flydog

As a 182 pilot I hate the poised exit. All that time spent getting on the step, student raising upand not letting go. Its only time before someone gets shit over the tail. Just dive out. Either sitting back to dash or kneeling in door facing forward. Both those ways keep the shit in the plane until your leaving. No fucking around on the step forever.

Cypres is last ditch effort device to save your life because for some reason youve been incapable of doing it. Why have it fire upo at an altitude where you can still be working on fixing the problem and getting shit out. If your scared of it firing low then fix the problem of being in freefall earlier. If you cant then it just saves your life be grateful and either sell your gear and quit, or figure out what went wrong and get back in the air.

I agree with two years being long. I think you could drop the coach in exchange for the JM rating of the instructional discipline your trying to acheive. Thats what it used to be. You became a JM as your first step. Then you apprenticed with an I until you had your time in so you could go to an I course. The only value of a coach rating would be to give you time working with people for a TI rating.

Also most renters insurance will discount anything you make income with. If you skydive as an instructor many will say its tools of the trade and not pay. Still worth checking though. If you work at skydiving or not try they might just pay.

37983+5205=43188 57+16=73 43188/73=591.616

Someone is selling a Pfaff 130 in the classifieds. That would work. I think $250 is a little steeper price than I would pay. Then again Im a cheap ass and am just lucky at finding things like this dirt cheap. Just like my buddy who got a Singer 7-34 in mint condition for $150.

Back in the day JM's at 100 jumps were different. They had responsibility in the plane and dealing with S/L. They were not in freefall trying to fly themselves and supervise others. I see no double standard. In the aircraft is one thing in the air is another.

Third class medical is good for three years if you got it before turning 40. If it was two days prior to turning 40 its still good for three years.

We were doing 900 to 1000 feet at a midwest DZ. The old one. Everything was cool till the DZO's son had a bag lock. We were all grounded till the clouds lifted. They went up a bit. A load went up and got 1200 feet. We were going to the plane and someone said "you guys don't have a hair on your ass if you don't launch a 4 way". Little Paul said " we've got two points planned. We went up got about 1400 and got both points. We were all saddled out in the 400 to 450 foot range. Thank God for on heading openings as there wasn't much tracking .

The way I read it was that the toggle retainer for lack of a better term was mislocated. The keeper you refer to is th top elastic. The retainer as I call it is the bottom elastic on such as a wings and a pin slot on vector 3's. If this is too low you can put everything together albeit with some slack in the riser. Upon opening shock the slack is taken up and if far enough off the toggle could be pulled enough to get it below the ring allowing the eye to come off.

Just asking an abstract question to see thought processes. If one brake is released and one cant be you say dont try to land with one toggle and one riser. You cant land with both risers due to one brake released. How about restowing that brake and using risers then. Just looking for responses.

I have upsized to a stilleto 135. I am not current enough to jump my 104 on a regular basis. When I get more current I will be back on it. Also that is the canopy that bit me. Thats why I am slow to getting back on it as an everyday canopy.

Bill, I never said butt slide. I slide in on my left knee and right foot. I still have my legs as shock absorbers. Also if the landing is not going to be smooth I will have my feet down and PLF.

I must disagree. I Have slid in almost every landing since Jan 2007. Approximately 400 of them. I stood up three. I have a lot of stainless from my beltline to my knees. I had a very soft landing in Deland Jan of 2007 and had sharp pain from my previous injury. I collapsed and couldn't get up for a while. People were puzzled because the landing was so soft. I have decided that sliding isn't so bad. I will only stand up when it just happens by accident. I give up early and plan for the slide. Its very controlled and smooth. Most could probably be stand ups by why take a chance. Any smooth, soft controlled landing is a good one, if you stand up or not.

As for wrist mounts catching on lines. Quite a few years back I showed up at the Skydive Chicago and Kirk Smith showed me a video of a baglock on a reserve. It was his reserve. He released his wrist mount and it cleared. The Alti had been snagged by one line and theat was enought to cause the baglock. I use both and have no problems with either. Just pointing out to the poster youi replied to that nothing is perfect.

Also While Bill is behind in jump numbers he is far ahead in freefall time. Many of Dons have been hop and pops.

I treat every tandem as a student. I have had most that didn't want to pay attention to altitude and pull actually do a great job. I don't put a lot of stress on them. I tell them that if they do it its a bonus but if not I still have a vested interest in getting th parachute open. Many have come back and continued. They started with the preconcieved notion that they would be incapable of anything more than being a passenger. When they actually took part they cahnged their mindset to that of, I can actually do this. As far as the 60 year old grandma. I had one a few years ago. She came out because her brother had been into skydiving in the 60's. She was going to make one jump and see what he had talked about for all those years. I treated this 66 year old lady like a student. now 70 or 80 jumps later she is still at it. Don't stereotype your tandems by what you see. Treat them as a student and let them decide. It doesn't take any more effort on the instructors part and opens up a world of possibilities for them.

Bill, I just got back on and saw your questions. Yes the batteries were new and in date. As far as the terminal on this drop I recall it to be in the high 90's. 98 MPH sticks in my mind. Also as someone else asked about location. It was next to our data gathering equipment that gave us the speed in the high 90's.

The age factor is all to do with function. The electronics are life limited. I have been involved in some test drops using a 14 plus year old cypres to open the cargo parachute. The cypres failed spectacularily. 220 pounds burning into the desert at terminal. Enough for me when mine timed out I pulled it and wont use one until I can buy a replacement. Cant say they will fire prematurely but who wants to take the chance. I have already watched one not fire.

DSE, I disagree. I missed a rear riser after a 270 to downwind. A friend watched the carnage. He claims to this day a textbook PLF is why I got a high dollar helicopter ride rather than being bagged up and taken away in an ambulance without the lights. Im sure my forward speed was up as it was breezy that day for downwinders. Also I was jumping a VX 104 at 2.5/1. I think PLFs are good for any botched landing. Just sliding in isn't botched if its controlled. I havent stood up but a couple of landings in the last 500. Slid in controlled. But a PLF did save me when things got out of control a few years back.

The price on the compact riggers kit is $495. Pricey but it has a lot of compact tools and in the small riggers bag it the size of a paperback novel. Not a riggers kit for everyday rigging, but the perfect boogie kit. I may get one when I get a few extra dollars.

What if the pressure sensor fails halfway through a skydive. Just because it passed self test doesn.t mean it will last the day when its actually in use. Bill made may good points and I agree wholeheartedly with him. We have cycled a 14 year old Cypress through an altitude chamber and it functioned as normal each time. The following week we used it to activate the main on a test drop. It failed spectacularly. Our electronics gave us speed and altitude readouts. Everything was in the firing parameters but it didn't. Was this the Cypres fault? I say no. They told us they were no good after 12 years, and we thought since we tested it we were ok. With that said do you really want to gamble with your last chance just to be cheap. My Cypres expired so now I don't have one. When I get back to jumping more and doing heavy AFF quantities I'll buck up and get a new AAD. Which one I cant say but I have no hesitation on any or their reasoning on life limits. They all have their reasons, but I don't think its to gouge us.

My binder is from Atlanta Atachment. I have had no problems with anything. I got it from them as thats what RWS was using at the time.

As Far as A suggestion for a machine I would give either the Necchi BU or Pfaff 230. Both are bulletproof old portables. Tough to find but well worth the effort to find.

If you can find an old Necchi BU that would be great. I have one its bulletproof. They are hard to find due sailboat owners liking things like that or the Pfaff 230 that was mentioned. Both are metal gears and portable, great for them to repair sails when out of port.