mr2mk1g

My next jump will be #90 and I've never been taught to do this. As my new gear is being assembled at the factory and we can't do demos out here, I may not ever separate my canopy. There's a good chance that when it is sold, it will be sold as a complete unit. Is there a good reason to regularly disassemble it, one that isn't best handled by an inspection by a master rigger at repack time? Clearly, my instructors at the 3 different dropzones on 3 different continents where I've trained have not considered this to be crucial in any way, and they definitely don't consider me a danger to myself or others because I've never done it. When you pack your canopy, how to you know if it's correctly assembled and safe to jump if you don't know how it is supposed to be assembled? Last year my jump buddy caught a problem with one of his line sets on packing that could have killed him had he jumped them again. Knowledge is power.

If this is a risk then you should ditch the camera until you have developed an innate altitude awareness.

The only thing I would recommend you buy as a student is a logbook - and then only if you're not given one by the AFF school. If the one you're given is crappy and wont last, upgrade to one which will, if only because it'll be good to look back on in a few years time. Goggles. I use motorcycle sun glasses with an elastic strap from e-bay for something like $7. Tinted lenses though are not good for any kind of training (be it within AFF or once licensed and getting coaching) as eye contact is very useful. Bear this in mind when selecting. There's a whole range of options out there starting with simple flexible plastic lenses and a bit of elastic for a few bucks. There's no reason to spend big money - buy something that's comfortable that will keep the wind out. If you do buy tinted lenses, have a clear set available as well for low light conditions or coaching jumps. You'll be given goggles for student jumps but it's not a big outlay and you may choose to buy your own so they're a known entity to you (and don't come with someone else's snot dried on the lenses – just your own). Once you're licensed, a helmet. This can be anything from a pro-tec skater style helmet for $30 to something bling in carbon fibre from one of the skydiver specific companies. There's no need to buy anything specific to skydiving though but look out for anything that could catch a line and cause a problem (lots of ski/snowboard helmets have goggle clips = bad). If it can't be modified it's not a good buy. Helmets will be given to you during your training and you may even be required to use the dropzone's helmets during your training even if you have your own. They can usually be borrowed or hired, especially if jumping a rig belonging to the DZ. Next up, an altimeter - maybe a little over $100. You'll be given one however for all your student jumps so no need to drop any cash on one yet. Once licensed they can usually be borrowed or hired, especially if jumping a rig belonging to the DZ. It's usually a jumpers first purchase costing any 'significant' money. Beyond that there's a rig and jumpsuit – both provided throughout your training. A jumpsuit is not essential once licensed and rigs can be hired usually on a daily or per jump basis. Choosing a parachute to buy (which is at least 3 or 4 separate components) is a story for another day and can be far more complicated a choice even than selecting a new car and options packs. Worry about it later once you know what you're doing. There is also a range of optional electronic gizmos that are non-essential and can be learnt about as you progress.

AAD's, especially student versions, can be tricked into firing in a descending plane if the pilot is not careful. I've seen it happen. Either the pilot in your example did not know what they were talking about or they knew to be careful during their descent... though even then I wouldn't say an instructor was an idiot for being concerned in the situation. SOP in the UK at least is usually to turn off any student AAD's in the event the plane is to descend with a student aboard or at the very least to advise the pilot not to descend anywhere close to the 13m/s firing parameter of a CYPRES below 1500ft.

Prolly a Beech driver at some point. Fun story - jumping in Russia a few years back from an MI8 helicopter. Two drivers up front plus an in-flight mechanic. Most flights, somewhere around 8k or so, there would be a loud ticking/buzzing noise coming from a panel just above the access door to the cockpit. Mechanic would come out with a spanner and whack it repeatedly until it stopped before returning to his seat in the cockpit. Russians.

On the way into work this morning I saw a girl doing her make up while driving. Got me so mad I wound my window down and threw my can of beer at her.

