LawnDart21

The exact reason why the Tridem is only used for tandem candidates in need of a cutaway to qualify for the TICC. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I didn't know sunglasses had a maximum airspeed rating....lol If a pair of sunglasses can handle 120mph, they can most probably handle those "higher speeds" you'll encounter freeflying......lol For what its worth, I jump with Nike "Squares" sunglasses, they have pop out lenses, look kind of flimsy as they pop in, but I have only lost one lense in 1500 jumps with them, tandem, RW, sitfly, headdown, and I only lost a lense while taking them off under canopy, not in freefall. They were $100 I think, and they come with a second set of lenses. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

In the 1950's we had 16 workers working to support every 1 retiree in the social security system. Like a wing loading, it was 16:1 Right now it's approx 3.3 to 1. Under the current system, today's 30-year-old worker will face a 26% benefit cut when he or she reaches normal retirement age. And that's the good news........lol Imagine this scenario: Let's say your married or have a SO, and you both retire at 65 and live to be 85 together. 20 years x 365 days x 3 meals a day= 21,900 meals you will each eat in your retirement years. Fogetting the high end "In before 4pm - Seniors Dinners" at the local restaurant, if most of your meals are grocery store home cooked (most economic) meals, your looking at an average cost of $5 per meal per person. 21,900 x 2 (people) x $5 per meal = $219,500 $219,500 your gonna spend just on food in your retirement years (and that's in today's dollars). Who's got 1/4 million dollars under the mattress for dinner? -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Go to Don's shop and ask Tom P. He has a couple of kayaks back in the ghetto, he is really into it, Been doing it for years. Im sure he can answer any ?s you have. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

On a budget, looking to buy a 5th wheel. Fleetwood versus Keystone (Kind of like Crossfire versus Stilletto.....lol): What are your opinions, the good and the bad. Thank you. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I'd like to see the word THESAURUS eliminated, I just can't find a word to replace it with. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

"Chicken Handles" were created to give an experienced passenger the ability to pull the cutaway and the reserve. I do alot of passenger rides on the front, and when I am "wearing my instructor" on my back, I look at them as not much more than a breathing 230lb parachute system, of which, if need be, I have a tremendous amount of control over. They have things to do on the jump, and in the absense of them doing what they are supposed to do, I have access to do all the same things I would do on a normal skydive to save my life. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

No offense, but both options are pretty lame and lack creativity. Give it more thought. I call mine "The Chop Shop" -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Rigger please............... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

400 complaints, to be precise.......... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I've had more than one experience where prospective buyers will show tremendous interest, asking all kinds of questions, and asking for all kinds of pics and info, numerous emails back and forth. Then I get a reply that they want to buy it, but that they will only buy it for an amount redicously lower than what I am selling it for........... (Say for example, a year old container that I spent $1900 on and put less than 100 jumps on it, that I was selling for a very very fair $1200 that I was offered only $700 for after a number of emails back and forth.......). I have no gripe with someone having a price limit, but say in the first email: "I am only willing to pay "$xxx" amount." That way if I agree, cool, we can continue the discussion, or I will politely say "no thank you" It is bound to happen to any seller from time to time. For all the aggrevation though, the buyers that I did sell gear to, have all been really cool people and we had very successful sales experiences. Hang in there. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

There is one HUGE difference.....none of your above examples require the gear user to be rated by and approved by the manufacturer on its use. And I think its safe to say, regardless of how "cool" some people may think that picture is, that the three gentlemen responsible for producing the majority of todays tandem skydiving gear, in all likelyhood, would not approve of such use of thier gear for that type of tandem RW. That is where the difference is. In being that none of your above examples require the jumper to be rated by the manufacture to use the equipment. Mr. Booth, Mr. Strong and Mr. Sherman require manufacturer ratings to use their gear, for among other reasons, to ensure that their gear is used in a manner consistent with their views of what is safe and what is not safe. It is for that very reason that they absolutely do have the authority to say what can and cannot be done with their gear. I do not believe their is a tandem instructor course out there that does not emphasise that tandem instructors should make every effort to ensure that no other skydiver enters the area of space above them or below them, the tandem skydive "danger zone". To purposely allow anyone to enter that danger zone is to compromise your responsibility as a tandem instrcuctor. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

There was another thread about safety and DZ culture, and I think it correlates here well. If packing_jarret was jumping at my DZ, he would not be allowed to jump an elliptical canopy loaded at 1.3 at 122 jumps, and every other DZ in the area would uphold the same restriction. Put simply in our area, this guy would be stuck on the ground with that canopy, no matter how good he may perceive himself to be. Who are the people that are on his DZ that are letting him get away with his progression? -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

