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I was thinking that it could be renamed to just "USPA Issues" or something like that, and whenever an election comes around, that would be the place to go. I think it could also be useful for discussing other USPA things, like, "What the hell does USPA do ___ for?"

I don't know if you have talked to him about this, but Derek (HookNSwoop) told me that he has found that his AFF students who get pre-AFF tunnel training do better under canopy because the freefall part is more familiar and not so overwhelming to them that they need to recover/relax from the stress of the freefall under canopy, but instead can perform their planned canopy maneuvers better. That supports your above statement as far as I can tell. I think many instructors intuitively or empirically know that S/L-IAD students learn canopy control better than AFF students, but it is nice to find a way to put it into words.

Well now, I think Skydive Deland has it figured out how to make Groupon work for them a lot better than many DZ's (which is not surprising.) Groupon says the jump is a $210 value, but the SDD web site lists prices as Tandem Skydive $179, Groups of 4 to 6 $165, Groups of 7 or more $155. And they are only discounting it 40%, not 50 or more like a lot of Groupon deals. If their Groupon customers figure that out they may not be happy, but it is an old marketing idea. Increase the normal price, they give a discount. So while they may not be making money, they might not be actually losing money like many drop zones are that use it. That's they deal with Groupon, you need to figure out if it can be used without losing money. The only surprising thing SDD did was to make the coupon good for a year. Does SDD have excess capability and need the extra customers? Groupon takes half so they are doing tandems for $62.50 Please tell me how you make money at $62.50? Do they always take half? Or can it be negotiated? Also, further upstream in this thread someone noticed it is not SDD, but some other company using SDD facilities. Now it really doesn't make sense. SDD might have excess capability to benefit [not lose their ass] with Groupon, but a smaller company would not. It's a crazy thing isn't it, this skydiving business?

Well now, I think Skydive Deland has it figured out how to make Groupon work for them a lot better than many DZ's (which is not surprising.) Groupon says the jump is a $210 value, but the SDD web site lists prices as Tandem Skydive $179, Groups of 4 to 6 $165, Groups of 7 or more $155. And they are only discounting it 40%, not 50 or more like a lot of Groupon deals. If their Groupon customers figure that out they may not be happy, but it is an old marketing idea. Increase the normal price, they give a discount. So while they may not be making money, they might not be actually losing money like many drop zones are that use it. That's they deal with Groupon, you need to figure out if it can be used without losing money. The only surprising thing SDD did was to make the coupon good for a year. Does SDD have excess capability and need the extra customers?

I recall one of those conversions from 5 to 7 was called an "Added Attraction" but that might have been a colloquial or regional name.

I was lucky to have a good mentor where I started jumping. He liked talking a lot and I was eager to learn. (Thanks Marshall!) Back then we all had to flail for a while learning "RW" and then after enough jumps we got better. The idea of doing something special (like wind tunnel or coaching) to progress was not prevalent, at least not in my circles. Most definitely learning a lot about gear. Of course in those days you had to, or your jumps would be much more dangerous.

Do we really need to bring root vegetables into this? Another entry in my list: http://www.skydivestlouisarea.com/misused.htm

Have you seen this research? http://www.pcprg.com/hardop.htm You might be going a bit wide and not quite big enough from front to back. This is not an exact science of course, but it is what I have found to work with quite a few canopies.

Present and accounted for. I can still manage to create a post that incurs the wrath of some people.

i agree with you that seatbelts are very important. BUT... If i am literally strapped into a plane, i want to be able to unstrap myself in case of any emergency. If the shit hits the fan, i do not want to be dependent on someone else unhooking me. Good point! I'm glad we are having this discussion.

In another thread someone posted: "I'd say I wear them (seatbelts) more than 90% of the time now, I'm trying for 100, but sometimes they're jammed under the seat etc." I really appreciate that honest statement, but we need to do better, and perhaps discussing it can help us do that. Sometimes it is a real PAIN IN THE ASS to get that seatbelt on, but we must. Other people may be sitting on them, they may have become jammed or covered when a bench seat is moved, they may not be long enough for a large jumper in a big rig. (Personal experience here!) Just lately I was in a cabin style aircraft sitting in the furthest position aft on the straddle bench, and the person further aft had to sit on the floor. He could not get the seatbelt fastened and he showed every indication that he was simply not planning to wear it. I told him that we were going to try harder, and told him to sit close, after which I put the seatbelt through his harness in a place that he could have not reached. I got it done just before the pilot throttled up for takeoff. I also removed it for him when it was time. This is the kind of thing that we all need to do once in a while to help our friends. (This of course would help many of our friends if there was a crash.) We also need to insist that ALL of our friends on the load wear their seatbelts. It is even OK to have someone tell the pilot to wait until the seatbelt issue is resolved before taking off. I know people are reluctant to do this, but it is the right thing to do. If anyone notices that a particular seatbelt configuration nearly always causes a problem, then by all means let the aircraft owner know. Maybe they can change it or get a longer belt. Edited to add: If you find that seatbelts are hard to find and hard to put on, there are a couple of things that can help. 1. Before you sit down, find your seatbelt and place it somewhere easy to grab after you sit down. What really works well is to tell the person behind/next to you to hold it while you sit down and then to hand it to you. 2. Extend this same courtesy to the person sitting "in your lap" or next to you by finding and holding their seatbelt for them while they sit down. I'm surprised that this technique has not become a custom/habit in skydiving. It makes loading the aircraft faster and easier.

