jimoke

hey bro, if you took a coaches course and you were bored, wait till you decide to get an AFF instructor rating. I took the AFF cert course in 01 with Glenn Bangs. It was long and stressful, But, it was the most interesting 9 days of my life. I guess learning is what you make of it. learning to teach skydiving should never be boring, I'm sorry it was for you. Stay Safe, Jim Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

***Other notes about that jump: 1 - I'm really glad I don't have a "glass chin" 2 - I really should buy an AAD for AFF jumps (hmmm...birdman suit...CYPRES...birdman suit...CYPRES...I need to make more money!) Blues, Dave *** so what is your limit as far as a K.O. goes? sounds like it was a glancing blow.....enough to disorient you for a few seconds? what if it was a knock-out blow? without a cypres you might hit the ground.....lights out. I agree that a cypres will not guarantee whether you live, but landing unconcious "with" a parachute is a better option. Neither myself or Bobby had a cypres on one ill-fated AFF jump. bobby followed a student down. hers fired his didn't......I now have a cypres. Stay Safe, glad your OK. Jim Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

*** What I am leading upto is something that you see quite clearly but do not really understand completely. lets express this in terms of %age. $10 is approx 67% of $15? $10 is double that of $5 $15 is triple that of $5 *** Damn dude, your posts are quite confusing? I guess we only get $14.00 per pack so the math is ...... so 5 goesinta 14 2and 4/5ths times?? The ground always, remembers where you are!

about a year ago in Orlando, I was watching a very experienced freeflyer from AZ. carving head down. he was very good and had great control. then he adjusted his speed with his head on the mesh in the center of the chamber and started rotating on his head....it was a very sweet manuver, until the mesh slowly started to sepatate in one square his head was slowly sliding through the floor. as I realized his head would soon fit through and he could become decapitated instantly. the instructor in the tunnel lunged in and knocked him off his axis into the wall. the guy was slightly pissed until they had a discussion out of the windstream. I am glad I didn't witness what was about to happen with a few more revolutions. the walls in the tunnel are very unforgiving just like skydiving one must progress at a reasonable pace. Stay Safe JimOKE The ground always, remembers where you are!

nice shot.........it doesn't get any easier. I suppose someday I will experiment with tv and av settings? JimOke Fat Bastard Productions The ground always, remembers where you are!

I have had my Digital rebel almost 2 months. I shoot on sports mode. I have shot maybe 100 or so tandems with it with maybe 3 or 4 crappy pictures. sports mode with lens on auto-focus. everything is automatic......It doesn't get any easier. http://jimoke.com The ground always, remembers where you are!

another tip to use, is with a reliable regular TI having him point directly at the lurker so you can position yourself 180 degrees across from where he is pointing. this allows you to know approximately where the lurker is, without taking your eyes off your customer. I also insist the lurker track away at 6500' and I backslide the other way, which gives adequate separation providing the lurker can actually track away in a straight line. the key is to know who your lurkers are and how they fly or it could be a disaster you don't want to film. I am glad you were lucky, bet that is some interesting footage! Stay Safe, Jim Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

I have shot a lot of film on spec. those people who buy the film develop it and I never see the results. people who don't buy the film goes to the tandem master who will usually bring the prints the following weekend always with mixed results. some good, some not so good. 3 weeks ago I bought a digital rebel........oh my god! there is no comparison, the quality is top notch. here is a quick page I threw together. http://homepage.mac.com/jimoke11/PhotoAlbum2.html the images are all small file for the web except the one named "fullsize" which can be expanded to see what 6.3 megapixels is all about. I am glad I spent the money Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

I read this post thursday and found myself friday morning buying a rebel digital. jumped with it saturday and sunday. Oh My God....... I set it on sports mode and shot large jpegs. heres a large sample I can't wait till I know how to really work it. Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

a videoman braggs about how good "joe" tandem master is....... and says "why I would even let him take my mother" followed by: Of course,........... I am her beneficiary! soft landings The ground always, remembers where you are!

