Andy9o8

Agree completely. One good way the sport has changed in the past 30 years is that once you’re off student status, you don’t have to just hook up with your fellow 40 jump wonders to teach each other bad habits in the sky until you cross that magic 100 jump number, when the skygods would stop treating you like you have b.o. and be willing to teach you some serious RW. It was always great when an up-timer would jump with you and teach you great stuff just for the fun of doing so. Now, there’s a lot more willingness by up-timers to help low-timers with the learning curve early on. But I like to do it to pay it forward to novices, and it bugs me when I see it done by people just looking to avoid paying for what are essentially their fun jumps.

What did your instructor say when you debriefed the jump? Exactly. If you’ve already gotten an answer to this from your instructor, go with that answer. If you haven’t asked him that particular question yet, go back and ask him. He’s in the best position to give you the proper answer.

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed." "OH NO!" the president exclaims. "That's terrible!" His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the president sits, head in hands. Finally, president looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

Same issue still arises. In most U.S. states, a waiver signed by anyone under 18 is not valid, nor can a parent or guardian waive a juvenile's right to sue. This is the case regardless of whether it's a tandem, static line, AFF, whatever.

Like others, if it’s a truly serious inquiry, I try to clear up the whuffo misconception that the main cause of fatality is equipment failure; I explain that sport parachutes, while not foolproof, are designed to be extremely reliable, and that the main cause of most fatalities is human error. Just this past week, my own (whuffo) sister-in-law, who’s known me for 25+ years, said, “Well, the biggest danger is you never know who’s packed your parachute”, to which my first response was, “Where on Earth did you get that idea?” Then I proceeded to patiently educate her a bit. But I’ve also developed a sniffer for the “questions” that are really just unsolicited, thinly-veiled value statements about my life’s choices, and in those cases I often try to just deflect the discussion, because frankly, after years of answering the same damn questions over & over again (“Hey, whadda ya do if yer big chute don’t open & then yer safety chute don’t open either?”), I get a little weary of it. I know, I should try to be a good ambassador for the sport, but to be honest, sometimes I just don’t have the patience for it. In those cases, a brief, dismissive answer like Spizzzarko’s “It happens” might be all they get. Put another way: if they want me to explain the sport, I'll give it a whirl. If what they really want is for me to explain myself, forget it.

Are you calling me little?

Just start off slowly, with 2 and 3-ways, and build up as you gain control and comfort. If you wish, do a few solo tracking dives just to get used to it. But for practice/training, it does help to have at least 1 other person for that point of reference.

This is exactly the kind of question you should ask your instructor. This can be a great forum, but online is no place for a new student to get life-saving training advice.

Tracking, and doing it consistently well, is an absolutely crucial skill to master ASAP if you're going to be jumping with other people; your and everyone else's life depends on it. For this reason, I think tracking jumps should be an integral part of every novice's training. Plus, they're a hell of a lot of fun, aren't they?

In addition to what everyone else has said here, remember that in the northern U.S. and Canada an awful lot of jumpers lay off for 4 to 6 months every winter, then get re-current every Spring. You'll be fine. Be safe and thanks for your service!

OK, so let's summarize the lesson from all these posts: 1. Kids are fine at a DZ. They're a joy to have around for everyone; and they'll be fine. 2. The DZ is no place for kids. They're a pain in the ass to other people; and they'll get themselves into trouble. 3. You won't have time for jumping if you have kids, or time for your kids if you jump. 4. It's not all that hard to balance jumping and having kids. 5. Your ex-partner's a dick, and is just using this issue to be a control freak. 6. Your ex-partner's a dick, but he's got the kid's best interest at heart 7. You shouldn't place yourself at high risk by jumping while your kids are still small. 8. Lots of people jump while their kids are small, and they're caring, responsible parents. Hope this clears it all up for you.

.....as well as this one: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1840025#1840025

The development where my parents live is mostly retirees. (In South Florida...who'd have guessed?) They all have a running joke making fun of themselves: "If you can't remember something, forget about it!"

Make friends with the chickens. Take them skydiving with you. Sport rigs don't fit on chickens. See how well they fly.

Obviously, we're not talking about light beer.

Manufacturers’ service bulletins to warn consumers of a product’s newly-discovered hazard or limitations is not a new concept. Consumers have a responsibility to use a product responsibly, but they must have the information at hand to make an informed decision on whether or not to use the product, and if so, how best to use it, depending on the potential conditions of use. Also, manufacturers have a duty to warn the consumer of the hazardous consequences of any reasonably-anticipatable use (which even includes reasonably-anticipatable mis-use) of the product. Since the manufacturer is usually in the best position to possess the most current information about its product, then the manufacturer has a responsibility to provide that information to the consumer as quickly and as prominently as possible. (And “prominent” means more than just burying a generic, self-serving disclaimer in a manual.) The Airtec manual seems to be, at best, ambiguous about whether hi-speed HP canopy maneuvers may or may not activate the Cypres. However, the generally-accepted standard is that ambiguities, especially about safety, in product documentation issued by a manufacturer or distributor are almost always resolved in favor of the consumer. Bottom line: jumpers must use their Cypres responsibly, but Airtec should have issued a clear and prominent service bulletin as soon as they appreciated this particular hazard -- and that means at least months ago (and possibly as early as 2001). Unfortunately, manufacturers acting too slowly (or not at all) to issue safety service bulletins is also not a new concept. Don’t get mad at me; I didn’t invent these standards, I’m just the messenger.

I'll take it!!

Jethro Tull (every album; Ian Anderson is God) Steely Dan (esp. Royal Scam and Aja, in that order) Yes Neil Young -Anything with Clapton on it Allman Bros. Outlaws

It just kissed FLA with a taste of what's yet to come. Reports now will reach Category 4 by mid-day tomorrow. Projected track looks headed right for you folks on the TX coast. Be safe, all!!

My post acknowledges the value of frap hats for tandem students; but my main focus was to address situations other than that

A hard-shell helmet helps protect your noggin, and especially that gooey CPU inside it, in case some of these not-so-uncommon things might happen: - you land on a paved surface like a runway or road and whack your head in the process - you do an off landing into rough terrain, PLF, and conk your head on a rock - you flare too early, or too late, and just plain smack your head on the ground in the process. Not all landings are in nice, soft grass. The dirt in the desert sun gets pretty hard. - you whang your head on the side of the door on exit - you're in a flat spin during AFF and smack into your AFFI hard when he docks to save your butt - you're on a RW or FF jump & you and another jumper smack into each other in freefall - etc, etc. Tandem students, quite properly, wear either frap hats or nothing at all because you just can't have the TI getting smacked in the face by a student's hard helmet. Other than that and maybe keeping yor head warm, however, as another jumper on these forums (Hi, Tom) has aptly said, frap hats don't do a whole lot more than contain your leaking grey matter after you crack open your cranium.

You weren't a moron; you were a new student. That should have been part of your JM's final gear check of you. If you were a new student -even if that subject might have been covered in your training and you simply forgot - the final fault of missing that before boarding the plane was mainly your JM's.

I can understand developing a preference for a particular discipline (although that’s not my personality; I enjoy sampling everything). But I just don’t understand the mentality that you “must” choose a discipline in skydiving, kind of like you “must” declare a major in college. Sounds too much like work to me.

I think that's a short-sighted attitude. Please look again at the other posts in this thread: 80% to 90% of passengers/students who are trained to pull, do so. Treat customers like mere passengers, you will see them once, and then they're gone. Treat them as student skydivers in training, a few will want to come back for more training and become your fellow skydivers.

You mean people, right?