Fledgling

While I obviously understand that Hanwags are superior for most aspects of jumping, especially landing. Has any one considered the possibility that giant blue boots may make you look somewhat suspicious as you try to sneak into a building or onto a crane or any other more public site.

Agreed. But there is a point at which you're not 'trying' anything, you're just doing it. An accomplished canopy pilot, who is also an accomplished TM, who has sufficent experience on a certain model of tandem canopy would have no problem with a 90 or so on final to pick up some speed. 'Accomplished' in my book is several 1000 jumps of sport swooping and tandems apiece, with a few hundred on the tandem canopy of choice. I'm all for being safe, but eventually you reach a point where it's just another parachute. Ditto with the rear risers, it's just another way to arrest your descent, and bleed off some speed. Furthermore, I don't see a 90 toggle turn as being any different than the deep brakes to canopy surge that many TM's use for extra speed. Lets remember that nobody is cranking a front riser 450 with a tandem. I'm not even sure it's possible. You could be the best swooper in the world and the best tandem master in the world and it ain't going to save you the day you come screaming in to land and your passenger puts their feet down.

I also agree with thumping in. If you can't get it right you shouldn't be doing it.

That's very judgemental especially from someone who isn't a tandem instructor. But why stop there? Why not say that all tandem skydiving is wrong. The instructor may appreciate the risk but the student doesn't. Skydiving is unnecessary and reckless. As a paid tandem instructor your main priority should be to bring your passenger back to earth as safely as possible. There is no justifiable reason to increase the risk factor by trying to swoop tandem landings. If any one does think this is safe then how do you feel about tandem CRW?

I couldn't agree more.

I would have thought it would be safer caus they stand up the landings, rather than landing on the butt, which can result in a broken coccyx(not sure if i spelt it right). Seen this happen. Just because you land on your but it doesn't mean that you have to land hard. It's safer to land on your ass than risk the passenger tripping over as you try to stand up or run off any excess speed.

I honestly don't understand the concept of swooping tandems. As a paid tandem instructor your only priority should be getting your passenger back on the ground safely. Why increase your chance of accidents? Especially when a first time jumper will think that any landing at all was awesome. Do you really think that they will know or care whether you swoop the landing or not?

I s-fold the bridle in my hand and continue along with the pilotchute (stretching the mesh and center-line first), making sure I plan my folds such that the top ends upward. I'm no longer sure which FJC taught me that, but I'm curious what your recommended handheld technique is. If your worried about making sure that the top of your pc is left facing upwards then why don't you just start your sfolds there and work your way down?Is there any specific reason to start your sfolds at the bridle or is it just the way you were taught?

I think it's pretty good, but I like the "S fold everything" method better, for two reasons. (1) I think it gets a tighter bundle to throw to full bridle extension, and (2) as noted a longer delay can cause the ZP to start inflating and create some stability problems if you let it slip around in your gripQuote What do you mean by 's' fold everything do you mean the the entire pc, bridle, mesh and zp? I'm new to this but if I understand you correctly then I have never seen any one use this method before.

Firstly i would like to say hi to all you birds as i just recently joined your flock. Recently while jumping my S3 i noticed that my reserve handle had slipped inside the laced up cut away section of my wing. I noticed this early and so wasn't worried because if i needed it i could easily get to it by cutting away the wing. But if i hadn't noticed and needed it i definitly would have been surprised to find missing. I think it was because i laced the harness into the suit too high up the wing. Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do to prevent it from happening again?