LoudDan

Dude, get on the horn with the Irish Parachuting Club in Shannon, Ireland. Explain how someone wants you to have a "dry" St. Paddy's Day and when they are done laughing (that could take days), They'll let you set it up in the Emerald Isle!!!!! I AM THERE!!!!! After the event you must send the local Irish Times or whatever straight to the Dublin, GA Town Council. Here's the link http://www.skydive.ie. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Broken lines happen too....just when everything is flying along great you go to spiral and realize that one of your toggles has amazingly light toggle pressure and that for some friggin' reason the canopy seems to be turning in the opposite direction. You have already limited your options by stating that you don't want to pull higher, and have been operating under a false sense of security by believing that because the canopy is opened you have no risk of malfunction. Honestly dude.......seek coaching. There are many very qualified canopy coaches available and if you can't find one just PM me or IAN or (god forgive me) Grant and I'm sure we can get you hooked up with someone in your area. The best way to learn how to get the most efficiency from your chosen wing is to attend a canopy control course like the ones that Scott Miller and Brian G put on. Yes it costs money but you will learn techniques and gain knowledge that you most likely will not figure out yourself. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I think theme music is called for............. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Hey Mike, do you have vid of Chris Hayes and myself doing the downwind teamspeed practice run. I can't get ahold of Sun Man. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I still gotcha both on wing loading (in the 100 plus square foot category) fat lot a good it did me though all that heat does no good if I can't place it between the uprights (without shooting out the back of the acc or plowing down the inside of the speed). Congrats Dave you had a great comp (and thanks for the smokes and the back up on the skinny people telling fat boy jokes) Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I feel your pain Lee, I don't think I'll be there either. Gotta save money for the PD Challenge. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Dude, team up your jumpers in pairs. Set up a short swoop lane (200 ft or so) run a speed course, do an accuracy pad for non swoopers combine those two scores using some mathmagical numbers, and then add their combined total beer chug time. GOD IT's SO SIMPLE!!!! Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

You guys WEAR WEIGHT!!! Dude, that's insane...... is everone wearing weight. I all of a sudden fear I may have a horrible understanding of how this comp is supposed to work. Hopefully this is all a joke why would you wear weights???? Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

240 out the door.......give that dude a sandwich. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I promise it is not impossible to overtake a 100 sqft canopy with a tandem. You can make the HOP and Icarus canopies sing. I personally believe as a TI and a competitive canopy pilot that while the right of way should be yielded to the tandem if such a situation exists, however it is the responsibility of the TI to not be an asshole and "push" through a pattern or "try" to beat a sport canopy to the final turn point. We are carrying another human being and have no right to put their lives in peril regardless of what you "THINK" your local waiver protects you from. Also you have to be careful with how FAR's are interpretted, I hardly think that a Sabre II 230 with a 1 to 1 wingloading is more manueverable than a HOP or a Icarus Tandem 330 @1.5. In this case I would have the right of way as the Tandem sure, but as the more experienced canopy pilot and a TI if I have to hold brakes so the new solo student can land safely then thats the way it goes. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Doubt it bro, Longmont is gonna wipe me out for vacation and money but.......I AM BRINGING IT TO DENVER!!!!! Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

DUDE!!! Why am I getting let off...I mean I thought I was one of the cool kids. Granted I think I'm the only CPC competitor from ATL.....but representin' for the BIG BOYZ!!!! I'll be there dammit!!! Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

So perhaps the USPA BOD should put forth such requirements. To be a member DZ of the USPA the DZO should have sufficient diversified skydiving experience in order to make operational decisions based on experience and good practice. As a profesional organization I'm kinda surprised that almost any shmo can open a DZ and after filing paperwork and sending in MONEY they can be a USPA dropzone. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I agree here whole heartedly. S&TA's along with the DZO/DZM must lead the way. Communication must be clear if there are going to be changes to the landing pattern. Rules should be clearly posted for all to see, not decided on a Sunday night staff meeting and all of a sudden put into practice (because then only the staff knows about them). If you see someone causeing a problem in the traffic pattern man up and say something. Maybe we should be looking for legitamate qualifications in an S&TA not just been in the sport for 20 years or whatever, how about an actual safety and training backround. Knowledge of human behavior factors and perhaps safety culture implementation, this would go along way to stop many of the knee jerk reactions to issues. Building a safety based culture is not done by change for the sake of change, it is done by constantly reevaluating the current program and making appropriate changes. Identify your problems, do the best to mitigate them, and if the problem persits reevaluate and try again. Problems just in case anyone was wondering are best solved when they are realized not when they culminate. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

of course separate landing areas is the best solution, and if one does not have the realestate for that venture ........does the USPA decide or does the staff and the DZO/ DZM decide what is best. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

2.5 Velo 103 with no lead all day every day. Slow flies beautifully, glides awesome, dives like a bat back into hell and runs like a raped ape. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

