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....

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3380901;page=unread#unread

Everyone gets all outraged by skyride tactics- often rightfully so- but there are DZOs doing stuff just as sleazy. There's a DZ nearby that ran a Groupon caiming a regular Tandem price of $299.99. You could go on their website & book it for $189 thru ProSkydiving's online reservation program. When Groupon found out, did they make the DZ change the groupon? NO. But the DZ took all references to regular price off their website. (does this make them conspirators?) They also claimed (in the Groupon deal) an 18 place plane, 14K and Beach landings while knowing they had a 182 went to around 10K & are far inland. But I know some people who bought the deal & are going to go there and demand what they paid for & go to the State Attorney when the "Bait & Switch" happens.

First off geography must have not been a priority for you in school because Panama City is not near that far from the Airport we are using. I guess geography is not a priority for Google Maps. They must have attended the same school I did. I just put in Panama City Beach, FL as my starting point, since that's where I'll be, and Altha, FL which is the address you gave as your location as my destination. 3 different routes showed 60.9 miles, 77.6 miles and 69.5 miles. So I rounded. I don't understand why you are mad that people just want accurate information, I would think that you would want everybody to know as much as possible.

You probably should just be upfront in telling peeps that its like 70+ miles and inland from Panama City Beach. That being said, how about the beach jumps, since we obviously can't fly all the way from the DZ to jump the beach. Are they leaving from a different (within the 25 mile rule)airport? Using helicopters on the beach or what?

Climbed to a point above her, lowered a rope w/caribiner, she put it thru her harness at shoulder, clipped in & cut-a-way, then he lowered her from above. Pretty sure he used some version of a figure 8 system. Then he retrieved the canopy, & lowered himself.

Teaching for 15 years. I've seen students, tandems and experienced jumpers cut away, some with the RSL, some without. None of them, RSL or not, ever deployed the reserve. I think it goes without saying that the cut-a-ways without RSLs, of course would not deploy the reserve unless they were some kind of SOS system.

Bagged square

If you do land in high winds and have to cut away the main, the RSL will open your reserve. 99 times out of 100, the reserve will not inflate - so that's not really a big issue Just curious where this figure of 99/100 came from. Has anybody ever actually tested it? Has there ever even been 100 cutaways on the ground with RSLs attached? In 26 years of being on DZs pretty much full time, I've only ever seen 1 ground deployed reserve by a jumper being dragged in high winds, and in that case the reserve DID inflate and dragged the jumper all the way across the airport into a fence seperating the airport from a highway. Just as easily could've dragged jumper into a spinning prop or highway traffic had the fence not been there.

Lesson learned . The DZ or a friend needs to video the rescue just in case it goes to court.18 guys/gals watching and 3 guys working. Had a situation once at our DZ. Girl landed in tree. Literally hanging by about 10-12 " of fabric caught on a branch with no branches underneath & wind swinging her around. Neighbors called 911. DZ personal gets there ready to get her down. Cops won't let us do it. 45 minutes, 2 Firetrucks, 6 ambulances & 30-40 Law enforcement & rescue personal later, I finally get out the video camera & start filming while narrating " Here we are, it's been 45 minutes, they won't let us get her down but they are standing around scratching their heads......in the meantime at any minute the wind could knock her down or the branch could break & she's gonna fall 50 feet in front of all these little kids." The Police chief immediately walked over & asked, "Can your guy really get her down?" I answered , "Yes, he can." He said "OK, go ahead." And about 10 minutes later "Super Dave" had her down.

Haha, yeah, glad I dodged that bullet. And he didn't end up on a list of missing persons The amount of $$ is relatively small, it's the principle of the thing that bugs me. I was taught that your word is the the only thing of real value that you have.

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