Actually, it's not. Have you seen the movie? No, I don't think the new one is out over here yet.. Now I am intrigued. Yeah, it is. I got dragged to it on Friday. And you probably have 'seen it'. It's essentially the same plot line as Superman 2 or something from the Christopher Reeve days. Superman is just a normal baby from a normal bloke who happens to live in a different star system. He's fired across space in a pod and lands on earth. Because of Earth's air quality and the greater radiation output of the sun, he happens to have super powers here which he would not have at home. There's one line in the film where his dad say's he'll be a god to earths in habitants. I'm afraid I don't 'get' Quade's question against the backdrop of the film / Muhammed story. Superman isn't a god or even the prophet of a god. He just has certain physical attributes consequent on unremarkable, scientifically explicable phenomena. Whilst the outcome is quite remarkable super powers, it's portrayed as essentially just being the inevitable outcome of biology and physics. He's sent to earth by an ordinary Joe Schmoe. He is however sent with a view, at least in part, of bettering humanity, so I guess there's a bit of a prophet like motivation to the action. I guess you could put the two story lines aside and answer the question, but I don't think the two story lines can be reconciled with one another the way I *think* Quade is proposing. Superman's not on earth to bring the revelations of the one true god to earths populous. Muhammed couldn't, to my knowledge, fly.

Depending on number of jumps, that might be a very good price. I figure modern canopies are good for about 2000 jumps and will need a new lineset twice, around 7-800 jumps. Yep, for a popular design that hasn't changed in 10 years (and there are a lot of canopies that fit that criteria), I'd evaluate "10 years old with 100 jumps" the same as "1 year old with 100 jumps," so long as those 10 years had been spent in a clean, climate-controlled environment. I bought an 11 year old Stiletto last year with a grand total of 25 jumps on it. The thing was freaking brand new. Lovely white, crisp lines still with their waxy coating. Cost me I think £200. Bargain of the century. It's not even neon pink. I guess a Stiletto is a bit of an odd case though.

Every DZ in the UK I've been to (and I've been to most). As with any country, some are DZO's/CCI's have more restrictive rules than others. At least one DZ refuses you (or at least used to) permission to jump an elliptical with fewer than 500 jumps. That DZ also requires a cutaway system on camera helmets (or again, at least they used to anyway). Others just check to see you're not on something stupid with no specific published rule. Wing loading would be estimated for licensed jumpers but students may well be weighed. I've even seen one person turned away from a FJC when weighed. I've also seen people turned away from the flight line and sent to get a rental rig as the one they were wanting to jump was deemed too small. I myself was refused permission to jump my first rig at one DZ as it didn't have an AAD. This was before the rule requiring one for A licensed jumpers. I went up the road to jump but was otherwise perfectly content with the decision - their house, their rules. It's their DZ and they're the one's to fill out the paperwork, deal with the first aid/police/press/coroner/fill in the hole. While you may feel aggrieved you're not "free" to do whatever you like, they have a stake in the game too.

There was an 8-way team at last year's UK nationals called Totally Wicked Awesome Team Squad.

However, I'll note that a benefit of this discussion (and a benefit of the guy posting his video) is that those that were uncertain at least *now* know that a disconnected chest strap is not necessarily going to kill you, and that there are simple things you can do to reduce further the risk you face. It would be interesting to ponder the situation of what to do if you failed to connect your leg straps. I suspect you would discover that error as soon as you left the plane, as the relative wind tries to lift your container off your back. Assuming you were able to cross your arms and hang on, what should you do? (You would have about a minute to try something to fix it.) Anyone think it would be possible to get one reconnected by themselves? With help from a buddy? If you're in a wingsuit...it's over. Gear checks are cool! Actually, I was on the ground once at Perris when a guy came down after opening in a wingsuit without his legstraps on. Suit took the load rather happily for him. Hardly recommended though! Either that or it's time to start scanning the horizon for a large pile of boxes.

