DougH

Any update from the rumor mill. I need to buy a new handicam setup. Glove, 2 camera mount, two new GoPro's. Probably have to pull the trigger no matter what, but I would hate to buy two new 3+'s the day before the 4 releases and miss out on the price drop. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Movies and cheaper vehicles basically ended hitch hiking. Listened to a pretty interesting article about the demise of hitch hiking. They claimed that instances of bad things happening to drivers or hitch hikers was very low. At the time it was relatively safe, just based on the odds, and the fact that despite higher occurrence of hitch hiking the people hitching and the people giving rides were generally average safe people. Then movies came along and scared the hell out of people, and more people had access to alternative ways of getting around. I will pick up people sometimes. I normally drive by them, give a visual check, and then swing a u-turn. I am more likely to pick-up a well traveled looking person with a back pack than I am some young person with no gear. Safe bet that the hobo grizzly adams looking guy is just trying to get further up the road. But I always have a gun on my person to even the odds. RE what Andy said, if they pull a gun on me then I get to play holywood stunt man and drive in to a tree. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

No, the parents snuck out in the middle of the night and did the deed in the out house. Super outhouse blumpkin! That might be even more heinous than a porta blumpkin! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

X1000! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Depends on how liberal your course director is with the requirements. I have seen people use their first tandem as their starting point which was followed by a long break before actual sport jumping started. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Did he say Ted Strong? Because the quotes you posted say Strong only, which is how many Strong Enterprise tandem instructors refer to the legal entity as, Strong. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

There is no reason for the hand to be anywhere near the front of the students chest on opening. Close hand, open hand, full grope, or totally innocent, it really doesn't matter. Reaching around to hug or contain a student adds zero to the safety factor. You run the risk of them grabbing your arm, and introduce the opportunity of making the student feel uncomfortable about improper behavior. Properly adjust the harness, fly your body. After opening explain very clearly if you need to reach around to loosen a chest strap. Even if there was zero groping going on the TI is an idiot for put himself in a position that it could be viewed as inappropriate, especially in pictures and video product! We are professionals, conduct your jumps in the most professional way possible! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Amazing how every single topic in here is fair game for a douchy pissing match. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Yeah, as far as skydiving use goes, that is just retarded. I guess that means we will be seeing them soon on 100 jump wonders as soon as they are ready, combined with aluminum mounts and GoPro tethers! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Cutaway, no. Ballistic student release system, yes. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Nice. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Does this dropzone not have hanging harnesses with dummy toggles and steering lines? Was the student not told what colour the toggles are? I am not surprised. People can process information in funny ways, even when properly instructed, and even when their knowledge is evaluated prior to their jump. I know an experienced jumper who unstowed his brakes which were left stowed all through opening and flying his pattern, to flare just in time for landing. Pretty bad landing but this jumper has some magical rubber characteristics and was unharmed. This occurred because someone else mentioned that you could use your risers to make turns after opening, and didn't have to unstow your brakes right away. I know students who have chopped perfectly good canopies because under pressure they confused their instruction about the slider coming down, and it wouldn't go back up. I have seen people come back from canopy courses that insist that they should fly their lightly loaded canopies 99% of the time with harness input because they heard during the canopy course that harness turns were one of the cleanest forms of canopy input. People do whacky stuff! People take a huge batch of information and often only retain one piece of it, and often take that one piece of information out of context! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Is this a state by state thing? Need to ask an acquaintance who owns a funeral home and just opened a crematory. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Don't drop a brass urn on someones house or car and you will be all set. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I wonder what went wrong that he thought it was better to bail out than to try to put it down on the highway/shoulder. They keep emphasizing how severe the crash was, yeah duh, aircraft don't tend to land well sans pilot input! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

We discussed this one a few months back.

Tried jamming on my old bonehead boomerang this weekend, while hooking up with a student on my knees in the back of the 182. Student was behind the pilot seat. Barely any room, and awkward as all hell! Glad it was a IAF student that had a few jumps, and not a first time tandem student! Thinking maybe it would be better with a open face that I left on the whole flight and prescription gators or similar. Right now I am jumping with contacts and have snug goggles that I try to put on right before getting the door. Winter gloves, having to pop on my goggles and then the helmet, and having handicam. Too much stuff to f' with! Guessing most of you full face guys are in bigger planes, I can't imagine having much room to flip the visor up while hooking up and going over the jump one last time. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Plane would have been diving after they let them out, at least per their story. He claimed the plane was below them, and that they were the highest jumpers. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Smells like a lawyer. Please excuse me if I am making an incorrect assumption. That being said it reeks of someone trying to ascertain that a specific rule wasn't complied with. First post on DZ.com, asking about rules. Axe to grind, opening statements to prepare? Maybe a less threatening account name was in order. Like... AxeGrinder, or AmbulanceChaser. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Thanks Tom! Great point! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Smart man! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am considering moving to using a hard helmet on all of my 182 tandems this year. I noticed that they now have a Benny Advanced which has audible pockets, and it is pretty damn cheap at around 75 bucks. It also looks like it offers protection further down the back of the head. But maybe that is a negative when trying to look up and back? Knock on wood I haven't banged my head yet if you don't count the occasional overzealous head but or getting bumped into the ceiling a bit on hook up. I would appreciate any input, thanks! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Could you pull it off safely? Yes, with decent flying skills, getting a proper briefing, and using your brains. Can you kill or maim yourself, the instructor, your friend, or all of the above? Yes, it has happened in the past. The recommendations are there for a reason. They may exclude people that could safely jump with a tandem, but better to have the high bar than put a student at risk. You may not have decent flying skills, you may fly like a tunnel instructor but be dumb as a box of rocks. Better to just stick by the rules and not have exercise case by case judgement. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Boogers is out of style! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

There goes feeling special. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P