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SlackBeef

Experienced jumper as student

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Curious if anyone has ever pretended to be a student at a new DZ where no one knows you. Of course you got to have the couple hundred bucks for an aff course. Walking into the dz and say you want to 'learn' how to skydive. I think it would actually be kind of funny. Go through the ground school asking questions and acting like you know nothing. Then when all suited up and at altitude getting ready to jump and you just happen to 'fall' out the door. Making the instructors chase after you. By that time they should realize that you are an experienced jumper and one of 2 things can happen. They catch you and deploy your main or join in on the skydive. Land safely and bring out the cases of beer you have stashed in your car for all to drink. lol. I've often wondered about this.

Anyone of you ever tried this? What are your stories? I will tell mine when I get this done.
GO BIG OR GO HOME!

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I will tell mine when I get this done



What a waste of time and money. The FJC instructor could spend more time with actual students and ditto for the AFFIs who will be jumping with you. Ever notice how busy those guys get near the end of the day, as-in, when the FJC students are ready to jump?

Not to mention, you're the only one in on the 'joke', the AFFIs are going to treat you like a real student right through to pull time. What are you going to do, explain your credentials to them after they catch you in freefall?

It sounds like a fine way to waste peoples time, and not make a good impression on people and staff at a new DZ.

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Well you wouldn't be the only one in on the joke. Need to do your research first. Talk to the DZO and clear it with him. Also do it possibly during the week when there are no real students there. If your caught in freefall as you know it is impossible to chat. Waste of time and money, possibly. If you have the extra cash and have the time to spare I say why not. Only if the DZO says this is ok. He would know he could take the joke. Don't go into this blindly, that's obvious. Get the right people they would even enjoy the jump. This is also why you have the beer ;)

GO BIG OR GO HOME!

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Then when all suited up and at altitude getting ready to jump and you just happen to 'fall' out the door.



With the AFF/I's I know... the chances of this happening are zero.

And, you will have just wasted your money and their time.
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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Then when all suited up and at altitude getting ready to jump and you just happen to 'fall' out the door.



With the AFF/I's I know... the chances of this happening are zero.

Yeah, that's pretty true. To get out of the door by himself, that "student" would have to wrassle like a drunk-n-disorderly being shoved into the back seat of a cop car on a Saturday night' :D:D

I get the guy's idea of the joke.

Vskydiver and I went thru a similar experience unintentionally. We're members of a gun club but we really don't know that many people there. We shoot on quiet weekdays and don't spend a lot of time socializing. Six years ago we took the Hunter's safety course with our son. After a week of evening safety classes, they were quite surprised to see Vskydiver shoot bull's eyes with just about every firearm they gave her. She mentioned we were members there and quite familiar with it all. Not the flummoxed soccer mom they were expecting. :D

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Oh, you are not the only one who ever talked about doing this....But like most things it is funny only in discussions around the bonfire and most likely would not be funny in real life.

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Then when all suited up and at altitude getting ready to jump and you just happen to 'fall' out the door.



Not AFF rated are you? The chance of you pulling that off is close to zero if the AFF guy has half a clue.

I had gone to places where people have treated me like a 'student' and I just never told them otherwise.

One example was on of my female friends had this guy chasing her at a bar. He decided that he could get some 'safe' face time with her if we played a doubles game of darts.... Me and my GF and of course him and my female friend. Well... I don't play darts. Sure I know the concept of throwing a pointy thing at something and had thrown darts at a dart board before, but I know nothing about the games and had only tried to hit what I was aiming at.

So when he asked me if I knew how to play, I honestly said "No". When my GF and I beat them, he looked a little pissed and challenged me that I said I had never played before... I told him I never have played before. He looked a little upset and challenged teams in a game of pool.... I broke and ran the table.

He didn't look very happy, I just looked at him and said, "I have played pool before."

It was funny, but going out and going to extremes to make someone look foolish is not cool IMO.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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Seems like a waste of your money.

One - you won't get out the door without me or any AFFI's that I know.

Two - if you mess up the dive - I won't pass you. Tell me later you have a few hundred dives - good for you - you still failed level A. You could be busted back until you now do a refresher dive.

If you show extra skill, we can accommodate that, provided the jump requirements are met - if it's a Cat A, you won't be released though. I've encouraged extra turns, etc on jumps with talented students - for the extra learning.

Three - I always ask - has anyone ever jumped before? (Tandem, static, line, this is a big retrain). If you LIE to me, then we'll have other issues afterwards.


But, if you pay for a first jump course, you'll get a first jump course. It's a free market (so far). I have no issue with experienced jumpers taking a refresher any time they want to. I'll do the train and the jump as normal and take the fee and do the best I can regardless.


