karenmeal

Atleast your name is included in the poll. I feel left out. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Damn straight. It's CReW and RW for me all the way. Edited to add: So FS means formation skydiving??? I thought it was talking about freestyle.. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

But damnit.. I live on the West Coast!! When can I hate you in person? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

The water sprayer. Those sure are fun. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

But if the BMI restriction was 38 or something, both you and your wife would obviously be under 38. I really don't think you can argue that anyone with a BMI over 38 (except for crazy-serious world class body-builders) should be making a tandem skydive. They won't fit the harness and they're more likely to suffer minor injuries on landing. To have a BMI of 38 someone who is 6'0" would need to weight 280 pounds. Someone who is 5'5" would weigh 230 pounds. Perhaps the BMI could be a screening tool, which if a person failed could be left up to the discretion of the tandem master. Atleast if there was some DZ wide policy like this it would take away some responsibility and pressure off the TI. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I only promise not to die if you give me good wine. I prefer petit syrah. PM me for my address. It is the only way I promise to stay alive... "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

But as you can see from previous posts I wasn't proposing that we use the BMI guideline of "obese" as a restriction for tandem passengers. I was suggesting that we use a number on the BMI scale.. of perhaps 36 or 38 as a cutoff point. So you would still be within the acceptable range.. however someone at your weight might exceed weight restrictions anyways. Please read my post more carefully if you are going to attempt to discount it. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I have to admit Krisanne, I go back and re-read your posts. I wish I had a similar command of grammar. I like to admire your punctuation. Your placement of dots and commas is sensational. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Yes, you're right. If I didn't fail them, then they would be an incredibly accurate reflection of my superiorly keen intellect. But as it now stands, they are silly. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I avoid rereading my posts because I always think that I sound like a dumbass. I sound brilliant in my own head though, damnit!! In my own world, I am in fact, a genius. Even though I always miserably fail all the silly Mensa tests. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Rembrant strips are fucking expensive!! Bakikng soda is like, a dollar. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Ron, this may be the first time that you've agreed with me! This makes me happy. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

That is basically what I was thinking. It is not too difficult to look at someone and size up whether they should really be jumping or not. But telling them, "I'm sorry, you're too short for your body weight." Well.. obviously that could piss off some people. But if there was a stated policy on BMI restriction then hopefully some people would weed themselves out, and if this didn't happen, then there would be a clear-cut rule that could be brought to their attention. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I like brushing with baking soda.

Well, if you guys had read my post you would see that I wasn't proposing to use the BMI's guidelines of obese or overweight. I was proposing another number.. perhaps 36 or something as the restriction. I realize that those guidelines would prevent many people who are actually at a healthy weight from skydiving. However, I seriously doubt that any of you people have a BMI of 36-- this is severely obese. Go to the BMI calculator that I provided a link for and calculate yours. None of you are 36, I assure you. But however, the woman who died was around a 42. This is the sort of body type that shouldn't fit into tandem harnesses. But on someone who is short, they could be within weight limits. If a DZ published it's policies on it's website then I think many people who were seriously obese would weed themselves out. I don't think they would want to push it at the DZ. I also don't think that dismissing an idea because "busy DZ's won't follow it" is appropriate. Personally, I think that busy DZ's do have safety in mind. Perhaps the best decisions aren't always made, but a simple change in their policy like the addition of a BMI restriction would atleast steer them in the right direction. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

There is also a waist to hip ratio that can be used as a measure of obesity. Many people in the field of nutrition are beginning to use this.. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

In reading the incidents forum, like others, I've been thinking about possible ways to prevent incidents like the one with the tandem student this weekend. It seems like people are concluding that perhaps the TI failed to properly adjust the harness, but that it is also possible that the harness could not have been safely adjusted to fit this particular passenger. Or that perhaps skydiving harnesses just have a fatal flaw that needs to be addressed. I know that the BMI is in no way a perfect system as it does not factor in muscle mass/ body fat percentage. But a possible DZ policy could include a BMI restriction. If this woman was 5'2 230 pounds then she had a BMI of 42.1. Someone who is 5'9" and weighs 250 pounds (which could conceivably be lots of muscle and not necessarily an unhealthy body weight/type for this person) would have a BMI of 34. Perhaps a measure that could be employed by DZ's to attempt to restrict certain body types from jumping could be a BMI restriction of something like 36 or 38. Here is a link to a BMI calculator: http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ A spreadsheet can also be printed out which would be easy to use at a DZ. If a tandem master ever had concerns about the body type/size of a student, they could calculate that person's BMI to see whether they were within limits or not. I realize that this sort of incident is by no means frequent, but as Americans grow heavier and tandem skydiving is increasingly considered as an amusement park ride of sorts, this could be the sort of incident that is on the rise. Any thoughts? I realize there could be some major flaws in my idea, but just trying to brainstorm for safety's sake. -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

We love you Bob! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Can anyone help me out with a good picture of a Porter in a full on dive? Looking for a picture that is from either directly over top of the wings or directly below. Thanks! -Karen "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Gosh, my apologies for not properly researching a website that was purported to have a bad-ass video. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Oooohh! It's remote control. How did I miss that part? That would be nice for low weather days, for sure! I thought it was fast forward of someone on a large canopy with a redneck voice over added. But this makes much more sense. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Umm... I must have missed the bad ass part. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I have been seriously tempted to do that. Especially on days when I don't want to pack any more parachutes.. I could just roll on out of the plane and go on a little adventure.

The blob!!! I was scared it would ooze out of our heating system. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I've had a big bowl of oatmeal with fruit and nuts almost everyday for 2 years now. I want to get my cholesterol checked just to show off. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham