aironscott

These are all good points. Here is another one. Every state in the US that I know of makes any contract made while under the influence, void. That means that if they have been drinking, smoking, or whatever they can not sign a waiver and the waiver hold up in any court. Not to mention that its just a stupid idea to let tandem passengers drink and jump. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

This is a great question for this forum. Usually I'll jump with staff members at the dz for no pay when there is no paying jumps to do. I have never asked a good friend or family member to pay me for my services on a jump. And skydiving/rigging is my sole source of income. In fact if I can even get a good friend or family member to jump, I usually make arraingements with the DZO for a cheap jump and pay for it myself. It happens so infrequently that its hardly an issue or hardship. I do not think that is a problem to ask a good friend who is an instructor to jump for no pay with you. You may want to offer to pack for them or pay for a pack job though. That just lets them know that you appreciate them jumping with you. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Like a lot of people here in this forum, I read the employment classifieds on a semi regular basis. Having made my living at this for several years I want to know what my employement options may be. But, Does anyone else notice that when dzo's are looking for Strong Tandem masters they are specific in their ads about you being Strong rated? It seems to me that when a dz uses strong rigs (especialy an established dz) they want potential Tdm Is to know up front that they use Strong rigs. We had this thread a few weeks ago about what systems were the best but we haven't talked about it in a while. I just think that a tell tale sign about the gear is when in the advert a dz is exclamating up front that they are strong. Often times to me it sounds like a take-it-or-leave-it type of proposal. We jump strongs and if you don't, don't come here. Just an obversation and I'm sure there will be some differing opinions. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Where is this magical place? Are they hiring? I've always wanted to get paid what I thought I was worth in the skydiving industry. And that sounds just about right. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

I'm with Riggerrob on this one. I hate taking a pay cut for being multi-rated. But I love you guys out there that prefer to do AFFs. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

You, U, Ewe have way too much spare time on your hands. What has prompted you to ask the question? “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Wow I am very surprised at the variety of responses in this discussion. To me this is a no brainer. I am rated on Strong, Vector/Sigma, and Eclipses. I have done extensive rigging work on Racers. Done about 2500 tandems or so at several drop zones. Does any of this make me an expert on the subject? No, but neither is anyone else here. There is absolutely no comparison between a Sigma and any other rig. I don't mean to turn this into a Bill Booth fan club post but c'mon the Sigma is in a class by itself. The good points have already been posted so I'll spare you the details. But (and I apologise in advance) I need to go negative here for just a bit. Last season I did all of my tandems on new or nearly new Strongs. My god what pieces of shit these things are. Is Ted telling me that he can't make a drouge pouch good enough so instead he puts vlecro on the drouge itself??? And what happens if for some reason my right arm becomes disabled? I've got extremely limited options. I am ok with the new harness that Strong built but it hardly makes up for how poorly the old ones were constructed. And the SET 400? Please. Make a modern canopy. Luckily we had mostly Icarus 365s last year. As far as main canopies go, its kind of a toss up to me between the Icarus and the Sigma as far as flight and landing goes. I do not like the no brake settings on the Icarus though. When I'm jumping Icarus, I just close my eyes on opening and count to 5. Once the thing is done dancing around, then I'll take over. Usuall I enjoy reading and agree with Riggerrob's posts in this forum. And I won't change my opinion from one post. But did you really say that you would buy Racer tandems if you had the choice? Dude, they're Racers! However comfortable they may be, they're still Racers. As a rigger I don't mind them because they've made me some decent money over the years repairing them but outside of that I don't have a good thing to say. So, in conclusion, go Sigma or go home. Peace- Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Hey I'd like to see a rigging/riggers forum here. I think that it could be benficial to have a place where riggers can talk about their knowledge. Somewhere where we can talk about service bullitins and the like. “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Like a lot of TIs have already posted here it depends on the situation. If the pattern is full I'm probably going to do a double break set up. If the pattern is open i'm probably going to hook it in. But as you all know there are a lot of factors involved. Either way I think that its important to be proficient in both techniques. Like most of you I alwayse have their feet way up for landing. But I also stand up 95% of my landings. But we all know that what works for one person may not work for another. Hopefully you will find your rythim before someone gets hurt. You can do 1000 tandems one year and the one that you will remember is not the naked chick, its the one where your passenger got a ride from having received a tib/fib. And I don't mean to be a downer here, but it was your fault. And you know that. Don't worry, if you've got the balls to keep doing tandems you will get past it and figure it out. If you need help, just ask. Ask the people around you. Ask Bill Booth. Ask Steve Woodford. Ask me. There are pleanty of people around that will help you. When figuring out tandem skydiving, pride should not be a factor. CYa aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Rob- Wow! that is a nice raise. Even in Canadian dollars. As soon as I'm done here I'm going to go make my self a hand cam mount. Having spent several years on the circuit doing tandems, aff, rigging, and whatever else I definently agree that workers in the skydiving industry are grossly underpaid in some senses. Those TI's that are around that just got to 500 free falls and got their ratings probably should be paid the 30-35 bucks that the DZO's are paying. I'm not sure that anyone that has 500 jumps should even be doing tandems. Although I remember thinking that I was quite qualified for the job at that point in my skydiving career. Maybe that's an idea for another poll. Do you think that the 500 jump minimum requirement should be increased and to where 750, 1000, 1500? Keep in mind that we all had to start somewhere. There are probably some people reading this post that are remembering when I was a snot nosed punk. Hell they may still think that. But having been around as long as i have, my opinion is that you can not have enough skydiving experience before you start doing tandems. I've seen people with 10 times the skydiving ability that I have quit doing tandems after one weekend. (And if they hadn't quit I would have strongly encouraged them to do so.) Tandem skydiving certainly isn't for everone. Some get it and some don't. Unfortunately there are times when some people don't realize when its time to say enough. And all to often that realization doesn't come until after they've made a stupid mistake and some trusting passenger/student gets hurt because of incompetence. However unknowlingly that incompetence is. So is there a solution? Should the requirements be upped for being a TI. In my opinion getting a TI rating should at least be as hard as getting an AFF rating. Currently it is not. I'd like to hear some of your opinions on this. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Rob- Could you clarify a couple of things for me? You get paid $30 Canadian to do a tandem correct? You get $45 for tandem with handcam or an additional $45 for the hand cam? What does a a video guy get paid? Does it seem like I'm obsessed with getting paid? As far as your original question on this thread my opinion is that TIs should have at least 100 tandems before they even attempt doing flips on exit. I don't think that most people reach tandem competence until 500 or so. Zen occurs no sooner than 1000. That being said, I think that once you get your rating you should be entitled to all of the benefits that go with it. I believe that it would be an excellent suggestion that TIs have a minimum of 100 tandems before they add a camera rating but there isn't enough research done on this subject to validate any actions at this point. Blue Skies Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

