peckerhead

Yeah, I hate that shit too! I walk around kicking sleeping bags yelling get up and jump! These kids want coffee and muffins. Very sad!

You could try....I am usually the last man standing.

You could give credit to the reduction in no pull/low pull fatalities to AAD's or you could give that same credit to better training and awareness. The number of experienced jumpers burning in with nothing out has decreased but very few of them are being saved by AADs The numbers don't lie. Skyhooks make low cutaways survivable but that does not/should not make low cutaways an accepted practice. Lets face it, high performance gear combined with high performance landing = low margin for error. THe parachute used to save our life, now it has become a new tool to kill ourselves with. More later,

Well, boo fucking hoo! Skydiving aint for everybody. Tough love bubba!

The question was: Can skydiving cause traumatic stress? My answer was :NO I stand by my answer.

Having a collision with a canopy can be softer than hitting a cliff, and the cliff might not try to steer away. You don't really mean that so I will let you slide.

A few years ago I looked at the airtech site to get some perspective. THe number of cypress "saves" were about 1000 at the time. I know the numbers have changed since then,,,,, Anyway, as I recall the vast majority of saves were from students and the second highest catagory was tandems. After that the breakdown was novice jumpers (below 500 jumps) The number of saves from experienced jumpers was very low and the number of jumpers who were "knocked out" was almost nothing. (percentage wise, there were a few) Percentage wise cypress saves were almost always novices and tandems with a few exceptions.

NO

You don't quit skydiving because you get old. You get old because you quit skydiving. _Author unknown

The rest of us just track for fun.

HUH? I did not know there was softcore tracking?

Good for you! I will continue to teach the tried and true method I have taught for over 20 years. Without incident I might add.... The ironic thing about this whole thread is I most likely teach the exact same thing my detractors do.... We just use different terminology.

My rule is: Last one in, first one out. If possible I am the last one in. (if not, preferably exit with the first group) I like sitting by the door. Hopefully no hop n pops on the load. (whats up with that?)

I disagree, I think telling them to throw it is bad advice. I never said you should hold it, even for a second. Full arm extention and immediate release. Who is we? Again, I never once said anything about holding it. That would not be the proper technique now would it? I teach full arm extention and immediate release out into clean air. I have seen many occasions where the jumper simply pulls it out of the pouch and tosses it before the arm is fully extended. That is when you can have the PC go right back into the burble. A few years back a friend of mine with nearly 1000 jumps had a lazy throw and the PC went right back over his back. It was an older vector container and the bridle hooked under his reserve closing flap. When the PC inflated it busted the closing loop on his reserve which led to a nasty two out. Needless to say he was lucky to survive. If you "throw" it before your arm is fully extended it will be closer to your burble than it will be if you simply release it at full arm extention. It does not matter how hard you toss it, at terminal it will travel with the relative wind as soon as you release it.

Here is a link to a blog about Bretts memorial service. http://hang6.blogspot.com/2007/01/brett-pendletons-funeral-i-attended.html I met Brett back in the late 80's when I lived in Park City and we jumped together at the Paraski nationals at Park west. I also made some jumps with him and Shawna at the old DZ in Cedar valley. The last time I jumped with him was at the Paraski Nationals at Snowbird in 95. The guy was an incredible skier so this whole incident is beyond strange. From what I heard he was just making a practice run on Payday at Park City and went off the course and into the trees. That is where he was found, apparently no one witnessed the crash. Payday is not a real difficult run. He was wearing a helmet. That is all I know. My condolenses to his family, Brett was a great guy.

Exactly! release it at arm's length

Throw the beer can out of a convertible with no windshield at 120 mph and see what happens. It will likely end up in the back seat. Now take the can, stick your arm out and let it go. It is much more likely to clear the vehicle. The force of the relative wind is stronger than the power of your arm.

Where did this come from? You can't "throw" a pilot chute into 120 mph air....As soon as you let go of it it is gone. It does not matter how hard you "throw" it. You pull it out to FULL ARM EXTENSION and let it go. That is the best way to get it out and clean and away from your burble.... You don't fucking THROW IT!

I have a purple tie-died 28 incher. ZP of course. And....It is very popular when I am packing. People see it laying on the floor and go "oooh aahhh" That is sooo cool! The rest of the time it don't get too much attention.

Monkey see, monkey do. Just make sure you watch the smart monkeys!

If you are not going to wear it then why did you bring it with you in the first place? Maybe I am old school, I always thought you should be ready to exit the aircraft the very second you get in it. Shit happens

Pilots fly airplanes. Streering a parachute does not make you a pilot.

I have attended Safety meetings but I don't think that is a good idea until after jumping is over. A whole day of it? Now that's just crazy!

No pilot chute on the reserve for the 1st 5 static line jumps. If you had a malfunction you just hand deployed the reserve- No cutaway. Once cleared for freefall jumps we switched over to shot and a half capewells and used reserves with spring loaded pilot chutes. From that point on you would cutaway before deploying the reserve.

Yep, thats 68 Charlie. I made most of my student jumps out of it. I was just getiing into freefall when it was torched.