tdog

Besides for the FAA rules, I have learned this over the years of doing a lot of jumps: 1) The balloon pilot MUST understand the risks associated with losing the ballast of your weight. The balloon should be either holding altitude or descending rather quickly when you leave. If you leave in a twoway - it is especially important for the balloon to be aggressively descending. This is normally done by pulling a rope and the pilot approving your jump the moment he detects the decent he approves of. If the balloon "shoots up" when you leave, due to not being in a decent and losing your weight suddenly, the air pressure hitting the top of the balloon skin will pancake it and push the hot air out of the bottom of the balloon, causing freefall of all involved. I was told it caused a fatality once, but I don't have the specific reports. Either way, a balloon pilot should understand the risks of dumping ballast. Even with this warning I have had novice balloon pilots complain they did not appreciate how fast they had to descend. Pretty much descend as quickly as they can safely and the second you leave either they will stop descending or perhaps climb again. 2) ALWAYS carry your cell phone and have the number of the balloon pilot, the balloon chase crew, and every other skydiver on the load. It is possible the balloon will be covering a lot of ground and you won't land near the other skydivers, and it is almost a promise you won't land near the balloon. 3) Landing areas - the balloon pilot will know where is legal, and where is "acceptable" for the balloon to land in their normal flying areas. Land there. Not on crops, not on government controlled open spaces, etc... Back roads, county roads, or even paths between crops are often great areas. I have met many landowners/residents and all have been nice when I thanked them and they saw I did not land on their crops.

I am 0 for 1. It was an intentional cutaway on a tersh rig to test/feel/learn about the skyhook. I watched the main canopy leave, saw the risers without the PC attached, saw about 50 to 75' of distance from the risers when I finally saw the reserve PC come off my back and deploy the reserve as a traditional RSL much lower than it would have been if the Skyhook would have worked. I know a few skydivers who have said to me, "I have a skyhook, I feel comfortable cutting away lower." I say, "B.S." It is a good tool, but it definitely has a significant "fail safe" rate of reverting back to a traditional RSL per what I have seen.

So, your monthly loan payment for a 6% loan (impossible to get for a $30M business loan, but why not dream) would be $214,929.30 per month. I know a lot of people in real estate and getting a $300,000 loan for a new business is next to impossible. Imagine making a $30M pitch to a bank! So at $1150 per hour, per their website, that is 6.14 booked hours per day for 20 years to just pay the mortgage at 6%... If electricity is 10% of their operating costs, then you are needing to book almost 7 hours a day. Add in insurance and property taxes, and I am starting to see VERY thin margins. A reasonable investor paying cash for an investment would want to see 10% return. Now we are needing to book 9-10 hours a day solid. If someone was rich and wanted a trophy, perhaps they should buy this tunnel. If they want a solid investment, I don't see it happening.

On bridge day they put a port-a-potty on the bridge and Jason announced it was for the "pre-jump-dump".

See, the fundamental problem with those instructions... You are not their instructor, so your advice has to be ignored by your own recommendation... It just never works.

This is not how we do it at our dropzone! 1a) I would NEVER throw a student out of a plane! The student voluntarily enters the door and starts the exit count when we give them a shake. When they leave, we go with them. 1b) 99.9% of my students have gone on their own. 0.1% have ridden the plane down after deciding they did not want to jump. Back to the Original Poster's question... I have taught hundreds and hundreds of people... Some are 17 waiting until the following weekend so they are old enough to jump. Some are 80 years old. Some are athletic. Some can't walk across the hangar without tripping over their feet. They all were happy with the jumps... So my advice, don't over think it. Don't lose sleep worrying you won't be able to do it. It is so simple physically, so just relax, have fun, and go jump!

Here is one... What do riggers think about a PD Reserve Slink being used on a non-PD canopy. I know one rigger that will use them on any reserve where metal links are approved as they are TSOed and that PD claims in their manual: When properly installed, they are stronger than the stainless steel links they replace., therefore if they are TSOed and stronger then the substitution is appropriate and safe. I know another rigger that will not pack any non-PD reserve with slinks and sells metal links to the customer and mandates their use as that is "what shipped with the canopy and PD does not approve the slinks on anything but PD."

