topdocker

Thanks. That was a bundle of help. When you have been in the sport longer than he has I am sure he will welcome your canopy advice. I am asking a legitimate question about how to slow the opening of an existing canopy. While I'm sure there are some out there than feel a guy with 40 years in the sport "ain't shit" if he isn't jumping a 60 sq ft canopy and swooping a pit of crocodiles, I feel I should point out that gear selection is a personal choice and he likes the raven. When it was ordered he didn't realize the microline would cause such hard openings. Short of relining the canopy I am simply asking if anyone has some actual helpful advice as to how to slow the openings. That is a legitimate answer. You just don't want to hear that there may have been a poor selection of equipment. Back in the 80's, a Raven was a good, solid canopy. but today, the technologies have evolved and there are much better selections available. It's hard to imagine an F-111 canopy opening hard, especially a Raven, they had such a reputation for slow openings. (Back in the day standard, not today's standard.) Is it F-111? top Jump more, post less!

Lost in all this is that the Sequentials were originally organized by Robby Bigley, one of the most kind, talented, and all around best people on the planet. When Robby died in 2009, his influence on those around him was so strong that they chose to keep the event running in his honor, with the ideas Robby professed: always teaching, always striving, always doing more, and always smiling. Simon has done more to dishonor Robby than any person I know. He may want to call my friends names, ruin their record attempt, whatever. But to do such things at an event that was done to honor Robby is absolutely disgusting! My sincere hope is that every person, dz, etc that thinks about having Simon work as an organizer drops him immediately. Skydiving is still about trust in those around you to do their very best not to endanger your life and well-being, and I don't see anything worth trusting there. Bone Simon before he bones you. top Jump more, post less!

Also, how do you prove someone is local? USPA address on file? Official government issued ID? How long do they have to 'reside" in an area to be considered local? What about those that live in one state and jump in another? Lots of technical questions to be answered. Starting to sound like surfing.....Locals only! top Jump more, post less!

My thoughts are to go for way more than legal costs. Go for the "slander, liable and loss of business" as well. I doubt CQS has bought insurance to protect its officers in case someone sues the organization. Also, the DZ should sue the individuals involved in the CQS group, since three have complained so adamantly to the city about the legal activity at the airport. The wild thing is that CQS is giving the DZ great free publicity and actually increasing their business. Which increases the number of jumps, which increases the number of loads.... Too bad CQS can't take a page form its own book and STFU. top Jump more, post less!

I got Washington... Hell no! It rains too much there and I like to be warm when I do my outdoor sports. Maybe the should ask questions like: do you enjoy going outside without taking your closet with you? I'll stick to NorCal. top Jump more, post less!

Yes, its a bad idea. Yes, it's dangerous. Yes, here in the US it is an FAR violation. This is not the place to discuss it to have anything really come from it unless you are willing to tell us where it was and take the real possibility of being banned from the DZ. If you whole reason for this thread is to affect change, then call your Regional Director and explain things to him/her. Coming here whining about the cost of a jump but really complaining about safety practices at a DZ is pretty weak cheese. Especially since these are your only posts..... top Jump more, post less!

I'm just mystified that an empty King Air cannot produce enough power with one engine to maintain flight. Yes, the pilot idled the left engine to control the turn, but could he have maintained some power to keep the aircraft aloft? I'm not a pilot, so maybe someone who has knowledge of this aircraft and the engine-out procedures can enlighten me. top Jump more, post less!

I teach it in my Canopy Safety Course for jumpers. I have also had a seminar on it at Spaceland last year. The information is out there and people are willing to teach it. The question is, are jumpers willing to listen. top ETA: I think the emergency was handled very well here. "Flocking" instructions might need review though. Jump more, post less!

A skydiver on our DZ had that hapen once, so yeah, a PCIT on a pullout can happen Towed the PC with the container opened- my bet is uncocked PC. I bet you can feel it when you pull the PC into the airstream.... nothing there! top Jump more, post less!

