davelepka

The Stiletto is a great canopy. I have 1000's of jumps on Stilettos and am sure that it is one of the best canopies ever made. The 'problem' the Stiletto has today is that people compare it to X-braced canopies because they are both considered 'high performance'. In that case, the shorter recovery arc of the Stiletto is seen as a short-coming (no pun intended), but what people don't understand is that the Stiletto is not a swooping canopy, and that there's more to high performance than swooping. The Stiletto is an eliptical canopy with a high (for skydiving) aspect ratio. What this provides is a very efficient wing that creates a lot of lift and has a very high roll rate. If you look at paragliding canopies, you'll see even higher aspect ratios, and that thjey create enough lift to gain altitude in the right conditions. They also have high roll rates, just not as high as a Stiletto based on the size of the wing. One side-effect of the high lift design is that the Stiletto will pull itself out of a dive at a relatively (by today's standards) low air speed. So once you put the canopy into a dive, it build speed and recover from the dive quicker than an X-braced canopy. This doesn't make it a bad swooping canopy, just not the same as an X-braced canopy. I swooped on 99% of the 1000's of jumps I put on Stilettos, and so did Az Airspeed for what had to equal 100,000 jumps, and just about every other top jumper for over a decade. In comparison to an X-braced canopy, it will pack smaller, glide further with the brakes stowed (while you relax), glide much further if you unstow the brakes and actaully try, and swoop 75% as far as an X-braced canopy. The 'other' high performance canopies, the X-braced models, differ in that they are less efficient and create less lift for a given airspeed, which allows them to dive further and build more speed. They then rely on the X-braces to maintain the shape of the wing at lower airspeeds, so a smaller canopy can support more weight and have a work-able stall speed. It's two different types of high performance canopies built for two different purposes. Each design reaches it's goals equally well. If you're not looking to do ultra high-speed swoops involving multiple rotations, the X-braced canopy is a waste of your time. The Stiletto, if it fits what you are looking for out of a canopy, is an excellent choice and you will not regret the choice to jump one. HOWEVER, it remains a high performance canopy, and you need proper training and experience to jump or swoop it safely. While it may not swoop as fast as an X-braced canopy, will injure or kill you just as fast as a Velo or JVX, or whatever.

You're actually wrong about a lot of things, and not just in this thread. You continue to make the mistake of posting these blanket statements about various areas of skydiving. 'Making up your mind' about things at such an early stage presents an obstacle your learning. The responses you get to some of your statements should clue you in that the reality of things is not always the same as the conclusions you have drawn. The refusal to accept this is where you learning ends, as you're not open to the idea you might be wrong. The truth is that the only thing 'most' DZs do with regards to student canopies is that most of them tend to keep things in the 200 sq ft and up range. Beyond that, you will find 10 different set of circumstances at 10 different DZs. The other truth is that is does not take extraordinary manuvers to fire a student Cypres while jumping a student canopy. Every student is different with regards to how aggressively they turn the canopy, and it just comes down to their comfort level. Some of them seem to enjoy stabbing a toggle down to their waist to initiate a turn, and you need to remind them (via the radio) to slow down the turns as they get lower. To further the point, students are given key altitudes at which they need to limit turns to 'x' degrees, such as nothing more than a 180 below 1000ft, nothing more than a 90 below 500ft, and nothing more than a 90 below 250ft, and small corrections only there after. This is designed to first help reduce the possibility of an AAD fire, and second to reduce the possibility of a student hooking it in (not in order of importance, but in chronological order). You don't learn anything making statements. You learn things by listening and asking questions. It's good for your to be confident in your abilities, but be realistic that even the best, smartest, sharpest guy with 100 or 150 jumps still has a world of knowledge to learn, and a mountain of experience to climb. You might be the best of the best with 100 or 150 jumps, or you might just be average for your experience, but in either case, slow your roll and enjoy the ride. There's a lot for you to learn, and you're lucky to have that ahead of you.

