Zenister

this is the key issue. Dropzones that focus on the business, the tandems and the teams training have lost the 'culture'. How many skydivers are still friends with the people who taught them to jump? how many still jump with them when they are at the DZ? how many still talk to them even though they now live 100's of miles away? How many skydivers trained in the last 2 years can say the same? I'll wager most of those who can are based at DZ's that promote the culture and the atmosphere more than the business. Dropzones create their own culture and environment. If you are at the kind of dropzone when people jump and then vanish when the planes stop, you will never get to know the 'other side' as you have no social interaction and they have no incentive to include you, or even learn your name... ive noticed that slide in attitude from the DZ being 'Home" to the DZ being "business aka work" even in my short time around the sport. It means you have little to no opportunities for the new 'students' to get to know the 'old hands' unless they already have an 'outside in'. and you wonder why there is a disconnect with attitude and interaction? ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

old info, but all the Team Xaos fliers had rigs like that at the time.. Tj, Jeffro, Andy F, Luke.. Most were Infinitys iirc but i think TJ's was a Mirage... ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

dont open your eyes often.. implementing 'double standards' vs 'real solutions' is rampant. specifying seperate HP and LP landing areas would be the best solution, but the best solution costs more than simple 'lipservice' for appearance's sake.. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

I have the luxury of deciding when and where i skydive, so NO i will not jump at a DZ that has such ridiculous 'knee jerk' restrictions. its a simple enough matter to plan my 'playtime' elsewhere.. but it still makes me sad that such a short sighted 'solution' is being applied at SDAZ. specific event restrictions i have no issue with.. its easy to schedule around them.. you cant schedule around a policy that restricts a sub discipline completely. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

Kohmar and Melamede (russian artists and i'm to lazy to look it up atm) did a performance art peice/business "Buying Souls" complete with billboards and tv ads in the 90s.. unfortunately they eventually went under as it really is a buyers market and thetrade/ resale value is low.. one soul of note they acquired was Andy Worhol's however it was bought very cheaply as the general consensus was there was already a lien on that one... ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

this is a SYSTEMS LEVEL FAILURE that needs to be addressed. Yes i'm well aware it takes the FAA years to make changes (or even decisions) but to paraphrase someone who has been dealing with this issue for a while... "If i were firing 1000 missiles a day UP into the air in a specific area you'd want that area marked on your screen wouldnt you?? why does the direction the hazard travels make a difference?" ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

SSI OW, but i'm about 10 years uncurrent for scuba.. military static line training but all skydives have been commercial. Other than the complete dependence on gear and training for survival, i dont see the sports as similar at all. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

perhaps.. but if it takes 5000 hours for you to learn what an 'average' student does in 50, it is largely NOT WORTH THE INSTRUCTOR OR THE STUDENTS TIME. you can break any complex action down to simple steps, and teach those steps one at a time. As long as the task being performed IS NOT time critical you can take years to learn anything.. skydiving IS time critical. Sure you could 'babysit' the bowlers for 500 dives until they had learned every simple action in sequence in order not to die, but is it really WORTH the time (yours or theirs)? Time is the one thing you cant simply 'go get' more of... at some point if your student cant hit what has been established as 'average benchmarks' they need to be classified as 'untrainable (by usual means)' and handed off to someone who wants to 'dumb it down' for them. You are free to go to extremes to attempt to teach those people, but that doenst mean that every instructor who is unwilling or unable to teach to 'special needs' students is a poor teacher. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

Ray Comfort needs to requaint himself with the fundamental principles of logic and reasoning, as his understanding as expressed in your brief quote is laughable at best. he (like most fundamentalists)could also use a refresher on the definition of 'evidence'. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

dont go to them. it is a meaningless ceremony anyway.. you have already done (or not and are getting your piece of paper anyway ) the real work... Graduation Ceremonies are simply one more unnecessary task tacked on by the institution. I dont like institutions wasting my time, so i simply skip the 'additional time sinks'. To bad they wont deduct the fees for these worthless events from tuition costs. If they did you'd see alot more people 'opting out' as well.. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

