Levin

Since we've been talking about Olav for the past couple of weeks and everybody seems to have their own oppinions (the majority of which I think are unjustly negative). What i'm wondering is if you were Olav Zipster how would manage the AD license system and maybe even the Space Games?? If I was managing the AD system I would... 1. Change the ADA to AD Intermediate 2. Change the ADB to AD Advanced 3. Throwout the ADC 4. Change the ADD to AD Pro Personally I believe the Freefly community as a whole would benefit from an independant freefly license system that 1st places an emphasis on safety and 2nd on personal achievement. 1. The requirements for the AD Intermediate should be priorized on skills that demonstrate safety. A freeflyer qualifying for the AD Intermedaite should prove that they are not a risk to safety, are in 100% control of their skydive and are responsible for their flying and actions in the air. The skills can be demonstrated by chasing the ball from the plane and catching up to it in a reasonable amount of time, say 10 seconds. After reaching the ball the freeflyer should fall relative to the ball on head level within arms reach for a few seconds before initiating a controlled close proximity 360 degree carve. Next a 2-hand grip, hand switch and release with one hand. Then a tap and chase followed by a one hand grip before 6500'. I would consider anybody to do this to be in control of and responsible for themselves in the air. 2. The requirements for the AD Advanced I would leave the same as the requirements for the ADB. 3. The ADC is the same as the ADA, only differences being it requires a 3rd transition and uses 2 balls. I think a 2 transition version of an ADC would make a better ADA test. But as it is right now I would throw out the ADC since I believe the ADB demonstrates more skill. 4. The requirements for the AD Pro I would leave the same as for the ADD since those requirements only demonstrate that you are a world class bad ass freeflyer. To make the test available I would authorize 1 or 2 qualified individuals in each state or region to be able to administer the test. A set fee should be set for the test similar to a reasonable cost of a coach jump in which the authorized test giver would be paid the fee minus the slots. Instead, Olav would cash in on hundreds and hundreds of $20 application fees since his licenses would easily be available to anyone world wide. An irony of this reform I think would be that even though everbody would be paying even more for his AD test because of the application fee, everybody would all of the sudden think he is such a great guy since the test would be more available and other people could give it. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

I doubt he meant that. I'd say he's more than quallified. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

-cross posted in freefly forum- ____________________________ Due to bad weather this past Labor Day, the Fastest Man contest has been re-scheduled for next Saturday the 6th of September. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

Due to bad weather this past Labor Day, the Fastest Man contest has been re-scheduled for next Saturday the 6th of September. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

Take this nothing more as rumor. I can't remember whom or whom all I heard this from so I can't back up what I say. But I am under the impression that Steve Utter gave up his AD test giving privilages on his own accord. Not so much because he had a fallin out with Olav. Maybe just tired of doing ball jumps. I know ballmastering got old for me pretty quick. Think about it, alls you are doing (hopefully) is falling the tube videoing and waiting to retrive the ball. Pretty cool at first but probably gets old after a 100 times. That and considering your legally responsible for the thing as well as the pilot who has absolutely no control over the situation once the ball leaves the aircraft. For the freefly student the ball (in the right enviroment) can be one of the best training aids ever in freeflying. But for the ballmaster, the risks (to me) outweigh the rewards. Therefore I do not do ball jumps unless the student freeflyer is paying for it as coach jump. I always require a pre-ball jump to make sure they are qualified. And even then sometimes I may still decline to jump the ball simply because I don't want to. When in the door if the conditions do not look right I run the ball up to the cockpit and give it to the pilot. It makes the pilots more comfortable knowing you will make the resposible decisions when theirs pilot's licenses among other things are on the line. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

Not saying your wrong or I disagree because I really don't know. But I remember when they yanked skysurfing and freeflying from X-games. I honestly thought it was because the spectators couldn't sit in the stands and watch it going on in the arena. Skateboarding is more interesting because spectators can watch the skateboarders fly up in the air and come down and rack themselves on the top of the ramp. With skydiving at best they will see a cut-away and even then will likely not understand what they just saw. Instead they have to watch what happens in the air on a big screen. Just isn't the same as watching it live with their own eyes. I thought there was some talk awhile back about pond swooping becoming apart of the x-games. I think that wold make a much better X-game than freeflying. Especially to attract new sponsors into the sport. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

I thought freefly failed at the x-games because the spectators couldn't see it very well from the ground. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

I've made most all of my freefly jumps with a jumpsuit. Earlier this year I sent my suit back to Firefly so that they could use it to duplicate a new one instead of usng new measurements. So, far two or three weeks I jumped in jeans and t-shirt. I had never realized how much I used my arms. T-shirt makes it so easy to take grips. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

crappy weather on Saturday and Sundays. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

My arms and shoulders use to get really sore when I first started but my muscles got use to it quick. Try making your legs wider and use them more. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

Be careful not to put a dent in the wing. I asked a pilot once if I could try it. Pilot said sure but I was responsible if I dented the wing. I asked how much. Pilot said $3000. Not sure if that is really what repairs would cost or not but just in case I opted not to try it. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

try putting your hands together as if you are praying. as you do you will begin to accelerate. counter the acceleration by makng your legs bigger. also try two handed exits and docks. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

