jgarango

You need to read Chuck's post again. He didn't say anything about cutting away the drouge. He said that cutting away the main releases the drouge. It means releases it from the 3 ring assembly, not from the d-bag or the canopy.

I agree a 100% with billvon and diablopilot even though I'm not that experienced. I have a Nova 150. I put more than 200 jumps on it and I never had any problems with it (mine also has the slider with the pockets and new lineset). Good flying characteristics and good landings (at least the last time I jumped it 2 years ago) I still have it and the only time I wouldn't jump it is on a very windy day.

What you're saying makes sense since what you're signing off is not specific to the training method. I understand that as coaches we are allowed to teach parts of the SIM that are not part of a training method (AFF, S/L etc...). So things like equipment checks, canopy skills, landing obstacles and any other parts covered during the ground course, should be able to be sign off by a coach. Anyhow if we teach it , why can not we evaluate it? Very good point.

I agree with crutch. I just got my tandem rating with Bram Clement. He is a very good examiner and he can do vector or strong. I like it a lot from the beginning but the jump as a passenger wasn't the best (it feels weird!!!). Anyhow I'm just a newby. But again take crutch's advice, he knows what he's talking about.