Every DZ has great instructors. Most are great. The worst I have seen still are not "dangerous", but instead just teach poorly and frustrate students. "Dangerous" instructors get weeded out pretty quickly. Honestly, the level of risk is 100% determined by you. You will be the skydiver in command of your body and your parachute. If you are not 100% ready in your own mind, then don't jump. When you are 100% ready, the instructor will be there just to watch. You can always "fire" the instructor before you jump if you are not 100% ready. I say, go to the closest DZ. Say hi to people. Get to know them. Then go to another DZ. See if it is any different. Once you meet the staff, you likely will find tons that you will learn to trust.

I am not a happy I had to... But... Yes... A student opened their parachute and it was flying fine. Then it suddenly started spinning. And it was clear the student would not survive the impact if something was not done as the canopy would have impacted the ground first. I said a lot of things on the radio with no response. Finally in desperation I said, "Anyone who can hear me, pay attention carefully to make sure I am talking to you. Green canopy, you are spinning fast towards the ground, if you can't control your canopy, cutaway and pull reserve, student's name if you cannot control your canopy cut away and pull your reserve." I repeated this command over and over again until I felt it was too low to offer that option. Then I kept saying, "Green canopy, pull your reserve, green canopy, pull your reserve." At about 300 feet the canopy came out of the spin and the student swooped the runway downwind with very little flare. In the debrif, the student did not remember anything about their canopy ride. They had no clue what happened. It was as if they were not even on the skydive. Not a "I think I passed out", but instead, "I don't understand what you are saying, I did that???" She never came back after I told her I was very concerned because something happened that was very scary and very unsettling and unless she could put together what happened and caused her to forget the entire canopy ride, it was unsafe to continue.

It is not an easy task. I have been working on a custom package for a DZ for over a year, off and on... There is TONS of logic that goes into the reservations of tandems, AFF, coaching, etc that pushed my knowledge of SQL. I thought it would be easy after writing an entire accounting/CRM/QC/Document Management package for another large business.

It is simple. I do it all the time. A BASE jumper stash bag... http://www.asylumbase.com/store/product/stash-bag/ They are bomb proof, light weight, and fit a rig packed or unpacked. Most are waterproof. The drawstring at the top has a plastic holder that allows you to pull it completely shut... But then, you tie a bunch of knots (I daisy chain and lock out at the end) so it is bombproof. Risks... If you get in an accident, your gear may or may not be insured. Thus your bike and your gear both get totaled... I see someone else posted about weight shift causing a wipeout... When properly tightened a base stash bag is able to not shift when rock climbing to an exit point, thus on your back on a bike I never have had an issue.

I have had a zipper on a backpack open up on a 2 hour long ride. When I got to the mountains for a break, I looked back and thankfully my clothes somehow stayed in. A bridle, even the best, can work itself out over 2 hours of riding.

Now you are just getting silly. (P.S. I already do pay the Uninsured Motorist tax. Not only do I have to pay for their negligence when they hit me, I pay a large sales tax surcharge for public transportation so the fares for the buses can be low. It is another sales tax in our city. Thus, taking the bus is cheaper than owning a car thanks to my contribution. No excuse for driving illegally!)

