VectorBoy

WOW! You are right I would never in a million years pass the current PFC test regimen. Using surrogate words to describe body position with out using the word " body position" is just brilliant ! I would have never thought of that. Effective use of didactics, Kinesthetics and Isometrics were beyond my comprehension while I wasted away years learning the theory of splitting the atom with early generation retro entabulators.... they were huge not first flightable for sure. PF must have gotten that bio-phase dangle arm small enough to use for instruction.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXJKdh1KZ0w&feature=related. Here is me eight years ago with the old style entabulators. They are smaller nowhttp://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=10435; I'm going to stick with the Tony suit method of instruction that doesn't require grammy arms or co-linear reluctance particals to make the suits work...... just gravity. Oh my buddy for sure will be impressed ! He'll get back to you on the rating.

I don't critisize when I personnally don't have the facts in regards to an event. I don't know what others do, I only know what I do. I can't bash a course I haven't personally taken. You have no problem bashing me or a course I might hypothetically give yet we've never met. I might be pretty good at it, it might have been revised and much improved over years of practice. Its definitely not rocket science. I'm pretty good at taking a bashing and coming out OK over it. I don't take it personal. Events change arguements are always the same. Douglas just last night answered the two questions in a PM. Shame it took multiple posts and attacks. For the lurkers: What takes two days? Same thing that causes a USPA Coach rating to take 3 days. Learning the syllabus, then teaching it. Then jumps to evaluate skill. Governing bodies are years away from adopting a wingsuit instructor rating.

As a big critic of a program I'm the wrong vessel to relay a few questions and be taken seriously. The answers thus far do speak volumes BTW. Not to just the original lurker but to all of them.

I'm going to type this slow so it is easy to understand. Two questions, asked by me for a very experienced WS friend who is too busy to post not in anyway questions I will ever have trust this if nothing else. Either of you two could have provided a professional answer, admittedly not that I deserve one but I did have a disclaimer not stirring and not post for myself. Which apparently wasn't taken as face value. The third question, Mine, isn't directed strictly at Douglas.... its for all of the very vocal haters food for thought. And hypothetically I'm posing it as not a botched or incomplete instruction that turns into a mess. You did your best but something happened. I never did a half assed course and if I retire now I will have 100% sucess ratio.

I'll never pretend to be neutral in this matter. I'll never pretend to not be a pot stirrer or part time troll. But not this time I even said don't get bent. Chuck Blues original course was $300, That I remember. Baxter I heard was charging $200. Monkey was the last PFI I personally new recall getting a rating, don't remember from whom, but I believe he did pay some amount of cash. Its clear to me I'm the wrong vessel for the question.

I have no desire to " challenge the course" or we would have talked already. My post was not bait of any kind but a post for a lurker, honest. I know you guys mean well. I also know you've personaly dealt with mayhem up close and I see there is a lot of general hatred to certain instructors and your critics ( like myself). There is a lot of blaming and pointing. This question is not for my lurker friend it is 100% me. Are you ready/ prepared to be on the receiving end of a lot of hate and blame if ,god forbid, some new flyer is ever hurt under your care on the level you are dishing out right now. No need to answer just a thought.

I don't know what to say. Those were two questions I asked almost verbatem as they were posed to me by someone honestly serious about taking the PF coach course. Nothing about me, I'm simply the messenger of the questions. I don't have an interest in this or any prior rating but the person asking was under the impression the old PF rating did cost a few hundred. I could not verify this as, like I said, never had an interest in aquiring any WS ratings personally. We could consider the first question answered but the second question got personal and I hoped to stay removed. The person has a concern this new revised PFC rating will be obsolete when / if the USPA adopts a WSI rating. With good reason, currently this person is sanctioned by their S&TA to perform First flight instruction.

QuoteQualified candidates: ~100 wingsuit skydives ~USPA Coach rating ~Logbook ~Three possible jumps to receive two Satisfactory Scores. The criteria for the jumps is found in the score sheet, attached to this post. Quote Not stirring the pot ( this time) so not trying to get anybody bowed up just a couple questions in regards to the new PFC. Actually asking on behalf of other very experienced wingsuiters earnestly interested in taking it. 1 Time frame: Why does it take two days, What could possibly take two days to teach in regards to WS coaching? 2 The previous vanquished PF ratings cost $200 + some time invested and they are now worthless: What is the motivation to invest the time and money into the current PFC rating when all of those who crafted it are also petitioning the governing bodies to adapt a WSI rating at that level effectively making the current PFC rating worthless once more?

Really? I am a self-taught guy so I had no idea. Plus my only log is my N3 now-a-days... I haven't had anyone ever ask me for a logbook endorsement. Is it common to ask at most DZ's? Having taught a great many FFC courses in the old days, a good percentage of them being visitors from the UK, Scandinavia, Europe and Africa and not hearing a single complaint when they returned home, they Key was video. Video proof that the student performed everything expected during a quality first flight. In the early days not every wingsuit instructor flew video some even refused. Just like having video proof of your AFF jumps.

How do you air launch the bullet? What harness, Bag?

