tdog

I hate to say this - because I hate when other people say it - but you have to fill out your profile for us to know who you are. The Sabre 2 CAN be a good canopy for a novice jumper - but at the proper size and at the proper time... I am having a hard time understanding what you wrote - but if you are saying you have 10 jumps - the Sabre 2 is probably not the right canopy for ya.

Ouch...

Fishy.... No... It was one of the first - the design is not like skyventure. The winds I guess are slower, so you compensate with the suits... Could you learn, I bet so... Anytime you are in the air you are training your muscle memory to react before your brain thinks about it... Could you learn great 4 way in this tunnel - probably not... I would definately go there to have some fun, for entertainment.... I admit... The farthest I made it in this tunnel is the checkin office area... I was in Vegas - and I was sick. Could not stay out of the bathroom, so I did not think adding flying was a great idea... They seemed like real nice people and a professionally run operation.

For those of us who never have met you in person, can you point out, in the photos, who the people are... Oh - I never thought Brian would sport facial hair - he did not seem like the type...

flyaway las vegas comes to mind, right on the strip.... http://www.flyawayindoorskydiving.com/lv.html

Cool video, and I am glad your student had so much fun. I hope you understand my tone was more curious than anything, because I don't claim to know much of anything - because I learn stuff every day.

If you had a wuffo, they would say... "We had a malfunction????" But, you had an experienced jumper - so what was he/she yelling??? What did they think?

On big ways - the skydivers are working hard on managing fall rates - not falling in their normal comfort zone. I can stay stable completely dearched and slow falling at 98 MPH... It is an acquired skill, that I learned in the tunnel... It is not that hard once you practice it.

There's some really nice photos to illustrate the difference on WayCool's Black-Eye (0.25) page. Ya - I have been to that page... Considering I will be skydiving with a human at arms length, instead of a car - it would be so cool if they would include photos specific to our sport too...

Well, our DZ has a 2000 foot rule for everyone that I should obey - but I get the point - that I am not crazy...

In that context I was thinking outloud... Dumping out a student when they might hit the video guy is not good for the student or video guy. How much difference is between the .25 and .3.... I found I am getting the bottom of the container to just past the student's hands when I am flying my slot... When I look to the legs in freefall, I get those on video, but only when I look that way. I guess I am finding I could go a little wider for level 1 - but for the levels where you let go I am happy... See screenshots posted.

I am a novice instructor.... I had a jump that went less than perfect recently... I am starting to re-think the whole "outside video" thing - not because it is distracting for the student, (I had a AFF1 do textbook with a video person right in front of him) but because having to worry about another person in the airspace is a real concern... On a particular jump, the bottom end went real south - well actually the whole dive did from a spinning exit where I had to flush off (that was the dive plan I established with the other I) due to a tumble - and due to instability at the bottom end the video guy ended up in the line of fire real quickly despite his evasive maneuvers. His video shows a canopy real close. It is pretty hard to barrel roll to check your student's airspace before pulling them out after you lose stability and regain it... I am learning so much right now in my progression as an instructor - but in this dive, I had no clue where the video guy ended up. I knew where the student and other instructor was, but I had to trust the video guy to get out of all our way... So - distracting for the student - maybe... Distracting for the instructors, definitely? I have a Sony PC42 with a waycool .3 lens in my FF2... I have used it on every AFF jump, AFF eval jump, and all my recent coach/fun jumps... The video is invaluable for *me* on my AFF jumps - because I am able to learn so much by watching my own footage. I can see, while docked on the student, the majority of the student and all the things I am doing (grips, hand signal clarity, etc). My rule - which I have actually followed more than once. Press the button once before the door opens, and if the cameye does not show record, don't fiddle, accept the fact the dive will not be on tape. There is nothing on my helmet to get snagged on, or poke thru, the student... And after seeing what is possible in a tumble with a student, I would never wear a helmet with anything sticking out at all.... And I am just a novice, I am sure the experienced guys can tell you more.

Novice AFF instructor question here - since I only have three jumps (fun jumps) from a Cessna, I am kind of spoiled by bigger planes and their procedures. I saw a video of a student sitting by the door in a small Cessna... Student not leaving due to winds. Experienced jumper leaves at full altitude. Student had seat belt on while sitting by open door... Due to the fact the other jumper could cause some emergency where all would have to bail, and/or the student's PC could go out the open door - I thought the rule was - door open, seatbelts off. (and why a lot of DZs require the door to be closed until an altitude where a prudent skydiver would be willing to bail on their reserve) What is your policy? For the sake of discussion - lets talk about both small Cessna's where the student is right in the door, or maybe an Otter where the student sits far from the door... If the student cannot leave or is not going to leave - but the door is open... Seatbelt on or off?

If you keep thinking about skydiving, then maybe you are hooked without knowing... I would say do the AFF thing, not another tandem. After your first jump course, and first jump where you pull on your own, you will know... But, I did not really enjoy it until level 5 in the AFF program...

