CaptainRuggs

hahaha! I love these pissing matches, I just wasted about 20 minutes with this one! Its great! However, for the sake of ARGUMENT,

I probably shouldn't mention this, but I live right across the street from the wind tunnel site, plenty of extra space for some canadian jumpers, only thing i ask is that you bring some hot canadian chicks for us to party with

***I got information about how to get on to my back, and how to do recovery several times (half barrel roll advice was given to me more than once), including coached jumps. But on solos, I just went ahead to attempt back turns without asking questions - so nobody taught me how to do turns on my back. I experimented on my own. So it's not entirely the instructor's fault. Quotewell I suppose nobody is really at fault here anyway, but I understand what happened in your case more clearly, and there's nothing wrong with a little experimenting on your own once you are comfortable, as long as we all get to have a beer together at the end of the day

***I did several backfly jumps to fulfill a CSPA license requirement ...Nobody taught me to backfly beyond how to enter that position (a half barrel roll) or told me about flat spins QuoteThat's interesting that you didn't get much information about performing a maneuver for the first time that was a requirement for a license... ...and that's excellent that a simple half-barrell roll helped you there, which apparently was the thing to do because it worked, but in my opinion, the place to be figuring that out for yourself is not burning through 6000' ! I agree with LawnDart21, a good intsructor will and should take the time to go over as much as possible with you before you are trying something new and abnormal, especially if it's required for a license!

I know that this is an incident where the jumper "relied on her RSL" but I think it falls into the same category as the jumper did not even touch the reserve handle... http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1902970;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread ...just shows that there is a tendency, however rare, to rely on these backup devices. I agree with previous posts that this comes from a lack of knowledge of the equipment and how it's meant to be used, and maybe some gaps in initial training. Standard EPs should not change because of additional backup devices such as an AAD.

This is one of the few things coming from the FAA that makes sense!

Flight Levels begin at 18,000' MSL here in the US (FL 180) and are based on a constant setting of 29.92" on a sensitive (adjustable) altimeter, which really means nothing for the jumpers, but does mean something to the pilot! If I were flying that load, or jumping for that matter, I would fly roughly 200 degrees and open the door roughly a mile upwind of the landing area on jump run, and give 8 to 10 seconds between groups on the exit...