tdog

No, flying a wingsuit feels like flying...

I guess I should be happy that I have jumped with both and DJan has been a great mentor! Sometimes I am so serious about turning points I don't understand this contactless skydive that SKR has discussed with me a few times. he he he he If anyone wants their contact info, send me a PM and I will forward it on. I see DJan almost weekly at the DZ as we trade off teaching the FJC and we jump together often. Heck, I bet they both post here soon...

So do the AFFIs have to be TIs too? I much rather TIs be trained sales people instead of AFFIs. My friend who makes $100K a year as a VP of a publicly traded company still has his phone calls recorded and graded by his superior for customer service recommendations. I said, "that is like spying." He said, "I have learned so much I am a better person to our customers because of it." Not to scare TIs into being good advocates of our sport, but a bit of training might be appropriate. Heck, I would support constructive feedback on me too when I am being an AFFI.

Yes, that is the beauty of all of us learning from all of us... Just because someone has a rating, does not mean they can't stop learning. Hopefully all of us will continue to seek info from the very experienced guys... But you don't need to always jump with someone with millions of jumps, as everyone has knowledge they can share that has value.

I addressed that in the last post... I know I can't expect the USPA to pay attention to me. Clearly there are politics at play, so as a low level non-elected jumper, my solution is recommending the good guys so the money and business makes the good guys more successful. Now, I am not working off second hand knowledge. I evaluated coaches for one of the course directors. This person did not pay me a dime, and did not have enough people helping, so I ended up having to evaluate 4 people in one day for both ground and air evals when I only agreed to 2. I have also studied under (been evaluated under) three other course directors, so I had three other people to compare this director to. These candidates paid the full fee, but the instructor did not teach the core fundamentals I was EXPECTED to know for my coach and AFF ratings. These candidates wanted to be AFFIs in the future... They wanted to learn. They needed to learn for their goals. After all of them were going to fail due to automatic unsats on the eval form - I ended up saying, "guys, why are you not doing XXX". They said, "what is XXX?" When I quizzed them, they did not know from the IRM most of the stuff, as they did not fully read or study the IRM in the course. Now we are not talking very detailed nuts and bolts, but instead things that are right on the eval form. For an example, I said, "What is Whole, Part, Whole"? (the 5th thing to be tested) and no one knew. At the end of the evaluations I got the guys to understand and perform to a level I would expect. They all had the flying skills, but had not been taught the fundamentals of the USPA program. One candidate told me, "He was terrible, I owe you for teaching me all this, I appreciate it. I wish I could get my money back from him and give it to you." So, what we can do as friends helping other friends getting a rating - refer them to the good guys. Where the money goes, so will support for future operations. Where the money leaves, so will their ability to continue to not do a good job. Also, when you see someone who is working for a rating, be a tough evaluator/mentor. Make sure they have the knowledge so everyone will say, "ya he has only 100 jumps, but he earned his rating and is doing a great job."

So, if you don't say or do anything, who will? I have to pretty high ranking people at the USPA... But that won't help, this is a good olde boys club. And to people seeking ratings who ask me privately who to go to. (I don't say who NOT to go to, but I say who I like instead.) I am doing my part by sending the candidates (and their money) to the good guys... If we all did that, the bad guys would not have the money to support their business. Just another way to make change when politics won't allow it higher up the food chain.

Can you further elaborate... Please, hopefully this does not get into another RSL debate, there are other threads to beat that horse in... However, I am curious... Are you suggesting that Sunpath is doing the right thing by recommending every rig have a connected RSL, or is there a concern that a RSL lanyard removed with some velcro and/or rings remaining is causing a known safety risk?

I think those course directors should be removed from the system. I know of one right away I would suggest, but I would never say publicly.... I know a few people who asked, "who is the easy evaluator?" I always tried to find the hardest. Earning a rating should be earning, not giving... It is the evaluators who are screwing up, not the ones with low jump numbers....