Joke or not - do you want to be the guy that failed Level A?

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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Seriously, even if you get away from us and start doing beautiful carving belly turns, then clean and still head down, and finally we start doing sitfly transitions and docks.

In the end, I will probably think (I will have to assume this worst case scenario) you are a very good tunnel advocate with no freaking CLUE as to pull time and altitude awareness. I will catch you, I will try to put you on your belly and I will pull for you - since you didn't FOLLOW THE PLAN

Fail Cat A

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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I think the upshot is that this kind of scenario doesnt' make the instructors look like dicks. What it says about the "student" is something else entirely.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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I think the upshot is that this kind of scenario doesnt' make the instructors look like dicks. What it says about the "student" is something else entirely.

Wendy P.



Well, isn't that true for most "practical jokes" of this type?

It's usually not terribly funny to the person it's being played on.

This reminds me of the "joke"in a 182 where the exiting jumpers shut off the mags on the plane and take the key out the door with them.

Some find it funny. Many find it less so.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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I've done it a few times. I learned a lot about other people's teaching techniques. I'd make mistakes that my students made and see how they handled them; was pretty interesting overall.

(Of course buying beer afterwards for everyone is mandatory.)

>Then when all suited up and at altitude getting ready to jump and you just happen to
>'fall' out the door. Making the instructors chase after you.

Had that chance on one jump but decided that having two hyped up AFF JM's chasing me after a 10 second head start wasn't conducive to avoiding injury (both for me and them.)

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As a younger jumper I had thought about it, more of a what-if thing.

As an AFF-I, if you got anywhere near the door without one of us holding on to you or if you got past both of us and out the door, I'd be shocked. I wouldn't have time to be shocked in the plane, because I would be the next thing out the door and hot on your ass.

It would take a pretty lax pair of instructors to let that happen without you turning into a meat cannon and blowing right past us.
"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

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Not AFF rated are you? The chance of you pulling that off is close to zero if the AFF guy has half a clue.



I'm not an instructor and therefore cannot comment on this from an instructor perspective--but from the perspective of my own AFF student jumps, I think Ron is quite right. On my two-instructor jumps, usually one AFFI had a firm grasp of my harness before I got anywhere near the door. On one such jump, once outside the door, I thought I had 'checked' with both instructors in the exit count. However it was clearly not to the satisfaction of at least one AFFI, and I was definitely physically prevented from exiting the aircraft until both instructors were fully ready. So it isn't clear to me how one could exit without the permission of the AFFI's.
"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

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As an AFF-I, if you got anywhere near the door without one of us holding on to you or if you got past both of us and out the door, I'd be shocked.



Hey, it can happen to the best of them. I know it was only a static line jump but Charlie Sheen let one get past him. ;)
Peace,
-Dawson.
http://www.SansSuit.com
The Society for the Advancement of Naked Skydiving

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One of the experienced jumpers at our DZ came up with an idea like this, I don't think they ever did it though. Have the S/L students gear up, walk around the building, then have experienced jumpers complete with student rigs & radios dressed in cover-alls, climb in the plane to replace them. The DZO/GCI would go nuts, all of his students 'Left toggle'! 'No! Your OTHER left toggle!! Right! No, wait, LEFT toggle!! Jumper #1, where the hell are you going????!!!"

It woulda been funny at first, but we'd have all been grounded, so saner heads prevailed, lol.
PULL!! or DIE!!

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I've done it a few times. I learned a lot about other people's teaching techniques. I'd make mistakes that my students made and see how they handled them; was pretty interesting overall.

(Of course buying beer afterwards for everyone is mandatory.)

>Then when all suited up and at altitude getting ready to jump and you just happen to
>'fall' out the door. Making the instructors chase after you.

Had that chance on one jump but decided that having two hyped up AFF JM's chasing me after a 10 second head start wasn't conducive to avoiding injury (both for me and them.)





Buying beer is mandatory of course. That is why you come prepared with them already. Not just a few cases, but plenty of cases. Enough to stock the fridge. Yes I do have instructor ratings. If this ever happened to me I think it would be hilarious. I wouldn't do anything that I couldn't take.

This has sparked quite a conversation as well. haha.
GO BIG OR GO HOME!

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Obviously you have not though this through. Your chances go up if you forge a logbook through Cat A/B. Then you will be a good student on Cat C. It is mush easier to start freeflying in a student rig AFTER they let go of you. I will let you pick C1 or C2 to see if you want 1 or two instructors chasing after you.

Amateur.

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