Tonto

Um. Are your parents separated? t It's the year of the Pig.

Well whatever it is, it can't be "flip flopping" t It's the year of the Pig.

On 22 Dec my parents will have been married for 50 years. They're going back to where they went on honeymoon to celebrate. I believe love can be forever. t It's the year of the Pig.

You may want to go back to double fronts, or to 90's. The initiation point on 180's is very narrow. (Comes and goes too fast) Glad to hear your accuracy is good because any good swoop is all in the set-up. t It's the year of the Pig.

You will get some conflicting opinions here. Learning to swoop of the internet is a bit like reading a book called "Learn how to fight like Bruce Lee" By James Smith. I would suggest you approach someone who swoops well and has a good reputation at your dz. They already have an idea of your skill set and talent, and can give you a few points to start on. If that's not possible, you have a (hopefully) long and dangerous road ahead of you. Some sure things.. 1. Practice up high. 2. Get to know the canopy you've got. 3. Never downsize and change planform at the same time (Like you plan to.) 4. Know your limitations. t It's the year of the Pig.

N/A

I see the terrorists and the drug dealers are doing pretty well. Makes me wonder about "The war on drugs" and "The war on terror" I'm with Frenchy. I think if you get the people who batter women, many of the others will disappear. (SC... 10, 9, 8...) t It's the year of the Pig.

Good post Bill. The next six months will tell us if you're right or not.

As long as we're learning it's all good. I recall being a student and having people who never made mistakes telling me all about mine. That really upset me. A couple of threads below yours is Ron's "Stupid things I have done" thread. You can read a small sampling of the stupid things I have done there. If it were not for those mistakes I would not have the insight I have now. I was simply lucky to survive then, and I'm a lot more cautious now. Yesterday, after 4 nice AFF L1's, there was a bit of turbulence developing. I stood down while others continued to jump. (If there is no point in me swooping the gates, there is no point in me jumping, and my AFF stays safe.) About and hour and a bit later, a 600ft dust devil came through over our new (yet to be filled) swoop pond while the plane was climbing to altitude. I've attached a pic. I could not have told anyone what was coming an hour before - but I knew enough to know I didn't want me or my students to be up there. The sky is always there. No weather lasts longer than it takes to mend a femur. Blue SKies, t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm not trying to be difficult. I do struggle with people who ask for advice and then choose to ignore answers until they get the one they already like. There is no point in pulling in one to create asymetry, and then pulling in the other. Why were you trying to get down wind? You know the wind is 23+ mph. (20 kts) Can you run at 23+ mph with a rig on your back? You must know how easy it is to get pulled onto your face when you're running as fast as you can and the wind is faster. Land. Turn. Drop one, pull the other in. You need to be the anchor for the now collapsed canopy. If you give it slack, it will take it and use it against you. "Running around the canopy" worked on round canopies, but they were seldom jumped in the conditions you were in when this event occured. As for being able to handle it, "fluke gust" etc, if that's all true, why are you asking what you could have done differently? If people with 2000+ jumps were also drug about, it was too much for them too. The ground, wind etc don't care about your jump numbers. If it were a "fluke" then you're just a victim, and there is no changing that. The only way to deal with this is to 1)accept that you could not deal with the situation and a) Set out to gather the skills you need, or b) Set out to gain the judgement required not to find yourself in a situation where your skills are overwhelmed. or 2)accept that there are just flukes that will compromise you every now and then. "Murphy is always looking for the low guy." When faced with a choice of great skill or great judgement, choose judgement. If you have the judgement, you'll never need the great skills. t It's the year of the Pig.

This is so true... and it's best to just cutaway rather than deal with it again.... I don't know. I was a bad skydiver when I started. I made bad choices, and I hurt myself. I learned from my mistakes and I'm a bit better now. Sometimes the mistakes we make teach us what not to do, not to do them again. t It's the year of the Pig.

Firstly, not jumping in conditions you can't handle is the right answer. The fact that you got drug all over the place means that you couldn't handle it. Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. Having said that, dropping one toggle and pulling in the other one has always worked for me, but you need to do it, not play like you're doing it. If the wind is so strong that it continues to drive the now inverted canopy further downwind, I step on the PC and tightrope down the bridle to the attachement point, then gather the canopy. Wrestling a canopy is just stupid. It stops a terminal freefall in a couple of seconds. No one has the strength to wrestle a canopy that has no desire to be wrestled. t It's the year of the Pig.

