DougH

We opened for tandems this April in CT, but the weather was a crap shoot until May. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

You posted that part t be funny, didn't you? Matt No, I am not being funny. There are plenty of handy cam videos out there that lack a handle check. Now we can all play dumb and assume that they are all doing them but they just editing them out, but we both know that it isn't some of the video because some aren't doing them because they are busy filming. I am not condoning it at all, just point out that some people are getting their priorities wrong on handycam jumps. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

One person alone has a hard enough time turning around an organization when they are sufficient time. Lets see how much patience the each trigger finger board can exercise this time around! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

You instruct regular students to hold the harness on exit in a safety position, arch, and fly a box man of sorts when taped on the shoulders. You tell them chin up, head back, eyes on the horizon, arch from the hips. Some do a great job, some do a so so job, and some are so wonked out of their gords that they do a terrible job. If you were to put the camera on the students hand you would instruct them exactly the same way, and the would perform almost identically to the control group of students above. The biggest difference is that tandem instructor isn't multitasking between shooting the exit and flying the exit out the door, they aren't having to take the camera out of frame to do a full handle check that includes reserve handle and RSL. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

You were on point. CPI in Ellington CT is the club that is open year round.www.skydivect.com For the past few years Jumptown has mostly shut down for the winter. I don't know about Pepperel or any of the ME dropzones. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Coffee... nose!!! But after I got done laughing I starting getting misty eyed, that is a sad picture! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

In the northeast? We jump every weekend during the winter here in CT. I haven't been able to go in three years but I loved going to Eloy around Xmas and New Years for their holiday boogie. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Where is the list of Mr. Bill fatalities that is large as the day is long? We have one for low pulls, swooping, and other more dangerous elements of the sport. Mr. Bill aren't an ordinary jump, they aren't to be taken lightly, and they aren't well suited for 100 jump wonders. The same can be said about a number of the disciplines in this sport. It is cool, way cool, except for the notches that girl is going to get in her ears if she ever has a bad riser slap! When they go horribly wrong they make for spectacular videos. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

It is the interweb, who give a shit! What is wrong with you people. I am sure if you showed up with beer they would look past your fuckstick internet persona. Bring me beer and I will jump with you, but I may require you to wear a bag on your head. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Were the Eloy jumps morning jumps? I have done 4 or 5 afternoon Balloon jumps with Burner and all of them we were exiting off field. We either took off from the DZ and drifted away, or we took the Short Bus out into never never land and met the balloon as some other passengers were hoping off. A ton a fun, but always landing in some desert scrub, a field, or a dirt road. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Ummmm that is to me very scary, you are having trouble deciding betweeen a safe skydive and dropping the shot or videoing the skydive and hope nothing goes too bad. You are a tandem instructor first and foremost, always drop the shot and skydive saftely. Your putting words in his mouth. I don't see where he said that there was trouble deciding, only that there are situations where you can't do both. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Have them cross their hands, right hand across and on the harness, left thumb stuck in their left elbow. They keep their hands in a safe clear position until drogue is deployed, just like any other tandem. Explain to me why they wouldn't be flying a normal free-fall position and concentrating on that as much as any other tandem student? Instructor handy-cam and outside video is equally distracting. I am all for being purists, no video at all, and no thrill ride tandems. Lets make them all do a 8 hour ground school to weed out the students who want this to be an amusement park ride. How many DZO's do you think would like that idea? The opponents to this idea as the same as the people who bitch about handy-cam video. They discount the danger that outside video adds to the equation. They forget that second priority of video, after the first priority safety, is that the tandem student loves the product. Who cares if you think the video isn't up to your high artistic standards! "I think the free-fall footage sucks" Well the students are happy with it, and they get great canopy footage. I am glad your free-fall footage is the bomb, but you miss half of the students experience! "This is all about $$$$" Oh, excuse me, I didn't realize you shot tandem video for free! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Meh, $$$$$ is the same reason for outside video, no different than handycam. Your a vidiot, not an oncologist, nothing more or less noble than handy cam, and the assertion to the contrary is getting stale. Vidiots have collided and killed tandem pairs, so your saftey argument is bullshit. And for every "incident" (with no fatality to date) you find about an idiot TI filming instead of following procedures you can find a hanful of experiences of vidiots flying with tandem pairs that are well short of the needed skillset. Tandems in general are 100% about money. I try to make it as instructional as possible so I don't feel cheap, but it is still true. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Because at boogies the chopper dropper will often drop you off from the regular spot, and at a lower altitude because there are other loads turning. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Benefits should be slashed heavily for all but the poorest beneficiaries. Medicare too. It was their elected officials that dicked around with social security for decades. They should pay the price. Social security and medicare are ponzi schemes dreamed up by politicians to buy votes, whose true costs are going to be borne on the backs of our current generations. No different from municipalities, cities, and states that signed in to pension and medical obligations that aren't sustainable in the long run. They all need to be dissolved because the original agreements were not negotiated in good faith. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I see what you did there, your comment about flat turning with rears tipped me off. My bad, I thought you were asking a question, and were going to consider the responses. I didn't realize you were making a statement, and already had it all figured out. I should have realized this was just another opportunity for internet keyboard diarrhea. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

