DSE

I understand your position, Ron. Next time I see a student exhibiting signs of stress just before deployment after 90 seconds of freefall, I'm gonna make him get back in the aircraft and ride it down. I'm with Ron. You said he was exhbiting signs of stress (ergo not breathing) on the tracking jump. I would have sorted that before moving onto a more complex skydive. No, I didn't say that. The first sign of not breathing was near deployment time on the wingsuit jump/first flight. His tracking dive was near perfect. Grant had a good point; it's great to be discussing small tricks like the tictacs, jaw relaxation, etc that some folks have brought up (IMO). Armchair quarterbacking a student that you haven't observed and several on the DZ did, that did a very, very good first flight is a little silly. To suggest a breath strip is "magical" is irrational. To suggest the student is superstitious and needed a breath strip is irrational as well. Coincidentally, one of the Brit CI's here did the same thing with one of his guys working on his consols. I need to tell him that he should ground his student. Perhaps the threat of leaving Southern California for the UK weather might be enough to scare the shit out of him so he breathes right.

Niklas Daniel is a very talented photographer. We did this in 70kts winds at 10k. I'm flying a PD Silhouette 190 (undersized for the job with 30lbs of shot in the leading edge) and he's flying my PD Storm 150. The photos will be out soon, but the short of it is, Jordan Emrick was a skydiver here at Elsinore. Jordan Byrd is a young man from my very small hometown. I also wanted to recognize Native American vets and servicepeople, so the small flag flown beneath the larger flag is a Native Veteran's flag. Airtwardo remotely helped me with the setup, but he doesn't really know that yet. Simple stuff for many here, but it was a moving moment for me Thanks Nik, for making this happen. Thank you Jordan, for your goofy smile and super fun personality. You've left a hole in the sky. My blog has more of the story and other pix

I understand your position, Ron. Next time I see a student exhibiting signs of stress just before deployment after 90 seconds of freefall, I'm gonna make him get back in the aircraft and ride it down.

More like 3-4 jumps, and it had become a joking matter by the 3-4th jump. He was barrel rolling, gainer exits, and all sorts of "normal" stuff (that we don't move on to until the belly flight is solid from exit to deployment) by jump 10. I suspect the strong mint in his throat changed up how the air felt to him, maybe it cleared a nasal passage, maybe it just gave off a "clean fresh feeling." A massive mountain is being made out of a molehill, and I sincerely regret thinking that the concept might be of benefit to anyone that wasn't in-person. Kinda like the president making an off-hand comment and then CNN, MSN, etc spend 3 days talking about the psychological reasons that the president likes red vs green jellybeans. Pops got it, it's just a focus mechanism that allows a student to do his task once an obstacle has been removed. Kinda weird how that stuff works, but it does. People use "talismans" of one kind or another all the time, and if a minor diversion such as a tic-tac or breath strip helps overcome a minor issue, all I can say is "GREAT!" When I was going through my AFF course, I had my own idiosyncracy that made the examiner laugh at me, puzzled him (and the evaluators) but it worked.

For what kind of instruction? VASST has videos for Tandem Video Editing training, Norman Kent's Camera Flying training, Chris Gay Canopy Control, Justin Shorb on Wingsuits 101 and Backflying... The Pier media on emergencies is really good, there are several good videos on packing. The Skydive University stuff on sit and backflying is pretty good...

you're absolutely right. I owe the thread an apology, shouldn't have been drawn in. Points to take away (IMO); ~Be creative when you've got challenging students. ~Assess your student's abilities to cope with situations. ~Never be afraid to ask a more experienced instructor for help, but be sure he understands the student before any creative opportunities are dismissed. In reality vs the internet, an instructor will ascertain the mental and physical state of a student. Some students don't know what they don't know (hate that phrase) and the coach or instructor needs to work to help them find the real, yet also understand that a motivated student won't be held back. Find a way to help them move down their road while building in safeguards. Skydiving is supposed to be first and foremost, safe. Second to that, and not far off is FUN, right?!

composition is composition, whether it's music or imagery, but your allegory is better than mine anyway.

Imager size plays a huge role, internal DSP is critical, compression method/format/codec (video) makes all the difference in the world, glass is far and away more important. Give me a 3.5Mp camera with great glass and a .25 imager over a 14Mp camera with plastic and a .06 imager...I'll be more happier.

A 50 second freefly skydive is much easier to get away with no breathing vs a 90 second WS flight. The issue was hidden/inobvious during his assessment dive (tracking) and didn't become apparent until after he'd exited the aircraft in a wingsuit. He wasn't entirely aware of his problem before this jump either. Call it ego, call it whatever. My student had an issue. We found a solution. I figured someone else might benefit from the solution. You figured I'm a moron and an arrogant prick for trying to help a student achieve their goal. Somewhere in between is likely where you'll find the answer. Curious how silent you were when an "instructor" failed ot do gear checks and the student died but a Listerine strip has your ass in flames.

