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Static line out of a C-180. On beautiful Airfield outside of Paderborn Germany. They forgot to turn on my Radio, there was no instructor in the Plane. I landed 10 ft from the pees, hard on my Ass.

Does the Intova have a Remote Shutter release ? That is the Problem with all compact cameras I've seen so far...

This was an An-28 which has a tailgate.

What if we look at it this way ? I am not saying this is what I believe. But if the guy really believes he is practicing black magic, and so do the judges and this is forbidden by the local law. The same law(Koran) that his black magic is based on. Then everybody agrees ? So whats the problem ?

Well a completely free would imply having no laws. I am however completely aware that is impossible. I would draw the line on public space. Especially when safety is involved. The seat belt example is perfect for this. If you are driving a car, you are traveling on public space, at this point the government has a responsibility to protect you, since you are a citizen and valuable commodity. There is no gain in you getting injured or killed. The same argument can be made for anti smoking laws in work places(What the laws are actually about.) I guess this could be an endless debate because there are endless rules and regulations which could be passed. I would advocate common sense, and since you said it yourself: Buckling up is common sense. I don't know why you religious people are constantly saying America was founded on Biblical principles. One of the most striking examples would be the 1st. amendment, stating freedom of religion, which directly contradicts at least two of the ten commandments. If of all things in the bible, do you not think that the 10 commandments in their entirety, would have been used as basis for the constitution? Speaking of historical ignorance: The best recent example is the Texas school board trying to exclude Thomas Jefferson from history lessons because of his opinion on the separation of church and state. Someone is living in denial. You are still speaking of some basic principles that you think are universal. As I have stated before basic moral principles change over time. And are vastly different in other cultures. As the world grows together these cultures will clash. The world view I am advocating is just the approach to a society that is based on irrefutable scientific fact and common sense. Not laws and morals which are thousands of years old and written by bronze age nomads which stand without being questioned. You believe that this is the word of God, as the Jews believe in the Talmud and the Muslims in Quo-ran. Any of these scriptures are equally valid in the eyes of their followers. Now the problem with this is that people are killing each other every day over which scripture has it correct. What is even more bizarre, is the fact that people are to this day killing each other over the interpretation of the one and the same scripture(Bible: Northern Ireland,Quo-Ran:Sunni vs. Shiite, The Jews are fighting over settling politics in the occupied territories). This shows just how clear Gods word is stated. Now using common sense, do you honestly think that one of these texts, over which there is no universal consensus, is a good basis for a country ? I would much rather prefer a constitution that may borrow a few ideas from these texts, but is not based on one. The founding fathers knew this and acted accordingly. That would be indeed interesting. You realize however that the world has changed ? If we stay with the seatbelt example, traffic has increased at least 20 fold in the past 40 years. Check out: http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx It only goes back to 1994, but the trend is obvious. Decreasing death rate with more licensed drivers. Now do you not think, different rules should apply ? Of course I am aware that its not only the seat belts, it's the much safer cars manufactures have to build, to comply with more arbitrary left wing rules. Speed Limits and public awareness and so on. Now would you like to see an increase in traffic fatalities so that you have freedom to not buckle up ? Now exactly how many lives are worth your freedom, to not fucking buckle up? Similar Arguments can made for any new Law restricting something. Some are more valid than others. Since the AAD issue has been discussed at length by people who are much more competent than me. I will just give my opinion as a soon to be static line Instructor: This is about responsibility again. When a first jump student shows up at DZ he mostly knows virtually nothing about skydiving. This includes the involved risks. Any student knows he can bounce, he has not however been confronted with the possibility of for example a brain lock. I have seen a student, on a perfect canopy with a few line twists(common on static line jumps and trained for thoroughly), not react at all. He flew arms up, downwind into a clearing and broke his ankle. He did not react to radio. After he was found he reacted normally and said he had not been unconscious. He said he had just freaked. It was his second jump after an uneventful first. Brainlock of the century. Students are the most vulnerable skydivers out there. So as long as AAD's save lives, I am for them for students ! After acquiring an A License you should know enough about skydiving to decide for yourself. If any credible number shows up, stating AAD's cost more lives than they save, or are even completely worthless, I would be the first to abandon them. Your logic is completely flawed. What would entitle you to a property ? A deed ? When the Indians where around there was no government to issue deeds. So land should be distributed on first come basis. Is this fair or not ? Who do you think should entitle somebody to land in absence of a government? But I do understand that all humans on this planet are competing for limited resources. A culture that is more aggressive and has superior technology will always prevail in such a conflict. It is the way of the world. And it is still not up to you to decide what "good" means. Some people would think it good to live as hunter/gatherers. You have no right to deny them this opinion or lifestyle. As you don't want people denying you the freedom to not fucking buckle up. What is "good" always depends on your point of view. Try to look through someone else's eyes every once in while. This is probably your funniest remark. I will just chronologically list a few armed conflicts that the US was involved in: Korea - North Korea:Now a Model Democracy Cuba - No more commies in the Caribbean. Vietnam - We all know what happened ! Panama - Count this as a win. Even though Noriega was a democratically elected president. 1st. Golf war: Saddam was brought to fall, no wait, what !? Yugoslavia/Kosovo: Clinton did some good in the world. 2nd Golf war/Afghanistan: We will wait and watch CNN. Thats 2 out of 7 problems solved. Not bad. Thanks and you've got it pretty much right with Germany. And I don't think that is to bad, is it ? Would you advocate armed revolution over safety belts and safer sex ? See above, you where not founded a Christian nation. And the freedom of religion still exists. It just has no place in any governmental processes as stated in the constitution: "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." God does not decide anything, man decides, sometimes based on the interpretation of a text that is 2000 years old and can be interpreted in infinite ways. When was the last time God came down to earth and signed a proposal ? How do you know what God wants ? the Bible? . See above to why this has no credibility ! It's still no up to you to define a good place! And there were about 1000 years where Christianity made earth a pretty miserable place in most people's perception. Arabs invented the decimal system you use every single day. Not to mention great contributions to astronomy and mathematics. We almost agree on this aside from "Christian" values Bullshit. The US is the 1st World country with largest practicing Christian population: Yet the US by far has the highest divorce rate. The divorce rate is proportional to the Christian population by state. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvss/mar%26div.pdf So much for biblical values. It is very unlikely that a girl will like the same guy her whole life. Because this is clearly not happening. It is up every girl for herself to decide to be a slut. I have many friends who prefer an "experienced" woman because they know what they are doing and not boring in bed. I prefer a certain level of experience myself. Ha ! You pulled a Thomas Jefferson on me. Cleverly omitting my argument concerning age even though we agree ? I will repost it here for your convenience.

