dragonfyr

A few thoughts from a former static line student who continued on to become an instructor; however I do not have a ton of experience on this. 1) Make sure enough time is spent on the ground familiarizing your student with the specific commands you will use. Focus on the commands they will hear at landing and practice continuously during the day. 2) Have them do several practice flares up high and gauge their response time. If you see one respond very slow, try the command a couple more times to see if they get better or are just slow. Give at least two practice flares at different times to see reaction times. Adjust your flare command at landing accordingly. 3) Anticipate and give them a little more lead on the final flare. Most SL canopies are very large and docile, so even a high flare should not result in a harsh landing. 4) PLFs are always good as a backup and teaching them during the jump course is always beneficial. You can even use it as a command on final saying "legs together, prepare for PLF" (take this recommendation lightly though, I would get more experienced advice on this one). It would have to be part of the ground training though. Lastly, realize some student just freeze up on landing regardless of training and commands. I saw my share of students given the flare command 20 feet up with the JM yelling it 4 times before they slammed in and broke something. It's an unfortunate part of SL. Most stated they didn't hear anything, although people in the landing area heard the commands off the student's radio. This is where I believe the tandem progression has an advantage by introducing ground rush a couple times before they are on their own, but there are pros/cons to both instruction methods. Don

There is actually no difference once you get the pilot chute out. The pilot chutes for BOC and pull outs are basically the same, it is just a different handle and pin system. After re-reading your post though, I see what you might be getting at is the force required to pull the pin on a BOC throw out. With a pull out, you are guaranteed the container will be open as the pilot chute inflates and pulls away, so you may get a quicker bag extraction. BOCs do open quickly in sub-terminal, but there is the potential for it to tow behind for a little bit before extracting the pin. However, the pin does extract pretty easily in most sub-terminal conditions (excepting balloon or helicopter jumps which may require a little more speed). I'm not sure what speed is required to extract a pin using a BOC throw out, but my guess is that it would extract in most sub-terminals from planes. So in that regard, yes the pull out might have a slight edge, but I'm not sure if it is a significant difference. I agree with Hookitt's assessment that pull outs are more secure, but they do come with their own risks as well. There are some people out there that are very against pull outs, but I have been jumping them for over 7 years now. Personal opinion here, but I think they resolve more potential malfunctions than they create. They practically eliminate misrouted bridals, pilot chute in tows, horseshoes, monkeyfists, early deployment from loose BOC pocket. In return you get the chance for a lost handle (I have had four of these, one resulting in a reserve ride). Don

A pull out system versus a BOC system behave almost identically regardless of the type of jump. The main difference is you have to have a more aggressive throw when using the pull out to ensure the pilot chute gets into clean air. Once out though, the systems behave the same. If this is the first time you had jumped a pull out, I would hope you were able to get detailed instructions from someone who is experienced in pull outs. If not, please do not jump it again until you do. There are several key things you need to be aware of with a pull out that can be problematic if you are not trained (e.g. having a lost handle, etc.). Just make sure you have someone who knows what they are doing provide instruction anytime you jump something you don't fully understand. Too many accidents have happened this way. I'm glad you had a fun jump! Don

I agree that it is pretty much personal preference. While you are on a radio for canopy, you may want to stay with an open face with open ear ports to hear radio commands. However, once you are off radio, it strictly comes down to preference. I personally prefer full-face over open face for almost all skydives for 1 key reason. If jumping with others, you never know if you will get a body part in the face. I have seen dozens of people come down with blood spattered faces due to contact in the air. Also, if you are in the midwest or other region with cooler weather, the full face is great for year round jumping. Even during the summer months, it is still cold at altitude. Check with your instructors about when you can start using different helmets and then ask around your dropzone. You should get some great discussions!

Look at car 138 video. He turned around and with both hands pointed something at the cop. The cop even went so far as to duck in order to avoid what he "might" have thought was a gun getting ready to be fired. That was when the other cop opened fire. Granted, lots of other issues. I agree with others in the thread that 8 shots is probably excessive, but we were not there. Some crooks get so jacked up on speed and other drugs that one bullet doesn't even phase them. If you notice, it wasn't until the 6th or 7th shot before the person even started going down. The point is, not one of us was there. The guy ran from the cops, threatened the cops, and they had to make a split second decision.