freekflyguy

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Posts posted by freekflyguy

  1. On 8/19/2019 at 7:06 PM, verdi said:

    open file with windows photos ( yes sound crazy to open video with photo app but works )

    top right choose edit

    choose which section you want

    save as

    done :-)

    Discovered ths at the weekend, who knew Windows had a usefull feature.

  3. obelixtim

    She went to Spain and flew through her AFF course, and regularly PMs me about her progress.



    I really, really, really hope that she went to Ocana and did AFF with skydog, that would be brilliant.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  4. I have just put a multi mode Speed cypres in my container and the thing that struck me is that even though they have made it difficult to select the mode you want by having to carry out a convoluted process, they have made it easy to not select the mode you want by having to carry out the convoluted process twice.

    If you only had to go through the process once there is no chance that you would forget to do it a second time to confirm selection, which currently means your unit returns to the previous mode.

    I just do not get the thinking behind this decision.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  5. +1 for VSE customer service, the year before last I had a customer buy an Infinity and when it was delivered he was not happy with the colour.

    VSE remade the rig in the colour he wanted at no extra cost, that is outstanding service, the customer is now positively evangelical about them.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  6. gowlerk

    Quote

    I suspect Obelixtim, you either have an axe to grind with the BPA, or are blindly criticizing us for making safety decisions which you either don't agree with, or don't understand.




    It looks more to me like you have an axe to grind or are "blindly criticizing" him. Deciding for 56 year old adults that they are too risky to train is something only the most hidebound of bureaucrats would even attempt to justify. He can not understand this nonsensical ruling because it makes no sense at all. Therefore he suspects an ulterior motive.

    I on the other hand do not. BPA is just doing this because they have the power and power must be used. No one is acting in a corrupt way here. Just flexing the very old muscles. BPA would be better off requiring anyone over 55 to resign from their BoD.



    OK first lets clear up a few things here that you seem confused about.

    The BPA is a membership organisation, which elects a Council annually, these council members form the board of directors, there are also a number of sub committees which report to the Council, because somewhere along the way people realised that Council may not have the necessary knowledge and skill set to be an all powerful cabal.

    One of these sub committees, is the Safety and Training Committee, made up of all the Chief Instructors in the UK, a CI is, I believe similar to a USPA STA. We sit every 2 months and discuss all things Safety and Training related. It is STC who are responsible for setting and enforcing the rules and regulations for parachuting in the UK, not Council (or the BoD as you refer), we are the people who are directly involved in skydiving on a day to day basis and are, I would argue, best placed to decide what is or isn't safe practice.

    The decision to maintain the maximum age for Ab Initio students was made by a working group made up of members of STC, remember them, the people who deliver the training day in day out. The working group made their recommendation based on advice from a medical professional, and data supporting the extra risk of injury or death for Ab Initio students over the age of 55.

    Now, the CAA are responsible for all aviation matters in the UK, and we have much different rules regarding the use of airspace especially compared to the USA. The CAA really do not like it when people are injured or killed especially when they are third parties. STC have to weigh up the way we carry out our sport against the very real possibility of the CAA either imposing even greater restrictions on us or stopping skydiving altogether.

    It was not very long ago that the CAA were on the verge of stopping display parachuting in the UK after a number of incidents, if we had as many display cock ups as you have in the US there wouldn't be display parachuting in the UK. We have a fairly fine line to tread, and as such we do have a more restrictive system, I would argue though that especially where tandems are concerned we have a much safer system.

    Also in the UK, you cannot waive your rights, which means it is beholden to the DZO/CI to ensure every reasonable action is taken to ensure parachuting is conducted as safely as possible.

    So the BPA isn't just doing it because they have the power, it is actually the CI's who see what happens on a daily basis that make these rules, and no one is flexing very old muscles, out of the 29 DZ's in the UK only 7 have CI's that are over 50, and probably 4 of those are under 55.

    Some people just can't comprehend that things are different in the UK because the country is a nanny state, not the BPA.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  7. obelixtim

    ***

    Quote

    The working group found that there was sufficient empirical evidence to prove that Ab Initio solo students were at more risk, and the maximum age for training was kept at 55.



    This is what is meant by "nanny state". Skydiving is an adult sport. Adults should be informed of the risks and then make their own decisions. There is no need of a "committee". Your working group would not be able to show a clear line at 55. or 50, or 60. Because there is not one. People are individuals, not averages.



    Exactly.

    Do any other countries have this rule?

    Either British 55 year olds are somehow worse than 55 year olds from other nations, or BPA is out of step with the norm. It doesn't seem to be an issue elsewhere.

    I suspect one of the delegates did have an isolated incident with an older trainee, and made such a big thing of it that the others followed his line of reasoning...like sheep.

    Baaaaaaaa!!!

    Nope, you're wrong, they took advice from the BPA medical advisor and data collected over a number of years, here is an extract from the STC minutes regarding age limits:

    "The Working Group had recommended that the following age restrictions should remain:
    a. 16 years old. Minimum age for parachuting. This should remain as it is based on the
    individual’s capacity to make decisions. It is commonly accepted in law that persons
    under the age of sixteen are not capable of making the types of decisions that would be
    required to parachute safely.
    b. 16 - 17 years old. Requires parental/guardian consent. This should remain for the above
    (a) reasons as not all sixteen to eighteen year olds have that capacity.
    c. 55 years old. The maximum age for anyone to start ‘solo’ parachuting. This had already
    been discussed by STC. It was decided to keep this restriction as it was adopted
    following a number of fatal accidents involving students who were over that age when
    they were trained.
    d. 40 years old. Above this age all parachutists require a Doctor’s certificate. Solo students
    and experienced jumpers should remain unchanged, with a review to be carried out once
    the new Tandem Student medicals been running for a number of months. This will prove
    the system whilst without increasing risk as Tandem Students are fully under the control
    of a qualified instructor throughout their descent."