I also think Alchemy will win. But I'm really curious to see how these european teams, Babylon & Aria, do against them. I hear alot of great things about them on dz.com. but outside the forums, never heard them mentioned. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

I'll be there. Can't miss this event. Been awhile since I jumped my freefly tube from CASA. Or even jumped from CASA for that matter. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

okay you are right. mastery is a very poor choice of words. since this is a sport that we will always be learning and improving, mastery is possibly impossible. I was just trying to make the point to the people that commented headdown is difficult, that it is actually very easy to fly once you get the hang of it. Wasn't trying to sound snobby. Regarding Mr. Apoil, dude never pissed me off. Just confuses the piss out of me cause I can't figure out where he's coming from or what he's getting at. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

"license" yep, that pretty much clears it all up. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

just a few more weeks. isn't catfish going to be organizing crw jumps. I didn't see his name on your aot information post. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

counting the days. this is gonna be a fun boogie. hope queen bee has our casa pictures ready from last years boogie. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

no offense. the only axis I would consider being apart of that mastery I speak of would be spins, since I leave a headdown orientation when I do flips or corkwheels. By mastery I mean I have the same control headdown in freefall as I do standing or walking around on the ground. I obtained that level of precision last fall. I've lost a little of that precision since I started working on my sit. And also because I haven't been jumping as much this year. The key to getting there is jump numbers. Last year I made 65 jumps in July and 73 in August. Close to that last September. In those 3 months I made alot of progression. Making the most jumps you can in a short period of time makes you more comfortable and greatly increases your awareness which makes any discipline of skydiving much easier. Levin vSCS#3 www.freeflyers.com

correction - regarding freefly load organizing, emphasis will be placed on small groups, small and large (vSCR) hybrid dives and tube dives. gonna be a fun weekend. cyall there!! Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

just bumping it back to the top as a reminder. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

Mr. Apoil, the headdown position is the most aerodynamic body position therefore it is the most maneuverable. Which means once you figure out how to do it, it is the easiest body position to get from point A to point B. That's the common sense physics behind it. That is unless your built like a bowling ball. I don't believe I "misrepresenting the difficulty of achieving mastery". Twice I've alreading posted to this thread jump numbers, when I started and how long it took to learn it. yep, your jumping out of a plane 100's of times. Don't think there's anyone in the sport that doesn't respect that. Damndest thing. Billions of people on this planet and with the exception of twins, no two people are alike. Yep, you are right again. Everybody has their hidden talents. For me freefall surely isn't one of them. However I do feel I am a little talented at swooping my canopy, but I wouldn't call myself a natural at that either. Right Again!!! Headdown bigway is quit the opposite of a belly bigway. Typically we always put our best flyers in the base and inner ring. OMG, the secret is out. Tell me Mr. Apoil, had you already heard that or did you first hear it from me? me too. but I think i've already said that. yep, like you said above "everyone is different". Now, tell me this Mr. Apoil. What is the real motivation for you replying to my post? You come at me as if you want to debate something, yet you do nothing but reinforce what I say. Quite often you quote me for saying something and then try to debate the same point. I believe your intentions are nothing more than to butt heads with me every time you see me post. If that is the case then may I warn you that you will loose everytime. Simply because I think about and research what I am going to say before I chime in and run my mouth. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

Maybe it is a bold statement. For me being able to make that statement had it's price. I spent a little over 1000 jumps in a row on my head for the entire duration of every skydive. No sitting, no transitions, no nothing but headdown from exit to break off. For a tad over 1000 jumps. That's alot of time spent working on just one thing. So to me, saying that I have mastered headdown does not seem like a bold statement considering what I did to achieve that skill. On the other hand, unfortunately, I can't sit fly or belly fly worth a damn. And my cartwheels look more like corkwheels. That's why you never see me posting to threads about sitting or transitions. Actually I just started working on sitflying this year which has taken away some of the precision I had on my head since I'm not spending as much time there. My headdown skills has also made my sit learning curve kinda interesting. I've gotten linked transitions down fairly well, yet I still don't have enough control with my horizontal movements to take a dock. I was an okay belly flyer about 5yrs ago before I started freeflying. I think I'm going to go to the wind tunnel this winter to pick those skills back up. So as of right now, as a headdown flyer I think I'm pretty damn good (bold statement or not), but as an all around freeflyer...i suck (but just wait next year). Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com

actually, once you get it down, it's the easiest thing in the world to do in the air. seriously, once you got it, you got it. and it just gets easier and easier and easier and easier and easier. and before long you will be flying with your mind instead of your body. everything becomes so 2nd nature that you no longer have to think about your body other than being aware of what it is doing on a much less conscious level. you will thnk I want to go there and your body will follow your mind. once mastered headdown is the easiest body position to fly in skydiving. it just starts out hard when you are beggining. so i also agree, once mastered, it is a very easy discipline. Levin vSCR#17 www.freeflyers.com edit: my statement above is in reference to headdown flying only. not freeflying in general.