tdog

When did I say that you would not work hard on the part that they failed on? If the freefall went great, move on. If the canopy sucked, re-train, do lots of ground prep, make them fly a pattern on a tandem, anything to teach. But at least give them something challenging on the 1st half so they feel like they are making progress. And I agree, if a student is clueless, they need to be trained. This is focusing on the problem, being creative, and giving new TLOs for the stuff they are good at, and redoing the stuff that needs improvement. I don't see aff as black and white, yes and no, but instead an opportunity to teach a person at their own speed, in a way progress is made, and they feel good about the experience.

I agree 100% that aff puts the focus on freefall if done incorrectly, and I catch myself sometimes being part of the problem. The solution is better instructors putting focus on canopy learning. Failing a student on freefall TLOs will not make a better canopy pilot. I think you are arguing the right problem with the wrong fix. Next time you see an AFFI reminding a student of the diveflow in the plane or at the mockup and stopping at pull time, remind them to make the student land the canopy. :-)

I think a good instructor uses whatever program they have as a guide (sim, uspa, skydive u) and works with a student. If they pass the TLO, move on, if not, repeat. I have no problem mix and matching objectives for the student. If they failed freefall, but nailed canopy, move on, remove the radio, whatever. The reverse is true. In the end, every TLO should be accomplished, in whatever order the student best learns, don't hold back all for one TLO. I never have failed a level for a student for canopy. I have for freefall. Why? Because in freefall I have to insure the student is ready to be let go, or for one instructor. Under canopy, I am not there anyway, so moving on to a new freefall TLO does not add risk to the canopy, anymore than repeating the freefall TLOs and still having a solo canopy ride. The net result is the same, another try to pass the canopy TLO.

Why would you hold them back and make them repeat freefall learning objectives when they have issues elsewhere. Move on for freefall, retrain for canopy... Pass to the next level, expect to see improvement in the canopy.

Yes... If the DZ allows.... (edit, the SIM does not say the DZ has to approve, but any DZ can make their own rules stricter than the SIM, or not even follow the SIM if they don't want, so I guess the DZO still is the final decision maker) You can do: a "D" + student a "D" + "D" + student a "D" + "D" + student + student But - what I don't get is why you can't do: a "D" + "D" + "C" + student. Somehow the USPA thinks that two students is safer than three licensed skydivers with at least two "D" and one non-"D". (I am guessing the reason is that they know the "student" is under the control of the "D", whereas the "C" would not be?) The moral to the story - if you like doing 4way and your best friend is not an "A" yet, hold off on your own "A" because you can't jump with them once you get your "A"...

Is this to line up with the "master" ticket, or just for anyone who is interested at any skill set??? I see your syllabus is 100% canopy at this point. What about the container/harness and risers? If you brainstorm some of the challenges in that system, I am sure your syllabus could be more complete.

Ummm... I know many. They pack on the weekends, get in a few loads, and walk away with a bit extra. Some are slightly older than 18, but still - not making lawyer's pay. All they have to do is wanna jump. Pack 20 tandems in a day - you have enough money to do pay for your gas to the DZ, some gear depreciation, and 8 or more jumps the next day!

Well, then they are booking it wrong... I unfortunately do many sales tax returns a month, so I see the rules and the forms. The video is a service where a great deal of labor was used, and very little material goods, to provide a service to one customer. It should not be taxable. Give you an example: EXAMPLE A A general contractor gives a proposal: "Build one each awesome patio with beer pong table, $1000". The $1000 is NOT taxable, but the contractor has to pay sales tax to the hardware store where he buys the wood on the cost of the wood. If he uses a tax-exempt licence, he has to pay "use-tax" directly to the city/state because he bypassed the sales tax at the time of purchase. But still nothing to the customer. EXAMPLE B A general contractor gives a proposal: "Build one each awesome patio - $500 labor, $500 materials." The invoice has two line items, one clearly materials, one clearly labor. The GC has to collect sales tax on the $500 materials only. If he paid $500 to home depot to buy the materials (no-markup) and paid home depot the sales tax at the time of purchase, he does not need to pay twice. If he paid home depot only $400 in materials and marked it up $100, he has to pay the sales tax on the $100 markup to the state. Or he can get a resale licence and not have to pay any tax at the time of purchase of materials but pay all the taxes direct. Either way, he must charge sales tax on the $500 and pay it to the store or state or both. EXAMPLE C: A general contractor gives a proposal: "Build one each awesome patio - $500 labor, about $500 in materials, I will turn in receipts from the store for reimbursement." His customer only pays tax by reimbursing him for the receipts of the store. No markup - super easy. EXAMPLE D: A general contractor builds a pre-fab storage shed to be sold retail as a finished product. He must collect the sales tax on the whole thing, just as DELL collects taxes on the whole laptop you buy from the store - because a finished product is sold. Any delivery fees and/or assembly fees would not be taxable. So - which model does the DZ video fall under??? I say "A" - the model where a service provider says: "$100 to make one real good video." The DZ has to pay taxes on the raw materials (blank DVDs), but the customer should not have to pay on the product because 99% of the costs are labor/service related and the DZ paid taxes on the materials to record the video. Now - if the video was mass-produced to be sold retail and not made specifically for that customer, then the whole cost of the video is taxable because a "finished retail product" was made - similar to the shed example (D).

