DanglesOZQld

- And for the record I personally know about 100 jumpers enough to form the opinion that being bored/unable to jump/doing other things (ie- Skateboarding etc) causes a lot more injury than leaping out of an aircraft!! ;) BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

When a student (12 plus years ago) was landing one of the student canopies onto hard dry grass and the canopy did not flare well. Lack of experience certainly a factor also and I ended up flaring fully with a fair amount of forward speed and my hands forming fists on either side with the toggles. Punched the ground and heard a loud click from the left fist and knew I had broken something straight away. Turned out that the two knuckles were fractured on the third knuckle/join closest to the hand on the same angle I punched mother earth with. It happened due to an awkward landing on a canopy that wasnt that great for its flaring capabilities but there was a lot of pilot error and inexperience as well. Did a hooky and hit the ground three times harder some time later and walked away as I had a better idea of how to hit! Had a half cast (removeable) on my left arm for some time. Came down to an unfortunate landing involving things being where they should not have been and in a position (fist!) that caused the first and weakest contact point to take the full force and give way. Then there was the incident I walked away from due to nothing more than the heroic efforts of our jump pilot......another time lol! BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Honestly I think it would be better waiting to be healed properly even though the wait does suck a lot. Have had a friend with a broken left arm jump in a cast and also more recently a girl not long out of a cast (foot) doing a tandem landing onto sand (beach). She was a jumper not a whuffo. BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

78 thus far, but older to come in the future no doubt! (And he loved every minute of it!!) -Funny how a lot of older persons think that they have nothing to lose given their age and thus take the plunge.....I keep telling them (and all the other tandem passengers) that the BUS RIDE BACK to the dz is the most dangerous part of the jump!! BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

"You only get to make your first jump once, but every tandem allows another little taste of it by proxy." Thats probably the reason why I do it - reliving the first jump that I made 12+ yrs ago ;) BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Hell yeah - Don't see anything wrong with it at all. And as some of the other tm's have said, if it is good enough for them to take strangers on a tandem you can sure as hell take your better (or worse ! ;) half ! BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

In my own opinion I believe that the instructor is the person who should be able to keep up with the student certainly on all AFF and A licence jumps. Change instructors if this is not possible with the one you are jumping with. There are arguments with camera flyers blaming Tandem masters for slow fall rates or fast ones for that matter also, and the instructor is the camera flyer in this case!! If you have a student it is up to YOU the instructor to fall at their rate at least initially! ONCE TRAINING IS FINISHED or you have made the student work on their slow or fast fall rate as required I believe that weight should be a consideration. IE- "A" licence to fly your own body and the following licences the trainee should be doing most of the work in preparation to jump with other groups in fun mode. Like I stated prior just my own two cents worth, or $0.00001 when converted to US Dollars ;) BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

I would have to say horseshoe definitely. Have been in freefall with the pin popping in a sit train from the guy behind and wondered what the hell that black bulk was with the lines coming out of it!!!! The other guy said the look on my face was priceless as I caught it, threw it to one side and threw my pilot chute! Was lucky the lines stayed on the bag and didn't get involved with my person. Was still a reserve ride though as the pilot chute bridle bow tyed the centre of the canopy. The dangling incident was pretty horrible as well as we were in a situation where if not for the assistance of someone else were rendered helpless!! BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

ABOUT TWO!!! Work full time there and my place is 5 mins or less (one song from my door to theirs on the radio!) away. LIFE IS GOOD!! -BSBD! -Dangles "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Loooove our LET 410 - (jump it every single day) as us Aussies do not have the chance to jump some of the more "usa" type "cushy" windmills wif wings !!! You must seperate choppers from fixed wing as there is no comparison and I also have a lot of "to do's" still on my list! -BSBD! -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Aaaah PT-6's!! GO THE WALTERS!!! Our LET 410 is MOST happy with these and they cost "just a tad" less than the others ha ha ha ha ha ! -BSBD! -Dangles "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

