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speedy

Will youtube put people off Tandem jumps.

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I don't think so, but not being able to watch youtube videos at work is going to soon put me off of logging onto DZ.com at work! :D

To the DZ.com staff... we need to be able to imbed videos into posts somehow while keeping the dropzone.com domain in the address bar!

Or I need a more internet video friendly job ;).


--------------------------------------------------
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. ~ Thomas Jefferson

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Hey Speedy, could you explain us what exactly went wrong with the tandem landing?

Most of the tandem landings that I see, they all do a low turn (around the same altitude as this guy) to get some speed and they level out at half brakes....

This guy flare seems to be at half brake 2 sec before impact and he finish the flare about 1 sec before impact ... but he still lands hard ... like there's no flare in the canopy. He doesn't seems to be way behind the canopy (the pendulum effect). Down drafts?

Just trying to learn something ...
Lock, Dock and Two Smoking Barrelrolls!

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thats not as bad as watching rachel ray (sp? the cooking lady) on a downwind landing eating major shit. check it

I was suprised she didn't break herself on that one.

I just don't understand tandem landings, they seem incredibly harsh in nearly all cases... I go down the road every saturday and watch the tandem factory come in on the beach and they're lucky to have sand to slam into.

What's the rate of landing injury for tandem jumpers compared to AFF1?

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thats not as bad as watching rachel ray (sp? the cooking lady) on a downwind landing eating major shit. check it

I was suprised she didn't break herself on that one.

I just don't understand tandem landings, they seem incredibly harsh in nearly all cases...




Not sure if this statement is true at all. My home DZ does a lot of Tandems . I don't see people limping off the LZ
Never give the gates up and always trust your rears!

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Not sure if this statement is true at all. My home DZ does a lot of Tandems . I don't see people limping off the LZ

It was more along the lines of "why don't the majority of tandem jumps stand up"? I'm really new to the sport, is it because of the equipment? I see most AFF jumpers stand up on their big student canopies, why aren't tandems masters standing up with their massive tandem canopies?

These are legit questions, I have no idea... I would have assumed two people, twice the weight, twice the size of the canopy and all was fine and dandy to flare in perfectly to stand up everytime?

Don't take any offence to this anyone, I only learn by asking questions.

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I have been watching tandems land since the no drogue days and honestly I did not think that was all that bad. I have seen similar landings year after year and in most cases both people got up and walked away. Shit happens and no tandem instructor is a perfect cyborg passenger landing machine. (Also known as protein delivery specialist)

Some of you may have never straped a couple hundred pounds of meat to your self and tried to land it safely....time after time. I certainly would not want to strap myself to some whuffo who may not want to cooperate, I prefer to be on the other side of the lens.

Don't be so quick to judge tandem masters, those guys earn their money and even the best of them chump the landing from time to time. No one is immune from this happening.

Just think if we had video on every tandem ever made and I am sure that video would seem quite tame in retrospect. Probably would not even make the top 100.

You tube may not be good for the sport if all people search for is the bad stuff and idiots almost always want to post fuck-ups that might give the lawyers ammo.

Personally I don't want any of my videos on you-tube, even the great ones from the old days. If Tom Petty wanted to sue me he would have already done it.

More later,

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Not sure if this statement is true at all. My home DZ does a lot of Tandems . I don't see people limping off the LZ

It was more along the lines of "why don't the majority of tandem jumps stand up"? I'm really new to the sport, is it because of the equipment? I see most AFF jumpers stand up on their big student canopies, why aren't tandems masters standing up with their massive tandem canopies?

These are legit questions, I have no idea... I would have assumed two people, twice the weight, twice the size of the canopy and all was fine and dandy to flare in perfectly to stand up everytime?

Don't take any offence to this anyone, I only learn by asking questions.



Read some threads in the instructors forum.