You can't cure stupid. Didja ever notice who people go to when they finally decide or have been beaten over the head enough to realize they need canopy coaching.........the swoopers, the competitors, the folks that are always training, the people that go away for canopy camps, the ones that take the time and spend the money to give canopy piloting the respect it demands be it HP or SP. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Stu my brotha I do believe you've nailed it. Education is the key. Making change for the sake of change is a legal maneuver designed to show that "SOMETHING" was done. Taking the time to teach less experienced jumpers will go much further than standing up on a pedestal waving the BSR. Get out there and help a fellow skydiver, and if you do not feel confident PM me, or Ian, I'll bet Stu wouldn't mind and I'm sure we can help you find someone around your area that can help. Get involved and save our sport from over-regulation. DAMN THE MAN.....SAVE THE SPORT!!!! Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Personally I like zone accuracy, and even more carving zone accuracy. Power and finesse all in one and when you have to drag water to boot......a sport of kings I tell ya. These also tend to be the great equalizer at many swoop events as many people tend to train for distance and speed (mainly because zone acc courses are a pain in the ass to set up). I liked Chris Hayes's idea from a few years ago where he put a small box dead in the middle of the -40 zone and made it worth 100 points if you had first point of contact in it and stayed in it. I believe Tyler Lawson took that event. Long jump is another cool event, s-carve speed, there are a ton of different events that hover around the basic swoop skillz but are more exciting than the basic three. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I agree with Ian wholeheartedly. Education is absolutely the key and a necessity to those that have access to high performance wings but lack the motivation to learn to fly them corectly and safely. I believe a discussion covering the pull altitudes, landing direction and landing pattern is something that should be held on every load. Jump organizers should be aware of the current patterns and reinforce the importance of adhering to them. DZM's and S&TA's should have the balls to deal with violators on a one to one basis and ground them regardless of who they are if the need be. There are jumps (big ways, high newbe loads) where hook turns might just not need to be done, and if you can't land your pocket rocket straight in, you don't need to be under it. Throwing words down on paper tends to make the authors feel as though they have accomplished something for the greater good......it is however on paper and not in practice. Educating canopy pilots on better/safer canopy fligth should be an ongoing thing (from jump 1 to jump 1,000,000), the best canopy pilots in the world are constatly feeding off each other to learn to do things better and safer why should any of us be different?? Who among us as skydivers can say that they do not need any more canopy skills?? Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I dunno dude, looks like plenty of pilots are bringing the heat. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I'll throw down my two bits for consideration and leave it at that. If we as skydivers truly want to make things safer, A) The blame game has to cease and B) We should be using solid root cause analysis after each incident. Root cause analysis for those don't know is the reverse engineering of an event. You take the outcome no matter how major or minor and work your way backwards. This will give you defined steps that lead to the incident. I used this technique when I was a safety manager for the airlines and it is very effective when performed correctly. Very rarely does the "fix" include drastic changes as it has been proven time and time again that drastic changes to an already established procedure tend to cause more problems than they fix. As far as the landing pattern issue goes, (and I doubt many would argue why this is all of a sudden such a high priority) there are some very simple things that should be addressed that were perhaps taken for granted in Dublin. 1. Always review the breakoff procedure (staged altitude break offs for bigger ways, barrel roll before deployment to help ensure clear airspace). The end of the dirt dive should never be "break at 3,500, and we'll see ya on the ground". 2. Always go over the pattern of flight, reenforce the use of the "playground" this should be done regardless of the experience level. 3. If the dive is a larger way enforce the no hook turn law. Always reinterrate to keep the head on a swivel and clear the airspace before making any canopy inputs. All this stuff seems kinda simple and pedestrian right.....however more times than not the basics of safe skydiving and safe canopy flight are taken for granted. It could harm absolutely no-one to say out loud "Look guys and gals, we're gonna have thirty canopies in the air with varying ranges of vertical and horizontal separation.....follow the lefthand pattern, always insure you've got clean airspace, and lets keep turns in the pattern to 90 degrees, no hook turns". Personally I think reenforcement of the basics and a willingness to ground those not willing to follow basic safety measures will be far more productive than overhauling a system that would work if it was only enforced. 2. 1. Brea Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I know no one wants to hear it, but at ASC (where everyone is under the impression IT'S owners are just about money) hop n' pops are $11 out of the Otter all day every day 10 jumpers flies the load (usually less if everyone is just doing hop n' pops) Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

Fucker......it could only be slutty freestyle with you. Sorry bro I'd love to catch up with you, but longmont and Nationals already have money down on them. hopefully next year we won't have to go all the way to Colorado AGAIN. You going the ranch??? Might cach you there if I could manage to keep my canopy for more than 20 jumps. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!

I probably missed this somewhere, but I believe someone accused swoopers of accepting the fact that they were going to get hurt or something to that affect. To clarify: Swoopers.....true swoopers or high perf canopy pilots take the time and spend the money to learn to mitigate risks, learn and accept their limitations and excell safely. There is a world a diference between a skydiver under a high performance wing and a true Swooper. What sucks is that it seems anyone who does a hook turn or flies a high wing loaded canopy gets grouped in and labeled as a swooper. A true swooper is a student of canopy flight, more accurately safe canopy flight. A swooper knows and understands the risks involved and more importantly how to mitigate them by knowing their own limitations as well as those of the equipment being employed. The most dangerous thing in the air is the skydiver who has enough jumps that they are allowed to fly whatever they want, who has never taken the time to explore the above limitations, and as such does not have the tools to mitigate risks or avoid bad situations. Coming soon to a bowl of Wheaties near you!!