PhoenixPhive

Please, don't be p.c., i hate that: i prefer honesty. i just didnt know exactly what you were referring to: every tandem i have done, i was very conscious of not causing a problem for the instructor...because then it might cause a problem for me.. thanks for the 411

"skytrash" referring to the tandem "student" are you a tandem instructor, or just their mouthpiece?

I will preface my comment with this, i have sustained several traumatic injuries during my life (none skydiving) and this is how i think about tandems: I don't think there is anything wrong with doing tandems... just have to put up with the crap they give you about it, but to be quite honest, if they give you crap about it, what does that say about them?? The experience of the skydive is soooo beautiful, it really shouldn't matter how you do it. I know it is a sport for most, but for me it is more of a sensory experience squared by a sense of awe and wonder and curiosity about how the wind works. I have 2 steel pins in my hip, broken right foot, extreme muscle loss below the knee on my left leg(leg exploded from being pinned between two objects), broken my left leg from ankle to knee, broken my arm, both big toes, so for me, to start with, tandem was a great way to approach skydiving (even though the ti's thought me weird to keep tandem jumping, but i told them it was my form of therapy, when i really felt like saying it was none of their damm business, i was paying them to do it, it shouldn't matter to them one way or another) so however you can enjoy the sky, do so!!!!have strength in how you exist for your self, not how someone else thinks is right for you to exist!!!!

Moderation of Thought = Censorship = Loss of Freedom of Thought

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yoga

cool, thanks. not a problem: have some vacation days- i wouldn't want to pack someone else's rig: i am just coming at it from a strictly selfish point of view: i only trust myself

maybe go learn to pack and take the first jump course after you already know how. that is what i wanted to do, but was told that instruction wasn't given on the weekends

Of course a certificate costs money though as it means that somebody is taking the time to teach you. So then we are discriminating against people who can't afford the packing course Of course i pay for instruction and time, and gear rental, that goes without saying. i am just saying that i should not have to own $7,000.00 in gear before i should be able to pack the chute that is on my own back.... getting a second job in theis economy is non existent and i would happily do it. However, as i have been bitten by this bug called skydiving i would like to be able to service my new additiction without having to sell a kidney

That sums up my view of the most workable system. Personal equipment is down to the owner, equipment for hire should be packed by a "trained professional". But at that point you are discriminating against people who can't afford their own equipment at the get go: a certificate should be plenty for me to pack any gear i use, reagardless whether it is mine or the dz's (where i have already signed a waiver)

No in the US you could jump your own pack job for your first jump. But for your A license you must know how to pack. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- una vita vivenda - One life, live it. when i enquired about packing my own, i was told that i couldn't pack my own on my first jump; i told them i wanted to get to know the equipment i would be using (as i have done in every other hobby i have). I was told there was a packing course, but no mention was made of getting a packer's certificate. I would much rather get a packers certificate first, if only for the ability to pack my own chute, that way, if i fuck it up, its my own fault, no one else's(also, given my tendancy to be a lightening rod, i want to make sure no one walks to the packer and slips him a twenty to twist my lines).

kind of wondering if they do background checks on their jumpers, because after my first two times, that was when the bitchiness began. I understand that it is a business, which is why a large chunk comes out of my own pocket, not my trust fund's, in order for me to go and have the most amazing experience of my life. bottom line: they are only warm and friendly if you have daddy's money to burn.