There are too many 'what ifs' to answer your question accurately. For starters. you'll need to get all of your ratings (including a riggers ticket) and be preparred to use any or all of them to make a living. Don't zero in on AFF or tandem, and figure that's what you want to do. Get both of those ratings, learn to shoot video, and get the riggers ticket, this way any need that the DZ has, you can fill. Chances are, your income will end up coming from a little of this and a little of that. Once you have all your 'paperwork' in place, you're going to need some experience to get a 'good' job. You'll need to be working at a busy, year-round DZ, and those jobs aren't the easiest to come by. They will look at your total jump numbers, and total jumps performing the various tasks you'll be looking to get paid for. What most people do is spend a few seasons at a smaller DZ, and build up their resume. From there, you need to put the feelers out to see if any of the big DZs are hiring, and go get yourself a job. Another avenue, is just to show up at a big DZ with all your ratings and hang out or try to get a non-jumping job to get your foot in the door. If you work manifest, or as an aircraft loader, you might also be able to get some paid jumps in during the week if the regular staff wants a day off. Then you're poised to pick up the next full time slot in the rotation. What does all that get you? For starters, it gets you waiting for the weather and for customers to show up (sounds like your current job) in order to work and get paid. It also gets you no insurance, 401k, or workmans comp. There's no union, and no 'supervisor' job to look forward to in your old age, you'll be making your money with your blood, sweat and tears until the end. However, with the above considered, there's no shortage of jumpers willing to make a life out of it, and try to squeak by any way they can. The good news is that you can get some sick discounts on gear, and you'll save a bundle on jumps becasue you'll be getting paid for most of them. My vote is you start packing right away at a local DZ. The money is great, and being on the DZ all the time will help. Work on getting your ratings together, and by the time you have all of them, you'll have a clear idea of the industry and what it has to offer.

If you read my post, I'm looking at the 'best case scenario', where eveything is assembled and packed correctly. You could certainly take properly assembled and airworthy rigs and test them. I maintain that it will take more force to accidentally extract a PC than to dislodge a pud and create a floating handle. Of course you could go on to say that a flaoting handle may result in nothing less than a recoved handle and uneventful main deployment, but you could also say that an accidental PC extraction on a throw out may result in nothing less than an uneventful higher-than-planned opening. In either case, we're getting back in to the 'what ifs'. To keep it realistic, let's set up the gear as-designed, and see which handle is more secure.

Every time this debate comes up, you get the same back and forth about the same issues. Half of the 'what ifs' all involve poorly maintained gear or jumper errors, so even if you leave those out, and assume that jumpers will properly assemble, pack and maintain their gear, the pull out still has an outstanding issue, the floating handle. I know hookitt was nice enough to chime in with his two cents regarding his own success with a pull out, but there are a few caveats to his story. For starters, he's a rigger and admits that he personally modded his pull out system to work with his rig. Next up, he's a rigger, and I'm sure his pack job is very consistant and his canopy is properly sized to his rig. This makes all the difference in the world when you're trying to secure a pud to the bottom of the container. When the corners are always filled and the mounting surface is consistant in it's shape and tension, it would be much easier to devise a secure pud mounting system. In terms of an average rig given to the average jumper, assembled with various canopies and packed in various ways, it becomes much more diffucult to devise a reliable pud mount. In the end, all I know is that it sucks ass to have a terminal reserve deployment, possible loss of freebag/PC and a handle, and the cost and downtime of a repack, all while there is a 'good' main still packed in your container. This is what happens when a floating handle turns in to a reserve pull. Some would argue that a hard pull on a throw out is the same thing, but it's not. The hard pull requires the jumper to improperly pack the PC, and we're assuming that the jumpers are packing all the equipment correctly. Has anyone done any pull tests on removing a pud vs. extracting a throw out PC? Let's say that a floating handle is the biggest problem with a pull out, and compare that to the equivilant problem on a thow out, which is a premature deployment. The issue then becomes the force required for each of these scenarios, and I have to guess that it is much harder to accidentally extract a throw out from a BOC than to dislodge a pud from it's mounting point.