Search for FAR "91.113", and try to compare it to flying a parachute. The USPA SIM includes this in the appendix. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=navRulesContent is also a very good resource to get you thinking about what we should be doing.

Sure, something just like that. I use spiral-bound index cards, which are thicker than just paper. 2 dollars at the business supply store. The cards are meant to be torn out on the perforation, but if you don't tear them out you have a logbook. I slap my USPA logo or Pro sticker on it and I have a cheap but cool logbook. Well, at least I think it is cool. It's definitely cheap.

I'm just sitting here stunned, having just now heard about the accident. I know that in the coming weeks I'm going to think about calling him or sending him an email, and then remembering that I can't. We had so much about parachutes to talk about. Ted, gave and gave some more, to the sport, the industry, and the military. For 50 years. I will miss him so much.

I can't believe he did this, and I bet he can't either. My buddy Larry is a very experienced and conservative skydiver, but this shows how distraction can affect anyone under certain conditions. None of us are immune from this. Larry is such a nice guy that when a man and his two little girls came by the DZ to watch skydiving, he showed them all about his gear, and even let one of the girls pull out his pilot chute. So when he was repacking the pilot chute he must have gotten distracted by talking to them further, and after pushing the pilot chute all the way into the pouch, he forgot to pull the handle out where it could be reached. But the bad thing was that he forgot to check his handle before he got out of the airplane! Now we know why we do that, huh? (The reserve ride was nominal as he was planning to pull high anyway.) So folks, when your buddies tell you to check your handles, whenever they do it, please thank them and pass on the favor. This reminds me of another time that distraction caused a problem. Todd was converting a student rig from the freefall configuration to the static line configuration for the cute blond girl standing there, and he got distracted and connected the static line to the top of the canopy. When she jumped the attachment point got ripped off the canopy. No reserve ride, but costly. So guys, what have we learned from this?. It's not just the "big" girls that can distract you! Ha, ha, snicker.... Be vigilant everyone and don't let distractions get you.

It is the "cool-factor", and skydiving has a lot of it. Yes, people are willing to give up better protection to be more cool. I have no idea why. Me, I'm on my third ProTec. I get a new one when the inside of the older one gets so disgustingly dirty that people comment on it. Actually, I lost my last one because after 30 years of remembering to always snap the chin strap, I forgot once. (But it was getting dirty anyway.)

"Do not attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence." I think there are just a lot of people that don't know how to write a decent advertisement. I mean, how many rigs for sale do you see where the seller doesn't even include the size person it was made for? Or they are in a hurry. Or they just don't take the internet seriously, so they don't bother to take any time with anything related to it.

I have been flying jumpers where there are red-tailed hawks around the airport and have flown within 200 feet of one, passing it on the side, and it did not change its flight direction. I guess they just get used to us. I have seen a lot of other hawks in surprisingly suburban areas. I think they must inherently know that they can fly so well that they have few threats.

Interesting, that's one of the points "topdocker" tried to make in post #160, and a couple of people jumped all over him. Maybe this is a good point. I think it is. Attorneys would need to be consulted to be sure. We have some that frequent these forums. Perhaps they will comment.

You are, but that's a good thing! Nice work. Not all DZs have those custom made practice altimeters, but with iPhones becoming more prevalent it might make practice altimeters more available.

I don't think you have missed anything, but I can see that in the future, those who have been taught that technique might consider you "bad" for not using it. Required? I hope we don't get to that point. In a way I can't say that I blame people for being nervous under canopy because of all the canopy collisions that have occurred in the past few years, but there is going to be a wide interpretation of how that technique should be applied. What some people consider "close" under canopy and therefore what makes them uncomfortable and thinking they need to employ that technique, may by others be considered just a fly-by and a way of saying "hi" under canopy. I do this regularly with people, and for their comfort I kick my legs just so they know that I know what I am doing and that I see them. For them to have the confidence to fly close to me where we can talk is a bonus. For those of you reading that feel uncomfortable flying close to another canopy, well, a little CRW training or maybe just a few no-contact CRW jumps with an experienced canopy pilot with a similar wing loading can give you some knowledge and skills that will help address this.)

I guess it could be worse. I remember an old song by Johnny Cash called "A Boy Named Sue". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1BJfDvSITY

You have the jump number, the ratings, and the experience to say anything you want when you see something is not right at a drop zone! Don't let anyone try to convince you that it is not proper for you to get involved in a drop zone's "business" when it also involves safety. Skydiving isn't "corporate America". It is a sport where people need to look out for one another.

I don't think we are ever going to get that. People just don't report things to the manufacturers like they should. I have yet to have a tandem reserve ride. I have had a couple of canopies damaged on opening but they were landable. I hope I never get tension knots. (Why look at that, this thread has come full circle.)

I think you should say "was known". When the Stiletto was new, people were experiencing this for the first time, so a lot of people seem to remember it. Many other canopy models are deploying with unrecoverable twists now. But anyway, on to my next question. Which models of Strong tandem canopies are you thinking are known for tension knots? Newer ones or older ones?