JJohnson

Do you mean without the benefit of a canopy? JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Fear is normal and healthy. Unless you grow wings, you should always experience some fear when jumping...it is an unnatural act, one that can kill you. But skydiving is so much fun. Once you can trust your ability and your gear the fear is minimized...Focus on the joy and fun you are having and trust in yourself and stick with your plan. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Old argumant I had with a cameraman, came up again in conversation. Spot was a touch long, he was jumping an F-111 canopy and probably should have opened a touch higher...or given em a signal to pull a little earlier for him. He ends up landing off and I took my student back to the landing area. He then gets torked cause he doesn't get the landing shot. (Same thing coulda happened if he was flying a ground hungry hankerchief, had a sniveling opening...) My viewpoint, why take an out landing and needlessly risk my student. I know the landing area is nice and safe...and adjacent area, being less well maintained is a bad choice. Obviously you have to be prepared for an out landing, but that don't mean you take it every chance you get. Also at some DZ's landing out is just the same as landing in...just a further walk. So, do you land with your cameraman or play it safe? JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I agree with you, price of a tandem is a flat rate. Fat tax is sleazy. I'm getting paid to do something I'd do for free, hell I pay to jump. Getting paid to see the expression on students face makes it all worthwhile. I don't give manifest a tip for giving me a smoking hot chick, why should I get a bonus cause I get a heavy person. I'm a professional. I take the good with the bad and know my limitations. The weight limit is based on the gear being used and whether or not I feel I can handle the student. I've taken Spanish speaking people when I had an interpretor and felt they understood enough. I've taken people well into the 200+ lb range and used every trick I know to land them. I'm 5 foot 4 inches tall and 180 lbs in great shape. The day I can't handle a particular student is the day I say no to manifest. Personally it is not the chubs that make me concerned, it is the 7 foot 10 inch serf boards that screw me. They go flat or flail their limbs all to one side...its like jumping with a sheet of plywood in your hands. However saying a heavy person deserves an extra fee is not right. Take it a bit further: Okay, I'm gonna jump you Mr./Mrs Student. If the jump is anything more than my idea of of a perfect no hassle jump, upon landing you may be required to pay an additional stupid/fat/flailing/can't get your legs up/puking fee. I just don't see it. Cops don't get paid extra to arrest "dangerous" criminals. Students are either good enough to jump or not. Extra cash don't make it so. MHO. Peace. And Ron, I also respect much of what you say as well. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I'll do whatever it takes to control the student and as a wise man once told me, the battle is won on the ground before we ever board the aircraft. If the student deviates from what I taught them, then I worry about outflying them. It doesn't have to be pretty, only safe. Leg wrap them, get big...whatever works for you. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

That last shot is a bit scary, if the butt strap were loose, that person could potentially slide out on opening. I started my tandem instruction at CSC, they were always safety obsessive then. The owners are good people and I am sure they will maintain a safe operation. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I'm not sure which is scarier, that there is a prehensile penis or that you knew about it. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Learing to pack should be part of your training and shouldn't cost anything extra. Just my opinion. Not everything requires a paid coach or extra $$ course. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Fear is a normal God given emotion to let you know you are engaged in some type of situation that is out of your normal mode of operation and that you could experience pain (emotional or physical) of some sort. There is no shame in fear, only in letting it paralyze you. Admitting to fear does not make you a loser, it is a step to winning. Fear can be a simple healthy respect for a hazardous situation. Do not focus on the fear or the sensations it brings. Focus instead on your training and trust in your ability to handle the dive. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I'm 5 foot 4 inches tall and early on I refused to take a student who was 6 foot 5 inches. I have refused to take students that did not speak English as well. If I cannot communicate to them I feel there is too much risk. I have had some which are real boderline for physical shape, but all have worked out fine so far. Which really makes me wonder just how you judge someone's physical ability. I've had 71 year olds be in better shape then some 18 year olds. Appearance is not always a good indicator. I've never had management question me either. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

As a rule, my students are geared up, trained and walked to the plane by me. They are ready to jump when they get on the aircraft. I explain to each of them, that the harness is not meant for comfort, it serves only one purpose: to hold you to me...cause I have the parachute and you don't. Safety comes before comfort. Now I will admit that on busy days, when going back to back, I have taken students that were not geared up by me. As soon as the seat belt comes off, I adjust their harness to my liking. If the harness is hanging off the student, they don't get on the plane. I want my students to enjoy their experience. However their comfort is not one of my main concerns. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

While gearing female or male students up, I inform them that: "The chest strap may be uncomfortable once the chute opens. I will make every attempt to loosen it up and make you more comfortable. I am not groping you. You have to pay me extra to grope you, nobody gets groped for free. I am a professional adult entertainer and if I grope you for free then everyone wants it for free. However as a professional your safety and comfort are my responsibilities at all times." And it really is all about attitude. We are entertaining these people. You need to put them at ease and show them a good time. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I have a 120 and a 105. Both open great. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Well done you. Thanks for the info and pics. Lots of food for thought. We just had a torn top skin same as yours only it was further to the right side. End cells would not stay inflated. Instructor chopped it right after opening and checks. Next day we had a drouge in tow. Tandem...not just another skydive. I love doing them, but lots can go wrong. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Great.....Night of the Living Dead for real....I got three stupid phobias: Spiders, Sharks and Zombies. I was comforted by the facts that my odds of getting bitten in hal;f by a Great White in Illinois were pretty slim, that there are no Aussie Funnel Web Spiders here and that if Zombies were attacking all I had to do was turn opff the TV....so much for that. Whats next Great Whites in Lake Michigan? JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

