mikew02

I think he may head back up north for the summer..... I did my AFF-I rating with Frank, he is a great guy and I am sure he will try and help you out if he can. I am sorry to hear about your brother.

Hi there, You have to be an ex student of the FFA to be considered for a sponsored rig. Looking at your post history and profile you dont seem to have done an AFF course yet??

Hi guys, Just to let you know, from the information I have the SMG is here full time until the Dornier returns at the end of the UK summer. Mike

Hello everyone, I was just pointed in direction of this thread and apparently my name keeps croppping up, which is nice. Diana, as you will see from the news pages has just completed an AFF course and Joel has been here twice for canopy training in the last 3 weeks. Anyway. I hope you guys are all well up at Ocana and I really hope we can keep this friendly. Luci, I'm looking forward to team training now, the Airkix/VMAX girls rock! - Amazing flyers! I hear you guys are getting a new aircraft, nice job.....SMG? Blue skies, Mike

David is quite correct in what he says about the thoroughness and professionalism of Ulli and Paula. I plan to take a course with them early 2006 and would not really consider anyone else. I understand the points made above but in the cold light of day, friendly, accurate and trustworthy advice is very hard to come by it seems for BASE jumping wannabees. If anyone could point me to a website or person that can help me out other than the contacts I have that would be appreciated. Mike www.freefalladdicts.com

Take it easy skydog. I updated the page earlier. I guess I got my answer from the discussion above, thanks guys.

He was at a USPA associated DZ, but not in the USA

I believe he has been without a rating since feb 2004. I understand Bozo's point but never the less, the rules we have in this sport are here for a reason. Lets play safe hey?

No Bozo I am not the USPA cops. I just think that if someone is not responsible enough to keep their rating current how can you trust them to check a student's gear if they are that lax? We have a system for a reason and if you break it and that is deemed to be ok then what's the point in having a system in the first place?

Hi everyone, I have become aware of a situation where an instructor has been teaching AFF with an expired USPA rating. I also suspect he has no 3rd party insurance and regularly jumps parachute equipment over reserve pack dates. Does anyone know what the ultimate consequences of this are in terms of the USPA? Do you all agree with me that as an Instructor you are meant to set an example to students that this sport is dangerous if not taken seriously? Do we need people like this in our sport? Mike

grab my chest strap right next to my reserve handle

I think it is best that we wrap this thread up now. I personally think that anyone who would post under a fake name is either so insecure about their position or so scared about competition they would resort to pretty sad tactics Lets not forget why we are in this sport: To learn, to excel and to offer people with ordinary lives a chance to do something extraordinary. Cut the bullsh*t and just skydive! Mike

All I ask is that people who post should not do it incognito. And piisfish, if you want to contribute, please make it something pertaining to the subject! Forums are designed for people to talk about anything they want to talk about.

deleted because of advertising~Skymama

Hi everyone, Just to present a view from the other side of the coin..... Lillo is working hard to both develope its existing facilities and further advance the quality skydiving courses we offer. We have a new aircraft arriving on the 17th of October, a Dornier G92 and to celebrate we are holding a 25 way training meet for all experience levels. Our AFF courses are being boosted by regular visits from Phil Curtis and Chris Miller, who are helping us to co-ordinate our training in accordance with BPA regs. We have several drop zones now who will accept our canopy training towards CH1 qualifications. May I just remind everyone that only a BPA CCI can sign off a qualification in a licence book. Instructors can merely sign to say someone has completed a qualification task. As some of you already know there is a wind tunnel trip to the new bedford tunnel running in November, which has been hugely popular so far..... and a new tunnel program which has been designed by Lillo 4-way jumpers who work on our BPA FS1 courses. Check out our ad in this month Skydive Mag!! It is nice to see that our customers are being offered a good choice of locations in Spain.....I think competition keeps everyone on their toes... Regards to all at Ocana. Blue skies to all, Mike W www.freefalladdicts.com

Who's coming to the 25 way at Skydive Lillo? I believe there will be one of the world record 357 way team members load organising..... http://www.freefalladdicts.com/event_25way1005.shtml

Its nice to see David has found somewhere he fits in. One thing everyone should know is it takes 15 minutes to drive to the Ocaña DZ from Skydive Lillo and a further 45 minutes at least to drive to the airport.... do the maths!! Also Aranjuez is about as close to Ocaña as Earth is to the moon.... Nice to see also that the Lillo 4-way team have decided to continue to base themselves at Skydive Lillo where there is a Dornier G92 arriving in October. Lillo have been very kind to sponsor the team in the past. This aircraft is used for major competitions and as a result many top coaches have decided to base themselves here.

Hey Jill, Nice to see you are keeping up with things ;-) Re ratings.......if anyone has any doubt about whether or not an instructor has a current rating they can contact the USPA through www.uspa.org It is worth mentioning that instructors have to do a certain ammount of AFF jumps a year to keep their rating and also renew the rating on a regular basis. It is always worth checking.......

It is true that the FFU has stopped operating at Lillo. There is a new AFF school on the dropzone called the Freefall Addicts. The website is not on-line yet, but you can get some outline information including contact details on www.freefalladdicts.co.uk The school is run by all the ex staff of the FFU including Barry Maple and Lamorna Harpin. If anyone reading this has any doubts about their course (already booked) please contact lamorna@freefalladdicts.co.uk Blue skies, Mike

What a great weekend the scrambles were. All credit to Hinton for great manifesting and organisation. I hope the guy who started this thread was around - would be interested to know his opinion now.

A dropzone where you can bring your team and have the best aircraft, coaching and weather that Europe has to offer. It is always nice to learn with the best.

Hi, I too did my AFF with the FFU this year. I found them to be very professional and helpful both prior to and after the course. They helped me source gear and gave me advice about future training. I also did my FS 1 with them too. I try and visit now as often as possible simply because of the great times I have had, the progress I have made and the people I have met every time I jump there. Tell me, where else in Europe can you do 65 jumps in 10 days and train with the best coaches in the world? Hope this helps Mike Worthington