Did he find out or did you tell him? t It's the year of the Pig.

Hi Steve, Sorry to be joining the thread late. I got your text message yesterday but was jumping, and after hearing Tamsyn had graduated from the GTi to your S3, figured it had something to do with that. As many on this forum will know, I'm pretty anti eliptical when it comes to wingsuits. A huge percentage (Something like 11 out of 20) of my early 1st flight students had a wingsuit cutaway within their 1st 20 wingsuit jumps. I won't teach an under 500 jump bird on an eliptical anymore. Glad you're alive and still learning. Do you know if any of the local birds are coming up to Nylstroom to jump the PAC in November? t It's the year of the Pig.

I didn't do much for the first couple of years after I was born, but those years are still counted in my age. I did my 1st jump 02 Feb 1985. I certainly never took it seriously for the 1st few years, but that's still when I did my 1st jump. t It's the year of the Pig.

I don't understand. Could you explain this "Pay it forward" thing in a little more detail? t It's the year of the Pig.

I'm sorry your goat has been gotten. I don't believe that Tandem dives and coach dives have anything on common. As a former TM, I can tell you that strapping someone who has no grasp of consequence to your body and leaving the aircraft carries significant risk. It is a very safe way for the student to experience a first jump, but it is a very dangerous jump for the instructor. For me, there was little reward in Tandem. While the student is extatic on landing, you're unlikely to ever see them again. In contrast, I'm surrounded by former AFF students of mine at all levels of the sport. I often do free AFF. I would never do a free Tandem. As for coaching, the dynamics are somewhat different. Each coach has already travelled the path of the student. Some coaches have travelled that path many times, in several different disiplines. For a jumper like me, in Africa, that can mean at least half a dozen trips to another continent, where I paid to be rated or goin experience in something. Maybe I'm a money grabbing shylock, but I see university students paying to be taught. I see those who want to become pilots paying to be taught. I see martial arts students paying to be taught. I see people in gyms with personal trainers they are paying. I see golfers paying golf pros. I see patients paying doctors and I see drivers paying mechanics. I've been jumping for 20+ years. I know some things that other people don't know. I've spent a great deal of money and time on my skydiving education, and there are many people in skydiving who have greater skills than I do. I'm simply tired of spending years of my life teaching people skills for free that they allow to lapse when some pretty whuffo comes along. There is little commitment from the skydiving public. They're tourists, in and out in a decade or so. Why do they expect such commitment in return? It seems little hypocrisy is present. The price is on the product. Every jumper can choose to pay it, or they can go to their expert friend and be taught for free. This site is the exception, of course. None of the moderators are paid and this function can take several hours a day, often dealing with people who are seldom satisfied with what they get for nothing. t It's the year of the Pig.

What happened to "When using or storing a gun, always follow these NRA rules: Know your target and what is beyond. Be absolutely sure you have identified your target beyond any doubt." Is the force strong in this boy? t It's the year of the Pig.

I would rather die doing something wrong than die cos some stupid box with 16 year old software and no eyeball kills me cos it thinks I'm doing something wrong. t It's the year of the Pig.

Umm... I don't know what to say... Wanna go otherside this weekend?

I kinda like tall orders. I'd give it a swing if I noticed it. If I got to them, I'd fire the reserve. I'd try not to die and would quit at 2, just as I would for AFF. t It's the year of the Pig.

Yeah! And he got a blowjob! t It's the year of the Pig.

Happy Birthday Peej! We're nearly the same age now - at least thats what everyone under 20 thinks! Hava rocking day! t It's the year of the Pig.

You win nothing. I'm in Africa, and I got it off the news and posted "No terrorism" on post 6. Post 28 comes later. t It's the year of the Pig.

Put SO in passenger seat. Put rig in SO's lap. Problem solved. I have 2 rigs. My SO has 2 rigs. Problem clearly not solved. t It's the year of the Pig.