The problem with your suggestion is that it's not a very good idea. People do sometimes switch between canopies, but that when they're switching between two very different canopies, like a small swopping canopy and a bigger wing for a demo, or a standard sport canopy and a CRW canopy. What you're proposing is switching between two canopies that are very similar in size (and I'm guessing performance, based on your jump numbers). The impression I get is that you want to jump a 170, but are not confident that it will be appropriate for you in all conditions, so you figure that if you have the 190 at the ready, you'll be all set. The flaw in that plan is that in the real world, a 170 and 190 are not all that different. To you, the canopy pilot, there will be a difference between the two, but in terms of the environmental factors you described, there is very little difference. Any conditions not appropriate for you to be jumping one, will remain inappropriate for you to be jumping the other. Furthermore, you never know what the wind conditions will be, or where you will be landing on any given jump, so to have a canopy that you are not comfortable with in all conditions in your rig is just asking for trouble. Pushing the canopy size will not make you a better canopy pilot. It will not get you to swooping faster, and it will not help you to downsize faster in the future. All it does is risk your health and well-being, and if wither of those are damaged, that will certainly effect your skydiving performance, and not in a good way. You don't progress as a skydiver when you're sitting on the ground with an injury. Keep in mind that even a twisted ankle can have you grounded for 4 to 6 weeks. Toss in a bad weather weekend or two when you heal, and you're stuck on the ground for two months. Even if you only made 3 jumps per week, that 2 months would equal you doubling your jump numbers. Doubling your jumps on a bigger canopy will get you much further than pushing the issue fo canoyp size, and adding to the risk of inury. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, you will learn far more sticking with one size canopy for all your jumps. You will get to know that canopy inside and out, and you begin to recognize the effects of different conditions on the canopy more readily. If you are switching back and forth, you'll never know if differences in performance or behavior are due to differing conditions or differing canopies. You'll miss out on making some of the connections between the canopy and the environment that will help open your eyes to how the whole thing works.

Get the rig, put it on packed with both canopies you'll be jumping, and see if you can reach behind you and touch the main pin. The reason is that if you end up with a floating pull out handle, the procedure is to reach back to the pin, and sweep your hand toward the bottom corner of the container. This manuver is designed to let you 'catch' the handle by the bridle, and still be able to open your main. Floating handles are not all that uncommon on a pull out system, with some designs being more prone than others. If you cannot reach back far enough to be able to rescue a flaoting handle, you shouldn't jump a pull out. If you find that you can easily reach back and touch the pin, then I'm sure some of the pro pull-out guys will chime in with all of the upsides, and then some other guys will point out the downsides. The truth is that you can jump either one safely if you know how, and keep your equipment properly maintained. If you cannot comfortably reach the pin, converting a rig to a thow out is easy and should cost about $150, mostly for parts. You need a new pouch and PC/bridle, and a rigger to sew the pouch on the rig. The upside is that you end up with a fresh pouch, which is a spandex deal that eventaully wears out anyway. There's a chance if you bought a throw out rig, it would have needed a fresh pouch anyway.

It's closer to a 172 type airplane than a 182. You would need at least an extra 100hp to power a 182 that was being used to haul jumpers. An extra 120hp would be ideal.

Removing or installing a Cypres requires removal of the reserve canopy from the container.

In that case, why go for a tricky-to-pack brand new canopy and bump the price with the custom artwork? Better idea - buy a used canopy that's a breeze to pack, and costs $1500 less then you were looking at. Spend the difference on a Cypres, jumps, or whatever. Get to a to a point where you can make an educated selection (by virtue of experience) of a canopy model and size you'll be able to hang on to for a while, and then go big with the custom stuff.