Shit, Glenn if you put half the hot air that spews from your mouth, into the wings of your suit, you might get more than 90 seconds from 14K. It is nice to see you take a few seconds out from bashing Lodi and Bill to bash on me. I'll make a note the exalted one does not approve.

yea...still tons of people calling themselves all that in skill and knowledge and training people, yet not desire to show and validate those skills in any real way that promotes a certain standard or safety [pa removed] I've never said I'm "all that" in terms of any level of Skill at flight, ability to successfully teach a WS ground course or follow along with in flight coaching. I do OK, The people I mentored into wingsuits do OK, and they are all happy. But then 75% or more of them would have done OK just reading the manual and going for it anyway. I pass along some BTWs and answer any questions that come up on the spot. The magic is all them. I'm not magic or "all that" and will never claim to be. The Audacious part is that a select few self appointed ( as in nobody voted you into the position you just decided what is best for everybody) have decided they will set the new standard. Everybody else who came before was wrong or incapable. They must all re-certify to the new standard. Your new standard. Step back, take a breath- doesn't that sound like homeless, living on the street, crack cocaine crazy? You want what you few want but that does not make it any less crazy. Fact: I harshly raised my nose up at the first batch of chief instructor/ examiners in regards to whom should and should not be allowed to instruct. Nothing to lose, I'm not getting suits for free. Seven years later I will not bow down to the next generation of WS chief instructor/ examiners in regards to who can and can not teach a first flight course. Specially ones that don't have my time in the discipline..... and that is fact. One last question I'm I the guy on the left or right in the balcony? They look wise and in great shape for their years you should pay attention when they mock the weak and silly.

Fun!

Scam allert - Wingsuit Coaches/Instructors etc - NEW Not new! We've all known this sentence to be true for the last seven years.

Ask Wayne Handley.

Can I take measurements of your very beautiful kit Cobra's frame and splash a few molds off the body because buddy that is true art? I promiss I won't go commercial or steal your girl friend.

Def some nice canopy piloting in the XRW stuff. Ya think!?! Those wingsuiters didn't suck either. I tell ya I don't see a 50%er among em. Talented!!! Personal bests I bet. Fits right in with Mike's thread.

Douglas it is raining at Elsinore right now ( you don't have yahoo weather?) But we can can go kite surfing & Big water jet skiing at the beach just like real 50%ers. Or did you mean the xrw is beautiful at Elsinore?

you'll see a lot of these guys in wingsuiting. Ignore them or they'll suck all the joy and fun out of it for you. Whatever you do, for the love of flight do NOT let their attitude, approval or lack thereof decide for you what your standards should be Flying is not enough for them so they must invent complex technical reasons to elevate themselves above you, put you down and try to make you think you're not doing it right unless THEY say you are. YOU decide whether it was a good flight or not. Wow that whole paragraph sounds like it could be directed at the latest breed of wingsuit super instructor/ coach. Lurch I know you are not directing it at them likewise I would never either. To the OP don't let the mean people get you down.... next thing you know you will end up a 50% er like me.

Various sized falcons and currently a pulse 10. Before you sell off gear you may want to do a tandem of each Hang and Para to get a feel. HGs fly completely different than you are used to. PGs are a little more similar to your canopy but still different enough. HGs require more gear and big racks to haul it. It took me longer to make a rack for my jeep than it did to get my H-2 rating ( like an A license). Although there are quite a few bi-wingwual pilots the PGs tend to be younger crowd. You tend to not fly them in howling wind speeds, HGs have an advantage here. HGs can fly faster and further so there are trade offs. Try them both.

I do add about 4-5 cm to the chord if building a new one though. Cheers, MEL Domed or not to tame the openings a bit?

No, but I can land an Otter in my backyard! You know we are more than overdue for ranch demo

You may believe you are the most awesome instructor in the world, though you may or may not use the training method developed over many years and worked on by a lot of experienced and knowledgeable people in the sport. Nowhere in this thread is there a mention of me being an awesome instructor, nowhere. It is about BM closing and product quality ( which may have had an effect on BM closing) and small markets. Stay focused. But I will indulge you in your thread divergence into instruction with this simple comment. To all of you " I taught this whole part of the world to wingsuit" " I've created this super D duper instructor program" "I'm safer than thou's system of learning" types. get over your selves. Everybody that taught themselves to wingsuit is laughing at you. It is not that hard! You are not that special.

Actually I don't have a favorite brand and have owned every suit that was on the market at one time. In this thread I bring up the fact that quality from every manufacturer should come way up. Someone else ran with a comment I made and spun it into another thread about how small this market is. Its that simple just a few facts, Then out of the wood work come all of the critics, like zits on a fat chicks ass, to attack my two simple notions: 1 Quality needs to come universally across all makes 2 It is a small market, screw a potential wingsuit customer and they quit. they will do other kinds of jumps with cooler kids or just buy a bunch of motorcycles and have menage a trois on ski vacations = business lost. They polluted the tread with aspects that have nothing to do with bird man closing or the other two points above. Just stuff like "I'm blah chosen few blah". " I 'm responsible for teaching all of the wingsuits in the north east hemisphere of the globe" Blah. We are all sponsored and get huge discounts on suits while others pay full price for a very good reason blah....... oh and I have a bad attitude. I just don't see brand war in anything I've said but you might just be slow and not right in the head.

According to DSE we are experiencing a large volume of incidents accidents and fatalities in WS he is urging the governing bodies to take action. So which is it they are better now or they're not? I'm better than I ever was, still doin it too.