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Here's another one to consider: Someone takes a Static line (with extension), and hypothetically ties you up, locks you away and never lets you out. The result is a a much better online forum. Whose fault, if anyone, is this?

Answer - Yours, for being a bellend

I have just sent this proposal to the chairman, time is short and I would ask those who support this idea to contact council ASAP. As a little background as well as other stuff I have been an instructor for 35 years and an examiner for 24.


With the imminent retirement of John Hithen I urge council to take a step back and consider how we may go forward as an association and better serve the membership rather than just appoint a replacement and carry on with more of the same. There are many periods when there is insufficient work to justify two full time officers and at other times John and Tony are run ragged. With the loss of John much of his experience and contacts will sadly go with him regardless of his best efforts to share, this proposal will expand the pool of knowledge and experience with the resulting benefits to the association.

My proposal is that instead of replacing the NCSO we nominate a number of course directors (CD) who would be responsible for the training and conduct of the various instructor courses, the courses would be overseen by Tony for the mantainance of standards. Courses would be arranged through the office as normal and CDs should be paid a good daily rate and expenses only for the days they are working, other examiners attending would be paid the current rate of expenses as normal. This represents a considerable saving in wages, pension, NI contributions, expenses etc for the association.

Another advantage of the CD is that we have examiners at the top of their game and who specialise in the various courses offered by the BPA, this rather than a single candidate who may have little knowledge or experience of a particular course but because of appointment be responsible for it. It cannot be argued that a CD would be less responsible to the association, as examiners we run courses without input from the NCSO/TO other than at the introduction and the debrief. This is no criticism just a simple statement of fact.

The CDs would by definition be our most experienced examiners and should also have a seat at STC, many would probably be CCIs anyway but by moving around and having their "finger on the pulse" the CDs would be able to advise STC on advancements on teaching techniques, coaching and equipment developments, it is a fact not a criticism that some of our CCIs travel little from their club and could benefit from this extra perspective. The CDs would also be available to assist the BPA in boards/panels of enquiry, coroners courts, expert witness etc and should not be restricted to a specific area.

There are many areas of detail to be finalised and tweaked to fine tune how the CD would operate, the main point I feel is to accept the principle and the details can be worked out as we move forward. I am well aware that John and Tony will not support this proposal because the BPA has always worked at holding power at the centre but there is no standing still, we are either moving forward or backwards and the ball is in our court. It is often said that change in the BPA is like plucking chickens teeth, now is the opportunity for a big step forward.

Timing is everything and with a new council including many new faces this is not the ideal time for this to come up, the choice of time is not a luxury afforded to us. This matter has been considered by me for a long time, I can figure no detriment to this proposal and many benefits to the association and membership. I ask the members of council to consider this proposal carefully, grab the bull by the horns and push the BPA forward rather than accepting the status quo.

Yours aye.

Scotty Milne
activeskydiving@gmail.com

How about a different approach - why doesn't the BPA buy the forum out - turn it into the official BPA UK skydiving forum (kind of is anyway) and stick it on the same hosting that exists for the main website. This would sort out a number of issues -

• Council elections - if used by all rrunning for the election to give backgrounds, manifesto etc.
• Remove the cost of premier membership to sell - covered in your BPA membership
• Official communication channel from council to membership base (again kind of is anyway)
• If the current admin/moderator skillset needed then hire them officially on a nominal to be agreed fee - retain the skills and enthusism and loose the financial burden

Probably lots more pro's but it's time to leave the office and brain switching off...

It's not like the association can't afford it - think of it as an investment opportunity.

At first I was a little disgruntled when I discovered that I had to pay £5 or £20 to sell something on UKS.

After following these very similar conversations for several months, I've still nothing to sell here yet I am reminded of how much I use the site and how dull my day at work would be if I couldn't dip in here every now and then.

I'm happy to pay 40p per week for that entertainment, which is fuck all considering I spent £18 on three drinks last night (in a rip-you-off-london-bar that I hope not to visit again). Those drinks most definitely did not give me a whole year of entertainment. Unlike UKS.

So I signed up for premium membership this morning. I might sell something in the future, I might not. It doesn't matter.

Long live UKS.

So, does ANYONE actually think the 'clarification' is a good thing?

As far as I can see it:
stops wannabe coaches getting experience
sends newbies off to the tunnel rather than jumping (are we not skydivers?)
increases the cost for newbies
decreases fun for newbies

What exactly, was the point? Have newbies suddenly stopped smashing into each other and dying? I hadn't realised there had been a mass of deaths and near misses with with non FS1 / FS1 jumps in the UK.

The whole thing is bullshit and badly thought out.

Some of my favorite jumping memories were as a new non-fs1 jumper when experienced guys took me up on 2, 3 and 4 ways. All done safely and did a lot to maintain my enthusiasm.

If this is to stop 'carnage' jumps then that could easily be sorted with some sort of a '2-way only, C license plus jumper rule for non FS-1 unless with a coach' or something which is far more sensible that the whole "proven coaching ability" bull.

