azureriders

haha, good point from the way it reads, but I am not a rude person and I know this guy well enough to grab his chest strap with out offending him.

Several times I have buckled my helmet down before pulling up my gogles (never jumped that way) and a couple of weeks ago had a low pull from a hard to find PC handle. For these reasons I have been really stressing the importantance of a high altitude gear check to myself. I have found that it helps me to be thorough on my own check, if I scan the gear of jumpers around me after I finish. As I am normally one of the least experienced on the load, I figured it would be a long time before I ever caught something major on someone else, but it helps anyway. Jump #25 for me, I do my last check, look over to my coach and another up jumper infront of me, then back to the guys behind me and do a double take. I grab the guys chest strap and and shake it, he looked at me funny so I pulled a little harder and It almost came all the way out of the friction adapter with only the elastic keeper holding it. This was an experieced jumper, (no idea how many jumps but he has been jumping in groups with the rest of the up jumpers for the entire yr that I have been in the sport) He fixed it with a pale face and for a minute I thought he might not even jump, but ofcourse he did, and was fine. Talk about reassure myself of the importance of a last minute gear check. Also made me feel good to give something back, the instructors, coaches, and average up jumpers on my DZ have all given us students so much.

I have my opinion of your post as well as one for all the responses, but that has all been covered and I have nothing really to add. I am also not worried about getting flamed and actually like it when some of my responses come back negative, but I still thought the below should be repeated. It is very true

Being grossly overweight is not always the case with diabeties. My dad has never weighed over 150 pounds and he came down with diabeties back in 90. Now he does good to weigh 120. Due to the diabeties he has several other health problems. Red

The student rigs on my DZ have two emergency handles. One red pud on the right MLW and one silver D on the left MLW. Looks just like any other sport rig. The red cutaway handle also works like any other rig, and there is a RSL in use. The Silver reserve handle, has an additional purpose. Along with a reserve rip chord, it also has a pair of cutaway cables that go to the 3 ring system. The loop on the three ring, instead of having one end sewed and one end trough the gromet in the riser, has a double ended loop and two gromets in the riser. One for each end of the loop and one cutaway cable from the right handle and one from the left handle through ea end of the loop. The idea is that if a student freaks and only pulls one handle, either handle, they should be ok. EMP's are taught just like for any sport rig and therefore no transition period needed to pass onto your own rig. I have never saw a SOS handle with a reserve only handle on the same MLW. I have heard of these, some with a soft pud on the end of the reserve rip chord on the inside of the SOS D and some with a longer reserve rip chord and the pud velcroed below the SOS D. Doe anyone know if these are in use anywhere or of any manufactuer that sells them. I would like to see one, or atleast a pic.

Red, my wife, is currently on level 4 AFF and has so far loved her experience in the air. However, she is not one to spend the time to post back and forth to these threads or to care if she has her own avatar. Therefore, I included her in mine, but you can assume that any posts are mine, and if otherwise she always signs her work "Red" She also had a rough dive, her last time out. Intentional turn that she could not stop. It never got fast but in her concentration to fix it, she lost Altitude Awareness, then realized she was pass due and reached, only to feel the bag leave her back as the instructor deployed for her. She was pretty shook up over the loss of AA, but she is fired up and ready to jump again this weekend.

with the knowledge of your apology, I retract my previous rant. Thanks for addressing said apology to Sue, as it should have been.

I am not going to scream, nor am I going to get into a pissing competition back and forth with you, but you need to lighten up and find somewhere else to be an ass. This thread was meant to bring up some interesting and fun stories, but yet you take it upon yourself to see to it that everyone has to read through your bull shit to get to the good stuff. NO, I am not threatening you, as it is stupid to do such across the net with someone you will probably never meet, but where I come from those kinds of statements to such sweet young ladies as Sectaerius will get you some time drinking through a straw. In my opinion there are only four types of people in this world: Idiots, Morons, Assholes, and Hermits. Idiots and Morons just because they are. Assholes and Hermits as that is the only two ways to live in a world filled with Idiots and Morons. In the analogy, I am proud to be an Asshole, and I am sure you have narrowed what I think of you down to one or two. I will not respond back to your SCREAMING anymore, it was not the point of this thread in the first place. If you feel the need to SCREAM in this thread anymore, I would ask that John or Bill please lock this thing, or delete it from existence. It unnerves me that that right thinking people have to put with such bull shit. Thanks to all of you that have posted sensible posts to this thread.