Well - every school can do it a bit differently... The USPA has a "standard" progression in the "SIM" - called the "ISP". (SIM = Skydiver's Information Manual and ISP = Integrated Student Program) The levels in the ISP are letters, Category A thru Category H. You can read about each in the SIM download-able from the USPA website. http://www.uspa.org/publications/manuals.pdf/SIM2006.pdf Each level has learning objectives for ground school, freefall, and canopy. Some schools call their AFF program "AFF1 - AFF7"... Those levels line up with Category A thru Cat E. Notice that some of these categories require 2 jumps... Now, what is cool about the ISP is that each level has a "Harness Hold (AFF)", "Tandem" or "Static Line" training option - so you can progress using different techniques with somewhat the same outcomes in learning... Now, some schools completely depart from the ISP and use their own progression. So, look at your local DZ's progression - and flip to page 18 of your SIM - and you can see if your local DZ's progression matches the ISP or is custom. On page 18, you will see in the "AFF" progression there are actually 21 jumps (left column of that chart). It is just that most of those jumps are with a coach or solos and do not require an AFF instructor.

I have learned that you get what you pay for... I have a http://www.symbiosis.suits.btinternet.co.uk/ symbiosis suit... I imported it from the UK to the US... I really, really, really like it... I have put about 25+ hours in the tunnel, and 300 sky jumps on it in one year, and it has yet to show any wear except on one bootie due to me, not the suit... I did have to replace the zipper - because when I coach in the tunnel I spend a lot of time on the net, which tears apart the zippers... The thicker plasticy knobby zippers are better for that... The thin, small toothed metal ones don't last. You get what you pay for... For an example, my friend had a poor quality zipper on his suit too, from an unnamed company. He and I went to ZHills for a AFF instruction rating class. On one eval dive his suit's zipper tore open... He went down the road to Tony Suits down the street. Tony looked at his suit and said, "You can't fly in a tunnel with a zipper like this"... Note - my friend did not even mention that he flies in a tunnel, but Tony knew how and why the damage occurred... So, I admire the guys who build the suits... When it is time for you to buy a good suit, you won't regret it. I love my symbi suit!

me too... (not to start a chain of me toos, but to point out that this is a site problem, not a user problem.)

I thought I once read somewhere that gear manufactures did not recommend the rigs being put on posts like that for long term storage because it distorted the riser covers... Perhaps the radius of the post you put it on might change how the riser covers have to conform to the posts - and thus a larger diameter pipe would have a more shallow angle and thus protect the rig better???

I think your next post will be your 7100 post to dz.com... That should be done naked. What is your post to jump ratio?

Mr. Money, Just wondering... If you can't see the ground.... Is it a real "PLF"??? Maybe it should sound like, "whomp there it is, whomp there it is".

Sure.

I would even go out on a limb and say, if someone landed without a canopy it would still count as a skydive... As morbid as it is, they are called skydiving deaths, not falling out of plane deaths, and god knows a few people have left the canopy in their container for whatever reason... I would give them bonus points if they left a plane and landed without a canopy and lived to make another jump.

It is not like we are upset or anything when we say me too... It is that we like to know that we are all facing the same misery, pain, suffering, etc... It is like a support group, or an organized religion... So I say it, me too! But in my case, it is nice to be the user, instead of the SQL admin, on an issue.

When you are docked on a threeway - especially with double grips, your arch is not your arch - it is a group arch of the whole piece... Your body has to compensate for anything the group is doing to you (pulling back, forward, up, down, etc) To critique your arch - it would be best to see a photo of you flying relative next to someone without a grip... Your legs have to react to your arms - and your arms have to react to your legs, to prevent backsliding or forward motion... You say you are keeping your legs out because you are backsliding... Well, you have to counter the backslide with your upper body if you want a great arch... You need to spill air evenly, so bring in your legs, arch with your torso, and then learn what to do with your upper body to correct the backslide (arms in, chin up, etc) I have been coaching a lot in the tunnel lately... I have found the 140 pound thin guys are harder to coach than the bigger ones... Why... Because they need to arch hard to find a neutral point that allows them to fly with the "average joe"... The hard arch is harder to control, because it generally means things move quicker and is less stable to begin with... Think about standing with a friend pushing you... If you stand wide with an athletic stance, you can resist the push... If you stand with feet and knees together, you are easily pushed over... Keeping all your flying surfaces in tight to fall fast means you don't have your hands out real wide to balance on. With a big arch I see them struggle to fall straight down, and when they get any unwanted motion, it happens quicker and more violently - especially because adding "just a bit" of any one body part quickly adds instability... A fast/huge arch kind of like flying a small canopy... Little inputs go a long way. I guess that is why they don't teach the mantis in AFF, huh?

Did you have to reassure your tandem instructor that you would make it back from a bad spot.. I went on a tandem a few weeks ago with a guy who was just getting his rating and after we opened, he was nervous, and I was having fun... We did it the same day I got my AFF-I, and he got his TI with the jump, so we have something in common and it felt good to help someone else out! I would have even paid my own slot... It was fun to be the not-nervous-one... ;-) I had the "chicken handles" designed for experienced skydiving passengers, so I could have executed the emergency procedures too... He told me, "You have to tell me twice before you use them in case I am working the problem." I told him that he would KNOW because, if he was still alive, and not doing anything, I would be kicking him where it hurts if he was ignoring a malfunctioning canopy. I bet he won't get many "students" who touch all their handles on the way to the door in the future. he he he Question for you... I felt like in freefall we had a lot of potato chipping... Nothing scary, but not the smooth freefall I am used to... Did you have that? Did you try turning? I realized I had little control of heading using all the tools I had...