Reginald

Who is the guy that landed on the tent?

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From an Industrial Engineering. Perspective, they run a horrible show. Just NOW are they starting to employ engineering techniques to efficiently run their resources, and their business methodology, NOT the Nation's airways, is holding them back.

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You seem to know a lot about it. Please share your knowledge of how the airlines operate.

There are some seasoned businessmen that would argue that the ailines are on the cutting edge of applied analytics in running their businesses. Have you ever had a glimpse into the analytics of flight scheduling and pricing systems or the logistics management systems the airlines have? Whether you like the end results or not the airlines have rooms full of PHD’s and MBA’s performing analytics that most companies in the country can’t manage.

That said I’m not much of a fan of airlines.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

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Next time they gotta stack up further forward in the door!

Agreed!

Having been inside center for a few seasons, let me share the phrase I told me team on EVERY damn jump, "move it farther up in the door. No farther, no not quite enough, FARTHER!"

Wow....

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Which method is currently taught at your DZ?

A statement was made that Two Hands per handle is "The Industry Standard" in the incidents forum. I am not disagreeing with that but I do think more than Just Chicagoland is teaching that method. Just curious how many more.

As a note, rocketscientist said in that thread that Chicagoland teaches one hand per handle. Any staff at the DZ that can confirm?

At my DZ we teach one hand per handle "look right, grab right, look left, grab left, peel (right), punch (right), arch (sweep right arm above head back to an arch - to make sure cable is pulled all the way and to get back into an arch for freefall), peel (left), punch (left), arch (to sweep arm back overhead)

The idea of one hand per handle is that the harness WILL shift after a cutaway and the reserve handle will already be located and in hand.

When students trained at other DZ's show up, we don't try and retrain them if they were taught a two hands per handle method, we are looking to make sure they fully execute their EP's, however. Both methods have pro's and con's. What I want to see in a student is a well rehearsed plan carried out fully and completely every time.

As a side note, I think Bill Booth posed a little while back that the system is designed for one hand on each handle. Far be it for me to speak for the bearded one though, so someone (Bill) please correct me if I'm wrong.

With the group you're talking about I'd suggest two half hour sessions with at least an hour break between them. It will be more productive and fun than an hour at one time.

Just my opinion though.

I’m just going to chime in here and only on things I can speak to with some authority (which is more than many posters do). I am not a TI so I will not attempt to speak to the exit or situation in the air.

What I can speak to is the following:

1. Landing – The winds were ZERO or darn close to them this day and all weekend. The TI slid in the student in the peas. Yes the canopy fell forward not back, as it is likely to so on a zero wind day. Looks to be a good landing to me.

2. Ability as an instructor – I know Will and in fact work with him as an AFFI. Will is a competent instructor and is someone that I would be comfortable putting a friend or family member with. He had a bad situation in the air and sought advice from more experienced TI’s at the DZ and from people online. I applaud him for this. Anyone that claims never to have had a situation is probably in denial or just has not had theirs happen yet. I’ll give Will points for stepping up and trying to learn from his. It’s more than most people will do.

Blue Skies,
Ron

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As far as I am concerned, my reserve will function properly 100% of the time.

Thats what Shayna Richardson thought about her reserve. She had a rude awakening when she opened it and it spun her all the way to a face plant in a parking lot. Proper understanding of your gear and what your doing is what should keep you calm and relaxed.

Oh, please don't get anyone (me) started on the absolute CF of events leading up to little miss Shayna's problems. Let's just resign her story to a cautionary tail of how not to learn about skydiving...

It's not a question of if it's a good rig, it's a question of is it a good rig for you. Is the WL approperiate for your skill level, how is the fit of the harness, etc.?

I’ve heard that there are Entertainment Tax issues in Texas that cause some financial problems for a tunnel. I don’t have any clue if it is true or not but it may be a contributing factor. The only good news about not having one in Texas is it saves me a fortune I’d otherwise spend in the tunnel every bad weather weekend!

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I was going to post a question regarding it - do many jumpers end up with serious neck problems at all?

Go see your Dr. and get some x-rays. Seriously. It may be nothing but it may be something.

Short answer (which leaves out a lot of detail that might be confusing for a student at this point): As soon as you complete pulling your cutaway handle you will hear a “Clink, Clink” which is the 3 rings releasing. Pull your reserve handle right away.

Understand the following:

There is essentially no risk of catching your reserve PC on the cutaway main (assuming you pulled the cutaway handle and heard the “clink, clink”)

Trying to get stable after a cutaway is a VERY bad idea. The sport is littered with fatalities that tried to do this from students to people with thousands of jumps; several of those fatalities were just this year if I recall. Remember cutaways tend to happen low and people frequently are not perfectly altitude aware. Moreover reserves are not nearly as sensitive to body position as mains. Pulling a reserve unstable is a small risk compared to the large risk of trying to get stable and pulling too low or not pulling at all.

As BIGUN pointed out there are a lot more variables to consider but for now and the next four or five hundred jumps the above advice should serve you well.

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Total cost: between $2500 and $3500. The price asked for seems high, unless the equipment is very new and in perfect shape. If it is, my personal recommendation is to look for something a little older.

So if the gear is in good shape you recommend he gets something older? I never quite understand people that want to go cheap on gear. The last thing I want in middle of executing my EP's on a mal is "I'm glad I've got an old, off brand reserve and container! Man think of the $1,000 bucks I saved!"

