SkymonkeyONE

I don't know, bro. I kind of like the loud whistling I get to hear (wind noise) when I jump the bigger guys (and gals). Also, I have never been smacked by a Sigma or my Firebolt 350. Chuckie

"I've got it, I've got it!" "Oh SHIT!" "WHAAMMMMMMY!" THAT'S how WE do it around here! Kevin, am I lieing? Actually, there are a few of us who can fly the ass out of Strykers. It's absolutely my favorite plane. I can even land it upside-down! Plunking down the money for the big LiPo battery meant I can keep it in the air for a very long time. That is, unless I am very drunk and it's dusk. Chuck

I mention it to every one of our students. I tell them it's a fantastic source for the answers to those questions they might not have thought of asking on the DZ.

Please tell both of them I said to "pull their string!"

OK people, let's keep the one liners to the bonfire.

"meet me in the camper"

Ouragan. Get the "tunnel flap" full zipper cover. Mine is total overkill for "regular" skydiving, but it's absolutely bad-ass. I got the tunnel flap on mine, though it's for skydiving, because I don't think it's possible to blow a zipper out with this design and I have had that happen to me before with my other suits. The tunnel will positively destroy a standard RW suit after not long at all. Yes, my Ouragan suit cost a fortune, but I believe it was totally worth it. Chuck

On "non-student-training" tandems I don't give the passenger any indication that I am about to pull. I wave off the video guy (when present), reach back and pull my drogue release. I will sometimes hook my elbows under the passenger's armpits if they are "larger" to control them during the opening. If it's a training tandem (generally just Cat A's), I instruct them just like my AFF students. Lock on at six, then "wave, wave, arch, reach, pull". It's amazingly crass, but I tell my male students to arch from the pelvis like you don't want to piss on your feet. Hey, I'm a redneck, OK. Chuck

Are there really many people using the "laydown" glove? Every one I have seen in use here in the states is the stand-up variety. My stand-up glove doesn't hamper me at all. That said, I have never jumped the other, laydown variety to know any difference. The laydown glove DOES look like it would give an odd camera angle. I am not sure how you would edit that sideways footage on a linear board. Chuck

Actually, I don't do enough hand cam that it makes any difference how much tape I use. Likewise, we don't pay for tapes at our school. Furthermore, I back-up and tape over stuff once it's backed up on our hard drive. Ultimately, no, I don't go through many tapes. Chuck

Smart move. We are required at Raeford to have an AAD in our "work" rigs and I have no problem whatsoever with that. I too have been clocked with "enthusiam". Chuck

This is a really good thread and I hope it gets more and more people into the habit of jumping their cameras for "inside video". If you have the camera, why NOT jump it? As to safety, I don't use a ringsight on my Optik Illusion. I see no point at all in doing so with a .3 lens and flying in the proximity that I do for AFF (docked or released). In actuality, the only time I use a sight of any kind is when I do the occasional tandem video. On those jumps I use a set of goggles I have with a "paper asshole" to sight with.

I generally wear my regular competition bootie suit since I have a lot of range and tons of leg power in it. As I generally fly with my legs on those dives, that's the best suit for me. Lighter students? I have a set of slip-ons I can pull over my lower arms or I will simply pull a sweatshirt over top of my bootie suit. Faster student? I wear my 3/4 length Tony swoop pants and a t-shirt (weather permitting). If it's cold I will wear weights with my bootie suit, but only if they are very large. Also, we have enough instructors at Raeford that we can simply be smart and put the big guys with big instructors and the very-light students with the lightest AFFI's (like me). It all works out to where I rarely get a backache at the end of the day. There is more than enough work to go around these days. We are swamped with AFF and tandems. Chuck

Man, I can't imagine having to work at a DZ that forces people to take students, regardless of "TM comfort zone." I have taken some amazingly large passengers on tandems and never once had a problem with any of them. I am not talking amazingly fat here, I am talking large and tall and, thus, also very heavy. It's the tiny girls who take you for the ride. Some are like throwing a cat off a skyscraper! I have only ever refused two students that I can recall and on both occasions it was because I was feeling under the weather and didn't want to compromise their safety (or mine.) Chuck PS: I have personally witnessed an event (actually a series of events) at one dropzone that made me cringe. They not only forced their TM's to do 6,000 foot tandems in POURING rain, they continued doing them until nearly 10 PM since they had refused to give refunds to any of the people there. I was incredulous. This was at a not-so-popular DZ in north ATL where I was competing at a swoop meet a few years ago. I felt very, very sorry for the instructors.

Well, so long as they are somewhere other than just dangling where they might snag a toggle is good for me. To Gary: as a smaller tandem instructor, it's positively mandatory that I get the side straps undone prior to landing. Having a student hanging well forward because of tight/attached side straps means that I, too, am leaning too far forward to land like I want. I can't get my feet around my passenger if I am still connected. I have had some really hard times getting "larger" passengers' side straps undone under canopy under Vector II and Sigma rigs, but have succeeded on all but one occasion. Thankfully, the side straps on my 2k3 Racer tandem loosen automatically after the canopy has deployed and the drogue has collapsed. Chuck

Don't get me wrong; I don't buy into the "too slow to activate a CYPRES" argument either. That's not why I don't have one in that rig. In actuality, that rig was supposed to be my pond swoop rig, but it had too much white in it and got really dirty in that role. As I only owned one CYPRES, and we are required to use one in our work rigs at the school I teach at, then that one ended up in my "other than wingsuit" rig. If I felt like spending another $1,200, I would have one in my wingsuit rig as well. As I have no "gear fear" though, I am not sweating not having one in that rig. That's just me. Chuck

I have never, ever heard of anyone allowing their students to loosen their legstraps after opening. I do, on the other hand, tell my students that it's OK to slide the legstraps under the meaty portion of their thighs (like sitting in a swing set) after opening and undoing/loosening the side straps. Two very different things. Chuck

I jumped for nearly 18 years without an AAD after graduating student status. It never bothered me at all since most "grown" jumpers back then would not have considered jumping an AAD as it was "not cool." Ultimately, it's a confidence issue. Either you are confident in your ability to skydive without one (they are not mandatory most places you know), or you are not. I am. I have two rigs with AAD's, but one without (my wingsuit rig) Chuck

Actually, I think they are pretty trick. Two things of note: -there are at least two companies that sell bolt-on kits to fit pretty much any "tuner" car. The kits I have seen have you open the door outward like normal about six inches, then they pivot up. Very clean. -the ones I have seen didn't appear to swing high enough (like the ones in the pic) and those cars looked like they would be very hard to get in and out of.

without video it never happened, Jim.

That is the absolute craziest flying I have ever seen. Holy shit!

Asshole. At least we're both on the front cover of Parachutist. Unfortunately the taker of said photo doesn't get to feature himself... It was great being there - flock on dudes!

I caught a knee at pull-time on reserve side WAY sooner than I got my nose bloodied on main-side. Nowadays on main-side, I am rotated way back with my forearm alongside their right leg when they are going for the hackey. Chuck

Joe will hold his own right up to the point of extreme drunkeness. At that point, he has accomplished all there is to accomplish and will simply throw up on your foot. It is impossible to beat Joe to "the happy place".