What makes a skydiver?

[PhreeZone 15]

Simple question... is a skydiver anyone that jumped out of a plane or is there more to it then that?
Is the person that comes out to the DZ, does a tandem then calls themself a skydiver really a skydiver or are they more of a quazi-skydiver, someone that did it and even maybe understands it, but would'nt/could'nt do it again? Is someone on student status a skydiver or do they not really earn that title till after student status? A licence? Is a pilot that bails from thier airplane a skydiver or are they just someone that saved their own life?

If you can't tell work is SO boring today I figured I'd see what others opinions are on trivial topics like this

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[freeflir29 0]

I'd say you need to have made a solo jump....on purpose.....(Not because your plane was on fire)

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If you can't tell work is SO boring today

You......Our Network Management servers are being reconfigured. I can't do any work until they are back up but they still want me to sit here and explain that to techs that call..... I'd rather be finishing my coach course....

[scottbre 0]

When I hear someone say something like, "She's a skydiver" in my mind that means that she jumps on a regular basis. Not having just done a tandem. But that is just what I envision and I don't consider it a hard a fast rule by any means.

But if someone says to me, "Hey I'm a skydiver." I would expect to be able to talk with them about different aspects of the sport. Not start asking questions and get a response like, "Oh, I don't know anything about that, I just did a tandem once."


Work is boring today for me too.

"Your mother's full of stupidjuice!"
My Art Project

[nws01 0]

I would say a skydiver is someone who for the most part remains current. Someone who has completed a tandem or did a few AFF jumps has skydived. Someone who use to skydive but has not in a really long time use to be a skydiver. Then you have Pete Howell (Spy38W) . He is a cutaway and reserve canopy test pilot.

[TomAiello 25]

What about someone who made lots of skydives years ago, but hasn't for a while? Still a skydiver?

I've started discussions at skydivers parties before by saying that I wasn't really a skydiver.

I'd guess that being a skydiver is either about:

(a) Mentality--either you're a skydiver or not, depending on how you view life. Whether or not you've jumped from a plane is entirely secondary.

or

(b) Experience and Currency--you have to have a certain number of jumps, and jump at regular intervals. At the DZ I learned at, there was a feeling that you weren't a "real skydiver" unless you jumped every weekend, and made at least five jumps each day or so. Obviously, the DZO encourages this mentality, as it helps line his pockets.

I'm big on choice (a) since it seems less elitist to me. But choice (b) probably encourages a higher quality of skydiver.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Slappie 9]

Really I didn't call myself a "skydiver" until I finished all my student jumps and made some solos. IMO the tandems are like someone paying for an amusment ride. Students are "skydiver wannabes" and people who jump on a regular basis are "skydivers"

IMHO...

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[Michele 1]

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But if someone says to me, "Hey I'm a skydiver." I would expect to be able to talk with them about different aspects of the sport.

But - but - but I can't discuss different aspects of the sport yet; I don't know enough about different aspects to hold an intelligent conversation, and I don't even own my own gear. I don't even mean a seriously technical conversation. I'm still trying to figure out what uppers and lowers do to the spot...so I can't even talk about the basic aspects just yet...

And I can't afford to make 5 jumps a week, every week. I'm happy and lucky if I can make 3 a month.

And I don't even know what a skydiving mentality is...

So, does that mean I am not a skydiver?

Ciels and Pinks-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[TomAiello 25]

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I'm still trying to figure out what uppers and lowers do to the spot...

So, does that mean I am not a skydiver?

Some people would say you're not a skydiver until you know what uppers and downers (and maybe hallucinogens) do to the spot.

"If you can't jump drunk and stoned, you shouldn't ought to be jumping at all."
-- Muff Brother #1

Oh, before you flame me, that's a joke. I've made a total of one jump in my life with any kind of substance in my system, I'm unlikely to do it again, and I think it's a very bad idea.

-- Tom Aiello

[email protected]
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Muenkel 0]

Back in May, I went down to Florida for AFF. I had already done 2 tandems and was really psyched about skydiving. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I never went through the AFF. Feeling bummed and knowing some dz.com folks were wondering how it went, I posted a thread titled "I am not a skydiver". So many skydivers told me I was, because it was in my blood. I know they were trying to encourage me. My point is, I personally do not consider myself a skydiver yet. When I begin my AFF, I will call myself a skydiver. Right now, I aspire to be a skydiver.

_________________________________________
Chris

[scottbre 0]

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But - but - but I can't discuss different aspects of the sport yet

Yes you can. If we meet and are talking the kind of questions that I would ask about would be along the lines of:

How many jumps you got?
Every had a cutaway?
What wingloading do you usually jump?
Where do you jump at?
Wanna do a jump?

All questions that you could easily answer that I might ask someone, that a tandem passenger probably couldn't answer.

If you are talking to someone who had done a tandem once it's a pretty simple conversation:

Skydiver: So you did a tandem huh?
Tandem: Yea.
Skydiver: Pretty cool huh?
Tandem: Yea, it was amazing.
Skydiver: Ummm... [looking in the general direction of manifest] I think I'm on a 5
minute call. See ya.

Two skydivers talking generally ends up with a lot unsaid, because they keep going off on tangents and remembering something else, and then get cut off because it's time to get on the plane.

"Your mother's full of stupidjuice!"
My Art Project

[billvon 2,428]

>but I can't discuss different aspects of the sport yet;

You seem to do that pretty well here . . .

[PhreeZone 15]

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Some people would say you're not a skydiver until you know what uppers and downers (and maybe hallucinogens) do to the spot.

