DougH

NO, THAT IS THE MAD SKILLZ. RESPECT! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am having flash backs to that Billy Bob Thornton bad santa movie!! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

You might even have to chew gum and walk at the same time some day! ;) ;) In all seriousness, you have way bigger and more dangerous problems at your drop zone if you are watching all the straight in traffic in your landing area, which is following the pattern, and swoopers regularly drop in down wind. Fuck that! Sounds like a shit show. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Chances are that I can land my canopy barefoot while swooping, and fly barefoot in the tunnel, walk on the net, all of that good stuff multiple times without incident. Maybe even a whole 5 times!!! It still doesn't make it a great idea, or confirm some sort of a safety factor. But hey you are ahead of the curve, and you're avoiding the dreaded danger of an untied sneaker, the bane of all skydiving foot safety!!! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Didn't take enough abuse the last time you posted about your goofy shoe fetish? Look he likes it, he really really likes it. Come back and let us know how the surgery on your foot goes when you get it into a problem with the net and your goofy shoes. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Turn and face the direction the traffic is coming in. If I am watching the traffic I can always dive out of the way, and I am less likely to be dropped in on unexpectedly. I don't necessarily think it is a great idea for someone to land and just sprint off the field either. In a certain sense a static target is easier to avoid then a few people moving dynamically through the landing area. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

That is because at night the punks are normally shooting mostly other punks. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Same on a dual hawk except you don't have separate flare and steer toggles. Both cat eye's get stowed on the white locking loop. That of course is purely hypothetical of course, I can't remember if Strong is still taking the position as manufacturer that only their canopies are approved for use with the Dual Hawk tandem system??! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Just to clarify, I am not a packer, I was a packer at one stage and most people brought their rigs ready to pack. There were a few that never brought it with the excess stowed and when asked about it they didn't want the excess stowed... when i come across this situation i usually like to educate on how dangerous it is and ask again. If they were low time jumpers that didn't know better i would stow the excess or refuse to pack for them if the wouldn't let me. IMHO you sir are out of line for assuming that i take no pride in my work and lazy for expecting a packer to do it for you. All i was saying is if you want your excess stowed, you have to do it yourself, you cannot rely on a packer to do it for you when they are rushed and racing to keep up with demand. How hard is it to do for yourself? I do over 1200 jumps a year and do it on every one. It takes a few seconds. Hey I owe you an apology, I wasn't addressing the bottom part of my quoted response to you, I was addressing it to all the packers that fall into the lazy subset. Packing can be a great job, I really enjoyed doing it, and I took pride in it. There aren't a ton of packing positions, and while it isn't the most coveted position on the DZ, I think it should be filled with people that go above and beyond. Looking back now I can see how you would think I was directing the criticism and harsh words at you. Sorry again. I owe you a beer if we every cross paths. Getting back to the actual conversation at hand, it doesn't take long the customer to stow those things, personally I only pack for myself. That being said I check every part of a rig that I pack. Excess stowed in the field doesn't always make back in stowed. Should I leave one stowed and the other toggle not? I check the toggle settings ever if they were set by the person I am packing for. If I catch one potential problem it was time well spent, good customer service, and good for safety. Sliders uncollapsed in the landing area doesn't always get fully uncollapsed, I open them up! All small expenditures of my time as a packer, and I am doing to the job the best that I can. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Some one please download this and send it to the manuf. and USPA. This asshole shouldn't be a tandem instructor, take his fucking ratings away. Better yet, make him find a new sport. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Fify - not a packers responsibility. Depends on the arrangement. I always preferred to pack tandems and student gear (less so) when I was actively packing. That being said I always packed a sport rig exactly the way I wanted to jump it, because I held myself to standards. If it was someone that wanted to get pack jobs all day on quick turns I would give them two prices, the base pack job if they gave it back pack ready with brakes stowed, excess stowed, slider set, and not in a mess. The next price was if I was doing everything. And if they gave me a stepped through rig with lines tangled and an absolute mess more than once we had a talk about it. IMHO your a douche and should go back to working at McD's to pay for your ramen if your the type of packer that would let a rig go with un-stowed brakes, broken rubber bands, or otherwise shit condition. Take some pride in your work, communicate with your customers, price accordingly. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