Jeb, it doesn't matter if you're successful, doesn't matter if it's seemingly impossible, and doesn't matter if no one else "gets it." You're chasing your dream, pushing the envelope, attempting to change up some aspect of the game. As long as no one else is at risk without foreknowledge, I submit it's a worthwhile endeavor. Take risks, have fun, succeed enough to do it again.

Kinda funny how folks quote only resolutions. Resolution is only a quarter the story. Photographers will always be photographers. GuitarHero doesn't make for "musicians" any more than a tiny camera makes for a photographer. And in skydiving, the danger of a camera is more about the distraction than the physical object. The mental affect has more impact than the physical risk.

I appreciate you correcting me. I feel silly about the student's success because the risks truly did outweigh the benefits. His joy and achievement was not worth the potential dangers a Listerine strip presented and was not worth the potential dangers that a tense body might experience. After all the drills we did on the ground, I truly thought he'd breathe in-flight. I'm so embarrassed I didn't see the signs that said "He's gonna have problems because he's not gonna breathe." I'd like to know more about how you teach so that you're 110% confident that your students will perform perfectly, thus never requiring corrective training. I feel even more silly that I thought others might benefit from how I managed this student. Mea culpa, I'm embarrassed. I just don't know what I was thinkin'. I'm curious, what was the specific danger presented from your perspective? He did great on his tracking dive prior to the first wingsuit skydive, which is when he and I both discovered that he was holding his breath (and couldn't hold it for the whole wingsuit dive due to the longer time). We assessed his skills, it appeared he was fine. What signs did I miss, and how should I have prepared to deal with those signs? In other words, I couldn't put him back in the plane after that FFC exit. What would YOU have done?

I didn't "go off" Ron, I'm laughing at you. Armchair instructing...That's funny stuff. I can only imagine what you'd say if you knew that a couple of us are working to help a paraplegic guy figure out wingsuit flight, too. He should stay on the ground because his legs don't work? Students present unique challenges. Yes...it fulfills my ego to find solutions to their challenges and help them achieve their goals. You s pit out the word "ego" like it's a bad thing. But if it props _your_ ego to be able to armchair quarterback a wingsuit student...good on ya!

Do you know the approximate RPM in these images?

According to their site, 50lbf of thrust on the larger engines, and cost for a setup is around 10K, so not all that expensive. Baird (US manufacturer) wanted nothing to do with this conversation about a year back, but they are considerably less costly. Kinda like IronMan, yeah?

Wait'll you feel it open in fat near ocean air... It'll feel like silk.

nicely edited, sweetly shot, damn...I'd like to do this one day.

Yep, you know we both do the same thing... But with this student...all failed on both FFC jumps. This person was a lot like that larger student we swapped back in Sept. Wish I'd seen the mint strip back then.

Chicago to LAX or Long Beach is cheep. Same with Midway to Orange County. We'll come pick you up, and the bunkhouse here is pretty nice.

A problem revealed itself duing a skydive. A solution to the problem was discovered. The student went on to be successful and developed a response to the problem that worked for him. Isn't that the primary reason we seek out instructors? Some instructors are mental mechanics, while others take the easy road and don't facilitate achievement because it's just "too hard" to try to find avenues for success.

RealXtream wasn't even a dream nor a glimmer in the eye when Broadcast Assistant (now Production Assistant) was born, so get your facts straight. Funny how the interface looks identical to ours, so it'll be an interesting discussion between Sony and RXT. And that said, I can say nothing more other than it's sad a skydiver would rip off a product almost word for word, feature for feature.

Exhaling just before deployment can help too. A lot of jumpers take a sharp inhale just before pulling, and this tenses the body. The tension carries to the harness which translates to lines... Exhaling just prior to pulling relaxes the body

But for D's it's pack open by 2K not exit @ 2K.... And with the approval of the S&TA, one could get out @ 2K. Remember when Jay did his 600 jump event? He went to 2.1 on each jump just to be sure he was USPA compliant for pack opening.

That is AMAZING! You can read something on the internet from X miles away and render a diagnosis that fast! Wish I could be that good. I'm of the more clumsy variety; I stumble through my student's challenges to help them find a path of success. Ready or not, the guy went from being frightened by a wingsuit to barrel rolls, front loops, and backflying with decent stability in roughly 15 jumps. He's proud of himself for overcoming the challenge, as am I.

I've seen a couple AFF students not breathe in the skydive. Problem with them (and my wingsuit student) is you can't give em' anything that doesn't dissolve immediately. They should inhale and choke... There are several mechanisms through which you can help the student remember to breathe (one AFFI I know would punch the student in the hip very hard). I tried my arsenal. I'm hopeful this thread might raise more answers than a breath strip.