tinay

Who are you calling a dog? I used to think like you, then I changed my mind after thinking of the most likely senarios and a bit of history!

What bluff? If you've told the course directors, what are they going to do about it? Jay Stokes is brilliant I've been told, but overal, yes I am saying that generally the standaed is better in the UK than the US.

This post is getting boring now. It's obvious that opinions are not going to be changed! If you don't want to hook up before take-off, better not do Tandems in the UK!

Getting a bit touchy ain't you? Have you spoken to the course director(s) - the national coach or Technical director, do you think they would be pleased if their evaluators were not doing the job properly? The reason I like the BPA system is that the BPA AFF instructors I've met have ALL been very proffessional and the standard to attend is very high - 1000 jump minimum and have to achieve the standard in 5 jumps, not six! If there are some bad eggs - tell someone, don't just winge about it.

Quote My point was that some UK evaluators pride themselves on doing some crazy in air stuff to gain kudos from other evalutors rather than to test the candidate.reply] After what you wrote, I asked several BPA Examiners if it was true and they said that they had never heard anything like it! They actually said that it is a myth, put about some who have been unsuccesful. They said that no examiner/evaluator can simulate what some students are capable of doing, they said not many skydivers have those skills, because no matter how bad an evaluator acts, that evaluator will eventually do something to save his/her life - a student may not! Skydog - do the course rhen comment and if you believe it then, I'll accept what you say. love tinay

I don't suppose it could be that you would find the UK system a little bit too difficult for you to be successful would it?

Hairymango. Your statement that the BPA is backward, was just that! You gave no reason. You sound like some five year kid; "I hate you,'cause!". If you are going to says such things, at least try to qualify them.

Be careful! Don't mention wind tunnels and certainly don't mention skydiving competitions in wind tunnels! Because sooner or later some tree hugging government offical will say why do we need to was waste fuel flying aircraft when all skydiving can be done in a wind tunnel?

Obviously with 1300 jumps you'd know all about backwards organisations, perhaps you should carry out a bit of research and check the various country's safety records. The US hasn't got a great record and with low jump know it alls like you, no wonder.

In the UK Tandem parachuting has taken place since 1984, with many hundreds of thousands of jumps. All tandem students must be fully hooked up prior to take off. This has never caused a problem in the UK, in that time there has only been on crash landing a few forced landings with tandems on board and the tandem students have all gotten out without a problem - on the crash the instructor died. Perhaps aircraft are maintained better in the UK! There have been quite a number of instances over the years in the USA and around the World, where it is not mandatory to hook-up before take-off, where the taken pair have exited, either not hooked-up, or partially hooked-up. Perhaps it might be best to decide whether to hook-up or not prior to take by looking at the most likely senario. i.e. instructors worn out at the end of a long hot day, making the wrong decisions!

Thanks for the imput, it is educational.

I have a great deal of experience with Direct Bag (DB) Static Line deployment, but would like to compare the two methods and get an idea of what REALLY is the best method of the two. The cons. for DB are: Twist are common, even when flying the a/c slowly. Students can get parts of their body caught in the rigging lines (probably one of the worse problems a student could face, if the have a mal, trying to release their limbs before cutting away, or cutting away whilst still attached!). I have no experience of IAD and would like to hear of genuine problems or incidents: What happens, or has it happenned - a student leaving the a/c before the instructor has extracted the pilot chute? Can/has the pilot chute entangled with the student. I don't really want to hear about shouldn't happen if instructor does his/her job properly. Is the system instructor/student proof? DB static line tends to be!

The principals of good instruction will always be the same: 'Must know Should know Could Know' 'Keep it simple stupid' 'Drill, drill......'

A lot of the replies indicate that the Student has a great deal to do with as to how they progress. That was my original point, what I felt was that often the Student progress in spite of their training, not because of it. All the good conciencious instructors have replied, but how often do you see poor instruction and bad value to the Student. I believe for some not enough time is spent with the Students on the ground, giving good briefs and debriefs

I filled in my profile now. Does that make my question (which was in good faith) now more valid?