raymond_jones

im one of those ppl that expects a certain standard for something if im paying for it, with that said if i wanted coaching in a discipline, then i want coached from a proven person. (in my eyes) i also believe that anybody can learn from anyone if they are willing to take the steps to do so. you have a good opinion from the other side which i can respect. and last but not least: i had to be able to pack within a certain time limit before i jumped. i packed for every jump i did on "student status" it was a requirement that i believe should be used for everyone. i think it helps build self confidence and enhanses the learning of canopies. but thats me. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

to answer your questions: iv'e been jumping since '99. everyplace i've been to is home. as for numbers well........ i got the purpose of the thread. i was giving him or her a different perspective to think of. all the manuvers of forward movement, turns and docking are involved in getting your A license. who do you think students ask 1st? answer: their peers. with that said, yes every "joe dick in the mud can teach ppl...." how do you know what mindset im in, you don't even know me. I am in total agreence of ppl learning new ways to do things, but it's the same thing being a USPA coach or a SDU coach. whatever method you do it, through USPA or SDU, your still getting a USPA COACH RATING. and to answer your last question: if a person has enough jumps to get a coach rating and expects to make a living off of it, then good luck. other ppl with a coach rating will gladly do it for free. it's about helping beginers in the sport learning the basics, not about getting a free check. on the other side of this, if your a "world champion" swooper giving a canopy course then I would expect to pay a fee other than a slot. It's like a packer charging a fee for a packing class that should be taught in the 1st jump course.....BULLSHIT!!! And how should someone that is a basic coach make a living? Try wall-mart, taco bell, or the unemployment office untill they have enough experience to teach HD, swooping, RW, wingsuit flying, ect. profecentitly. but a coach with 200+ jumps shouldn't attempt to make a living teaching new and upcoming students a damn thing without the evperience to back it up. and if your implying that they should then........................ "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

the last time i checked the USPA is the one that gives ratings not the SDU. if thats the case than your SDU rating is a USPA rating. you might have taken a different offshoot of the course, but your doing the same course, to be a coach. personally by some of the responses you've already proven that the SDU course is not as good as the USPA course, because all of you are saying that my course is better that yours and im a better coach because of it. with that said, if you came at me like that being a coach, i would promptly go to manifest or the school and ask for someone else. {rule of thumb: professionals don't degrade other professionals, they do their job as best as they can and if they have an issue they don't do it in front of students, or future students in a public forum, they pull the other professionals aside and work out their differences.} as for coaching, charging someone $30 + a pack job is just bullshit for most coaches. ok you paid an assload for a course, that doesn't entitle you to charge ppl. i think covering your slot is reasonable but beyond that, your just ripping them off. any joe dick in the mud can teach ppl to move forward, backward, do turns, dock, ect. i think a person that teaches ppl how to backfly, freefly, ect, that has proven themselves to amoung the best (went to nationals and placed) should be the ppl that charge for coach jumps. but some person who just attended the basic course is just poo. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

some people seem to forget the saying: "You can do everything right on your skydive, yet still die". and if they don't understand why this is said, then maybe they should question why they jump in the first place. You can't legislate safety into the world. Governments have been trying to do it for years now and it only produces two types of people. Boring sheep and rebels. Most of us who jump have a little rebel in us despite the sheeps clothing we often wear. This is the standard defense #23 that is leading some people to propose the bans. If sport jumpers are supposed to just accept that some person might choose to ignore common sense and kill them from behind, their natural reaction will be to either ban or relocate that person. Klingeme: do you acknowledge that the risks you list are not at the same level of magnitude? what difference is that from driving your car down the road and getting hit from behind and killed by another driver? get some insurance!!! "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

toshay!!!!! landing in parking lots, swooping the crowd/other objects, and pissing off 100 ppl by yelling jibberish at them, would definatly solve the problem. you should have a seminar during the next safety day because thats exactly what every jumper should aspire to do. (im being sarcastic of course.) off course there are many outs in the desert, thats a given. but at 500-1000 ft. a hord of ppl walk out and stand in the landing area the outs get smaller and smaller. but acording to your thinking I should have started blowing into my canopy in attempts to fly 3 miles in the opposite direction, or dodge cars coming in and out of the parking lot, or basically break all their rules bust a 270' swoop through a dirt dive and commence swearing at them. im sure you don't make these suggestions to your students, but you offer them for even a greater audience to view...... Congrats!!! you just earned a darwin award. im glad you were being sarcastic, you can swoop my car any day!!!! "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

