DSE

Interesting article on that topic. It's a year old but still relevant. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/744199---israelification-high-security-little-bother?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4ce0361af7973d2e%2C0 thank you for that link. It well-describes the experiences I've had in the airports mentioned previously. With all the TSA security breaches, I wonder how long it'll take for some TSA guy/gal to create a reel of "look what I see at work" and post it anonymously on YouTube? Please write your representatives? It only takes a few minutes and doesn't need to be lengthy.

I'm not sure where this belief comes from. I fly El Al with some regularity. I've never had my groin touched, even as recent as a couple months ago. I've had a bad experience at Ben Gurion, but it wasn't in feeling me up. It was electronic gear-related. Sweden has an excellent record and system, and it's as psychological as anything. I hate the full body scanners, mostly because I've heard a couple TSA people (skydivers) making comments about penis and breasts they see, and a general disdain for people that dont' like the security procedures. IMO, I'd *much* rather fly in Singapore, Israel, Sweden, Bahrain than fly in the USA. Less intrusive, more professional, and you know you're not dealing with a minimum wage moron that couldn't find a job anywhere else.

of course I did. Thanks for the catch. Given the source is VHS, composite is likely all Ron will need. ADS, Convergent, and Pinnacle all make composite cards with component, but they're 150.00. The Dazzle, the KWorld, Startec are all around 40.00 and are composite only.

Great times here at S'nore today. Man...I was excited when I opened up and saw Dennis Sattler only a short distance ahead of me. His lightweight and Xbird plus experience were definitely in the top spots to beat. As I turned towards the dropzone, I watched (with disappointment) as Cate Henegan opened up a good 500' beyond both Dennis and I. She has been flying a Raptor, so she should have been easy to beat, but then she pulled out her newly-washed V3. I wasn't in the running for a slot, so Cate and Dennis took First and Second place respectively. Cate graciously donated her 50% off a PF prize to the Second place winner who donated it to the Third Prize winner. It was like Christmas for OJ Tahiti/Briaud who came in third. He received the gift certificate for a PF suit on his 5th wingsuit skydive. He's a monster tracker, so it was no surprise he was close. Joel Hindman took fourth place to win the L&B Viso altimeter. The other folks...better luck next time. Everyone did well, including Annie who competed in a PF Tracking suit. Other than heights, the load was evenly matched with everyone but Cate, Dennis, Annie, and myself wearing Phantom2 wingsuits. Matt was wearing my P2, as was OJ wearing my other P2. I'm really glad I wasn't behind Gary/Jewbag with his bright red c**k embroidered on the tail. thanks for a really fun day, gang.

Component vid input cards are cheap cheap. Even Walmart sells them. Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere, Canopus Edius, ULead Video studio all capture analog input over component or SVid. Buy a card that goes in a computer slot or buy one that is an external box that outputs over USB. Even Windows Movie Maker can manage this.

You have a very valid point. However, in a WS skydive that lasts longer than 60 seconds, you might find your sudden new need to breathe a problem if you haven't been breathing up to that point.

You said earlier your debrief was about breathing, what did you guys discuss about the cause of him holding his breath? Each question you've asked in both posts has been already asked and answered. You still haven't provided your solution.

I knew he wasn't breathing by the tenseness he exhibited a few seconds before pull time. He wasn't unstable, it was just "one of those things" you learn to look for.

Kinda suprised you didn't know that kinesthesthetics and isometrics have been part of skydiving instruction for nearly two decades. Big words, but also part of the USPA Coach rating program. I'm sure you can sound em' out, Glenn.

Because you lied to them and gave them a placebo. It may have worked well for that situation and for that individual, but to suggest it is a good instructional technique for everybody in this situation is a very bad idea. It is part of the job of an instructor to ascertain the difficulties the student is having, explain it to the student so they have a good understanding of what is happening to them, reduce their anxiety and make sure they understand and react properly. Your suggstion is basically lying to them, and giving them a pill and hope it fixes their problem. Correct me if I am wrong but that is plain old lazy. You sure you're an instructor? Really? A good instructor has a "toolbox." They know how to use their "tools" with different personalities. To suggest that a humorous comment to a student while holding a package of Listerine strips is a "lie" is beyond absurd....get a grip.

I have an idea. Let's take wingsuit students that can't exit from full altitude without holding their breath and exit them from say....5K (cuz it's easy to do 45 seconds from 5K). Except beginning WS deploy at 5.5. Next level back from a WS skydive is a tracking skydive. Student performs very, very well in a tracking skydive. Taking him back to where he already performs very well isn't going to help his confidence, isn't going to change up his thought process, and will perhaps have exactly the opposite effect and demotivate him. So, what do you suggest be done with the student? And...how do you fault the success of the effort? So long as safety isn't compromised in any way, why is the means of achievement a problem?

Nice find I shoot Canon with Nikon lenses. What does that make me?

Do the other programs have a syllabus that is readily viewable for a non instructor? Is the syllabus online for each program or available on the website? Powerpoints? Videos? Tests? Lesson Plans? Is the info out there for someone to take a look at each of the programs in depth, including the training material and make a decision on which is better and why? If not, why? From a Safety standpoint I would think the training info would be shared if that was the main concern. FWIW, I am involved in training Air Traffic Controllers in the FAA, as a facility training instructor, On the job training instructor and union training representative besides my normal ATC duties... I have a *decent* grasp of what it takes to train individuals to succeed, if they have the ability. Of course, that's probably the reason I have little motivation to do any kind of instructing in my hobbies. However, if I change my mind otherwise, I'd like to take a look at each of these syllabus (syllabi?) and make my own judgement call before I committed to a course, Sfly, Phoenix Fly, Birdman, Etc... Is it possible? _justin No. The training material is not available in entirety online because if it were, there would be people out there giving themselves FFC's, and that's not something we're willing to be responsible for. It's also why there is no FFC in the Flock University "Wingsuits 101" training DVD. The information is readily available to PFC's via PFC/E's. The new SIM contains most of the PF syllabus, but of course the SIM lacks instructional methodology.