Me neither, mostly because it's stupid. It's not a good 'plan' in almost any respect. Once you reach a level where sustaining safe flight becomes second nature, you can at times experiment with different things, or recognize a situation and see if you can make a manuver 'fit' into that situation. However, the key to this is that it's all done while successfully managing the forward and vertical speed of the canopy. If you were to let the manuver trump managing the speed of the canopy, you end up flapping your arms right into a broken leg. This is why it's a stupid manuver to consider for anything but having fun or the odd' experiment' when a situation presents itself. If you notice Ron's post, where he claims to have used such a manuver, he later goes on to clarify that it was used in a 'no consequence' situation, like bustng the beer line, or trying to hit a dead center. In terms of flying your canopy to survive, flapping your arms around, or even just pumping your toggles is not the way to go.

That's a goof. He's a very experienced jumper coming off of one of the most advanced and succesful jumps of his entire life, and he's flapping his arms like a chicken for the camera. It's easy to understand why he would be feeling good and having a little fun. Look at the rest of the video, can you see the shadow of the swoopers hands on several landings, no flapping going on. The idea that this is a valid technique for every landing is wrong. The idea that this is a good way to kill speed and shorten your landing is very close to wrong. While it will serve that very purpose, it's not over effective, and not something low time jumpers should consider a tool for their usage. There are very few situations where this would be appropriate, and many situtaitons where this would be a very poor choice of technique. If used to shorten a swoop, you may reach your obstacel with less speed, or you may just baloon up and reach your obstacle the same speed and more alttitude. Now you're going to hit something and fall down. A much better alternative is to allow yourself to sink to the ground and beign to slide. You will never be able to create more drag or dissipate more speed than when you get your body down on the ground. The more area of your body touching the ground, the more quickly you will slow down. No amount of canopy flying will evern get you stopped shorter. All of the begs the question, how dod you get into a position where you are swooping and going to hit something? Until you are an above average swooper, you should never, never, never be swooping anywhere where you do not have at least twice the runway you need, and outs on both sides. The last thing you need once you get your airspeed wound up is an obstacle or a dead end. be smart about how and where you swoop, and you'll never need any sort of 'bail out' technique. Swooping aside, use smooth, even inputs every time you fly your canopy for the best results. If you are going to hit something, a full flare and PLF should be your default course of action. In 99.99% of all scenarios, it will be the most reliable and produce the best results. You flare every jump, and should remember hwo to PLF, so you can reasonably expect yourself to do these things in a high pressure situation. Look to very high time jumpers as examples can be a mistake. Eventually you will reach a level of proficiency where you can put both toggles in one hand, or reach out in the middle of a swoop and high-five another jumper, or even flap your arms like a chicken, all the while maintaining straight and level flight. That ability is based on 1000's of jumps and a high level of familiarity with your wing. Attempting to copy those manuvers is a bad idea.

That's why I never suggested sitting in such a way that your rig doesn't touch anything. What I said was that you find a way to move around inside the airplane without letting rig contact anything. Here's the deal - you sit down in the plane, and make a comprimise by leaning your rig up against something to support you during the climb to altitude, be it a wall of the airctraft or another jumper. All along, you do your best not to slide or drag your rig against anything, and in general sit still. As exit approaches, you need to remember that your rig has been in constant contact with something, and that's why you get up and get a pin check. From that point forward, you find a way to move around in the aircraft so your rig doesn't touch anything. This way you know that what the 'checker' saw is what you take into freefall with you.

What you're telling me is that you drag the back of your rig across the floor of the plane. You hike yourself up like a turtle on your back, and slide your rig across the floor, right? That's what it would take to dislodge a pin cover flap. If you do scoot across the floor, what you need to be concerned about is your pilot chute. That is what's on the bottom of your container, and what drags across the floor if you scoot on your ass while wearing a rig. What you really need to do is find some way to manage your leg troubles, and not move around in any way that places any part of your rig in contact with anything. That's how you ensure that the pin check you get before exit is still 'good' by the time you get to the door and climb out. Being too opinionated too early will not serve you well. Respectfully disagree all you want, but your outlook on many things is very prematurely black and white. I base this on reading your responses to several threads, and being surprised at your level of certainty with your opinions. Take it however you want.

