Tonto

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Posts posted by Tonto

  1. Quote


    I was pleasantly surprised by the USA's technical skills. There is absolutely no reason why they shouldn't become a world power in international rugby in years to come.



    Agreed completely. There were 50 min of the game where they really performed well!

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  2. Ah well.

    Must be the hemisphere divide again. As I said, I know which is North, South, East and West. I'd have to think about it each time, but our DZ does 16000 decents a year, weekends only, and somehow, I've managed to get by without EVER having to work with students using N, S, E or W.

    Maybe I've just been really, really lucky, or maybe there are other methods that can be used equally effectively. Do you think birds know how to use a compass?

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  6. Cost of courier is prohibitive, + garenteed 100% import duty + 14% VAT. The 9 - 13 L goes for $84. Landed here it would cost around $240, and that's too expensive for me..

    If it's sent US mail it may dodge the duty, but can't be insured, and it simply doesn't get here.

    What I'll probably do is have it shipped to a friend in the US and then have them bring it with them when they visit, or I'll pick it up when I'm there.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  8. Hi All,

    I've only ever used Harris bipods.

    My dealer can't get them in. (Im in Africa, remember..)

    He can get me a Redfield. I'm familiar with Redfield optics, but not their bipods. Anyone know if they are any good? I'm thinking Harris or nothing at the moment.

    It'll go under a LH AA 400S Classic / 6 - 24 x 56

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  9. Quote

    Now stay on the east side of the airport."



    I have 2500 dives at my current DZ. I have no idea what the east side is. I could work it out thinking of where the sun sets, but that's cos I've watched the sun set there for 10 years.

    I call my students by their names. I make around a dollar a second out of them. The very least I can do is remember their names.

    After all, I just said "Hey {Students name}! Are you ready to skydive? Come to the door with me." about 50 seconds before their canopy opens.

    (And I have a CRAP memory.)

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  13. Quote

    Quote


    Wow 39 mph average in a Phantom, this is phenomenal, I have a hard time keeping it at 50 (exit weight 170 lbs - 5'10") :( how about telling us the secret? :S



    I tend to average low 60's usually. So I'd love to know the secret too.


    I'm between 50 and 55 sustained for the whole flight in my Blade. I keep hearing numbers in the 30's, but I seem to fly OK with others, no matter who those others may be. (Or what they say they can do.)

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  16. Just like canopy size, power doesn't scale.

    50cc motorcycles makearound 8bhp and are a joke. That joke is 160 BHPL, or 800 BHP for a 5 litre car. There are no 800hp cars with 10000km service intervals.

    Around 500cc is where good power is made, thus 2 cylender 1000cc bikes, Subaru 2L 4 cylenders, a brace of 3 litre V6's, 4 litre V8's, 5 litre V12's etc.

    It's also not only about power. It's about torque. If you took the 100+ BHP engine out of a Yamaha R1, and put it in a 4 seat family car than normally has a 65 BHP engine, it would smoke the clutch all day long and never get going.

    Plus the vibration of a 4 litre 2 cylender car would be impossible to live with in practical terms even if it delivered the power.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  17. Sorry if this is a thread hijack, but I've been looking at the numbers on my Neptune.

    Our exit altitude is 11000ft. It's the highest in the country, and is equalled by 2 other DZ's. Our DZ is 5000ft AMSL and going higher creates hypoxia issues requiring O2, etc.
    An AFF L1 begins deployment sequence at 5500ft.
    Main side needs to secure the pull by 4000ft.
    If they fail, reserve side needs to secure the pull by 3500ft.

    Then the AFF I's need separation. We need to be under canopy by 2000ft.

    For the life of me, with over 2000 AFF dives, I cannot see a scenario where being open with your student after clearing your airspace and ensuring horizontal separation from the other AFF I and the camera person is even remotely possible.

    Our AFF students are on radio, and the duty instructor - who remains on the ground - deals with radio for all AFF students still on double instructor levels, and all SL students prior to PRCP's. If they cannot fly a pattern, they do not pass to single Instructor levels/PRCP's.