I agree... Here is my proposition... REMOVE ALL JUMP NUMBER REQUIREMENTS from the coach rating. 1 or 1,000 jumps - I don't care... It is about: Passion to teach Passion to learn Ability to teach Ability to learn If a course evaluator was doing his our her job correctly, they would know without asking jump numbers if the candidate is ready to coach... I consider myself still a novice, however I am an AFF instructor and have no problems handing off students to coaches with limited experience so as long as they teach and motivate well and don't over advertise their ability... There is nothing about jump numbers that says anything... Jump numbers are for people who think some number makes them smarter, sexy, or have a bigger Johnson... I honestly don't give a crap about jump numbers... A very well respected AFF course director said to a candidate who passed the AFF course with the minimum requirements: "You are the future of the sport, you have used modern training methods like tunnels, and advanced coaching, to achieve what people years ago could only dream of. The old timers who are so set in their ways are going to have to either change their attitude, or get out of your way as you pave the new path." So, give me a petition that says, "All rating canidates will be evaluated on a strict set of documented and uniform required skills, and shall not be discriminated against due to their sexual orientation, ethnicity, appearance, jump numbers, or training methods." I would sign that petition in a heartbeat... Who cares about jump numbers, all it proves is someone knows how to punch a hole in the sky. I care about ability to motivate, ability to mentor, and ability to share knowledge... Honestly, when I look for a coach for myself, I have never asked, "how many jumps do you have?" It does not matter. What matters is their ability to communicate, to teach, and to want to teach!!!!

I agree fully... I have seen some TIs (and this is at multiple DZs so I don't look at my profile and assume anything, actually my home DZ has made changes to make sure the following does not happen). Play their IPod all the way up on the plane and not talk to their student once - while their student was disassembling their goggles without knowing it because they were so nervous. Meet their student at the plane and not even introduce themselves but instead suggest they need to hurry up. Spiral their canopy down as fast as they can so they can get more slots in one day. I think students get sick when they are abused, not when they are taught how to fly and assist with the process. Slide in hard and not give an explanation or show concern for the student's condition. Not introduce the sport or show gear to people who are obviously curious. Not teach a single thing, thus making it a carnival ride. Complain on the way up about their work conditions or boss in front of a student who will remember it all because of their sense of awareness. Bitch about the weather (putting the bug in the student's ear that it is too cold to have fun). Leave in a hail storm, not try to shield the student's face but instead worry about their own "hiding behind the student" and have the student's face covered in welts, and not advocate the DZ give a free jump or anything. When the jump is over, or before the jump, not spend time with the customers, but instead sleep in a corner or hide from customers. Make poor weather decisions to earn the slot (hop-n-pop tandem because of clouds) because "the student won't know the difference." Dump their rig to packers without spending a second to untangle a mess, where AFF students are watching and are learning by example. Bitch about not being tipped in front of other customers. (Guys, someone is already spending a days pay for 20 minutes of your time, some people just can't spend more.) Pick their students based upon looks and sexual organs and treating the better looking (or smelling) customers better. I know I have one tandem instructor who is a roll model. He works so hard with his students to make sure they enjoy the experience and learn. He is always talking to them when he is on the ground. He explains everything. He jokes around (even if the jokes are recycled, they are new to the customer). I sometimes sit back and watch him do his "thing". Here is the thing - at a large DZ - most TIS get about the same money per jump as an AFFI. They have no prep time, no packing, and don't own or maintain the gear. They can do 12 jumps a day, where a busy AFFI can do maybe 6. (Using approximate numbers) AFFI: $30 per jump. 6 Jumps per day. LESS Gear Costs for using own gear $6 per jump (Assuming buying $5000 new, selling for $2500 used after 500 jumps, plus $1 per jump for reserve packs and maintenance) Packing Costs $6 per jump $108 per day = $13.50 per hour... TANDEM: $30 per jump * 12 jumps No gear or packing expenses Meet at the plane - no training time... $360 per day = $45 per hour.... The glass half full side - for $31.50 per hour more money over an AFFI, a TI should be the best employee at the DZ for customer retention and experience. The glass half empty side - no wonder why our front line workforce (can be) the burned out, grumpy, money seeking, tandem instructors. (And why do the full timers go TI over AFFI, it is the same reason why robbers rob banks - it is because that is where the money is.) Again, this is from a broad experience of visiting multiple DZs... I am proud my home DZ polices these issues as best as they can and has a great staff now. And, I love my job as a part time AFFI. If I ever get grumpy, please ask me to quit.

