiving Instructor I am? NickD

I think, "Deadliest Catch" accurately portrays being an AFF Instructor. Except they get more money . . . NickD

>>Yep, but there are way more accidents from people not cutting away and ending up under an main/reserve entanglement than cutting away and ending under an entanglement,

>>Of course even if I keep missing it I still get to keep jumping and piloting my chute so as long as I am still jumping there really isn't anything to complain about.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger . . . Eventually you'll be able to find the handle as easily as finding your business end when peeing in the dark. Those of us who did S/L with ripcords had the same troubles too. And we could just look down and actually see the damn thing . . . NickD

While I can't vouch for the veracity of the original article, although I personally know the guy who wrote it as he publishes the Pacific Flyer out of Oceanside, California. But I do know he puts way more effort into their annual swim suit edition . . . But if the whites are going away it would be a shame. I used to take my sailboat out and join the escort whenever the Carriers Kitty Hawk, Stennis, and Ronald Reagan came home to San Diego. It was a beautiful sight to see the Marines across the bow in their greens and the sailors along the sides in their whites . . . NickD

I remember when Perris first installed a computer to keep track of everything. Your USPA membership, your reserve repack date, how current you were, all the things I purposely don't much care about. And that damn "pay it forward" system of having money on account. I've always liked to see if I live through a jump before I fork over money for the next one . . . One time manifest told me my reserve was out of date. but I fixed that in five minutes . . . NickD

Very cool! You're the tip of the spear, Bro . . . NickD

Here's the vid . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOFJQ6Nu7Q0 NickD

I made a lot of ripcord jumps back in the day, and taught others how to do it too. You should never put a ripcord handle over your hand like that because if your hand contacts the ground with any amount of force you can break your hand or wrist. It's more important when jumping a round, but you can't always guarantee a smooth landing under a square either. Two modern day applications would be sport jumpers creaming in under small 7-cell reserves they aren't used to flying, and real world tactical military jumps. Landing with all that extra gear is tough enough, add night time into the equation, and what good is a fierce sky borne warrior with a broken wrist? Also if you inadvertently come down into power lines the long length of the metal ripcord cable can help fry you. The best place for a main ripcord handle is inside your jumpsuit, or if you have the time snake the cable back up its housing and put the handle back in the pocket. NickD

I'd imagine something like the following occurred. If he deployed the main at 5000-feet and nothing happened he'd, me, or anybody would spend the next five seconds, after the two seconds of going through the trap door waiting for main deployment, thinking, "What the hell is going on?" He's now 7 seconds passed 5000-feet and fast approaching, or just at, tandem terminal velocity, which is a lot faster than solo terminal velocity. So maybe he looked over his shoulder a couple of times and saw the drogue was gone and basically he was having a total malfunction of the main. Add in another couple of seconds to consider his options of cutaway and pull the reserve, or just pull the reserve, and that could have put him inside AAD firing range. (Keep in mind a tandem AAD fires at 2500-feet). But either way, if he pulled the reserve handle, or the AAD fired, remember the main container was already opened when he pulled the drogue release. When the reserve deployed it removed what pressure there was holding the main bag in place. And Bingo - two out . . . If that's what happened the lesson would be don't think so much and pull all the handles in the accepted and correct sequence. And he got lucky . . . If that's not what happened, and he had another problem after the drogue bridle snapped, then he did a damn good job . . . NickD

He loosened his chest strap and it looks like the running end is just over the handle. But while looking at that I saw this . . . If you fall down during landing this can break your wrist! Be careful, Lou, this is a tough crowd of picture critique-ers NickD

No, but she was working the throttle when my turn came . . . At least I think it was her since we've never met! NickD

It's not far from my place so I went down and gave it a whirl . . . I haven't been in a tunnel since I flew in the Las Vegas tunnel the day it opened in the early 80s. I had a lot of fun and it was really neat watching all the little kids fly . . . NickD

I remember a few DZs I worked at in the early days. Manifest was a girl sitting under an umbrella at a folding card table. She had a pad of paper for names and load numbers and a Dutch Masters cigar box to hold the cash. At the end of the day we'd all gather around and divvy up the money. The pilot was paid first for his time and expenses, then the Instructors and Jumpmasters, then the manifest girl. If there was anything left it went to the DZO. I suppose it was understood we could go work anywhere, but without us the DZO was out of business. Sure we had no pool, no bar/resturant, no gear store, no showers, and we pee'd in the bushes. But the sky was still blue, the air was still cool, the manifest girl was still hot, and the beer was still cold. What else do you really need? . . . NickD

Get Involved! NickD

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think (if it's the same cave) B.J. Worth did it before Patrick. And it was also from a helicopter . . . As I recall he did the cave jump not long after he jumped the Efiel Tower for the Bond movie, A View to a Kill so that makes it around 1985. It was billed as the world's first first subterranean skydive. But like I said, check, as I'm not sure if it's the same cave. Most of the jumps made their since have been B.A.S.E. jumps, not skydives. NickD

No, not every time, but because it can be rather alarming to a first time jumper I always tell FJC students to expect to have a line twist. Doing that takes the big "Oh Shit" out of it when it happens . . . NickD

First the black Beret went down the drain, now enlisted swab jockeys are getting Marine Corps style uniforms and pilot/jumper style Wings. WTF, why not just give everyone completing any military boot camp the Medal of Honor and be done with it . . . NickD

>>I've been in the sport 15 years and I've never heard of a white ranger...