I am absolutely sick of seeing posts complaining that we shouldn't have non-scramble competitions because it is unfair on those who aren't as good. Why shouldn't those people who are good and have invested the most time and money in the sport be allowed to jump and compete with and against those of the same calibre? Why can't those unis that have enough people to put together a good, complete team be allowed to do that?

Everyone should be allowed to put their own teams together and those who can't find a team given help to find a team. It doesn't affect point allocations, there are rules in place to stop the big unis taking all the points. Why should a uni club that has the potential to enter a winning team be stopped from doing so, all it takes is 4 good members so even the small clubs clubs have a chance, it's just the case the big clubs have a few more people to choose from.

This whole 'everyone should have an equal chance to win' crap is infuriating. It doesn't stop people from entering, there'd be no such thing as competition if those who didn't think they could win didn't bother to enter!! You don't see other sports splitting up teams so that everyone has an equal chance, that's just not competition. Can you imagine if they did that in the premier league...

Honestly, I find scrambles boring. Falling down the tube while the new FS1 skates around the sky is not fun, if you want to be self-righteous and pretend that it doesn't annoy you then that's your prerogative. Competition is not a time to accomodate those of lower experience, the other 46 weekends a year that aren't BCPA competitions are for helping new members learn and improve.

Scrambles can be fun and is a great way to get new people jumping together, but shouldn't be the basis of our competition. Scrambles at nationals would be a good idea as the new members have had a chance to get to FS1 standard and would benefit from meeting and jumping with new people. Throughout the year though, it's just the same people who have been qualified for a while and probably know a good proportion of the other people at the event. The argument that you want to jump with new people isn't valid, you only meet 2 new people at most doing scrambles!!! If you want to jump with new people then do that outside of the competitions, or forgo the competitions if the weather looks like it'll restrict jumping. If you want to jump with new people then put a team together with new people!

And accuracy is downright dangerous unless organised properly, with students focussing more on where they land than how they land, it is an accident waiting to happen. They'll get their chance to compete, for now they should be concentrating on a safe landing and their training.

I can't see an affiliation to BUCS ever working if everyone keeps complaining that competitive skydiving is unfair.

High percentage of wankers in this sport, especially BPA fs types. The right thing would have been to refund your cash for the crappy goggles.

 

oohh....aren't you a charmer.

 

No wonder you find so many wankers in this sport with an attitude like that.  

Well, It would seem some apologies are in order.  I’ve not felt this ashamed of a posting since I libelled the Jolly Fat Man last Christmas.

I Should have made it more apparent that my previous post in this thread was meant to be taken as a joke.  In future i’ll try to remember to end my jokes with “lol.” rather than starting them with “haha”.

I would therefore like to say Sorry to vincenzo57, the Uks readership & Uk skydiving in general.

But I reserve the biggest apology for the “School of Fast Progress in Downsizing and Radical Flying”.  As any students of the aforementioned school will know Student Canopies extend below 99sqft.

LOL.

I voted for 1500ft.

If anyone ever asks me this question my general response is 'Set your final audible warning as high as possible but so that you NEVER hear it during normal procedures'. i.e. if you sometimes hear the flat line during the last part of your canopy snivel you've set it too high and will become accustomed to hearing it. If in a real emergency situation you then hear it again you might not respond quickly enough.

Marc

Complete and utter marketing nonesense.

JESUS. How out of touch is the BPA.

You are the BPA, what are you doing to drive things forward? Anyone can sit on their backsides and moan, if you want change do something positive about it.

It costs £25 for coaching at Tilly.

 

Or to be more precise, you pay £25 annual club membership and get free FS coaching, and the coaches flight ticket is covered by the DZ, this works for FF and WS (when we have FF and WS coaches on the DZ), you also get reduced flight tickets and tunnel time at cost when we run tunnel trips.

 

I guess I am now one of the old school, and as a CI one of those responsible for introducing new regulations/gradings when necessary. I can assure you that the majority of people round the table at STC do not want to stifle fun and enjoyment in the sport, and have far more experience between them that you ever will.

 

We see the stupid shit people (possibly like you) try to pull every weekend because they have mad skills and don't think the rules apply to them. Let me say that I for one wish more of them took a leaf out of your book and take their potential incident abroad like you do, it certainly makes the sky safer for my jumpers, who certainly know how to have fun.

 

Oh and as for swoopers, you a lot have died, but as tragic as that is, they only killed or injured themselves, WS and TR and FF casualties generally include an unwitting third party, and there lies a key but very pertinent difference. I don't want anyone killing or hurting themselves on my DZ, but I really don't want someone killing or hurting someone's because they were a fuckwit.

 

I am all for sticking your head above the parapet and do so regularly, but you sir, are a buffoon.

So do we get a sneak peak at the 'proposed logbook' ?

If you carry all 4 logbooks do you get a LB1 sticker?

Sweet merciful crap. On a scale of 1 to off topic.

 

In summary, you would have liked the pilot's meeting to be allocated a longer slot.

 

There, that was easy wasn't it. All that other chuff is repetitive superfluous crap that you can do to death in another thread (oh wait, you already did). This is not the place.

