GLIDEANGLE

Can't help but wonder what the leadership at the DZ is saying to this jumper. I would expect it to be something about traffic avoidance at the very least. I don't worry so much about him crashing himself... but murder is inexcusable. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Of course elevation plays a HUGE role. However, in the case that I implied at the outset, we are discussing changes with temperature at a given DZ. If any DZ is experiencing sufficient changes in elevation to warrant thinking about canopy size....there are much bigger problems to deal with! (Think: earthquake, landslide, volcano, etc) The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

You have the right to also ask this same question of the aircraft at your local DZO! Perhaps the next time your in a Cessna product and you see 5 other faces, the prudent thing would be to question this. C Really? At my home DZ's me plus 5 would be a light load in our Cessna..... Caravan. Yes, I get your point. However, not all Cessna's are alike. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

One way to look at rig maintence costs: 1. Reserve repacks (as discussed above) 2. AAD maintence (as discussed above) [don't forget to include shipping cost]. 3. Main reline @ $____ per ____ jumps. 4. Replace kill line in bridle (or replace bridle (including kill line) and PC) @ $____ per ____ jumps. 5. Wash harness/container @ $______ per _____ jumps. 6. POTENTIAL replacement of main canopy, cutaway handle/cables, reserve ripcord, free bag/PC, safety stow following a cutaway. 7. Allowance for unspecified wear which may require repair: leg strap wear or landing damage, chest strap wear, damage to rig from obstacle landing, etc. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Bear in mind that not all 190 sq foot canopies will be the same size. Factors which can make similar size cannopies have different volumes: Fabric ___PD Optimum fabric vs regular 0-3cfm reserve fabric ___ZPX vs ZP Design ___7 cell vs 9 cell The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Recently I was reminded of the importance of instructional staff to new jumpers AFTER their formal instruction. I corresponded with a jumper who I had coached between AFF and his A-license. He has subsequently medaled at the USPA National Championships. I share with you this correspondence NOT to stroke my ego, but to remind all of us of the impact that we can have on new jumpers in INformal ways. I am profoundly humbled by this message. ========== I sent this message: You often tell folks that were it not for my coaching you would not be a skydiver. Why? I don't remember you having any great difficulty that required special work. I appreciate your kind words.... But I don't remember why. =========== His reply: It wasn't just that you did an awesome job as a coach. It was that even after I had completed the coaching program, you always found me every time I was on the DZ and went over my proficiency card and made sure I was doing what I needed to do. The fact that you became a friend and not just a paid instructor and offered to jump with me on your own nickel. Had you not stayed on my ass to continue improving and make sure I wasn't wasting skydives, I may have gave up. I was actually completely terrified. I made it a personal challenge to at least achieve my A license. I wanted to quit many times. Without ever knowing it, you actually helped me to keep going. ============ This should serve to remind all of us coaches and instructors of the impact that we have on new jumpers at times & in ways that may not be obvious to us. It is also a reminder that students may have terror well hidden, but very active. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I DO know several people who are alive only because of their AADs. (Head down 4-way with 4 AAD fires. As I recollect, there were 2 with two-out and 2 with only reserve out.) If we changed the question to which is more efficient in terms of lives saved per dollar spent.... my guess is that the RSL wins by a wide margin. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

If that were so, how on earth would manufacturers like UPT, PD, Mirage, & Icarus get a product TSO'ed? .... Since none of them make BOTH canopy and harness / container. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

USPA SIM 5-1.F.1.j.2: "If cutting away (known deep water only), do so only after both feet contact the water." The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Damn, I thought that the "every 25 jumps" inspection cycle for Strong tandems was strict! At a busy DZ, a rig might not make it through the whole weekend on one 15-jump inspection cycle! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

i was taught how to do it by Brian Germain. When I tried it on my Spectra line set, the results were unimpressive. i suspect that my technique was poor. I suggest that you ask him for more info. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Are you aware of any DZs which modify the student wing loading if the weather gets really hot? If the weather gets hot, do the weight limits come down? If so: ----what is the temperature threshold? ----what is the % decrease in loading? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

"Air is warm"..... Really? It is often below freezing at exit altitude here in "warm" Texas during winter. However, the most important reason for me to start wearing a full-face helmet was for the peace & calmness which allowed be to better concentrate on my flying when I was on my first 4-way team. Today, I also wear a full-face for the kick/punch protection that they afford when jumping with AFF students. If full-face helmets are a waste... Why do the RW teams that perform at the very highest levels wear them? Why do virtually all big way RW jumpers wear them? Why are some of the VRW teams beginning to adopt them? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Fixed it. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

An old, but related, discussion here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3014031;page=unread#unread The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

If you don't want to pack, you can make carrying a bit easier by chaining the lines. That way there is less to mess with. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

No check jump required by USPA for B-license. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I once saw a similar outcome on a Student Vector (w/ Skyhook) and Student Cypres. The jumper was deliberately spiraling the main maximally with toggle for a long time and the Cypres fired. The jumper aborted the spiral low and landed OK with the freebag still in the container. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Civilian Night Jumps tend to occur on full moon nights and often include supplemental lighting in the LZ. I suspect that the military avoids those bright nights for ops. If you allow adequate time for your eyes to adapt... full moon provides plenty of light for flying and landing. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I am NOT a free flyer. However, I do have an opinion related to this. If a jumper is sit-flying on the same load as me, I don't care if they are stable. I care A LOT that they fall straight down. They must not not slide under or over other groups exiting on the same jump run. That can ruin everyone's day in a huge hurry. A collision between a freefalling jumper and a deploying or deployed jumper can be maximally ugly. Novice sit-flyers often have trouble falling straight down. They can cover a large distance horizontally without realizing it. So, as with most of your questions.... there is a WHOLE lot more to it! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

My wife got hers on jump #11. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

In the FJC at my home DZ, we address line twists. However, we don't mention "wing loading". Our course is to prep the student for the FIRST jump, nothing more. There is no need to clutter the FJC student's head with stuff that they don't need for the first jump. There are many instructional jumps later to cover that material, IF they choose to continue jumping. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

1. USPA publishes a brief document intended to refresh jumpers' knowledge after the winter season during Safety Day. It makes a nice review for re-currency at other times too: http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/Downloads/Safety_Day_Check_List.pdf 2. While YOU may not have changed a bit in the last few years, your DZ may have. I can think of several important safety policies which have changed at my DZ in the last few years. I suspect that is common. Getting a briefing on that would help keep both you and others safe. 3. At the very least, expect to pull some handles in the training harness. When I am conducting re-currency briefings, I do this FIRST. I use the jumper's performance in the training harness as an indicator of how much review they may need in other areas. 4. I agree that being known is an important variable. I have learned my lesson the hard way: I will always do a gripped exit with unknown jumpers doing re-currency. If the exit goes well, I can drop the grips promptly; if the exit goes badly, I have the grips already. 5. For most returning jumpers it makes sense to rent bigger canopies for the first couple of jumps. Welcome back... Blue Skies! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

So true. Yesterday I saw a jumper in Florida land under a reserve canopy because his main handle was completely stuffed into his BOC pouch. He admitted that he didn't check his gear before exit. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

You will be limiting yourself to jumping only in idyllic conditions with that rig. My DZ is windy, you would rarely jump that rig at my DZ (unless you like landing backwards). Talk to the instructors at your DZ about the appropriate canopy size for you given your skills and interests. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!