marks2065

whatever happened to training the student ?

i think what these people want is to be notified ahead of time if there are changes to the way things are done to plan for it - showing up and finding out or finding out at the last minute before showing up is to late - intinery of the event should be posted early enough so resevations and plane tickets can be aranged early to get the discounts. finding out after is to late and agrivating

on the handicapped jump with a sigma harness the leg strap was at the knee on exit - i found on sport rigs that only happens on articulated harnesses - that is why the free flyers bungie the leg straps - probably not a good idea for tandems (just my opinion)

when i started the tandem progression tere was 5 tandems and 4 solo assisted jumps level 1 taught to arch, practice rip cord touches, alt awareness, pull, and talked and flew canopy to landing level 2 - same as level one with turns level 3 - level 1 & 2 plus forward motion level 4 - same as before but i told the ti about the dive and how to set up landing and when to flare level 5 - repeat of level 4 solo assisted jumps same as tandem requirements this is by far the safest and best program i have seen - also the training started on jump 1 no meat ride on the first

i have done this exit once - it was with my daughter but i also had a normal video also - it did take a great shot of her face but the normal video was better in all other areas - i also had a video guy that was very good but would not recommend this on a normal tandem because it did loose some video on the transition after release nor would i want to expose a student to the dangerous posibilities

i started on an old system of 5 tandems and 4 solo assisted jumps - i think still this is the best way to train a student proper canopy control and landing - by the 3rd jump i was telling the ti the landing patern and when to flare - made my first 4 solos very easy - at hinckley we had a very small landing area and it was nice to land there 3 of those solos and missed the 4th by not much (found out i don't like to land in the beans on the 4th) actual hands on with a ti is the best way to learn - i would not have done very well with aff since i had some issues with body position that the ti helped me with before i did a solo

i never used the new strong harness since i haven't done tandems in a couple years but i haven't heard good things about it - the older ti's say the friction adapters slip ocaisionally and i personaly don't like the articulated harness because it lets the leg strap move down the leg towards the knee and we have seen the results from that if the student has issues like to fat or lack of muscle control in the legs - remember nobody ever fell out of the old style harnesses

i think sunpath doesn't want to admit fault because of legal shit - i had a problem with my new katana that wouldn't flare on landing - i sent it back they said they saw nothing wrong on the test jumps but put a new set of lines on it and sent it back no charge and it landed great - as long as they fix the problem and look out for this in the future i think that is all you can expect

i've ha a 4ft8in 85 lb girl in an old strong harness with no problem - with all the adjustments at the end there is not to many areas that anyone could fall out of

you don't need a s&ta at the dz to operate but you do need one to sign off for ratings and stuff

there is a diference between aff and tandem - a tandem can't get away from you (well usually can't ) with aff you need to be able to outfly any student if they get away from you wich means you need to float and/or fall fast with students from 90lbs to 270lbs. this makes you have to have great flying skills - with these differences aff should be harder to pass and require more testing to make sure you can cover these extremes

the dzo's lost their s&ta ratings over this - at least one dzo did some of the video - and both of them are ti rated

even if there is only 10% truth it still needed to be adressed and i'm glad it was - i've taken the heat from jacko on my opinion are you afraid of taking a little heat ? i do think if you want your opinion to count we should at least know your qualifications for your opinion - do you work behind the window at manifest and just standing up for jacko or do you have qualified experience as an instructor and actually know what can happen on a tandem - yes you are right when you said jacko stopped but this issue goes deeper than jacko - i know there are more ti's doing stuff that may lead to deaths and injuries that needs to be set straight - this thread helps get these things corrected and if it saves one life it was worth it - unfortunatly if it does save a life we will never know all we will know is that there isn't an incedent report

i did sign the petition even with the ti rating on it because the whole thing has been handled wrong. jacko doesn't like me much because of what i have said on this thread and has told me what he thinks about it and i still stand by my opinion but what was done was wrong and didn't solve the underlying issue of how to moniter and correct problems. so sign the petition and also send some ideas to uspa on how to regulate or fix the situation and maybe this whole thing will get fixed

this is why i think when something bad is seen or done there should be something set up to retrain the instructors. examiners should be able to police the instructors (TI or AFF) even the best istructor will have a close call or 2 or become complacent - we need something set up to retrain. say if something doesn't look right on video uspa or the rig manufacturer can send in an examiner and take the instructor for a coulple jumps and correct the situation before it becomes a problem and pass the expense on to the dz or the ti. after a cople times of this the dzo or ti would defnatly start complying

the petition asks for all his ratings back - i do think that he should requalify for tandems with an examiner but uspa went to far with the punishment - i also think the video people and s&ta's at the dz that are tandem rated should requalify to keep their ti rating since they let it go on in front of them and said it was safe.

i've have gotten a dzo mad at me for not following gear after a chop and not landing with the vidiot but my attitude is that student safety comes first and the safest spot to land is the landing area and that is were i always will land regaurdless of other peoples thoughts and attitudes

go to skydivecsc.com and email lisa at manifest and she can give you the info on the petition

these pictures tell me that the ti is not doing his job ! safety always comes before comfort and i would rather have a student complain it hurts before almost falling out. the student shouldn't even get on the plane that with the harness that loose! i would rather error on the side of ouch ( to tight ) than error on the side of dead.

imo we need to look at the fact that we are with a student. they don't know the risks. if everyone is experienced they know the risks and it is up to them but a student can't make an educated choice and because of that we should not do things with them that are out of the norm. with students falling out of the harnesses and the TI that recently had a leg strap fall off from a sticking latch i think we all need to rethink our aproach to tandems and start to do more training with the student. this training also helps the TI by running the process though his head until i becomes second nature

you can get about the same shot if the vidiot does a front float exit and the ti gets a good head up exit - makes hanging on not needed

i know that there are conditions that you never let the student help land (high or gusty winds - bad students ) but on good days with good students definatly let them help and fly a canopy that allows this. lets start teaching instead ofgiving rides. we might even see a higher return to the dz and just think how much easier it might make the first aff when they actually already done what you ask them to do

that is why i like the set 400 - very forgiving canopy - no problem landing it with the students help even if they freeze in the middle of the flare - besides if you want high performance jump your own canopy - this jump is for the student not the ti's personal pleasure - i see alot of instructors that don't seem to care about the student, just the paycheck. if the ti and dzo are really concerned about the student they would by reasonable gear and conduct a class that would benefit the student not the video sales or the ti's personal flying pleasure

IMO you should be able to handle any part of the jump with the student helping / not helping / passed out / or awake. if you can't handle all aspects of the jump either learn how or quit. the only thing you can count on is the student will do whatever they are doing all the way to the ground. if you want to make your job easier train the student better. this tandem factory &*it pisses me off. teach the student and work with them all the way down to the landing helps keep them from panicing by giving them something to do and also gives them more satisfation about the jump. this also helps you control the jump easier with less energy wich keeps you fresher for the end of the day jumps when you might need the strength if you do have a bad student. i landed 95% of my tandems with the student helping and the rest by myself with no broken students. i rarely see the student helping now and i feel they were robbed of the best part of the skydive - the sense of stisfaction of doing it - remember you are a tandem instructor not an amusement park ride operator

i personaly don't want a student to have a bagy suite because to much could cover the important handles ( as i found out the hard way ) it is important to not have the students jump suit blowing back and covering the cutaway or reserve handles