damion75

Swing by the DZ(nethers), (not the coming weekend but will be there the following weekend probably, and the one after that etc...!) and give me a shout, we can talk about all your questions. Might be worth bearing in mind that there is a lot of stuff and a great deal of it is not really relevant right now though. But easier to chat then type! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I haven't read the reviews but I love my Oxygn. I have an A1 though as I like my pro-track mounted internally rather than on the side. If I need to play with it I can always take it out! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

We have orange overalls for students - we call them Carrot suits! Ah, the inevitability of it all... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Right now, pretty chilly! In the summer, not so much... depends on the weather the Bedford tunnel is very warm though - I just had a T-shirt on under my jumpsuit and was almost too hot! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Hmmm. Amanda Higgins? Doesn't she jump at Langar? Fastfall rigging? Sorry guys, I have never heard of you. Kyle Thomas? As VT1977 says, he has about 300 jumps and no ratings! Coaching/camps there? Purlease.... For someone with only 10 spare minutes in a day, you seem to be able to spend a lot of time posting to this thread... but you STILL can't seem to find a minute to fill in your profile and tell us who you are! Or did you forget again?! Damn... she beat me to it! So you seem to have some more time on your hands now, tell us about yourself? or perhaps you are a troll?! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

DON'T GO LOW... and all that other stuff they said too... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I reckon that's one of the best points. After all, you can get paralysed in a car accident too but I'm not giving up driving - I'll just try not to drive like an arsehole! Minimising risk. It's a good question because hopefully on that 8th jump Newbie is talking about when you are running to make the lift with your chest strap undone and your alti back in the packing hall because it was in your helmet and fell out (example - not directed personally! ) You might stop and think "Is making THIS lift in such a hurry" worth that risk? Answer, NO!!! Stop and think. Minimise risk... Just my point of view... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Not to difficult to see which DZ I'm talking about since I have filled in my profile... the point being that if I say something, I am prepared to stand behind that opinion. Sorry, and you are who exactly?! As for your comment above, I wrote a positive review and I am not staff there. I also know most of the others who wrote positive reviews and most of them are not staff there either... the question is, do you know these people? Have half of the negative reviewers even been to that DZ? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

It works for me - and not just for bad weather days if you are training. With the wind tunnels around to practice the freefall part of the dive over and over, it seems to make sense to ram as many exit drills as possible into a day on the DZ - and you can do more per day from that altitude. It also helps that I love flying my canopy plenty too... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Glad to hear you had a good time - now go stick a review in the Netheravon box! Maybe see you there some time... Frank. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Hey dude! They had the demos at the Empuria Xmas Boogie - I didn't jump one because I am not ready for a such a high performance canopy (built to complete with the Katana) yet. Not to mention they only had the 114 and 107 there. If your profile is correct I would recommend waiting a while to fly something like the Mamba *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Sure, but define 'staff members'? People who get paid to be there, fair enough. People who help out but get paid nothing? I reckon they can give their opinion. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

DZ reviews are a funny thing - there have been a few discussions about them recently. Admittedly they are completely subjective, one man's meat IS another man's poison. But I do have a few concerns about the way some reviews are being written at the moment: Reviews are being written by people who don't even have the courtesy to fill in any of their profile... if you want to put your opinion forward then have the guts to stand behind it! Unless it is one person writing several reviews as part of a hate campaign?! Negative reviews without any facts in them. The 'its crap because it is' approach is not informative - it just comes across as a smear campaign. Deleting and re-entering negative reviews to ensure that they are always the first ones that people see - stop it, its childish and pretty irritating. I'm going to stop there or this could get long. All I am asking is that if you have something to say, then say it and stand behind it, surely you people have the guts? *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

you forgot noise reduction! I did a jump without last summer (UK skydiver so this is rare!) and damn it was noisy! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