I voted a minute's silence, and no applause. Celebration is for the bar. Silence feels respectful, and a minute's applause could feel disrespectful, especially if you didn't know the person. And what if somebody unpopular dies? - it would look like one big "woohoo, they're dead" if everyone cheered?! And what if somebody's one-minute-applause is less raucous than somebody else's? - death is no place for popularity contests. A minute of silence is a great leveller, it enables everyone to mark the moment in their own way, and it's unique as you rarely get silence from large groups (but often get applause). Silence is also easy to take part in - if you're the recently widowed partner of someone who's just gone in then performing with a crowd to make it through a minute of applause at the height of your grief could simply be asking too much, and yet how could you not join in either? 

 

PS I don't think I've ever met a skydiver who would want to be remembered by a minutes silence.

 

You've met me. Please don't assume stuff about what people would want after death when you haven't asked them yet - as you say it's a very personal thing. I'm an introvert, I'd hate a minute's applause in my memory. Silence all the way please. 

For example recently Buzz wouldn't allow me to jump my own rig. I walked away. He was completely sincere about the reasoning. But I decided to walk away.

I'm sorry to pick up this one quote from a large post on a different topic, but:

Buzz being "sincere" in his reasoning and not allowing you to do whatever you want is his job as a CCI. The reason he's a CCI is because 1) he cares enough to do it day in, day out, despite it being a thankless job, and 2) he has an enormous amount of experience at making good calls about safety. This is something that, with all due respect to your experience so far, you do not have.

The correct response is not to take your business elsewhere. Sport skydiving is not (whatever some sport skydivers might think) a "service industry". It's a community. The correct response is to realise he genuinely knows what's best for you, and to stick around because there will probably be other times he'll make his experience and care available to you.

Opinion shopping is not a good way to have a safe early skydiving career.

THIS IS THE SORT OF REACTIONIST BACKSTABBING WHICH IS PUSHING PEOPLE OUT.

Actually, since you want to be in the open, OK. This is not reactionist backstabbing.

You have a history of sock-puppeting (look it up), and have been asked - extremely politely - to desist in the past. New users arrive, one of whose name matches a known alias of yours, and start having suspiciously leading conversations with you on topics you are known to have an axe to grind over.

Even if entirely innocent, you can see how it looks, and how we might be mistrustful.

Throwing a public hissy fit when other people also suspect the same thing, does not make them The Problem With The BPA. It makes it obvious that you are not trusted, and appear unable to understand why. Your little tantrum doesn't really help.

Your ongoing tendency to cast yourself as the victim of persecution, in this and other cases, also tends to cast a new light on other events. There is a real skydiving world outside the Internet, and it's a small one. People here match up to people out there, and likewise actions and reputations.

Your attitude on both sides of the screen does you no favours.

In the words of one of the DZ.com moderators... it's skydiving. Additional drama is not required.

the message is that KT is doing everything he can right now to sort things out

How about contacting the people he's shafted to give them this news directly? That doesn't seem too much to ask really! I reckon people would have been a lot more understanding had he actually informed them of what was going on, rather than just vanishing abroad with no explanation left for all those who have given him money

OK, here is my attempt:

Much to the discomfort of my mother I was born with a gigantic head think melon on a tooth pick and you're not far off. My dad however was muchly chagrined by the size of my head as he now had to contend with a wizards sleeve for the rest of his marraige. And as such he wasn't very nice to me as a child I suspect as a result of this. I think he dropped me on my head a few times too as my head is slightly mishapen.

Growing older was ok aside fromt the odd Hey Arnold jokes. Until I had my first girl friend she was an American who was terrifically Naïve and somewhat religious as well. therefore did not believe in premarital sex. :scream:Remembering Arnold Swartzenegger's quote 'Eating is not cheating." One evening I cheekily asked her. You know I respect your beliefs and all, but can I have a little head? Her being terribly naive she thought I wanted surgery on my head instead of her smoking my man meat. We parted company shortly afterwards.

Fast forward to the present day and every DZ I visit I always have trouble finding a helmet that will fit and its why I've not yet bought one online as I fear it won't fit properly despite careful measurements. Which means I am stuck with a notorius helmet at my home DZ, the excess strap almost always comes undone and whips my face in free fall. Although some people would pay good money to be whipped and would consider it to be a bonus I don't.

My aspirations right now is to start FS1 coaching jumps so I can partcipate in the July scrambles and have more sh1ts and giggles with other jumpers at the DZ, rather than my solo jumps. And to grow a big beard to protect myself from facial whipping..... unless a better non whipping helmet can be found/bought and for the weather to calm down a bit from uber winds and uber cloudage. So we can all get some jumps in and have more sh1ts and giggles in the air.

Bring Murf back....And let us sell our gear on here for free or we will sell it else where....Simple!

Murf has been banned from UKS and is not fair, he posted links to somewhere on facebook you can buy and sell 2nd hand gear ..... The forum is here so people in the skydiving community can share information and buy and sell new and 2nd hand kit, it used to be free so whats changed??? i think someone is out to make a quick buck.

By banning Murf, who post's alot of useful things on UKS and some of you may not agree with what he says 100% of the time but isnt that the point of an open forum?

LET MURF POST AGAIN ON UKS!

Jamie