DSE

These work. They're used for cutting Kevlar for road cases/production.

We can see a Walmart superstore and a Walmart distribution center.

I have. So have most of the people that have commented so far. BillyVance possibly has a hard-on for ASC. Like most skydivers probably do, as well as the State of Georgia. However, your own descriptions suggest that this demo likely shouldn't have happened under the conditions in which it did. The conditions aren't really about the landing quality, it seems last minute decisions were made that compromised the safety of the performers. You pointed out the GK that biffed it. Sure...pro's biff it. But pro's don't jump into landing areas they haven't seen before, and pro's carry extra smoke, streamers, or whatever necessary, don't they? That said, with your experience, do you feel you're in a position to say whether it should or should not have taken place? Closing comment....IMO, it's not about "making the best of the situation at hand." It's about making the opportunity the best it can be before it becomes a situation. Good luck with the next one.

I'm only now working on my Pro rating, so all of this is dead center in front of my face, take it for what it's worth. It's not as easy to achieve as one might think. It hurts like hell to hit nine of the pre-declareds and then be arrogant enough to think that a higher wind shouldn't be a problem for the tenth. It doesn't matter if George W, Elvis, or God himself is waiting for skydivers, a landing area that hasn't been previously checked out shouldn't be used according to the recommendations. Do any of the four have Pro ratings? Even though it's not a stadium, your description sounds like an enclosed landing area. ...the first three got away without injury. And looked poor in the process. Either of those first two could have turned out much worse. Professionalism and skill aren't why they weren't worse, IMO. It was the lack of a gopher hole, rock, earth depression, whatever unknown that could have made it worse. If the bulldozer was in place for the pre-determined landing area, could it not have been moved? Would "Rather than put our safety at risk, we'd prefer to either use the landing area we pre-determined in the direction we need to, or we need to not leave the plane" been appropriate to ask? At a recent demo we couldn't use smoke. Crepe streamers on the ground worked just fine. If the situation was out of control enough that the police couldn't keep the crowd in the designated area, should the demo have still occurred? I'd sure like to read Airtwardo's comments.

I'm not understanding...what does turning points have to do with coached student jumps?

Even without the comment, the dirt blows in the direction of landing, and in the first two landings, it appears that the canopy partially reinflates. Maybe it was very light winds that shifted after takeoff? No ground smoke to indicate wind direction? Good thing they weren't wearing white.

Or; a-maybe they preferred you to jump solo because you're an unknown quantity at their DZ. b-perhaps they didn't have anyone free with a D license to jump with you. If you have a current AFF instructor with you that they wouldn't allow you to jump with, then something sounds very strange. Which DZ wouldn't allow a nonlicensed skydiver to jump with a current AFFI? $100.00 for a coach jump?? Where? I wanna live there.

New Cypres come in small zipper bags just a bit bigger than an iPod. Good for storing the Cypres parts, iPod, or other small items, and apparently good for carrying a radio on a chest strap.

or maybe USPA develops a "coach lite" program that doesn't involve air-work, and only involves teaching briefing/debriefing, and how to speak to a student. I didn't have coach jumps, just jumps with a guy that was "what the hell were you doing? Didn't you see me doing XXX(insert hand motion here)? Maybe it's time to lobby the USPA to change the rules. But for the time being, the rules are what they are. That said, everyone who has paid for coach jumps when they were a non-licensed student, raise your hands. I haven't ever charged for a coach jump, have had a very few jump tickets paid for by two people in particular that repeatedly requested I jump with them, and have never recieved a dime as a coach. At this rate, my rating expenses might pay themselves off (financially) around the year 2075. Spiritually, emotionally, and socially...it paid for itself the day I jumped with my first student.

