freekflyguy

Oh no it wasn't It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

I watched the video when it was first posted so don't recall seeing that part. Doing a line continuity check doesn't require being hung. It might be easier but it's not required to do a thorough, and proper job of it. It makes it a damn site easier, what about carrying out a full inspection of the reserve? I would say hanging the canopy is the only way to ensure you have carried out a full and thorough inspection. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Sad as it may seem I watched the video. One question, did you really hook up and pack your reserve and main without hanging either canopy to do a line sequence check? It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Thanks for educating me Stratostar, it's still fxxxxxg stupid though. Mods please lock this thread. Quote It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

I saw this posted on Facebook, and wondered what people think about it. Personally I think it's one of the single most dangerous and stupid things I have ever seen done with a tandem. Even if all parties concerned are experienced skydivers, I cannot see how this could be done without removing the possibility of the closing pin being dislodged. [email] It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

So do I This is also what we teach our students at the DZ when they have done a couple of jumps and are a little more heads up, I find for the first few jumps they tend to react better to radio commands when necessary. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

This is a difficult one as this is my DZ, I am the CCI and I think I may even have dispatched you on this particular jump. The pattern you have shown is not strictly what students are briefed, as this can vary from lift to lift depending a number of factors such as upper winds, type and number of students on a pass, student level of experience etc. The aim isn't to land at point D but to land safely within the confines of the landing area, and on a nil wind day we want you to land either up or down the length of the runway as this gives the longest distance for the into wind leg. To give some perspective for those that don't know the DZ, the runway is approx. 800m (2400ft) long and jumpers can land either side of the runway, although there are crops and a fence on the far right hand side of the landing area to the right of the runway. The zig zag line which separates the light brown field and green field to the left of the runway is a fence, but the light brown field is still acceptable for landing in, although this also has crops in depending on the time of year. In all we have over 64 acres of suitable landing area. All our students jump with a radio until they have BPA Cat8 and if necessary will be talked down by DZ control if they are having problems with their flight drills and landing pattern. We only ever have a maximum of two students out per pass, and the turn around between passes ensures a minimum of 1000ft vertical separation, 1st time jumpers get out on their own pass. Richard (Rifleman) whilst it is not unknown for thermal activity to give an amount of lift on particularly hot days, its extremely unlikely that there was enough lift for you to travel the length of the runway without descending below 1000ft, that said you did a good job adjusting your landing pattern in order to ensure that you landed safely within the confines of the DZ. Next time you are at the DZ, we can go through you flight drills and canopy control again so that you are 100% happy with what you are doing and have a better idea of how to handled this situation if it happens again. FYI, you wont get a severe talking to if you do something wrong, we will talk it over and offer ways of educating you so that you can learn from your mistakes. I don't do bollockings, they don't improve things. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

How do you qualify that statement? Please prove to me that the the Vector is the best. Please prove to me that it's not??? The issues shown in these videos are not limited to Vectors, but I would expect the best container to not be affected by either. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYIUjKGxagI www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5_KLch6ziA&feature=plcp FWIW I always wanted a Micron until I saw these and now my choice of container is dictated by the ability of the reserve to deploy quickly in the worst case scenario, low altitude, low airspeed (AC emergency below 1000ft) Of course you are entitled to your own opinions, even if they are wrong It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

How do you qualify that statement? Please prove to me that the the Vector is the best. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Not sure if they have any stock rigs but 6 week rush is only an extra $250, why not email them at [email protected] tell them Alex sent you. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Hi Neil, I know Black Knights well and do tandems there for them on occasionally on Sundays, they are a very good DZ and run a tight shop, you will be more than looked after doing your AFF there. I have had a couple of reserve rides on tandems all for pretty minor things, but never the less things you don't want to be messing about with too long. The tandem student was unaware in every event that we had used the reserve until I told them on landing that "we had an issue I wasn't happy with so we used the reserve" and to be honest most tandem students are happy with that as they don't understand the kit. I am sure the Tandem Instructor was only trying to ease your concerns about the reserve ride and when you go back to do AFF he will more than likely remember you and be happy to talk through the malfunction (when he isn't busy taking tandems). I happen to be the CCI at a DZ in Shropshire about 90 min from Black Knights so other than doing tandems for them I have no vested interest in you doing AFF there, I just don't want one bad experience put you off going there again. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Babz, the procedure should be carried out prior to a repack and is a recommendation and not compulsory. Ideally it should be done with the owner wearing the rig as it allows them to: A. Practice their reserve drills as you have mentioned. B. See how their equipment performs in the worst case scenario (low altitude AC emergency exiting on your reserve at low airspeed). C. Revise their decisions regarding opening heights, equipment choices, A/C emergencies etc. Interestingly, Bill Booth expressed his concerns regarding reserve deployment speeds, opening heights and AAD activation heights in DSE's interview with him at the PIA which can be seen on another thread on DZ.com. It is hoped that although it is not mandatory this procedure will be widely adopted and we can see if there is a trend with equipment types/configurations that leads to excessive reserve deployment times and from that educate users. Hope that clarifies things. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Which DZ was it? It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Here's mine, we have 5 on the DZ now Ill post the others as I get pics. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Sorry I thought you had. To be more specific then, yes, I do believe that our rules/medical/procedures reduce the likelihood of a student (they aren't passengers in the UK) or for that matter an instructor dying of medical causes during a jump. Note I said reduce the likelihood, not stop it all together, I don't think that minimising any risk in our sport is a bad thing, especially when I am ultimately responsible for what happens at my DZ. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