You know you can't quit. You are just as addicted as I am, you just may not know it yet. And I don't even let your typing bother me.

there, edited it for yall, to keep this thread more on track

yeah, it did not wind up being a big deal. But your right, and it scared the shit out of me.

My experience. Jump 2, tandem progression. Uneventful free fall, wave off and reach at 5500. Find handle, pull but no movement. Second pull, I feel TM's hand hit mine. Third pull, we both pull hard still nothing. Forth pull, the cable extracts easily. It was not until we were on the ground that the TM told me that he pulled the left handle before the right one was extracted by me. Thanks a lot KJ(TophyHusband) for a great job saving our lives. Jump 3, tandem progression. Long spot, TM pulls high, slider hangs and does not want to come down. TM starts screaming 'oh shit not now' in my ear. He did not want to cut away and loose the altitude we needed to get back. No he was not panicked, just a loud type person voicing his feelings, but still a trip for me to hear 'oh shit' from my TM. Slider came down and we made it back fine. Thanks again to a great TM. Jump 6, first release jump. AFFI was the same person as TM on Jump 3. Release and I go into a flat spin. JM blocks spin but I can't keep it from starting again. I decided to end a non productive dive and pull at 10,000 while semi stable. Slammed on open, broke one A line away from its attachment point. Passed control check and landed it only a little hard Jump 20, low pull from reasons that I have been beat up enough, learned many lessons from, and posted in another thread. On each of these occasions I only wanted to get back up and do it better. Yes, each one scared me but not nearly to the point of making me even consider quitting. I have heard several stories about students that did not come back. Tonto gives an excellent example of a Tandem pax here. I would like to hear your stories of students who never came back, or your experiences that only made you push harder. Doesn’t have to be during the student stage.

If you haven't already, try a search. There are tons of info on this subject archived in these forums.

My first release on AFF I went into a flat spin. The instructor blocked the spin but I couldn't keep it from starting again. I felt that we were not accomplishing anything so before I went flat again I tossed the PC semi stable at 10grand. Opening so hard that an A line broke away at its attachment point. Although it had a built in turn to the left, it only toke a few inches of right toggle to correct and it passed the control check so i landed it, and walked away, with two of the biggest ugliest bruises you have ever imagined. I don’t bruise easy. I am still on student gear, and have had some painful rides since then, but since my body position has improved and I have learned that leg straps can not be too tight, they seem to be few and far in between. Hang tight, it will get better. Talk to your instructors, as said before.

Take the tap recorder out in the back yard, spred out some corn so the tame turkeys come up to feed, press record. Find a nice place to hide in the woods, press play and wait for the wild turkeys to show up. The tape requires no washing or dying, however it is not a good idea to let the game warden in on your plans. I also know a way to trap as many live turkeys as you want, takes about a week of prep but you can litterally catch the whole flock. Once more, no game wardens

YES, she does!

The MA10 Series from Alti-2 will still read past 30 grand, on a second revolution, acurate to 40 grand.

