ianmdrennan

They've already been covered. Anything that COULD come up in front of your face isn't a good idea. Others have died or got hurt doing it and I bet every one of them didn't think it'd pop up in their face. If it's that important to keep it all bundled up then there have been other (safer) methods described here. Other than trying to look cool, there isn't anything that you accomplish putting it in your mouth that you can't accomplish another way. I'd venture a guess that the miniscule performance hit would only be measurable when you're getting every last drop out of your canopy (and we all know most of us don't - hell even the factory teams get it wrong occasionally) If you're chomping on it, how can you look around behind you? Ugg, not to mention all the saliva you're putting all over it all the time. Pretty gross (but not a safety hazard unto itself

Last year one of our tandem masters got puked on...after she (the student) said she felt she was going to hurl. He told her to turn her head to the side. Before she did (as he was talking) she barfed. He got some in his mouth, landed and threw up all over the place too. Was very, very funny to see. Not so funny if you were the tandem master Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Will do Chris. I'll find out all the details from Trey this weekend. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

14 or 15 (think 14). I typically do around 12 a day (1 rig, all fun jumps, packing for myself) now thanks to Skydive Atlantas Pimping Fast King Air on the weekends now though

This was just asked (scroll down a bit on the page and you'll see the origin thread). Clicky Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I've heard of PD sending a canopy with 3000 jumps back into the field because it was still in good condition. If PD say "No" there's a reason. I'll believe them over anyones "gut feeling" anytime. Even if it LOOKS ok, doesn't mean it is. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

From the PST's Site: Cost: Not sure. Free maybe? Sunnydees boyfriend just did the qualifier in Perris. She'll know if there was any cost if no-one else can help you out here soon. Criteria: ADVANCED QUALIFICATION: Canopy pilots who meet the general requirements must pass an advanced qualifier to enter into PST competitions. The PST will assign a chief judge to establish the advanced qualification course and administer an official advanced level qualification test. The advanced qualification course is a 185ft long, 30ft wide carving course consisting of 10ft vertical markers with a defined entry and exit gate. Prior to the qualification the chief judge will hold a draw for the candidate to determine the direction in which the course will be set up to carve. ADVANCED QUALIFICATION TEST: In a controlled manner, the candidate must negotiate the course by scoring the entry gate and then fly to the exit gate without making any physical contact with the surface or the vertical markers that define the course. In order to successfully score a gate the competitor must show that some part of their physical body is below the tops of the vertical markers that form the gates. The candidate must successfully achieve three consecutive; pre-declare qualification runs before awarded an Advanced PST classification. Location + Date of Qualifier: CrossKeys June 25th and 26th. Good luck. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Were they wearing seatbelts? I agree - but you can't assume it's maintenance is any better than a civilian plane. Militarty planes crash a lot too (in fact not a week ago a c-130's landing gear failed). I'm sure they do. I just don't know of any jump planes that went down (Tonto is better equipped to answer this). I do know of at least one incident (there more I know) almost everyone died in the plane and were wearing belts in the US (the belts were not a contributing factor in any way to the incident, not trying to imply otherwise). Please, don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating not having seatbelts, but don't let them lull you into a false sense of security either. Most jump planes I've been on have seatbelts to the floor while you're sitting on a bench. That's a reasonably long strap to build up momentum and do a human fly swatter trick and still kill you. What I do think seatbelts are GREAT for - it preventing flying dangerous debris (including people) in the event of a crash. If the crash is severe enough, no seatbelt is going to help you (I know you realize this). Let's just be happy we have seatbelts here If other countries jumpers want seatbelts, lets let them make that decision. Blue ones, ian Performance Designs Factory Team

You would because that's all you know (Having them I mean). As Billvon pointed out even the last rw record had no seatbelts. The fact that you want them so bad is 100% ok with me (I live in the states now so I have them on every load - but when I went home I didn't and it didn't make me uncomforatble in the least). Just realize that it's not like that everywhere, nor do they care about it as much as you apparently do. On a side note, I'm sure Tonto would be happy to take a check from you to retrofit all the planes he jumps out of in SA

Hell yeah. I was in Sebastian not too long ago and a well *cough*respected*cough* organizer whipped the door open @ 1000 feet without even checking if the people around him or nearby the door had their belts off. Needless to say I was unimpressed. Everyones always trying to kill ya Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Event's getting closer everyone!! Hope to see a bunch of you there for a great time with some great people Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

No offense andy but you really have no idea what's going on there. If anything it's because they either a) Don't care - I'm going with this one b) Don't know any better. We had plenty of jumpers come back from the states, not one of them cared if there was a seatbelt. It's what you're used to I guess. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