Of course not..my husband is both TI rated Strong & UPT. Of course his membership with USPA doesn't give him his abilities nor experience. I'm referring to those who are neither manufacturer qualified, nor USPA rated. I'm only voicing my opinion as to why a USPA member Staffed at a USPA DZ, makes a decision to procedurally jeopardize the operations, or other Staffer's ratings, or would chose not to qualify, wait for approved issuance, renew...that's all ! Evidently, some dzs feel advertising as a USPA drop zone or skydiving center has its perks drawing students in...check out most of their websites, advertising this. So what's the point, if complying with USPA instructor ratings / regs is meaningless, but only useful when it comes to soliciting their dzs & students ? Scenario: Remember the day of that 1st jump. It was at a USPA dz. You had no clue what you were about to do, but put your entire trust into that charismatic instructor, you were about to turn your LIFE over to. Rather then hearing the instructor you are training & rigging up with, is a licensed & rated instructor, you are told: "he/she has practiced jumping the parachute gear & should be ok with the manufacturer that made the gear, but because we are members of an organization we must comply with their rules & regulations. Even though he/she has not received their rating from that organization yet, to do this jump with you, he/she should be all good to go...still want to go with this 'instructor', or would you rather go with someone here who's complied & qualified ?" What would most decide to do & why ?... just saying I also remember the days when people didn't discuss their dirty laundry online, but took things to the Regional Director or USPA. Of course, back then we didn't have "Group membership" to worry about or tandem ratings.... top Jump more, post less!

Also, Hollister, Monterey, or Norcal skydiving near Napa. top Jump more, post less!

Straight to reserve for me. Then while flying the reserve back, wonder how in the hell I got a PC in tow on a pull out! top Jump more, post less!

Like what? Some crappy ad in a magazine that only members get? It is not a coerced transaction. The group members give some value (money), they get some value in return. I don't know what they value, but it must be something, otherwise why would they bother? Mark Actually, it is coerced in many situations. Many municipal airports require membership for the dropzone to operate, therefore they DZO must purchase a private membership to operate at a public facility. top Jump more, post less!

Find people you like to jump with, get along with, and have a similar goal for the future. Check into one hotel room on Friday night and do not leave the room until Sunday at noon. If you haven't killed each other by then, you can be a team. Get the money issues sorted first and collect money for jumping up front. People tend to show up if their money is jumping regardless of their being there. I could write about twenty pages on this subject, but will spare you. Get through those two first! top Jump more, post less!

We will be there.... but CRW is at the end, so I am looking forward to selecting my XXL or S t-shirt. top Jump more, post less!

I don't blame the OP for all of what happened, but it is common to see jumpers commit to the landing area and tunnel vision their way to it. BOTH jumpers involved are fixated on the the landing area and not looking for traffic. Down low is where it is most critical to be mindful of other people but it is where jumpers absolute lock their gaze on the intended landing spot eliminating any peripheral vision. Good drivers are aware of traffic, check mirrors, and leave themselves "outs" in case another driver makes an error; same is true for good canopy drivers. How's about everyone fly with a little more vision and little more advanced planning and a little more room for error? Then we don't wind up with these kinds of video, filling out Incident Reports, or a brawl in the landing area. top Jump more, post less!

Cheated, he used explosives. We only got to use expletives. top Jump more, post less!

I impacted pretty hard. Hurt everywhere on my left side, hard to breath or get air into my lungs. I was conscious of everything through the entire incident and afterward. Laying in the field hearing people come for me was comforting. I recommend against it. top Jump more, post less!

But what if it has the unintentional consequences of: 1) Making jumpers think they have more time to deal with a bad canopy so more are injured or killed because they ride the mal that much longer, 2) the manufacturers continue to ignore the container/reserve extraction problem, so more jumpers are killed, 3) The BOD continue to think it is more important to cover the manufacturers' liability than it is to serve and save the members. How did a few people getting killed pulling low/getting their reserves out too low get a change in the BSR, when so many more people have been injured and killed with intentional hook turns and or poor canopy flying? It ain't about the people you save, its about who you serve. The BOD has spoken volumes about that...... top Jump more, post less!

