rustywardlow

Thanks for the update. Although scammers have been around for a while it is easy to pick them out. Remember the fake Post Office money orders a few years back. Currently I am trying to sell a Stiletto 107 and I am pretty sure I just picked up a scammer. So I will do what I did before. Lead them on. Get as much useful information as I can so that their scam can be exposed and the skydiving community can stay informed. Then scare the hell out of them in an attempt to discourage them. Which may or may not work. It worked for the money order scam.

O.K. you got me there. I should choose my words more carefully. But even if there is not a "canopy instructor rating" so to speak it really isn't the topic of the conversation that I'm trying to stimulate here.

Spotting has nothing to do with it. It's competency in canopy control that lacks.

Over the last few years I have noticed some AFF instructors and even some AFF evaluators who could not land on the drop zone consistently or at all. Should these instructors be teaching canopy control to AFF students if they themselves cannot fly their own canopies proficiently? Should There be a canopy proficiency portion to the AFF Instructors Evaluation?

Bill's O.K. as long as you don't mind watering the lawn or doing some other crazy chores. And don't be packing no gravy when there are tandems on the floor. But one of the nice percs is you can get paid in cash at any time you want.

I've seen the owner of Skydive Hawaii call the cops on his own instructors just because they wanted a past due pay check.

You know all that shit about women and children first? Well I can be pretty childish in situations like that. But seriously folks. I've had to do it twice. Both times were an engine out but at altitudes above 3,500. Once in a Cessna 182 over Jenkinsburg GA and once in a Cessna 402 over Wialua HI. In both cases it was really no big deal. We just got out and hitched back to the DZ.

I've owned two Sabre-1's and put about 1,500 jumps on them. I used a pocket slider on both and had nice long sniveling openings. Mark Hewitt built my sliders.

I've owned two Talons and have never had a problem. In fact on my Talon FS I undue the riser covers for hop and pops because they're that good.

Hey Arch. Nice to hear from you and yeah it's good to be back even if I do have a bionic leg now. It's hard to put skydiving on a shelf. Oh and thanks for backing me on this one. And by the way the Boy Scout Motto is "Be prepared." I should know I'm an Eagle Scout except in my troop our motto was "Seem prepared."

Yes, but the question is can your tandem student detach them if they are hooked to you. Play student one time and see if you can reach them but act like you don't know where they are or how they work.

Recently I have seen a lot of TI's hook up the lowers then tell their students " I'm hooked to the plane and you're hooked to me." I even overheard a course director instruct his new TI's to hook up the lowers after boarding so that the student "couldn't get away from them". I find this practice very dangerous, complacent, and down right wrong for two reasons. First, it does not meet FAR part 91 seat belt requirements. Second (and this is the part I find most complacent) if the plane crashes on take off and you as the TI are killed or knock unconscious and your tandem student survives how the hell are they going to get out of that plane if they are connected to a TI. You just killed that student. This is if the plane starts to burn or worse. Well I know this will stir up a lot of discussion. And don't mind me I've only been at it for 32 years and have over 2000 tandems. My views are set on this one. Inform your student on how their seat belt works. Where it is located. Where all of the exits are. And where to go after exiting the damaged craft. SOP. O.K. guys have at it.

I just had a pilot chute in tow last weekend and I can tell you right now proper procedure is to always cutaway then pull your reserve. Pull your handles in order. After the reserve deploys there is less pressure on the main pack tray and it will likely come open. if you don't cutaway you can end up with two canopies out or worse batman a main reserve entangelment. Out of seqence deployments kill so always always always pull your handles in the proper order. There is no reson not too. Quote

my dad asked me if I wanted to build fence on the farm this weekend or go skydiving? well the choice was pretty simple. dad and I went through the first jump course together and made our jumps later that day. that was 31 years and over 5000 jumps ago.

Has anyone heard anything about BODY SPORT USA? I have been trying to contact them with no response for several weeks now.

Did you atleast have a bailout rig?

DEAR Sally This is a highly disputed question. First off what is your primary job as an AFF-I? The safety of your student. Are you there to instruct or shoot video? Instruct. Is video available? Outside video usaully shows a lot more than what a sidewinder can no matter what size lens you use. Even if you can see the whole student you can only see one side. Remember that your student is never suppose to be more than arms length away if you back out to get a better camera angle then you will be out of position when things go wrong. The age old saying that AFF HAPPENS is always true. Is a camera an added concern? Yes. When doing AFF is it a good idea to try and do two jobs at once? No. Not saying that you can or you can't I'm just saying that you might want to think about it a little more. BLUE SKIES RUSTY CAPTAIN THE LITHUIM BATTERIES JUST CAN'T TAKE THE STRESSSS!