In the UK the distinction has been made slightly between the two 'main' sections of canopy coaching by calling them Canopy Handling Coaching (CH) for the basic knowledge of how to fly, patterns, basic first hundred jump type stuff and... Canopy Piloting Coaching (CP) for teaching the slightly more advanced parachutist what they can do with their canopy beyond flying the student pattern to the ground and moving towards high(er) performance landings. This distinction helps me to understand where to go next... Mike - I think I'll be coming to talk to you! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Don't worry Andy - I knew it was you! I understand where you are coming from on the freefly coaching for Adv courses - after all I think you were coaching on the course that I referenced where it was offered, and that course worked very well... right up to the point where one individual arrived and decided that FF was 'not real skydiving' That man (mentioning no names) is an arse. This is not a secret and pretty much everyone I think would agree with me. I don't know why things on the adv course have reverted to where they were - perhaps because during the last two courses so much money has been spent on getting Solly and David from Majik over to gove free coaching, and then the PD factory team over to give free coaching and having spent that kind of cash they wanted to get their money's worth? I for one would be very happy to see multi discipline adv courses come back in the future. The real problem however is not at Nethers - it is with those running adv trg and those that control the budget. At the moment nethers has to be whiter than white just to avoid closure to sports jumping - this is for the same reason that downhill skiing and battlefield tours are under threat. The money is running out. Add to that the sort of mentality of more senior echelons who see almost all skydivers as hippie gluebag types and I suggest that that is why we should tread softly at the moment. Hell, otherwise we would be able to get C130s in at the weekends - that is only blocked by the paperwork munchkins at the MoD. There is no REAL reason for it. I think things will change, but in any organisation as big as the army, run by people who have not been at the coal face in 20 years, change takes time. Not having a pay-per-coach freefly school at nethers doesn't help the FF cause at all though... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Hmmm - I have my own opinions about ARSS.com - I think it does what it says on the tin. It's arse. Just lots of poorly informed whingers. To set the record a little bit straighter... I have done three adv courses at nethers, and on one of them FS, FF and CF coaching were all available. That really isn't what the course is supposed to be about though - the written mandate for the course was to take Cat 8 guys straight off the basic course who had completed their RAPS through to Cat 10, now of course A licence and FS1. The only reason that there is any FS coaching beyond that is due to a lack of jumpers at this level applying. Add on to this that it is a nil cost course, and as adv trg does not use up leave, the jumps are free, the coaching is free I think anyone getting a place on it and then complaining that they are not getting free coached jumps in whatever discipline they like may have an attitude problem. Adventure training is under threat in the army anyway due to cost, so lets just be happy with what we have (because we shouldn't really even be getting that!) and not bring ourselves to the attention of the powers that be by complaining too loudly... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Define 'put on'? I step into the harness first because If I put my rig on backpack style, do up the chest strap I can't get my legs into the leg straps! But I read it to mean tighten up and secure, and for that it is the chest strap first every time. Loose legstraps might mean an uncomfortable canopy ride, and perhaps trouble in reaching your risers. A disconnected chest strap may very well kill you as you fall out of your rig. That's my thoughts anyway. Overall, I reckon it is best to make sure that everything is ready before you walk out to the plane! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I have had mine go from 80 mins to zero in one jump a few times this winter - but it is about -14 at altitude plus wind chill and I don't think batteries like that... I really need an enclosed helmet (FF2 style) I think... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Caveat emptor dude - that is VERY VERY cheap. Bear in mind that if a deal looks to good to be true... It could be ok - get it checked out by a rigger before making ANY money available to the seller. Seriously. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

There is of course a slight difference in attitude between a. writing a negative (but unbiased? ) review on dz.com about a dz b. writing something unsubstantiated, continuing to want to go to the DZ that you 'hate' because you get cheaper jumps there and then deleting and re-writing your review every time anyone else puts a review in so that yours is at the top... The first I have sympathy with, the second just seems like a four year old with a tantrum to me... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I kind of agree that one does see the rush to be one or the other and people totally identify themselves that way after 50-100 jumps but it does seem to be a shame and pretty limiting. After all, the thing about skydiving is that there really is no hurry and why not try it all a bit at a time? Admittedly at the moment is do almost purely FS because I have got the 4-way bug but I have every intention of starting on FF some time. Why limit yourself to one thing? (not you personally! just an expression) Ok, most people will specialise in one thing and only be REALLY god at that (except for the notable few geniuses who seem to be able to do it all!) but lets try to keep the horizons broad. If we want people to think like that of course, we have to educate them while they are newbies... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

Whoa dude! Not defending my home DZ (because it isnt - I am a nethers jumper) but just because you had a less than great time at Hib doesn't mean that you should totally bash it... relax, we all have bad days sometimes! Rag, look on the dropzones section and check out the reviews - I think you'll find most people are pretty pleased with Target (Hib) - great planes! *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

In the UK it is a requirement (written in the BPA Ops Manual) for students to have a radio for their first few jumps. Where on the body varies - I had mine hanging round my neck during AFF and never heard a thing. They are getting attached to helmets more and more now by the look of things. *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

I was talking to a guy at the Espace Boogie, we asked him about how to pack the Sabre 2 to get on heading openings and get rid of end cell closure... he said it couldn't be done. That's just how the canopy is. His name was John. John LeBlanc... *************** Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.