Hooknswoop

A lot of the links in that post have changed and I can no longer update that post. The same article, new and improved with all the links working is on my rigging page. Derek

I understand what you are saying and you may be on to something. The downside is it would take twice as long to stow the lines and it would be difficult to get them even. Next time I pack a main, I'll mess around with this and see what I come up with. Cool idea! Derek

I think you are right, a cotton mouth/water moccasin. Big fangs, very poisonous, nasty disposition. They tend to release a musty odor. No reason to kill it, glad you didn't. Derek

You probably stalled one side of the canopy (the side you pulled down on the toggle) and the other side flew around the stalled side. Find the stall point on the canopy with both toggles. If that is how far you pulled down the one toggle, you'll know for sure. Derek

The problem with this, if you are realyl low on the formation, is that you will start your track lower in altitude than the first wave, have to pull after tracking for less time, which puts you right in the way of the first wave that was able to track for a longer amount of time. If you don't have a chance of getting back in or are more than 100 feet low, track away. By staying you only increase the potential for a collision. "The organizer said....." makes a poor excuse when some is injured or dead. Derek

I would rather have someone so far away that I don't see them than have them close in where I can see them but have to avoid them. The farther away they are, the smaller the chance of a collision. Derek

The pilots have to be on O2 and it has to be available to the passengers. Derek

Good point, once under canopy, continue to fly away fromthe group. Derek

Anything that requires focus. Riding my new CBR is top of that list right now, but riding the mtn bike, rigging, training, etc. Excercise is a great way to handle stress. Derek

Use a dremel or sharp angle cutter (dikes) to cut the cables. Cut them clean. Then use a heat source, light, torch, whatever and practice forming the ends on the trimmed pieces. Don't over-heat the yellow material (lolon). Take your time and make the ends smooth. Derek

Exactly. Anything is misleading to whuffos. Derek

Wouldn't a perfect record mean zero incidents/accidents by definition? If not, then what else does 'perfect' mean? Derek

Get out last and track 90-degrees to the line of flight. Note where you got out, exit altitude, deployment altitude, and where over the ground you opened. Measure the distance you covered over the ground (GPS works great) and simple division gives you your glide ratio. They really help with accleration and I think they help with ratio too. For dive sucess, yes, for learning, no. So it depends on the goal of the dive. Derek

With 38 jumps, 5 seconds of tracking doesn't equal plenty of distance, as you discovered when the other jumper went right by you. It is hard to get a lot of distance from a standing start in 5 seconds with 3800 jumps. Leave yourself 15 seconds for tracking, more is better. You turned and tracked when you got to 4,500 feet, which is before the group got to 4,500 ft. When the group got to 4,500 ft and started tracking one of them was tracking through the airspace you just tracked and deployed in. Since you could not ensure someone wouldn't track in the same direction as you, you should have made sure you tracked much farther than anyone else on the jump would have by starting your track early. That way you would still have horizontal seperation (fromt he extra tracking) even if someone tracked in the same direction as you did. The better you can track, the safer you are. Tracking is a safety skill, use it and improve it on every skydive. If you can't track at a 1:1 ratio or better, keep working on it. Tracking isn't about speed, it is about angle, the least amount of altitude lost for the most moved horizontally is all that matters. Too many people dive and think that because they are going fast, they are tracking well. They aren't. Derek

I figure I had about 80+% stand-ups. I would have my feet wide, slide on my feet in light winds and lean way back, keeping the passenger's weight over my hips. If a soft stand-up wasn't assured, I could continue to lean back till we slide, leaning on the canopy. This also prevented us from running over the passengers' feet since they couldn't reach the ground. IF the passenger was trying to slide or stand-up, it didn't matter since I had their weight on my hips. 800+ tandems, no injuries. Most of those had the passenger following through the toggles for the entire canopy ride including the flare. This would allow me to reach up the lines as the student held the toggles down and grab the steering lines and pull them down to collapse the canopy very quickly. With some of the bigger sudents, 200+ lbs, and light winds, I stood a few up but usualy concentrated on a soft touch down with a good slide. I would hook their ankles with my feet to keep their legs up to prevent them from putting a foot down and us running that leg over. If they slumped way down into the harness after opening, I would slide on my feet to a stop, keeping their weight on my, making sure That I either continued to stand up or sat down behind the student. I have seen too many TI's do that finishing by falling foward onto the student. Done right, starting with a stand-up and keeping the slide in reserve is the safest way to land a tandem, imo. Derek

Congratulations! Derek

TI's, what percentage of your landings are stand-ups? Derek

The grass is always greener.......They aren't fun jumping, they are working. It's not like they get to go freefly or do 4-way. AFF and tandems are hard work. You make zero money when the weather is poor or there are no students or the plane is broken, etc. If the DZ overstaffs, you starve. If you get hurt, you starve. You can never get ahead or make up for bad weather. You are an independant contractor with no benefits or rights. You get a 1099 at the end of the year. If you don't like something at the DZ, you can either live with it or go somewhere else if the DZO doesn't want to change it. Derek

Professional anything pays better than skydiving Derek

Exactly. Derek

I've done it. In short, no, it is not worth it for numerous reasons. PM me for details. Derek

No such list exists since DZ's are not required to report incidents there is now way to track them. As for safety of a DZ, you'll get differing opinons of the same DZ. The only way to know for sure is to have some experience, know what to look for and hang out at the DZ for a while, keeping your eyes and ears open. There can be a 'cult' mentality among some skydivers that even when their DZ is doing things that are un-safe, they will justify them and still say their DZ is safe. Derek

I'm thinking veter_ has earned a banning................... Derek

It is common sense. Derek

BAHWHAHWHWHWHAHAHAHAAHAW! You actually think your rig was tampered with? It wasn't. Really. Again, i someone wanted to tamper with it, they wouldn't have collasped 1/2 of your slider. Maybe you should think about selling your gear and moving on. You don't get it. Derek