how to maintain altitude awareness when someone flying in front of you making you feel like superman?

[mixedup 0]

Recently did my AFF stage 3!
I was doing well until Jump Master 2 flew around in front of me and we did some turns. Seeing someone fly in front of me like that just blew my mind! I'd just done my first parachute land by myself, 2nd/3rd jump out of a plane, 1st time looking up waiting for my life-saving parachute to open above me....but I was not ready to see another person just flying in front of me like that! wow...

So the question is half humerous and half serious I guess - how to maintain altitiude awareness when someone flying in front of you, making you feel like superman, or you're in the Matrix?

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[GobbleGobble 0]

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Recently did my AFF stage 3!
I was doing well until Jump Master 2 flew around in front of me and we did some turns. Seeing someone fly in front of me like that just blew my mind! I'd just done my first parachute land by myself, 2nd/3rd jump out of a plane, 1st time looking up waiting for my life-saving parachute to open above me....but I was not ready to see another person just flying in front of me like that! wow...

So the question is half humerous and half serious I guess - how to maintain altitiude awareness when someone flying in front of you, making you feel like superman, or you're in the Matrix?

Make checking your alti regularly a habit. Your hand is already out in front of your face. You can use your peripheral vision to either view your alti or the person flying near you and focus on the other. For starting out my instructors always beat into my head, do X then check altitude, repeat.

[ufk22 32]

Just remember....
Neither of you is flying.
You're both dropping like rocks.
You both want to live.

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[MikeJD 0]

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Seeing someone fly in front of me like that just blew my mind!

Wild, isn't it? You are Superman - right up to the point when the ground comes up and smacks you at over a hundred miles an hour.

Like most 'new' things when you're a student, seeing someone fly relative to you for the first time is a distraction. Obviously as you get accustomed to it then that distraction diminishes. Meanwhile, take extra care to concentrate on your drills.

I remember tracking off from an FS dive into a dense cloud (hey, it shouldn't happen but it did on this occasion). Suddenly having no reference at all made everything feel slightly unreal - I had the strangely relaxing sense of being wrapped up in a white sheet, not falling at all, and not even being in the air. I had very little compulsion to save my life - just wanted to 'lie there' and fall asleep in that cotton wool world. Very odd and unnerving in retrospect.

[councilman24 36]

Well you heard from a 30 jump wonder, now an old fart.

One of the reasons we wore altimeters on our chests, and I still do, is so the OTHER jumper FACING you could read it. We didn't have to look at ours, we could look at the other guys.

Seriously your just starting to have distractions. When many of us started skydiving you were DEAD one you left the airplane unless YOU did SOMETHING. AAD's were not used by most experienced jumpers. The one's in existence then (pre 1991) were much less reliable. You would think that this would increase altitude awareness. It didn't. Before AAD use by experienced jumpers became common there were usually several fatalities annually from no pull. Not because jumpers couldn't but because they were having so much fun they forgot! Or in other words lost altitude awareness. Audible altimeters were rare then also.

With the widespread use of AADs and audible 'dirt alerts' we no longer kill very many jumpers because they forgot to pull. Now we kill them under fully open and functioning parachutes.

Anyway, altitude awareness is something you'll have to deal with for your entire skydiving career. Jumping with others, jumping new gear, jumping new places, jumping lower than normal, trying new things, etc. All of these will distract you from doing your job. But YOUR JOB is to OPEN A PARACHUTE. Plus some other stuff.

It's good you asked the question and are thinking about it. And don't forget your primary altitude alert system is you EYES. Don't forget to look down once in awhile.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[Andy9o8 0]

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someone flying in front of you, making you feel like superman, or you're in the Matrix?

...and whuffos wonder why we skydive....

[davelepka 4]

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So the question is half humerous and half serious I guess - how to maintain altitiude awareness when someone flying in front of you, making you feel like superman, or you're in the Matrix?

Jump again and see if you can remember to keep an eye on your altimeter this time. Repeat as needed until you can.

Seriously, it's just experience. There are few activites in your life where you have to 'wacth the clock' so closely, while also being overwhelmed with a rush of sensory inputs. The good news for you is that the solution is to jump more, and you'll both get used to checking your alti and develop an internal clock that will help you stay altitude aware.

[GobbleGobble 0]

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Well you heard from a 30 jump wonder, now an old fart.

I don't think I said anything outlandish, certainly not trying to misrepresent myself here...

[agentsmith413 0]

i think the comment was more meant for humor than criticism. but then again i could be wrong.

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, all used up, and loudly proclaiming: Wow, what a ride!

[kkeenan 13]

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how to maintain altitiude awareness when someone flying in front of you, making you feel like superman, or you're in the Matrix?

You get used to it - and try to remember that if you screw up, you will die.

_____________________________________
Dude, you are so awesome...
Can I be on your ash jump ?

[jumpwally 0]

lol,,,,i'll bet youre fun at a party...

smile, be nice, enjoy life
FB # - 1083

[skr 1]

> Seeing someone fly in front of me like that just blew my mind!

It still does :-) :-)


> how to maintain altitiude awareness when someone flying in front of you, making you feel like superman, or you're in the Matrix?

The answer is to make a whole bunch of jumps right away
so you can learn to do both at the same time.


I practice a lot. I put a lot of effort into developing the
habit of not letting too much time pass without glancing
down at the ground.

Learning to see the ground takes a lot of jumps spread
over a period of time, and it takes intentional practice,
like any skill that you develop.

The first distinction you learn to see is:

- Am I safe? Am I still above pull altitude?
or
- Should I pull right away?

Maybe another way to say that is:

- Am I way up there - 10 or 12,000 ft?
or
- Am I down in the lower part of the freefall - 5 or 6,000 ft?
or
- Should I pull right away?


Another way is to see altitude (or lowness)
as a cop in the rear view mirror.

At first, when you're way up there, it's like driving down
the freeway and you notice a cop maybe a half a mile back.

So you don't obsess, you just kind of do what
you are doing, but you don't forget he's back
there, either, and you kind of glance in your
mirror from time to time.

Down towards the bottom it's like he's now two
or three cars back so you're keeping closer track.

At the end it's like he has now pulled in right
behind you so you're really paying attention.


It is a really good question.

Skr