Others would say your not a skydiver untill you know what a boogie party really is like.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[smiles 0]

I've been jumpin for 15 years-
This last year have been too unhealthy to make a skydive.......but it has kept my spirits alive.
Waiting in severe pain- Dr. offices, emergency, hospitals, through every kind of "test".....even laying on the MRI table...my thoughts replay of jumps I've made. I carried my log book around with me and read my dives, visualized dive after dive...
dirt dived dives....
Surgery was out of the question- too many chronic illness's- then 2 months ago found out our government (Canada) has allowed a new treatment called Remicade to be perscribed- my specialist applied and the cost is $4,000. a treatment and I need 4 treatments. In the last month our medical has agreed to actually "cover it." I've had my 1st. treatment........................and made my first skydive!! Only out of a 206- just a dive out- but I got pics and cannot express in words how "alive" I feel.................
http://members.shaw.ca/idgraphics/karen.html

What makes a skydiver?? One who never forgets how awesome they feel on each and every skydive!!

Smiles.

eustress. : a positive form of stress having a beneficial effect on health, motivation, performance, and emotional well-being.

[PhillyKev 0]

I think it's really simple. If you look up at the sky on a nice day and think about jumping, you're a skydiver. That's it. It's the attitude. If you love it and want to do it you're a skydiver. Even if you haven't been able to financially, because of pressure from family, health reasons, whatever. If you day dream about falling past a cloud, you're a skydiver.

[seedy 0]

I will be making my first tandem skydive on Sunday after dreaming about it for years. Will I be a skydiver? No. Will I have participated in a skydive? Yes. If I continue in the sport only then will I become a skydiver. IMHO.

I intend to live forever -- so far, so good.

[Scoby 0]

I didn't feel like I was a skydiver when I went tandem. I didn't feel like a skydiver when I was a student (I was a skydiving enthusiast). I felt like a skydiver when I was gearing up for my solo jump and realized I didn't need to grab the radios, since I was in total control.

[freeflir29 0]

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since I was in total control

Heheheeheheheheheehee..........

[rgoper 0]

webster's: sky-diving(er): one who participates in the sport of jumping from an airplane and executing various manuevers before pulling the cord to open the parachute.

r.g.'s version: a person, or person's who are slightly "tilted" but intelligent human life form that plan, execute and complete a "sky dive" don't screw nothing up while executing same, and all land safely giving each other "high five's" for their efforts. packing in 20 mins, dirtdiving again, and repeating the aforementioned activitie(s) again, and again. (sky divers should show much love for their cohorts) female skydivers should sky dive topless (preferabally) but not a nessacity! after said "beerlight" goes on at the "sunset" load, all activities are secret, and confidential and any rumours of such shall be ignored, unless video is present, but even that can be denied. "whuffos" are allowed to participate in "beerlight" activities, only if they make all the beer runs, and provide same at their own expense!

caution: this is satirical, only a real sky diver will see the humour in it, that's how ya know!

--Richard--
"We Will Not Be Shaken By Thugs, And Terroist"

[hooked 0]

I like your answer! I'm not a licensed skydiver, and probably won't be anytime soon. On a nice day, I look up at the sky or Mt. Rainier (we can see it on a clear day) and think, what a good day to jump from an airplane! Even the sound from a small plane flying overhead! I love it, I want to do it, I dream it......

However, I don't think I could call myself a skydiver.


J

[outofit 0]

muenkel u r a pos whore!

It is better to be dead and cool than alive and uncool!

[PhreeZone 15]

Am I a race car driver since every time I'm on interstate all i can think about is going fast and passing every other car? My family and pocketbook all say I should'nt race cars, but since I think that I am one does that make me one? I think that it is more then just imagining your a skydiver to be a skydiver.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Muenkel 0]

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muenkel u r a pos whore!

Where did this comment come from, and what is the purpose of it?

_________________________________________
Chris

[Zenister 0]

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think it's really simple. If you look up at the sky on a nice day and think about jumping, you're a skydiver. That's it. It's the attitude.

Exactly.
personally I didnt call myself a skydiver til i was cleared for solo's (just off AFF7)

just last week I was telling a wuffo friend that being a skydiver was like being an alcoholic that lives in a bar.

"the sky is always up there, and i always wish i was too"

strangly enough i find i have trouble relating more and more to people who dont jump, even the ones i've know for years..

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[quade 3]

Interesting question.

I'd like to give some sort of ultra-cool answer like, "You're not a skydiver until you've spent 10 years in the sport. Otherwise, you're just a tourist." However, I'm not at that point in my life yet and I'm guessing that a lot of other folks on this web site aren't either.

Then there's the, "you're not a skydiver unless you've been accepted by . . . " sort of answer. But the truth of the matter is that if you need external validation for your worth, then you're probably jumping for the wrong reasons anyway.

I think I'd like to say that you're a skydiver when you truly understand what it is that you're doing. This might be the first time you deploy entirely by yourself or maybe you haven't reached that point after 100 jumps if you think your Cypres will automatically save your life under every circumstance. But I do believe there is a line there somewhere that we all eventually cross. You truly understand the issues, haul yourself over to the door and jump.

It's at that point I think we're skydivers.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[StevieBoy 0]

The biggist time for me was when I left the plane last, standing there for 10 sec's with nobody behind me, no one looking at my exit, I was trusted to leave the plane as pre-planned, I think that was my WOW time, no pressure, you go coz you love it

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it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

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