tetra316

I do understand where you are coming from in your choices. I'm not thoroughly convinced though that choosing to not jump without an AAD regardless of the situation is not being device dependent. I can see where one might not do certain types of dives, bigways or known zoo loads, if one doesn't have an AAD but to say you will not jump no matter what without an AAD is different. To me that is device dependency. If you are not device dependent why not do some two or four ways or a solo? You can still manage your risk without an AAD.

Interesting. Sounds like you may have some issues. Have you ever been checked out by a specialist?

Why not equalize during the canopy decent then? Why wait until you are on the ground? Just curious, as I've never experienced any problems. Except of course when I chose to jump with a head cold

Your cool and all. I choose to not jump without a AAD. Yea i know you think im a little bitch that needs to be coddled but you dont have a damn clue about other's situations. If I were to die my 3 kids and there mother would be broke and not live life as well. Same for my workers and there family's. I will take every precaution to make sure that doesn't happen. I look at dive's different than alot of people. I analyze situations more than alot of jumpers. If i get hurt i can still take care of shit but if i die so does my company and other peoples life styles. Now if you'll excuse me Im gonna go rerap my self in bubble rap in hide in the basement. With so many and so much depending on you perhaps you are being very selfish to skydive at all. You can still die even with a cypress. Food for thought in a serious way

You make some good points but one I question. If, as you say, a tandem is completely different than any other instructing and is only a demo, not an instructive jump, why then do you advocate getting an AFFI rating for 50 jumps before getting a tandem rating? Most tandems are not instructive in solo skydiving. I think those two rating should be kept separate. A very broad generalization is tandem instructors do it for the money and AFFIs do it for the love of instructing. One rating should not be dependent on the other.

I suppose my view is bit different. I did my AFF with an Astra then spent the next 100 jumps without an AAD. Did eventually end up purchasing one and yes I prefer to jump with one but will not ground myself solely becuase I do not have it. Personally I think everyone should be comfortable jumping without one and have. Skydiving is a dangerous sport but it's also about personal responsibility for your life, not dependence on devices.

If you would rather abandon your teammates than jump a rig without an AAD then yes you are device dependent. I can understand this choice when there is no on else depending on you but once you commit to a team then you have to accept that not everything will always be perfect when you jump. If you can't accept this then I hope you never get on a team because who knows, your team mate may very well accidently kick you in the head on exit and knock you out and your Cypress may fail to fire.

That right there tells me you didn't do more than skim my post. I know it's false. And what I said was I HAVE NEVER THOUGHT THIS. Even though I won't jump without a Cypres. Whoops, I did read it, just misread it obviously. Can you tell Cypress' and their purpose are a sore spot for me

I'm assuming from the picture the King was still able to land?

What does you mean the rig and worn lines wouldn't allow you to flare? Old rigs and worn lines doesn't make it so you can't flare. If you want to provide a link to the story, that's fine, I'm just curious why you think that. A old worn canopy with lines that have stretched too much would definitely affect the flare.

That right there tells me you do not understand the purpose of a cypress. Your statement is FALSE. It may save your life but there is NO guarantee it will fire or even fire in time. And it can still kill you as well.

I use under armour glove liners under batting glovers. Works well. That and remember to constantly clench and unclench your hands under canopy to keep the blood flowing. Having your hands above your head under canopy drains all the blood and they feel colder. Keep moving your fingers and they will feel noticeable warmer.

I'd say you probably have a .5% chance of Urban being able to handle other than tandem students. Too many issues going on.

What difference a one size bigger reserve would make? Have you checked incident forums for unconscious landings? 168 is a decent reserve. Not when you are pushing 200 fully geared up. Would you want to land a main loaded at 1.2 without any flare? Show some statistics! How many percentage of the reserve rides are unconscious? I've seen a few personally and heard of others in my few years in the sport. But hey, it's your life you're gambling with.

What difference a one size bigger reserve would make? Have you checked incident forums for unconscious landings? 168 is a decent reserve. Not when you are pushing 200 fully geared up. Would you want to land a main loaded at 1.2 without any flare?

When I did tandems I always made sure to tell the guys to make sure "everything was out of the way". Usually got a good laugh and the adjustments were made.

Did you even try to read the manual See #10 on "Packing instructions for the main container."

If tandems "go away" then otters/skyvans will go away. We will be back to only 182 jumps. Who do you think pays for those otters? NOT the fun jumpers with their $25 ticket. I personally think we should give the students what they want. Give them the choice of a SAFE "carnival ride" or the choice of real instruction designed to preceed AFF or what ever method you offer. In order to support the type of jumping a lot of us are used to carnival type mass tandems are needed. I for one am selfish enough to admit it. I'd rather jump an otter any day (well most days) over a 182 given the choice.

Eugene only does tandems. No AFF due to their landing area. That time of year can be very rainy in WA and OR. I would head to southern CA or Eloy if you only have 15 days or less to do it. Better yet you should really wait until you come home permanently. Depending on how long you are back on deployment after getting your A, you can lose a lot of what you just learned. The longer your wait to return to the sky, the more you will lose. This effect doesn't matter much after you've been jumping for a while but for a newly licensed student, it is very important and real. In effect it is like slowing wasting the money you just spent.

The requirement is you have to have a coach rating to get any instructor rating, which includes the static line rating. So by default if you up the requirements for the coach rating you are also raising it for the static line instructor.

That's my question!

See the "Is the AFF Rating too easy?" thread. It's being discussed extensively in there.

Really, really not a good idea to raise it to 3k. Even if have always pulled at 5k and always plan on pulling at 5k, things can happen. What if at 5k you see someone from the group that exited either before or after you suddenly right there? You can't pull because you risk a collision. 5k is plenty high so you turn away and track a bit and perhaps full at 4k or 3.5k. Now you are down into the firing range if you actually raised it to 3k and end up with a two out. If you know you have it set at 3k you might not be willing to take that extra 1000 feet and gain separation before pulling and risking a colllision. 5k is plenty high. Really high to be pulling in fact, unless you are an AFF student. I will agree that perhaps raising the firing altitude might not be such a bad idea but you really have to think about what altitude makes sense. All I can say is I will never consider raising mine simply because I love bigways and it is normal be pulling at 2k or perhaps lower if you are in the first tracking wave.

Debit or cash. I try to avoid the credit cards. Doesn't always work though