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This reminds me of something recently - we are a small Cessna dropzone with a whole of students - everyone is super friendly and chats and has a great time. I had a level 3 I think a couple of weeks ago when we were discussing the staged flare and such, tell me that that was not what he had heard was the best way to do it. He explained to me that some other person there - who had 14! jumps but apparently jumped the same student gear :-) told him that flaring at 10-12 feet with a staged flare did not work well and he should wait till way lower and then just slam the toggles down. Laugh. I am completely sure that the 14 jump kid meant well but I did explain to my student that I have closer to 14,000 jumps than 14 and I might be a better source of advice :-)

I'm surprised they let your friend jump at all. At one dropzone there were two young women who were treating the entire class (with other students) like it was just a wild hoot. The instructor (also a woman) came over and told them to go back to the office and get their refund, she was kicking them out of the class. End of story. Considering that this is a sport that can actually kill someone, I think instructors have a duty to not allow a student to jump if they just don't get it or act like they just don't care.

I have been in and out of the sport for almost 30 years. There seems to always be a stigma about not doing a standup landing. Maybe I am just old and do not get embarrassed easy. I also don't heal as easy as I once did. I am always ready to do a PLF when I am uneasy at landing. The stigma doesn't bother me one bit. I dust off the dirt and laugh right along with everyone else. I haven't been injured yet. I have seen plenty of people get hurt.

I signed up for the Android release. Would love to try it

One of my FB friends posted "Where would we be today had it not been for Ted Strong?" I answered thusly -- Still jumping SILK parachutes with no apex and wild oscillations that break legs, and probably still in surplus containers. Paratroopers would be using the German WW-2 style single point support system instead of two risers that let a person steer. We'd still be using gliders to deliver goods to the battlefield instead of LAPES. In my opinion, the two most influential people on military jumping and sport skydiving have been Ted Strong and Bill Booth. Bless 'em both. I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.