diablopilot

Until there is some way to "certify" the people teaching them, there can't and won't be consistency. Compare Brian Germain's course to Flight 1's - and those are experts. How can qualified local basic canopy skills instructors be developed? Have an actual standard to hold instructor candidates too? Have an apprenticeship format? Have a method to weed out the non hackers, after the fact? Nah, might cut into DZO's bottom line if they had to pay for quality instructors. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Yes in that you have an object to avoid relative to your deployment. Yes in that in a slow speed (sub terminal) deployment you have not accelerated to the motion of the air mass. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I'm pretty sure in the past I've seen them in Firefly. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

So I had a skydiving instructor tell me today that before deployment he turns into the wind because it makes his canopy open more consistently. He was speaking about changing his heading to face into the upper winds. Not for reasons of spot, but just for quality of opening. Really? Who's selling this stuff? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Hmmm, sounds like the same sort of argument I'd use against mandatory heath insurance. BTW, you know you've really kinda gone off the deep end. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Sounds like SkyDance. They call a recurency jump a Twilight 4, because it pretty much follows a Level 4 or Cat D1 dive flow. Harness hold exit, practice touch, release, turns, wave and pull around 5,500. Now that's just from memory so focus on the instructor's plan when they give it to you, some details might have been forgotten by me.

Do you have a home DZ in the states that can provide documentation, and reference via email for you?

I'll cross my fingers and hope for Ron Paul. In a perfect world I think I'd like to see Doug Stanhope as his VP running mate. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Helps if I had more specifics. What kind of aircraft? Are you adding modifications? There are may aircraft that can be jumped without modification, for example a Cessna 182 can, however most DZ's will modify the aircraft by having a jump door installed (they are approved to be flown without a door), and a step. Sometimes this is handled with an STC, and other times with a 337. Send me some particulars and I'll see what I can say about it. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Where is this? It's genius. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Maybe. It still might not rise to what USPA has defined a demo jump as. Either way, and the waiver was approved, then the jump was 100% legal. If the jump was legal and there were no spectators, why would the BOD need to do anything about it? Because the USPA has held it's self out as the self governing regulating body of skydiving in the USA, and despite the fact he was under the watchful eye of some VERY talented instructor whom I respect highly, it breaks the rules set forth about experience and demo jumps. Rules written both in blood and to keep the FAA at bay. If the USPA does nothing yet again, then the rules are weakened just that much. If there is no consequence then there is no respect for the rule. If a 7711 was issued, it IS a demo jump. If the USPA is going to endorse that through inaction, that will be just one more chink in the armor of protection. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I'd say if there was a "Waiver of Authorization" filed for the jump with the local FAA FSDO then it was a demo. No worries, with the track record the BOD has had in the past, the USPA won't do anything about it anyway. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Head over to Concourse "E". At least it has shops, is clean, and you can have a sit down Sushi dinner. ATL sucks balls. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

How about we forget the "size" of the name and go on practical experience and teaching ability. I've seen some "big name" courses where the "instructor" doesn't hold a rating of any sort, and may have a couple thousand jumps, but when they are all high performance hook turns how can they really teach anything else? How about you look for someone who has experience on a 50 to 100+ different parachute designs and sizes. Someone who has shot not only high performance hook turns but classic accuracy. CRW experience, and has a history of teaching students from first jump? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

I would have summed that up by saying " Want a warranty? Buy a toaster." ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Got one for you. The Benny from SkySystems USA. Between $55 and $80 and looks pretty good. Probably has some of the best protection around too. BTW, I've got them in stock. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Running it? Well I and the janitor and bottle washer, so I guess you could say that... Glad you like the new shop.

Price fixing? Yeah. So a dealer makes about $30 on that $200, that's a horrible start to running a successful business. Then there is the cost of having someone hand lay the carbon fiber (remember that stuff is REAL cheap, right) since there are not enough helmets made to justify or pay for automation. Don't forget the assembly, marketing, staff to answer phones, and sell them to you..... $200? I think we're lucky they are not $500. Wanna look at rig prices now? ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

So how is today any different than any other day of this generation? Have a pill. :-) ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Welcome to the "problems" that the credit card generation and AAD's have created. Anyone who waits has no concept of how their gear works and IMHO should NEVER skydive again. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Yep. Because physics still dictates that no matter size of parachute, type of turn, or level of experience, the low man ALWAYS has right of way. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Because a GOOD tetrahedron (gotta google THAT!) is better. It is cheap and simple to build, it can be automated - hell, if you want you can build in a computer and a weather station making it react to ahead of time set parameters (wind exceeding so many knots for such and such duration) but a piece of board on a discarded wheel + half a rear axis MANDATES a landing direction from opening to landing - so there's at least one factor eliminated like for competition training cameraflyers that want to practice their downwind skillz before anyone else has set the pattern. I - for one - have seen a bunch of skydivers land in the 'wrong' direction, when you think of reducing speed @ touchdown as preliminary goal. Ain't scared, proud or shy but not knowing WHO the first man down will be, how can I trust him to choose the correct direction? Like: beforehand? Automation is the future in decision making.

What do you expect from an East Coast Democrat? He's got to prove to the other Chicken Little's that he's good for something. Just like the other's he believes in two things. There's always some more money to spend, and "somebody's GOT to DO something, and I'll be the one to take credit for that." ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

Why? People keep suggesting this, but continue to fail to explain how this will stop canopy collisions. Show me how this has caused a canopy collision. What it has done is worked well for the 12 years I've been jumping. I do 10+ jumps a day. What doesn't work is a sign in the loading area that nobody updates, or a group of fun jumpers that cant agree on one direction on a single load much less 10 a day. What does work is looking at the wind indicators, and watching the people below me fly a standard pattern. It's what I and countless others have been teaching our students for many many years. and it works for everyone except the selfish that need to set things up to accommodate their high speed activities. Now this is coming from someone who likes swooping, has competed and holds medals in the discipline of canopy piloting, and has made their share of mistakes. There are those of us who can swoop, and hook safely all day long on mixed loads, we are disciplined enough to pull it in and sacrifice a swoop when the situation isn't right, however there is always that one time we make a mistake, and risk someone else's life. More importantly we are an example for others. When the upcoming fun jumpers see us pull a multi rotation turn after our tandem video they don't know that we intimately know the other 4 or 5 pilots and their canopy's and can stack up our landings with each other without much thought. Instead they see a badass beer line swoop and wanna do that. We cannot police it. It's just not working. It sucks for those of us who can, just like it sucks that a small number of people are good enough to drive at 90mph instead of 65mph. Well right up until they aren't anyway. Stop it. Hook turns and swooping has no business mixing with the rest of the load. We are not so selfish and omnipotent that we can risk anyone else's life simply because we are "good enough" and don't think they are. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

To be truthful I find that the vast majority of "swoopers" are pretty shite "canopy pilots". It's a rare bunch that really becomes a master parachute pilot. Sure "swoopers" can bust out a fatty beer line swoop, but the will bitch and moan that it's not safe to "straight in" their parachute, they can't manage the C and D license accuracy requirements on their current canopy, and wouldn't have a clue how to safely "sink one in" if their asses depended on it. ---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.