pateverson

Very misleading information about the Vigil. The author implies that Vigils take the exit altitude, calculate a time that it expects you to reach activation altitude and then will fire at that time. The website talks about how it takes a time measurement, but it's recalculated 8 times per second. In practice, that's essentially no different than every other AAD since it is measuring your speed constantly based on changing air pressure, directly in opposition to the statement that the Vigil is "unlike its competitors." This description in the article leads me to question the qualification of the writer. Decent article, but misleading to new jumpers.

Alright, maybe I'm crazy here, but I could have sworn I saw this video quite awhile ago. Anyone else think this is an old video suddenly getting prominence or have an idea of what similar video I'm thinking of?

alright, mildly embarassing, so I have to ask...was that paragraph there all along? Because apparently I skipped the intro when I read it haha.
That aside, I find it confusing the way you use coach/ing and instructor/ing interchangeably. They are fundamentally different concepts, especially in skydiving. Able bodied flight is requisite to any skydive, and a coach in any discipline should be able to put themselves where they want to be with ease. In non-wingsuit freefall, I'm comfortable being within arms reach of a student because their motion is very predictable. Tracking, I increase that distance because slight body changes can translate to very abrupt motion that could lead to a collision. Wingsuiting is tracking, but magnified by the material. On the first couple wingsuit flights, students on the low end of the learning curve make large movements, and are not stable enough for a coach to safely be in a tight position (inside one body length). The most valuable role of the wingsuit coach on the first 1-2 flights is providing effective video to debrief on the ground. And unfortunately, the best video position is slightly above and abeam to view the overall body position, which places the coach outside view of their student. Once a student can achieve a stable body position, the coach is able to get into a relative position that allows more in-air communication. And realistically, what unstable student is looking for handsignals? No argument that the most effective coaching is done on the ground. Once you get in the air, you're just finding out if you already did your job as the coach.

DSE, I think you found excellent examples of poor WINGSUIT specific coaching. I would politely suggest you rename this article, as it does not pertain to the vast majority of skydive coaching (which the title "Coaching in the World of Skydiving" implies. I don't have a stat to back up my claim, but I certainly would guess that the majority (but at least a plurality) of coach skydives are for true student, unlicensed, belly skydivers. The primary requirement for such a coach is not to chase a student, but provide them with a stable platform to work off of and learn their own body in freefall. While a coach absolutely needs to stay in SIGHT of their student, and close enough to provide in-air feedback, if you are chasing a student, and they are working less than you are, then you are (in my opinion) no longer coaching so much as instructing. Seemed like a point that should be clarified for new USPA coaches working with unlicensed students who are reading this article.