5 seconds is a MINIMUM delay in my book and I would be very pissed off if I heard a person yelling out to another in the plane "go" at 2 seconds count or short of what you were told. Rules are there for a reason and guidelines such as separation counts are imperative if we are to avoid problems with being too close to each other and such on opening.To me 5 seconds doesn't sound like enough time between exits on (even!) a load of up to 20 jumpers. I jump an aircraft of 19 most days of the year and know what it is like to be hosed on a spot. At times you just have to accept that someone is human and may not judge everything correctly to get all the meatbombs back to meatbomb central......and those with "experience" should know that it comes with the sport and to shut the hell up when someone is exiting?...... "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

And more to the point of the topic PLEASE make sure the gloves you wear are approved by the dzso/safety dude as there are some out there that can be a problem (and I have personally seen as so) in the past because they are too loose a fit around your hand and/or fingers. Loose gloves in my country (Australia) have on more than one occasion had tragic outcomes in certain situations. You are trained and used to certain touch/sensory movements and gloves can and do deaden these to some extent. Just something else to throw into the fire. To the original poster, glad things worked out in the end dude!!! -BSBD! -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Mmm - just reminds you that the dangers of our sport are still out there. One thing I used to do was reach slightly and put a lot of pressure on both risers (left) as the Tandem canopy was opening until I reached a little too high and line twists demonstrated how STUUPID I was doing this if I had to get off the main. There are a lot of things you may or may not do in this sport that will make it more dangerous. Even the pros get it wrong sometimes - basically no one is bullet proof and we should be scrutinising what we do on EVERY jump. You may just save a life of someone u know or even your own! -BSBD!! -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Started jumping in '93 and purchased a Piri Raptor from the states shortly after and have kept it ever since. This was back in the good ol days when there were precious few helmets made for skydiving in Australia. The rap was full face but got rid of that and have used four different video cameras starting with video 8, Hi 8 and two digitals with different boxes for every one. There are MANY holes in the top aluminium plate but I have never had any problems of any sort with the helmet. I also don't use a cam eye or ringsight as the setup is straight and true. It is a large helmet but rather comfortable with quick pin releases either side and the 35mm stills camera is mounted inverted in front. Started using it for fun etc and have been using it for professional activity for the last 2 1/2 years. BSBD!! -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Just wondering if there are any "real" camera dudes out there who have older/heavier helmets or equipment and how they hold their head on opening. People say I do it differently as I find it much more comfortable to sink my head down and LOOK at the canopy on opening rather than head forward waiting for the opening and looking up after inflation. What do you guys/girls do?? ;) BSBD! -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

LOVE winter here!! WE JUMP ALL YEAR ROUND HA HA!! Gotta love Brisbane Queensland Australia Woohoo! BSBD!! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Shucks, this is a cool message lol!! A lot of us Tandem Masters cop a lot of crap most times but most give our all to please our passengers some of which DO try to kill us!!! I very nearly gave up the sport after my incident but still remember the first time I knew I wanted this feeling for the rest of my life!!! THANKS RICK B. ;) -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

LAST anything in the skyvan. The good old run like crazy and jump into the abyss. Life is good when you do that!! Or last out doing a birdman jump with out Let 410 sticking its tail to da blue!!! BSBD!! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Yeah 1,000 feet terminal is DEFINITELY a rush!! I was *STUPID!!* enough to go there once chasing a student who had gone unstable on stage 4 AFF. You feel helpless when you cannot get to them but then feel like a complete tosser when you know that they have a cypres to save them and (in my case!) do not!! The thing that got me most was the fact that your whole peripheral view is taken up by ground all of a sudden. It is like a weird and MASSIVE change visual wise and not one I will forget quickly. Fortunately I dumped with plenty of height to spare and have learnt from that one!!! Most old timers I think would have a story or two about close calls but I think I have had more than enough to last me a long time to come!! Some basic rules I live by are - 1) No matter how many jumps you have you NEVER EVER know everything, You should always strive to learn. 2) Be Self critical as much as possible but in a healthy way to learn more. IE- A jump funneled on exit / mid air collision with a team mate in a four way etc etc....how can I avoid this in future and what caused it in the first place?? If you THINK you were not in the wrong let the other person describe what they saw/felt/heard before saying anything and if it turns out that you were in the right don't be afraid of being humble and not just crapping on the person at fault. SORRY!! Once again rambled on way too much!! ;) -BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

