tdog

My following comment has NOTHING to do with windtunnels - but EVERYTHING to do with construction, building departments, and sub-contractors in general. "Wanna bet???" I sure hope I lose the bet because I rather fly with egg on my face than money in my pocket.

Me thinks your post was 9 days too late for April Fools - so where is the video????? I want to see this, as do all the other people beggin'

Left hand rotated a bit towards the thumb.

That's a good way to put it, Dave. It's great being right there as they are whooping and hollering and such. Being right there after the canopy opens and asking them "wasn't that GREAT?!" I love all forms of instructing, but I get the most "instant gratification" from tandems. Chuck And since I am not a TI - I get the same feeling when talking to the "students" on the way back to the hangar... That is awesome... Most are so excited - and I love to see the change from the way they looked in the plane to the way they look on the ground...

And I think I am going to have nightmares about that jump for the next month. Did you on purpose do the head down thing thinking it would fix the problem - or did it happen as a side effect of trying to clear it by another means?

Isn't that cutaway handle for the reserve side AFF instructor on a student rig? EDIT TO ADD: The next post says: I guess what I meant by cutaway is that it cuts away the spandex pouch that holds the PC - thus releasing it into the wind... I see how "cutaway" is a misleading term.

5. High Pullers/solos... Solo what? I have seen solos often be part of the "small" in 3 and 4. 1. Speed Skydivers... Why are they first? Define speed skydivers... Are you talking the guys who do speed formation building, or the guys who are trying to get maximum fall rate MPH???

It is a fancy RSL that uses the main (that is presumably malfunctioning but causing enough drag to be an effective pilot chute) to deploy the reserve faster than the reserve's pilot chute could do it on it's own... But don't take my word for it --> Bill Booth and the gang at Relative Workshop invented it, and you can find out much more information from their website as posted above. Someone else posted to do a search.... Look very carefully at the posts by BillBooth himself as they are from the source...

I asked an instructor once how easy it was for someone good in the tunnel to move to the sky... His response to me was, "Tunnel only flyers are very likely to lose altitude awareness. Their body clock is tuned to a 2 minute tunnel session, not a 1 minute skydive. I know of more than one cypres fire where the tunnel rat lost awareness." So, my question to you is, did you find that the case? Are you at all concerned about this issue for the future as you do more complicated stuff that can be distracting??? I bring it up because the guy who made the comment to me has thousands more skydives than you and I combined, and I think his point is valid. When he told me, I had more hours in the tunnel (still do) than the sky - so I thought about how this effected my ability to keep aware... It opened my eyes. By the way, tracking is something you don't learn in the tunnel, but after a group skydive, it is one important thing to save your life... I have jumped with two people with a lot of tunnel experience. One could track, the other could not... Opened my eyes to another issue and inspired me to get coaching on tracking regardless of how good I was to begin with. Congrats and have fun.

Try this website out for size.... I every once in a while go back and use it just as a refresher... Every SIM question, on line, like a flash card system. Does not grade you, but since you have to answer before you request the answer, you can grade yourself if you wanted on a scratch paper... http://genbiol.cbs.umn.edu/alicense/

We put together the whole years training schedule, including every line item expense, and got the whole team to sign off on dates and cost. Video, slots, coaching, team training without coaching, meet entrance fees, etc. Basically - put the items from the HeyRobin Post + the vibeke post - and you have it... Some were implied, some were actually discussed. On my request to make sure we all had good breakoffs after a previous close call, our coach came up with the training idea on the first day training. We all broke off a little high and our coach (who was flying video since our video guy was not able) videoed our tracks and breakoff, one person at a time... Good safety idea... The team ranged from 50-600 jumps per person, and everyone learned and the weakest link got the coaching required. Here is a tidbit I learned from Pat and Mike at Perris... Each day have a team captain (when the coach is not acting as in charge). That day that person decides the training and loads. Each day it is a new person in the rotation... So, if you really want to work on one skill, wait 3 days and it will be your turn to do it. Oh – and the most important rule our team has… (Do everything required to land safe) then give a big high five no matter how bad the dive went… Edit to add: I think I am going to protest our coach's (Brian Vande Krol's) e-mails that say I am required to show up for team training before 8 AM... I think he spent too much time in Perris or Eloy or something.

Golf it dangerous... my brother broke his leg playing golf... I like to claim it was full contact golf... but alas it was the regular kind. My grandfather rolled his golf cart and threw my grandmother off, which probably saved her life.

