DougH

Wrong. Confused, contradictory and wrong. Thanks for adding so much to the discussion, we are really thrilled to have your input. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I don't know about the physiology but I think that it is true you get a minimal dropping feeling, if any at all, when jumping from a moving aircraft. I don't feel it when I leave the jump plane, but I feel it on helo jumps and balloon jumps. My tandem passengers so far have mostly agreed with me that they didn't feel it. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

If some one says something "evil" they are going to get a talking to. If they do it again I am taking it up with the DZO. This is about the student. Now joking and breaking the tension is fine, but scaring my student and get their head out of the game is a dick move. The students aren't impressed by you, get your ego boost some other way. I like to joke in ways that makes my training stick. For example I tell them when we open the door wait for your instructor to look and then he will tell them to exit. I joke that we want to make sure we aren't over the sewage treatment plant, and I don't want to land in the lake again! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob goo goo g'joob! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I won't tell you if it is too small or too fast. I don't know how many jumps you have and I have never seen you jump in person. Just think about what I posted above. If a main sized smaller than a 150 makes you nervous why would you jump a reserve that is a 120? On each jump there is a chance that you may end up flying your reserve instead of your main. Often when you find yourself needing your reserve it isn't in the best of conditions. Given that I would repeat my question, if you aren't comfortable jumping a main smaller than a 150 why take the risk that you will have to fly the 120 reserve into some small backyard, or other less than optimal situation. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Waaaaaaa waaaaaaaa, a true internet crusader! You want to cry about some alleged wrong with no skin in the game. Put up or shut up. Go get a rating and then you can personally right a wrong and give your fat tax back to the big ones. Do you boycott comercial air travel because they charge obese people more at times? This was a whole bunch of bs from some one that isn't even in the industry any more! The bullshit got chin high when you started comparing charging heavier people (an often voluntary infliction, or just reality) an extra fee to go skydiving (a completely frivolous optional activity) to racism. Give me a break what a joke! Can you move on to calling the tandem instructors Nazi's so we can put this to bed. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Sounds like you will have a similar problem with an inappropriate sized reserve. Max reserve size for I3 is 120. You obviously aren't comfortable or experienced enough to be flying the maximum sized main for an I3 (stated by Aerodyne), which is 132. Good for you for recognizing this. Now consider the reserve. You aren't comfortable flying a 132 or smaller main in perfect conditions, which is normally what you get landing at the DZ. Why in the world would you be comfortable flying a 120 reserve that you have little experience flying, that was deployed low and dirty, into some area like a small shitty backyard with lots of obstacles. Wait on the smaller containers until you can fly smaller reserves and mains safely. An I4 would be a much better choice and it will fit your 150 reserve and 150 main. Because of the closing loop location you can fit smaller mains into Icons. I had as small as a 117 in a I5, a little squishy but it was still safe and doable. That way down the road when you want to safely downsize you can do so without needing a new container, and you won't have a tiny reserve. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Better to high than too low... better to tight than tooooooo loose. I am glad I don't get a phat boy fee but I can totally support the TM's that do get one. It is more work, and it is more wear and tear on the body. Instead we have a relatively low weight limit and no option for people to "pay up" into the next weight bracket. It gives me way more flexibility as the instructor because I get to choose to take people that are over the weight "limit" and I can make a judgement call based on fitness and body shape. It is much easier and safer to take some one who is heavier because they are big and fit, than to take some one who lacks fitness and is shaped like a bowling ball. We will see if I still like the flexibility and lack of extra compensation in a few hundred tandem jumps! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I don't know why but I don't like Vodka but I loooooove my Gin. I really would like to like Vodka, but I just can't do it! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

What a bunch of bullshit. I suggest the people who were "wronged" either stuff their twenty dollars down their windpipes so they can possibly die, or stuff them down their naughty bits to try to avoid spreading their stupidity to another generation of morons. It is chocolate spread!!! Chocolate!!! I don't care if the advertisements made it sound like pure vitamin C, have some common sense! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I have no problem with this. I don't talk shit about my company and its higher ups on an open forum because I value my continued employment. Common sense. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Sure. Debt that fuels growth is good, that is called leverage. Debt that does not fuel sufficient growth to cover the future interest and principal payments is bad. Greece didn't use debt their borrowing to leverage their economic growth. They used it to fill a pig slop troth of socialist spending so that they could pander to the people instead of fixing their lack luster economy. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

