NSEMN8R

Nice shot Shram. I guess even the blind squirell gets a nut once in a while. He could have Mark, but he wanted to use one with you in it.

Yeah, I didn't really know what they meant either. But when I called the examiner I used, he asked me if I had at least 25 Strong jumps.

I think it's 25. One of the items on the Checklist is "Proof of 25-100 Eclipse, Parachutes de France, Racer or Strong jumps".

Maybe you can work something out with your dz? I got a Strong rating in '03 and it cost me about $300 with the medical and everything. The dz covered the slots and gear, but I had to commit to doing at least 100 of them. If I wanted to quit early I would have had to pay them back. Good luck with it and enjoy the fun jumps while you can. With only 3 TIs in the whole country you're probably going to be too busy once you get your rating.

I went from Strong to Vector for $230 including gear and slots and everything.

When I first started doing it I used to try to stand them all up until I broke a guy's tib/fib. That's a really shitty feeling. Now I slide them all in unless things are just right which is probably less than 5% of the time.

I'd like to get in on this. Can you take PayPal?

Here's a new one (to me anyways). I went to the WFFC this year with a friend that has about 60 jumps. I happened to walk up while she was talking to this guy from Taylor, IL who was telling her that, if she should ever get a pilot chute in tow, that she should do a few barrel rolls to wind the bridle around her body before she dumps her reserve so that it won't have anything to entangle with. At first I thought he was just fucking with her, but it ends up that he was dead serious. He says that's the way they're taught to deal with it at their DZ. Is it just me, or is that one of the stupidest things you can think of to tell a new jumper?

Very nice shots! What water is that by? Where is Skydive Midwest?

That was bullshit. I hit redial from about 7:00 until 8:10. Twice in there it rang, but they picked up and hung up right away. Got through to comfort inn, but they won't just rent you a room. You have to buy t-shirts and dinner and a bunch of other crap along with it. $350 for just Fri. & Sat. Fuck'em. I'll rent a minivan and sleep in that.

Picasa2 is pretty good. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1632785;search_string=picasa;#1632785

This souds like the perfect dz except I think I'd add: 1000' A with an elevator Free Beer A chinese resturaunt and a kick ass massage parlor where you always get a happy ending

Wow. I'm glad I asked. Can you share any more details? How did the femur get broken? Was it Mr. Bill's femur or the other guy's?

So how was the opening? How did you exit? Got any pics?

I've never done a Mr. Bill. And I've never jumped a Velocity 90. That's why I asked why. My Blade 108 opens as soft as butter every time. I was just thinking about trying it sometime. Is that a bad canopy to try it with? If I'm way up high with a canopy that I know will open fine, where's the problem? I've never heard of an incident involving a Mr. Bill

Why?

The last place I jumped at we used them on the first load of the day. I've never seen it done anywhere else though. I figured they just did it there because they had round reserves and some big lakes close by. We never bought them though. We made our own with 4 pages of trade-a-plane rolled up and taped to the end of a 10ft by 1ft piece of crepe paper.

I agree with you too, but I think I'm just going to tell the airport manager to find someone else to snitch for him. I'd better just stay out of it. If they could only go after the Group Member DZ I'd be happy to help, but if involving the USPA puts my friends licenses and ratings at risk it's not worth it.

They might. And the RD might pull their licenses.

It's funny you mention that. They still use stuff like that. I've seen more rounds out because of FXC misfires than I can count. That gear was old when I started. This is part of why I'm not there any more. But the S&TA/DZO is also the rigger and he says it's airworthy... I wish I had a better picture.

I'm sure they read the SIM, but who are they going to listen to? A book? A guy (me) who was fired from there? Or the DZO/S&TA? Hopefully, the airport manager will find another way to accomplish his goal without involving the skydivers.

Screwing the students is of no concern because they are not your friends.????? Perhaps, it might be better to educate your friends, the ones with ~100 jumps, that the DZO might be taking advantage of them and that they are exposing themselves in financial or legal ways that they might not realize. . They're not screwing the students. When I started jumping 10 years ago it was considered normal for 100 jump skydivers to put students out. They're getting the exact same training I got as a student. I don't think it's any less safe now. That's why I never mentioned any names. Although, anyone who is familiar with the DZ's around here would have no doubt which one we're talking about.

They know the rules, but I'm pretty sure they don't know what the consequences of getting caught breaking them would be. The guy that gave them their coach ratings is the same guy that put them to work as "Jumpmasters". His "coach's course" is the same course he's been teaching for years, but before it was called a BIC/JCC. I know they should know better, but I'm trying to look at it from their shoes. These are guys that just started jumping and have barely 100 jumps. They've never jumped anywhere else and the DZO (who's also the S&TA) says it's ok. Their are only 2 or 3 people out there with more than 200 jumps and they won't say anything about it for fear of pissing off the DZO. They know they'd be fired instantly. And they're not really doing anything unsafe. I don't want to see these kids get screwed just because they started out in a shitty situation.

I don't think it is wrong. I was throwing out S/L students at about 100 jumps too. I don't see anything wrong with it at all. These coaches are every bit as competent as I was back then. The thing is, the DZO there has done everything he can to piss off the airport manager (and most of the skydivers around here). I just got fired from there and the airprt manager called me the other day and asked if I would testify to the USPA about the un-rated instructors. He's trying to get the group membership taken away so he can get rid of this guy. To tell you the truth I wouldn't mind helping him. This DZO is a total butt cork. But I don't want to do anything that's going to screw my friends out there. It sounds like this would.

There's a Group Member DZ here in MI that (due to a shortage of qualified staff) is using unrated Static line Instructors. There's a rumor that the airport manager has reported this to the USPA in hopes of getting the Group Membership revoked so he can get this particular DZO off the airport. The skydivers he's using as I's just got their coach ratings. If the USPA does investigate, would these coaches need to worry about getting in any trouble for teaching S/L class and tossing students? What's the worst that could happen to them?