tdog

I am sorry to hear that. It sucks, I know from experience... Did you check the incident's thread on this site - because I think there is a discussion online already about this incident. Perhaps you might have something to add to that forum....

Ask for $125K. Talk to an investment/retirement expert who will assist you in investing it in tax deferred retirement plans... The one I have for our company 401K plan and my personal accounts is able to sell me mutual funds and other investments at the same expense rates as if I purchased online on the website, but they pay him some $$$ to market the funds... Best of both worlds - free investment advice, and I can fire him at any time because the accounts are held at the investment firms.

You forgot the "the moment the skydive comes together as planned"... This - on a 4 way dive - is when you track off and know you kicked butt. This on an AFF jump (for the instructor) is when you have completed the entire dive flow planned by 7 K and get to just hang out with the student and see them smile and have fun where maybe you throw in anther forward motion to dock and can mouth to them "awesome job" in freefall! This is on a wingsuit jump when you are touching wingtips with a great friend. This is on a solo jump where you play around and find yourself doing something you previously could not do.

I learned how to drive a stick in a 6 gear 24 foot box truck, on my own, without labels on the stick to show which gear was which, on a very rainy day where I could not see anything in the mirrors because the fogged over, while driving into Downtown Denver to a basement loading dock... My boss threw me the keys and said, "meet you there." I had not yet learned the art of using more than one lane for when needed, so I took out a post on the way into the dock. The next manual transmission truck I drove was a 18 wheeler - with 24 gears. If you have driven a truck - you know once you get the thing rolling the clutch is really useless - you have to match speed - and on the stick there are switches so you go thru all the gears twice. This truck had a high and low for each high and low - if that makes sense. (1 low, 1 high, 2 low, 2 high.... 12 low, 12 high) - but 1 and 7 were the same slot on the stick, just a different lever position... 6 slots on the stick * 2 lever postions * 2 lever positions = 24. Oh... And reverse high and low too. Fun, fun, fun... Then I drove my friends Honda Civic and found how easy it is to shift a car.

Have you noticed the Skyride ads in the Google ads? I found that relatively funny and annoying since whuffos might follow the links. Ya - since they provide the ad to the IP address city (google knows my IP address is based in my city) - I keep seeing the local non-uspa skyride DZ pop up on all the ads that this site now presents me...

My only problem with it.... GM drop zones pay a small fee, I think $200 a year, to be a group member. There is a 3rd party liability insurance that the USPA pays for, along with other benefits... Fun jumpers pay $50 something a year for those benefits.... It appears that the USPA is accepting a lot of risk/expenses for little revenue... Perhaps the USPA should ask $1 for every tandem student jump at every USPA GM dropzone, regardless of fun jumpers being allowed or not, to pay for the risks/rewards... A $1 increase in the jump, or $1 cut on profit, for a $180 transaction, is not going to break the bank - but could bring tens of thousands in revenue to the USPA...

The USPA was created before tandem. I think tandem only DZs are OK. In fact, the USPA RD should visit those DZs and ask to have info available about other non-tandem only DZs. Most tandem only DZs are in tourist destinations. Give those tourists something to do when they get home. If not in a tourist only spot - set up partnerships with the nearest full service DZ and send all students wishing to complete AFF there. Partnerships don't have to mean $ changes hands, but students could. Welcome all...

I can't wait... I have had a long week... I coached in the tunnel last night and never even got to fly... It was like putting cocaine in front of an addict and saying "nanny-nanny-boo-boo"... Tomorrow! Yippie. Who else?

You rock... It was those demos last year that made me buy my suit... Lets flock this year, OK?

I will be at MOAB with my suit... But, whatever you do RJ$$... Don't make me wear your dorky shoes again. Editorial note - my wingsuit flights were out of the skyvan last year at MOAB... MOAB rocks. Alan and I negotiated today on the phone the best week of skydiving in our lives... He said MOAB. I said MOAB tied with getting my AFF rating in ZHills - but come to think of it, I think it was MOAB. Come and play. What a boogie.

Phree Here is a google search for ya - since you got all those specs... What is the history of THE JET - age, airlines, service, etc...

I have been a eye-contact Nazi - even for AFF students, teaching to cross reference the formation (even if I am standing outside the chamber) - so they learn to fly relative to a human, not a glass wall... What techniques have you used/seen?