Do you know how the knot happened? The most common knot I have seen in the last year - is when someone puts their hand thru the excess line that is stowed various ways, then grabs the toggle and pulls it thru the excess line making a perfect knot. How did yours happen?

I left last names out on purpose, this is the internet, they might not want to be known. They can disclose if they want.

I am in the entertainment business so I was hired because I knew skydiving and production... It was still so much fun I would have done it for free. I am in it, and was the production coordinator basically responsible for all the skydiving in the shoot. BB Productions is the producer, and I can say it was the best group of folks I have worked with in production in a real long time. I would hire them in an instant, in case you need a video producer. I worked with the producer from the beginning, about 2 months before the shoot. I referred Norman Kent and a few other folks including a real talented local skydiver for the video slot, but they hired Norman after reviewing his resume. They described the lead female to me, and I immediately knew Elaina would be perfect. The male lead was chosen by looking at photos and video screen shots of about 5 very talented people. They had a rough story line - I spent a few days in e-mails and at Starbucks with the client making it possible, taking their ideas... My responsibilities ranged from buying all the jump suits, to getting permits from the city to put up tents, to placing skydivers in CAD drawings to measure angles, to manifesting loads, to making everyone's rig black (yes, gaff tape was used), to telling the graphics artists what was and was not possible in freefall - as the whole thing was originally storyboarded in a computer. Some of the shots I can look at and say, "that wave was my idea", and some are the ideas of Norman, and the rest were the talented producers and writers who were involved. I also got to jump and do high pulls before the shoot to get photos of the entire "world" around the airspace. Using over 100 digital photos, the GC guys were able to piece together the perspective of a camera anywhere around a CG skydiver. A 360 degree view. That was cool to do for sure! All the skydivers were real good folks and without them we could not have done it. Not a single exit was funneled, not a single shot was botched... Except for the weather that ruined the light - we had 100% success, making the "makeup jumps" we planned turn into some of the money shots that were used because we needed no makeups! That was the best feeling I got from the shoot - that they nailed it! The ground side of the shoot was all done by Hollywood talented folks, including the director who is well known and does the TV show Numb3rs. He ran the camera personally on the ground, he is real hands on. I had nothing to do with that, other than to eat the food in the catering cart. The whole thing was shot in HD, and Norman purchased the camera to be used so it would match the ground cameras. It was recorded to memory cards and downloaded played back immediately on the ground on laptops for debrief. It took three days of jumping to put the entire thing together. Most of the footage was cut out for the shorter spots you see. Elaina (Arizona Airspeed) and Chuck are the "stars" - as this was made for a 10 minute long internal use video that was reedited down to a 30 second consumer spot, and a 15 second spot. The leads have a lot of speaking roles in the 10 minute versions, including being in business suits and selling homes and driving convertible mustangs around town. Elaina had to drive the mustang for hours around the same corner to get all the angles needed. The non-speaking role skydivers include people who post here on various frequencies - from "Mustard" to "Dionysus". They asked for a "cross-section of life" so we had people ranging in age and ethnic background. In the 10 minute version you see a lot of the skydivers boarding the plane, jumping out (on crash mats), prepping on the ground, landing, etc. Except for Norman and Elaina - all the skydivers are just real good belly fliers who took time off from their day jobs. The REMAX canopies came from the REMAX demo team, headed up by Al Saylor. He jumped a few canopy shots too. (Oh, and I hate to break it to ya, but the shot was done with 10 freefall and 4 canopy skydivers, the rest are computer generated.) All the shots were filmed at Mile High Skydiving and in the residential neighborhoods around it. Mile High was an excellent host, and I would recommend them for any future commercial shoot.