Part has to do with training... the risk of 'trying' to stand it up is the consequence of not 'standing' it up. Anything could happen... and if the student mis-times it (sets their feet down first) ?

think of it like a pilot... if the 'nose gear' touches down first there is a greater risk of the 'plane' doing an endo.... hence a face plant for the 'nose gear' on a tandem.[:/]

my training (by the mfg) included not attempting to stand up landings... (it's largely skill and timing) grass on the DZ jump suit is no big deal compared to an injury to you or the student. YMMV
"Buttons aren't toys." - Trillian
Ken

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It was more along the lines of "why don't the majority of tandem jumps stand up"? I'm really new to the sport,

Have you ever run in a 3-legged race with a friend?

That's why we don't always stand up our tandem landings.:D:D:P

If you ever get the rating, you'll slide some in too, for sure.:)

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Fair enough, the beach they land on is where I kitesurf, it's usually 20 knots 7 days a week :)

I guess if you had nice soft sand to land into you would just slide it in everytime anyway.



No, if you had 20kts of wind every time you would stand them all up.

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As fatality reports in the media tend to INCREASE student starts, I think such YouTube videos would tend to draw people to dropzones.



I think the reason people are drawn after seeing the evening news report is because many of them say "hey I didn't know we could skydive right here in town(or some other relative disatnce from thier house). Why don't we go give it a try?"


Whereas, with youtube, people aren't getting that info and are totally removed from the situation and its just a bunch of "stupid risktakers."
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I doubt there were any broken bones on that landing regardless of the fact that it wasnt very graceful. It looks like the tM executed a turn a little low. The canopy was recovering from the turn and had very little flair left in it. Like the guy said a couple of post ago. He was just a little low and late on everything.

I never stand up a landing unless I have good shaggers. If I do stand up I have them squat down to a sit immediately. Otherwise you run the risk of getting slammed on your back or you will turn around and get face planted from the three legged race.

I disagree with Cspence. If you land on your feet in 20k winds you will probably get slammed alot unless your shaggers are right on. Not worth the risk to me I just sit down. I have nothing to gain by standing up. Think about how hard it is to manage your sport canopy on the ground in strong winds. Now strap someone to the front of you and add 200sq ft of material for the wind to act on.

and no I doubt youtube has any measurable affect on the sport at all
I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll burn your fucking packing tent down.

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Looked to me like there just wasn't much if any lift in the flair, wonder what canopy.

My worst tandem landings tend to be when a gust goes from 20 to 10 right at the time I start my flair. You feel the bottom drop out, pull flair, and grit your teeth. Obviously why gusting winds are dangerous. Anyway, so far in 1500 plus tandems I've had one guy wearing cheep "jump boots" not lift his feet, snag a heal, and snap an ankle. And maybe a couple complain of lower back pain on a hard butt landing.

It's been said, regardless of who you are, do a couple of thousand tandems, and you'll have some ugly landings.

In my opinion and from years of experience, tandem has a much lower injury rate compared to solo methods. Who hasn't seen a student flair at 25' plus, not flair at all, flair to shoulders and slam, etc. When I was instructing at a Static Line only DZ in the 90s, which put out 200 to 300 SL first jump students a year, I think we called an ambulance about once a month through the summer. More like once a year on average at my DZ.

Somewhat off topic but interesting, for DZs somewhat close to cities with TV stations. If we don't "manage" what's said in a 911 call, the TV trucks will almost beat the EMS guys out. When 911 dispatches the word "Skydive" or any derivative, it's like a feeding frenzy. Someone twists an ankle on a slow news day, and we see a news story saying something "skydiver escapes near death after falling 10,000'..." We as I'm sure most DZs try to manage these situations. Control who talks to the reporter, try to help them get the facts correct, which isn't generally their objective, and turn a negative situation into something positive.
Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

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I spent a few years packing tandems at WFFC. I loved it. The TM's were really competitive for the loads, and being loyal to one TM and taking care of him usually meant good news for me$$$.

Anyways, there were 2 TM's (I'll omit the names) Using absolute Gutter gear. I mean, the old PD 9-cell F1-11 canopies, so out of trim that they had at least one cutaway per year. I watched on TM consistently smash in like on the video. It bothered me that people saw that as acceptable.
=========Shaun ==========


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