As far as I recall drugs are still illegal in the US, so the government already protects you from overdoses. STD', jealous girlfriends, and unexpected children are all sexually related and that is still a private matter. You do not want the government dictating, with womb, how often and how to have sex, so both examples have very little to do with one another and are not comparable.

I agree that the holocaust and Guantanamo Bay are not comparable . I was just trying to dismiss airmans sense of moral superiority based only on the fact that he is an American christian. And lets not forget, you can't hold the sons accountable for the sins of the fathers. In this case grandfathers. Germany is only actively oppressing right wing groups which openly or secretly convey anti constitutional ideas. These include: denying the holocaust, racial hatred, call to violence against minorities and anything that has to do with advocating violence against pretty much anybody. You can very well say you loved Hitler and what he did. You may not however do the "Hitler Gruss", say "Sieg Heil", "Heil Hitler" and display Swastikas as these are considered anti constitutional signs. Right Wing organizations are widely undermined by the "Verfassungsschutz" (which translates roughly to "Constitution Protection" an inland intelligence service) in Germany and very well watched by the government. For now the Neo Nazis in Germany are just to plain stupid to be dangerous in any way. The NPD(National German Party) faced several financing scandals almost bankrupting them. And one of their most important figures died a few months ago. There is a huge difference between moral laws, that protect you from exactly what? Gods wrath? and traffic safety laws. I have yet to see God's wrath in action. I can however see pictures of car wrecks and terrible accidents on autobahn's every week. Seat belts protect you from a very real threat.

