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Actually, it is an interesting variation of the various "piss on ...." graphics that we see on many vehicles. I think most people think those are all childish, plus, they are offensive to some. (Duh.) Yet another example of why skydiving in general is not professional. However, we live in a free country where we all can express ourselves as we like.

If you are sure that the computer records will always be there when you need them, then that should be enough. Printing out a portion for when you visit another DZ where they don't know you is a very good idea. It's the person who jumps infrequently, has few jumps, and shows up at a boogie with only a ProTrack that makes people nervous. USPA recognizes jumps logged by electronic means, but they still need to be verified when you get freefall time and jump number awards, so if you make it easy on your S&TA or Regional Director it would be appreciated.

Fortunately, that is the beauty of our sport! Instructors involved with first jump students (of any kind) can be poor "ambassadors to the sport", and the students still come back! If skydiving provided a service that was not so addictive, most skydiving businesses would be out of business in a short time.

Fortunately we probably don't need to worry about that, because it is actually a lot of trouble to do it that way, and it is marginally less comfortable too. One interesting thing that this routing can be used for is an instructor testing their student to see if they notice the difference without actually using a routing that is unsafe.

And by then, the novice jumper will likely have been brainwashed by DZ management and staff to believe that "their" DZ is one of the best, and that they were trained in the "best" method and using the "best" techniques.

Yep, that's why I said "equivalent". The 1 inch hardware goes by another number I'm assuming. I like bringing up the routing because it is amazing how many people see that picture and immediately think it is not safe. The hardware is reversible so it is safe, just not conventional.

Did you always recover the streamer? Yes, I did it on days with little wind. Any suggestions on what spot to choose? Not really. Any suggestions on how should I approach this experience without getting inro problems (with the DZ, pilot, or something like that)? Might be better to do it on a separate pass if you are at a larger DZ, and treat it like CRW jumpers.

And then do that at least once a year to make sure the info is current. Sounds expensive and time consuming. Yep, the OP may be thinking of Consumer Reports type of reporting where big money is on the line for a manufacturer of millions of widgets. If there was that much money in skydiving we could solve a lot of problems.

The document is attached in case you do not have it. Except it is now PS70101 since PIA took over the specs. Notice that the specs say "reversible". This means you can thread your chest strap equivalent to the 1 inch wide chest strap in the picture. (This always extends the thread quite a few posts!)

I came up with this a while back. There is a thread here somewhere too, but I don't recall a lot of posts in it. http://www.pcprg.com/swoopstreamer.htm

That's interesting. Is that some kind of rule from the skydiving or aviation organizations, a preference from DZO's or instructors, or something else?

Well, I did my part, bringing up a topic involving women skydiving in swimsuit tops, but then so many people wanted to talk about kids and foul language! :)

Last time I talked to Buzz Ansley, a few years ago, he said he would still make a new Dive-Rite, but for a hefty price. Sorry, I don't have contact info.

Well I'm kind of thinking that it was. I somehow don't think they were going over the dive flow. But if they were doing the big yee-haw thing for the video, the student might have thought that he should be utilizing his acting skill using an important piece of gear for a prop. I'm used to periodic "interviews" of the student during the gear-up, climb, etc., but this guy was going on for a long time before the "climax".

The audio was removed for copyright violation. Who was having the conversation with the student, and what were they talking about?

Thanks, that would explain it! I guess I can't imagine putting myself in that much danger, especially in a sport I am not familiar with, and don't understand the dangers.

Excellent set of questions, Peter. I might add that first a group needs to identify what the purpose of the tracking dive is. I have always assumed that it is "relative work while tracking", and being a pilot, doing formation flying is very appealing to me. (Makes for good pictures and video too.) However, I have had people tell me that their idea of a tracking dive is to get good at tracking, and therefore just track like hell, and leave anyone behind that can't keep up, in fall rate or distance.

Jim, what did you train him to do in freefall? Did he see a video of a tandem jump during training? Did he have any idea what the drogue was for? How old was he? Did he come with a group that perhaps thought they were going to "outdo" each other? Things like this totally amaze me. It describes a person that doesn't even seem to know what a skydive is.

Anyone holding a gun to your head to renew on-line? Did you receive a renewal form in the mail? Can you scrounge up a first class postage stamp? Did you call USPA headquarters and ask what is going on? (800) 371-USPA Just to let everyone know, the internet is not perfect. A problem can be from any number of sources. In the long run, yes, things need to be fixed, but don't let that keep you from easily solving your (urgent) problem by another method in the short run! (For example, if I email you and don't get an expected response, I'm calling you, sucker.) Edited after reading FLJB: "FlyinDawg cannot hear so i think a phone call is not going to help." Sorry about the assumption. I'll change that to "send an email to USPA headquarters".

Good idea. True, but funny, I don't mind when we are sharing positive ideas!

I guess we can say unpredictable is a subset of awful. :) This happened to me a few times, then I realized what was going on. They were of course getting ground rush and wanting to flare early. During the flare practice I started telling them that they would feel this, but to trust me and not flare until I told them to, and to simply follow my hands. I tell them that this is how we are going to get the best landing. Everyone wants that, so they help out. I wish we could use this Instructors forum on dropzone.com for exchanging tips and such (like in the instructional rating seminars we should be having at least yearly), but it never seems to be used for that.

Rob, don't you think it is our responsibility as instructors to change them from "not bright enough" to sufficiently bright? I think it might improve safety. It always amazes me to hear tandem instructors talk about their awful students. I have had plenty of students that I thought were going to be awful, but after a bit of conversation (training) they have turned out OK.

Happy Birthday USA! (A good exhibition jump story.) I jumped with a local club into the Independence Day event of a local community. Everything went as planned except for the rain. (Two years ago we had the same conditions, but the rain bypassed the event by about a mile.) The ground crew called the pilot at the airport where we were waiting and told us that they received permission to do the jump a bit early to miss some rain coming our way. Everything looked like rain behind that, so there was to be no waiting around to be done. Like typical skydivers, we screwed around instead of hustling, so guess what happened? Me and the last guy out were shaking our heads as we left the airplane. Two seconds into freefall I felt the front of my thighs go from dry to soaked. After opening I had to lift my goggles up to look for the other jumpers. Everything went fine after that except I was the only person to not slip on the grass. It was still raining on us as we put our gear in the cars. My reserve is already dry, and I'll repack it sometime this week. I noted that there is a big difference in a rig that has been ScotchGuarded and one that has not. One of the jumpers borrowed a rig with an American Flag graphic. You know what they say about loaning gear! Oh well, we have enough riggers around. Not a big deal. I was laughing to myself all the way to the DZ, where we spread out the gear to dry. Funny thing is, this is not the wettest I have ever gotten on an exhibition jump. It's just the wettest in about 10 years.

My peripheral vision has never been reduced with a Protec compared to a frap hat. (This might be because I have an extra large head, and the position of my eyes relative to the edges of the helmet.) You might try some experiments. I don't think the difference in peripheral vision is going to be that much. The designers of equipment like helmets take things like peripheral vision into account when they design them.

It depends on how serious the situation. Most of the time, if a person remains calm and makes small corrections, perhaps including braked turns, they can land quite close to an obstacle and be just fine. If the winds are high enough, deep brakes can steepen the glide slope, and that might be all they need, but this only works if the person knows the stall point of their canopy, does not exceed it, yet holds brakes very close to that point to achieve sink instead of float. Few people know how to do this, and fewer practice it.