I don't disagree that there are bad coaches out there. Guy in my class had 200 jumps, passed the written, passed the air evals no sweat. He's very current. 'Nother guy with 700+ jumps had to cheat on the written test, didn't do so hot on his first evals. Then his friend passed him off. One is a great instructor, one isn't. Who knows...I might suck too, and just don't know it. But... IMO, the coach rating is more about the rating holder than anything else. He/she chased knowledge, and I feel that's much of what the rating is about; becoming better and prepping for the next steps. Being a coach forces one to either observe and communicate or go home when it comes to jumping with students. At the end of the day, does the student learn more from the coach or the 10K experienced guy? Maybe as much or more from the coach, simply because (assuming the coach *really* passed the course), the coach has a better set of tools with which to teach. That doesn't mean he/she can fly better than the 10K jumper, it only means he/she has been given tools to help them teach better. There again, there may be (and likely is) that 10K experienced guy that naturally possesses these same teaching skills. Not every DZ has the 10K jumpers that will jump with the newbies. Many (and I'd wager most) don't. My first trip to Perris? Nightmarish, even though I asked manifest to help me out. Similar story at a couple other DZ's. Of course, I'll likely change my opinion when I reach 10K jumps.

The Search Tool can be your friend. LOTS of pix of home-grown boxes here.

That's correct. You can obtain this rating if you pay your money, take the course, and pass the exams both aerial and written. If you don't have the rating, then it doesn't affect you. If you do have the rating, it paves the way for AFF and Tandem instruction. Believe it or not, some folks like having ratings, certifications, lambskin on their walls, if for no other reason than demonstrating that they've taken an active effort to improve themselves and their knowledge. Is it really so worthy of your disdain? The issue here isn't whether one has to be coach-rated or not to jump with unlicensed skydivers, it's a question of whether a D rating should be required.

Eagles don't flock, but they pair. I'm working on it...hoping to become skilled enough for one of your advanced suits soon.

Never owned an Odyssey, but jumped a couple...I chose Voodoo because of the fit, the rock solid container design (riser covers don't ever open, well protected for freefly, extremely comfortable, and probably the most important reason of all, the customer service has been fabulous with RI. I recently purchased a Talon FX, new model. I received the first shipping model to a customer. As much as I loved it, I got a phone call one day from them saying "We've modified our design a little, we'd like your container back for a day." They modified the container (can't tell how) repacked the reserve, cleaned it up a bit, and overnighted it back to me after having paid for it to be overnighted to them. Zero jumping days lost. then they followed up the modification with a phone call and email "How is it fitting/flying?" I love the vented backpad (Odyssey has this available too, I think), and find it a must for the hot summer months. Back to the Voodoo, the narrower yoke feels sweet on the shoulders, the container feels much smaller than it actually is (V4), and it's easy to close.

Coincidentally, I wore my wings on a 182 today. No different in pressure overall than rear float exit climbout. Yes, I feel wind in my wings, but it's nothing unmanageable. You should pay for my jump ticket; I wore em' just to check this out for you.

Sounds like you did great, congrats for passing. Who is your instructor there? The "flaring thing" is pretty important, but between your instructors commands and getting a little more experience, it'll come pretty quickly.

Same at Skydive Utah. Someone (multiple) always watching the landing pattern for cutaways, adherance to the pattern, safe landings, and yes...it will be noted if you hit or are near the tuffet. Just ask, someone will video your landing. And while you're in the air...most of the folks will be able to tell you what you were doing when you hit the ground; recalling the skydive is fairly ingrained during training. Our manifest always attempts to pair low number jumpers with someone experienced. If you're not having these sorts of experiences at your DZ, you might want to look at another DZ.

Nope, didn't miss it. It's sandwiched right between "I'mtotally fine jumping alone" and "I'm not bored jumping alone yet" with the post-ceding paragraphs entirely about how good it is to jump alone. "I want to develop" is different than "I am developing." Maybe he meant something different, but the post is pretty clear that; a-I want to jump alone b-jumping alone is good. c-you should feel OK about jumping alone because I do. d-don't listen to coaches, instructors and other jumpers telling you that you should be jumping with someone else. ..."I want to develop fall rate and docking" Someday. Kinda contra-puntal, don't you think? No one has suggested he develop 4 way centerpoint turns, or anything similar. As the post says "There is a lot to learn that no one has considered yet." Those considerations are more accurately taken from a reference point in the sky, IMO.

