SkymonkeyONE

I completely agree, Ed. That said, we, in the very-near future (next month) are going to sit down and work out what the future holds in regards to the BM-I rating.

I eluded to this in another thread, but I will restate it here: It's my opinion that unless you possess the base-level instructional rating in your country, you really don't need to be "instructing" anything, no matter what your experience level in a certain discipline. A broad general knowledge of skydiving goes a long way in this sport and instructional experience is key to getting that knowledge. Unrated people have a habit of becoming "masters of self promotion" to gain notoriety, yet in most cases fail in the face of competition....There are an INCREDIBLE amount of freeflyers out there hanging up shingles and touting their "freefly schools" and "teams", yet they either don't do anything of worth in competition to rate calling themselves a "team" or they don't have any instructional skill at all, though they themselves are decent jumpers in that discipline. There are a couple of people out in the field who have BM ratings who, in my first-hand experience, can't fly to save their ass. There are other non-rated flyers who are both great flyers, but whom I would not trust to teach a tooth-brushing class. Others still who are not yet rated have both the demonstrated airskills and proven teaching abilities to do the job right; Glen and Billvon are perfect examples of the latter. The bottom line here is that the BM-I is not going to be a "gimme" rating. There will absolutely not be any ill-prepared candidates walking out of any course I teach wearing the BM-I patch. Chuck

I think you miss the point, Steve. There are not a lot of people in the world with more wingsuit jumps than you do, even though you have only a rudimentary amount of other general skydiving knowledge. My advice to you would be to go out and get some "real" ratings and play around with other disciplines within the sport. I very-firmly believe that we are about to make some changes as to who can be an instructor in our little bit of skydiving. Those of you who are interested in getting BM instructional ratings ought to go ahead and at least get a coach rating, less you be disqualified from attending our course in the future. Chuck

I'll make a deal. If I bring the cups, no one can tease me about anything. Make your decisions. NO DEAL! I reserve the right to tease you about anything I like.

Ah, another case of someone not knowing the history of the ellusive Mister Grobler. That is old, old, old news. That said, I am sure if you did a bit of digging you could dig up the archives of most of the old incarnations of this site. THOSE were the days. Chuck

My army dogtags said I was Jewish, but what does that have to do with skydiving? No, I don't practice and no, I wasn't born into it. Being a certain religion is not going to get you on a good load. Well, maybe on an "all jewish load" at the WFFC.... Chuck

Here is my take as someone who could absolutely scratch you from a load if you didn't let me check your gear on this dropzone: With 50 jumps and less than a year in the sport, you ought to be happy that people are looking out for your safety. These are simply people looking out for your, and their own well being. Like Eric said, there are lots of instances every year where people's shit comes open in freefall because it was not checked or allowed to be jumped as is. How many times a day do you check your reserve pin? Once when you turn your CYPRES on? At all? It's my opinion that you were probably just in a mood that day and now are clearly venting. Anyway, if the person who was checking your shit was an instructor, then you ought not fret. If it was some 50 jump chump who was known for careless tampering of rigs, then you might have cause to be alarmed. Taking someone's caring about your safety as a personal affront makes you sound like a priss. At your experience level you are certainly not beyond "being looked after" by more experienced jumpers, no matter who your boyfriend is. Chuck AFF/SL/TM/BM-I, S&TA, PRO

We went to BOC on all of our student rigs nearly five years ago and have had MUCH fewer instances of instability during the pull sequence. Eliminating "look" from the sequence really, really helps. Chuck

There are a LOT of people at Raeford who fly wingsuits. We generally have BirdMen on every load. Chuck

Yo, SunCheHag,....I KNOW I didn't just read that you had lost your hat! I will banish you from the clan immediately if that is the case.

I am gonna put the caddywompus on ALL you monkey lips!

Is he cute? Is he single? Is he straight? Is he over 30? Does he have all his teeth?

800 milligram Motrin will be in our bags.

The price was set by Jari.

Let's see if we can get a shot at Eloy, Glen.

Do what? Katie and I are renting a car for the duration.

I packed for Jay's first record here at Raeford and Cheryl's first record after that. The pace everyone involved must maintain is crazy. I worked about five shifts packing and my ass was kicked. I would have much rather been doing the jumping, that's for sure. Chuck

very-experienced wingsuit flyers should note that we will be running a BM-I course on the 29th and 30th of December. Cost is $300. Check the wingsuit forum for more info. Chuck

The dates are the 29th and 30th of December and the cost is $300. Call down to BirdMan HQ and give Jari your personal info and make arrangements for payment. Scott will be there earliest and will have the demo suits available starting on the 22nd or 23rd. Peace, Chuck

You slackers need to work the dates out with Jari. He leaves on the 2nd, so I am sure we will be conducting it right up front. I arrive on Christmas day and leave on the 6th, so I am all about knocking you guys out up front, that way you can take up some of our slack over the course of the boogie.. Chuck

I would not consider taking anyone out on a Cat A AFF that I had not taken into the tunnel first. Even then, that's outside the boundaries of USPA, so I would not do it in public. That said, we don't do tandem progression here either. What I do though, on occasion, is take people "on the fence" on Cat A tandems. People who, in my opinion, didn't need to be sitting through a seven hour FJC just to make one skydive in the first place. If they accomplish all the Cat A tasks on that tandem and liked it, then I take them straight to Cat B after sitting through the FJC. I have quite a high retention rate doing things this way. The good thing is that the student hasn't wasted a single cent in doing it this way. In fact they actually save five dollars doing it that way in the long run. Chuck

We (Jari and I) will be conducting a BM-I course sometime during the Holiday Boogie at Eloy. I know there are several of you who are coming who "need" to get this done, so plan ahead now. The exact dates will be finalized very soon, but just know that it will be two days between, probably, the 27th of December and the 1st of January. More details to follow. Chuck

Hey, Jackass...Use your PM's.

You naive little thing....pity, pity. I will make sure you get a sufficient quantity of RB&V this weekend. Chuckie

Sharon, those are brilliant photos! Chuckie