chuckakers

Well go figure. I've been jumping a Vigil for years and didn't know that. Guess I should have read the manual beyond the on/off procedures! Never too old and crusty to learn! Thanks for the info. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I didn't know a Vigil could give jump data. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Let's see. A drogue bridle gets hopelessly wrapped around a student's ankle, presumably putting the tandem pair in an other-than-stable position and requiring a reserve to be fired (possibly fatally) into the drogue. Bet you'd consider that an incident if it happened to you. Here's a suggestion for you Stayhigh. If you don't want to participate stop monitoring this thread. Meanwhile the rest of us will continue to read replies hoping to learn something from the myriad of perspectives offered by the many talented skydivers who want to discuss the subject. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I guess some of you guys didn't get the tongue-in-cheek nature of my post. I was more pointing out the irony than anything else. The same guy who sells the customer a skydive also sells them life insurance. Sounds like something you'd see in a sitcom! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Former DZO and devil's advocate here... "Little Johnny, we are a very competent skydiving operation dedicated to your safety. By the way, would you like to buy some life insurance that covers skydiving deaths?" I get the logic but not sure it's the best thing to offer people that often show up wondering whether they will be driving home or having a relative pick up their car on their behalf. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Before the popularity of wrist mounts, FS jumpers mounted visuals on chest straps. Those were easy for others to see while turning points. Leg strap mounts were also popular for the same reason. We used to say that during FS our altimeters weren't for us, they were for our fellow jumpers and theirs were for ourselves. Some teams even mounted them upside down for easier reading by teammates. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

You make a lot of assumptions in your post and I disagree with quite a bit of what you said. As you correctly stated, the problem here was the type and location of the instructor's camera mount. A front mount with a big snag factor is an accident waiting to happen as evidenced by this video. However to say that instructors wearing cameras is going to kill a student is a gross overstatement. There are plenty of ways to mount cameras with no snag hazards. This applies whether used by a main side or reserve side instructor. You incorrectly stated that inside video is not effective for instructional purposes. Leg and arm positions, arch, deployment technique, and just about everything else needed to critique the student can easily be seen from the instructor's perspective assuming the camera is set up and flown properly. You incorrectly assume that there are "...plenty of qualified people around the DZ who would do it for the slot..." when referring to the use of outside video. This may be true at some drop zones, but is far from a universal truth. Additionally, AFF training is expensive enough already without adding to the cost by putting another jump ticket into the mix. There can also be safety issues in adding another jumper to the group. Camera flyers can take out exits, get caught in the burble of students who sometimes make radical unintended movements, and create countless other hazards, especially if they are of a skill level that they would "do it for the slot" as you put it. AFF jumps involve risks that require qualified personnel. I submit that not everyone who is qualified to fly a camera is qualified to fly one on AFF jumps. What this video demonstrates is that a poorly designed camera mount was used for the skydive at hand. Honestly it's an unsafe mount for any skydive, but it's not the fact that this instructor had a camera that was the problem. Had the instructor had a snagless mount there would not have been an issue. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

It is the same. Don't rely on any mechanical device. Rely on your eyes and your mental clock. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

The "hobby vs business" rules are pretty vague. http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2014/03/31/does-the-irs-view-your-side-hustle-as-a-business-or-hobby Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Assuming you're referring to the 3 recent fatalities, there's no correlation between those incidents and you comment. All three of the jumpers that died in the past 3 incidents were current and at least 2 of them - Jess and Walt - jumped in areas of the country where hibernating isn't even an issue (I don't know where the third jumper called home). Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

That "personal attack" is completely out of order. Just because it's true does not make it ok. I think you owe beer for that comment. I checked the rule book. Definitely owes. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Flip another jumper some cash. They'll gladly buy the beer for you - as long as you buy enough for them too. Aha! Suborning a criminal act! I didn't say the underage guy gets to drink any of it. Hell, it's not for him anyway! The underage dude flipping another jumper some cash to buy beer is legally delinquent, too, for both parties, regardless of who consumes the evil confection. Gosh, you're digging yourself in deep. I suppose you'd encourage them to play pool and dance, too. Or even jump off things in national parks. Underage jumper: "Here Mr. legal-age jumper. Please accept this gift of 30 bucks just for being such a cool guy". Legal-age jumper: "Why thank you, underage jumper. I think I will spend this generous gift buying beer for my legal-age friends." Underage jumper: "Wow, you really are a cool guy." Legal-age jumper: "Thanks, kid. Wanna join me on a trip to Yosemite?" Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Flip another jumper some cash. They'll gladly buy the beer for you - as long as you buy enough for them too. Aha! Suborning a criminal act! I didn't say the underage guy gets to drink any of it. Hell, it's not for him anyway! Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

