johnny1488

I have around 1500 jumps on 330 and 365 TX2s after over 10,000 on original Icarus tandems. This canopy is the best I’ve ever flown. Openings are long, but we’ll worth it. I jump the steep trim models, and I don’t get stuck in the air. Super responsive, powerful flare, just a joy to work with. The only downside is it’s tough to stand up in no wind, but with the slightest clean breeze it’s really nice. Looking forward to my next 10,000 tandems with these canopies.

Just found this thread, and you get to add me :) John Kieran from The Ranch Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

1 out of about 5000. All harness. and g force, that she asked for. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Yeah, what could go wrong with an inexperienced jumper wearing a camera besides a snag? http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4219281%3Bsb%3Dpost_latest_reply%3Bso%3DASC%3Bforum_view%3Dforum_view_collapsed%3Bguest%3D82134154 Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Well you can always talk about rigging errors, but then again a rigger could hook up your reserve slinks wrong too. A rigger should be competent enough to do the job, but we all know that is no guarantee. I've seen freebags come back after a cutaway with the seal thread still intact on the skyhook, but with what appears to be enough slack to allow the red lanyard to pass off the hook. Is that design or rigging or some unmeasurable combination of both? The end result is the skyhook in no way guarantees a faster reserve deployment, and a lot of jumpers treat it as it does. Even if it does work, at best it saves about 1 second and about 100-200 feet. And for those of you that say that could be the difference between life or death, that jumper would have had to made the decision to cutaway really low to have that be the case. And then who is to blame? Bill Booth for not making the skyhook perfect?Or the jumper making piss poor altitude decisions and relying on a backup device to save them. Pull and pray! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Do you want the ambient temperature and the load number the jumper was on? I don't know how to give the specifics you want over the Internet. Suffice to say I have seen the p/c "win the race" over the red lanyard on not only tandem and sport rigs, but on a upt 3 canopy setup. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

One specific case was and intentional cutaway on upt's rig. Just a normal rsl deployment. Then Greg wrapped the seal thread a few more times on the repack. Others were random tandem and sport cutaways I have witnessed. It worked more than it didn't, but I've seen it function as a regular rsl numerous times. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

And if you are pointing to the chicago incident as a recommendation for a skyhook, you have no idea how they work. HAd that been a normal RSL, the jumper in question would have most likely had 2 canopies out, as opposed to having one half of his main cutaway. He could just as easily have died as a result of that incident, it was pure luck and not engineering that allowed him to survive. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I think thats what you meant to say, If you know the skyhook you know it is no guarantee. I have seen it fail to "skyhook" plenty of time when rigged properly. It as actually only an RSL. It is a reserve static line. How it functions is a bit different, but it is still only an RSL. As with all RSLs, they are backup devices , not to be relied on. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I am sure I will set off some alarms here, but buy the rig you like because of the rig, not marketing. All the main rigs on the market today have RSLs available. Thats all a skyhook or a drx is, is an RSL. Far too many new jumpers but far too much weight in the "skyhook" as far as safety goes. Educate yourself on the systems, you will see that a regular RSL will serve the purpose just fine. If you decide on a rig that offers a skyhook, then by all means get one if it makes you feel good, but I would strongly recommend not excluding a rig because it does not offer an over engineered rsl. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

I think you meant to say "and the drouge WAS thrown while the pair was on its side to gain stability. " Im sure he didnt have to, flying is always an option. As for why I do it, I love it and it pays the bills. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

The best solution I have for that is to run your rig longer. The longer the rigs mlw, the higher the student sits. I put the chest strap just under my throat under canopy. The new sigma harness is almost all the way out when I jump it. It's way more comfortable then having it jacked up on my back. I like my sport rig tight but my tandem loose (long). It's a tool for me to get the job done. There no reason you can't adjust the harness correctly (being able to arch but also be completely safe) and have a great landing. The sigma harness makes it super easy to have the students legs up when done properly. Never low on me. I'm 6' and have landed students as tall as 6'9" with no problem. Plus the fat chicks. Can't forget about them! Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

