denete

I was flying a 172 as a student once and my door popped open while I was on my downwind leg. Pucker. Hold the yoke with one hand, grab the door with the other and slam it shut...while not disturbing the yoke. It was hard enough climbing into that plane without a rig on, I can't imagine climbing out with one.

There is a good basic "Skydiving Glossary" on dropzone.com. It can be found here.

Actually, let's point out a real advantage of using Kevlar in a helmet. Weight isn't really a factor. The weight of a composite helmet comes from the resin and weight of fabric used. You could get a lighter helmet with fiberglass. Kevlar is a very strong fiber under tension. If you have a impact with a large surface (tree trunk, ground, etc.), the resin will crack and let go of the Kevlar (if there is a good amount of force, which is what we're primarily talking about here I believe). The Kevlar fibers and fabric will very likely stay intact. it may fold and bend, but it will keep the contents of the helmet inside the "bag" of Kevlar (whatever escapes from your head will still be inside the helmet). Carbon fiber is a very different animal. It is okay under tension, but not as good under compression or sheer. When the resin does let go of it, it will splinter. You don't want to deal with that splintered edge either. If you ever thought fiberglass splinters were painful...try carbon fiber. It makes Kevlar edge fuzz look like a fluffy pillow to sleep on. Kevlar is the line of kids playing red-rover who refuse to let go of each other. If you do go with a composite weave, try to get one that has multiple layers and has both Kevlar and carbon fiber running in both axes. Off the Kevlar subject...are there any reports on the Skysystems "Benny" helmet? SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

And in marching snare drum heads! SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

No.

Final post from me on this topic - A clarification of my original post: I apparently had my facts screwed up on the example that I gave of there being an un-written skydiving pecking order. Everything that I saw last weekend was actually approved in advance by the dzo and there were no safety issues of any kind. I must have walked up after things were set and missed the details, then seen things through the untrained eyes of a beginner. That would explain why nothing was said at that moment, and why I was the only person puzzled by it all. I'm trying my best to sort through the complexities of this activity, and I guess I'm going to get it wrong sometimes. Anyhow, I'm sorry if anybody was confused about the safety aspects of the example I gave. Chalk it up to me being an uninformed noob. I'll either get it right some day, or drop out before I understand how everything works. Best luck to everyone. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Kind of the "mystery shopper" method of evaluation. My guess is that most instructors know when they are going through evaluation. They know that the evaluator is pretending to be a student. That isn't really a real-world evaluation. If they had no idea that their next student was an evaluator, you could get a more true evaluation of their ability to teach. I think I've used up my $.02 on the forums. So, I'm going to take a break from dropzone.com. I hope you guys in the position to make changes happen for the better will do so. What is there to lose? SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

