jimmytavino 16 #26 February 14, 2004 .as for " staring at the sky",, Maybe that's because your wonderin' about "where's the ground"? . hahaha .. don't worry friend,, it's right where it always is... but it doesn't matter as you clear the plane ... It matters when you spot,, it matters when you climb out, it presents the visual horizon we get our "orientation" from.... but for sure don't be worrying about it at exit... That takes your mind off other better things you can be doing,,, like relaxing,,,, exiting,, looking @ the plane. , enjoying the visual,,, eaaassiing into your arch,,,,, Feeeling the airspeed/relative wind as it comes on,,, , and then doing a good and proper wave-off,, and main pilot chute deployment... Piece of cake... ....What kind of plane are you jumping from..? Have all your jumps been from the same plane or type of plane???... just wondering.. because a Hop & Pop from a King Air is alot different than from a Cessna,, is a lot different than from An Otter or a Caravan or a CASA/ Skyvan... .....but for each aircraft there is a tried and true procedure,,, check with your Instructors.. have fun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dumpster 0 #27 February 14, 2004 Dude - I think you're freaking yourself out. Relax - Don't look at the ground - It's not going anywhere - Present yourself to the wind, arch, and dig it. Look up at the plane, and odds are there will be some one looking at you from the door. Flip him or her off, you got it nailed, then dump. - Nice effect if they have a camera on you. Now enjoy a sweet canopy ride. Go back to the packing shed and repeat the process. You now have a new way to enjoy low-ceiling days. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbrown 26 #28 February 14, 2004 Exit Arch-1000 reach-1000 pull-1000 look-1000 Thats the same thing they taught me on my first C&P in 1976, only then it was "look-1000" instead of reach. Sparky Me too Mike, but in those days we had a ripcord handle on the main lft web that we could actually look for and see. BOC's have done away with the look requirement, as you can't see them if you try. That was ONE major adjustment for me when I came back last year, that and moving my altimeter from my chest to the back of my hand. I'm well adjusted to both now and think BOC's one of the safest advances in gear to ever come along. What Mike and I and others like Amazon, Wendy, and Jimmy Tavino (who was one of my Jumpmasters in my student days) have in common is that we started out on static line at about 2800 ft, give or take a little depending on the dropzone. Most of us did our first freefalls on jump #6, or thereabouts and for most of us it was also our first packjob (talk about NEEDING that beer when we got down...). First freefall/hop & pop/pack job was usually no higher than 3500 ft, mine was from 3200. But the thing was, this was HIGHER than we'd been before, we could see we were higher and felt OK with it. I was even doing 10 second delays from 3500 as a student. And this was all considered safe & normal student skydiving just thirty years ago. 4500 ft was the first time we reached full terminal on a 15 second delay. Many of us never got higher than 7500 ft at the old Cessna clubs until we finally went to a boogie at some storied place like Z-Hills, and then 12,500 in a DC-3 was like taking a cruise on the Queen Mary. AFF in general is so much better than the akward and painful learning process we went through back then. But I do feel sorry for the way that today's crop of beginners are so scared of anything below 5 or 6 grand. Anyway, a hop & pop by definition is less than 5 seconds, though I often see it interpreted as 10-15 seconds from 6 grand these days. One of these days, a bunch of you should go to the DZ when the weather's looking marginal and see if you can't just take a Cessna to 3 grand and make a real hop & pop. They're a surprising amount of fun, and you'll find they can be relaxing and not at all scary. Try it, you'll like it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