Keep pushing. The easiest answer anyone can give you is no. Start the club and see who is interested in it. Ask to speak to the risk management people directly and show them the waivers you have already signed and the insurance being a member of USPA provides. (They can require any member of the club join USPA first). Enlist the help of USPA, your Regional Director, maybe some local DZ's. Check the stats of other clubs that are supported as to injuries sustained by those participants. Lacrosse, water polo, intramural football, etc. You be surprised at the injury rates in some of these (cheerleading especially!). Good luck! top Jump more, post less!

Time to put in a plug for better incident reporting. USPA needs more reports and more complete reports. Something like what Bryan Burke (Skydive Arizona) and TK Hayes (Z-Hills) write up. Many posters in this thread, including you, I'm afraid, seem to have the impression that USPA knows make/model/size etc of many or most of the suspect incidents. I'm not sure that's the case, and it's up to us to make sure USPA has the information it needs. I have also tried to collect information from a variety of sources, some confidential. I'd be happy if folks sent me more. So far, from the very thin information I have, there is nothing that points to a particular manufacturer or combination of components. Mark And we should also put a plug in for reporting online at USPA.org, which can by done anonymously. There are some notable DZ's that refuse to send in Incident Reports for whatever reason. But anyone can report an incident with as little or much information they want online without submitting their name. There is no reason not to submit an Incident Report after a fatality, it is the industry standard and I wish USPA would be more forceful about receiving them. People should send them in not just for fatalities, but for any "unusual" event that could be lessons could be learned. top Jump more, post less!

Craig, USPA never passed a BSR ( even temporarily ) about age limit of equipment. The BSR that you mention was about the age of jumpers. . Correct! Poor wording on my side! It was that a skydiver was responsible for knowing if there were any minimum age of user on each piece of equipment. Sorry. Totally effed that up. But, it was another example of manufacturers coming to the BOD and asking for a specific BSR that had nothing to do with safety. No member asks for it, and it gets enacted. top Jump more, post less!

Have you read anything in this thread? The whole concept is it should be a USPA issue if the organization is there to protect and serve skydivers. If they are there for the benefit of manufacturers, then they might not choose to make it their issue. If it is true that modern equipment does not pass the TCO standard, then USPA should be doing something about it because the organization is funded by the people using that equipment. I've read, and commented, a number of times in the thread. The USPA does not issue the TSO. The USPA has no regulatory authority over the manufacturers. The USPA does not have either the means nor the expertise to do its own independent equipment testing. All the USPA can do is what they have already done--alert skydivers that there are concerns about a number of incidents of the reserve not coming out in time. Actually they could do one more thing--they could actually release in a consolidated form all of the information they have about all of the accidents. So, if USPA has NOTHING to do with gear that skydivers use, it is the job of the FAA (formally) and the PIA informally), the why did the BOD pass the BSR mandating an age limit on each piece of equipment? http://www.dropzone.com/..._reply;so=ASC;mh=25; This near-disaster of a BSR passed last Summer at the request of the same manufacturers. No member asked for this one! USPA is definitely saying it is in the business of telling jumpers what gear they can use, so they must have some expertise in that equipment. Yes, this BSR was suspended by the BOD later when they realized how much it negatively affected the members. top Jump more, post less!

Looks like verbal only. Which means a jumper could do a demo low, then sell out the S&TA by saying he/she was TOLD it was okay. "From Ed Scott: To allow those good reasons, the board motion allows Safety and Training Advisors to waive the BSR on a jump-specific basis. If there is a low ceiling and the airplane can’t get above 2,500 feet for low exits or accuracy jumps or if the same low ceiling threatens a demo or if the big-way attempts need a little more room at the bottom to ensure adequate separation, then the S&TA simply waives those specific jumps from the BSR. There is no required paperwork or time spent waiting on someone else’s approval. However, DZ-wide or season-long waivers are not the intent." top Jump more, post less!

Was there an issue with coaches not being able to renew their ratings because they couldn't get enough "student" jumps done? Does the term "student" refer only to unlicensed jumpers, or just someone (licensed or not) under the instruction of the coach? craig Jump more, post less!