SkymonkeyONE

I just can't believe that a college graduate (albeit one that took seven years to finish his B) just so he could continue to fuck the freshmen) who drives a fucking porsche is whining about a measly fifteen hundred dollar ticket. Suck it up, cupcake. Chuckie

I agree completely, Tony. Flock and Dock is a wingsuit skydiving event; not a BASE event. People with weak arms need not apply to the distance challenge.

I wouldn't mind a five grand to opening low-altitude distance challenge, but make no mistake: that is not my any means a real physical test. I routinely get a minute of freefall on five grand hop and pops (dumping at three) and they are fun, but it's much more impressive to me to see guys getting out FAR, far away and still flying over the opening area from 13,500. It's also fun to see the sucky people not even make it onto the airport on those jumps. Ultimately, if you are not fit enough to go full-on from full altitude you probably ought to buy a smaller suit if you are going to ever skydive in it. Chuck

I got my original PRO rating on a StarTrac, but then recertified on every other canopy I thought I might someday have a reason to use into a demo. Those include the Sigma 370 tandem main, my Firebolt 350 tandem main, and several very-small canopies all the way down to my old Cobalt 75. Before there was such a thing as a PRO rating, I always jumped an old Lazer 7 250 into demos. PRO cards are just like motorcycle DDC cards: they allow you to use the size you certified on and that's it. Our team was ramp checked twice at demos and they wanted to see who was jumping what (visually) in order to compare against the copies of our cards we submitted. Back to the point though: use the right tool for the job. Chuck

The best Neptune avg for an entire jump I have ever seen Jeff do was 33mph and 205 seconds. That was the first jump of the distance challenge (from 13,500 feet) at FnD 3.0 Chuck

Those were two really good skydives. The three-point 18-way was my 5000th jump. It didn't suck that it was a free skydive.

Go fuck yourself, Glen. That's just plain annoying at this point.

Scott, you are gay and I am now changing the locks on my teamroom. No more "beep" talk. Chuck

Good stuff.

The new avatar is fantastic, Sharon!

That was never my experience. Back when an A-license was 20 freefall parachute jumps (SL's did not count and were lettered instead of numbered), the big selling point of AFF was that you could "become qualified" in seven jumps (actually levels). They would claim that SL students had to make more jumps in order to be cut free to "up jumper" status. After a person's second 45 second delay in the SL (or IAD) program the student was considered an up jumper. After graduating Level VII at every AFF-based school I have ever seen the same thing happened. The only thing you could not do prior to finishing the required jumps for your A-license was travel around to other DZ's and rent gear. If there was any "level VIII" jumping, it was just generally a no-stress fun dive, hop and pops under supervision, or a full-on pass-off to something like Skydive University (which I loathe). Again, though, many schools I saw (and still see all around the country in my travels would tell their Level VII graduates "Hey, you're done. Now go buy beer and make fun of the SL students who are still doing 15 second delays. " While it MIGHT have been possible for a student to go from one DZ to another during your envisioned old-school AFF program, that would not help today. Every place I have visited in the past several years has some different variant of AFF. They call their programs by many different names, too. I see no standardization at all in schools that do not do "by the book" ISP-based training. Chuck

Plenty of times. Actually plenty of times for people claiming a wide variety of skills that they did not possess (but which me and my non-shit-talking friends at the same bar actually did for a living). Sometimes enough is enough and you just have to shut a motherfucker down. Chuck

Looks like you were responding to me, but I never posted that. You need to respond to the correct post.

It's actually mostly about TM's (not to be confused with guys doing even rudimentary training tandems) doing "show off" stuff for their "thrill ride" tandems. You know, the ones that people have been losing their ratings over this past year. Hey, that's cool if you are doing naked tandems onto Panama City Beach or the WFFC, but it's just not cool at all at any proper "training" dropzones. Again, just my very-biased opinion as someone that doesn't do "fuck off" tandems. Chuck

It's positively not the case in the state of Florida.

