tdog

Hi, my name is Travis, and I have been to a George Micheal concert... Just when that CD came out - early/mid 80s... It was my first concert - and my dad's friend was the booking agent for the venue - so I had front row seats... I still remember when the stage roof opened over us with George making his grand entrance into the venue... What a first impression of this thing called "concerts". On a side note... Have you ever seen George do tribute to Freddy Mercury??? He is dead on (no punn intended) - which makes me wonder, is Freddy dead or is he George??? he he he

Sure... But, I personally have never liked black on a canopy - (just me, not to say it is bad, I don't like teal or turquoise on anything and my grandmother loved those colors) So, that being said - I threw together to other options... I know, I know - by changing "your colors" - it is like hiring an architect to build a house and getting a townhome... I am actually not that fond of these... But just an idea...

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1787110;search_string=squirrel;#1787110 He died... But I did not do it...

You know, I think the green and silver looks great too - perhaps replace the black with silver??? Not quite so "harsh"???

I use a software called geovision (google will give you hundreds of hits) - made by a tiawan company... It is designed for security camera use, although not super robust like a $5,000 system, but $150 for the card and software ain't that bad... Then you can get a real secuity camera... But I know the USB cams work too...

I jump every jump as if I do not have an AAD... I would not jump without an AAD personally... I jump with a bunch of friends who don't have AADs and have never had a problem... I jump with a few people who had two out AAD fires... I have seen one person last year who was (probably) saved by his AAD on a solo jump... I was on a jump where the AAD caused two out due to a very low pull of the main - and the person died in a downplane. This should be a 100% personal educated decision... You should know the risks and rewards and make the decision based upon what your heart tells you is the right decision and the amount and type of risks you want to add to a jump. Jumping with an AAD adds risk... Jumping without adds risk... Which is the type of risk YOU want to accept? I can't wait to watch this thread because the flames are about ready to fly...

I think you had an awesome jump and should not be worried about the details... The swim was kind of funny, but brief and after you proved you could exit - so no big deal. The flips, in an AFF sort of way were perfect. They proved to you and your instructor you could stall out on your back and end on your belly ready to pull... The AFF program looks for a series of disorienting/unstable body positions with recovery - not perfect flips... On the flips, ya it is about throwing your weight (more so momentum) - but eventually it is about flying your body the entire time and letting the relative wind fly you around - using the wind to push off of... That is something that takes 10,000 jumps to perfect, so keep having fun. The only part I wonder about... At 1:39 in the video it looks like you reach back to pull... It is the most unstable you are in the entire video, you get a sudden turn and start to roll over a bit.... Then you go back to neutral and wait a bit, then pull perfectly fine - proving you could do it... Your instructor is not pulling for you or giving you the pull signal, so I assume it was not time to pull... What happened??? Nothing to be worried about, but something I saw that made me think, "he is not going to be stable at pull time" - which you immediately proved otherwise.

Every time I go to the dentist and have a procedure (thus far, wisdom teeth out and 3 fillings from my childhood replaced - total of 3 procedures) the DENTIST, not the assistant or office staff, calls to ask how I am doing a day after... Yes, he is 20% more expensive than comfort dental, but I like their customer service and refer them to everyone I know... A call goes a very long way, doesn't it...

Does not make nay sense. Packing fast does not mean that you make a mal. Opening a packjob does not show every problems. You don;t know how good your packjob is useless use it. I was kind of joking when I put the list of times up...

10 seconds for a partial mal - fixable 20 seconds for a spinner - fixable 30 seconds for a partial mal - chop required 40 seconds for a spinner - chop required* 50 seconds for a horseshoe 60 seconds for a total 60 seconds for a slammer *Extra 20 seconds added for sub-100 sqft cross braced canopies

Write the rules - and perhaps we will have it at our next CSL competition... (Most of our participants who are USAFA cadets that flat pack their government issued large rigs, so I don't know how many people we can get to participate, but it sounds fun...)

I know a tandem instructor whose student lost their ring on his first paid tandem jump.... When the hand gets cold at higher altitude, apparently they get loose and can fall off...

It was fun to watch your video this morning... Nice light hearted way to wake up. I am assuming you are now cleared to self supervise (jump solo) after passing level 7.... So, that being said, a very important skill for skydiving is being able to debrief your own video... So to do it the way Airspeed would debrief their own work - what are two or three things you really like, and what are the one or two things you wish to improve - in that order...

Last week I was going 50.... A bird, not a bug - with same outcome.... Ouch.

Sounds like you need to be a tunnel instructor now!

My point exactly - however the USPA and apparently the Golden Knights have real data to support otherwise???