While i was watching the canopy deploy over my head, which was not streamering or anything crazy, just line twist, instead of grabing the risers so quickly and taking the chance of being wraped up in them, I had time right then to check altitude. That is pretty simpe and obviously smart. Thanks again

Good point. On the few times that I have had line twist I have looked at my altimeter while spreading the rear risers. I did not do this, this time. Maybe not the perfect of proper mind set, but in my mind I had already crossed my descision altitude. As the PC left my hand, the next thing in my head was that I was low and if this thing was not right I had to get rid of it instantly. Then I saw the line twist that were the most minor ones that I have had and they cleared almost instantly. As I was taught, when dealing with line twist, by your desicion altitude you should be sure they will clear by a safe altitude. At no point did I believe that these would not clear, but who am I to know when they might be stuburn. I had a plan and it worked out, but I see your point for sure. Lower than I thought could have meant no time, just chop. Now you have me thinking. Move the whole thing down by several hundred feet. Now I think I am low enough that I must chop line twist instantly buy actually I am TOO low to cut away at all. Thanks for the input, that is what I wanted.

Very funny Sue. For those of you who don't get the inside joke, Sue and I both spun like a top on our first release, and last sunday Red (mrs azurerider) could not stop her turn on level 4 AFF. We thank everyone for a lot of great names, but it looks like she choice mine after all. Streamer it is. Now I think about the fact that he is all white, hope I don't ever have a streamer that looks like that

Not at all, read back over mine and you will find that I agree with you 100%, and thank you for your input, I mean that. I still take responsibility for my actions, as well as go to any extreme necessary to understand them. I guess I am just the type that thinks he should step up to the responsiblility, and IMO so should the coach feel like it is his fault, and the DZO should feel like it is his. I can assure you both did and were less than happy about it. My point that this was not the point of this thread is that I am not going to set them up to have a finger pointed at them. Since I posted this, I would 'like' the fingers pointed at me, so that I can learn what 'I' can do to be better prepaired in the future. Please take the idiot joke as just that, a joke. No, you were not out of line at any point (I think I said that already), but that is still not the point of this thread. I posted it and my point goes sometihng like this: Exactly, now point your finger at me so that I may better understand. I know they screwed up, but there is nothing I can do to fix that. I also know that I screwed up, and I thought that by posting this I would get some feedback(which I did) on how to fix my end of it. I guess the topic should have read "three mistakes made, lets focus on mine" And again, thank you very much for your input. You seem very insightful and I would like to hear your response to my actions

The more you talk the more I begin to understand your signature line Man, whoa, sorry about that, it was just way to good to pass up. No, seriously, I do really agree with you, but I am still the type to take responsiblity for my actions and I will not blame anyone else when I do something that they have taught me better than doing. Let us agree to disagree, because I can agree that you have a good point and it may also be the point of others, but I can not let it be my point.

You were not a licensed fun jumper on that jump, you were a student, a student of that dropzone. The DZO and the coach that put you on that jump were responsible to ensure the appropriateness of the jump you were making using thier gear. Then he brought you into his (or her) skydive, and irregardless of how inappropriate a 4 way may or may not be to do with a student, your coach assumed responsibility for your safety by placing you on that jump, to the extent any instructor can be, ie, knowing the gear you are using and making sure the jump wasnt beyond your abilities to perform safely. Once you get your A License, yes, I would agree with you. You can blame yourself all you want once your licensed. As a student, your instructors share the responisbility for your well being. To catch the mistakes you don't even know your making, like this one. Yes, agreed, 100%, no arguement, but the point of another thread, not the point of this one. Thats all I was saying

Most all my AFF and Tandem exits were, Check in, Check out (if two instructors), prop (look at the propeller), out, in, out. This was while stadnig faceing the front of the otter in the front of the door. Once my instructor decided to teach me a new exit, so we both climb out, faceing back in the plane, reaching under holding the bar, one foot hanging, Check out (being he was outside), prop, up, down, go. The count was so different to me than what I was used to the I botched it bad. I always gave a good count, but this time it was just , check out, prop, um, yeah, sure, ok, then just fall off backwards, no presentation to the wind at all. OOPS

I know I don't have the jumps to fully appreciate this, but I like it. I have never done SL of any tunnel time, but I have studied the benifets of ea as well as tandem and AFF. I have also been the one in the wrong course and wound up going back to another, blah blah blah. So I have some insite on why your course would work. I like it alot.