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Good topic. For small Cessna's with passenger doors, you can include this in spotting instruction. If there is an opportunity with the airplane on the ground you can put the student inside to practice operating the latch, and you can stay outside and try to "act like the wind", pulling the door up suddenly like the wind would when the door is first opened. The student is startled on the ground, but then is much less so when they first open a door in flight. For all aircraft we must emphasize checking our gear and watching for other jumper's gear before the door is opened and when they are moving around after the door is opened. This is when pilot chutes and bags are more likely to fall out of the rigs and can get outside the aircraft. For aircraft with roll-up door, when opening the door for ventilation on the way up, you must insure that every jumper anywhere near the door has removed their seatbelt BEFORE the door is opened (more than a few inches). If a bag gets out the door it could take down the entire aircraft. (I'm actually surprised this had never happened.) Every aircraft with roll-up door should post their policy and procedures on opening the door for ventilation.

Some of these bug me too. I made a page to point people to when they make errors, but so many people make so many errors that if I did that, I would soon be known as the grammar Nazi or something. Now see, you've made me invoke Godwin's Law. Thread's over! http://www.skydivestlouisarea.com/misused.htm

I was expecting you to say Barry Manilow.

Sounds like you planned it well. Just remember to continue to plan such things well and don't let anyone talk you into anything more advanced than what your planning can insure safety-wise. You weenie! Real mean just hold cameras in their hand under canopy. :) I think you have learned by now that you could probably post about pulling a handkerchief out of your jumpsuit under canopy and blowing your nose, and someone would tell you that under any conditions it would be too distracting, and dangerous. Attached is a picture I took under canopy on about my 15th jump or so. When I showed the picture to the instructors at the DZ, they just commented that I must make sure that the photography does not interfere with my following the commands on radio arrow.

Anyone have contact info for Bob Sprague? I need some historical info from him about the DZ he operated in Clinton, IL in the 70's.

My thoughts are that if they are taught well, they will not feel like they are required to remember something, but that they will feel like it is an opportunity to participate, which will increase their enjoyment. At least it has been like this on all but maybe one of my tandem students, and I think she was just talked into skydiving by her friends. I ask my students after the jump if they enjoyed these activities and they always tell me they did.

Will, "rlucus" asked you if you were sure about where you were stowing your brakes because of the terminology you used. "Stowing your brakes" refers to pulling the "cat's-eye" down below the metal guide rig and inserting the narrow part of the toggle, then fastening the toggle in some manner to the riser. You were talking about "stowing your excess brake line", which is what a person does after stowing their brakes. It is considering best to have a specific place to stow your excess brake line than to loop it through anything not designed for that.

Tom, everyone reading this who cares about the safety and the future of tandem skydiving will easily forgive you for that. Some things are worth saying no matter what.

I think it is safe to assume that the tandem student wants "safety". All of the things you mentioned increase the safety of your jump if used. Another way to look at it is that the tandem student does not know what they need, and it is the responsibility of the instructor to give them what they need to be as safe as possible.

Really? Some DZO's I talk to say they can't even get their potential students to even find the first jump prices, much less read the parts of the web site that have info to be updated. In my area potential students seem to be interested in price, price, and price, and not much else. Many of them don't even know about all of the training methods. It's just that I have heard some students talk about a web site looking "professional" or not, and was wondering what it was they were looking at. Overall design, graphics, photos, etc.?

Updates are good of course, but I was referring to a potential student and first impressions.

Yep, Robin and Pud. Picture attached. Robin died from a hard landing due to a dropped toggle.

I was talking to a DZO that works in the web site design business about how DZ web sites look. I was wondering, "What makes a DZ web site (or any web site for that matter) look 'professional' or not to the potential student?" Would anyone care to point out some you think are good? Some not so good? (This would best be answered by people who have recently started skydiving and who may have made a decision on a DZ because of their web site. Please don't just mention your home DZ web site.) Is it having the "latest" design techniques versus not? Is it describing the various training options in an easy to understand manner? Is it making the pricing quick to find? Is it promises of "safety"? Is it having a lot of "stuff" to look at? Is it having an active forum? It it because it makes the sport seem really "cool"? How long did you look at things on the web site before you called the DZ to ask questions or schedule a jump? Did you schedule on-line?

Darn, a little bit more time with Mr. Google and I might have found that out too. For the technically inclined:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battery_sizes

OK, I'll retract that. The following link is just one of many I found with a search. It seems Energizer does not even call it a "CR". This company seems to think it is an equivalent. http://www.batteryjunction.com/energizer-cr123a.html I'm still suspicious and curious. When part numbers are given a suffix of "A" there is usually a reason. It is not unheard of for a distributor to purchase a number of "non-suffix" parts to resell, because in most cases, a small difference in products would not matter to most customers.