there are experiments using this effect (the eye's/mind's ability to pick up higher 'frame rates') to train faster reaction times for elite athletes and pilots.. the down side is such experiments can induce elliptic type seizures even in 'normal' people. i cant stand fluorescents normally.. as they age they get worse (more obvious) and it drives me batty, so whenever possible i have them removed from my working area... ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

fuck it.. youve got your torches lit, reason isnt going to make any difference at all.. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

this misstatement discredits your entire post First of all I said "We all know swooping is the leading cause of death, or close to it." You edited out the "close to it" part. Second, landings are the leading cause of death according to dz.com, and swooping is very much in line with landing. Collisions (34) 16% Landings (66) 31% No Pulls (16) 8% Malfunctions (39) 18% Reserve Problems (15) 7% Other (29) 14% Validity of argument stands. in no way... since "landings" does not equal "swooping" maybe a more in depth survey of incidents (as limited as that is) is in order, because youve clearly not read them very well if you equate all 'landing' incidents as 'swooping' ofc that is a big part of the witch hunt attitude so clearly displayed on dizzy.com.. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

how about the 'slow and low accuracy relic' (see i can throw just as many 'push button phrases' as you without adding anything useful to the discussion) does multiple S turns to hit the peas EVERY TIME, thereby consuming and cutting off 4x the area he/she should to land?? that sucks too.. and happens JUST AS OFTEN, by those who think THEY 'own' the sky. Swooping isnt the problem, lack of awareness and consideration for others IS the problem.. and it is NOTHING NEW. Get off the 'old' vs 'young' horse. It only impedes discussion ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

this misstatement discredits your entire post ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

would rather not... training shouldn't be conducted with 'customers' ever. There are so many ways to simulate situations like this in a controlled environment it is silly to include additional risks to passengers just for added 'realism' Training is important, VERY important. But there is proper way to do it.. asking for 'crash test dummies' is ludicrous, and could easily invite an obscene number of lawsuits if/when 'training' suddenly becomes the real deal, when it could have been avoided completely. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

separate Repack and Repair fees every time. if you had to repair something i want to know about it. If it took additional time outside of the I&R you should charge for it. Not charging for actual labor performed is a VERY bad business decision and one that reduces the customers level of awareness.. IMO any repair, defect or deviation outside of the normal repack process SHOULD be charged for, HOWEVER riggers are always free to offer 'additional services' (at a fee) during regular I&R. I want my rigger to completely inspect my entire rig (main and container) EVERYTIME i give it to them, I tell them this and fully expect to pay for the additional time and attention. I imagine if the longer cycle is implemented more jumpers would ask the same. Those that dont... well "you pays yous money, you takes yous chances" They are the subject matter experts and are far more likely to catch something i might have missed. More eyes looking for potentially fatal defects is never a bad thing. However charging more for the SAME task, without any additional effort or overhead cost increase is simply gouging the customer. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

you can (learn to) control your reaction to anything.. how you react largely determines how well you fair... ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

pretty much everything in life goes better (easier pick the word you prefer) if you have the right attitude about it... every experience is shit if you expect it to be shit, but you can find joy, even in shit, if you look for it with the right attitude. "The Secret" is just another feel good hype movement. There is no Secret, there never has been, Life is what you make of it, your attitude goes along why towards what you are able to accomplish in any enviroment. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

an interview i saw last month stated that there were more than 2000 people actually EARNING A LIVING playing 2nd Life... most were programmer types that were selling 'custom items'. It is going to be rather easy soon enough to earn a living without ever going to a 'real world job' there are entire sub-industries 'farming' in various MMORGS... there is alot of money in cyberspace in ways most people never contemplate. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

you'd be surprised actually. AZ isnt the 'allergy free' state claimed by popular wisdom. there are A LOT of things here that will set off allergies, just not the ones you've gotten used to elsewhere ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

Dallas.. they haven't banned swooping. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

oh well.. so much for respect. His blood isnt better than anyone else's.. HE seems to realize that. Perhaps the Politicians should too.. ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

my faith in the intelligence and knowledge of the average LEO is sustained... ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

fixed it for accuracy ____________________________________ Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.