psychoswooper

This is terrible news. One of those things that’s hard to believe. Fly free forever, girl.

I cannot begin to count how many tandems I’ve “ caught” literally in the thousands. Here’s what works best for me. I gage where the tandem is going to land. Then I place myself slightly downwind of that point. ( you can get really good at this) & look over my right shoulder to see what if any adjustments are needed. I start running forward towards the touch down point before they touch down and Then reach out and snag the toggle As they touch down while remaining in motion . Think baton pass. It’s takes good timing and is teamwork between you and the TM but it works great. If you’re standing there facing the incoming tandem & then have to pivot to pull the toggle, you’re already behind the power curve.

No, not that. I mean mounted on top of the TM's helmet as in sticking up on top of the head!

I am really curious as to the people who voted "no problem" do you seriously not recognize any problem with having a nasty protruding line catcher on top of your head on a Tandem jump (regardless of the passenger)? And have you ever seen video of Tandem reserve deployments up close? Sometimes all kinds of stuff is swimming around up there. Do you think this is making the skydive "as safe as possible" for the passenger? Do you realize that Tandem pairs are sometimes not very stable during reserve deployments? Are you actually a TM? I really want to hear why you think it is not a problem.

OMG hilarious.. Yes ..like that!

Recently saw photos of a TM taking a paraplegic on Tandem. TM wore both Handi Cam and top center mounted Go-Pros even though there was outside video. I personally think the top-mount was insane, (having seen many Sky-hook deployed reserve videos) and even the Handi Cam was a bad idea but that's just me. Wondered what other (preferably Tm's) thought? Note: the psgr used to jump and a group of highly skilled jumpers built a big round on the Tandem. Not sure but I think it was also the TMs 1st Handicapped passenger.

Our DZ pays $40 on 1 JM levels and $40/$25 on 2 JM levels. JM who does ground prep gets the $40

Used to work at a DZ in Locarno Switzerland. All Tandems had to walk down to the control tower and back in a certain amount of time. I can't remember the time but it required a fast-ish pace. Solo students had to do that in a much shorter time, plus a fast sprint, standing broad jump further than their height, and shimmy up a 3 meter pole. Instructors had to do it with them :) Some females lacked the upper body strength for the pole climb-initially-but we would see them about 3-4 weeks later flying up the pole!

The only one's who like handcam are the ones getting paid to do it. I beg to differ. We offered both for a while. Showed examples of both to customers (and it was good quality outside video) 95% of customers chose handcam (good hand-cam) primarily because of the under canopy footage and being able to hear the conversation under canopy. It's not just all about the freefall. A first jump is a total experience.

Hmmm, I see neither the word "never" nor "always" in either of my posts.....In fact I even make a reference to "giving a pass" meaning that sometimes (there's a word I bet you like!) there is room for flexibility IF a full knowledge of the jumpers background, skills, etc. are well known which was not the case in this instance.

If these guys go around "shopping" for a DZ to kill them self’s at, all you can do is make sure it isn't yours. I don't think this young jumper was "shopping" for a DZ to say "yes" and I don't fault him at all. I think he may have thought that the only issue was the original side-mounting of the camera and, having changed that, was smart enough to seek out the advice of the S&TA. My concern is about the S&TA who did not know enough about this jumper's background (which was trouble free- but there was no way for the S&TA to know that) to give him a pass on starting earlier than the USPA recommends without so much as a phone call to the jumpers home DZ. I wonder if he was asked "how many jumps on your present canopy?" for example. Or "Have you ever had a cut-a-way?" It seems as if the S&TA him/herself may not have been very well informed, because frankly . "It's a Go-Pro and it's top mounted so it will be OK." sounds more like something that would be said by somebody with much less experience and knowledge of past accidents regarding cameras than I would expect an S&TA to have.

110 Jumps...Local S&TA who was also jumper's AFF I and knows jumpers complete history, skill level etc.....says" NO, you can't jump that GO-Pro just yet" First off It is mounted horribly on the side with major snag points, and besides, USPA recommends a higher experience level.....Jumper visits other well known SE FL DZ. 1st time there, first time jumping new main canopy as well. ..S&TA who just met jumper says....Since it's a Go-Pro & has now been top mounted it's OK. WTF? First time at this DZ, 1st jump on new canopy. 1st time jumping camera....what could possibly go wrong??? Why even bother trying to go by USPA recommendations? Fuck it...do what ever the hell you want. I don't care anymore.

hmm that point is interesting. my opinion is your instructor should have never allowed to jump like that. glad ur ok and managed to land safely in the end. and congrats on passing your aff. I agree. Most experienced AFF I's are well aware of the need for contrasting colors on cut-a-way handles and jumpsuits. Some resolve this problem quite easily by simply putting a stripe (black for example) on the cutaway handle. Locating your handle quickly could make a difference some day. You did great. But take this lesson away with you.

QuoteI miss waking up to this: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_DKWlrA24k&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/url Wake up to that song? Hell we heard it right smack in the middle of our party time:). We used to go in a DZ group of 20-25 people. 7 years in a row. The "Other Quincy" gang would reorganise their vacations in a heatbeat for another chance to do a WFFC. Too bad the "youngsters" will probably never know anything close...thousands not hundreds of jumpers all in one place...Jet jumps, the wild helicopter rides, corn fields... I hope they do. What happens at Quincy/Rantoul stays at Quincy/Rantoul....

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