I'm thinking your customer should bite the bullet and get the CR123A version from somewhere. I like Walmart, but it seems they screwed the pooch on this particular product, and got the cheapest thing they could find. Good for paper towels, not good for AAD batteries.

So your aftermarket method was better than the manufacturer's. That is not surprising. Good job on your (or your rigger's) design. Hopefully everyone is reading and learning from this. Again, thank you for your posting and answers.

FYI, searching for "CR123" on the web sites of several large electronics distributors in the US resulted in batteries describes as "CR123A". It seems unusual that your friend would even be able to find CR123. Do you know where he got them?

Thank you for posting about that! I hope that you, and everyone else that reads about this, realizes that these things happen not because of riser covers coming open, but because of toggles becoming unstowed. If toggles remain stowed, having a riser cover come open will usually not cause any problem at all! Relying on a riser cover to solve a toggle stowage problem is not a good idea. Relying on a rig to be "freefly friendly" is not either, because most people don't think about the toggle/riser systems when calling a rig that. Many toggle/riser systems just don't work. (Oh, and do I need to say anything about excess steering line stowage?)

And if anyone at a DZ might be thinking about how practical this idea might be, consider that individual small (sets of) weights could do double-duty. While not being used for skydiving, a bunch of them could be put in some type of enclosure to be used as a packing weight. It kind of keeps them from just sitting on the shelf being "dead-weight". (pun intended.)

Damn, Bill! Are you sure you want to be telling people that without a drawing or service bulletin? You know how skydivers are. They'll be tying knots in all sorts of incorrect places.

The following is an excerpt from an email send to me by the very experienced DZO of a very small tandem only DZ. "I have a real high return rate - maybe 40 to 50% of my skydives are from returning people and their friends. I spend a good hour with people with paperwork, the 15 minute video, and a 30 minute training 'show' that I put on that includes jokes, amazing statistics, cool information and a sense of adrenaline that builds slowly from the time I start talking until it it peaks as we are about to gear up. You know, the way the tandem instructor culture has evolved in our country it has really become a 'male' type of experience - 'Give me the gear and let's just jump' attitude. Many guys don't need a lot of prep to enjoy this experience. But most women and many men benefit hugely from this 'foreplay' before the dive. Students frequently ask me if I still get the same great rush after so many dives. They ask me if the excitement that I exhibit is real. One professional actor said he watched me closely and that I looked 'real' to him. They often comment on how my excitement is contagious and they simply forget about many of their fears. The number of tips I get has shot up, and the amount of the tips. So what is the truth - do I fake this? I only start off acting, and then I allow the experience and the people elevate me into real pleasure. My grandma knew this as did my parents. But we had to wait for 'scientists' to prove that acting HAPPY creates happy! Brain chemistry CHANGES almost instantly when one does this. Different parts of the BRAIN shut down when you do the big phony smile. Other parts LIGHT UP! The chemistry change/mood change can be FELT! It is virtually IMMEDIATE. I remember in basic AFF and jumpmaster training we were taught to introduce ourselves to the student and give them a quick background on ourselves. This area is much more important than I have given it credit before. I think instructors need to learn to do more foreplay with their students, to prep them emotionally for the dive. I am experiencing continuing benefits of this approach with very low advertising costs and a lot of excited people." My comments: That last part is of particular interest to me. This seems to have gotten lost. The first steps when meeting a student should be to put the student at ease and find out what they already know. I remember this from USPA AFF certification courses of the past. A relaxed and confident student is a safer student and will perform better, and if they are a tandem student, will be more predictable and safer for the instructor.

First of all, ask the folks you are jumping with what the purpose of the skydive is. Make sure their attitude is not just to track like hell and see how far they can go, leaving you behind. If they want everyone to fall relative to each other then everyone simply needs to wear a jumpsuit that works. A suit that works for regular RW (in a relaxed body position) without going low is a good start, but if you are going low all the time you probably need more. You can only change your body position so much. Or, see if you can go "base" (lead the pack). Being the leader on your back is even more fun because you can see everyone else if they are in position.

They do! And I got me one. Packing it when it was new and the humidity was low was "special". It has the same performance characteristics and the same style flare, so it would make a nice student canopy that doesn't wear out so fast. The nose has been adjusted for medium to slow openings.

Tomas, I'm sorry, I need to comment on the logic of this one. If you follow the manufacturers weight limitations, it doesn't matter how fat we are all getting. If the student is heavier the instructor must be lighter, etc. The weight limitations do not guarantee safety, but they help. As far as the original thread about the fatalities in the Czech Republic, well, haven't we found that the owners/users of that Dual Hawk did many, many things wrong? A properly maintained and properly used tandem system from any manufacturer is acceptably safe.