No offence pal, but in this case your mom wasn't right, you're not special. There is no 'works better for you' or 'works better for me' when it comes to pin protection. It's out of your control, and every pin is along for the same ride and exposed to the same hazzards regardless of who the jumper is. A specific harness geometry, or certain length of riser are things that work differently for different people, but a pin cover is not one of them. If you spend too much time focusing on irrelevant things, you're going to miss something that really is important. Pin protection is important, but the performance is not related to you or any other jumper. it is what it is for all involved. Another pitfall common to new jumpers is forming very 'firm' opinions on gear, or really any area of skydiving. There are ten safe, valid ways to do 95% of skydiving related activities, and to come to a solid conclusion without investigating most of them risks missing out on something that might be better than what you prematurely elect as your top dog. Don't do that.

This is where a deposit or pre=payment can come in handy. Just enough to cover your costs so if the guy defaults on the contract, you're not out anything out-of-pocket. It will cost you in legal fees to (try to) collect on the contract, but if you haven't actaully suffered a 'loss' it's easier to write off the profits from such a deal than the whole contract after you put fuel in the tank, time on the tach, and paid your pilot. In the OP's case, I'm sure that before he shipped hsi valuable rigs across the country, there was some discussion of projected usage of the gear. Let's say it was going to equal $100 per rig, per week. In that case, you collect a weeks worth of rentals in advance, $200, before even shipping the gear. Now, if the guy defaults on the payments, you have an extra weeks worth of time to take action, as you've already been paid. If the usage is lower than expected, it's a benefit to the renter, as he has already paid for what might amount to two weeks worth of rentals, and it gives him a chance to build up some income to be able to actaully pay the bill in the thrid week. At the end of the contract, the renter simply subtracts the amount of the deposit from the last payment, or the rentor holds the deposit against any damage to the equipment, and returns the balance after the rigs are returned and inspected. It's an easy to build some security into these types of transactions. Any potential business 'partner' who doesn't want to make a deposit, or cannot make a deposit, isn't going to be a good person to work with. Either they don't have good intentions, or just can't afford the up-front money, and in either case it's adds significant risk to the rentor.

As mentioned, one idea is to see if he will send the rig to a rigger or to your home DZ for a pre-purchase inspection. Arrange to make payment to the rigger or someone at the DZ, who will hold the dough and confirm to the seller that they have the money. Upon recieving the gear and having it pass inspection, the rigger or DZ can send payment to the seller and release the gear to you. You can also see if the two of you know anyone in common. A rigger or instructor at your DZ may know a rigger or instructor at his DZ. You can use this existing relationship as a way to make the deal happen. You pay your rigger and he gives the rig to his rigger. The two confirm with each other that they have the money or the gear, then they make the transaction. A last resort is to dis-assemble the gear and have it sent to the manfacturers for inspection. Once the gear passes inspection, you pay the seller, and he intsricts the mfr. to ship the gear to you. Keep in mind that you want a rigger or manufacturer involved in any used gear pruchase. Various types of gear have recalls or 'problem areas' that a rigger will have a record of, and will be able to check any possible prucahses against. The last thing you want to do is buy a rig, recieve it with no problems only to have a rigger refuse to pack it or inform you it needs expensive repairs before it can be jumped. Meanwhile, the seller considers it a 'done deal' and has already spent your money on new gear or crystal meth. So even if you find a seller willing to 'trust' you and ship a rig without payment, or ship at the same time you send the check, you still need a riggers OK before you should consider it a done deal. Either use a rigger as an escrow service, or make sure you the seller understands that the sale is dependent on the riggers approval, and that you are free to return the gear for a full refund within a week or so. It's probably fair to split the shipping costs if a deal falls through. If you need an independent rigger to handle the inspection/payment, I think that Mike at Chuting Star offers that service for a few bucks. He's a reputable rigger who's also a fairly big gear dealer and both you of you can feel safe with him handling your gear or money. Again, splitting the fee is probably the fair thing to do.