Every one of those questions have been answered 100 times on these forums. Try searching a bit. When you find a thread you have questions about, maybe add a post to that thread bringing it back alive again... Don't believe anything/everything you read. Some people on these forums (myself included), are idiots. You might want to find a mentor you trust to discuss these things with.

Last summer (under a 1.1 loaded canopy) - I went from 3K deployment to 6K and stayed there.... I was the first out in a 4way, and before I started losing altitude I watched everyone else, including the tandems, land. It was intentional, I found a thermal and rode it on purpose. I laugh at the bunch of posts in this thread not about the "suck of clouds", but how bad it "sucked" to be up in a thermal... I guess for TIs interested in volume over quality of customer experience, I guess thermals are a problem. For me, dialing in a canopy and flying as long as possible is cool... Think of it as dollars per second of airtime. Thermals give you much more.

The part about looking back is very important. I can't count how many times I see people not looking back, or worse, start walking without looking. That is how dogs get run over on the highway. For some reason, skydivers act like dogs in a landing area, but use their kindergarten knowledge on busy roads... Now, at Eloy or some boogies, I opt to run out of the landing area before a crowd lands then set my brakes on the finish line.

To me it is not about numbers. If at six months you knew what you didn't know, had the skill to fly relative to a student, ability to teach and motivate others, awareness and retention of the student's "workons", and a core knowledge of the ground school skills to be taught, then I would think you could make a great coach. The simple solution... Coach Course Evaluators (assuming the USPA system) that thoroughly teach and thoroughly test their candidates regardless of their "experience"... It is almost like jump numbers and years in the sport should be "don't ask, don't tell" so evaluators evaluate on coach candidate's ability, not on a bias towards numbers. And I am not an expert, but I have evaluated for a coach course. The best "candidate" in the course I evaluated in terms of coaching ability and core knowledge was the only one that could not get his rating yet because he did not have the numbers on his resume.

Yes, I always buy on downturns. And my Roth IRA investments fell more than my taxable investments, but just because of the type of investments in my IRA... But I don't get your comment about a Roth IRA and individual stocks... You can have stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, CDs, money markets, etc in a Roth IRA... None of them are safer than in a taxable account, the only thing the IRA gives is tax advantages when you make money... So, why is it safer?

I once gave my goggles at 10k to someone who'd forgotten them and said they were going to ride the plane down. Still haven't had so much as a beer for it It is not about the beer - it is about the things that person hopefully do in return, like help someone else out... Was it your spare goggles, or did you go nekid?

he he he is all I can say... When I got my AFF rating, I was encouraged to use "SHAGGR" (shoes, helmet, alti, gloves, goggles, radio) on the student gear checks. Well, I started doing it on my own checks, and never have forgotten them. But another jumper with much more experience than I made fun of me. The same day he was begging everyone for a pair of goggles on the plane when he left his on the ground. oops. P.S. I broke my glasses on a plane ride once, and jumped out without eye protection. I pulled at 11K, as was the plan. So I had about 10-15 seconds of naked eye at near terminal, and I lived.

If you want formations, http://www.teamfastrax.org/ has a lot of good media on their site. You can look at www.skyleague.com and http://www.fai.org/parachuting/documents/#2. But, to learn how to do 4way, you really need some one-on-one coaching. With this coaching, you can start to see why and how dives went well and went to crap. Concepts like cross referencing, grip management, continuity plan, etc... I know some of the people I look up to on 4way have over 1,000 team/coached/competition jumps each and do 24 jumps and 4 hours of tunnel time a month with hired coach. When I have learned 10% of what they have forgotten, I will be happy.

