tdog

If you really want to jump again (I bet you do) - then go back to the dropzone and JUMP! You will do much better the 2nd time. Here is the deal. I have taught many first timers in first jump courses and then taken them on their first jump. EVERY TIME, the people who overthink it - always do poorly.... The people who say, "lets go have fun, F### YA!" - seem to do great... So just relax and have fun! Part of over thinking it is posting a bunch of threads on Dropzone.com and thinking all week about the responses and letting the energy build up to tension... So, today is Saturday, go to the DZ and jump!

I wonder if a frame could be built, using stong light weight poles, that could hold the canopy open and up above your head so you don't need the wind at launch.... The throw it up in the air technique needs a bunch of wind.

While I just supported you in another post, I am going to call you on this one. Maybe it was said in a context that was inappropriate - but a business owner is the dictator. If the business is owned by multiple shareholders, the shareholders will have a democracy of some sort outlined in the bylaws, but the employees, customers and vendors have no vote and thus are under a dictatorship. Fortunately, no one has to give business to, or work for, anyone. Thus the dictators have financial incentive to build a business model that brings business and employees - or else the dictatorship falls when the bank account empties.

So does yours and mine. That is the nature of an opinion. However I agree in some aspects with Jimmy... Just because there is a waiver and court precedent, it does not excuse unnecessary danger and we all should give our business to DZOs who operate the safest dzs they can, and do our best as jumpers to educate and self-police when we see others doing unnecessary reckless activities. I have not been to Lodi, so I am not making any judgement in this case - however, if indeed there is a safer way to do anything at a reasonable cost - it should be done, and we in the sport should demand it or take our business elsewhere, so the DZs that are not operating safely are shut down and the risk of lawsuits in skydiving is reduced. Self police with our wallets... (again, I am not making judgement in this case, but supporting Jimmy's opinion in general)

I'm a rigger, and I personally hated my pilot. But in all fairness, I became a rigger after I sold my pilot. I simply did not like how it landed. I won't say it was bad - some people might like it, and it is a "good canopy" overall... Just did not like it. I hate GM cars too. Thus I say - jump it and decide if you like it. If you do, and the price is good, buy it... I don't think, from my personal experience owning one, that there is a reason not to buy it if you like it... Some say it has great openings as the reason to buy it... It does for the most part... But I also had the worst slammer ever, as in, left marks on my body and caused damage to gear and people on the ground who watched the load walked over to me post landing to make sure I was alright due to what they saw 4000 feet away - on a pilot... So any canopy will slam you... (Although 1000+ jumps on my Katana have been slammer free)

I pitched a bit head low while wingsuiting, where I brought both arms behind my back after the throw. I felt the straps slide a tad down my arms. Ever since then I make my chest strap tighter on wingsuit jumps, and my BASE rig is very tight by harness design where it won't happen... And, without a bungee on my leg straps on my Vector, I can get the rig off in 2.3 seconds flat by bending in half at the waist and initiating it sliding off by bringing the leg straps to the back of my knees... But the bungee will prohibit the leg straps moving down and I can't get out of it with the bungee installed. Bill Booth I think calls this "the hole", and it was the culprit of a paraplegic tandem skydive tragedy. Sitflying butt low and knees high could cause the "hole problem" as there are photos/articles that show this problem. I have a video of a guy using a rental rig backflying with perfect body position but with his legstraps moving up to his knees... A few more inches and he would have had a bigger issue, especially on a premature deployment...

I see a lot of 100-200 jump coaches who do a darn fine job. They love the sport, are excited enough to want to teach, and have skills to pull it off with some tunnel time, some coaching they got themselves, etc... I see a lot of 1000-2000 jump coaches who do a shitty job. They are burned out and need the money. They have the skills, but rather do a tandem for the quick cash or increase of airtime to ground school ratios. They are old skool with crappy body positions and never been to the tunnel or received coaching since they got their tandem rating 10 years ago. So, I have given up on jump numbers, time in the sport, etc. The only thing I can hope for is that DZO's know who their best assets are when they make the staff schedules and that coaches who are great and excited to teach market themselves to the students aggressively enough that the students know who to request/hire.

