diablopilot

What is with everyone advising canopy skills to be taught AFTER AFF these days. Learning how to safely fly and land a parachute is something that should be learned and taught DURING AFF starting with jump 1. If you're not doing it from jump 1 you're wasting their time, money and jeopardizing their safety. As for the internet skygods, a 1.3 or possibly higher loading at 75 jumps over 2 years is not a safe thing for anyone. If you would advise him to continue you are also wasting his time money and jeopardizing his safety. As for those "skygods" and their experience, I did more than 1000 jumps last year. I do AFF, and have for 8 years. I'm pretty good at it. I think my advice has merit. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

You won't want to hear this, but you're on too small of a parachute. Going to a smaller 9 cell won't help. Trust me, I know as I started with too small of a parachute and I hurt myself many times in my first 100 jumps. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

And while I'm at it, let me just beat everyone to the punch on this one. Yeah, I'm an asshole. I'm comfortable with that. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

You hear crickets because it is difficult to compose a reply to such utter crap. Can a rigger make a mistake? Yes. Can't live with the responsibility of that? Quit jumping or become your own rigger. Nothing this rigger did cause the man in this incident to die. The fact he was not cut out for skydiving cause him to die. I'm flabbergasted that people in the sport as long as the two of you have such an attitude. Maybe if you spent more time working with the masses of ignorant people that see skydiving on TV and assume there is nothing to it, you might realize that by giving people a crutch and letting them all believe they can do it, is really just weakening the safety culture on a daily basis. Guess what? There are consequences to actions we take. If you jump from an airplane and fail to open a parachute you will most assuredly die. Perhaps your opinions would be different if you worked with more students. Perhaps I'm jaded since I have more instructional skydives than the two of you report combined. But I know one thing for sure. Every student of mine tandem or AFF knows what Can happen if they fail to open a parachute. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I smell bullshit. Sheep. Wolves. Sheepdogs. Pick one. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

1) I don't jump AAD's in sport rigs so I don't have a personal stake in this. 2) I do jump AAD's in Tandem rigs and I am comfortable with the margins currently used for them. 3) I think I am aware of some of the "problems" with AAD deployments, and since they are generated from IMO style rather than safety motivated changes to H/C & Reserve combinations I think that is where attentions should be focused. 4) I am not in favor of increasing the activation altitude of AAD's across the board. 5) Every AAD user has the option of increasing their own AAD's activation altitude at any time prior to donning the equipment. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

That may be, but there is only one person responsible for ensuring the jumpable condition of that rig. The person jumping it. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

It's not that simple. Who views them to ensure compliance, or are they just used for investigative purposes in the event of an accident? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Why not? The boogie man? Seriously, how can one call themselves a "Master Parachutist" if they haven't shown the skill to land one in the dark? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Quit being obtuse for the sake of a paycheck, andcheck my sig line. Done. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Really? That is a statement of opinion. Where in the FAR's does it say any of that? Where in the FAR's are any standards of certification or operational requirements noted? Where are there any laws period about the use, certification, or requirements of AAD's in general noted? You haven't got a leg to stand on. According to LAW, the AAD doesn't have to do a thing. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Please don't ever jump anywhere close to me. There is and always will be only one person ever responsible for the death in this situation, and that's the person who failed to activate their own parachute in a timely manner. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