Well you do not live in free country and it is impossible for a civilised society with more than 200 people to exist without rules (laws). You do not have the freedom to take what you want, you do not have the freedom kill who want. All these things can be considered freedom, where would you draw the line ? A society with complete freedom is simply called anarchy. And I don't mind anyone jumping without an AAD as long you're licensed. I agree with you on all of these points. We can drink in the car, in the train and in public legally in Germany, and hell we do. Come on man, I thought you were smarter than that. What you are implying happened three to four generations ago. If we go even further back I can think of a nice little story of conquest, where immigrants almost erased an entire indigenous population for their land. I don't even want to start with much more recent history, the last decade, where the US illegally invaded two sovereign country's, illegally detained and tortured hundreds if not thousands of citizens of foreign country's, without any form of trial. I don't think the US has any moral high ground in the eyes of the world. So please cut out the cheap shots. Who decides which religion offers these basic moral standards? This still implies that there is a set of basic moral standards, which there is not. These change with history. In the old testament it was totally ok to kill your son for speaking back to you. (Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:15 NAB)) This changed with the new testament. This is also evidenced by the fact that every religion has different moral standards. There are plenty of examples: Islam: Forced marriage at a very young age for girls. This is perfectly moral according to some scholars of Islam. Just like stoning raped woman to death. Judaism: It is completely immoral to do labour on the Sabbath, it is immoral to eat pork..... This list can go and on. I'm sure you realise what I am trying to say. She will be tempted and if she does get sexually involved, is it not better for her to know that there are risks and dangers involved? STD's, unwanted pregnancy just to name two ? Why are you denying young people very important knowledge ? It is still up everyone to decide for themselves to use that knowledge. I don't, but if I did I would not want her to go out with someone who likes to impose a belief system on her, and has no idea how practise safe sex! Other than that you would be welcome. Where do your morals come from? And I am still waiting for a reason for 14 olds not to have sex with each other. Other than crying: AAARGH IT'S MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE ! I am not talking about adults having sex with 14 year olds. I am against that for the sole reason that young people are to impressionable and can easily be taken advantage of. BTW. Age of consent is 16 in Germany. Can you tell me why this bad ?

While this is true, some of your examples are plain ridiculous. Having laws enforcing people to buckle up which without a doudt saves lives,which is a good thing. It is one thing if are an adult, it's another thing if you keep your children from buckling up and letting them die a horrible car accident, caused by someone who had the choice of driving drunk because following your logic that should not be illegal either. The same goes for wearing bicycle helmets. Here in Germany Children have to wear a biclycle helmet until they are 14. Why should religion dictate what basic moral standards are? Are you not shoving an even narrower religous brand down their throats? Unwanted Teen pregnancy is much bigger problem in religious comunitys because teens tend to fuck around, there is no stopping them.(I can find the stats if you like.) It's much wiser to tell them what the risks are and which precautions to take. What right do you have to deny teens the pleasure of sex, based on a ridiculous moral code that has no basis? Where in the Bible does it say at which age one should have sex ? And lets not start about the 4000 year old notion that premartial sex is a bad thing ! If you think so, please elobroate with a single reason, not implying the belief in God. I live in Germany, according to statistics german Teens have their first sex at the age of around 14. I don't see Germany morally decaying, what I see are less abortions and unwanted pregnancys. Children in Germany get Sex Ed at the age of 12 in school, and that is good thing ! I completly agree. That is a problem of the US legal system and espeically greedy lawyers. Lawsuits like that get immediatly dismissed in the german legal system. Why not in America ?

This is interesting

Well, that states that you met Jesus, as far as I recall the scripture Jesus is in heaven... How do you meet someone who is not physically present ? But what I really want to know, how do you define your relationship with Jesus ? So you speak to him ? Does he answer ? Do you sometimes have a Quarrel ?

Can you elaborate on your experiences with Jesus Christ ? Somebody you have obviously never met in real life...