A quick note on Scott Miller's canopy control course, a good amount of the essential skills course IS included in the ISP (two-stage flares are not however). More importantly, what is not included is a mandate that a student take part in a well-defined course of study in canopy control and the incredible feedback that Scott Miller gives students before and after each jump. The Canopy Piloting Proficiency Card shows that the USPA has done enough groundwork to know that there is a benefit to having a standard of demonstrated skills in order to establish comfort with the particular canopy you are flying. It might just be another patch in the dam, but perhaps there should be a rating for canopy piloting instructor. From the Canopy Piloting Proficiency Card: The majority of time in my dive-flow training for each AFF level was spent on freefall. That's just how it seems to be. Each time that I asked what skills I should focus on while under canopy I got two different answers. One instructor gave me concrete things to work on. One other said, "I just want you to spend time getting to know your canopy up there." I pulled out the SIM section 4-1 and 4-2 along with my notes from the Essential Skills Course, and decided what I needed to work on. I often hesitated to tell my instructors what I did afterward in case they would jump on me for trying to do things before I was ready. I would be really pleased if the Instructor rating card simply added canopy instruction to the required skills demonstrated. As of today, all you have to do is provide a flight plan and give ground-to-air radio instruction. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Okay, Andy knows that I've had some personal experiences with this topic and that I've done my best to find the "acceptable" way to talk through the frustrations. I want better instructors out there teaching, because I want to enjoy this activity for the long haul. I've just recently left the teaching profession. I taught in a performance-based subject area. Essentially, you could observe my students and know if I was doing a good job or not. One of the things that I did every year, even though it was not required, was to have every one of my students critique my instructional methods, information delivered, choice of material, etc. For the newest students, they always had the same reaction, "you mean there might be other ways to teach us"? Or, "you don't think you're the best teacher you can be"? Hell no, that's why I was good at what I did. I constantly labored under the idea that I could still be a better teacher, and that there must be an even better way of doing things than the method I was using. When it came to having my peers in the business critique me, I was all ears. I wanted to know what I needed to fix. Not because I didn't know, but because of their perspective on the situations. As an instructor, you cannot see things that you say and do through the eyes of your students all the time. If you assume that what you are doing is good enough in this sport, you must also assume that none of your students will speak up to let you know that they aren't getting the training that they need. This sport / activity has an unspoken pecking order to it. It is based on some bizarre things, but one of those has to do with the amount of time that you've been in the activity and your "swagger value". I watched three jumpers swoop the "foot traffic only" area in front of the hangar last weekend while the DZO and resident mother of "doing things by the book" stood / sat and watched it. This was a cross-wind, rotor-filled, pedestrian traffic area. I waited to hear the royal hormone-induced ass-chewing that should have happened, but I just stood there with my jaw on the ground as nothing was said. What?! I got very close to leaving the place and never coming back. The only thing that stopped me was the thought that I must be getting way too uptight about this, and there is probably a reason that it was alright to do something that seemed so obviously wrong. All I could come up with was this unspoken pecking order. I did ask a couple of people who had witnessed this if I, as a student with only 8 jumps, would have been "talked to" if I landed there. By the way, the experience of the canopy pilots in question doesn't matter at all. None of them could have avoided the tragedy that would have occurred if a small child had run across the grass at the moment they were swooping. Oddly enough the one small child that likes to run across that area the most is the one that would have had the greatest impact on those who "looked the other way" that day. That story isn't there to bash those people, but rather to point out the problem with people bringing up questionable areas of their instruction. A student wont question the techniques of their instructor, because the student is the "new guy" in the activity. The student who has read the SIM, has studied canopy control, has absorbed as much as possible on skydiving is still going to say that their instructor must be right, because they have the title of instructor. If I were to set up a re-testing method for AFFIs, it would be a "real world" evaluation. Take me on one of your AFF jumps. Better yet, teach me the jump as though I was your student. Even better yet, I'll pretend that I've never been out of an airplane before and you'll teach me like I was your new AFF student. I wont ask too many questions, but I will watch and listen carefully to see if you actually teach me, instill cautious confidence, and then control the dive to acceptable standards. I will probably make it go to hell when you release me, and with any luck you will respond to me as a student that you take a genuine interest in teaching. My goal as a teacher was always the same, to make myself progressively unnecessary. I didn't often directly answer student questions. I most often guided students toward the answers that they already had, even if they didn't know it. I welcomed critique, and felt that I became better at doing my job with every day that passed because I grew an army of demanding students. I had no problem turning my entire instructional program over to those students at any time. I knew that they either knew exactly what to do, or they had developed the skill to "do things that made sense." How many AFFIs would take a student of theirs after clearing them to self-supervise, and allow them to teach another student? Not to actually do the dive with them, but to have them do all of the ground-work from FJC to boarding the plane for level one? If you taught your students as though that was what was expected of them, you might be surprised at the quality of learning that happens. If all of that seems like "too much work for you", then perhaps you should be a bowling instructor instead. - David I apologize if I rambled here. It is late, and this little text window doesn't let me see everything that I wrote. Please read the disclaimers in my signature below before blasting me a new hole. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Yeah it's full of heads. I'm supposed to bury them in a shallow grave near the railroad tracks. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Ever mow the lawn with the rig on? SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Okay. To go a little off the original question... Seeing how we should not totally trust any mechanical device (digital or mechanical altimeters), is there any true difference between them? Should I put the same amount of trust in a digital altimeter that I put in a mechanical altimeter? - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Ahhhh...a Cumming Comedian. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

I couldn't wait to jump. Well, I could wait longer than this guy. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Hmmm...does the USPA insurance cover something like this? This might actually be a serious question, and not my usual sarcastic questioning. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

I jumped my Havok a few times this weekend, and it was great. I only got one "Luke, I am your father" on the way to altitude. It opens and closes easily enough for me, and open under canopy was good (head on a swivel always). One of the selling points for me was the cost of a replacement lens. The Freezr costs around $75 to replace, and the Havok costs around $14 to replace. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Mouse, don't you know that a fat china bossman is called a ... bloss-man (supplies!) SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

I bought the Havok due to having an awful time with over-the-glasses goggles. Everything that I tried was inadequate, and caused problems with depth perception on landings. The Havok fits well over my glasses (mine are a bit wider than most), and has been easy to deal with under canopy as well (opening, closing, etc.). I have not yet baked the liner, so mine is pretty tightly fitted. I will be baking it this week and can post an update after jumping it again. The photo shown in the review for this helmet isn't what the current iteration looks like. Take a look at boneheadcomposites.com . - David

I'm wondering about the origins of a few things associated with skydiving. 1. couches 2. pie 3. farting in the plane 4. certain numbers (420, or 240, etc.) What is the skydiving significance of these things?

This might be a silly question, but what do you mean by "tuck"? Kind of a reversed arch? - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Sounds like you need an Exoskeleton. Some military contractors are working on a system like that, but with built-in motivators (a miniature version of Ripley's loader from Aliens). SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

At a certain point, unless you're "getting the job done", you're going to get "the tap". SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Unlike Andy, let's go play poker! SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

Hell, I just think it's funny as shit that you refer to me as a colonial. Keep spitting on the twat Andy. SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

That sounds like a slanted observation. Perhaps subconsciously you are wishing ill will? I know that I wasn't. Anyhow, have a great day. Go skydive or something. - David SCR #14809 "our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe" (look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)