In 6 years & 15 dropzones visited, I can legitimately only think of one "experienced" jumper that I have seen/known, that despite all their "experience" still lands like "absolute crap" as you say. Unless your DZ in an anomoly, and is filled with experienced skydivers pounding in all day, I personally do not read any validity in your comment, but that is just my experience and opinion. I know one person, not very "amazed" am I..... -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Here's how I gauge whether or not someone is experienced, it's pretty easy: Inexperienced skydivers will always give you their opinion. Experienced skydivers will only give you thier opinion when asked for it -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I think its important to acknowledge that even though the qualification has been added to allow D-Licensed skydivers to jump with cleared for self supervising students, that doesnt mean DZOs and instructoral staff must allow them all to do so. In thoery a jump planner is still going to be filled out and need to be signed off by an appropriately rated instructor, so if a self supervised student ends up planning to do a 2 way with a D-License jumper with questionable skills, the DZO or instructor can still stop the jump. Your intentions are good, but you are missing the point that there are a number of exceptionally talented D-License holders that are also very good teachers. For whatever reason they choose to let their ratings expire (or maybe a 4 way RW teammember, never had the time to get the rating), but they still have a tremendous amount of knowledge, and are very capable of passing that knowledge on. Maybe not in your preferred coach course style, but still appropriate info being passed along. Lastly, how many Coaches stop at a Coach rating? Most go on to get AFF or Tandem ratings. That said, (I've only been to 15 DZs or so) some DZs Ive been to don't have enough coaches avaialble for self supervising students, becuase on a busy day, they may be too busy doing tandems or AFF jumps, then the self supervised jumper can either A) Do a solo, B) sit on the ground waiting, or C) make a coached jump with a competent D-Licence holder. In that instance, I dont see any problem with a skilled, instructor or DZO approved D-License holder making a coach jump with them. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

"Should probably" = Not an absolute "Must" = an absolute Not trying to nit pick, but the words "should probably" can lead to confusion. More than one person has been reported on here as having had a cypres fire becuase they didn't pull thier reserve handle after cutting away with an RSL attached to their rig, because they didn't comprehend that their RSL was only an auxillary safety device, and that pulling thier reserve handle was a must. Thats your choice. Some people on here choose to be PC and sugar coat things. When it comes to safety, I do not. It's nothing personal. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Are you serious? Your a coach, and from your post, also teaching the non-method specific portion of FJCs, I ask you in all seriousness, do you teach that your RSL wearing students should probably pull thier own reserve handle while executing EPs? When did we change from "pull all your handles", to "you should probably pull all your handles?" In any emergency situation that requires a cutaway & reserve deployment, you should ALWAYS pull your own reserve handle. NEVER trust your RSL (or any other device) to do it for you. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

As in for sale to the general public? -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Yet your 1st post was: Real encouraging.......... And your definitely in a good position to assess that........ Another encouraging comment........ To be honest with you, your in no position to judge Ed based solely on his handful of posts that you apparently cant make sense of. If you do not approve of Ed's responses, here's an idea, stop reading them and replying to them. Or does trying to piss on someone elses legitamate skydiving issue just because it doesnt make sense to you, does that give you the ego boost you need? Show the guy a little respect. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Hi Kim, I think it's important to train (or atleast offer) all of your students on how to pull thier ripcords, and allow them to do so if they want to. I have a solution to the problem about the ripcord pull in the plane. Do this, and I can pretty much assure you it will never happen to you again

We are 45 minutes north of Logan airport, 30 minutes from Manchester, and all of 5 miles from an avaition college and Boire Field in Nashua......... No f'ing way I'm getting out in those conditions. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Only real ones..... I try to jump naked atleast once a season. I did my 1st naked jump at the WFFC out of the B-17 Bomber, that was pretty cool. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

I just want to add that I have bought 4 Mirages in the last few years, and have had sizing issues with 2 of them. Of the 2 with issues, each time Mirage always went out of thier way to fix the problems. One container even needed a second resize. They communicated with me regularly about progress and definitely lived up to thier end of the deal, even overnighting me back a container so that I could take it with me to the WFFC. Mistakes will periodically happen, on the customer side and the manufacturer side as well. It has been my experience that when things go right, anyone can look good, but its when things go bad, you see what people and companies are really made of. I would definitely buy my next container from Mirage, no question about it. Thye have earned my trust and my repeat business by proving to me I matter as a customer. -- My other ride is a RESERVE.

Don't forget we also have access to a number of total dumb asses on here as well........lol Anyways, I have received some very supportive PMs from people (Thank you) regarding this issue and even most of the counter points here in the thread were valid and thought provoking. I never set out to say "I AM RIGHT, IT MUST BE DONE MY WAY", I just wanted to offer a moment of pause for people to consider the impact of what they post, and I think (hopefully) I was able to do that. If nothing changes (my initail thought) so be it, I think this exchange was worth it for me and hopefully for a few others. Blue skies, Tom -- My other ride is a RESERVE.