nigel99

That is what I don't understand in the digital versus analogue debate. The colour coding makes an analogue a binary instrument. It is red or it is not - very easy to process under stress.

Bill, with all due respect I agree that this person should not have been jumping a camera. But I do feel it is slightly missing the point, by focusing so much attention on that single aspect of the jump. Only a few weeks ago there was discussion about cloud jumping and people busting the FAR's. It is pretty obvious that everyone on that aircraft (pilot included) should not have gone up. Those clouds didn't simply "appear" out of thin air. I think it is indicative of the culture at that DZ that rules are broken and there is little regard for safety - starting with the clouds. The lack of exit separation is also a worry - going on the assumption this was not intended to be a 4 way. My impression is that this jumper is way out of his depth and possibly just off of A license. How many of us just "fall" vertically without moving our heads, getting bored and pulling off a few 360's etc? That jump shows a whole lot of lessons that people could learn on what not to do. I sure hope I'm never in the air with a bozo like that.

Maybe the packers could fold people's garbage into their next pack job. I can't believe the slobs in our union office at work; apple cores, banana peels and food wrappers left on the desks next to the computers. Really now, you think the FAA hired your mom to pick up after you? The coffee machine at the farm has something like this on it. "Please clean up after yourself, due to budget cuts your mom no longer works here"

I think your post is a fair description with points 1 through 7. But you missed out the whole deployment "check canopy" step. I don't think he ever bothered to. I also wonder whether the guy even KNEW he'd had a collision at the time. Honestly though, people like that should not be jumping.

Hopefully someone like popsjumper will step in and answer more completely. Part of check canopy is to physically look at it. Just because something is flying correctly NOW doesn't mean it isn't hanging on by a thread - quite literally. As this person is jumping with a camera it is safe to assume they have their A license. Technically this means that they are no longer under the supervision of an instructor. So when people in the thread refer to deficient instruction, it is normally with regards to their early training prior to self supervision. The person who told them you should have cut-away could be anyone, not necessarily an instructor.

I've got a Galaxy (analogue) and a Viso 2. At the moment my Viso is in my helmet for logging. At some point I intend to mount the Galaxy on a chest pillow (I've got one) and move the Viso to my wrist. The Viso is less of a snag hazard than a Galaxy but harder to read. I like the digital for canopy progression training. Not landing pattern but altitude lost in a turn etc. Sorry can't comment on the alti-track. BTW the Viso logging is very basic compared to something like the Neptune 2. You don't get total freefall time counters and the like. More details in the user manual which is available on line.

If you watch the classified's here there are often alti's for a good price. I paid $80 including shipping for mine and it was like new. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Andy your memory is failing You've not done EP's with me. Mike did my recurrency training. It might purely be down to jumper focus and as a now current jumper, he was able to focus more on the finer detail than is appropriate for a new jumper. I am certain that I have never been taught to peel the reserve handle. If you think about the procedure I was taught look at cutaway grab it, look at reserve now grab that. At that point I am no longer looking at my cutaway when I pull it. I guess it was that nuance that he was drumming in. Well, bust my britches. I could have sworn.... Where the hell was I and how did Mike get you? OK....I can't be wrong on this one...ask Dana what I taught her. See if she remembers. You were playing at GSR 66 ways.

Andy your memory is failing You've not done EP's with me. Mike did my recurrency training. It might purely be down to jumper focus and as a now current jumper, he was able to focus more on the finer detail than is appropriate for a new jumper. I am certain that I have never been taught to peel the reserve handle. If you think about the procedure I was taught look at cutaway grab it, look at reserve now grab that. At that point I am no longer looking at my cutaway when I pull it. I guess it was that nuance that he was drumming in.

Very nice Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I'll try anywhere - maybe I just caught the dz on a crap day - it still didn't leave a good impression. It was a pity that neither you or Rob were there on Sunday. But all that is besides the point. I was really impressed with the EP review I was given which was the main point of my post.

So we wont be seeing you there again???? I'll never go back to that dz on my own. If I have arranged to meet someone I know there then sure.

