DanG

You do not need a coach rating to share your love of the sport and help others at a USPA dropzone. You only need a coach rating (or higher) to work with unlicensed jumpers. You can share you love of the sport and help recently graduated A licensed jumpers all day. A coach may only teach the FJC under the supervision of an instructor. Most reputable DZ's will make that supervision very, very close. Coaches (especially ones that are interested in the minimum requirements to get the rating) as not qualified to teach the FJC by themselves. Why this burning desire to teach the FJC? It seems you are fixated on this one aspect of coaching. - Dan G

I would say, "Maybe you should go practice some belly skills." Anyone who gets offended by the suggestion that they should be proficient at what they desire to teach needs to have their ego put in check. If they resist the idea that a USPA coach should be good at belly flying, present it to them like someone else in this thread put it. If a belly flyer who could only hold a stable sit and not cork tried to become a freefly coach, what would the freefliers think? Students deserve to have competent, qualfied coaches, and they need people who are properly trained on safety issues. On the other hand, if your friend just wants to jump with licensed low timers for fun, then I say have at it, just don't charge them for something he can't give. - Dan G

There have been a whole lot of negative comments about coaches that could be taken out of context, so I just wanted to throw out that there are good USPA coaches, too. Yes, there are some people who squeaked through the coach course and add no value to the student's training, but there are also a lot of very qualified people doing coaching who provide quality instruction. I would say that there are a lot more good coaches then bad ones. Any newbies reading this, please don't get the impression that people who hold the USPA coach rating (like myself) are necessarily evil. Some of us work very hard to give safe, high quality training. - Dan G

If you are having trouble with the flare timing, inducing extra speed into your landing is not the solution. In fact, it will hinder your canopy progression in the long term (IMO). It is also dangerous, especially for someone will very little canopy experience. Master straight-in approaches before adding any speed inducing manuvers (fronts risers in your case). I have only jumped a Sabre2 a couple of times, but found that it had a very powerful flare. Inducing speed is not needed to land this canopy well. It has better flare and a flatter glide than a Spectre, but not so much as a Stiletto. The Sabre2 is a great all around canopy. Keep working on your straight-in approaches, and you will be rewarded. - Dan G

It's kind of hard to answer your question because everything comes with a caveat. I'll try to address some of your specific questions, and you'll see what I mean. Yes, you can safely hold down your toggles for 20 seconds, but expect your canopy may fly backwards and/or stall, so you need to be prepared for that. Talk to your instructor. He/she may suggest you try to stall your canopy, but all the stuff that comes with that can't safely be covered over the internet. Also, the ISP contains something called reverse turns, which teach you that a canopy can be messed up (put into line twists) by hard maneuvering. To get a good idea what that is about, talk to your instructor. Inexperienced skydivers shoud not try to fly head-down or in a sit, but with experience and coaching these positions can be safe and tons of fun. How much experience is needed? Talk to your instructor. Arching will get you back on your belly and stable if given enough time, but there may be better techniques availabe given the situation. Talk to your instructor. I can't think of any exit that shouldn't be attmepted, but again, if you have something in mind talk to your instructor and the pilot to make sure it is okay. The internet is a lousy forum to teach skydiving. It is a good place to share ideas, but make sure you filter everything you read here through smeone you can trust: your instructor. - Dan G

I'm interested as to why you say cut-in laterals are a snag issue. Could you elaborate, please? Thanks, - Dan G

This is why USPA has included reverse turns in the ISP in Category G. It helps teach students what it feels like to over control the canopy, and that control inputs need to be made smoothly. Look through your SIM for advice on doing reverse turns (Category G of the student progression) and then talk to a coach or instructor. - Dan G