I had a friend who chopped a while back for a stuck brake. she recieved some comments from people. the next time it happened was a few weeks later she did not chop (out of embarassment?) she rode it to the ground and did not survive the landing. Please remember that it is your ass on the line, no one around the bonfire was there. if you need to cutaway, do it! I believe you handled yourself properly with your pc scenario. you did what you needed to do on that descent. Good Job! Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

maybe if it's mounted across from a mirror there will be less confusion Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

Dave , I was on the ground watching this fiasco. we were lucky it was only half of the otter load. the landings, what turned out to be 3 separate directions were actually spaced out so there was no close calls. but you are 100% correct this should never happen. it was corrected immediately on the following loads. this also has to do with New England UN-currency watch your ass in freefall as well. oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

I am appauled with the scenario you described. the TM had to go make another $30. wow, it never ceases to amaze me. "sorry you broke your leg,......gotta go!" I wouldn't want that bad karma oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

I bought my stiletto 170 early 03 brand new. After the 3rd jump I started getting whacked hard. this continued for the next 20 jumps or so. I am wingloading at 1.68 I was very disheartened and was missing the openings of my spectre. I switched the slider from the spectre to the stiletto (it was 2 inches larger front to back) next 300 jumps perfect no problems. I have a big bonehead setup and was almost ready to call it quits on the stiletto 170. I am glad I didn't, I love this canopy. try changing to a bigger slider Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

from your profile I see you are on Long Island, I have done many tandems with people who felt they needed someone else "there." this is jumping out of airplanes not bowling. it can be intimidating to say the least. take a drive to Connecticut Parachutist Inc. 2-3 hours north of long island. I will personally get you and your friend back in the saddle, with a tandem. A tandem is not just the freefall, it can help with altitude awareness, body position, and prct's. it can also be very helpful in canopy control, teaching proper setup for landing, altitude checks in the pattern, crabbing, crosswind, s-turns. being mentally prepared for a skydive is important and if it takes a few extra tandems I have no problem with that. jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

this was a very good thread. something that was mentioned mints and puking. please remember: nobody is immune to having horrible stank breath........don't let this be what your student remembers most about thier TI. also early morning tandems with alcohol breath from the bonfire 6 hours earlier is not the way to instill confidence......the smell doesn't leave with just a brushing. sleeping in the plane with a tandem student is un-acceptiable but I have seen it countless times at numorous dz's. if you are drowzy take a nap on the ground, not with your student wondering about the TI being grogy. never use poor attempts at humor to relieve tention...... ex. asking who will go last? you've heard of dead last?.....believe it or not, I have heard instructors say this to thier students. or Boy, I sure hope we make it this time. I have over 75% of my jumps involved with tandems either video or as pilot. it is their jump.......you are in control. as for the videoguy, he is responsible for having range. I am 280 lbs exit weight and I am able to fly with light tms and tiny students. my wing suit is just shy of a birdman suit......but you must dress for success. fast fallrate has never been my issue. a professional TM can help with heading and smiling and such, I would never ask a TM to change his jumpsuit to suit my needs. most would say learn to fly. I have made several jumps with a female tandem candidate, Kath Ax from hollister. chicks rock, thats why we love them! Stay Safe, jimOke The ground always, remembers where you are!

when I have the opportunity with a cat 4 or higher student on a light load, I will sit with them in the back of the otter and give them the chance to look around with the door both open and closed. once an AFF student is comfortable in the door they will often do better on exit. I enjoyed your style of writing BTW. Jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

congats on a safe off- field landing. skydiving at your level can be intimidating to say the least. after reading your post I noticed you have a discriptive way leaning towards negative thoughts. try to focus your full attention to positive thoughts, how wonderful it is when the door opens,how successful you will be on your dive! here it is again, relax #1. I'm quite positve you've heard this many times from your AFF-Is. also you are ultimately responsible for your own safety. Just because they are your friends doesn't mean you can't get hurt. Trust your training. Elsinore has the finest Instructors around. Skydiving is fun but very serious. stay safe bro, jimoke The ground always, remembers where you are!

