DougH

Seriously? You dragged up a post from 2004 to trash them on the internet? It may be a "stock" container but they still have to size the harness. Were you promised a quicker turn around time? Did you speak to them to get an explanation? You profile paints you as a new jumper so you are a bit amped up. You are going to be very happy with your Aerodyne gear. All of the manufacturers have issues at times and will do their best to resolve. But when some one goes straight to dz.com it tends to reflect on them more than the company they are trash talking. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Make it coach rating for a year minimum plus a set number of coach jumps signed off by the supervising instructor or the DZ S&TA. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

You can't have real freefall experince without gaining *some* experince with gear, aircraft operating, spotting, canopy flight, weather conditions. Of course how much experince in those different areas really depends on who is making the jumps and where they are making the jumps. I had a side conversation about this with someone and they pointed out that S/L and IAD ratings have much lower requirements when compared to AFF. Putting aside the argument that maybe those requirements are too low, I think in general the individuals who want to get and IAD or S/L rating have been exposed to a lot more of the other elements that make up skydiving. IAD and S/L tends to be the domain of smaller aircraft dropzones where jumpers get more spotting, more canopy work, more hop and pops. The enviroment is smaller so they get more exposure when compared to a large multi turbine dropzone. It may be that you could subsitute 100% of the freefall time for tunnel time and not diminish the quality of AFF instruction. I don't agree with that, but lets play devils advocate here. If that was true I still want to know the motivation for the change. What is the problem that exists with the current standard that needs to be "fixed" with this change. Is it money? Is the argument that we are making otherwise qualified candidate pay for more jumps before making it to paid instructing jumps? That is the only real argument I can see for the change and I think it is a lousy one. In my opinion the individuals who should be holding an AFF rating should have no complaints about having to make enough fun jumps and coach jumps to get the 6 hours. Skydiving is fun! Make your jumps. Are we wronging these individuals for making them skydive? They are going to be teaching skydiving, it shouldn't be an inconvience to actually have to skydive! If they are dying to teach they can earn a S/L or IAD rating while they are waiting for the AFF requirments to be met. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Terrible idea. Which elected USPA officials are in support of this? If there are any on board I suggest they resign because they are seriously short on good judgment. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Sorry for the thread detour, I was just thinking outloud. In my opinion the biggest risk comes from the state in the form of fines and penalties for miscategorizing employees to avoid wc and unemployment employer contributions. It has happened before. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I don't know what solution is to be honest. Many small business owners don't have insurance themselves. In my state they have floated the idea of letting small business buy into the state insurance pool, or let them band together to form insurance pools. That would certainly help with the cost. Either way in my opinion the main objective had nothing to do with insuring younger individuals, it had everything to do with getting large employers to subsidize the market to a greater extent by pulling in low cost individuals that would bring along employer and employee premiums. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Good for him!

I stand corrected Bill.

Good thing for DZO's that we are pretty low on the tax radar. Most state departments of revenue, and the IRS would disagree that tandem masters are true independent contractors. AFF and Video is a different story, but the argument gets pretty weak for a tandem master who jumps from the DZO's aircraft, with the DZO's tandem rig, according the the DZO's schedule. That being said getting a 1099 isn't the end of the world for a instructor. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Viso all the way for me. I don't use the canopy audibles so all of the other Neptune functions are unneeded. I have Optimas for my audibles. Battery life on the Viso is much better. Rechargeable isn't a huge seller to me if the time between recharges is relatively short. Customer service at L&B is top notch. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

It varies from jumper and jumper, DZ to DZ, country to country. Not much different from the overall labor market. Some DZO's are course directors so they groom jumpers to be instructors. Similar to an internship in a sense. Other DZO's put up classified adds. Some DZ's have a mix of part time instructors who have been associated with place for a long time, and hired guns who are full time jumpers. Not unlike the overall job market it really helps to know people at different dz's so that you can network and find openings. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

IMHO that is bullshit plain and simple. After age 18 you are an adult not a child. The exception for going to school makes sense but it doesn't make sense to force an employer sponsored health insurance place to insure little Johnnie who is still living in the basement at age 25. Little Johnnie isn't so little. He is an adult, get off your adult ass and take care of your self. Find an employer that offers health insurance, join the military, join the peace corp, do 100 different things, your an ADULT figure it out! Why should your insurance company, and your employer pay, because someones kid can't get out on his own two feet? Decided to major in your Walmart cashiers job and bong hits instead of going to school, no insurance. Decided to major in Renaissance Lit. and now you can't find a job (shocker), no insurance. Basically it was an end run to get more low health care consuming individuals into the system at the employers expense. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Fuel injection is the norm because the technology hit a point where it worked very well and it was priced well. And that is the point. When a technology is perfected and the price point is hit demand will rise and it will be adopted. Currently hybrids add to much cost to the price of a similarly equipped car. The savings from hybrids doesn't justify the cost, and there are still some issues for them to work out. A market minded person would work towards improving the technology and lowering the price. A socialist environmentalist would push to raise the price of gas to make the technology cost versus benefit ratio change, or they would mandate the technology outright. The technology would get better over time, but it would be at the expense of the earlier users who were forced into using it. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

In many areas teaching isn't a bad gig. Summers off, in many areas completely free medical, tenure, state or county pension etc. Many jobs are a trade of between pay and work life balance. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Guns aren't personal property? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am late to the game, it appears that it is more about property ownership and due process. Replace guns with any other type property you want. If the cops seize something on the premise that you are in illegal possesion of it, either by incorrect belief of lack of legal ownership, or incorrect belief that you are restricted from legal ownership, and they are wrong, you should get your property back. You own it, you are not restricted by law from owning it, please apologize and give it back without further delay. If this was Grandma's convertible instead of a gun the gun haters would be up in arms if the LAPD seized the car and crushed it because they thought her drivers license was invalid and they were mistaken. Who here would be happy if I broke into their house and stole their belongings? The concept is exactly the same. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

411 means "What's the information on"/ 411 was (might still be) the telephone information number in the States Squeak is right, sorry for being unclear. Here in the US dialing 411 will get you the information line for telephone number look ups. Is the unit you have been using something that can be bought off the shelf? What is the intended use for the product, animal tracking? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

NPR had a tribute to her yesterday and the played a report / interview they had with her a few years back. It was a feel good story, made me grin!!

I am pretty envious, definetly do this because many times you won't have the time to pull this off when you get going in a career, life, etc. If it was my trip I would pick a handful of blockbuster DZ's that I wanted to jump at and I would plan to stay a few days at each DZ. I would plan the routes between DZ's so that I could hit some cool non jumping locations along the way. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

That skit is hilarious! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

How about the 411 on the actual unit that you are using? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Looks like an overreaction but we don't have enough of the full story. It would have been nice if they gave him a chance to get a engineer to certify the survival shelter, and then the option to fix to the engineers recommendations. Pumping it full on concrete looks like the worst option for the home owner. 90K of concrete? Overkill! This is why if you find a nice place out in the country with some acerage and no zone regulations. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I would be interested to compare that graph with graph that tracks the increases in cost of living over the same period. My guess is that the high growth states had equal or greater increases in cost of living in the same period. Sure I make more in CT than I would in TX or some other state, but lately I feel like the cost of living is far out stripping the income growth! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

WINNER!!! sounds like huge pain in the ass! I don't really go for marriage in the first place. And if I needed more than one sexual partner being single would be equally effective with less headaches! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am only one powerball ticket away lol! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P