You're going to be a popular guy around the DZ. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Flip another jumper some cash. They'll gladly buy the beer for you - as long as you buy enough for them too. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I get the feeling CQS is being taken to the cleaners by their lawyer. I don't believe a county judge has the power to rule on any of the things on that list and any lawyer that can pass a bar exam would know that. As a former DZO I can say from first-hand experience that the FAA has little tolerance for whiners outside the industry who don't understand the protections afforded to "aeronautical uses". Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

The heat of the slider friction in a fraction of a second is enough to shrink lines. Heat shrinking will occur when using heat shrink. Imagine that. Line shrink from the slider happens over many occurrences and over a long section of the lines. Applying heat shrink occurs only once and it occurs on only a very small section of line. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Not if she does her job properly. https://www.instrumart.com/products/24262/extech-407732-sound-level-meter The only issue I would have with someone using that is I am fairly certain that it just measures any levels of sound, instead of being able to isolate the otter. It's quite possible that a bird or lawn mower or freeway would register a loud enough signal on the meter without being the otter that's flying overhead. I don't know squat about audio stuff (yeah, I'm a radio guy and admit that) but I would think a bit of common sense would need to be employed. I also don't think sounds "stack". In other words, if there's a lawn mower nearby giving let's say a 60db reading and then a plane flies over at 100db, I think the device would simply read the same 100db that it would read if the lawn mower wasn't present. Either way, the way to do it would be to take several readings to get a typical average and also consider other sound factors in the testing. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Not if she does her job properly. https://www.instrumart.com/products/24262/extech-407732-sound-level-meter Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

But all of that is after the fact...after someone died or got hurt. And it is only twice a year. I want to see it published monthly. They do put out a monthly publication and email Who did it, what they did, and what was their punishment. Judy The reporting of disciplinary actions can of course only come after the fact, so they would always come after a death or injury if applicable regardless of the frequency of the reports. Also, disciplinary actions seldom involve incidents in which someone is hurt or killed. If what you are asking for are regular reports on open investigations like you might read in a newspaper or see on TV, that's not going to happen. USPA bylaws require disciplinary investigations to remain confidential until final disposition. Let's face it, none of us would want our case being reported on publicly, especially if we were actually innocent of the accusations. As for reporting more details about incidents that do result in disciplinary action after disposition, I can't answer that one. The only thing I've ever seen in the minutes are the actions taken, but without the details of the cases. I'm not sure if the bylaws allow details of the reason for disciplinary action to be made public. I'm also not sure if airing the sport's dirty laundry is a good idea or a bad one. I'm sure there are several ways to see that. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

With zero response to this I will assume that there are no written guidelines for the S&TA's, and its just another free-for-all. If the USPA wants to be taken seriously, they really need to show that they WILL discipline those that break BSR's (and not secretly behind closed doors). Judy Just out of curiosity, why do you feel disciplinary actions should be public? Peer Pressure. I think people will behave better if they know that there are consequences...We have alot of hearsay with the USPA so we don't really know if they disciplined anyone or not and how severe their punishment was. Judy Actually when a member's ratings or membership are suspended either temporarily or permanently it becomes part of the minutes of the BOD meetings, all of which are available at uspa.org. The reasons for the actions are not listed, but given the open nature of communication in the sport it isn't hard to figure that out. Is that what you are asking for or do you want the gruesome details directly from the head shed? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Rigs of that size aren't as rare as you might think. Contact the major gear dealers like Square 1, Chuting Star, etc. They should be able to help you. Also try onlline resources like the facebook gear page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SkydivingGear/ Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

I would think it would serve as a good lesson to others who are breaking the same rules, to straighten up their acts. Unless the punishments don't amount to anything, or are uneven depending upon the personality involved. Then I would want to hide it, so people wouldn't find out the rules aren't being enforced, are enforced unfairly, or with favoritism. "Transparency" is big word that gets thrown around a lot these days, to mean that our government and organizations should be open with their records and actions, so that the people can see that they are acting well on their behalf. That's what we should expect of USPA. Disciplinary actions are part of the minutes of board meetings as are the results of appeals, although the governance manual prohibits the details of investigations to be released to anyone not a party to the matter for the protection of the accused. If disciplinary action is dished out it's there in the minutes for all to see. If no disciplinary action is taken I do not believe that fact would be listed in the minutes. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

With zero response to this I will assume that there are no written guidelines for the S&TA's, and its just another free-for-all. If the USPA wants to be taken seriously, they really need to show that they WILL discipline those that break BSR's (and not secretly behind closed doors). Judy Just out of curiosity, why do you feel disciplinary actions should be public? Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX

Again, I think you are mistaken. I believe a protected class is not protected when safety is the issue. I do not believe the courts would rule that a business must conduct a transaction with a consumer of any protected class if doing so would risk the safety of that consumer or anyone else. Chuck Akers D-10855 Houston, TX