A NOOB, especially one that doesn't jump with any frequency, should prioritize the skills that they work on. In my opinion rear riser landings are really low on the canopy skill priority list. They are also just like skydiving everything else in skydiving, dangerous if done incorrectly. With practice you can have safe rear riser landings, but with the incorrect procedures you can also rear riser stall your canopy smash into the ground. Now by all means you should play up high with your rears, they are a great tool for altering your canopy's glide, but there is no real reason to be landing with them. Some might argue that rear riser landings practice would be helpful if you have a stuck toggle, etc. At your currency I say that logic is BS, if you don't have functioning toggles on your main, you should be giving some serious thought into cutting away and going to your reserve. The less you jump the less you should be complicating things, KISS. You are much better off spending your few jumps practicing flat turns, working on a clean landing pattern, working on accuracy, and working on braked approaches. Get a briefing on doing a high pull (there are different considerations than a normal jump) and play with your canopy. You will get the canopy time equivalent to several fun jumps where you burn up all the altitude in free fall, and then have a canopy flight that has to be focused on primarily landing. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

It isn't similar because the EG suits have good build quality. They aren't falling apart at 50 jumps so it is an unfair comparison. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Impressive, and she has this cute dork thing going on. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

X2. Plus the landing pattern at the drop zone is an accident waiting to happen. I wouldn't be thrilled to be dropped in on like that! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

We can read just fine. We just don't care to read anything from you, especially in a technical topic forum. Who cares if you sprinkled in some wisdom that you pulled out of your ass. I can put fancy lettuce on a shit sandwich, but it is still a shit sandwich. Try putting more energy into actually jumping, your posts may come down a few notches and become bearable, but I wont get my hopes up! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

With most L&B products it is press and hold... not press press press press press press. You can get lucky by pressing buttons a million times, but you're better of using some finesse! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I think that is a symptom of giving tandem ratings to drooling mouth breathers, not a symptom of flying a handy-cam. We also have tandem masters taking first time students head down, leaving harnesses loose, leaving lateral loose so they can fly in funky body positions offset to the student. I don't think that with any of the above examples of tandem instructors behaving badly we can blame it on the tandem equipment. They are the results of moron tandem instructors that don't take each jump as dead serious. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Fatality reports don't support that. Videographers and other jumpers flying relative to tandems have caused fatalities, on the other hand I don't think there has been a handycam fatality yet. I won't argue that it doesn't add to a complicated jump, so does outside video, but must of the opponents don't like the product, and that is a totally separate argument. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

"This video contains content from Nextmedia Interactive Limited, R.T.I., geotv and Constantin Film, one or more of whom have blocked it on copyright grounds." "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P