ripcords

We run our spring refresher "Safety Day" on Good Friday, and have done so for over 20 years now. Easter is really early this year, but closer to the good weather than USPA's chosen day. I think that they chose a good middle day for a lot of dz's. But I would rather run Safety Day when most of our jumpers that lay off for the winter are going to be starting up for the season. Hence the different date.

OK you have raised my curiousity. What is the spinning test?

On our cessna dz, we begin teaching spotting starting on the first nontandem jump. It is a gradual progression, starting with looking and calling the cut, to eventually being able plan the spot, brief the pilot and direct the pilot to that spot on jump run.

I definitely would have put it down as my favorite discipline if that had been an option.

Woah! That is not right! It is definitely not 1 or 2 a year, but I will have to go through his well over 200 logbooks to find your answer so it may take a little while. Don does not keep track, I do. I maintain his logs meticulously. Off hand, I do know that his first malfunction was on a square parachute, when they were still being developed. He has 1936 round parachute jumps. His first square parachute jump #1937, was his first malfunction. As a matter of fact the majority of his malfunctions were on "test jumps" with equipment that needed a bit more development. I guess that is one of the "benefits" of being a pioneer in the sport. He even had the "luck" to have a double malfunction and survive. That is why he believes in the event of a total malfunction, go straight to your reserve. Had he cutaway first, he would not have 35,000+ plus jumps now because he would be dead. it was the main that eventually came out somewhat. He was also on the forefront of tandem and owned the tenth tandem rig ever made. He has made over 10,000 tandems and has dealt with a few malfunctions on those as they have developed. We are so lucky to skydive in a day and age when the equipment has improved to the point that you can go 5000 jumps without a mal.

I have four I's and four e's, and a couple of course directors too. I have maintained all of those since the 80's although the i/E is now being removed from the system. I love teaching and enjoy knowing all of the methods.

From the less serious side. How about doing hybrid dives? Have the big guys do belly, and you sit, perhaps the fall rate would be the same?

It aggravates me that skyrides even uses dz.com to sleeze more business! On the dropzone page for pennsylvania, they have purchased the url for a dropzone that went bankrupt a couple of years ago, but has yet to be removed from the list for PA. So that gives them, not only twice the ads of the other dz's, but also twice the links from dz.com. A link from dz.com and uspa.org definitely help your search engine rankings more than just other dz links pages. It also means that on the dz locator, someone may be directed to their pa facility, when they actually live near the old location of the bankrupt dz and closer to a different dz than the one they are being inadvertantly directed to.

If you think about it: 1) pilotchute assist has the length of the static-line and then the pilot chute and bridle prior to the bag lifting off of the student's back. 2) IAD eliminates the static-line, but still has the pilot chute and bridle length. 3) Direct bag has the static-line length, but it leads directly to the bag, hence eliminating the pilot chute and bridle length. Tom is right about the opening aspects of direct bag versus IAD. Another advantage of the IAD is the capability to have your student rigs set up the same way for all of the types of skydives that your student is doing, IAD, freefall or AFF as long as you are using BOC. This eliminates possible rigging errors and makes equipment checks identical for all types of students.

Your other option is riggerrob, who according to his profile is on the North American continent. You could PM him for further information.

Thanks. I did already look at the web site, but unfortunately the spec sheets do not state whether it is side eject or where and how the fader buttons are located. I looked at all of the pictures too, but they are not generally helpful (one did look like it was side eject, but I could not read the writing on the pic's to tell where the fader button is.) So I was hoping that some of you have already had the opportunity to actually see some of these new toys and might have that information first hand.

I am looking at getting a new video camera and I was wondering if anyone knows if any of the new Sony minidv models have all of the following characteristics: 1) Lanc - for cam eye use. 2) Side eject - so I don't have to remove the tripod screw everytime to get the tape out. 3) External fader button - or at least one that is usable for editing on the fly.

I started with hand, but the threading through the jumpsuit was a drag. Moved to a tongue switch and like that. I tried a bite switch, but could not get used to it. I have never tried a blow switch, so I can't comment on that one.

I am a skydiver and my brother is a commercial balloon pilot. He has been working with Jon on the internet projects and has been keeping the USPA up to date with his ideas. I think that it is very important that we work with both the balloon pilots and if anyone has any friends in the soaring community, let's get them on board!

Well, it looks like Skyrides scooped up the United Parachute Club UPC url and have it redirecting you to the "Skydive Pennsylvania" website. I found it when I was trying out the dz locator on DZ.com, and clicked on the UPC listing and then their website.

In the midst of the winter, give your self a little upper and go down to a wind tunnel like the one in Orlando. It will be fun and also help your progression when the weather does let up so that you can get into the sky. Just a suggestion. Best wishes on your training.

In Reply To What I’m getting at is if this is the case, why hasn’t their ability to clear credit cards been taken? Keep in mind that they sell a lot of certificates. Gift certificates for skydives are often given with the best intentions but for whatever reason the person receiving the gift never tries to redeem it. If the certificate is never used, but left in a drawer somewhere, there are no complaints. If the holder does eventually use the certificate, they may not even realize any problems with it for a couple of years after the purchase, because they are good for two years. Since it was not on their credit card to begin with, they are even less likely to complain. Hence lots of sales, and a lower complaint to sale ratio, hiding the problem from the credit card companies.

Within google, companies can set a daily limit of spending, so that will not put them into default, but will increase their click through rate. This will help to keep their rankings up. From what I have read on google, their advertising practices are considered less than ethical and they can be removed from the search engine for them. It would be helpful to notify google that these practices are going on, such as multiple bogus web sites, false associations. These work to fool the robots that are used to determine rankings during a search. It's not nice to fool google and they don't take it lightly. If you believe that their internet practices are fraudulent, contact google and let them know so that they can research the situation and make a judgement. Also, remove all links that you have to their websites, since they also helps move them higher on the list during a search.

We have timeouts in all of our student protecs set for the hard deck. It is not hard to mount them, you just need to make a velcro strap. They only make noise on the way up, not on the way down, unless the student has lost altitude awareness and is still in freefall. Student's are told about them, but are obviously taught not to rely on them. Since they never hear them, they certainly don't rely on them. The two advanced students that broke the hard deck and had an AAD fire, were both on coach jumps, had come from other dropzones and were wearing their own helmet without an audible. I sincerely believe that having the audible could have prevented these incidents, but still would have taught the student the needed lesson in a more pleasant and less costly way. (Lesson learned by me, visiting students are required to wear our student helmets unless they have their own audible.) And those of you who say that they should not be skydivers, get off your high and mighty horse! These students are certainly capable of being skydivers, they just made a mistake, if they don't live or learn from it, then they should not be skydivers. I have trained many people to be skydivers and believe it or not, the ones that turned out to be the best were quite often the ones that were not naturals at it, learned from their mistakes and had the perservence to keep trying!

I am curious what brands and models of radios dropzones are using on their students. Are they receivers only, or transmitters also? I am also curious about the mounting location of these radios. Have you tried different things. If so, what worked best for your students? Any input would be appreciated.

Congratulations!

We live in a sue happy society and our only protection is the waiver. Take someone skydiving (AFF, tandem, static-line or IAD) under the age of legal consent (which I believe can be as high as 21 in some states), and the impression that I have been given is that you may as well hand your aircraft, facilities and first born child over, should they chose to sue you. Not to mention exposing the gear manufacturers and any other corporations that have any assets to tremendous losses. I can not imagine why anyone would want to do that. It has the potential to leave less skydiving places around for the jumpers to jump at, and less equipment for jumpers to choose from. Remember they don't even have to win the law suit, just the cost of defending the suit is astronomical.