For the purpose of this discussion I think that we can agree that we are mostly talking about tandems. First of all, anyone that voted that they don't think that DZO's put $$ ahead of safety is either not a Tandem Instructor, or one that has no experience outside his/her very small skydiving world. Or maybe they just didn't understand the question. Not all DZOs are as greedy as we make them out to be but they all have a business to run. I respect and am friends with most of them that I have had dealings with. I have worked full time at close to a dozen DZs. Every single DZO I've worked for has either insisted that I do someting that I know to be unsafe, encouraged me to do something unsafe, and/or looked the other way when I did indeed do something unsafe in the name of making money for myself and the DZ. I do not encourage this type of activity whatsoever. I've been doing this long enough to know the difference. So have a lot of you reading this. We go through stages as tandem instructors. For the first 100 or so we're scared out of our minds. Sometimes in that period the student is more lucid than the instructor is. You already know that you can skydive (because you passed the TI cert course) but this tandem thing can be a motherfucker. But after 100 or so (in my experience that seems to be a "magic" number for most people) you've seen some shit, done some shit, been taken for a couple of rides and survived. Here is where (at around 100 tandems) weather you'll go back to doing video full time or not. So you decide, without hesitation, that this tandem thing is for you. The chicks at the DZ start to really dig you - and your confidence is sky high. "Let's do some flips" says your passenger. "You bet honey" you reply. Its a little freaky for you, but hell, you're a tandem instructor now, you can handle it. Next day there is a dude that is 250 lbs and really really wants to jump with his girlfriend. The experienced TIs at the DZ say no thanks to the DZO then he comes to you and you say why not?! These old timers are such pussies! Fast forward 10 years. We're all at Lost Prairie having a beer around the bonfire. One of the old TIs says "You guys remember that kid who took the 250 pounder when he only had a couple hundred tandems?" You reply "that was the last time I did that" The old timer says "so that's why you're still alive............" Hey we all do some stupid stuff when we are new at this tandem thing. Rest assured my friends, sooner or later you will get tandem skydiving(or die trying)(please seek remedial instruction before that though). When you get to 1000 tandems you are quite sure that you have it down. And yes, you probably got a large majority of it. So about that time you start to relax a bit. And that's ok you've earned it (no shit) but every so often you get fucked with and scared. If you don't you're either lucky or an idiot. Those people are equal in numbers(lucky and/or idiots) with the people that I've worked with over the years. So let me sum this up. You are not the cooolest thing since sliced bread. If you think that you can do it better than anyone else before you, you are wrong. If you think that the rules that the more (significantly) experienced TIs set should not apply to you - you are wrong. And sooner or later experience will tell you that tandems, however much fun they are, and they are fun, you can not handle it all. Prepare and expect the worst every time. Take anything less as a blessing. This is me getting off of my soap box. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Kenyon- Until just now I never knew that you were indeed Captain Javelin!! I read the post on the Banter email list today and I couldn't believe what I was reading! Beer and BASE?!?!? Who could have ever come up with such a concept! Then when I read that it was Triax I knew that I had to try to come. AND then i saw the word BOOBS (you know me sometimes my priorities are a little askew). Anyway, I am going to make it over for the festivities. Flights are cheap right now anyway. So I hope to see you next weekend. Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Naw- Having jumped Pope's pack job, and having watched him open his own pack job - I'd have to rack those up to ambient air tempature... But then again - who am I to judge. Nothing but love dude aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Continuum II - Speaking from strictly an artist's standpoint, I thought that Salo and Damien were dead sexy! Probably could have done with less of that Pope guy though. Does anyone know who this guy is anyway? Like anyone's going to believe that he didn't hire a double for most of these jumps. C'mon Pope (if that's even your real name) who are you trying to kid. Much love bro, give me a call, haven't heard from you in a while AAron Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”

Lifted Entertainment has set up their portable wind tnnel at Skydive Arizona! They expect to be here until sometime in March. I talked to the guys running it and they are planning to charge $35 for novices who need an instructor inside with them and $25 for experienced tunnel flyiers. Each session is 2-3 minutes long and block time is available. Check out their website at www.liftedentertainment.com Blue Skies, Aaron “God Damn Mountain Dew MotherFuckers!”