I have been coaching AFF students in the tunnel - along with a bunch of 20-200 jump jumpers. Tonight I had 5 people. One had never jumped/AFF. One just got done with AFF. The rest were between Levels 1 and 2. Everyone flew for 15-20 minutes each. I am confident that they will do great in the sky - as long as they can remain altitude aware. We discussed in the debrief that in the sky they have no glass or net - and that altitude awareness needed to be practiced on the ground before the next jump... I know one of the students would have failed level 2 and 3 and - he admitted - he gave up AFF a few years ago because he hit a brick wall. By the end of his session, he finally clicked and was able to do some pretty good moves. He is ready to be let go and do some turns now - whereas he would have been on his back without the tunnel time (his legs were kicking fast and hard). One guy - who had 8 jumps, was able to quite nicely do a box drill (up - across - down - across - up) with adding a 360 turn on each move. I was really impressed. I just can't imagine how these guys would not do good in the sky - and even if they struggle a tad - whatever hand signal they are given they are going to react to in a smooth and controlled way. Funny thing one of the guys said, "Can I tell my instructors on Level 2 I want to fly mantis and do leg turns - because that is what feels comfortable now, they are not going to make me fly boxman, are they?"

How was your heading? That (in most AFF programs) is a TLO for level 3 - and should indicate how much your instructors were working... If you don't remember what your heading was, or it changed a lot - then perhaps that was an issue??? What hand signals were given in freefall? These are all clues... However, you should trust your instructors and do what they say - or find new instructors, because thus far they are the only ones that know what you did on your jump - other than what you remember.

Out of curiosity, Why PD 1st and SMART 2nd? Isn't the SMART the newest design? Using knowledge unavailable when the PD was designed? Because I know more people who have landed the PD successfully... Once I see a few more years, I would say a tie... Now, I like both and would jump both - but I tend to think PD products are built better after jumping an aerodyne main for 400 jumps... Little things - like you no longer can see my main's model number, serial number, size, DOM, or anything - because all the silkscreen fell off the warning label - and it never has had a drop of water on it... Just little things like that. But it, despite being now a no-name canopy, flies great!

I am not that fond of a reserve that is that old or that brand... Not to say it wouldn't work. I just want to know that my reserve is rock solid in case I have a very high speed terminal deployment. I would go for a PD 1st, a Smart 2nd... Just me... I known/known of some people who have blown up their reserves or had rough landings because they did not fly well...

Yep, mine has an extra flap.

Well, the skyhook is on the bridal, not the rig... So installing the skyhook would be as simple as getting a new bridal with one on... It is all the other gack that makes it work...

Show up at the DZ, meet the people, and start to be part of the family... Soon, you will have mentors to help you understand it all - and with understanding comes ability...

They do tricks like this over water on purpose... When I was going to learn how to stall my paraglider, the course was over a lake just in case...

You have to have a Collin's Lanyard to make the skyhook safe... Also, the RSL is hooked directly to the reserve pin, with the reserve handle cable looped thru the reserve pin - because the timing has to be more accurate than the rsl ring system that strips the reserve cable. A lot of hardware has to be adjusted to make the system work. I don't suspect this is an easy retrofit... Possible, yes. Easy, no.

I didn't and I never have seen someone do it... Most of the time rental gear is packed by a professional packer before it is handed to a new customer - thus making it pretty darn safe... It is not like you will have a newbie who never packed before who packed the main. Now, it is your life and your skydive. You could unpack it if you wanted.... Some gear shops store their demo gear unpacked so that by default you will have to pack.

Yes... I have one... I manage all the ones that our managers have too. There are so many models because every carrier has one or two that works with them... So, pick your favorite carrier and then you have a few choices (2-3) per that carrier. What questions do you have? I can tell you that we use Blackberry enterprise server to sync our e-mail on the blackberries with the exchange server. It is a corporate solution - however it is so awesome to update an item on my blackberry calendar and watch it pop up on the desktop instantaneously... For the very first time in my life - after having 4 different PDAs - I actually use my PDA! Contacts, e-mail and calendar all in one place... For an example, if I need directions - I just e-mail myself the mapquest directions, no more printing out stuff...

Which course? Which DZ - and any tunnel nearby to practice rollovers and spin stops in? I went thru Bram's course - and have seen Billy's first hand (and evaluated for his coach course this spring)... I would say the first thing is try to replace nervousness with confidence... I know some AFF evaluators will use the nervousness against you - meaning causing you to second guess yourself.

it is alright, we still like you. Just kidding. For me it is red and white. My new pd canopy is the pd colors with the tangerene replaced with red, and it is going to look good. :-)