Tonto

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Posts posted by Tonto


  1. Quote

    I think you should reconsider your ways of setup.



    Agreed.

    To quote a highly respected swooper, the ideal is to hit an imaginary "tennis ball sized target" out in space at the right point to start your swoop.

    Truth is, you should be able to fly through an imaginary tennis COURT sized target and still engineer enough accuracy to make the gates every time.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  2. I've been using a Neptune now for 2.5 years (Around 1000 dives) My 1st 3 weeks were pretty rough, and since then, my 2 Neptunes and my wave have worked perfectly. The main problems people have with Neptunes is either trying to get the last cent's worth of juice out of the battery, and not updating the software.

    If you're going near water, get a Neptune.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  3. Quote

    They should at least be able to read a winds aloft forecast and relate that to the local DZ.



    You mention this quite a bit. Maybe your weather people there are better than ours here - but I will not allow students to go off a forecast. It's a forecast, and if incorrect, will result in an incorrect exit point. DZ's here are up to 180km from the nearest major city, and that's where the forecast is for.

    We do not allow students on the 1st load. Once we see where seniors open, and adjust the spot if nessesary, then student operations commence.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  4. That's pretty much the way it's done. Substitute "mine dumps" for railway tracks, and "dirt road to boarding point" for hangar and you're spot on.

    When I 1st visited the US in 1992, I noticed that people even gave directions to their houses using N,S, E and W. Some people's cars (admittedly cars like Chev Suburbans) even had compasses in them.

    That simply doesn't happen here. When I meet a new student, if they've never even thought about a compass before, it's simply one more thing they would need to learn, and I prefer to keep the info they manage to absorb as related to the dive as possible. Even pilots respond to left and right. If I'm spotting, I'll give them left or right, not North or South. If I'm flying a wingsuit, I'll ask them if they're decending to the left or right. When I plan a pattern it's left or right.
    When I read landing pattern chatter in S & CC, it's left hand pattern, or right hand pattern. These are constants, relative to the aircraft or to our canopies.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.