So when is the right time to fix Europe's debt problem. Their debt problem is a real problem, how and when do you fix it? Countries like Greece fleeced the rest of the Euro zone by borrowing money they had no chance to ever pay back even in good economic times. They fueled an orgy of public spending at the expense of the bond holders and the rest of the euro zone. Now they are crying that austerity is destroying their country. Tough shit, for years they were living in a debt funded fantasy world! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

We need more instructors willing to put in that amount of time and effort. A+ in my book! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Reminds me of those creepy things from the matrix! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

If you take a staff member away from jumping whose sole income is from making work jumps why shouldn't that individual get compensated for their time. They are providing a service and they are a professional, totally fair for them to get compensated. I will gladly give free packing lessons if time allows for it, but I don't pay my bills with work jumps. What I have seen which pisses me off is jumpers having to pay for packing lessons but after the lesson they aren't cleared to pack their student gear. The DZ then charges them a packing fee for having one of their packers "supervise", even if the jumper is perfectly capable of packing unsupervised. That chaps my ass. If the packing class is worth paying for then a fair number of the students should be able to pack after it is done. Granted, some questions remain after the class but most students shouldn't need full supervision after the class. If that isn't the case you need to overhaul your packing lesson, or you need to say that all student gear gets packed by packers only, but the above seems exploitative. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Only if the drogue safety pin is properly seated, if the pin came out all bets are off. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

The container closing loop and where the drouge anchors for drouge fall are one and the same. So a broken closing loop or a pulled handle without the drouge saftey pin in place will open the main container and release the drouge chimney. I would hesitate to say it automatically releases the drouge because it may not have been deployed yet and you could have it ball up in the pouch and horseshoe. Check your closing loops and the pin. I have seen the pins come unseated after they were packed! Gear checks and heads up packers. I will be interested in the replies! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Torture of US Citizen /= comments made by presidential candidate. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I can't think of any reason, aside from financial cost cutting, that you couldn't get the prospective tandem instructor to a course, or bring a examiner to that individual. A plane ticket to the US plus the cost of the ratings course pales in comparison to the cost of injuring a student with an unrated TI If the tandem instructor who is going to be teaching this individual is has the experience to teach new instructors why doesn't the instructor go through to process of becoming an examiner? "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

That is totally off base! She has the hardest job in the world, per Oprah standards, a rich stay at home mom. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Horse shit. You can't prove that Trayvon knew that Zimmerman was armed and was defending himself any more than I can prove that Trayvon had no idea that Zimmerman was armed at he turned to attack him because he was pissed off that the he was confronted. There is a reason it is called concealed carry. I will be the first to admit I can't prove that Zimmerman didn't have his gun drawn. So the ball is in your court, show me the evidence that proves that his gun was drawn which led to Trayvon attacking him. I will wait patiently. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Since when was it a good idea to shape economic and tax policy by what pisses the populous off? Tyranny of the majority is a poor way set any type of policy. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

Aside from the Buffest Rule question, I don't understand this argument. There is not one viable item that will either raise $1.3 trillion or will reduce costs by $1.3 trillion. The only way to fix this is like how a mouse would eat an elephant, one bite at a time. I will run with that analogy, the mouse needs to take a shit ton of bites. How long do you think the elephant will be around for if the mouse spends the next year planning one single bite? Right now we are spending a huge amount of focus on one single bite, without talking about the all of the bites that are remaining. The Buffet rule has nothing to do with solving the debt/spending problem and has everything to do with politics. "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P

I am not upset by the rule, I am upset by the way it is being used as a huge distraction. You can quantify the expected increased tax revenue of the proposed rule. The increased tax revenue has a minuscule impact to the Federal budget. What isn't being discussed is what impact the proposed rule might have on investment behavior and the overall economy. I can hypothesize on the impact but I am not a studied economist. If there is a negative overall impact to the economy is it worth it to go forward with the rule anyway just to stick it 1%, or to have more "equity" in the tax code? But it makes for great news, so lets all devote a bunch of our attention to it, even though it does do jack shit to fix our growing debt/spending problem! "The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall" =P