People have always bagged the Serie Pro Blue Track Canopies as being hard openers but I have always packed them myself and in about 2,000 jumps have only had two or three bad openings. A lot of it is in the packing and the way it goes into the container. Even a very small anomally with any small/loaded canopy is enough to create major havoc and that is the beast we deal with. It is a trade off. We want something that performs well and expect it (or not with some people!!) to bite us every now and then from having the same luxury. BT would probably have a fit if they knew what I do when packing my canopy but I get it snivelling almost as much as a new crossfire 2 most jumps. I have also jumped a bt Serie pro 140 and 120 for most of my 12 years and packing seems to be the major issue. In a sport like ours you are bound to have a horrendous one every couple of thousand and that most times comes down to shit happens. One of our tandem guys about a year ago had a shocker and I know for a fact that he packs the same way every time and is never unstable when dumping the drogue. That one was what I call a "two framer" in that we could see the tm and pax in one frame and they were gone in the next. The opening broke three lines on the right side and blew the canopy to smithereens. Not pleasant to look at but both ok albeit very sore. It pays to learn as much as possible from others in this sport as well as being self critical at times to stay alive!! Some openings are just not able to be explained though!! BSBD!! -Dangles. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

I always hook up the bottom two as soon as we are seated in a small plane and then go through everything well before exit altitude. Looks like they were not even connected at all - VERY BAD! If for some reason I ended up like this I would not chase the legs or anything and deploy as normal. Basically it just shouldn't happen in the first place. You can get the student into this position even with the lower straps tightened to the stops - always thought the unusual positions were a result of loose side straps......not so BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

A few years ago the full time guys were easily getting around 1,200 jumps a year and then came 9/11 and sars as well as a few more minor problems into the pot. I work in Australia and do so as a Tandem Master / AFF instructor and Vidiot 7 days a week. We get $37 a jump as Tandem Masters and with video/stills $37 for either or $47 for both. It is definitely a lifestyle thing and you don't have to be around long to hear the following question - "How do you make a lot of money skydiving??" BY STARTING WITH A *HUGE* AMOUNT!!! Also with Handicam coming into effect at most dz's the staff number where I work will soon be cut in half and those without a Tm rating will end up on the scrapheap. No matter what anyone out there says I believe the sport will be worse off in around 5 years time as most people get quite a few hundred jumps up being weekend funsters then start doing paid camera work then get their instructor ratings then tm rating. With insurance issues and the ability to gain jump numbers as easily we are bound to lose a lot of people in the long run. Who knows , maybe some dz's will actually start to appreciate us when they have trouble finding staff in future!! I am just glad I have a trade to fall back on *if* things go pear shaped anytime. BSBD!! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

Done two jumps on a PC. Didn't much like the thought of using the reserve and everyone asked why the hell I wanted to jump one. My answer was something like the mountain climber's "Because it is there!!" The first jump was weird , the silence under canopy was the first thing that I really noticed. Sooooo much quieter than anything square/elliptical I had flown before. I was also warned not to flare it and expect to do a plf. Landed it about 5 metres from the cross and could have stood up but not being sure about the first landing did a plf anyway. Was cool!!! Second jump was similar but in almost nil wind. Not a nice landing but still walked away lol! BSBD!! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

True. You won't be going up with your own gear without knowing the answers to at least most of what you are worried about and the best people to ask are instructors in the flesh. I learnt to jump doing static line purely because the cost of doing an Accelerated Freefall Course (AFF) was too much when combined with my flying training with light aircraft. Now being a Tandem Master / AFF instructor and with the above in mind I would certainly recommend AFF if possible. If you really aren't that confident then do TAF but do not allow yourself to be "babied" too much as fear initially is part of skydiving!! What matters is how you overcome this and move on. I hope you get to enjoy the sport as much as most of us here do!! BSBD! -Mark. "A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"