I went downhill mountain biking with a friend. We were doing the most serious stuff I have ever done, very fast downhill (because the brakes were useless) on very jagged rocks... I crashed a few times going over 30MPH. He did too. We stopped to look at the map. He was standing still. He fell over on flat ground and his knee hit the only rock within feet... Knee needed to be scoped. $45,000 hospital bill after Kaiser reduced it from $75,000. He had to pay 20% of the first $10,000 - thus a $9,000 bill for standing still. And, there was the time my uncle playing golf.... Never mind. Life is dangerous I guess. I guess this "incident" thread is the reason why my AFF instructors told me to have a hand on a wall (or cute person) while putting on gear.

I was actually thinking there should be a sub-thread of incidents called "Landing Incidents."

Bill, I am proud to jump the skyhook... When my rig arrived I made the rigger assemble in front of me so I could see it... I have read the owners manual - but every time I hear you talk about it, I learn more. I was wondering if you have put together a "white paper" on the skyhook, covering design, operation, tidbits to know, testing metrics, case studies from actual use, failure possibilities, etc. I would much rather sit and discuss it over a cup of coffee some day, but I don't know when I will be in your neck of the woods, so this might be the next best thing.

And, for all those people who think Miami's suit is "bright" in that picture, you should see it in real life. I think it is radioactively charged.

That just sucks... Maybe if the student almost killed someone by being intentionally reckless, he might deserve harsh words and a coach who refuses to jump again with the student... But... I remember around 25 jumps not being able to catch up with my coach. He had a few hundred jumps and was new as a coach. He went low - actually he left first as it was a dive and dock and I could never close the last 25 foot gap as I flew above him doing my best arch, which was poor at the time. I had not been trained as well as I needed to be and did not realize that by keeping the eye contact my head was flat and not arched and thus slowed me down... He assumed a prior coach gave me the skills I needed to know to keep my head real high and look for him out of the bottom corner of my eye. The coach told me, "It is completely my fault. I did not train you on how to solve this problem. Lets jump again and I will pay my slot." Attitude is everything. On my worst skydives in terms of getting tasks done, my coach still came up to me and gave me a high five and told me what I did well, then volunteered solutions for what I needed to improve. I remeber my first coach jump post AFF, where I was unable to do what was assigned with grace, it was my worst dive to date at the time. I walked up to the coach upon landing with my tail between my legs with the AFF attitude "I failed that level" and thought, "Why is she laughing so hard and smiling? That dive sucked." We laughed hard at my mistakes (or novice skills) I wanted to jump again right away... Attitude is everything. Sounds like this guy needs to learn how to work with people with novice experience and needs to realize that student's performance is directly related to how much training investment coaches give.

Now that you have jumped once, the worst is over forever... The next step is even more fun, learning how to fly your own body.

me too... Assuming you are talking about a canopy... I put my first 20 jumps on one at Perris, loaded 1.1 to 1... Got cut off more than once and found myself landing crosswind in moderate winds... First two landings sucked. Rest were tip toe once I got the thing dialed in (or is that me dialed in). I am happy with mine and plan to keep jumping it for a while. Even brand new, I can pack it, but it is the most slippery thing I have ever touched. The dirt is finally coating the surface and making it friendly. .

What is the terminal speed of a rain drop??? Actually, I looked it up, and found it is in the 10 to 20 MPH range... And all this time I thought rain fell near a skydiver's speed. No wonder why it hurts.

I went to the Vector III manual - thinking that the owner’s manual would be the best place for this answer. The manual specifies insertion from right to left (I assume since the bridal is stored on the right, that way it pulls it out in the natural direction). The manual does not specify how far to insert it, but the attached picture cut and pasted from the manual shows full insertion. The manual says: “6. Insert the closing pin (located on the bridle) through the closing loop from right to left.” Ideas? Thoughts? Bill or any other manufacture out there? I personally insert from right to left, nearly all the way it naturally wants to go, with a “smiley face”. But then I spin it 45 to 90 degrees so the loop of the pin is somewhat down, and the pointy end is somewhat up. I have been told that this orientation is safer, as if you brush your rig on the bench as you sit down, the pin is likely to be pushed in farther, not pushed out…

Congrats... I hope you are talking about a skydive, and not something else... What did you do? Tandem? AFF? SL?

I come from a long line of people who abuse these sorts of things, so I will have to live thru other's experiences... Just means more $$$ for skydiving, so it ain't that bad, huh???

I like the pool analogy... Ever since my 5th jump, I have told people skydiving is like swimming... You jump in and float around... But, when people said, "but don't you feel the wind?" I had to change my analogy... Now I say it is like a jaccuzi hot tub - where you are swimming, but you feel the water rushing from the jets against your body.

And I thought I was the only one... Serious, even after my short 6 month experience at this sport, I still have a hard time sleeping at night and concentrating at work... At first - skydiving was on my mind 24-7. I thought I would cure it once the initial excitement wore off... And some did get cured... It is not that I am always thinking about skydiving (anymore)... It is as if my body chemically changed...