More than likely you'll have to look to the manufacturer of the Tandem equipments rules for the limitations on jumping with Tandems. They all are about the same. From The Sigma/Vector2 Manual from UPT(RWS): *** These guidelines are not optional. They must be followed, or the Tandem Instructor and Tandem rig owner will be in violation of the User Agreement under which Tandem jumping is operated and will consequently no longer be allowed to legally perform Tandem Jumps. PARTICIPANTS QUALIFICATIONS For any relative worker to accompany a Tandem pair, the following criteria must be met: 1) Relative worker must have a minimum of 500 relative work skydives; or 2) Relative worker must be either a current Tandem Instructor or a current AFF jumpmaster. 3) Relative worker must have made at least 100 relative work jumps in the last year. 4) Cameramen must meet all the above guidelines, and in addition, must have at least 100 camera jumps. RW TANDEM BRIEFING If the Tandem Instructor does decide to take a relative worker on a jump, a briefing must take place before the jump between Tandem Instructor and relative worker which covers these points: 1) No one should ever pass directly over or under the Tandem pair in freefall or droguefall. On exit, the Tandem Instructor needs room to deploy the drogue, and at any time after that, the drogue could suddenly become a deploying main canopy. 2) Once under the drogue, the Tandem pair has very little ability to change drogue fall velocity or to move horizontally (track). This means they can’t get out of the way of someone who is closing too fast or someone sliding under them. Therefore, NEVER let anyone who is not a skilled relative worker accompany a Tandem pair on a dive (see fatality report section). If the grips are taken, take them on the student, not the Tandem Instructor. 3) Because the Tandem pair cannot track very effectively, they must obtain opening separation by opening higher than everyone else. Accompanying relative workers must not attempt to open their main canopies with the Tandem pair. A minimum of 1000' vertical separation is required - to avoid collision situations. BRIEFING REVIEW To review: when you dirt dive Tandem drogue relative work, tell the participants four things. 1) Give me room to deploy the drogue in the first five seconds after exit. 2) NEVER pass directly over or under us. 2B) Grip the student, NOT the Tandem Instructor. 3) Approach slowly and dock gently. 4) Wave-off signal given at 6000ft 5) Let me pull first at 4,000' or above, and give us at least 1000' vertical separation. REMEMBER: If you delay drogue deployment, you eat up altitude at a much faster rate than when the drogue is deployed. See Tandem freefall chart on page 72. Relative work with Tandem increases the possibility of accident and injury. However, it can be done if approached with care. On every Tandem jump, the Tandem Instructor is in charge. If Relative Work is being contemplated, the Tandem Instructor should have personal knowledge of the relative worker and should feel confident in their abilities. WARNING With regards to relative work, please consider this. Tandem jumping in essence is a “student training” jump. It almost seems ludicrous to involve a “non-certified jumper” during a tandem jump. You would not allow this to happen in other forms of student training, why allow it to happen here. Especially since it has already proven fatal on several jumps in the past. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

The Woomera. Because I like the idea of a pull out reserve P/C. Barring that I really like my Infinities, they are comfortable and secure and VSE has some of the best customer service in the industry.

Not really. There is no legal requirement to speak English in the US. It might score him some points in certain sectors, but overall it was an inappropriate question to begin with. It's attitudes like this that cause silly waste of time laws and legislation to be enacted to answer the lack of the all too uncommon "common sense". ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I agree with you and that's why the decision is best left with those in the field who are working with the un current jumper. No one says it has to be "one and done" on recurrencies. If the jumper doesn't like it they can jump elsewhere. :-) ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

No. That's a requirement that should be left to the discretion of the DZs. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Here's a bit from the USPA website that may give additional perspective. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

27 doing 4way video. 19 doing Tandems and Video. 15 Training for CP. 12 Fun jumping only. 11 Doing AFF only. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Humid air is LESS dense than dry air. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

So because thousands of us can make it through a freefall progression every year safely without the use of a wind tunnel, and you have a statistical set of 1 who wasn't able to you want to change the program. Tunnel time is great, but it is absolutely not required to participate in this sport. If you're like to change the program to increase the safety of students, and future skydivers add more detailed canopy instruction and require instructors to teach and enforce it. Pretty rare that people die or are injured in freefall, but under the parachute is a whole different ball of wax. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Sure looks like Sparky has shown printed evidence of a definition by the FAA where as you have provided hearsay. Now the FAA had the flexibility to interpret how they like, but if I were a betting man, I think that the definition laid down in 91.119 is pretty enforceable in a court. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

pwned! ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

More speaking to my point that there shouldn't be a NEED for a specific canopy control course. Seems that it's becoming accepted that it's something you learn AFTER you get a license, and in THAT lies the problem. The ability to fly a parachute safely is not an OPTIONAL part of getting an "A" license. If people can't hack it, they need to not be licensed. If instructors can't teach it, then they need NOT to be instructors. Apprentice under the direct oversight of an experience instructor maybe, but not with the ability to create the next generation of skydiver. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Canopy. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.