Here are my estimates:
Sabre2 150 with 300 jumps: about $1,200 – a new one will cost $1,600
PD 143 reserve with no rides: about $750 – new is about $900ish
Virtually new container est. $1,400
Cypress2: DOM 2004 est. $1,000

Total $4,250

So for relatively new gear the asking price is reasonable. Consult with a rigger to make sure it fits both physically and meets your short and intermediate term gear needs. If you like the gear an can afford it than negotiate the final price.

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In theory we have a system in place that should allow portability of requirements from one DZ to another. Any jumper that is current and is off student status should not be subjected to "forced coach jumps".

That's the point until a perrson get's an A license they are still a student. Cleared to "self supervision" does not remove someone from the relm of being a student.

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For those of you who complain that skydiving is expensive:

I like it when people bitch about the cost of a reserve and want the cheapest one they can find.

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I just recently graduated college and am in the search for a job. Does anyone have any ideas of what kind of job will allow me to jump evenings and weekends?

Silly question. What is your degree in? Maybe that would be a good field to look for a job. Unless you got one of those degrees that doesn't allow for employment after college.

You talk about things like, "4 more jumps than needed" Had your friend done any coached jumps prior to showing up at Eloy?

You will not be able to do 15 minutes from begining to end. it is typical practice to do 2 minute rotations. This works well when shared with others. I've never heard of a tunnel not being able to accomidate sharing.

have fun, you will love it and learn a lot!

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Do you just follow the USPA recommendations, or do you just follow your instincts?

A few things, yes you should follow the USPA BSR’s. They are there for a reason and plenty of people paid a high price for the information that they were garnered from.

Your minimum container opening altitude is 3,000 for an A license holder. Thus it is not wise for you to exit at 2,900 feet as you can’t possible open your container by 3,000.

That said you do need to get comfortable doing low level exits. When I’m jumping I do at least one hop n pop a week. I check my altitude before I exit and pitch as soon as I pass the tail of the plane. As soon as I’m open I check my altitude. It takes 800 feet for my canopy to open at terminal but less than 400 from exit to open canopy on a hop n pop, from a high airspeed plane such as an Otter.

I’ve pitched at 2,000 at terminal any number of times out of necessity (I like 3,000 on a normal jump). So knowing that I can get a good canopy in 400 feet on a hop n pop I am comfortable doing a non emergency exit from 2,000, in an emergency as low as 1,000 going directly to silver.

Practice doing hop n pops they give you confidence and information. Plus you get time to work on your canopy skills in clear air!

Blues,
Ron

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I'm just wondering why people don't wear three chutes all the time. It seems to me that triple redundancy is a lot better than double redundancy when you are playing with your life.

Plenty of good answers already but the simplest is that one typically runs out of time before they run out of options.

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Nope, I did AFF in 7.

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Showoff...

Agreed, helicopter jumps are not like airplane hop n pops. With an airplane there is substantial airspeed from the moment of exit forward. A person can use the air to both fly their body and to deploy a PC. With a helicopter there is no airspeed on exit and hence nothing to use to fly one’s body with or to deploy a PC into. It may take 7 or so seconds before there is enough air to work with for body control or to effectively deploy a PC. Many people find PC hesitations unnerving on hop n pops from slow planes, such as 182’s, already. This type of PC hesitation due to lack of airspeed will be substantially magnified on a helicopter jump.

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Well I'm not sure the USPA guidelines but i Know in Canada it goes like this:

Solo License: 2500ft min altitude

A: 2200ft Min

There is another factor too, you have zero airspeed so to get to 2500 or 2200 you can still do a good 7-10 second delay if you want. Deploying at 2500 would be close to deploying at 3k from terminal.

Either way...check your PIM.

And on another note, I got a PM stating that I may need a B license or at least 100 jumps to jump a heli. I checked into this and I you do not need any other qualifications if you have a license.

Bring on the heli.

To my understanding as a visiting international skydiver the only “rules” from your home country that apply here are related to your gear, e.g., repack cycles, etc. You would be subject to USPA BSR’s while jumping in the US. Additionally, many DZ’s and aircraft owners add additional requirements such as a minimum license for special jumps.

As an interesting side discussion, I was shocked to see a 2,200 foot container opening altitude opening altitude for A license holders in Canada. It strikes me as bizarrely low.

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the person infront of me exited and i found my place in the door, i was trying to give him a good 10-15 seconds, after not waiting long enough on the prior jump, i came close and always wanted to be safe as possible. anyways i was met with someone behind me yelling at me to go, at around 8 seconds and i didnt feel comfortable, so i guess all im trying to say is be nice to nublets

I think your points are valid. However, you have not mentioned how much time you needed to have proper separation. Do you know how to calculate separation? What were the conditions? And apparently you exited too soon on a prior jump, do you think you might have been overcautious and actually taken too long in the door on this next jump? To be honest with you 15 seconds a huge amount of time, under typical circumstances. Was it the right amount of time? If not was the group behind you actually justified in voicing a complaint? They might not have voiced it properly and there is no excuse for that but it sounds like they might have been right.

It may be better for you to understand how to calculate separation then to complain that the group behind you was unpleasant. Understanding separation will let you potentially avoid this in the future, and if it does come up be able to have a defensible position with the person on the ground after the fact. Knowledge is power.

Okay, I'm homebound due to recovering from some surgery and living vicariously through other people right now. I can’t find any posts about how Kaleidoscope is going? Where’s the info and pics?