Well, his BASE rig is custom made out of light weight fabric with no metal hardware (chest strap tied in a knot, leg straps sewn permanently to his leg size) - so at about 6 pounds, it could almost be as if he did not have a rig on. This makes me smile. Dean is a good guy. I have jumped with him at Twin Falls and in Switzerland. I remember when he was just learning to skydive actually. Watching him fly off the Eiger Mushroom - and basically fly to the point his canopy opening was so far in the distance you could barely recognise it as a canopy - was absolutely awesome. But he was not happy, he did not make it to the next valley which was his goal... The Mushroom is a rather intense hike/climb to get to, not epic, but about 2 hours of steep rocks and one or two somewhat technical areas. Most of our group was rather tired after the hike. Dean looked up and said, "the weather's great, see ya later." (Normally the clouds come in on the north face around lunch time, it's a 1 jump a day sort of site, but this day the weather was allowing 2) He said he would pack his rig half way up at this little cave area as he would know if the weather was holding out by then, and sprinted up the Eiger to do jump it again. That night he came back to the Horner with a smile saying he broke his own record and flew to another city/valley by flying a slightly modified line... And in a rare case of quasi-defeat, he said, "I am tired." I don't know if that was the day he broke the record quoted above, or if he flew farther after we left a week later - but either way, watching Dean fly is impressive. He is blessed with a tall body with above average surface area, and is super thin. Couple that with a good wingsuit and above average athletic skills - and he is the "perfect guy" to go far with a wingsuit. Next time you see him - take a look at his hands. They have more surface area than some skydiver's whole body (ok, an exaggeration, but they are huge).

I pay $14 at home depot. They are black with yellow logo and say "Subcontractor" on them. They have others such as "Thunder" which are too thick, and "Tradesman" which are missing the finger tips.... But "Subcontractor" are tried and true. (No leather) If you need more warmth - go to the Janitorial aisle and get a box of 100 of doctor's style latex gloves and put those on under your gloves as a 100% wind barrier... (You only need to use one per hand, you can give the 98 others to friends). Just wait until the final gear check to put them on because perspiration in the plane will not breathe out and will work against you. My first gloves were $60 from REI, bike gloves, and tore thru in the first season. My second gloves were skydiving specific and lasted even shorter. By far - the longest lasting gloves I have found = Home Depot. Oh. and at $14, when my glove got ripped off in an AFF student's harness, I still profited off the jump... And thankfully the student had a stand up landing right next to me so I could get my glove out of his harness legstrap so I lost nothing, but it was a close one. (It turns out you should use the provided velcro strap to make them tight, not just somewhat tight).

I found a lot of coached 4way tunnel time and jumps was invaluable. However, you also need to practice getting to someone who is moving randomly from either above them or the side of them, closing a large gap quickly. That is a skill a 4way team that is good never learns as they are never more than a few feet away from each other.

Are you talking about Bram? If so, then I am surprised you said that. I have watched a few of the AFF course directors, and I think Bram is on the top of the game. Fair, honest, demanding, and educational. Ground preps, teaching before getting on the plane, and overall instructor quality were very important to him... I have seen some of the others teach, and I was less impressed. I guess we all have our own opinions.

I could pull my emails from 2004/2005 winter... Every weekend I PMed on Dorkzone.com a San Diego friend, "Got in a few jumps today. The snow was awesome, the world was white." His replies were always: "Rained" "Cloudy" "Windy". No loads. At the end of the winter, we calculated jump days. I had MANY MANY MANY more jump days between December and April than he did - all in Colorado. That winter was very rainy for Cali and very un-windy for Colo, but on average we still jump a hell of a lot here. Colorado unfortunately gets some wind in the winter - however there never has been a period where I could not jump every month. Last year we had 3 bad weekends in a row (with great weekdays) - and went about 30 days between jumping. It was abnormal. I used to live in the LA area. I say both are cool (Cali and Colo).... Of the 40+ states I have been to, I enjoy Cali and Colo the best for diversity and beauty.

And I was on a jump with a fatality where someone with many, many, many tandems in a row failed to cutaway a cypres induced downplane on a sport rig. I could only assume he went all the wrong places for all the right handles on the rig, starting with the main, then the cutaway. I think recurrency jumps are serious business and the recurrency is not about the freefall but the gear.

How much bandwidth was actually used? Both burst speed and monthly volume... Ironically I just taught a guy to skydive over the weekend who has a rather large internet service provider company co-located in a large datacenter... His company is large enough to replicate databases for fortune 100 companies... The datacenter is large enough to support well known companies. Maybe he has some bandwitdh laying around he is not using.... If he shows back up at the DZ, I will ask. I guess youtube will get all the business now, huh?

Ok... So maybe we need to ask the USPA to change some rules and policies. My view, as the instructor signing the bottom line, I want to see everyone who helped the student along the way, and their progression. There are lots of real good coaches who are more than qualified to verify that a student used their rear risers, landed within X feet of a target, or was able to explain what an RSL or AAD are. If the USPA requires instructors to sign every line, not coaches, then instructors are going to pencil whip lines when "coaches working under them" are doing the work... So as the instructor signing the bottom line, I won't see the student's accurate learning progression - or worse yet, when I quiz the student and they answer incorrectly, I don't know which coach to confront... So, I believe the 2 page card should be accepted with coach signatures along the way, with only a few blocks that only an instructor is qualified to handle clearly marked, "An USPA coach is not authorized to sign this block". In the long run, the instructor who signs the bottom line needs to know which coaches helped the student along the way as they will be held accountable for knowing who helped the student. "Working under an Instructor's supervision" means that each coach should be able to put their signature on the line to take accountability for what they taught instead of hiding behind the signature of an instructor. I love seeing coaches work with students, and at least at my dropzone, I trust all of them to inspire and teach. I want them to be able to sign the card as it is their signature that proves they did the work and are willing to take credit for their work, and take accountability for their workmanship. Rant over. Anyone else agree?