I just got ass-raped by Dave in a PM for that statement as well, but just let me quantify it: I was working at Raeford Parachute Center the day (October 1st, 2001) that the ISP went into effect. We, on that day, started teaching AFF to the letter of the program. -Cat A -Cat B -Cat C1 and C2 -Cat D1 and D2 -Cat E1, E2, and E3 On inprocessing, we would have students fill out waivers, hand out the course sylabus, explain what the SIM was and where all the student training material came from (chapter 4), and give them their logbook and four-page A-license proficiency card. We would fully explain the program from start to finish and how we would be filling out both the logbook and the four-page card in a systematic manner along the way. We would also tell them that it was possible for exceptional students to finish "AFF" in less than those nine jumps if they could accomplish more TLO's than were required for a particular level. We also discussed what would happen if they failed to meet all the TLO's for a particular category. All very straight-forward and there was never any doubt what a person could expect. They were free to study up in their off time because they knew exactly where to find the material. That school still runs exactly that way, as does my private school here at Z-hills. Conversely, I have seen more than a few examples of very-busy schools which still use what I consider to be obsolete AFF. They have great instructors, have a great sylabus, but do not expose their students to, explain the purpose of, or mention the importance of ANY A-license proficiency card (and in some cases even the SIM) until late in their seven-level program. They are like "Hey! You graduated AFF!" like that actually means something. It does not. What it means is that you now have quite a number of other tasks to complete in order to achieve your BASIC "license to drive" in skydiving: The A-license. The problem is, they really don't know exactly what comes next and in what order they should accomplish it. The better a student understands that up front, and the more structured that course to completion the better. It's sad when a person just off of "AFF" walks up and goes "what's next?" That really bugs me. It's those places that really take advantage of the two-page card. If that sounds like a rant it is, because I take this all very seriously as a guy who has been at it for 26 years. Hey, if you are operating or working at a school, have a zero-to-A program that spells every task/jump out for your students and you still like the two-page card, then good for you. It's a fact, though, that the two-page card was added solely as a way for "old school" seven level AFF factories to meet the USPA requirement under the now "regulation" ISP. Those schools and some IAD/SL programs that simply could not find a way to impliment the four-page card. FWIW, the IAD program at the Fort Bragg Parachute Club on Fort Bragg was using the four page card (somehow) with both their AFF and IAD programs, so I know it can be done. Chuck

Likewise. For me, it's all about the "feel" I get when I talk to a guy. What his logbook says. How familiar he is with modern equipment. Depending on actual jump experience, I go over a fairly comprehensive list of "must know/must do" subjects. I progress as quickly as the person needing the refresher can regurgitate the info. I make them sit through a malfunction tape, put them in the training harness, discuss and rehearse the dive flow (which changes depending on experience), and then take them up. If they are fucked up in the air, then I put my AFF skills to use and I help them recover. If they are immediately flying with confidence then I will have them do practice touches, right and left turns, fly over and dock, then I will be there for them on their main side at pull-time "just in case". I always have them dump high to get comfortable with flying a canopy again. I will also, in some cases where I think it's warranted, put a radio on them. Chuck

Are there people that don't already know that? For the record: the two-page card is only used by schools that cut corners and pencil whip. Most places I know of that use that two-page card do not even brief their students on it's relevance and purpose until close to the end of the AFF training. That's complete crap.

I agree. Personally, I believe all professional sports qualify as "spectacle" and athletes ought to be able to do anything they want to win at that level. What should it matter to other mere mortals how much time they are taking off of their living lives by using steroids? Live hard/Die fast. You will never see doping stop in athletics, so why even worry about it? Chuck

That's unnacceptable to me. When they started being pricks and told everyone to "move along" we just left and went to a hotel and never came back for, what was supposed to me, the band/food/events night. Fuck it. I have been first hand witness to more fatalities than I can count on two hands and I haven't ever seen such a harsh response by the authorities in regards to the paying participants of an event. I was fucking pissed. Me not being able to stand around and have a coctail with some grieving friends at a boogie I had payed admittance to and one where I had friends who had payed to stay on the property was pure BS. I will also never bring my golf cart back to a southern boogie away from home again for the reasons you listed. Chuck

I only know of very-few swoop ponds that are four feet deep. MOST are designed so that the water is at dick level. That way, when you stand up your reserve is out of water. The only ones I have ever been in that are over three and a half feet deep are the natural one at the Ranch and the natural one at The Farm. I have never been in a purpose-built swoop pond that was four feet deep. Chuck

Scotty took all of those pictures. I am sure they will make them way into the magazines shortly.

To Martin: I ask every single one of my tandem passengers if they are really interested in skydiving or if they just want to screw off in the air this one time. Seventy-five percent of the time they tell me that they would, in fact, like to spend the extra five minutes of training so that they can exit, perform a COA, turn right and left, lock on at six, then pull (or fail to accomplish any of it, which is no big deal to me). If they want to pull, then I train them the extra few steps, do a poised exit (no "carnival" flipping or bullshitting), then let them try. It's no sweat off my back one way or another, but I always ask and offer them the opportunity to do the best they can. If they accomplish it, I fill out their four-page A-card as having completed Cat A. If they do ever show back up for the FJC, they have wasted exactly zero dollars since I will take them straight to Cat B on their first jump (assuming they show back up in a timely manner after that first tandem). Chuck

I totally agree with you on that, Jan. Asking a USPA AFFI to sit through a USPA tandem "instructor" course after already having a manufacturer's rating for any amount of time is nuts. A complete waste of time and money. On that note, though, I DO think it's prudent to make a person with only a manufacturer rating, but no current USPA instructional ratings of any kind, to attend that Tandem I certification/Coach ticket. The ones who will truly whine the loudest are those in that category who live hand to mouth and simply won't ever miss a day of meat hauling to get educated. Particularly when it's going to cost them money. Chuck

I use a PC 109 with a .3 lens.