    I suspect Obelixtim, you either have an axe to grind with the BPA, or are blindly criticizing us for making safety decisions which you either don't agree with, or don't understand.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  8. gowlerk

    Quote

    The working group found that there was sufficient empirical evidence to prove that Ab Initio solo students were at more risk, and the maximum age for training was kept at 55.



    This is what is meant by "nanny state". Skydiving is an adult sport. Adults should be informed of the risks and then make their own decisions. There is no need of a "committee". Your working group would not be able to show a clear line at 55. or 50, or 60. Because there is not one. People are individuals, not averages.



    You may be right abo being a nanny state, unfortunately the CAA look on it very poorly when a parachutist dies, and even more so if its a solo student or god forbid a tandem pair.

    We have a duty of care that isn't present (or doesn't seem to be ) in the USA or some other countries which is why we have these rules.

    But hey, its also why we don't kill many students or tandems, so I for one (being a DZO and responsible for such things) am more than happy with it.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  9. gowlerk

    Quote

    The BPA have also just relaxed the rules to drop the need for medical signoff for tandems over 40 years old.



    Of course they have. No doubt DZOs demanded it.



    Actually, although I am now a DZO, I was only a Chief Instructor (CI) when I proposed to Safety & Training Committee (STC) that, in light of the result of the arbitration regarding pilot age limits, we should look at all age limits to determine which were arbitrary and which were not.

    The working group subsequently recommended that there no longer needed to be a medical for anyone over 40 and that all tandem students could sign a self declaration and only if they have underlying conditions, do they need to get it signed by a GP.

    The working group found that there was sufficient empirical evidence to prove that Ab Initio solo students were at more risk, and the maximum age for training was kept at 55.

    They are looking at the issue of medicals for experienced jumpers of 40, and I believe that we will fairly soon bring in a similar self declaration for that demographic.

    "The BPA" as it is spoken about here, seems to indicate the rule making arm of the Association, that is STC, which is made up of all 29 CI's, who meet every 2 months to discus safety matters. It is us, who run DZ's week in week out, and see the shit jumpers try to pull off, that propose the rules and changes to the ops manual and not some faceless blazer.

    Yes there are things that are less than perfect about skydiving in the UK, we don't have carte blanche to jump out of planes whenever or where ever we want, the CAA don't like that, so we have to be fairly heavily regulated. We don't all have fast turbine aircraft, we have pretty strict rule around aircraft maintenance, and AVGAS is fecking expensive.

    However, I have never been to a UK DZ and had to sign a waiver on camera to indemnify the DZO. I have never seen an "experienced jumper" on the flightline try and put their rig on upside down because they didn't know how it fitted. I've not hear jumpers refuse to jump at a DZ because they are known to skip maintenance on their aircraft.

    It's true that some DZ's have shocking customer service, but if people don't vote with their feet nothing will change. It is also true that there are DZ's in the UK that are incredibly welcoming and progressive, some real gems that people miss out on, because they don't have fast turbine aircraft and you can't do a gazillion jumps in a day. Yes my DZ is one of those friendly progressive DZ's :-)

    There are a few people on here who are incredibly negative about skydiving in the UK, and are anti BPA, but trust me the majority of jumpers in the UK don't give a toss, they just want to skydive and are happy that it doesn't cost them a fortune, and are pretty ambivalent to it.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  10. Joellercoaster

    ***I do wonder whether this "military shouty.... follow my rules or else "attitude is prevalent



    It's definitely a thing. The military is a prevalant force in a few countries' skydiving scenes, and it definitely has an effect on customer relations there (the UK is definitely included).

    It's funny watching retired-officer DZOs barking at random civilian sport jumpers to do something and being told, "actually, I'm going to go over here and eat this sandwich."

    (Not all DZOs here are ex-military, and of course not all ex-military DZOs are dicks about it. I have a list :P)


    I'd better not be on that list.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  13. Hi, I have a Ve103 and have just brought a PD RDS for it, the slider has the poppers on but my canopy doesn't, has anyone out there done the mod themselves or does it need to go back to PD?
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  20. I have had my Infinity nearly two years and the back pad looks as good as the day I received it. I pretty much only ever pack indoors and on a carpet, but I don't use a packing mat and I drag the container to the bag when I am stowing the lines.

    We have another 7 on the DZ and they all look good as well.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

  25. ChuckMartin

    ***If that logic applies than the 168 zpx would pack smaller than a pilot 117..that just doesn't sound correct.



    168*.83~140
    Not sure how you got 117.

    Also remember the size of your lines have a lot to do with it also.

    The mistake you are making is thinking its 17% of pack volume is equal to 17% of canopy size, and it isn't.

    One of my jumpers couldn't figure our why the Pilot 150 ZPX she brought was too small for the container that was made for a Pilot 150, I showed her the math on pack volume and not canopy size but still had physically to prove to her that the 150 ZPX packed as small as a stiletto 120.
    It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.