There are, but there are also some that say we have only ever had one fatal tandem incident and that was over 20 years ago, so I for one am happy with those stringent rules. Do you really believe that, without them, some middle-aged tandem passenger in the UK would otherwise likely have died of medical causes on a jump? I'm all in favor of, for example, ramp checks, etc. But the BPA has no concept of balance; in the ostensible name of "safety" it regularly seems to want to reduce risk to the point of zero. Can't be done, and all they're doing is chasing jumpers out of/away from the UK. Oh, well, Empuria's gain, I suppose. Do I believe the rules we have in place reduce the possibilty of fatalities happening? Yes I do, and I think the record we have bears that out, there have been 26 tandem fatalities in the US since 2004, in the same period there have been 0 in the UK (I hope I havent jinxed us now), the fact that 2 students fell out of the harness is unconscionable. You say that "the BPA has no concept of balance; in the ostensible name of "safety"", who do you think in the BPA is responsible for safety and implementing these rules? What is wrong with wanting to reduce risk as low as possible? I agree we can never reduce risk to 0, but we should do our utmost to minimise it as best we can. In the UK we cannot sign away our rights, so if someone comes to my DZ and kills themselves a piece of paper or a video of them absolving me of any responsibility isn't going to hold much sway when I am sued by their family or in a court of law. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

There are, but there are also some that say we have only ever had one fatal tandem incident and that was over 20 years ago, so I for one am happy with those stringent rules. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Rich, I have two Sklark canopies for demo at the DZ, a 150 Magellan and a 120 Odyssey, the build quality of both is superb, I have jumped the 120 And its a great canopy Ann and Ellie are going to demo the 150. I am sure the Commodore will be just as well put together. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Thats one fast & low 270! I was thinking the same thing. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

That is incorrect, the BPA Op's Manual defines a dropping zone (DZ) as: 1.2. Dropping Zone (DZ) A DZ is a notified portion of airspace within which parachute descents are made. The normal radius is 1.5 nautical miles and up to the altitude notified. A Parachute Landing Are on the other hand is: 3. PARACHUTE LANDING AREAS 3.1. PLAs to be used by all designations of parachutists should provide a large open space of reasonably level ground, which can contain a circle of 500 metres diameter free from Major Hazards, and largely free from Minor Hazards. These PLAs should be bordered on at least three sides by suitable overshoot areas. 3.2. PLAs which do not comply with the above, may require restrictions on operational procedure and/or may not be suitable for all designations of parachutists. These PLAs will need the approval of the Safety and Training Committee (STC) of the BPA. This does not apply to display PLAs (see Section 13 - Display Parachuting). In the UK most centres have PLA's well in excess of 500m, I believe that the new parachute centre being set up at Barton Stacey in Hampshire (West London Skydiving) will probably have the smallest PLA, although Guernsey is also pretty small. On the subject of Guernsey, it only opens for 2 or three days per year, does that make it the most exclusive parachute centre in the world? It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Hey Phill, where are you jumping now? I wondered why I hadn't seen you at Tily for ages, I guess the three riggers we have here weren't able to give you enough advice? It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Olmed, Jumping in the UK can be fantastic, but it can also be dire, largely based on the weather and the DZ you go to. There is a pretty good choice from large DZ's with multiple fast turbines Langar/Dunkeswell/Hibaldstow, to tiny DZ's running small piston aircraft Tilstock (my DZ)/Bridlington/Cornwall with all and sundry inbetween. Customer service may be different at some DZ's in the UK compared to what you may be used to if you have jumped at Empuria or in the USA but generally speaking skydivers are skydivers and you will have a good time at most DZ's. The weather does play its part, but it isn't as bad as people make out, I think we had 11 days where we didn't fly due to weather at Tilstock last year and we only open Friday and Saturday. Try it, you may like it ;-) It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Leon, do you get some perverse pleasure out of making yourself out to be "a total pariah" when the reality of it is that very few people know who you are? You had a bad experience at one DZ in the UK, which you have been very vocal about, but other than the fact that you made an arse of yourself on UKSkydiver no one really cares. OK so you may not be welcome at that DZ, but you were certainly welcome at my DZ, I know that because it was me that made you welcome. As a CCI I sit on STC every two months with all the other CCI's from UK DZ's, as a member of the BPA Council last year I was at every Council meeting and at both STC and Council I recall the subject of you not being allowed to jump in the UK cropping up a total of ZERO times. Grow up, stop giving UK DZ's and skydiving in the UK a bad rep and get on with enjoying it. The only person stopping you jumping in the UK is you. It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.

Some good advice o here Rick, which basically boils down to speak to your CCI and an experienced camera flyer at your DZ. If only they were the same person We'll have a chat about this next time your at the DZ, but for the moment lets get you qualified first

3000 tandems and still blaming someone else for your mistakes, shame on you It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.