Actually, my deductible is irrelevant as in my post I said I have paid thousands for Uninsured Motorists premium and deductibles. I don't know if it is a Colorado thing, or just my insurance company, but the Uninsured Motorists is a line item on the bill and it is always a large item. If I would have lowered my deductible, my UI motorists premium would have gone up. If I would have increased my deductible, my premium would go down. So my deductible is irrelevant. Actually, the fact I have a higher deductible has decreased my total out of pocket for these accidents caused by uninsured motorists. Insurance companies know that customers with high deductibles are less likely to submit trivial claims and less likely to commit insurance fraud, so they reward high deductible customers with disproportionately lower premiums... But, as you know, if the other person had insurance my out of pocket would be zero as their liability coverage most likely would have a zero deductible and it would be their cost anyway... When the other person does not have insurance then I have to pay my insurance company a deductible and they have the exclusive right to collect (sue) the other party, thus I lose control. And, insurance companies use loss runs to determine costs of insurance, so even if it is not my fault, an uninsured motorist claim on my insurance hurts my premiums simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But your comment that I must have a high deductible proves that you think it is my responsibility to pay for insurance for others who don't have the responsibility and ethics to buy their own insurance or not drive their car until they can. Our system of insurance is that each person needs insurance to legally drive a car, and I fully support any legal actions against people who are deadbeats and drive without paying the amount they legally should pay.

If I could not pay for insurance, then I would find alternate transportation. The holier than thou self has had to pay THOUSANDs for accidents caused by other people who did not have insurance. This is in premium for "uninsured motorists" and for three acidents caused by uninsured motorists, two of which my car was parked. Anyone who does not have insurance, for WHATEVER REASON, and drives - has NO EXCUSE in my book. I am sorry... Just because you are broke, you don't have the right to pass your financial liability on to others by driving... Park the car and walk. Take the bus. Ride a bike. Have your friend drive you.

Then ride the f###### bus, ride a bike, or get a car so cheap you can afford the legally required insurance! Insurance is not to protect you, but to protect the person you hit when you have an accident, something clearly no one wants, but happens anyway, thus insurance laws were put in place. After being hit three times by uninsured motorists in my life, and having to pay out of pocket for deductibles and having to negotiate cash deals I had to collect on - I have no respect for uninsured motorists. A large chunk of my monthly insurance premium is marked under "uninsured motorists". Further, insurance companies charge drivers for claims, so when an uninsured driver hits you, it goes against your loss runs as if you are at fault. So us insured people have to pay for your insurance too. It is selfish, childish, and unethical to drive without insurance and expect other people to pay for your mistakes. I think the fines you had to pay for the next three years are appropriate and I support laws that revoke a driver's licence on first offense of driving without insurance. I think here they actually take your licence in the traffic stop and make you bring your card in to get your licence back. Rant over.

Source? The Cypres Rigger's guide says: I am wondering if, in addition to the canopy concerns documented in the guide, if you have data that says cutters have risk of failure if the cutter does not have the fingertrapped portion in it...

I never said it was. I simply listed a bunch of realistic expenses in my first post so someone could build a budget to see if they could afford it... Technically a rig is not required either, but it is a realistic expensem thus on the budget. But, I could say, coaching of some sort is a requirement to pass the course, and tunnel time is often the most effective and cost saving method, thus that is why I included it. There are other coaching methods that could replace it.... Very few people would pass an AFF course without some sort of disciplined coaching at 360 jumps and 2 years in the sport. If they had maybe 700 jumps they would possibly have better belly skills, but that would have cost money too... Or maybe add some training budget to travel to boogies or events where they could get world class organizers to help them for "free". Required??? At 360 jumps they would almost definitely need some coaching to get a rating. It could be paying for a coach to coach their RW team and hiring outside video for the training jumps, or finding a mentor who has the skillset to train, who is willing to do many training jumps with them for free. If you take off the money I budgeted for the tunnel time, you would have to replace it with some sort of other training, ranging from a pre course offered by the AFF evaluators to bigway camps to paying for video on larger group RW jumps or something... Unless of course the candidate had "mad skilz" and somehow learned how to do all the requirements of AFF while doing solo jumps or jumping with their friends who likely are not AFF instructors... Since the person asking the question presumably has no jumps since they asked "from scratch" - there is no way to know if they will need or not need advanced coaching, thus it would be smart to budget it. Likewise, there is no promise that they will make friends, at their DZ, with people willing to coach for free, so the budget item should be put in "just in case". So I stand firm in my opinion about my realistic budget I posted... Some sort of coaching should be budgeted by someone looking to get their AFFI as soon as possible from scratch, especially if they are only budgeting 360 jumps like I calculated.