If it's been taken care of 1000 jumps is nothing. Send it back to PD (they'll do porosity tests, etc anyway) and have them look at it before they reline it. My guess is, it'll be just fine. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

heheheh Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Is is possible you have a cruddy speaker? When you test it on the ground how loud is it? (should be really loud) Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Sorry Andy but it doesn't quite work that way in the rest of the world. In SA the ONLY dropzone for 200 miles was already an hr and a half outside my city. There are no laws requiring seatbelts, so why should the DZO incur the cost. I like the states system, but you don't always have a choice overseas- nor is the dzo REQUIRED to comply with your requests. Because DZ's are so few and far between forget about boycotting them, not to mention no dz that I'm aware of had them. Maybe they do now, but they didn't then. I'm not saying there shouldn't be seatbelts, but don't expect to find them in other countries. If that's outside your comfort zone, then don't jump there. Beyond that there isn't anything you can do about it. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

How do u plan on going there when we're in Deland that weekend Mark Performance Designs Factory Team

I find it one of the most satisfying things when I help someone who becomes way more proficient at something than I am(not hard to do

Thanks for the honest answer. We share similar personality traits (the desire to succeed), but I think that's common in a lot of skydivers. My next question to your personality type would then be: If your goal is simply to succeed (spectacularly?) would you view it as a failure if there was a different (possibly better) way to proceed in accomplishing your goals or must they be accomplished your way, and your way only? Is there a way you could be convinced there was a better way. If so, how? If not, why? Do you discount advice because you don't trust it, or because you prefer figuring it out on your own? Feel free to PM me your response if you don't want to have your views public. Once again, this isn't here to be a flame fest, rather a learning experience about how different people go about things and their reasonings for doing so. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I'd hardly qualify as very experienced but at the time I didn't have access to the resources and knowledge that jumpers have today. Had I, I probably would have progressed very differently. But that doesn't count as ignoring advice IMO, rather not being aware of where to seek it out or, as in my case, coming from a small dz in SA where this stuff just wasn't known or really thought about. For example our "student" progression was to take the student through the static line course using student gear (manta style canopies), have them do a jump on a cruiselight 210 and then if they were heavy put them on a 170 or if they were light put them on a 150. That was pretty much it. The smallest canopy at the dropzone was a 135 and flown by the instructors wife at the time. We had a HUGE landing area (basically a whole airport to ourselves) and only had to worry about 4 jumpers in the air at any given time. When I came to the states it's was quite different. All of a sudden there was a wealth of knowledge (and plenty of people willing to share it), a ton more people in the air at any given time, etc. I listened, I learned and I was lucky to have some respected skydivers give me good advice. That said I've seen a fair amount of experienced skydivers give horrible canopy advice because sometimes "we" forget what it's like to fly a 150 for the first time. It's hard to keep that in perspective when flying a sub 100 canopy. Always remember that when someone tells you downsizing is "ok" - look at what they're jumping, how many jumps they have, and remember they may be thinking "it's ok for me", not necessarily "it's ok for you". Not because they intend to give you bad advice, but because their perspective has changed over the years on what's "high performance" and what's not. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Yeah I guess you're right, even though my intention wasn't to make them look like an idiot. I guess I won't really get the answers I'm looking for...probably because they're more about human nature than the actual issue at hand. Meh...was worth a shot, right

I'm not miffed at all. Just very curious. There are numerous examples of people who are repeatedly told their canopy choices are not good by a good variety of experienced skydivers (once again I'm looking @ canopies but this can be applied to almost anywhere in skydiving) - YET even though 19/20 people tell them they're in over their heads (there's always at least one person who encourages bad decisions) they still ignore the advice. These are the people I'm most interested in getting answers from - not because I want to argue with them but because I want to try and understand what makes them think they know something experienced jumpers don't. edit: these posts aren't about people listening to "me" per say. Instead they're about ignoring sound advice from a variety of experienced skydivers. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Ok so we have those who've asked for advice and received it from multiple people and made an informed decision. So what about the others? Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

Come on Will. We all know you're an old fart Keep the answers coming folks. I'm still here. Just listening for now. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the amount of good advice that is ignored in skydiving, mostly related to canopy flight but that's my passion so my thoughts naturally drift there. First of all this isn't a thread to get all worked up over, I'm not trying to stir. In fact I'm trying to understand what drives certain people to certain decisions, even if they're clearly not good ones. My question to some of the up and coming jumpers is: Why do you ask for advice on a particular thing and then ignore it? OR Why do you not pay any heed to advice given on your choices you're making? What is it exactly that makes you not listen? Do you think you're better than others, or do you not agree with the advice (and if so please explain). I'd sincerely appreciate any answers. Maybe therein we'll be able to understand what makes people chose these paths and modify our teaching methods or approaches. edit: I put this in safety and training because of it's direct impact on the topic. Mods if you feel it's more appropriate somewhere else, my apologies. Blue ones, Ian Performance Designs Factory Team