What he said. But seriously, its all about harness. Landing technique is up to the individual, but as far as i'm concerned, there is only one way to harness, the right way. RTFM. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

The only time I was tought to go out of sequence was a jumper entanglement with a deployed drouge, which was rsl, cutaway, release drouge. Its to get you away from the mess, and give the jumper a fighting chance. Now this could be the most avoidable of all tandem problems, but we try to think of every scenario. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Probably that they can make a jump. We tell our students we take up to 225. Anything over that we say there is no guarantee they will make a jump. We routinely take up to 240-250. Anything over that, there is only one or 2 instructors that can take them. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

If what I gave him was a grilling, people here must have some pretty thin skin. Sorry if I grilled anyone, my bad Again, not my finest approach, but nothing I would ever feel the need to call someone on. If your approaches are always perfect, you got one up on me. I'm sure we are all taking this a bit personally. I'll throw the approach out and stand by the original intent of my post to jumpdude, that is a great example of a sliding landing as apposed to a butt bomb. It's a great skill to learn and at least where I jump, is the landing you will see 90% of the time from all of our instructors. Regardless of canopy size, condition and student size, you can pretty much guarantee a student can get up from a landing injury free if you keep them from touching the ground. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Was that my best approach, of course not, but dangerous? That's a bit of a stretch. No more so than a braked approach. I put the video up not for my approach (and subsequent corrections for landing as close as possible to my video) but for the sliding landing to show an alternative to the aforementioned "butt bomb". I approach most of my landings with the intention of sliding. For me it takes a lot less effort, less wear and tear on my body and a overall better experience for my students. If that is somehow my lack of skill and competence, I guess I haven't learned much in my almost 4000 tandems. Maybe in the next 4000 I can learn to do it right. I was only trying to show that sliding landings can be well exectued and safe for all those involved, especially new tandem masters. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Why? The goal of my jump isn't to stand up, it is to bring the student back safely. I could force a lot of landings, but why? I don't add speed to stand or replace swooping my own canopy, if I do it it's to make the landing easier. I think youre over thinking the importance of standing a tandem landing. More speed means more risk. And more speed doesn't nessecarily make it easier to stop. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

here's some pics to demo what I was talking about 1 and 2 are average girls, much easier to lift. big guy is not a huge guy, but probably 6-1 and over 200lbs, and you can keep them off the ground pretty easily too, but once you commit to lifting and sliding, standing isn't much of an option. And if i can figure out my youtube name, I have some landings to put on also. Here's all I got for now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktJFLbraPEw Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Well for mst of my tandem career I was about 215, and I routinely took my max up to 235, but average i guess would be a 175 student on a 365 most of the time, but sometimes I use a 330 on back to backs. So on my everyday rig, anywhere from 1.0 to 1.35 on my 365. And I have gone up to a 1.5 on a 330, but prefer not to slide as much on my 365. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Well the butt bomb is the wrong way to approach it. I always put my feet down and slide, lifting the student up. I control the rate of decent (of our bodies) and usually, with most people, have them land on my lap. It's very soft and a great experience for them. If there is some wind, and as i'm sliding I think I could stand, I dig a bit harder to stop. If I come to a stop and all they have to do is put their feet down, I tell them to. Even if they don't we can still sit and they rarely touch the ground. I have seen more botched attempted standups, and think instructors shouldn't try so hard to do it until they really know what they are doing, in the case of some instructors, could be never. It is ridiculous how little speed you have to add to a tandem to get the desired result some instructors put their students in mortal danger for. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

i would give a call to San Diego. From what I remember they had a bunch in their student fleet. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Agreed. I don't arch at all, I fly with my knees down quite a bit. I just think putting the student into the wind instead of expecting anything when you exit is the key. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Exactly. A good strong launch is the best way to start any tandem jump. If you're sitting, you really need to lift yourself up and off of the plane. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome

Great job from my view. if you are looking for tips, really place yourself into the wind with your legs. Really lift the students weight (if your porter has a step) and place yourself into the wind and you'ld be amazed at what you can overcome with a little sheer force. it will usually give you at least a second or 2 in the wind regardless of the student. Johnny --"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!" Mike Rome