Yesterday I had to review my EP's with the chief instructor at a DZ as I was new there. I was impressed with some of what he said and did. It was almost certainly the most thorough briefing I have had on certain area's. It got me thinking that while what he went through was probably not applicable for an AFF student for A or B license sign-off it might be worth covering with students. Interestingly he had his first mal just after 3000 jumps. We are all taught to look at our handles before pulling them. The new part for me was a 'look' at your cutaway handle after cutting away, basically making sure that it was still in your hand and therefore you were safe to deploy your reserve. The other aspect that was reinforced was maintaining a solid arch during the whole process. Final aspect was to 'peel' the reserve handle before punching. I don't remember being told that before, yes I know about it for the cutaway handle. That was my only positive experience at the dz though. I also got to hear an AFF student being given the cracking advice by her instructor that parachutes flare more powerfully when the wind is strong. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Cool sounds like a plan. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Sitting posting this from next to the pool in Joondalup right now!

Busy settling into my new routine. So far nothing much that I don't like - other than missing out on dz.com till weekends now that I work for someone else. I also miss good beer! What has amazed me travelling on the train to work is the number of amazingly good looking women. So much tits, legs and ass to keep you entertained

This made me think of a different type of blue balls http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-16754531 Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't own a video player either. But you can pay to get a tape converted to DVD. Not everyone will do it on commercial video's due to piracy concerns though. For me there are only 2 scenes on my video that I really like. The safety announcement, and self packing parachute. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I despise go pros. A snag waiting to happen in my opinion. Lots of young jumpers without the necessary experience and skill to fly camera get one because they can. No sir, I don't like 'em. But to each their own. First pretty sure Mutombo was joking. I tend to agree with you. I don't think many people put proper consideration in. You will see that I have a cutaway system on my helmet. When I get a GoPro snag hazards will be appropriately considered and dealt with.

I have finally put together ALL of the equipment that I wanted as personal gear for jumping. Can't wait to arrive in my new home and to get using it now. Teardrop container, 170 Tempo Reserve, Sabre 170 and Vigil - whole system 10 years old but with less than 100 jumps on it

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/08/08/Man-accidentally-shoots-self-in-penis/UPI-20071312826157/ Was referred to on a UK comedy show. If this had happened at Tesco he would be saying "every little helps" Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I bought a copy on VHS about a month ago from the Kit Store at Headcorn. It is not available on DVD.

No it is not only experienced jumpers. One of the things about having such low fatality rates is that it can vary wildly from year to year. Not so long ago there were a couple of canopy collisions involving student jumpers. More important still - there are a significant number of serious injuries that occur to people with 50-500 jumps that simply don't get reported on dz.com. The profile of accidents change. As low time jumpers following the rules, accidents are most likely to occur due to inexperience. This may be an unplanned low turn to avoid someone, cutting away to low, trying to long to fix a problem or simply losing track of altitude. As you continue to jump the 'skill' based risks naturally diminish and you can choose to gradually increase the risks involved in your skydives. Those risks may be adding a camera, higher wingloading, any form of relative work etc. There are lots of skydivers with 1000's of jumps and NO serious injuries. In my opinion they are the ones worth emulating.

The answer to your question for 2011 appears to be 18. These are the 6 fatalities that clearly involved HP landings: So another way of looking at it is swooping is safer than skydiving

Nope, skydiving isn't. That said, we all do it because it brings something to our lives. Something we can't explain to others who haven't tried it. Yet, the outside looks at us like a bunch of nut jobs in the "Who would want to do that" category. It's sad that, even WITHIN the sport we all so dearly love, our own kind display the same types of attitudes to each others respective disciplines - along with the same lack of understanding the outside world gives our community as a whole. Blues, Ian Not a swooper and no intentions, and I completely agree with Ian. I really hope that modern canopy pilots (all of us) can evolve our training, techniques and tools to the point where the fatalities trend starts to reverse. It really comes down to all of us to play our parts. Us lower jump number people need to stop rushing lemming like into downsizes and getting out of our depth. The people who really understand how to tread the safest path to HP canopy flight need to figure out ways to minimise the current problems and somehow communicate them.