Just to be clear, are you saying that in Jan 2010 you ordered, a V3, Aerodyne Pilot and Reserve, Cypress, altimeter and jumpsuit, paid for them in full, and have yet to recieve any products or a refund of your purchase price? From where I'm sitting that sounds like at least $8000 worth of stuff, and I call bullshit on the 'short' version of your story. You're leaving out key details of the story, and unless you want to explain in detail exactly what transpired, to include dates of orders and payments made, any refunds apllied to you, and the reasons given for not making good on the order, you need to take your bullshit somewhere else. The guy you're talking about has many, many, satisfied customers, right here on this site, and I cannot see him giving you the shaft on a deal of that size, involving that list of suppliers which would risk his status as a dealer with all of them. If you're right, post the facts, answer the questions, and we'll back you up 100%. I'm sure there are jumpers on here who know him personally, and might even be able to get you some resolution, it has happened before in other 'bad deal' cases. Just don't show up and accuse the guy of 100% ripping you off for a complete rig and accesories, with no facts or figures to back it up, and expect any sort of support from anyone.

How much?

I'm pretty sure the idea here is to get you to keep your legs symetrical, and if your feet and knees are together, your legs can't help but be symetrical. One question, how does this feel in your nut/unit area? Sounds like a horrible time to me. I prefer to have my feet about shoulder width apart, and my knees however far apart they are when my feet are shoulder width apart. As long as you keep your legs (more specifically, your hips) symetrical, you should be able to relax the nutcracker deal with your feet and knees together on opening. Edit to add - A quick search turned up a quick video. To me, this looks comfortable, feet and knees together does not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRh2WhzhGsQ

It opens at a preset altitude and releases the lead shot inside, reducing the whole thing to several, slow-falling parts, as opposed to one fast-falling chunk. Sometimes. It's not a replacement for a qualified 'ball master' on any jump where you intend to release any type of ball in freefall. Additionally, you must always get the pilot's permission, and coordinate an exit over an open, unpopulated area. It's not hard for a skyball to get away from you, and it's even easier to focus in on the ball and chase it waaaay too low.

Ok, so there were 5 times Hans let you jump his rig without charging you. He only asked for your rig once, and you claim to have refused. Doesn't sound very fair and balanced to me. So you packed 'x' number of rigs, and were paid for packing 'x' number of rigs. You then turned around and spent that money on jumps and gear rentals. At the end of the day, you still got paid for every rig you packed, and Hans only got paid for five fewer rentals than you actually used. How does that bolster your point? I'm nto sure what this means. Are you saying that you bought your rig form Hans, and becasue of that the 5 free rentals are a wash? I'm not sure how you figure. Again, these are two seperate transactions. You bought gear for an agreed upon value, and yes, Hans may have made money on the deal, but that's his livelyhood. You understand that he needs to make money on every deal or he goes broke, right? Every slot, every rental, every rig he sells all need to be at a profit, or the money comes out of his pocket. You're fighting a losing battle. It is a very, very rare exception when the jumper throws the DZO a bone. When was the last time you heard a guy settle up at the end of the day and say tot he DZO, "I made four jumps today, but why don't I pay for five becasue I know you busted your ass today". I've never heard it, but at the same time I've probably made 20 or 30 fun jumps that the DZO just comped me because he was being a nice guy, and felt like tossing me a freebie. Beyond that, you realize the DZO holds the keys to the kingdom, right? Especially for a guy looking to amake a few bucks at the DZ, he's guy you want on your side. To refuse a reasonable request like borrowing your rig, and then to make a stink about it on a public forum isn't going to get you very far. So if you had a technical glitch on a paid video slot, no big deal it happens to everyone. That would have been the perfect time for Hans to be able to look back at all the times you went out of your way to help him out, all of the times you shot a great video and made him money, at which point he writes off the mistake, and forgets about it. Do you see the hang-up? First you have to have a history of going above and beyond, and a history of successful jumps to fall back on. Without that, your failure is an oturight loss, one that he can add on to the free rentals he gave you, and any other time he gave you more than he needed to, and he can think about them, and this thread, and I'm sure you see where this is going.