i guess you don't know if i had my head up my ass or not. and maybe me and the other 6 ppl I went there missed all the announcements too. statistically i doubt that. and maybe your right, maybe i should go to small dz's, they are having a better track record this year. or maybe golf would be a much better hobby. but im more inclined to think that a wise man once lied to you, and your thinking in a delusional world. thanks for the insite from jumpers I RESPECT like chuck, wild bill, and the beefers, as well as many others that posted. we might not all agree but thats the internet. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

if suggesting that when you are manifesting for a load the manifestor warns you that there is going to be a 100 ppl on the landing area doing a dirt dive and making the event even safer as well as giving fellow jumpers a courtisy heads up is blowing it out of proportion. then i don't know what to say. except at this point in this years "incident total" i think any saftey measures that could be taken should be, and should be discussed amongst jumpers. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

i think if manifest or even the leaders of the big way attempts would have let other jumpers know that they would be conducting their big way dirt dives there and when they were doing them then the place was great. unfortunily that didn't happen, if a group of jumpers go up, jump, open up, and during their pattern 100 ppl go and are on the landing area, without prior warning or heads up to the jumpers already i the air, then i think that is an issue that should be corrected at future events. Also there are multible areas that the dirt dives could have been conducted. im no event organizer by any means, but I was a L.R.S. team leader in the military and do know how to plan for things. on a side note, i was more than happy to land in the alt landing area and walk back. and continued to land there because it was safer. and yes I was more than capable of landing around the dirt dive, but why take a chance, cause no matter how capable you are "shit happens" I just think that next time a little "common curtosy" would be nice. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

he might not have one because of the price of "high performance canopies" any other reason than that is poo. just because you have an altimeter doesn't mean you have to look at it. as for the rest, rely on what your instructers and sims taught/recomend to you. you may not always have your altimeter due to different reasons, reguardless it's your ass on the line, do what is necessary to survive. I perfer audibles myself, but wear both and "use my eyes", and im still walking. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

the hung over mornings, smell of jet fuel, the thrill of possibly dying but not, watching ppl eat shit when they talk smack all day long, the beer, reading the incident reports, the beer, learnoing about how ppl really are, and waking up in a tent because its so fucking hot next to you!!!!! "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

I was wondering what the general publics opinions are about ppl standing in the landing areas. (skydivers, spectators, ect.) The example for this question: at eloy this past weekend they were doing 100 way formation skydives, and during a regular load (tandems & up jumpers canopy decent, there were 100 or so ppl standing in the landing area with their rigs on doing a last munite dirt dive. obviously there were several areas that would have made better places to practice. several skydivers decided to abort their approaches and land in a different area, as to not cause an incident. so...... the question is: who is in the right or who is in the wrong? "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

1st of all who are you to call an imbecile? i still have my money, partly because I trust ppl about as far as I can throw them. and to answer your first rant, you can know his uspa #, phone #, address, ect. lot good it did you cause you didn't know he didn't have a cypress. hummm............ 2nd, I had no clue about your checks, just like you had no clue you'd get jipped. (but thank you sooo much for telling me before I sent a check to some guy from overseas who quite possibly rip me off!!) 3rd, i don't use paypal, I use the good old U.S. banking system, or my credit/ debit card at respectible locations. 4th i have no clue how much a cypress costs. I own a vigil. as a matter of fact I owned 4 in the last couple of years. 5th. I have no clue if he sent it. really I could care less. the only think I think I said is I know him and he has never done me wrong. sorry if you got screwed, really I am. 6th. I don't know how they do it over in Italy, but putting someones phone # address, home ect. on the internet is just poor taste. quit acting like some old lady, be a friggin man, and go through what ever retrubutions that are needed. stop whining about poor ole me. 7th, obviously you have "no sense of business" look at all you came up with after you got scammed, if you did that in the 1st place maybe you wouldn't have. mr. trump. 8th. trolling? ni##a please. I took intretest in this post because I know the guy. I was going to offer to contact him with/for you, but after this post you can go suck on a lime. I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire. you apparently have no reguard for anykind of constructive critizism or different thoughts about a subject, therefore congrats on your new cypress, I hope it serves you well!!! i'll be jumping this weekend!!!!!!!!! "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