Yes, they did. Tom Hili, a WA jumper, did a bunch of those. he briefed our DZ on what they learned about the time we were moving our students to square reserves. The PD and USPA doctrine and recommendations drew heavily on the Knights' research. Do you remember why they said toggles were better than rear risers and keeping the brakes stowed???

I was worried myself - because I remember my goggles letting in enough air to make me somewhat blind... Now I jump with my Gatorz all the time and am very happy... If I jump my FF2 cam helmet - it is with gatorz. I think I might get some clear lens ones too for AFF jumps, because eye contact is nice... But I bet it has a lot to do with face sizes - so can you borrow a pair from a friend to try?

Derek as in Hooknswoop... If so, we are friends, so pony up Derek... (simon says he will read this thread in 24 hours or less)... Lets take a bet on how long...

I read this study before... It does say to fly the dominant canopy with the toggles - but it does not say the pros/cons with rear risers vs toggles...

Here is the deal... The USPA SIM instructs to release the toggles on the dominant canopy and fly with the toggles. Many jumpers I know - including our DZ policy for FJC students says - keep the brakes stowed and fly with the rear risers of the dominant canopy... The logic being - why cause one canopy to out-fly another - taking a stable situation and making it worse... I know everyone has an opinion on this, (including myself) but I am hoping there is some real data to base policy on because opinions make shitty policy - i.e. test jumps - where someone has tried both and reports on real world data... Brakes stowed and rear risers vs pop the toggles... Anyone know of a study or someone I can contact???

Another funny thing to do while teaching packing... Not that I did this to a guy who reads these forums and is likely to chime in...

All the more reasons to have good coaching and a learning progression that teaches the "rest of the story"... If the newbie finishes the ISP - completes the ISP where the AFF categories end, perhaps they will be a better skydiver - and one that other jumpers want to jump with... I disagree... With modern technology like wind tunnels and good coaching - by 100 jumps someone can lay a solid base for a student and teach basic body position... It takes a dedicated person with 100 jumps to do it well - but, if someone tries and takes the responsibility seriously, they can be a great coach by then... I actually was a coach candidate evaluator a few months ago, and the best candidates had less than 100 jumps and just had to wait on jump numbers to get the rating... They had a gift in teaching - and were lucky to have received great coaching themselves so they could emulate what they learned... It was awesome to see. A coach has to be able to teach and evaluate how well someone can break off from a group formation skydive - and see how well students remember altitude awareness when the dives become less structured and more "playful"... I think 100 is a great compromise between a larger number which would probably be "more safe" - and having it be a free-for-all that any student skydiver can jump with any licensed skydiver... I disagreed with the USPA when they changed the rules allowing D licenced jumpers to do up to a 4 way with two students... I thought it diluted the training program because anyone who did 500 hop-n-pops and cared less about the ISP and teaching could say, "wanna jump" - but at the same time I have myself done a 4 way with 2 AFF instructors and 2 students and seen how much learning can be done and had a lot of fun - so the concept is great. If I was the USPA - I would have solved "the problem" instead by waving the coach candidate air evaluations for "D" licensed jumpers, but asked that they audit the ground class to make sure they were on the same page as everyone else - making the coach rating nearly free for "D" licenced jumpers...

Cool info... Too bad it appears, from previous posts, that the skydving - Oakley relationship was busted... Or maybe we are just too small of a market for them... Still - I gave away my two pairs of Oakleys when I tried on my Gatorz for the first time... They might be "trendy" in a too many people have them sort of way in our sport - but they are so much more comfortable (for me) and have gone thru 10 times the abuse and still look brand new... I got them when my Oakleys broke on jump run... Off topic I guess - but still...

Who says you need to charge anyone to jump with them... I got my coach rating - and I covered my own slot on most of my coach jumps... Still - it is very rare I ask for money to jump with someone, and most of the time I refuse the gratuity AFF students offer and suggest they spend it on their next jump... The few I have asked for coaching fees (my slot paid) - I did because they treated me like a vendor from the start, not a friend - so I treated them like a customer, not a friend... Say "please" and I will buy my own slot and lets have fun... I went out and got the coach rating, spending the money, because I wanted the privilege to jump with people with low experience - and to do it safely... It cost less than a weekend of fun jumps... ($200 ish) My evaluators were tough - and on my first real coach jump the student tried to track under me and pull, the next he never tracked at all because at 7 grand he looked down and the ground "looked huge" and he pulled in my face... Both of those common traits in students I was ready for - because my evaluators did them to me... So for those who want to jump with students, go out, spend a bit of money to learn, show passion to teaching, then give away your jumps... The karma will come around - as it has for me... Sorry to be so strong in my belief that I sound preachy... But I agree - $23 for your slot, $23 for your coach slot, $25 for gear rental, $10 in coach gratuity - is enough to make a wannabe skydiver go home...