riggerrob

.................................................................................. Great times on those free, sunrise staff loads.

Yep, that has been my experience too. Similarly, even if they do exit, first career jump AFF L-1's are FAR more likely to mentally "lock-up" (aka: lights on, but nobody home") in freefall. .............................................................................. Whatever Chuck said! Seriously, I learned to freefall before tandems, AFF or wind tunnels were invented. Now I believe they are all valuable teaching tools. No single teaching tool is "best." Rather each teaching tool is "better" at one level. For example, tandems are "best" at getting students over their fear of exiting an airplane. The second jump, they are half as scared and perform far better in freefall. Tandems are also great for demonstrating the landing pattern. Back to the original question: the first tandem gets students past that huge psychological step. The second tandem gives them a chance to learn freefall turns, read an altimeter, open the parachute and steer the parachute in for landing. Third tandem might include an unstable exit, more freefall turns and burning the other skills into long-term memory. The amount that tandems can teach diminishes rapidly after the third or fourth tandem.

Weight belts are "fat boys' revenge." Start by dressing her in a snug-fitting Spandex, fast-falling suit. Then stuff half a Nerf football in the belly of her jumpsuit. Then dress yourself in a baggy, loose-fitting, slow-falling suit, with booties.

.............................................................................. Yes in the 1998 manual published by 3-ring Inc., a subsidiary of UPT.

Amusing debate!!! However no rigger will repack that reserve until the damaged webbing is replaced.

Yes. When leg pads are too wide, they can interfere with your wedding tackle. That is why I hated Vector 1 Tandems. Maybe the original poster needs narrower leg pads??????

Yes, that looks like Velcro was been chewing on your harness. After you get the harness repaired, snip the last 1/2 inch (1 cm) of hook Velcro, or cover it with pile Velcro. Is the yellow thread broken on one of those pieces of webbing?

Toe taps are better because they usually also result in extended toes, which help drive you forward. I solved my leg position problem by visiting a wind tunnel. This was the first civilian wind tunnel, circa 1980. I learned more - about leg position - during 5 minutes in that tunnel than during my previous 20 jumps.

HUH ? .................................................................................... I stand corrected: the 2009 and April 2014 revisions of the National manual recommend a maximum service life of 20 years.

This whole debate reminds me of a rigging course that I taught in Switzerland a recently. When we got to discussing air regulations and age of gear, I started my lecture with "The simple answer is 20 years. Then I talked about various ages set by various manufacturers and civil aviation authorities, and the acid mesh fiasco and how gear ages quicker in desert sand, etc. bla bla bla bla bla bla .....". There is not specific gear "life" in Switzerland. On the final exam, most candidates wrote "I will not repack any parachute more than 20 years old." Not the answer I expected, but it is an answer that I can respect. They all passed that question. Could have saved myself 20 minutes of flapping my jaw! Hah! Hah!

That Mirage MLW stitch pattern looks weird, but it works. I have never heard of any of them failing. It is a 3 inch long WMW pattern sewn with 5 cord, pretty common in the parachute industry. The only unusual thing about it is that is wrapped around a piece of hardware after it is sewn. Get over it.

What type of helmet was she wearing? I hope Cheryl heals quickly.

2 The last time my brother tossed me out of bed and told me to drive him to the hospital ... two blocks down the road we agreed that I was not competent to drive before coffee.

If they are not walking on nylon anymore, what are they walking on?

Please share a picture of that river level sand bank.

... As far as the plot points: getting out of a plane or helicopter, flying over the lip of the falls, pitching once clear of the edge and landing on the boat. ... Landing location will be important. ... Water landings in wingsuits, however, are pretty dangerous. One of the experienced instructors did some testing in a pool a few years ago and posted the results. Basically, the jumper is wearing a nylon straight jacket that quickly fills with water. Bad news. ... ................................................................................... Agreed! One of my customers landed his wing-suit in the fjord below a famous Norwegian cliff. He twisted one knee so bad that he will never walk straight again. Far easier to land your hero on the Maid of the Mists. How big is her largest flat, open deck?

It is important for any instructor to be on the same wavelength as all the other DZ staff and teach local standard operating procedures. For example, if the DZ teaches all students to fly a left-handed landing pattern, then visiting instructors are compelled to teach left-hand patterns.

When I jumped in Austria, France, Holland, Portugal and West Germany manifest and skydivers talked about altitude n meters. Most of the skydivers wore metric altimeters. Often I was the only skydiver on the load with an altimeter telling how many feet I was above the DZ. Meanwhile the pilot told air traffic how many feet he was flying above sea level.

Do any of you like to play on the slack lines favored by rock climbers? How much do they help improve your balance? ... muscle tone? ... strength? ... flexibility? I believe Gibbon is the leading manufacturer in North America.

You are aware you've technically already crossed that line and I'm cutting you slack; right? What absolutely fascinates me is why some people actually care about the F vs C thing to begin with, since, you know, both systems are equally arbitrary. I suppose it's because they'd rather believe the system they're using is "correct" when in reality, it just doesn't matter. Ok, well, I say that glibly, I guess if you want to build a structure that would last over 5,000 years, you probably wouldn't use metric. ................................................................................ Arbitrary? Fahrenheit is arbitrary. Celcius is much easier to understand with ) degrees being freezing, while 10 degrees is the boiling temperature of water. In elementary school, they taught Fahrenheit, while they taught Celcius in high school. Is there any wonder I am confused????? I am even more confused about the French dialect they taught in high school. I have never heard that dialect spoken in Europe or North America?????

Ask your local fire department which model of infrared cameras they use.

Some systems (Folland Gnat ejection seat) wrap the spring in a separate cloth sleeve. The spring is not attached to the pilot-chute. That allows the spring to expend all its energy in launching the pilot-chute, but the weight does not interfere with the pilot-chute after launch. IOW the heavy spring contributes nothing after it has launched the pilot-chute.

Do we need a master list of gear life? The last Cypres 1 retires in 2015 Cypres 2, inspection after 4 years and 8 years and retire after 12 years National 15 years Para-Phernalia Softies 20 years Performance Designs reserves 25 deployments, or 40 pack jobs. Many Southern California lofts will not repack gear more than 20 or 25 years old because the desert dust wears out gear prematurely.

Yesterday's newspaper reported that half the complaints about noise from Vancouver International Airport come from only 3 people.