Zero Jumps . . . So Far

[jim_32766 0]

Hello All,

A friend of mine from SA, an avid skydiver, has been bugging me for the last couple of years to give skydiving - at a minimum the wind tunnel - a try. I've always been interested but never made the time. As a private pilot I've always concentrated on landing the plane, not jumping out of it. I sold my plane about two years ago and my interest in skydiving has been increasing.

This Xmas, looking for something new for the family to try, I booked a block of time at the wind tunnel in Orlando. I took my wife, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend with me for some wind. Wow, what a fun experience! Everyone really enjoyed their time.

The staff member that ran our class was very helpful and coached each of us during our rotations. With his help I was able to get stable and do very rudimentary turns, using just hand angle, in the first rotation. I was really encouraged, now understood more of what a skydive drop would feel like.

My SA friend came to visit in Orlando last week and wanted work on the mantis position (I had no clue what that meant) in the tunnel. It took zero arm twisting to get me to join him! We split a 30 minute block. While he did fine tuning I worked on the basic movements (and I monitored his coaching carefully). By the time we left I could slide left and right, move forward and backward, go up or down, and turn using box or mantis position. I was certainly not as rock steady as my friend, and still need to work on fall rate control to limit vertical wandering, but again I was really encouraged and felt less concerned over body control in an actual jump.

I think I am starting to really get the bug to try skydiving. I think the toughest hurdle may be my spouse. Can I get her comfortable with the idea of me jumping out of planes?

For those of you who have a spouse that does not skydive, did you have a whole lot of convincing to do prior to jumping? Any tips?

Thanks,

Jim

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

[skymama 35]

Welcome to the forums!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[jim_32766 0]

Skymama, that is an interesting question.

My wife was totally ok with me as a pilot. We often flew the plane on vacations. She got into planning trips, helping with navigation, etc. My daughter loved it too, although she spent half her time sleeping in the back seat. Our family trips covered much of the US east of the Rockies.

Me becoming a pilot was in part a trade-off vs skydiving. Back in 2000 my SA friend was visiting and wanted me to do a tandem during one of his jumps. My wife and daughter were terrified by the thought (I guess of something going wrong and me dying). I have always been interested in flying and becoming a private pilot was less worrisome for them - I guess.

My wife is fairly adventurous - even took up motorcycle riding last year and now rides her own 900cc bike. It may just be an over estimation of the risks. Maybe I should try to have her do a tandem too, maybe us both on the same load. That might ease some of the concern.

Of course it may also lead to her becoming addicted to skydiving, like so many others. I guess that wouldn't be all bad either!

[popsjumper 2]

Not having been in your particular situation with convincing a spouse (my situation was that trying to convince was pointless so I just took the easy option...divorce) I can only offer my viewpoint for consideration:

Mortorcycles, by far and away, scare me much more than skydiving if for no other reason than that I feel I have much more control over my fate while skydiving than I would on a bike.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[jim_32766 0]

I have an update!

My wife and I spent a couple of hours at Skydive Deland a couple of weekends ago watching all the action, and talking with some of the skydivers. We wanted to get a better feel for the sport.

The range of ages for active jumpers was impressive, and all the landings we watched, especially the tandems ,were quite soft. The comfort level for both of us was greatly improved and last weekend we both decided to try a tandem jump.

I was amazed at how calm and cool my wife was through the whole tandem jump process. I had some anxiety when packed into the plane and was at a pretty high level of attention throughout. As it turned out, my wife enjoyed the tandem more than I did! It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but I could tell she really had fun.

Wanting to see the difference between the tandem and jumping with my own chute, I signed up for and took the AFF level-1 course this morning. That training and subsequent jump was much more to my liking than the tandem. I had so much fun that I did the AFF level-2 immediately after landing. It's going to be a little over a week before a I can continue with 3 and beyond, but that's the plan.

My wife, who has had ACL surgery on one knee already and will not be jumping, is no longer against me jumping either. This has worked out better than I thought.

Another student is on the way to a license.

Blue skies!

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

[skymama 35]

Congrats! Deland is my home dz, so I hope I get a chance to meet you. If you see me, just say hi. I don't bite...unless you ask me to.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[jim_32766 0]

Skymama - thanks for the welcome, and I hope to bump into you at the DZ. I imagine I'll be visiting the Deland DZ for several weeks yet just to get through level-7. I have some travel to do and so won't likely be back out there until at least a week from now. Maybe I can knock out another couple levels on that weekend.

Everyone keeps telling me that once level-7 is over and I get to jump on my own, it just gets better and better. I can't wait.

For now though, I'm just focusing on the next AFF level, then the next, then the next . . .

Jim

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

[popsjumper 2]

Congrats, Jim! You certainly picked a great place to start out.

Oh...one word about Skymama....as tempting as it will be, do try NOT to hit on her...she's already married and has a vicious right arm for swinging a big butt paddle.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[skymama 35]

He's married too and besides, I'm a lefty.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[airtwardo 6]

has a vicious right arm for swinging a big butt paddle.

Hummmmm....

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[jim_32766 0]

Quote

...she's already married and has a vicious right arm for swinging a big butt paddle.

Ya know, pops . . . I don't think I am even going to ask how you would know that.

I do hope to bump into skymamma around the Deland DZ, just to meet someone from the forum. As we are both married I'll skip the hitting on her part. At my nubile skydiving stage I am probably too focused on the skydive jumping to focus too much on the other kind of jumping anyway.

I'll let you know how the next skydives go. I hope to get #3 and #4 done on Saturday.

I just ordered a Alti-2 Galaxy. If it arrives in time I'll even have a shiney new toy for the next jumps.

Jim

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

[jim_32766 0]

It's time for an update.

Due to lots of personal travel and too much wind at the few times I was free, it took a while to get the level 3 jump done. I finally was able to do that last Monday. The jump was great fun.

Yesterday I made it back to the DZ in the early afternoon to to level 4. I got lucky on the loads and ended up leaving about 3 hours later with levels 4, 5, and 6 completed. Whoohoo!!

The tracking in level 6 was probably my favorite part of the jump. I was surprised to feel the forward push and see the ground moving below.

Now, I've just got the level 7 to go before I am jumping solo. I can't wait to start the next phase of learning.

See you in the sky!

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.

[KermieCorleone 0]

congrats guy. I cant wait to be done with my AFF as well, I just passed lvl 3 on Wednesday. I had to rejump lvl 2, was taking my sweet time with the TLOs and didnt get to do all of them, cant afford to fail any more levels ...

- Neil

Never make assumptions! That harmless rectangle could be two triangles having sex ...

[jim_32766 0]

Kermie - I think the time I spent in the wind tunnel made a huge difference for me when it came to doing the AFF levels so far. I was confident and comfortable with control in the air and could better concentrate on the assigned actions. If you can get some tunnel time I suggest taking it. Yes, it will cost a couple of bucks, but overall it's cheaper than repeating AFF levels, especially 1-3.

I hope your next jumps are perfect. Best of luck!

The meaning of life . . . is to make life have meaning.