GLIDEANGLE

try this: http://uspa-benefits.org/life/custom-life-home/ The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

This is a relevant discussion: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4524110#4524110 The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Here is some reading on this topic: http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Canopy_Control/Downsizing_Checklist_47.html See ALL 22 pages of this one (don't stop with the chart on page 1): http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

The FAA went to great lengths to change the FARs (14 CFR) to make clear that maintenance or alteration of a MAIN canopy can only be done by, or under the supervision of, a certified rigger. Given that no records are required of maintenance or alterations of MAIN canopies, how is this enforceable? It seems to be pointless to me. 14 CFR 65.111.c "(c) No person may maintain or alter any main parachute of a dual-parachute system to be used for intentional parachute jumping in connection with civil aircraft of the United States unless that person— (1) Has an appropriate current certificate issued under this subpart; or (2) Is under the supervision of a current certificated parachute rigger;" 14 CFR 65.125.c "(c) A certificated parachute rigger need not comply with §§ 65.127 through 65.133 (relating to facilities, equipment, performance standards, records, recent experience, and seal) in packing, maintaining, or altering (if authorized) the main parachute of a dual parachute pack to be used for intentional jumping." Both of the above regulations can be found here: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&rgn=div5&view=text&node=14:2.0.1.1.4&idno=14#14:2.0.1.1.4.6.1.1 The section of the Federal Register where this change was made: http://www.uspa.org/Portals/0/News/Part%2065%20FR.PDF The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

That's the gist of why I'm trying to find an AFF FJC for my brother. Probably will end up taking him to see the couch freaks Yep... this "macho" / "better than you" / 'homophobic" / "Red Bull" attitude is exactly why so many AFF jumps which are "first jump EVER" go so badly. Dunning-Kruger is alive and well here.... The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

What could possibly go wrong? The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Tunnel flight doesn't come close to simulating "half" of a skydive! There is much, much more which must be mastered! Here is an incomplete ist of the tasks which comprise a skydive. All of this NON-tunnel stuff is why we continue to use jump numbers as a tool. When to get on the plane... and when to sit for a while. How to "dress for success". How to gear-up correctly. How to conduct gear checks. How to load the plane for safe flight to altitude and smooth exits. How to spot, how to spot, how to spot. Exit separation. How to climb out. How to fly the exit, how to fly the exit, how to fly the exit. .......insert tunnel time here..... Altitude awareness. Tracking. Stable deployment. Canopy assessment and management (that may just be kicking out of line twists, or it may be Emergency Procedures). Navigation to DZ. Traffic management. Wind assessment. Canopy pattern with traffic management. Flare and landing. The reason that we don't disassociate freefall from canopy work in the training progression, is that while you can have a safe canopy jump without freefall, you cannot have a safe freefall jump without canopy. Think about where in the skydive injuries most injuries occur and what skills are needed to avoid those deaths. Clearly those skills before and after freefall are CRITICAL to ensuring the safety of the jumper and others. Some of those skills simply require experience to acquire (see the first task on the list as an example). If you are so convinced that a progression path should be created which spearates freefall and canopy.... write it and submit it to USPA for consideration. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Unless you are ready and willing to land without radio assistance, don't jump. Radio assistance is unreliable: - batteries can fail - students' ears can plug up due to the pressure changes in free fall. - if the student is landing somewhere other than the target area, the instructor may not be able to see the student well enough to give much help. Excessive use of the radio can impede student learning. Why should I look at your tunnel video? It isn't likely to change what I am going to teach you for non-release jumps. Hint: In my experience, the students who want to show me their tunnel video often are a challenge in the air. For AFF students there can be a HUGE disconnect between tunnel performance and performance in the sky. That planet rushing toward the student can tremendously degrade performance. This is a dangerous sport, not an amusement ride. If you aren't ready and willing to save your own life....don't get on the plane. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Agree 100% on all counts! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