During our training time together, I will stand behind the student and have them grab my hands....then ask them if they should do this.....who is pulling the ripcord? When the light bulb comes on you can ask them what they should never do.....they all come up with "don't grab your hands" pretty quickly. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I've done 200 tandems since mid-June. I didn't get comfortable with the whole process until 100. However I can also say that the more I do, the better I feel about them. So next season, if I lay off the whole winter I might feel current again after only 20-50. Experience counts for a lot. Sticking with a set routine and knowing my limitations helped alot. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I mentioned the wingloading because of his jump numbers. An A license shouldn't be loading up to 1.5. But now that you mention it, I noticed a definite loss of flare on my Sil once I gained some weight. At about 1.3 I thought the flare was losing something. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

The Silhouette is a damn fine canopy. Fun to fly, easy to pack. As a hybrid zp/F111 it may be hard to sell later on down the line though. Keep the wingloading at 1:1 and it will be fine for you. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

One of our Tandem Instructors is a cop for a local village. They use the newest type of Tazer, which is supposed to operate on the same wavelength as the brain. He brought in some video footage of the cops going through thier training, where they have to "ride the lightning". After watching it, a few of us mouthed off that he should bring it in to the DZ and we could play with it.......fucker did bring it in. Who would have thought he would take us seriously. Me and another TI took solo rides on it. The Guy hooked alligator clips on us. One up at the shoulder, the other down by the waist going across the torso. He only hit us for maybe 3 seconds....the longest three seconds you'll ever go through. You can think perfectly clearly, the whole while every muscle you own is tensing up and contracting. The only thought going through your head is: GOD DAMN THIS SUCKS!!!! We also got three suckers to sit down and link arms. The two end guys had the clips on them....dropped all three like a bad habit. Oh yeah, quality entertainment at the DZ. What are the three most dangerous things in skydiving: Boredom, Alcohol and skydivers. Hell I don't even drink so I got no excuse. All I know is that if I ain't having no arguements with a cop armed with a Tazer. We got all this on video, so I'll see if I can get a copy. One of you genuises will have to walk me through posting it though. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

At my height I really can't leg lock many students. I pretty much keep to flying myself, trying to get as much air as possible. I have a pretty big fear of having a studen grab my arms as well. Wonder what the video of me biting their neck would look like? I've watched video of many of my tandems. Some are pretty damn funny. The long legged people, who extend their legs rather than kicking them up on my ass drive me nuts. No way I can use just my legs to out fly them. One guy pretty much spent the entire ride with one leg straight out, the other bent and dropped. I spent the entire ride with the opposite arm and leg out countering. I have found that I get more use out of my arms by keeping them back in a delta position, where there is more clean air. This rather than try to get air up where the students arms are. Sometimes I can use a mantis style with my arms over the students head....just depends. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

After flying the bus all day with that meat hanging in front of you...isn't it nice to jump your own gear once in while? Sunday, late in the day this last weekend, we finally slowed down and I was able to get a fun jump in. Felt pretty good. First one in a few weeks. Felt cool to be able to fly in a sit and swoop the landing a bit. Although I did miss being able to have a conversation with someone during the canopy ride. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

Right you are. I'm always in FF pants, which are real baggy. Normally with the top as well, at least a long sleeved T-shirt. I want/need all the drag I can get. All of our camera flyers are good as CSC. They have never complained either way about the drouge throw. They know sometimes it's immediate and other times not. I have to say that most of my students have been real good. I think that is because they were relaxed and prepared for what they were going to do. It seems that the males are the ones that tighten up at the door. The trick I have used is to tell them to bale their egos, stop thinking logically and enjoy the feeling that they are not in control. If they think about arching out the door, logic is too slow. By the time they get around to telling their body to arch we are 100 feet out the door. Most guys are too busy trying to remember what Wesley Snipes did in Drop Zone. Females on the other hand just seem to go limp in the door and do exactly what you told them to. I taught martial arts years ago and noticed the same thing. Guys are busy trying to show you what they learned from the Bruce Lee flicks and women look, listen and learn. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

No, if they did I'd subscribe to them and maybe even know about current vents. Can you send me a few of your papers? JJ "Call me Darth Balls"

I edited my post brother. I should clarify that at my hieght I err to the side of caution. I've seen experienced instructors get taken for rides when they get complacent. I hope to not repeat their mistakes. It seems to me that most instructors get taken for rides by the 90 pound girls...For me it is the 8 foot lurch looking dudes I worry about. JJ "Call me Darth Balls"