You're right. I'm not disagreeing with you. When a jumper is working on RW and other skills afterwards, then they are learning as much as they can in a single jump and that is excellent. I just don't see it happen too often. At least, people don't talk about it. All you really hear about someone's jump is what went wrong or went great from exit to separation. So are they doing anything else? Maybe, but most, I don't think so. then maybe you need to visit a different DZ. After *every* jump with a low-number jumper, I debrief them, we watch the vid, and discuss the jump. I'm confident that most of the folks here have experienced this. That's what good teachers, mentors, instructors, leaders, more advanced skydivers do, IMO. Either way, as Bill, myself, and several others have pointed out, jumping solo doesn't teach you much with regard to freefall skill. Canopy skills....sure. And canopy skills are important. But if you're jumping by yourself, you'll not learn the skills you need for 2, 3, 4, 10, 16 ways, camera work, or anything else that involves others. If nothing else, it's poor advice for lower number jumpers.

Not like one can on a high hop and pop or by pulling high on a solo. Yeah, I am. And don't call me Shirley. We all start with no rw jumps. If you know that someone has no rw jumps you design a dive accordingly, right? I don't see a difference between someone with 100 jumps and 10 rw jumps and someone with 40 jumps and 10 rw jumps... except for the fact that the one with 100 jumps is more likely to be able to pull off a stable exit and less likely to run into me under canopy. OK Shirley if we're gonna play the if/then game, we can't have a discussion. If the student is doing H n' P's and not altitude jumps, then it's a different scenario. But that's not what Chris nor the OP were talking about, right? I stand firmly convinced that a skydiver with 100 solo jumps is likely more dangerous and/or less knowledgeable on his first RW jump than a skydiver with 30 jumps who has been jumping relative to another person for the vast majority of their skydives. You're right, the person with the 100 skydives is likely to have better canopy skills than the guy with 30 jumps, but to me, that doesn't matter, because the person with 100 skydives can't land anywhere near the area that I land. So if I'm jumping with that guy, then I don't worry because we're landing in different areas designated by skills. So, if we're talking H n' P's then we're talking a different story. if we're talking about high pulls, then we're talking a different story. If we're talking about the OP, then none of these points matter...

I guess one can't work on canopy skills after a 2,3 4 way freefall? You missed the point entirely. Someone who jumps solo for several dozen or hundred jumps has a much greater propensity for funneling, running into, injuring, (insert descriptive here) another skydiver in a relative work jump than does another skydiver with an equal amount or potentially fewer relative work jumps in most situations. Surely you're not disputing this? Of course the potential is there when someone ahs 50 jumsp. And the potential is there when someone has 5000 jumps. But the person with 25 relative jumps is probably less likely to create a problem than the guy with 100 solo jumps.

A MacBook Pro is more or less configured out of the box to be optimized. iMovie is really all you *need*. FCS is great, with a steep learning curve, Premiere is the same. Long form, you'll eventually move out of iMovie.

So in other words, you have no clue as to how well you fly relative to others. It's also a good opportunity to learn bad/dangerous habits that may well affect others. If no one is around to correct you, then you, and no one else, is aware of your bad habits. Next thing you know, you've got a couple hundred jumps, go on a 4 way, and potentially funnel it badly enough to hurt someone. Nanobyte, this is a prime example of why you want to speak to your instructors and experienced skydivers at your dropzone and until you've gained a great deal more experience yourself, ignore 90% of what you read on DZ.com.

that's a good "want." I made the mistake of jumping for too many jumps on my own, and didn't progress as fast as I could/should have for the first 50 or so jumps. Once I started jumping with coaches, friends, and people with much greater experience, the learning factor was exponential. Nanobyte, why do you think the instructors were "pissed off" because you learned "so fast?" If you did learn that fast, it's a reflection on your instructors as much as it might be a reflection on you.

I'm using a nearly 2 year-old Mseries with 2.0GHz proc, or on occasion, my MacBook Pro running bootcamp. I've also installed a dual AMD desktop, FWIW, for an editor that works at the DZ on occasion. I don't use him, however, the times I reported are mine. He's marginally faster. Minimum specs? 2GHz proc or faster, 2GB of RAM, faster HDD is better that larger but slower HDD. Make sure that the 'puter is stripped of startup garbage, particularly be sure antivirus is never running when you're editing/capturing/rendering vid. Use an external HDD for the best workflow, IMO. Using a SATA card vs USB or 1394 will give you faster results, but it chews up/uses a PCMCIA card, which costs. Most off-the-shelf laptops are capable of editing video reasonably well, but not optimal for editing vid. A custom or at least somewhat modified laptop always gives best results.