I have to disagree as well, especially to this part. In my opinion, you don't learn to visually judge your altitude by jumping without an altimeter, you learn by jumping with an altimeter and comparing its reading to your visual cues. And you have to do it many, many times to become proficient. (By the way, I've done dozens of jumps without an altimeter, so don't reply that I can't know until I try it.) A helmet is the same thing. You don't need to learn how to jump without a helmet. There is nothing like OJT for this type of emergency. If you can't see, and you can't clear the fog, rip off the visor or remove the helmet and land normally. If people want o get the feel of jumping without a helmet, fine, but they shouldn't be forced to. (Also done dozens of jumps without a helmet.) It's akin to saying, "You need to learn what a cutaway and reserve ride is like, so everyone should be forced to cutaway a perfectly good canopy and land their reserve." Not so smart. - Dan G

Your poll really should say "Throw-out or Pull-out". BOC means bottom of container, and both pull-out systems and throw-out systems can have the main deployment handle located there. That being said, I use a throw-out because it is what I have always used. I think both systems work fine, but it is nice to know that just about every packer can pack a throw-out, while some may not be able to properly pack a pull-out. - Dan G

I went uncurrent for about a year (also due to the US Army) and I did the proper recurrency thing coming back. Of course, it helped that most of my friends and teammates are instructors, so we could go turn 14 points on a 4-way and be "legal", but I did make sure to get in the hanging harness, and I jumped a larger canopy (150 instead of 135). - Dan G

You should have been taught about a horseshoe. Static liners can still get a horseshoe by tumbling through their lines on opening or rotating on exit causing the pilot chute (if one is used, some DZ's use them, some don't) to wrap around their body. When you start your hop n' pops you absolutely need to be training on this malfunction. Talk to your instructor, horseshoes are no joke. - Dan G

Please don't call 911 every time someone lands off. You will quickly tire the emergency personnel. If you see someone land off and they appear to have been injured, that is one thing, but if people start calling for an ambulance once or twice a day "just in case" the emergency crews are going to get sick of resonding. I would land off with a jumper who is far out and assist them if I could make it to where they are. If I couldn't, I would land at the DZ and start a search. Make sure the searching parties have cell phones so they can call 911 if needed. Radios are also good to help the searchers coordinate their efforts. Usually off landings are not a big deal, and result in a short walk or shorter car ride, but someone needs to be looking out for the jumper. Calling wolf to 911 all day isn't helping anyone. - Dan G - Dan G

If I remember correctly, the reason Derek failed in his attempt to clear the lineover was because he couldn't find the right line to cut. If your goal is to cut all of them, that is not a problem. That being said, I would keep the reserve if I thought I could land it and survive. If I thought I would die trying to land it I would start cutting. - Dan G

I usually wear a full face helmet. The only time I don't wear a helmet is for casual CRW, since I don't have an open face except my camera helmet, and I wan't to be able to talk to my partner. In the tunnel last month I was doing a three way with two coaches. One coach hit the other in the face with his elbow (unintentionally) hard enough to ring his bell pretty hard. He had to get out of the tunnel for a couple minutes to get himself together. This is a guy with 19,000 jumps. Helmets don't care how much of a badass you are, they can still help protect you from minor injury. Minor injury at 13,000 feet can lead to major injury if the minor injury is to your head. I see little reason not to wear a helmet for any kind of relative work. - Dan G - Dan G

Okay, that wasn't clear to me from your first post. I almost always pack for myself and check the pilot chute at least twice, usually three times when packing. If someone else packs for me, I usually try to check the window before running down to the plane, although I am certainly guilty of the occasional grab and dash. Getting a pin check from someone else is also a good idea. I'm also suprised at how many people don't understand how the PC works. Time some time and examine one with an instructor or rigger so you know how and why it functions like it does. Oh, and one more thing. Cocking the pilot chure before flaking the canopy when pro-packing is generally not a good idea. The bridle is apt to slip down the core. It is a better idea to cock the PC right before bagging the canopy, or at least check it again before bagging. - Dan G

Um, yeah, but if I read you right this knot will also prevent the pilot chute from collapsing after it has done its job. Maybe I don't understand your explanation. If you are that worried about the collapsible PC, you can easily switch it out for a non-collapsible one. Then you don't have to worry about it (past routine maintance of course). - Dan G