I disagree. I could name names, but I won't, but I know 5 100-200 jump folks who could out coach someone I watched coach who was a full time coach with thousands of jumps. And this was the opinion of the majority of the people who witnessed both in action. Coaching is about sharing and teaching... How often do you see a Nobel prizing winning mathematician teaching 3rd grade math? The people who teach 3rd grade math only need to know the subject they are teaching, not the high school or graduate school level. I think having the ability for someone with lower experience to prove they can jump with a student safely, then go out and work with students is a win-win. A good coach will learn from the student, just as the student will learn from the good coach, even when they are both rather new. If you had "AZ Airspeed" level coaching for everyone - 1) there would not be enough coaching, 2) no one could afford it because demand would go up and supply would stay the same, so the coaching would be out of reach financially. Just my perspective.

This has EVERYTHING to do with the jumper and NOTHING to do with the coach rating... I know of more than one 100 jump wonder coaches, who have tunnel time, and are great motivated people I would trust with any student. I also know of a few 8,000 jump wonder coaches who suck. P.S. I like your closing loop idea. I think I am going to sit at home and make closing loops when I would otherwise be picking my nose and watching TV... That is so cool.

Josh E. took a real nice (hundred) photos of an AFF jump I was on yesterday. The student was the only one in the FJC and I took him on both dives he did that day, so I guess it feels good to see the fruits of my labor, especially with a real awesome photographer! Here are my favs... (I am in gray, Dave is with the green head, and the student we now affectionately call Hyphen because everyone needs a nickname) He pulled: http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Skydive/slides/JS%20Level%201%20AFF%20jump%2007%20(3).html A practice touch: http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Skydive/slides/JS%20Level%201%20AFF%20jump%2007%20(1).html Exit: http://www.indigox.com/Travis%27%20Photo%20Album/Skydive/slides/JS%20Level%201%20AFF%20jump%2007%20(5).html

I really like my Vector. If it had the magnetic riser covers, it would be perfect. I really like the handle option. (Webbing that is sewn on the backpad). When you are grabbing gear out of your car, it is so easy to use. I think getting the skyhook is a "no-brainer" since it always can be disconnected. With your weight, have you thought about Minirisers vs the wide ones? I am not going to say which one you should order, but I will say the two schools of arguments I have heard. Some say that larger folks need the thicker risers and 3 rings because of risk of failure. Bill Booth, in this thread, http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1042892;search_string=riser%20break;#1042892 argues that having risers (or something above the 3 rings) intentionally being the weakest link in the harness system means that when a catastrophic hard opening occurs, riser failure will prevent the harness from failing elsewhere, and/or killing the jumper. I guess, if you have any specific questions on the order form you should post the questions you are most wondering about...

What is the most human like, time saving, smartest thing you have seen your dog do, that you said, "Wow, that was weird"... Dillon, my dog, did it yesterday... He comes to work with me. His normal M.O. is to bring me his bowls when he is hungry or thirsty. I normally only fill the one he brings (because having the other one brought when needed adds social interaction and gives him something to do). He does not abuse the system for attention, and clearly never goes unfed. Well - yesterday morning I heard something so I yelled to the office manager to watch. He flipped one bowl over. He flipped the other bowl over. Then he stacked the bowls together. He then brought both bowls to my office and destacked them. I did not train him on this - he made it up himself. To me, this is a whole new level of interaction with the environment that I was not ready for... Finally - my dog is as lazy as me.

True... But I have a full color PDF of a 300 page document that is 1.1MB. The difference between having native fonts and vector drawings vs scans of paper, is a file size 24 times smaller. And, the searchable PDF you make reference to is OCR, so it has a chance of error... Clearly, the best practice PDF technique is to have a distiller or plugin that converts the digital file. ;-0 All that being said, if it was not a copyrighted document, I would ask you to send me the 24MB file. ;-)

Sure you can scan it. But without the native files the best find feature you will get is an ocr of the image and the file will be big. Better than nothing, but no more useful than paper in terms of search features. :-)