He said the first day, in a perfect goldmember accent: "You never know, you might have a schmart cookie, but by the end of the day, the cookie might crumble." It still makes me laugh in a good way.

Did I say sugar coat it? No, I said, give constructive criticism. Instead of tearing apart; build. You could say, "I believe you are going to get seriously hurt, perhaps you should consider using..." That is to the point, expresses the concern, and gives SOLUTIONS.

I have a friend with a Spectre 150. The outermost A line has shrunk about 1 inch. The outermost D line has shrunk about 3 inches. The control lines have also shrunk (on the PD chart, the section called 'lower control lines', between the cascade and the catseye). Yes, the right thing to do would be just to reline the whole canopy... But the lineset is not that old and as far as wear goes, it has most of it's life left. The jumper is considering replacing the control lines for a few bucks of materials to get maybe another 100 jumps out of it. The reason is - he is getting hard openings AND at full flight there is a bit of deflection on the tail of the canopy. So the specific question is.... Having a shortened control line - would it cause hard openings - as the user is complaining of hard openings. What about the fact the Ds are shrunk plus or minus the same as the control lines? (Note this jumper moved from sea level to 5,100 field elevation at the same time they started to experience harder openings, so there are other variables to the situation that is making this harder to diagnose)

Congratulations... You have become "one of those". Specifically, instead of finding constructive criticism, you have a lengthy post bashing point by point a fellow skydiver, someone in our community - someone who should be a friend - by criticising their personal flying skills ('no control of your body in flight') and intelligence ('fucking retarded') - with the skygod attitude that you must pay attention to someone because of their jump numbers. And you pull out this old "Jarrett still has not learned his lesson" argument... In the spirit of constructive criticism, so I don't become "one of those" too, how about re-posting with suggestions instead of criticisms? (Note - I had no clue what a Vladiball was, so this thread had good educational dialog, so we should thank our friend for posting)

Does Airtec commonly reuse some of the components? I'm wondering the same thing. Mine goes out in August. Seems like there must still be some value. Not that I know of, it would be unethical to resell 12 year old components as new. I think they want to see how their components did in the field, and it is good marketing to insure you buy another unit from them and not those pesky competitors.

Infinity if the turn around time is good... Or Mirage, or Vector... I would jump a wings if given to me, but I like others better.

I was not there, but more than one person told me what it is like when it stalls and rolls. If everything goes wrong, you fall off your floating exit grip at the wrong time and see yourself in freefall with the prop in front of you. The skydiver recounted kicking off the wing to push himself away from the spinning prop. According to the skydiver an a witness, without the kick, he would have hit the prop. Zing's story about a TM behind the door... At my home DZ, our house rules with the KA is no one behind the door on jumprun and those inside have to line up towards the front of the plane, not huddled around the door.

You are telling me you have 40 jumps and log book entries to match and a DZ is not willing to "see what you got". I know a lot of DZs that don't accept students in AFF to a single instructor dive at their DZ from other DZs, but you are past that part. As an instructor, if you came in with 40 jumps (in the last year) and said, "I need my "A", and I never met you, I would do about 20 minutes of question asking to make sure you knew the ground parts of that yellow card, then we would go on a jump you would organize from scratch. If you could protect both of our airspace at pull time (track away effectively on time) and prove you had a basic comfort level with flying both your canopy and body - I would sign off your card and give you an A. Heck, I would encourage you to do an accurate landing for the next 10 jumps to meet the B licence requirements. You can forge a yellow card or logbook, but you can't forge the flying skills when I am watching. Whichever DZ is giving you crap about previous jumps - find a new one or talk to management/head instructor... (Unless of course your life-safety skills are crap and after jumping with you they said you had some workons to accomplish - as if I had the same issue with you I would clearly tell you what you/we should work on for a few jumps until you were ready.)

Ya... So why is it I have good video of you flying from my perspective, but you never found your slot to get video of me???? Could it be that I am a better WS pilot than you? Anyway it is bad form for us to use these forums for our inside jokes...