No I get that. 206 and up I would grumble and bitch if my only video work was handy cam. 182, I would rather fly handy-cam, than stick it on my students. I like shooting video, even if it has to been inside and on my hand. I like the extra $$$. I like having my ugly mug on still pictures and videos. I think there are equal proportions of individuals that think the turbine business model fits all drop zones. You have a turbine, I am a bit jealous, but I also like my 182 vibe. Outside video doesn't work well with a 182 business model. I am only giving my actual experience having worked at a DZ for two seasons where the passengers were given the handy-cams. I don't support it over the professional rated instructor flying the camera, but some of the negative noise is just unfounded. I wouldn't chose to do that again if given the choice, but my experience was that it was manageable. The students performed just as well compared to the 182 students where I now using handy-cam (all things being otherwise equal, I actually train my students!! shocker!!). They didn't do stupid things because of the camera, they didn't ignore my training, and drop the harness of exit to play Norm Kent. The video product was pretty decent most of the time. Often the video product was profound, because the students chose what they wanted to share, what they wanted to record for their video. Thank god I wasn't the video editor! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Awesome news. I valued that site even as a jumper only with zero hours of flight time under my belt. Welcome back! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Your killing me over here! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Great just what we need, another tandem instructor with an instant gratification problem. Edit - I guess I should retract my comments after reading Jimmy's post which provided more context. That being said I really dislike posts that have the flavor of the quickest way to meet a rating requirement. The right question is what are the best ways to meet that requirement. The requirements are bare bones already! Perfect example time in sport, three years should be 36 active months of currency. To many use a tandem to start the clock, even if there was a long break before they really started jumping. I have also seen a concept of touching 3 years, start in DEC year 1, claim Jan year 3 equals 3 years!! No that is 14 months! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

What made it interesting enough that you bothered to reply? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

After having done both I would rather jump the camera, but why should their arms be swinging around wildly on exit? Why should any students arms be swinging wildly around on exit? Just think about the skydive, use some planning, and actually train them!!! Have them reach across their chest with the un-gloved hand and grab the harness. Have them reach across with the gloved hand, turn their wrist, and put their thumb in the crook of their elbow, with their thumbs wrapped around their forearm and elbow. If you practice this their hands are contained, and they are aiming the camera perfectly to get their facial reaction of the exit. I think more of my students without cameras let go of their harness on exit despite being thoroughly trained, than the students that jumped a camera. The camera students had extra incentive, they wanted to get the shot, so they tried harder to remember the training. And yes I aimed for most of them, but for 95% of them it was easy because I got them on a creeper after they were all geared up including the glove, and I actually showed them an arch and where the hand should be to film. For these people it only took minimal effort to push their arm one way or the other. The other 5% were yoked up block head guys, or terrified women, or some combination of the two, that locked up like a piece of steel and would need an acetylene torch to move even a fraction of an inch! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I know your joking, but some of us don't even have time to take a shot from 3k when we open in (spinning) line twists. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Chances are on a high pull you aren't going to get a spot that would get your gear back to the dz if you chop at exit altitude. Maybe on a cross country, but otherwise good luck getting a dzo/pilot that is going to spend the time on the tach to get you there! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I think you should do some combat RW. You should definitely do some horribly planned Mr. Bills where the shit hits the fan. Maybe some CRW to round out the training. That should have you a little more well rounded for strapping a customer on the front that will sometimes try to kill you, and a rig on your back that has a PCIT by design, and a way bigger decision tree for malfunctions. It wouldn't be a bad idea to pack few hundred tandems to get good knowledge of the gear. Knowledge is power in this area, know how the system works, really know how it works. Your life and your customers life depends on proper operation, especially when things go to shit. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I wish we had a like feature on this website! :thumbsup: "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

She was trying to yank my leg off to see if there was gravy inside!!! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I have the opposite nicest experience... it was the BJ I never received. I was drunk (drunk doesn't begin to describe it honestly) at a boogie and my friends kept me from getting a killer BJ... from a chick that probably would have been a killer had she gotten me alone with her. BOOM. And bobs your uncle. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Wendy, you do know the current system is here because of regulation, right? Fix it this way I have no problem with defining a minimum policy. What that minimum is would be highly debatable but, for the sake of our debate, lets say one is defined that we can both agree on for the most part. So, the minimum is defined At this point, let states establish minimum requirements for insurance sales people Eliminate state barriers to all insurance carriers Tort reform would also be needed At this point, let the carriers fight for the business Prices and costs would drop like a rock from this point forward Very little government needed Let the consumer buy what they want Disagree, tort reform although absolutely necessary, hasn't driven a statistically significant drop in states where it has been instituted. Cost savings aren't going to come because pharma, device makers, and hospitals still have inelastic demand for their products. All the insurers need to band together and tell the health care industry collectively, f off, we aren't paying you 1500 for a colonsocopy, and 100,000 for a hip operation. We are all going to pay you 750, and 25,000, and be happy because that is well above the going rate elsewhere in the world. I don't see this system ever getting fixed anytime soon. We already spend more tax dollars on healthcare WITHOUT nationalized health care, and then pile private dollars on top of the spending, and we don't have jack shit to show for it in terms of better outcomes or life expectancy. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

What is there to discuss? lol There never should have been that PC toss, that exit sucked. Mr Bills either are spectacular... or are spectacularly terrible. I personally wrapped myself and sluggo up in a bridle when a apparently clean exit turned to shit right at pitch time. It it wrapped fully around us but didn't pull the pin, and I managed to catch the inflated PC and unwrap us, but fuck me, they do add a bunch of complexity! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P