To be honest, it probably makes more sense to sell it rather than put it into storage and plough the funds released into jumping or one of the semi-ellipticals you're looking at. Your canopy progression, unless you put on a lot of weight, is not likely to take you to a Katana 170 anyway. It's far more common for people to downsize and increase their wingloading, going via intermediate planforms, before they move to the a canopy of a design like the Katana. If that is the model you follow, it means in the future you might move to a 150 then maybe even a 135 and jump the shit out of each of those for a few years, changing planforms while staying at the same wingloading to a canopy in the direction of but not quite as hot as a Katana before maybe making the further step to something like a Katana later. By then, will the 170 in storage be of any use to you or seem like a pointless upsize? And by then, will people still want to buy a Katana rather than the next thing on the market? Will you want to fly it rather than the new Megatron ACE (TM) that just hit the gear shops? I think it's a cash asset that you're best off realising now as you'll probably get much better money from it now than you will in the future. It'll only depreciate sat in a cupboard due to changes in fashion/design. For example, I bought a basically brand new Stiletto last year with only 25 jumps on it even though it was 11 years old. I think I paid something like £250 for it. It'd been stored nicely and it's still a perfectly nice design but was still worth next to nothing in skydiving terms because newer stuff has come along and not so many people want them anymore.

A buddy of mine when I first started jumping had bought himself an old beat up Racer with what looked like a scene from the Karma Sutra screen printed onto his pop top. Was instantly dubed the porn rig of course. Funny as hell - wonder if it was from the same guy?

It's all pretty freaking obvious from your posting history. 1) I'd say most likely early 20's. I don't think you're actually a child: you're most likely a licensed skydiver and therefore that's highly unlikely. It's just that people who act like a child tend to get spoken to like one. 2) Meh, they're your choices. You make poor choices and get hurt by them, that's your choice. Land of the free and all that. It's the guy you take out with you that people are more worried about. It wasn't his choice. 3) That's also pretty freaking obvious from your posting history. You started last year. Your questions since joining the forum make your level of knowledge pretty easy to gauge and, as a corollary, your time in the sport. 4) Nope, people can go on line and lie to people all they like. I, for example, am an 18 year old blonde bombshell with tits like you wouldn't believe. Lets be honest, you have maybe 50 jumps? I suspect you are probably licensed, though not by much. If you had more experience, your posting history would read very differently. Equally, lying so obviously about your jump numbers speaks volumes about your actual jump numbers and time in sport. It's like telling the other kids in the playground you're 6 and 3/4 when you're actually only 6 and 1/4. It says to all that you have a massive chip on your shoulder about how you feel you're being held back by your relative lack of experience and time in sport. It says you want to be perceived differently to who you actually are. It says a great deal. 5) See 1)

Reminds me of staying in the bunk house at a certain DZ which provided a communal fridge for anyone in the bunkhouse. Within a day or so it was apparent that food was going missing - to the extent that a fresh pack of sliced ham had been opened and half eaten. Simples - remaining ham was duly dunked in the dirty mop bucket and returned to the fridge. You want to eat my stuff - you gonna pay one way or another.

I like a count where the exit motion is simply a continuation of the count motion. People link in the door and the keyer gets a shake or nods to tell them the formation is ready to launch. The keyer then gives a shake and then the whole formation, as one, sways out, sways back in and then sways out and leaves the plane as one smooth continuation of the pre-exit swaying motion. Up-down-out or watch me waive my leg is all well and good but if you just shout, everyone will hear anyway and you achieve the same degree of notice. The bonus of the conjoined swaying means the entire formation is moving in unison even before the exit begins. Became second nature. For example, without any planning, for my mate Firky we did a shaky shaky shaky, out-in-out and smoothly brought the coffin out of the hearse and up onto our shoulders. Even got a smile out of the undertaker who I'm sure hadn't seen pallbearers with their own exit count before. I just freefly though and I'm sure competitive 4-way has different considerations.

Be humble.

Not sure if that was a joke or not - if not, he was a pedestrian across the other side of the street and their car must have been doing somewhere around 20-30mph based on the impact damage. The videos of their rants to bystanders make it pretty clear this was a planned attack. By the way, the soldier was wearing a T-shirt for Help the Heroes (a popular verterans charity over here), so he was presumably out raising money.