I agree with that 100%. Good form or not, it is your own property and you have the final authority as to it's usage. That said, the issue of what the actaul response to the request was still stands. The OP claims he said "no", and the DZO and another jumper claim that was not the case. Seeing as I have trouble believing that Hans would disregard a 'NO' and just take it anyway, plus the other jumper claiming the 'no' never happened, I'm leaning toward the 'no' not being the case.

No, but so far only the OP claims to have given a clear and flat out 'NO' as a response to the request. The DZO and another jumper from that DZ describe the situation as 'reluctant agreement', and when you look at the way the OP posted this, it does look like regret after the fact about not giving a distinct 'NO', but again, that's after the fact. I asked early on, and still have not recieved an answer, as to how the rig came to be in the hands of the borrower. The OP was present at the DZ, present to be asked if the rig could be borrowed, but somehow not present to maintain physical control over the rig? This is why I further doubt that he felt out said no. It seems very hard to believe that with the OP present, and having denied the reuqest, that Hans would just take it anyway, and that the OP would allow it. In terms of the free gear rental and free video slots, I'm just pointing out to the OP that this is not the SOP at most DZs, and that he should take another look at how good his situation really is. To deny the request in the first place, and then air his 'dirty' laundry (with facts of arguable validity) is in very poor form, and that he shouldn't be surprised when the 'well of kindness' toward him dries up at the DZ. I can't see anyone going out of their way to help this guy out in the future.

Is it true that Hans let you jump his rig (rental) for free when you didn't have your own and couldn't afford to pay for the rental? Is it also true that he gave you free jumps to shoot video on tandems that did not pay for video? If those things are true, I think the lack of respect was on your part in that way you reagrded Hans. You may have no way of knowing this, but getting to jump rental rigs for free is not a 'regular' thing that new jumpers get. Do you have any idea how many more jumps almost every newbie could make if they didn't have to pay for rental rigs? You may also not be aware that free slots for guys who want to 'try' shooting tandem video is not standard practice. In fact, some DZOs require the jumper to pay for a 'check out' dive with an experienced video staff member before being allowed to pay their own way on tandem jumps. In the end, when he needed your rig to keep the ball rolling on paying video jumps, and it was going to a jumper who, despite your previous claim, had the experience and qualifications to jump the rig, you chose to refuse the request. That's some teamwork on your part, and after that and your posting it with 'questionable' details on a public forum, don't be surprised if you never get that video slot you were after. One more thing, the guy just asked to borrow your rig, not sleep with your sister. There's nothing 'sacred' about your rig, it's just a piece of equipment. Unless you bought every stich of brand new, you have no idea what was done with your irg before you owned it. Not to mention every student rig and every tandem rig on earth that is jumped by a literal crowd of people, those rigs don't fall apart from the shame of being the biggest sluts on the DZ, and neother would yours after being jumped by one other guy. Yes, it's expensive, but it was insured against damage or loss by a guy who owns more gear than you will ever own. Yes, it's a piece of lifesaving equipment, and I might no hand it to my 8 year od to take to school for show and tell, but it was being jumped by a jumper who knows how to care for a rig and handle it properly. Shit, I used to work with a hippie who would literally hug his rig after every pack job, and thank it for the last jump, and he had no problem letting anyone who needed his rig jump it anytime. What do you do to your rig that you don't want any touching it?