    The thought that not being open with your student is somehow doing them a dis-service irks me somewhat. I have been doing AFF since 1992, and have not yet had a student "lose" me. If this process of being open with the student is so required, why are our SL students not followed out by a senior jumper, or why are there not 3 AFF instructors, 2 for freefall and 1 for canopy coaching.

    I think the efforts to "open with the student" pose far, far more risk to the AFF team than properly training the student to land without assistance prior to embarking on AFF L1. Our radio is not used if the student is responding as trained. We have paddles as a back up should the radio fail.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  18. I've been out twice for injury.

    1st for 7 months. Broke my ankle under a round reserve with no PLF on jump number 10 in Feb 1985. My body was fine after 3 months, but it took awhile to get my head around jumping again.

    2nd was a smashed femur in Feb 1987. I was on crutches for a year, but was jumping (stupidly, in retrospect) in less than 2 months.

    I've not been injured since 1987. Amazing what a manual attitude adjustment can do.;)

    Good luck with your recovery!

    t

    It's the year of the Pig.

  20. I think you need to change the title of your thread to "Time to get a coach rating."

    800 jumps since the mid 1980's is 35 jumps a year. 24 years in the sport and no D licence. Jumping with students is a serious business. You don't sound very serious to me.

    I'm pretty sure some of those 100 jump coaches you have so little respect for could fly circles around you. Some may even have a positive, progressive attitude and may add more value to a 2 way with a student than someone who hasn't worked on a new skill since last century.

    Why do you want to jump with students? And if you do, why do you think a coach rating is a bad idea? I'm on another continent, but I'm a USPA member as well as being a member of our own governing body. The cost of a coach rating, or USPA membership is NOTHING compared to the cost of skydiving.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  21. Quote


    dont you guys work on a triband system there?



    They work on the patchwork quilt system there. It's archaic. Network operators "block" the phones so you cannot use it with other SP's sims.:D That went to court here 10 years back. If you buy a phone, whether on contract or cash - it's your phone. No one has the right to "block" it.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  22. :D

    No.. We were married, had a daughter, got divorced, she fell pregnant with someone else. Kids are now 13 and 9, and I take them both on the weekends and treat them both as my own. Not the little one's fault, but a little more money would certainly help their family out.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  23. Quote

    I can see how jumping the "fun canopy" might make sense to the 'weekend' AFFI. But they should then completely avoid taking a student that needs this kind of help.



    I'm a "weekend" AFF I, but I think your differentiation places the student at risk. I'm currently doing 250+ AFF dives a year and have been since 2002. Why should the fact that I have a full time job let me do worse AFF?

    As for the "opening with the student" debate, I think it depends on the consequences of an out landing, landing hazards, etc. I've attached a pic of an AFF exit with a student. The nearest hazard to the DZ is about a mile away. It's the town we jump near. The rest is open veld. Not even a single tree. Out landings have little consequence here.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  24. I have to disagree with you there.

    If you look carefully you'll see it's fine on the seam. The rig is packed with a lot of the bulk along the centreline, and if more of the bulk was in the outside of the main pack tray those wrinkles would be filled out.

    Edit to add: Both the Sabre II 190 and the PD 176R fit "Snug" into the M5, so it may well be packing distribution.

    Has the OP checked to see that they have an M5 bag?

    Just as a reference, I posted this thread back in 2005 about the wrinkles in my Mirage G4.

    http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1458173;search_string=Wrinkles%20Mirage%20G4;#1458173

    As you may have guessed, it was all solved with packing.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.

  25. Quote

    At our DZ, we agree that one instructor will 'fly' (usually reserve side), the other instructor will 'ride'



    We used this in the 90's until a dive went to bits and both instructors "flew" expecting the other to "ride."

    After that we switched to a hard Reserve flies and main stays rule, and we've had no issues since.

    t
    It's the year of the Pig.