Deisel

Easy cowboy! Apparently my dry sense of humor didn't come across for you. At the end of the day this is still a game. My anti-Tebow rant has been ongoing since his days as a Gator - and yes, I'm still pissed... but anyway (deep exhale). When Mr T wins games he shouldn't (especially against my team which is NOT the Jets), yeah I get a little miffed. I'm actually quite pleased by his success. But it's always just as much fun to root against the guy that won if he isn't your guy. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

I'm now officially running for president. And the fact that he's such a nice guy just pisses me off that much more The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

EPs would be no different for either system. That would just cause unnecessary confusion. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Great question. No regrets. I became an AFFI the minute that I had the freefall time to do it. Although I was able to demonstrate the skill to get my ratings, I had not seen just how bad a student jump can get. But then again – if you don’t jump with students, you may never see some of the bad stuff that can happen. IT IS NOT JUST ANOTHER RW JUMP! What have I learned? NEVER take a jump for granted. Always believe that your student could kill you – they can and at any time. There is no perfect student. Shit can get ugly really quick. Much quicker than you can think and respond. Only experience can overcome some scenarios. And unfortunately, our instructor system is broken. There is no requirement to update your skill set. There is no requirement for in-service training. Hell – there is no training beyond getting your rating. It is quite disappointing and a little scary when you think about it. Our pilot brothers are required to be able to demonstrate any and all required skills at any time to any examiner. Think what would happen if the old salts were ever asked to prove that they still have what it takes to hold their ratings on any given day. Makes you think. D The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Wrong! Farting when the door opens only pushes it to the front of the plane! The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

What has been your biggest problem or lesson leared so far? The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Good post Chuck, What kind of a timeline should a start up DZ expect? Every business starts in the red and expects to break even at some point. Anyone know the numbers for a DZ? The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Thanks! Of course you realize that when I speak - USPA listens The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Thanks for the great insight. But I think that there is a larger issue that can be addressed here. What experience or skill set would best prepare someone for opening a DZ? Just because I like eating pizza doesn’t mean that I should open a pizza place. I believe that a major reason for start-ups folding is that people get in over their heads and have no idea what they are doing. Looking at it from a business management perspective, it’s rare that anyone can walk in and be an effective CEO on their first day at work. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

I was just looking at the USPA store online and the 2011 IRM is still on the shelf but the 2012 SIM has been published already. Does anyone know if there will be any changes for 2012? If so, when will the update released? Planning to update my library but dont want to buy now if a newer version is on the way. Thanks. D The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

It’s always awesome to hear about great customer service. Typically, people only take the time to write when they’re pissed about something. Glad you’re ok and good to see unsolicited praise for a company that obviously cares! The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Still relevant in the sense that I don’t believe that a signed log necessarily proves anything. But they are required in order to get licenses and ratings. And as someone just explained, an electronic log can be faked as well – news to me. I’m not saying that the system should go away, just that I’m not sure that collecting signatures still makes sense as a requirement. Could we possibly have a system where an electronic logbook becomes the equivalent of the pen and paper types? Able to be used as documentation of jumps for all the same purposes? You guys have reminded me that someday it will be nice to be able to go back and look at interesting stuff in my logs. I should be more detailed in what I write. And for the record, I do still log all of my jumps on paper. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Yep. Had to go through LAX to Palm Springs once. I missed the last flight out that night. It would have taken around 15 hours and a hotel overnighter. Ended up renting and driving - was there for breakfast The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

With all the ways there are to electronically track jumps, do we still need good old paper and pen logs? Outside of nostalgic purposes why do we still use them? I know the first response will be that a signature is required to verify a jump, but I ask why? When was the last time someone had a problem finding another jumper willing to sign a logbook – no matter what it says? Besides, there are now ways to electronically sign logs as well. I can figure out how to fake a written log entry with relative ease, but I have no idea how to fake a Pro-track entry. And they tend to have much better recall than the mind’s eye. I’m just saying. Please discuss! The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Julio, Thanks for giving a shit enough to try and explain this to your customers. I ordered a suit from Fire Fly in June and I'm still waiting. A month ago they flat out lied to me saying that it would be done in a week. Like I said - still waiting. I will never do business with them again. I'll be ordering another suit next summer and most likely from your company. How customers are treated matters. D The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

*Update* I ended up taking a GoPro diving. Submerged for about 90 minutes. Max depth was 110' shooting video. 2 days later I took the same camera to altitude a couple of times. All done using the standard case that the camera comes out of the box with. Worked like a champ through low vis at depth and misting fog under canopy. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Contact info? The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

I tried a bunch of different stuff on mine. Best relults came from plain old water and an air dry. But as mentioned earlier, you just have to replace the thing about once a year. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Thanks to John, John, and Greg. You guys put together a course that everyone gained from. It was a great time and many thanks for bringing the event to Raeford. D The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Uummm, yeah... The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Looking at the news, Irene may have different ideas. You guys have an alternate date in mind if it gets blown out? The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Thanks for the additional info. Let me know what need to happen to get signed up for this. The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

Any thoughts on using the same camera for both activities? It's quite possible to to build a waterproof dive housing to fit jump cameras. But like with so mony other things - just because we can doesn't mean we should. Opinions? The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

No Sparky, I didnt know what you meant. Thats why I asked. But it looks like you're saying that a second camera doesnt add anything for the student. This I can agree with. I think that everyone agrees that video debriefing is superior to just a verbal. It looks like the real question here is should we be using the GoPro or something with a lower profile, like the Contour? Do the anti-snag mounts really reduce the risk enough for student use? The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.

John, Is this course designed just for competitors or folks looking for general canopy skills stuff as well? D The brave may not live forever, but the timid never live at all.