Do Your Tandem Students Pull?

[skypuppy 1]

So far my experience has been that about 60 - 80 % of my students will try to pull, but only about 1/2 of them actually find the orange ball and end up pulling. Often I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say they must have found it and pulled at the same time as I pulled the other ball....

I usually try to let them know it's not unusual not to have been able to find the ball on the first attempt and try to give them the feeling that at least they tried to pull it at the right time, I just didn't want to lose any more altitude trying to find it.

I tried pulling their hand around to the ball on some occasions, but sometimes they're too stiff and fight me, and other times they still don't realise what I want, so I usually just pull myself now and then let them know they would have got in a few more seconds, I just didn't want to wait that long.

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[skydiver30960 0]

I've always given the opportunity to pull to my students, but must admit I don't spend the whole afternoon explaining it before the jump. I'd say about 2-3 minutes gets spent explaining the pull.

The majority of my students fall into the "pulled it or were trying damn hard" category. Afterwords I give kudos to the ones that get the pull, also give kudos to the ones that don't but were trying, and "don't worry you'll get it next time" to the folks that just totally brainfart.

Elvisio "still lovin' it" Rodriguez

[peek 21]

Base841:
I've spoken to tandem instructors from other DZs and based on my small sample, found few who even let their students attempt to pull. Why?

peek:
Because they are too lazy to teach them.

Usually a student will do or try to do what we teach them. It is human nature to want to learn and to perform well.

Sometimes students need to be encouraged to go ahead and try to do something. Sometimes this takes a bit more work than just letting it go.

This is what separates the really good instructors from the carneys.

My favoraite thing about Tandem instruction is the student that is convinced they want me to "do everything" and I convince them to try to do it themselves and teach them how.

After the jump they are _always_ glad they did it.

The important thing to remember is that Tandem jumping has been treated as a carnival ride by so many entities that your student may expect _their_ jump to be one of those.

If you don't put forth the effort to teach them how much more it can be then you are perpetuating this unfortunate part of a great training method.

[timuuu 0]

We train our students to pull, and like most of the "teach them to pull" replys here, about 99% pull or simply can't find the handle in time.

Because we treat it as a student jump, we get probably 10-15% back for a T2 (within the year), of which a certain percentage goes on to AFF.

Of the instructors who teach their students as students, and not meat, what percentage come back for another jump?

[JohnMitchell 16]

Okay, so do you let your students pull if you have a swooper doing RW with you? I often do have a swooper, and the RW workshop says that if you do RW, the student doesn't pull. I only train them to pull if they want to, usually on the 2nd tandem. I've had many 1st timers turn down the offer to pull. Usually I just concentrate on body position and waving at the camera.

I do let my students fly the canopy all the way down and help me flare. I think that's a very overlooked skill that can be taught on the first jump.

[peek 21]

Wow John, you rejuvinated an old thread, I was wondering where that question came from.

I haven't used a Tandem Vector for a while so I haven't had the occasion to review their manual.

I don't have all that many experienced jumpers going along with my Tandem students, but it is always someone I know and trust to be in a safe place at pull altitude.

I also reiterate with students when _not_ to pull.