It appears they hit him with their car, got out and started stabbing/hacking at him while dragging him into the middle of the road where they left the body. They then just stood about waiting for the police, who they appear also to have intended to attack. They did not appear to pose any threat to members of the public, who they spoke with while awaiting the police. There's no report of anything precipitating the attack or leading them to target this individual in particular, beyond the fact that he was a soldier. The attack itself appears to have been premeditated based on the fact they had tooled up and driven to the barracks. From their comments to bystanders (much of which were filmed - not sure if any of the footage has been shown in the States but it's all over the net) it appears clear that it was an orchestrated, politically motivated attack.

Bummer. Do you know how much TP liability cover you are required to have to jump in Belgium? I think Generali offer TP skydiving and BASE insurance in Switzerland... maybe they have a product for you in Belgium? The only other idea I have is perhaps posting in one of the foreign language forums if you speak/can have a crack at the lingo (I think you'll have your post locked if you post in English). I'm sure some EU countries have individual policies so there must be cover available out there somewhere.

I was going to post essentially exactly this after Quade - whose post I like BTW - good humour. Turned out I couldn't actually be arsed though. Conceptually at least, the suggestion is the opposite of Newspeak. Removing the automatic labels and stopping everything instantly becoming a partisan issue could lead to people actually stopping and thinking about the issue rather than simply sticking it in a box and saying "that's their idea - their ideas are crazy - I don't even need to think about it as it's one of their ideas". That thought process doesn't add anything to the conversation. You end up in a Monty Python room for an argument sketch "Contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of any statement the other person makes... No it isn't.". If it had any hope of working would be a nice little experiment and might actually go some way to working out a few issues, at least in people's minds. It wouldn't though - people would just work round it and continue being a bunch of 'tards.

At least I thought the cops did not carry guns That;s why it's being widely reported that it took cops 20 MINUTES TO RESPOND ON A BUSY STREET IN LONDON. Nothing to see here, folks. 9 minutes for the cops to turn up. 10 minutes for armed response once they'd been told there was a gun - 14 minutes in total for armed response from the first call being placed to emergency services: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scotland-yard-hits-back-over-woolwich-response-time-8629205.html Witnesses at the scene may be describing 20 minutes but that's a guestimate and time passes in your mind differently on occasions like this. If no one calls the emergency services for a minute or two that can also account for a difference. At the end of the day, the police will have the call logs and radio chatter to give exact time frames for the first emergency call and time of arrival. I doubt their report of the exact response time can be undermined. The IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) automatically open a case on all police shootings (they're still that rare here) so it'll all come out in the wash if there is any discrepancy.

Possibly one reason why the one used was a rusty old revolver which when used to shoot at the police blew up in the guys hand taking off a finger. Many LOLs.

All part and parcel unfortunately - we can't pick and choose which bits of the membership fee we pay. Same with the magazine cost - some people wanted to only pay for the insurance and admin etc and drop the bi-monthly magazine. BPA said no. There were quite a few people getting upset and wanting to look into ways to cut costs a few years ago as the insurance cost kept going up and up. All came to naught except for some concessions permitting non-UK residents to use their domestic memberships rather than being forced to pay for BPA membership and that essentially only came in because of EU rules about the free movement of people across member states. As such it doesn't apply to UK residents, only foreign nationals so as to prevent everyone simply joining some other governing body and using the membership to jump in the UK. These days it's not quite so much the hot topic as insurance costs are going back down, which seems to have placated people. I'm afraid the OP may have difficulty in finding TP cover for jumping outside of the national organisations. It's probably quite a niche area of insurance. No doubt there are companies out there that offer it though, maybe in countries who don't have insurance through a national body. Doesn't German jumpers insure individually? The other place to look is holiday insurance. Some of those policies have TP cover, though far from all. You might not be able to take it out though if you're already in Belgium (as the "holiday" will have already started). The link above appears to be medical cover rather than TP liability cover unfortunately.

If providing international cover, the policy might respond in the event of a claim but in order to jump in the UK as a UK resident you are required to have BPA membership. As such, any policy taken out by a UK resident overseas would not enable them to jump in the UK, no matter how much cover it affords. Not completely useless but it wouldn't get you in the air on its own.