Sense you don't have your rating yet, here is something to consider. Before you start thinking about students, think about passing the course. Experience wave off is at 3,500 ft. When your on the reserve side. You have to ride through experience wave off or at 3,500 ft. you are clear to turn and burn. The evaluator does not have to give you the experience wave off. The evaluator is doing this to see how altitude aware you are. If your safe feeling pull altitude is 3,000 ft. that only gives you 2 and half seconds to turn, track and pull. Not nearly enough time to clear your air space from the evaluator. You can have the most perfect skydive and then get an automatic for horizontal separation. So, yes it does make sense to change your canopy because, there is a lot to consider before doing AFF and canopy selection is one of them. CAPTAIN THE MATTER IS MIXING WITH THE DOESN'T MATTER

Dear Colorado Skydivers and surrounding area. SKYDIVE THE ROCKIES will be flying a Caravan from Friday the 14th until Monday the 17th of October. If we can show enough interest it could become a full time gig. Not just a one time event. 9 jumpers minimum, normal slots, 17,500 ft msl and 12 minutes to altitude. So come on out to play and let's have some fun. BLUE SKIES RUSTY P.S. Sorry about the mix up these are the correct dates. P.S. Sorry about the mix up

Dear Colorado Skydivers and surrounding area. SKYDIVE THE ROCKIES will be flying a Caravan from Friday the 18th until Monday the 21st. If we can show enough support it could become a full time gig. 9 jumpers minimum, $22.00 a slot, 17,500 ft msl and 12 minutes to altitude. So come on out to play and let's have some fun. BLUE SKIES RUSTY

Dear Skydivers, Friends and Family Help me! Jerry's kids are going to throw me in jail Oct. 13th and I need to raise $1,200.00 bail to help send them to M.D. camp here in Colorado. The money goes for other things also such as research and other programs to help out these kids. All donations are tax deductible and I will send you a receipt with the tax I.d. number on it. In the past as skydivers we have done great things such as the Lamar, Jump For The Heart, Boogie that raised money for the American Heart Association. That was a great time and well worth the cause. Let's help Jerry's kids. You can make your checks or money orders out to The Muscular Dystrophy Association and send them along with a SASE to. RUSTY WARDLOW 510 HOLIDAY HILLS HOWARD, CO 81223 P.S. Even if I do raise the bail amount I still have to go to jail and if I raise more than $5,000.00 dollars I will get to present the donations live during the Jerry Lewis M.D. telethon and thank all of the skydiving community on national T.V. this is a great opportunity for everyone to see that skydivers are not just a bunch of nut cases that jump out of airplanes but, a caring family also. BLUE SKIES RUSTY

Please don't take offense. I'm not dissing you just the handycam.

I like what Flybert71 said " what you think you are worth ($1,000) and what you are actually worth ($1.00). We've had this discusion before and I've said it before and I'll say it again. The handycam is a cheap cheesy product that is more about profit than actually giving the customer what they are paying for. You might as well give them a home video with the date and time still displayed in one corner and the numbers running in the other because, that's what it looks like. A home video instead of a video production. As professionals we should strife to be such. To many times do I see Snap Shot Artist instead of Professional Photographers. Home videos instead of video productions. Beleive me I do it all AFF, Tandems and Freefall Camera Flyer and I can tell you right now there is no harder job than being a good Professional Freefall Camera Flyer and the hardest of them all is to be a good Freefall Photogragher. Really good Camera Flyers are hard to find. They supply all of their own equipment including editing equipment, film, batteries, tapes, DVD's, ect. ect. ect. and should be paid more. On a busy day they are working their asses off just to keep up. I'm sure it has a lot to do with where you are at and which DZ you work for but, at Skydive The Rockies. Tandems-$30.00 plus $15.00 for packing if you want to pack and $45.00 for video/stills you supply all of your own equipment.

Have you ever seen a China man play Hockey? "CAPTAIN THE DILITHIUM CRYSTALS JUST CAN'T TAKE THE STRESSSSSSS."

June 20th 1981 I was 17 and if had not been for my dad dragging me hollering kicking the whole way and paying for it. I would not have finished the staticline course. But, once I got my first pin from Mark Baddilow I was hooked. 'CAPTAIN THE MATTER IS MIXXING WITH THE DOESN'T MATTER."