yes the class 3 is a joke... "sir here is the eye chart i want you to look at......(points to eye chart right next to me) now walk down to the end of the hall and read this line for me ( points to line)" then i look then wlak to end of hall then read what i already read when i was standing next to it.... wow, you mean you didn't have to bend over and touch your toes? or cough. I must have got the bonus checkup.......man his hands were cold. The ground always, remembers where you are!

hey ron, my first time in this forum, and I will gladly buy you a beer. As I read your post, this strange feeling of de ja vue ........did I say this recently? did I write this post? what I was reading was how I feel. It seems to be the longer your skydiving, the more you see. I have witnessed many accidents so far in 8 years and I don't want to see anymore......guess what? I will. Ron? are you my long lost brother? so how do we get through???? it seems your post was towards one guy this seems to be happening at most dz's around the world. what is the method to correct this problem? restrictions? I don't think that will work. education? sometimes peoples personalities restrict them to hearing only what they want to hear. we all know these people. many are friends, which sometimes is more difficult to deal with. I met scott miller this summer and learned a lot from him in one short weekend, and I wasn't even in his course. I wish I wasn't working with students myself. his style of teaching is smooth and to the point, he was a professional at giving harsh debriefs. watching and learning is something every skydiver should do. instructors need to do it well. you can only teach your students what you know, you can't teach them everything you know. time in the sport will have to help. anyways good post........some peoples heads are thick and no matter how good their instruction (was/ or is) they will have to get hurt or worse. stay safe Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

if you are the video editor, you need to like the music yourself to really get into your work. that said, if your making videos for your tandem customers, they may not like the music you put on their video, thus they do not truly love their video. even if it was shot with perfect lighting and content. I hated the music that was put on my first video. I shoot between 300-600 tandem videos a year and have been struggling with how my customers get what they like..... "hey tom what type of music do you want on your video" " what do you have?" "I have Kazza, does that narrow it down?" " how about Tom Petty freefallin or van Halen jump!" "Sorry, I don't have that" I try to get people into a category of music first, rock, techno, classic rock, hip hop, whatever. I have a library of music with the songs I like from each category, and start there. there are so many choices. a 55 year old tandem student might not want what their 20yo son would want. if you are making freefly videos for your friends, use the music that will keep their attention. I usually try to keep em short and sweet. skydivers tend to get distracted quickly. I could make a long list of music, but, you might not like what I like. Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

just a few weeks ago a visiting jumper came to jump at our dz. he was considered an experienced camera flyer.....1000+ jumps or so. he was going on a 4 or 5 way funjump with his buddies. something looked amiss as one of our old time jumpers noticed him and his buddies waiting in the loading area as the otter was taxiing up......he was not wearing a rig. the load master asked if he was intending on boading the plane and he said Hell Yeah.......as he walked back by everyone to get his rig......now totally red-faced, he didn't feel very smart I'm sure. the distractions of a camera helmet can be very small or very large. another example is filming your own shadow as you land, It can make a pretty cool shot. but I have seen newer guys get so focused on that they forget or flair too late ......which really makes for cool video! The ground always, remembers where you are!

very nicely put. I see lots of newer swoopers bad mouthing "toggle monkies" If you are making a toggle turn on your final approach and you are swinging out from under your parachute......DO NOT apply so much input, you will eventually bounce off the ground. of course it is not a safe manuver. neither is holding your front riser till your in the corner. using your toggles to land is not taboo. done properly you can still make a safe carving swoop. land soft, oke The ground always, remembers where you are!

hey dude, the spot your talking about is at 6:00 bottom of frame. I have a trv 11 that has the same spot, only its at 8:00 and a bit closer to center. i used to tell people it was a watermark. it seemed to appear after about 500 or so videos. sorry I have no technical advice, but I am interested in finding out what it is and how much it cost to fix (all warantees have timed out). i use it now as a video playback and second firewire camera. BTW, nice job on the .wmv looks like a nice place to jump! safe landings Oke The ground always, remembers where you are!