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Stearny

Does watching youtube make you a better skydiver??

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I am a relatively new jumper with a low enough jump count that my first jump with different experienced jumpers I don't know expect "zoo" dives. I recently made a jump where we completed the dive objective and even had time for some playing around. She complemented me on my flying skills and asked me how I had developed those skills so quickly. While I put the majority of my knowledge on the training I received from my AFF instructors and coaches, I also said that watching youtube clips was part of it. She didn't believe me and started laughing. I have watched countless youtube clips of anything and everything involved in skydiving (exits, fall rate adjustment, malfunctions, RW, FF, tracking, etc.) I was curious if you guys think that developing skills by watching top level jumpers (or random bozos) should in some way be incorporated into training and improvement, and if you have also used this technique?

NOTE: Please do not flame this post, I am by no means a skygod and do not intend to become one. I was just curious if others have had this same experience / agree / disagree.

Cheers
Stearny

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That's all I've been doing. Leading up to my class, I watched countless of AFF videos. Whether they are AFF "gone bad" or just what people experienced going through the program. Even watching mals.

At least I'll know what to expect from a freefall standpoint. All others, I'm pretty sure, I'll cover during the class and talking with other instructors.

I've read the SIM guide countless of times just so I can soak up the information better when going through my AFP.

I'm curious to know what other people have done.

Mike

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I'm still too new to be able to help much, but watching videos / movies is part of how I learned many maneuvers in snowboarding, inline skating, mountain biking, etc.
When I started inline skating, I would watch other skaters in skating movies perform certain maneuvers over and over again, seeing which parts of their body were positioned over a rail and how far, watching their body twist, seeing which parts turned first and how hard they were pushing. Same with snowboarding and mountain biking. For some reason, watching and studying others who were much better than me made me learn things SO much faster.
Again, I'm so new to skydiving that I'm not sure it will help me as much as other sports, but I haven't exactly watched many skydiving videos either. I've been sticking to talking to other skydivers at my drop zone and asking them to show me how they do it on the practice table. If I had the opportunity to ask those people in the videos to show me in person what to do, it would be far more helpful than just watching their videos. Couldn't hurt though.

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I think it is an enormous help..... my generation watched Ripcord and Sky King and learned many things from that. Contrast that to a new jumper or student pilot who really does not even know the basic terminology of their new endeavour. Some tandem students have never even seen video of a tandem jump and have no comprehension at all about what they are about to do. Talk about sensory overload !

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That's all I've been doing. Leading up to my class, I watched countless of AFF videos. Whether they are AFF "gone bad" or just what people experienced going through the program. Even watching mals.



I spent about a week doing this (and reading incident reports) during AFF and the net result was it stressed me the fuck out on my next jump. That being said I think we're all going to watch the clips no matter what. I reckon there is generally something to be gained from watching it. Just make sure to run anything you THINK you have learnt from it past your instructors.

You'll eventually get bored of watching it though I think.

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I spent about a week doing this (and reading incident reports) during AFF and the net result was it stressed me the fuck out on my next jump. That being said I think we're all going to watch the clips no matter what. I reckon there is generally something to be gained from watching it. Just make sure to run anything you THINK you have learnt from it past your instructors.

You'll eventually get bored of watching it though I think.



Yeah, after reading and watching everything, one thing I learned with just to relax.

Altitude, Arch, Legs, Relax. :)

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Well, you can certainly learn a lot about what NOT to do!

I personally prefer students who simply read prior to training. We can discuss what was read and clarify questions that they come up with.

With video, all too often it seems that they think they know it because they saw it and those questions don't get asked.

If I thought learning by video was a good idea, I'd just put the Break Away tape on in FJC and be done with that part of it.
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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I think better use of videos could help the FJC though. Think of all the things you could show the students with short video clips, from what happens during deployment, what happens when you flare (what happens when you turn too low.) No video is a substitute for a good teacher, but it can be a HUGE teaching tool. :)
I can think of easily half a dozen video clips I'd like to see in the FJC.

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The videos can give small clues about how it looks like; i.e. compared to never seen a jump at all.

In addition you can recognize the look of different malfunctions.

But I suspect we would be very "disappointed" if we expect to know anything about what it takes to jump out of a plane after watching a video about it.

I try to arrange time in wind tunnel before the first AFF-jump. Waste of money or a good idea?

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I think better use of videos could help the FJC though.



Indeed it does. As mentioned by hchunter614, I sometimes use a video (it may be the same one he is talking about). It shows ISP jumps and it has a separate section showing a few mals. It does give the student an idea of what to expect.

The jumps have some things a little different than what we teach but I explain those differences beforehand and then teach what WE want done.

Jay makes a lousy "student"
:D:D:D
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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In the mid-seventies I would watch intently the 8mm films that guys would show from time to time. They were pretty rare. I noted with great interest that the best jumpers were in what we now call the "box" position with their feet at an angle out. I figured this was the way to do it. -until- I was watching a movie of some guys in Ohio and one of them had feet that were spinning 360 degrees on his ankles and flopping up and all over!!! Turned out to be Arlo who had club feet that barely fit into his sneakers which had to be tied to his ankles. Got MY attention.

jon

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When I first started a guy named Don Henderson, RIP, took me under his wing. He was one of the original Arvin Good Guys, SCR-7. He had reels and reels of 8mm shot with a World War II gun camera. He spent hours working with me. He would run the film and have me lay on an ice chest. He would stop the film and tell me to “assume the position”. It turned out I was flying with my left leg about 6 to 8 inches lower than the right. He would take a broom handle and smack me in the shin until I put the leg in the right place. Damn that hurt but to this day my leg are within a gnats ass of each other.

Sparky
My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

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