Good answer. I guy I know had a canopy collision at a very low altitude, rendering his canopy unsteerable. He ended up landing on a T-hangar and puncturing the roof. Somehow he missed all of the roof beams, his canopy caught on the roof, and he ended up dangling a few feet from the concrete floor. Busted foot and some cuts and bruises are all the injuries he had. I'd vote for the hangar, but pretty much either way you are screwed. Bhudda, Bhudda, Bhudda might be a good idea. - Dan G

It is also a good idea to look around while you are tracking. You should be able to identify where the other people in your group are and which way they are heading so it will be less of a suprise if you find yourself near someone. Otherwise, good job avoiding a collision. - Dan G - Dan G

About ten years ago a girl at our DZ was exiting a Cessna in the strut position. Somehow her foot slipped off the step and got between the step and the wheel. When the group exited her shin snapped resulting in a compound fracture. Not exactly what you want to happen at 10.5. She ended up healing fine and continued to jump for a number of years. Another friend was exiting the Otter on an extremely cold day. He was front float. He either missed the count of left late, but when the group left he was still gripping the bar. The tendon connecting his bicep to his wristbone tore in half. It took him months to heal. Watch all your body parts when exiting any plane. - Dan G

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think when people refer to high speed stalls in swooping, they mean that someone applied too much tail input after a dive (usually begun with non-tail input). In other words, if you are diving straight down, and jam the toggles, you are quickly increasing the angle of attack, and could induce a stall. Of course, you usually jam the toggles down because you are too close to the ground, so stalling out can make the situation even worse. A wing will stall at a slightly higher angle of attack when the freestream velocity of the air is higher, but I don't know if there will be a noticable difference in the speeds we see in skydiving. - Dan G

Word! Chucks all the way. No ankle support and no cushioning, but they're cheap, comfortable, fit into my booties, and slide great on landing. Oh, and chick dig them. - Dan G

Well, some staffers at my DZ recently ordered staff rigs from Mirage. Besides paying through the nose (even with a bulk order discount), three of the four rigs they received had the leg hardware put on upside down. Another friend just ordered a Mirage and it showed up with the chest strap fold-over sewn backwards. Mirage was happy to fix these problems, but it just goes to show that no one is perfect. Sunpath makes a great rig (I own two) and their wait time is very long. If you don't like the rig or the wait, get something else, it's a free world (mostly). - Dan G

If you have severe line twists, are on your back, and are spinning so fast the ground looked distorted, I don't think you are going to clear that malfunction. I have had this happen to me, and I did have an altimeter on. I didn't have to look at it to know I needed to chop immediately. I agree that wearing a visual altimeter is a good idea. I hardly ever look at mine unless I'm with a student and checking to make sure they perform altitude related tasks on time. Doing 4-way and video, I never look at it in freefall (I wear two audibles). I have made about 50 jumps with no mechanical or electronic altimeter. On one of those jumps I wish I had a visual, because we ended up punching a cloud, and I couldn't see the ground for a couple of seconds (my video shows a quick glance at my naked wrist). I always try to wear my visual now just in case, but I have no hesitation jumping without it if I forget it or lend it to someone else who's forgotten theirs. - Dan G

I stow my slider with a velcro/webbing thingy which wraps around the reserve pin cover of my rig. If there has really been a fatality caused by this type of device, I'd like to read more. Does anyone have a link to the incident report, or at least some more details? - Dan G

This probably should be another thread, but I believe most big way organizers will tell you not to track early if you go low. It is unsafe. Good formation skydivers will know you are low, and keep track of you during breakoff just like they keep track of all the other people in their vicinity. You just blend into the first wave of trackers like someone who is on level, but out of the formation. Tracking away early makes it impossible for the group to know where you are. If you manage to get 2500 feet low on a formation, you are probably not on your belly. You would be about 12 seconds lower than everyone else. That's quite an accomplishment. You would rock at hybrids. Most people who go low will stay within 100 feet of a formation, usually much closer. - Dan G