Skydive!!!

[cali_tkdbruin]

How many jumps before you get to jump solo? BTW, do you get Jumper Wings like the 82nd Airborne Division?

You have such a cool hobby and here I always thought that the MAs were it.. :asian:

Well, now I think I'll take up rock climbing.

 

[Nightingale]

Yep. Perris, CA.

And its a minimum of 8 jumps til you're solo, but jumping with a jumpmaster right next to you til you're off student status and get your license. its 8 levels of AFF (accelerated free fall) and if you don't pass a level, you have to repeat it til you get it right. most people pass tho.

after you pass AFF, you're still considered a student til you reach 20 jumps, and then you can get your Class A license which will let you jump anywhere.


AFF Level 1
Positive stability, altitude awareness, practice ripcord touches, experiencing freefalling with two jumpmasters.

AFF Level 2
Forward Movement
Two jumpmasters, increased body awareness, forward movement, pulling your own ripcord, waving off, review freefall.

AFF Level 3
90 Degree Turns
Two jumpmasters, expanded air awareness, spotting, canopy control, positive stability, complete review and more. Sometime before you do Level 4 you must join the United States Parachute Association.

AFF Level 4
Release Dive
One jumpmaster, obtaining neutral stability, maintaining heading, new freefall procedures, always the review, and more..

AFF Level 5
Turns To Redock
One jumpmaster, forward movement, 180 & 360 turns, canopy control, review and more.

AFF Level 6
Half Series And Tracking
One jumpmaster, more spotting, delta tracking, turns and center-pointing, freefall procedures, and more.

AFF Level 7
Sequence Dive
One jumpmaster, spotting exits, rate of fall, altitude awareness, docking, 360 turns, total review and more.

AFF Level 8
Advanced Flying Skills
One jumpmaster, ground preparations, canopy checks, dive-out exits, sideslipping, tracking, breakoff sequence, total review covering all procedures.

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

That's Cool.

Instead of rock climbing, I think I'll take up your hobby.

 

[KenpoMatt]

For all of you out there who haven't tried it - TRY IT!!! It is the most amazing thing you'll ever do.

What does it feel like? OK, you're hanging out the door at 13,000+ feet. You are scared out of your f-ing skull. Then, you go. All of a sudden you simply aren't scared anymore. It is a VERY pleasant, exhilirating sensation. There is no "falling" sensation at all. I hate the falling feeling, and I'm telling you, you just won't experince it. I was stoned on endorphins for a solid month after my 1st jump.

This is me on my 1st tandem skydive, the guy on the bottom. I've made about 10 jumps but haven't pursued a license yet. I can't stop thinking about it. Maybe I will enroll in an AFF or AFP program.

Skydiving rocks!!!!

 

[Nightingale]

Originally posted by cali_tkdbruin
That's Cool.

Instead of rock climbing, I think I'll take up your hobby.

I'm starting AFF on saturday (if they don't have room today )... if you'd like to join me, you'd be welcome! The invite's open to anyone!

 

[theletch1]

You guys do realize that those are guys strapped to your back... not parachutes?! HE-HE! I've never done the parachute thing but I've done rappeling and fast roping out of a helo before. It was a blast.

 

[Cryozombie]

Personally, Id enjoy trying plummeting.

You can only do it once...

 

[Elfan]

Silly people jumping out of perfectly good airplanes ;-)

No seriously that looks awesome and I hope to get around to doing that soon.

 

[Nightingale]

I just did my second skydive yesterday! This time, I had my own parachute! I actually landed on my feet too!. Pictures will be up wednesday or thursday, whenever I get them back from kodak.

It was awesome... flying the parachute yourself is the coolest thing, but if anyone's planning on trying it, do a tandem first, so you're familliar with the feeling of free fall.


and elfan.... Go for it! Its one of those things almost everyone says "I'd like to try that someday..." and very few actually do it.

 

[KenpoTess]

Bravo Kris~!!!

It's Fantastic you had someone take pics too~!!! Looking forward to seeing them~!

 

[jfarnsworth]

I still prefer to keep my feet on the ground.

 

[michaeledward]

I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. It was always something I had wanted to do ... you know how it is.

Certainly, it doesn't feel like you are falling ... more like somebody has a REALLY REALLY BIG FAN blowing in your face. It was OK, but not nearly as exciting as I thought it would be.