I didn't realize Private Message were to become public, so we'll try this with a little more specific information. You indicated your buddy has been blessed by his S&TA to do FFC's, that's great. From the PF perspective, He still won't know the exits, the didactics, the kinesthetics, isometrics, EP's, and the very short, simple, specific exercises that students go through that have dramatically increased the success of FFC's. There are specific exercises to teach symmetrical pull strength for deployment. This reduces instability and potential for linetwist. There are muscle memory techniques applied to help the student learn body position without the words "body position" being used at any time. There's a lot more.... Teaching an FFC takes 45-90 minutes depending on the student's acumen. Since the candidate must learn how to teach the ground course and then teach it (sometimes more than once), there's roughly 4 hours right there. Then we get into exits and other related techniques. They are repetitively practiced, Keywords taught and tested. Written exam. Demonstration of rigging suits (in my course here, it's rigging Tony, PF, and Birdman, both zip and lace up) all take time. Then the candidate has 3 jumps to get two satisfactory scores overall on the eval sheet. Candidates learn how to get "there" faster, where to fly for the best observance, how to scan the body in flight for better debriefings (what are you looking for when you're scanning), and where to be for optimal safety with emphasis on the point of deployment. Both candidate and examiner fly with cameras for best debrief information. Most of the candidates I've had go through the course have done at least one/two practice jumps prior to the evals. That takes time. Candidates also learn in-aircraft behavior and procedures, ground safety, and more. All related to the FFC. 60% of what the candidate learns in this course is never spoken to the FFC student, it's background info that makes for a more confident, knowledgeable, organized PFC. When the candidate comes out of the course, they'll know a lot more about their skills than they did going in. It's quite similar to the AFF course in many, many ways. The USPA Coach Course makes it a LOT easier to comprehend and move through the PFC course. Hopefully this explains why the PFC course takes more than a couple of hours on the ground.

If your friend is too busy to post or email a question, then he's perhaps not a good candidate to become a coach? dse@dropzone.com Have him send me an email. I'll cheerfully, professionally, and enthusiastically answer all his questions.

My apologies to Mike, who I confused with Mick. Either way, I was referring to your earlier comment about Swoopware in my mind, whether you comprehended it that way or not. You suggested we ripped off RXT or Swoopware, I clarified. Keep pushing...

[edited to remove Glenn's quote] Not gonna rise to your (again) bait, Glenn, except to say I'll bet $150.00 you cannot pass the PFC course with your current knowledge and/or flying skills. The days of the Wingsuit Instructor #1"deploy this way and we're on a 10 minute call, suit up" school of wingsuiting doesn't fly, at least not at the DZ's I teach at. Enough people have died due to the "I do OK" method of teaching.

This bears repeating. I've seen him in action with FAA folks, and he is very knowledgeable, personable, and capable. Rich, congrats!! Looking forward to jumping at your place this spring.

She is still here in Elsinore running the Square 1 store. She is gorgeous and wonderful as ever, in excellent health and humor.

Not quite, and for purposes of clarification (legal issue), I was referring to Swoopware being similar to PA. I've been asked to not comment further on the matter.

A coupla PM's from people that saw this on CNN this morning. It was a nice feeling to know it's being seen out there.

dick-swinging needed again. please re-read my post(s). We talked about why he didn't breathe. We talked about and then repetitively dirt-dived both physical and kinesthetic exercises. He felt he was prepared. We did another jump (testing the application as planned and taught), and while it was better, it wasn't to either of our expectations. Alternative techniques were applied. We did another jump. He was successful. He indicated he didn't know he wasn't breathing/was holding his breath until this first jump. He has been doing FF jumps with coaches, and no one had caught this before, probably because an FF jump is significantly shorter than a WS jump. He wasn't stressing over a WS, wasn't feeling emotions brought on from incidents when he was 3 years old, wasn't releasing suppressed memories, and he wasn't afraid of a turn. I can easily understand how your approach might create stress for someone. Good for you that you helped your student over come that stress. Others would have just turned her away. Some people function at higher levels of tension than others. He was never acting in an unsafe manner, wasn't a danger to himself or others, and wasn't in any way being problematic. He merely wasn't entirely meeting the goals we'd set out to achieve at the start of the skydive coaching process. Perhaps the shortest way to express it (again) is that he had difficulty relaxing. We found a temporary technique that worked to permanently achieve those goals, even if you don't agree with it. I'm glad we're both passionate about resolving our student's issues. If nothing else, this thread demonstrates dedication, if not maturity. Either way, his problem is resolved. Next time I'll try Dumbo's feather. That's a novel approach.

So you did take a student knowing there were stressors, after you'd worked on the ground with them and believed you'd removed the stress. I did the same. You were successful with your effort, as was I.

Point taken. Same question; Student has issues in the air. You observe them. You work with them to correct or change the issue during ground work. After the ground work where they appear to be entirely prepared, what do you do next?

Yes, I did. Deep breath, see if you can figure this out. Student has issues in the air. You observe them. You work with them to correct or change the issue during ground work. After the ground work where they appear to be entirely prepared, what do you do next?