I disagree the younger kids getting squeezed out. At a definitely "for profit, no club" multiple turbine DZ I jump at... Thanks to a military academy in our state, our number one student in skydiving are cadets (college students) who pay for 100% of their training out of their own pocket. Granted they get student discounts, and they have a lot of peer coaching for free, but they come seemingly 10 at a time. [bragging start] My four way team I am flying video for this season is a group of students that are passionate enough to spend all their disposable income on the sport and made it to the front cover of Skydiving Magazine this month building a formation. [bragging end] Outside of the military students - we have a large group of college students from the other schools. I can think of one in particular that shows up a lot and is jumping a lot. Two of the most active instructors at the DZ started as packers before they could jump due to age limits. They financed their jumping and AFF ratings on packjobs. Now they retired from packing and are full time instructors. A bunch of the other active young skydivers pack one day a weekend to jump the other. Then we have the 20-30 year old crowd that are showing up despite being super busy with graduate school and/or building their career by giving 120% to their office. We also have the 30-40 year old crowd, mostly business professionals, who are very active too. Yes - I see mostly moderately to highly educated people of all ages and points in their careers. We have some blue collar folks, but they really don't make it past a tandem. But before you start saying: "See - you proved your own point, manual labors cannot afford the sport." I completely disagree. If college students (who are are largest demographic in the FJC and AFF) and young professionals who are just entering the business marketplace can find the disposable income to skydive, those with moderate to larger blue-collar incomes could also afford the sport. I was just on the lake wakeboarding last weekend. I saw plenty of blue collar folks on the lake, owning pickup trucks to pull their boats (also used during the week based upon the toolboxes and choice of brands of tools they advertise in bumper stickers), having nice boats, pulling wakeboarders and waterskiers. Gas + insurance + payments on trucks and boats = just as expensive as our sport. If they can find $600 a month to pay for a boat and all the beer consumed, they could have a very fruitful skydiving career as the college students I know are spending less than that, yet placing very high in national competitions and making it on the front cover of a magazine. So, it is not a money thing. It is a desire thing. You need achievers (or those who wish to achieve) to enter skydiving. A lazy day on the lake, or a bar-b-que in the back yard are both acceptable ways to spend your day off. But it is the polar opposite of skydiving - where you have to be mentally and physically active to participate. Think about it. Why do you skydive? (Sport jumpers, not TMs). I think most will say, "to personally challenge myself to be better at XYZ". Canopy pilots are constantly trying for the best swoop. FS teams are fine tuning the blocks. Freefly friends are trying to get more docks or fine-tune their transitions. So - skydiving is NOT a sport of sitting around and relaxing with friends. It is a sport of personal challenges, from learning the perfect pull in AFF to the perfect head down 40 way state record. So - who are the types that find passion and enjoyment in finding perfection? It will be the same people who put effort into their education and post education business endeavors. It is going to be the more highly educated, or highly successful because they did not need an education to be successful, individuals. The same people who will challenge themselves at work will do so at the DZ. Almost every person who I taught, who then quit skydiving, quit because they never got passionate about the personal challenge. It was a ride, an experience - but did not get hooked. As a coach/instructor/friend, I have almost given up on those who I can tell are not going to be hooked. It has nothing to do with their age, income, job, or mental capacity... It has to do with their attitude. Do they have the culture and passion to challenge themselves? If not - they are not going to stay in skydiving. Back to the SCUBA paradigm. SCUBA, flying planes, skydiving, rock climbing, etc... They are all going to attract people who seek personal challenge for personal satisfaction. And, those people generally are more affluent and successful in their business career or poor college students with high grade point averages because the personality transfers from work/school to hobby. Not always - but often.

I have jumped my Phantom with many (like over 10) different rigs. With each one, I have to re-verify which tab to skip. I do the following... I put on the rig and have another bird grab my rig by the BOC and push up (as if I was under a canopy) and inspect if there is any tension on the wingsuit from the container leg straps... You need a hair of extra room - as once you are under a real canopy the rig will be even higher.

Ok, I will. Time to go to bed anyway...

what is a class 5 canopy?

Like http://www.fastenal.com/web/products/detail.ex?sku=1133155 They also come with a conical shape. The purpose of the rubber is to make a water tight seal. I have seen them in roofing and marine applications. By having the washer not be flat, but conical, when it is tightened down - the washer is "smashed flat" and spring loads the system a bit so as the rubber degrades or the screw comes slightly loose, the seal remains intact. My vote. The rig owner threw his rig in the trunk of his car where he also had a bag of parts spill. The washers ended up in the main pack tray or something.