I happen to know the person in question. Never had any problems with him on my end. he's always did what he said he was going to do. but that was with me. but i do think this is an issue that you need to discuss between yourself and the person in question, and what ever other authouities apply. however, things you should learn from this: 1.) ask around 1st. ask his rigger if he even owns the gear he's trying to sell. (i called his rigger this morning after reading your post, and he doesn't own a cypress. so, possibly he was selling one 3rd party.) 2.) don't trust anybody. I think a certified check from your bank is 10x better than paypall, and inquire about it before you go buy something by contacting a DZ or ppl on DZ.COM and see how/who the person is. 3.) yeah he may of "scammed you" or "ripped you off", but your as much to blame as he is. YOU sent the money through a questionable means. Without doing the research that you did after the incident. 4.) if your cypress does come in the next few days...... now what? you've already sent out a bad vibe against someones reputation. are you gonna retract your statements? not that it matters cause you already defamed this persons name, and it would make you look like an "ass"? 5.) why in the world would you buy something for that price for something that has a few yrs. left? maybe you need to hang around your rigger or find a different one to ask advise for. obviously, and according to your profile, you have no sense or buisness, making these transactions by yourself. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

last time i checked USPA is organization of jumpers, not Drop zone operators Well it's whole different can o' worms but, you sure about that? Know much about the GM program? this may be on a whole different subject and possibly deserve a different post, but............... why are DZ owners even allowed to be on any position in the U.P.S.A. board or elections? Thats sort of like the president of the U.S. being the C.E.O. of wallmart. (of course their going to favor legistation (BSR's) in their direction. (gotta make a dollar right?) seriously though. if we as a group (skydivers) are going to make some changes in our sport, why not start at the top? Why elect ppl that have a monetary gain in some regulation that they propose? of course their "group membership" won't get revoked if their DZ makes too many mistakes. They're on the board and thats ok. it's the do as I say; not the do as I do mentality. Some of the board members/Dz owners probablly should have had their membership revoked years ago, yet lets yank a tandem instructers rating who made 1 mistake in 10 years instead of yanking a board member/Dz owner whose business has made ten times that number in the same amount of time. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

i always thought a BSR stood for Basic Safety Recomendation. And a recomendation is just that a recomendation. as in wearing and altimeter, landing into the wind, ect. since the uspa is not a regulatory authority on skydiving, or so they claim in all their publications, and only give recomendations........... is this BSR really going to matter? nobody, and I mean nobody, does everything by the "book" on every skydive. until they do, including instructers especially, they have no hill, or legal standpoint, to stand on. what are the consenquesnces is a DZ is not a U.S.P.A. member? higher insurance and no reference of your buisness in their magazine? my point is: "don't put faith in govt., throughout history there has been revolts and the govt. overthrown, and a new govt has been put into place, until another one comes." Besides isn't having a monoply on something in the U.S. illegal? "Less bitching, more jumping, let the tards weed themselves out!!!!!" "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

let's not be hasty now. it's still april and there are quite a few months left in this year. the stastics may change quite a bit.looking at my chinese calander this is the year of the tandem!!!!!!! "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."

The proposals don't ban swooping but they ban certain ppl from swooping. It is a great idea for ppl starting out, limiting what they can do and should be doing (90's & 180's). which quite possibly save some broken bones if not lives, but it does ban more experienced swoopers. (some of the staff) from furthering their education & experience in the areas of canopy piloting. obviously if these ppl are pulling 270's+ on every jump, have a pro rating, and land where they want to, they are proficent at 90's and 180's, and it is banning them from being current and could possibly injure them at a later date at a different DZ or competition. now another question is: is it fair to hold back "dedicated swoopers" from going further in the sport or hurting chances from them participating in competition events and sponserships which may take away from putting food on their plates? reguardless, i think an area could be designated to allow qualified "swoopers" to continue to train. it may take awhile to implement, but according to recent posts quick actions have put a bad taste in a lot of ppls mouths which haven't helped our sport as a whole. "your the shit till you eat it !!!!!!!! damn that wall hurts..."