davehartley

Get brifed on a float exit. Climbing outside the aircraft, feeling the wind, and then dropping off whilst facing forward looking at the wing (not the ground) felt much easier when I was in the nervous phase. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

yep, treat it like twists, look straight past it, and check the canopy (islands), you can always kick it out later. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

It might be a shaggy dog, but I thought fishing was the most dangerous sport. Freezing to death after falling asleep night fishing, slipping in and drowning , having your waders fill up with water and drag you off down stream, catching Wiells disease from sitting around in rat piss, drinking too much beer and falling of the boat, pissing of that big white bastard that lives near Amity beach, and best of all sticking a 30 ft dripping wet carbon fibre fishing pole into high voltage power lines. On balance I'd rather ride a horse to the DZ. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

The way i reckon it, 99% of first jump students who manage to fly into a hazard have brain locked, and failed to react to advice on the radio. I would threfore doubt very much if they would remember the training, or heed radio advice to disconnect the RSL, as they are obviously not remembering much else. ( come to think of it, I would not want to hear the word "disconnect" uttered by anyone on talkdown, for obvious reasons). I would also doubt that anyone, never mind a first time jumper, would have time to unhook an rsl (with shaking hands) in the time between knowing they are going to land in / on a hazard, and actually doing so. Worse case scenario, is that somewhere from deep in their brain locked head, they do remember the instruction and then spend the next 5 to 10 seconds fumbling at the link before flying full drive into the upright wall of the building they thought they were going to land on. At the DZ where I teach (static line), the RSL connector links on student gear need a spanner to unhook them, which prevents any accidental (or deliberate )disconnection. Although i jump without RSL (personal choice, but probably skyhook on next set of kit), I can see no good reason for a student RSL to be disconnected at any time ( avoiding a reserve re pack now and then does not qualify IMHO). Flame away, no doubt there are loads of scenarios coming my way. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

That's a very realistic blow up doll, but I think he's over inflated it. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

2 reasons that I can see. 1, A bungie that looks like breaking probably will break, and will take much less force to do so than it's brand new tight fitting neighbour, and this imbalance is likely to cause twists. 2, If bungies break whilst you are beating up the container in order to close it, that must have potential for causing line dump. I like to be environmentally friendly (if you exclude burning obscene amounts of aircraft fuel), but I reckon the planets rubber reserves will still last out if I get a couple of jumps less out of each bungy. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

As you are on student status, what did you get told in the de brief? Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

Did any Brits go to the Mozambique boogie in Oct? It looked like a great venue, but I could not get the holiday. If it was a success and happens again next year I will be booking my holidays early. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

I'd date her as jurracic (spelt wrong, don't care) Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

Is this guy for real or is he just winding everyone up. Is the state of skydiving in Finland such that he can get in the plane with an overloaded reserve canopy on an ongoing basis. If he has been able to fool his drop zone until now, lets hope lets hope his chief instructor reads these threads. If this guy is for real, his thread will prove very valuable. When the inevitable happens he will be held up as the perfect example of what happens to the know it alls in this sport. I've got around 550 jumps now, and the one thing I know for sure is that I know very little. When I read advice on here I discuss it with the instructors at my dz, before I act on it. Simple, thats what every sensible instructor rated poster tells you to do. Seriously, if this guy is for real I hope someone can stop him, but I doubt it. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

Timothy Taylors 'Landlord'. Unfortunately most skidivers are lager drinking souther softies, so most 'milestone' beer is crap ( I still drink it though ). Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

Ye, but you know you are doing it right if your belly touche down whilst your knees thighs and chest are all clear of the bottem. The 'flight' down is much like the real thing as well, 45 degrees at first and then it levels out, and stays level to the bottem. The 'launch from the side is also a good simulation of the seated exit Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

When I was struggling to hold syability on 10 second delays I came up with the idea of practising in the swimming pool.Using the step handle at the deep end I had a pretty good mock up for a seated islander exit.Trick is to exhale fully before 'exit' so that you can 'freefall' to the bottem checking your body position as you go. I got some pretty funny looks from the swimmers as I repeated the exercise around30 times in an attempt to build up muscle memory, but it really worked. After being stuck on 10's for about seven jumps I tried this, and went straight through to tracking in succesive jumps. This is probably not much use to AFF students who get the luxury of in flite osteopaths to correct their position, but I would reccomend it to any RAPS students having stability problems in early freefall. Safety tip. Only attempt this if you can swim. Quote Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.

As a Brit I would have to suggest that 25 mph above US speed limits would be a safe speed anyway. I got a ticket in Canada some years ago for doing 70 in a 50 zone. I nearly convinced the copper that I should get off, on the grounds that I assumed 50 was the minimum for a road of that quality. Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers, won't drown.