Wrong. A student, who's 2-page A licence card I signed the bottom line on, as an AFFI, and other AFFIs signed the check dive and verbal quiz - was rejected by USPA because of unauthorized signatures. It sounds like, from what I was told, the USPA saw a coach signed one of the accuracy landings or other line items...

When you have talked to your wingsuiting friends and tried on the gear and learned what it takes... And you can honestly say to yourself, "I can handle all of this new stuff, without having to worry about all the old stuff because it is second nature", you will be ready. That means you have to be able to do a normal skydive "in your sleep" as a natural thing without thought. I have seen a first wingsuit work well on someone's 100th jump (not advised) and on their 500th jump.

When someone can fly their ass off, remain altitude aware, track like hell away from the others, and pull on time - on their 17th jump - I vote it is a success. He also stood up his landing in the pea gravel pit. I agree canopy control is the weakest link of a lot of AFF programs I have seen. But it is not the AFF program that is a failure, it is the AFF instructors who fail to make it a big deal in the debrief/prebrief. I however don't feel that we can blame AFF for people hurting themselves under a perfectly good parachute. Since AFF has become popular, canopy designs have gotten a lot more sporty and swooping has progressed to the weekend jumper. SL won't fix canopy incidents, coaching for many jumps from jump 10 to 10000 will be required.

There is no such thing as a system that fails, just people who fail to use the system successfully. At the root of any failing student is a failing instructor. And as an AFF instructor I can say I never have done SL, but the students who are the ones who have gone far are the ones who don't stop asking questions after AFF level 7. Maybe over 20 SL jumps an instructor could force feed info to students with greater frequency, but I never have been a big fan of force feeding. I have seen students do amazing things in AFF. One of the most memorable - I was teaching a college student and her brother was an AFF-I from another DZ. I allowed him to lurk the dive. After all her maneuvers, she flew to him, smiled, and "blew a kiss" as she would to a family member before leaving on a vacation, right before pulling. Another AFF student, with very little tunnel time, turned 5 RW points with me on his level 6 skydive. Another, on his 17th jump, a coach jump, turned 18 points with three other instructors, and we gave him the hard slots including the outfacing phalanx where he had to look over his shoulder and slide into his slot backwards - and we did not chase him. His 18th jump we did some blocks, just because it was time to introduce levels and cross referencing. We did not forget canopy skills either. (Although I will admit this is a weak link in AFF) Almost every student I take up on a level 7 can do some pretty amazing things considering they only have a few minutes of freefall. In some cases, it is the same weekend as when they did their FJC. I wonder, with Static Line, where would they be? How many weekends? Would they be able to turn many RW points on their 17th jump (which is only important as it is a great achievement that gives them enjoyment)? My ONLY fear about AFF is the cost and that it is sometimes marketed in a way that gives people the impression "I can't do that". If someone wants coaching, advice, help, or knowledge - they will get it. But the student has to want to learn. And if they don't want to learn, it is sad when they get hurt for poor skills - but sometimes pain is a wonderful teacher, especially when someone doesn't think they need teaching. My two cents.

To give this thread a serious turn, god forbid... What would be the harm for both the main and reserve to wait until the student's canopy is pulling the student out of their hands? Other than the possible burble issues, that could cause the student's pc to hesitate... But an instructor can always place themselves in a way to prevent that by "opening up" with a one hand grip. In the last 600 or so AFFs I have done, I have, regardless of the side I am holding on to, been there until either physics (student being pulled out of my hand) or logic (see the student's canopy coming out of the bag or lines and risers delivering the telltale tension that something is about to happen) prevents be from helping any further. Our current student rigs have not shown any hesitation or increased malfunction rates from two instructor burbles. I see no point for the main to turn and burn the second the PC is released. But I can see some really valuable reasons to stick around if there is a "Scott Lutz" type situation.

Well, your explanation helped me understand why you recommended 9... However I would say that the number of cells is not as important as the design and fabric (ZP vs F111) of a canopy. A Storm, or even a Spectre are both sporty canopies I have seen swooped and landed at higher wingloadings without any problems. If a novice was going to get a good deal on a rig, I would not hesitate with them buying one of those. They have 7 cells.... I just think you are giving 7 cells a bad rap because most of the old school F111 7 cells suck, but the newest popular designs are great canopies for the average joe.

Really? Explain more please.

PD Says on http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/choosing2.pdf

2.

Because Collegiates: 1) Occurs later in the year allowing a team to form and practice in the fall, whereas the Nationals is too close to the start of the school year. 2) Christmas break = time off from school, when it occurs. 3) Because, why the hell not? Nothing says students can't do both!