Don't instructors give flare instructions over radio ? I learned: Eyes - Shoulder - Hips. It worked pretty well. Consistent stand up landings from jump 2. Completely without help from about jump 13. On jump one my radio was busted. Bad bruising of the tailbone. I flared way too late. I also believe the flare in one smooth pull is not the right way to teach students... The flare should be sequential, by flaring just a little (eyes) you will already see a noticlable change in the canopys sinkrate. This makes you slower and its a lot less scary than full canopy flight. Then you pull down to your shoulders increasing the effect. Pulling down to your hips in the last moment just before you hit the ground. This gave me perfect standup landings. I learned on a 230 Sparc though. Larger canopys like a 260 Balance may behave differently.

The nicest, but also most expensive setup I have seen is using a x-shut. http://www.x-shut.de/. The x-shut is around 112 eur. + a Custom made aluminum Cam Holder. My buddy sent his Factory Diver to the x-shut people and paid around 240eur for the entire job(mounting, x-shut 4rast and custom aluminum cam holder). I don't have a pic though. Whats great, you can easily remove the cam. The Cons: You can't change the angle of the cam, Super $$$. edit to add: The x-shut skydiving page: http://www.x-shut.de/index.php?menuid=21

Thanks fot the tip. I will definitly take a close look at this system.

Hey Hellis, thanks for the Info ! Yeah the fullface. Yeah I've seen it done a few times with with Z1 and other full face helmets. I don't use the visor.. that makes more room. But I know it will be tricky.

Hey Hellis, I just got my Contour HD and I'm in the Process of mounting it to my Z1. I've looked at a few options since a lot of people jump them here in Germany. I have not seen a frame setup like yours though. Looks good. Where did you get that frame ? Thanks for your help !

What nobody has mentioned here is: If you are going to do an Tandem again soon. Let them show you the Emergency Procedures. Then ask your skydiver boy friend to show you how they are done. Everybody that has ever done a jump course will be able to repeat the steps for cutting away. And it's hard to find info on how exactly that is done on the internets.

AFAIK Tandems are allowed at any age in Germany as long as the Child meets the size requirements for the harness and has parental consent. I don't think its a problem letting kids jump... If you let them ride a rollercoaster it's pretty much the same. It's a only a tandem, a fun ride

That is definitly true, but this was an all plane load like I said above. If there are groups behind you, then this is of course a stupid idea.

The plan was to stay together. This was just the backup plan and one participant followed through. The fallrate of tracker is far slower than the freeflyers. So he pulls far away and way and above the group. The newbies still had around 150 to 200 jumps so they could be trusted to track in one direction.

What do you guys think of the following procedure ? We did a couple of zoo dives with very experienced freeflyers and some barely being able to sit stabley. This was an all plane load with 15 jumpers... The LO told the low time jumpers, if they had an issue with fallrate and could not reach the group(beginning freeflyers are often too slow) . They should continuesly track away from 8000 feet to 5000 and pull. We jump from 14000 feet. The rest of broke off at 5000 and were all told to barrel roll before pulling in 3000. I track on my back on most freefly jumps. It's almost as fast a normal track and I can see everybody in the group as they're leaving...

Hey Dave, you've probably summed it up better than anybody could. Thanks !

I agree with you, that that is probably the reason for the steady fatality rate. But if progression was generally limited to a slower pace, it would not be possible to progress any faster, then no one would be frustrated. This would just be how skydiving is taught. Impatient head strong types are often the ones killing themselves trying to much too soon without anybody stopping them... I think guided training from first jump to solo license including basic RW, canopy control and packing would make for more sfatey consious skydivers.

I agree, yet culture forms attitude. As you said the saftey net is much wider, but instead of the fatality rate dropping as it should, it remains the same. The people that are killing themselves today do it on to small canopys. The culture today is shifting to: "I payed my dues, so I can jump a tiny canopy way to soon...Freefly before basic RW skills.... The safety net will catch me..." A slow progression, where you have learned to confront your fear, take things a step at a time, will give you a different attitude towards safety and progression than beeing hand-fed through student training in few days. I know, I know.... Been there, done that