1. Why? How are you safer by beating the RSL. 2. It is unlikely that you can beat a correctly operating RSL. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Jumpsuit: it seems to me that good fit and selection of the correct materials are more important than brand. Be sure to get measured by someone with experience measuring for skydiving jumpsuits. Helmets. [B]G3. (Look at the team photos from the USPA Nationals this week... Note how popular the G3 is!) Altimeters: If you prefer Analog: Galaxy by Alti2 is hard to beat on cost, durability, & utility. If you get a Galaxy...get the "glow the dark" version. If you like digital: N3 is pricey, but very cool. (BEWARE: the N3Audio is an entirely different device which lacks a speaker or visual display of altitude) The analog vs digital war is exhausting. It is entirely a personal preference matter. Even though I grew up with analog watches and clocks... I find the digital much easier to read both because the digits are BIG and easy to read and because I find that I have much less mental work to interpret what I see on the altimeter. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Skydive Temple in Salado, TX certianly deserves a visit! Skydive 35 will probably be a disappointment to a licensed jumper. I love Skydive Dallas... but it may be further than you want to drive regularly. We have a "Howdy" culture and two turbine AC. [And our teams are doing rather well at Nationals right now! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Since the collisions are far more likely to occur in the pattern than during the actual landing, overlapping patterns seems to defeat the purpose. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Unlikely, yes. However, I know of AT LEAST four people who have had them. Yes, all were low pulls with AADs. As you said... not likley time to even think of RSL. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I completely agree. There are a whole lot of things that could be done to make learning packing easier... but it seems that far too often there is a sense of "I learned the hard way, you can too!" Either that, or packing is taught by the professional packers, who have a conflict of interest. It is in the professional packer's best interest for the student to NOT learn to pack well. Things I DON'T see done with students learning to pack: ---Start with a ragged out F-111 canopy and let them master the process first, then learn to apply it to the ZP canopy. ---Start with a smaller canopy and then move up to the huge student canopy. ---Teach any of the alternate bagging methods for the folds (such as above). ---Or, heaven forbid, teach psycho packing as an intro... and then advance them to folding later. I believe that a clean psycho pack is FAR safer than a sloppy folded pack which may let the slider migrate down or the brake lines move around front. As a novice, it was a slammer opening which inspired me to learn to psycho pack. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

It sounds like it is time for you to watch a reserve inpection and re-pack! That is time VERY well spent. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

More altitude to 13,500 ft won't change the experience much. However, being solo might change your experience. Tandem has quite the "amusement park ride" feel. Solo is a WHOLE different animal. For example, I joke that I can tell whether first-jump students in the landing pattern are tandem or AFF by the sound. Tandems are often whooping and hollering, AFF are almost entirely silent. The AFF first-jump students are quietly saying to themselves "Oh shit! This is gonna hurt! Oh shit! Oh shit!" The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

I NEVER messed with any of that. My DZ is happy to fax it and take the application/license/rating fee out of my account. It takes me 20 seconds... "Please fax this to USPA and take the fee out of my DZ account number #####". Perhaps the folks who are missing the boat are the DZs! Emailing an the applation should be an option. We should not have to pay for any technology upgrade for that... since they already have the ability to handle email. I suspect that a small change in USPA office procedures would make emailed applications work just fine. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Ah... suspect tandem gear maintenance is the issue. A careful inspection of those rigs may reveal that there are some parts in need of replacement. I have seen this situation in the past. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

If one discipline gets boring... try a new one: Bellyflying ---Team or Big Way Freeflying ---Team or Big Way Wingsuiting Style and Accuracy CReW ---Team or Big Way Swooping Camera Speedflying Demos Instructing ---SL, IAD, Tandem, AFF, Coach, Examiner. If you get bored.... it is your own damned fault! The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Facinating. I am thinking home-made. Unless I have lost my mind (quite possible), it appears that the part that should be sewn isn't, AND the part that is sewn should not be. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Based on my observations of cases at the bedside (as an ICU nurse) the living will is less useful than the medical power of attorney. Here is info about the Texas version of the medical power of attorney: http://www.texmed.org/template.aspx?id=65 The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

"Even" rodeo riders??? They damned well better be considered high risk! Those guys get hurt fairly frequently. If they were NOT classed as high risk I would be surprised. It is true that you might be hurt in a wreck while driving home. However, the insurance company is looking at the odds of you getting hurt. By any measure that I can think of, the rate of injury in skydiving vastly exceeds that of driving. The dirty little secret of skydiving in the US is that we don't measure injuries effectively. Thus, the true rate of skydiving injury is unknown. However, simple observation makes it clear that the rate of injury in skydiving is pretty damned high. For example, as I write this I know four jumpers at my DZ who are recovering from leg injuries (including my wife who is icing her leg at this instant). Given that my community of skydivers is fairly small, that is a high injury rate compared to my community of drivers. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

Jump volume plays a role too. Assume that the rate of malfunctions per 10,000 jumps remains steady. If the rate of jumps being made at a DZ can affect the "apparent rate" of malfunctions. I see this frequently when the DZ gets busy on a summer holiday boogie. The number of malfunctions / weekend goes up as the jump volume goes up. It appears that there is an increased rate (per 10,000 jumps) but there really isn't. The rate of malfunctions is also affected by the canopy mix of the jumpers. If we have an influx of folks with fickle high performance canopies, the rate of malfunctions goes UP, if however the canopy mix is more docile... the rate of malfunctions goes down. Of course, not all cutaways are due to malfunctions! I remember a 4 day CReW boogie which had ~10 reserve rides among the ~40 CReW dogs. All of those were due to wraps, not malfunctions. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

My first static line jump was in 1978. My next jump wasn't until AFF in 2009. Does that mean I currently have 35 years experience, or 4 or 5? Do you have to have 1 jump a year to count that as a year? Your question is exactly what I was referring to about the weakeness of the 3-year rule. No, I have never seen any definition of what a "year of parachuting experience" consists of. I agree with you that at an extreme definition... it could mean very little. The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!