Short answer... Because there is a difference between being an AFFI and a good AFFI. Long answer... It is not a requirement. But I think it is a real good idea. Most people I know who have gotten their ratings in the last few years have spent time in the tunnel practicing roll overs, spin stops, delivering handsignals while still on harness hold, etc, in addition to RW training for 4way or just 2 way informal RW. Likewise, most AFF instructors at our DZ, being that the tunnel is only 1 hour away, are expected by their students to be able to coach in the tunnel too - and for a full time AFF instructor, this can be a key source of revenue. Without tunnel time the individual can't be a good coach in the tunnel. If someone is getting their rating at 360 jumps, the bare minimum of 6 hours of freefall time, they likely don't have the skillset to fly AFF without tunnel time unless they did 4way or some other disciplined RW training approach, because probably 100 or so of those jumps were belly jumps, 50 wingsuit, 50 tracking, and 150 freefly...

You can do it in 24 months if you have the money. Gear = $5,000 360 jumps = $9,000 3 hours of coached tunnel time = $3000-5000 (travel and tunnel prices vary) Ratings, USPA fees, Coach Course, AFF Course, coaching, etc = $1000-2000 So about $20,000. If the GI bill pays $1000 a month, you can do it in 20 months. Now, can you use the GI bill for this? Don't know... But I would research if the GI bill will pay for a commercial pilot's licence then apply the same logic here... (Will it pay, for an example, for someone to rent a plane and fly around for fun, to build hours to a flying career...)

Assuming you are not a troll... It is not the gear, it's the landings that are your risk. I am sure I could find a way to teach you to freefall. I just don't think I could sleep at night after you got hurt landing a parachute. I have done nearly 1000 instructor jumps, enough to have had some students get hurt on landings, I have had a few people I have taught go to the hospital (heck I even carried a friend out of a canyon after a BASE landing injury), and enough to see trends of the type of people more prone to injury. I would not risk jumping with you at this point because I could not sleep at night after you got hurt knowing it would be my fault for accepting a student who had a medical condition that could be "fixed" prior to the jump. Conditions that can't be "fixed", such as old age, I am much more willing to risk when the student can recite to me the fact they understand the risk and can express why the reward is worth accepting the risk. To me it is like this. If a student came to me with epilepsy, I would take them if the doctor said they were the most stable they could be with modern medicine. If they were untreated and did not mitigate the risk of seizure, I would say "sorry, come back as soon as you can, go see the doc, fix the problem." So, instead of testing yourself in a windtunnel for freefall skills, you need to test your landing skills. Can you jump off of a refrigerator, on wheels being pushed at 5 MPH, 10 times in a row, onto concrete or very uneven ground, possibly covered with rocks, and immediately run 10 steps? You don't have to be the world's greatest athlete to land a parachute safely, but you have to be athletic. P.S. I am not a unsympathetic asshat. I was overweight for the first half of my life and I understand what it was like to lose weight and what it felt like prior to losing weight when I could not do things my friends could do. If you need help, I am available via phone or email, and I will give you the support you need to have a peer who "forces" you to exercise every day and holds you accountable to your own goals. Good luck!

But, Blackberries are too secure because the government can't spy into them: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/blackberry-encryption-too-secure-national-security-vs-consumer-privacy/5732

best video ever.

Does you DZ have a rule that says students must rent gear until they get their "A"? Our DZ only requires AFF students to use AFF rigs as they have special configurations (additional handles for instructors, etc)... But many students have borrowed rigs or used their own rigs before they got their A... And I have seen this happen at multiple DZs.

I would have run with that one... Our DZ has instructors give a DZ orientation to all visitors. I would have loved to give that orientation. Ever see the BASE video where a rather famous BASE jumper teaches a guy to jump with all wrong vocabulary... "You Shlare the Tarp with the Yonkles to land"... It could have been priceless as the jumper put on his medium sized rig...