I jumped out of a Cesna aircraft at 10,000 feet. The coolest part of my jump was actually exiting the aircraft. We (the camera man ... myself, and Rich the guy with the parachute, who was strapped to my back) had to crawl out the door of the airplane, onto this little platform, kinda like a skateboard ... so we were actually outside the airplane, before we jumped. Well, something that didn't occur to me, until I tried stepping out of the plane, is that the plane is going through the air at about 100 miles an hour ... which means the air is moving toward you at 100 miles an hour ... (Duh!).

To get the feeling of what this is like ... Get in your car ... Get on the highway ... and then, at 65 mph stick your head out the window..... you'll definately gain a new appreciation for your dog's behavior.

Mike

 

[michaeledward]

it also can be gravely serious. There is a wonderful, and terrifying, article in this months Readers Digest (pp 104-109) about a AFF instructor dying last year during an instructional jump.

Of course, the danger is, perhaps, part of the thrill.

Mike

 

[Nightingale]

That AFF instructor was an idiot. He made an extremely poor judgement call, put his student in jeopardy, lost altitude awareness, and lost his life as a result.

The rules are there for good reasons. By not following the rules, he placed both himself AND HIS STUDENT in great danger.

The rules state specifically that if the student's main chute has not deployed by a certain altitude, that the instructor is to release the student and deploy his own chute.

The reason for this is that ALL students are required to wear an Automatic Activation Device (AAD) that will set off the reserve chute if for some reason the student has been unable to successfully deploy either main or reserve. The AAD will fire the reserve at a specific altitude and speed. They are very reliable, and many lives have been saved due to their successful deployment of the reserve chute.

By hanging on to the student and pulling the main chute at such a low altitude, the student did not have time to deccellerate before the AAD fired her reserve chute. Two parachutes are NOT easy to control and its virtually impossible to have a good landing. Two chutes out is a good way to get yourself killed. Something like this only occurs when, as my AFF instructor put it "Someone ROYALLY F-ED UP!"

With two parachutes out, you can't "cutaway" or release the main chute and only use the reserve like you would with a main chute malfunction. Standard procedure is to cutaway the malfunctioning main and THEN deploy the reserve. If you deploy the reserve while the main's still attatched, you can't release the main because of the very high potential for it to get tangled with the reserve, leaving you with no functioning chute at all.

The instructor's poor judgement not only cost him his life, but could have cost his student hers as well due to the problems of a dual parachute deployment.

Had the instructor followed proper procedure and let the student go at the appropriate altitude to permit the AAD to deploy her reserve, he would be alive today.

The skydivers at my dropzone are very upset about the inaccuracies and misleading statements in that article. They're sorry about the tragedy, but very aware that it could have been easily prevented by following the rules that exist to protect everyone's safety.

 

[Kroy]

Since this post began, I started checking out the Sky Diving schools around Nova Scotia. I cant believe that I'm actually thinking about it. The way you guys describe it, makes you want to try it. God help me.

 

[Nightingale]

www.dropzone.com

best resource I've found.

 

[Kroy]

Great web-site, thanks. One of the schools I was looking into was linked to that site. That was step one, step two...go there

 

[Nightingale]

lol...

1. pick up phone.
2. "hello. I'd like to make an appointment for a tandem."
3. give them your credit card number.
4. show up.
5. meet your jumpmaster.
6. get into your jumpsuit
7. get your *** on the plane.
8. get your *** out the door of the plane.

that's all you have to do. your jumpmaster will take care of the rest.

I'd recommend doing a tandem before AFF. The feeling of freefall can be a little overwhelming, and with a tandem, you'll at least know what to expect with the wind and all that. Then, when you do AFF, there's some familiarity there.

Blue skies!
-Kris

 

[arnisador]

Originally posted by Nightingale
1. pick up phone.
2. "hello. I'd like to make an appointment for a tandem."
3. give them your credit card number.
4. show up.
5. meet your jumpmaster.
6. get into your jumpsuit
7. get your *** on the plane.
8. get your *** out the door of the plane.

Don't you get a class/lecture first?

 

[michaeledward]

I did not get a lecture, just a short video tape saying that 'Skydiving is a dangerous activity that can lead to serious injury or even death. Well DUH! Oh, **** Gravity Works!

Then they made you sign a waiver that you would not start a lawsuit against the jump school, airport for any injuries received while participating in 'Skydiving Activities' ... which included everything I did since driving through the front gate. Oh Yeah .. .and my heirs can't bring litigation against them if I die too.

:xtrmshock