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A search resulted in this, which might be helpful: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4531247#4531247

I don't think you can conclude anything. Once again, what kind of canopy is it? (Manufacturer and model?) Do you know? Parachutes are not supposed to open that hard. There is nothing you should need to learn to "prepare for".

I think you meant to say "the slider was not up against the stops", however, from what I see, that may not be the case. What kind of canopy is it? (Manufacturer and model?)

This thread has most of the info you need: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4480870#4480870 Especially the last post if you are interested in the Minitor.

I went to the Lincoln Sport Parachute Club's Redemption Boogie this last weekend, and it probably could not have been better, other than a few hours of weather issues. They used a Skydive Chicago Twin Otter and Caravan. Unlike many years, the weather was cool enough for camping, yet was the perfect temperature for jumping during the day. Well organized as usual, and included some Nebraska State Games FS competition, and a new Nebraska state record 20 way FS record (although if they had time I think they could have made a bigger one.)

Here is a start: http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Boogie_Safety/

Not me! I was at rapt attention the whole time. Honestly, I wish members attending General Membership meetings would ask more questions.

The FARs mention only the manufacturer's training to get the rating initially. Once trained, a person cannot be "untrained". I have heard of a manufacturer writing an FAA FSDO to tell them that they no longer endorse (or something of that nature) a particular tandem instructor, but I don't know if that means much. The manufacturers have significant control over their examiners however. The thread "class III medical question in relation to DUI" in the Tandem forum has some good explanations about this by "stratostar" starting about halfway down the thread.

Sec. 105.45 lists the things that the FAA wants the tandem parachutist in command to have earned, or qualifications to have. I would interpret that (assuming that my interpretation holds any weight) to mean that once the master parachutist license had been earned, that this qualifies the person to be a parachutist in command. Umm, I am looking at my D license (320) issued in 1963 by the PCA, the father of USPA and it says expert. Nowhere does it say Master. What's up with this Master shit?? Sorry, I don't know the history of all of that. Much of it has to do with how many jumps people used to have compared to now.

N/A

Well, this is interesting (WTC jumpers still facing burglary charges): http://nypost.com/2014/06/25/wtc-jumpers-still-facing-burglary-charges/ A quote from the article: "Authorities seized $35,000 in equipment from the New Jersey business Sussex Skydive where Markovich is an instructor." Do you suppose they are talking about the BASE rigs and video equipment? That figure seems kind of high.

Wouldn't a member's Regional Director be the most appropriate person to make initial contact with? Seems to me the member's RD would have the most direct responsibility to assist a member from his/her region. Chuck, I know Jan has already answered this for you, but here is my answer. Over the years I have helped many members outside of my region because they have not been able to so much as get a reply from their Regional Director to a specific question or request. Some Regional Directors just don't care. I don't know if that is true of the current Regional Directors, but I know that it has been true of some in the past. Over the years I have seen an incredible amount of disrespect shown to USPA members from both various BOD members and USPA headquarters staff. Edited to add, at the request of USPA headquarters Executive Director Ed Scott: I don't know if this is necessarily true of the current USPA headquarters staff, but I know that it has been true of some in the past.

Sec. 105.45 lists the things that the FAA wants the tandem parachutist in command to have earned, or qualifications to have. I would interpret that (assuming that my interpretation holds any weight) to mean that once the master parachutist license had been earned, that this qualifies the person to be a parachutist in command. Actually, no USPA member now holds a "valid" or current master parachutist license, because the names "master", etc., were eliminated from the license descriptions some years ago.

I am in a later time zone than her, so I'm going to get the "jump" on responding first. A personal communication of any type to a BOD member is more than enough. Unfortunately, many current and former members of the USPA BOD do not respect dropzone.com (or even the internet in general) and therefore disregard most messages posted in forums, no matter how sincere or true they are. Also, someone on the BOD or at headquarters at one point in time, caused the email address fullboard@uspa.org (which was forwarded to all BOD members) to be disabled because they did not want to make it that easy for members to send emails to the BOD. I think it is now working again for the members.

I have heard of this before, and I understand what you are saying. But here is another explanation for that which perhaps makes it seem not so bad. Perhaps some/many TIs don't really tighten the harnesses as much as they should on the ground, because they think they are making the student uncomfortable. Then they wait to tighten them until right before hookup. Maybe. Maybe not. In general, I don't think student harness are as tight as they should be, particularly the leg straps. Think of how many handcam videos you see with a huge gap at the shoulders.

This is the main problem and I don't know what you can do about it in many cases. Some people want to just do as they are told rather than learn how to use the instructions in a manual as a starting point to perfect what works best for them and their students. We should not deviate much from the manual as far as the final fit, but how you get there does allow for some variation in procedures. If you are putting a student in a harness that you have just used on another student that is very close to the same size and shape, it is silly to extend all of the straps. Here is an idea. As part of the (USPA) instructor renewal requirements to have an instructional rating seminar each year, how about the tandem instructors at the DZ get together and learn from each other some of the finer points in adjusting a student tandem harness?

But Skydive Twin Cities does not have static Line training listed on their web site. Perhaps this student would like to do the static line progression.

Most of the smaller ones don't. They just have instructors sign an "independent contractor" statement as a precaution. Of course they risk having the IRS disagree and try to make them treat the contractors like employees, but the IRS is too busy to bother with most of them if they are small.

Very, very good idea! I can't tell you how many times I have seen people leave out the most important details that a potential buyer would want to know.

Then it is probably not better. Another good reason to not do that. How about contact the manufacturer and see what they think? Sometimes people come up with ideas that are better than the manufacturer's method, but it is best to ask them in case they have already found issues with doing it that way.

Excellent post! And thank you for reminding us all that we should remember that we are not as young as we once were. I think about swimming emergencies now and then, and how good of a swimmer that I could say I now am. I used to swim and dive in every old swimming hole that anyone was using, and I used to be a lifeguard, competitive swimmer and water polo player in high school. But those were the old days! I'm quite sure that very cold water would affect me more now too.

I have done mainly diving exits from all aircraft except tailgates. I am 6 feet 2 inches tall. Hook up kneeling. Walk on knees until pretty far forward. Have student put right foot out while I put right foot out. Have student turn their body to the right while putting left foot out. Put my left foot in corner of door frame. Tell student to give me a thumbs-up (and smile at video person if used.) "Ready, set, arch". Dive toward the rear. I have them practice by putting them in the airplane and doing an exit while pretending I am in back. It allows me to see if they understand turning toward the back while putting the left foot out. Ok, here is the expected pontification: My briefing to the student is that their eyes will tell them that they are doing a front-loop because we go so far head-down, but that they should trust their arch and a front-loop is unlikely if we do it right. I tell them about where the wind is coming from, and that we are "skydiving sideways" in the relative wind for the first few seconds. Having them know this means that they understand the exit and will be less likely to have a bad body position due to being nervous, because they understand what the arch is helping do.

A few people told me that my comment above was confusing. What I meant was that if someone made a derogatory statement about someone that I know and respect, that my admonishment to them would not repeat or paraphrase it, thereby stating it all over again. I would include only the admonishment.

Why do you think post #74 was removed? (Screen shot attached.) If it was determined that the things repeated/paraphrased about the USPA President were rude, then you would think that post #65 would have been removed also. Mr. "allseeingeye", have you had second thoughts about what you repeated/paraphrased? You should. The USPA President would be disappointed with you. Too late, I saved the entire thread. The President will eventually see it. Dropzone.com forums are an incredibly powerful tool for exposing the truth if a person is willing to work hard enough to seek the truth.

It's fine with me, but it seems redundant considering the discussions we have here.