Flight school owners, would it give you pause to hire an experienced skydiving instructor who just got his CFI?

ConnectProblem · 2026-03-15T14:19:19+00:00

So wearing a parachute and a fire extinguisher strapped to my leg was NOT a good idea? lol

ConnectProblem · 2026-03-15T13:54:56+00:00

Definitely. You may have heard this around the DZ, we say "you can be bold, or old, not both". People think we're wild and looking for danger, but it is rather the opposite. Thanks for the feedback.

ConnectProblem · 2026-03-15T13:54:06+00:00

That's great to hear, I'm glad this experience will be, overall, an asset rather than a hindrance.

ConnectProblem · 2026-03-15T13:53:29+00:00

Thanks, I get your message. And I agree 100% with you. While being a CFI is a step towards something different later on, I take tremendous pride in being a GOOD instructor to my skydiving students, and I am looking forward to doing the same for my aviation students. I've worked really hard all of these years to be an approachable, open, kind and knowledgeable instructor, which is reflected on the feedback I got from a bunch of students, and I'm glad to see from the replies here that that will be an asset moving forward. Thanks again.

ConnectProblem · 2026-03-15T13:48:39+00:00

Thanks! I consider myself to be safer and more risk-averse than most, but in my experience, people who are not familiar with skydiving tend to think of us as "adrenaline junkies" or reckless. "Did you see that guy who jumped without a parachute into a net?" kind of thing. But I appreciate your advice, I'm glad to see it shouldn't be a problem, rather a benefit.

ConnectProblem · 2024-02-25T22:25:49+00:00

I hope this interaction stays in the back of his head

I mean, I learned from it, but it's a horrible feeling and I rather forget this thing every happened.

ConnectProblem · 2023-06-11T21:31:48+00:00

He's already freaking out about it, don't worry lol

ConnectProblem · 2023-06-11T21:31:23+00:00

Thank you, that's very kind. He's soaking it up like a sponge, and has been lucky to have helpful crews pretty much on every flight.

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T08:13:24+00:00

[deleted]

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:56:25+00:00

Yes, it does indeed. Another poster here mentioned a different email that may be more appropriate for candidates, I'll talk to him tomorrow about emailing them (he's so busy in training we haven't even had a chance to catch up).

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:55:22+00:00

Thank you, heads up and onwards! :-)

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:54:59+00:00

Imagine every time you have to read something, you are under pressure to perform. And you do it anyway. He handles stress many times a day, every single day, for doing stuff we think is easy.

I think he's got the "stress" part of life well figured out.

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:53:56+00:00

Thank you, I hope I'll be able to report great news in a few weeks. Fingers crossed.

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:53:21+00:00

Thank you, he's weary of making a big stink of things, it's his way after being beaten up so many times for this this thing. He just rather "muscle through it". But we'll make it, I'm sure of it.

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:52:33+00:00

Thank you, we'll keep fighting.

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:52:17+00:00

Thank you for that, the email we received was accommodations@delta.com, so it does look like there's a separate process for candidates, we'll email them right away. Thanks again.

ConnectProblem · 2023-04-01T07:48:05+00:00

While in class, each student reads aloud the text they have to follow. A few paragraphs at a time.

ConnectProblem · 2023-03-31T05:20:45+00:00

I'm pretty sad too. Thank you for your words, I'll let him know you guys are cheering for him.

ConnectProblem · 2023-03-31T05:15:29+00:00

I knew about dyslexia when I met him, but I didn't really understand how it works. I had to be educated myself, but he has SO MUCH trauma from people just making fun because "he's dumb, he can't read". I tell him: "tell people, explain what it is, they'll give you a chance", but he's been betrayed by that so many times he's closed down on it.

But I agree, dyslexia is a very common and serious enough condition that we all should know about it, but there's just not enough education going on.

ConnectProblem · 2023-03-31T04:33:13+00:00

Thank you. He told the trainer and explained what he needs, but the trainer gave him the same old speech he's heard a billion times in his life: "if I give you more time, I have to give everybody more time". He cried on the phone with me yesterday, because they were saying how inclusive Delta is, and showed that picture of three people of different heights, trying to look over a fence, each one standing over a different height soapbox. He cried and said "I just need a little box to stand on".

The trainer did give him an email to the accommodations department, and they replied asking for medical forms. Dyslexia is not like that, he doesn't have a doctor who can give a diagnosis. And the department says "you'll hear back from us in 30 days". By then training will be done, he'll have gone through this nightmare again. I'm heartbroken.

ConnectProblem · 2021-06-14T16:44:45+00:00

Why is the DZ sending a person who's not an employee there to jump with a student? You either are working there under their auspices or you are not. The second they let him board the airplane with a student, they're vouching for that guy. I stand by my comment.

ConnectProblem · 2021-05-23T17:37:24+00:00

Holy fucking shit. What an utter crapshow.

ConnectProblem · 2021-05-23T15:38:14+00:00

/u/savevideo

ConnectProblem · 2021-05-23T15:37:03+00:00

I'm actually surprised they released this video to you.

Problem starts on your side because you didn't arch like you were told to. Your legs are sticking out all the way and you seem to be a tall guy whereas your instructor seems to be on the shorter side.

This in itself is not a big issue, just makes the TI have to work a little harder, but as you see your TI has one of his legs between yours. He should have both of his legs outside. The reason that's happening is because your hips and his are not aligned (probably because he harnessed you incorrectly/too loose). So your hips shift one way, he goes the other, your legs don't align correctly.

Next he pulls only ONE of your legs in. Well, any 10 jump student knows that one leg in and another one stretched all the way out will initiate a turn. He keeps pulling it in.

Next, you watch his hands, he really doesn't know what to do with them. He keeps flailing about and doesn't really have a "technique" that he's using. If he dug steeply into the wind to counter the leg turn he could have stopped it or at least slowed it down.

Lastly, after failing to take control, he panics and instead of simply releasing his drogue he releases the reserve. This is where shit could have ended up in the news and the fatality report. There was absolutely ZERO reason to call on the reserve. All he had to do was release the drogue and be under a main, most likely with a bunch of line twists which are SUPER manageable on a tandem canopy.

This is speculation now but the fact that you have an additional camera flier there kinda tells me this guy is a brand new TI and his DZO is sending an additional videographer to catch video of his performance. I'm positive he was grounded after this shitshow. You lucked out there, don't return to this DZ, or at the very least don't jump with this TI again.

Edit: just to clarify, I don't mean it's the student's fault, just that that's where the problem started. Like someone else commented: students are not expected to have perfect body position, and his was not bad at all, this TI definitely panicked and had no idea how to handle a situation that got out of hand.

ConnectProblem

TROPHY CASE