Do you allow others to speak to your student?

[DSE 3]

Hypothetical:
You've got a student who is an attractive young single woman. She is on her Cat D jump. A young guy across the aisle begins to chat her up, asking questions about her jumps, asking her why she chose to start skydiving, and telling her his story. Then he tries to teach her the secret handshakes before exit.

How would you manage it? Is there anything to manage at all?

Myself, I don't want anyone speaking to my student after 4000 feet, as I need to be pointing out altitude and landscape to them, eventually reviewing portions of the dive.

[diablopilot 2]

If it's not detracting from the student's focus, then yes. A simple hello, and a moment or two of friendly banter, usually not a problem. If it looks like the conversation is monopolizing the student's attention then I'll interrupt with a question about the skydive. It's only happened a few times where that was not a big enough hint and I had to tell the experienced jumper to leave it alone in a more direct fashion.

Much of it depends on the student, and or the Category they are working on, some are more calm and able to handle a small distraction, and some are not.

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[stratostar 5]

Pretty much what JP said, it all depends on the student and the other person, there are some jumpers I would want to say anything to any of my students, then there are those jumper who I would want to be trying to train, suit up, seat next too in the AC ANY female students and or students in general, next to them, some people just don't act right ever.

With that said if you in control of your student during loading, seating, and making sure your ready for taxi & takeoff, by the time to you get to your first alti's you need to talk about to a CAT A-B student (in a Turbine) your already engaged by 1.5 for seat belts most places, then hard deck and so on up, there is really not much time to be social in a fast AC. I like a student to be focused on the plan, you can keep it relaxed and enjoyable without being unprofessional or allowing other actions to distract or make your student uncomfortable. (hitting on them)

I've seen some places and some instructors & DZO's who treat and act like having female students coming to the dz is a "private meat market" and like to "dress the ladies" and hand out alti checks on deployment. Boy were those the days, I think once JC got sued and lost for grabbing a girls tits on opening most of that shit stopped, but I still see that kind of shit joked about and done by some on the ranks.

So again it really depends on the type of interaction your talking about, I like to keep all small talk limited to free time, such as smoke/bathroom/lunch breaks or after the jumping. I always explain and invite my students in FJC as well as after their jump to enjoy the after jumping social hour.

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[riggerrob 558]

I am backing diablopilot on the issue of "others" talking with my students.

Heck, if I am jumping "reserve side" I shut up above 8,000 feet.

[DSE 3]

As I mentioned in my OP, I'm of this same mind.
In this particular scenario, even after asking the student a direct question about the skydive, the young man was quiet for a moment, then started giving her advice on the way up. It was clear he wanted her number and name. I nudged him with my knee, and he got the hint.
In the same vein, I've had wingsuit students terribly distracted by others chatting them up, and although wingsuit students are experienced skydivers, had an interesting experience with a student that had nearly 10K skydives. Another wingsuiter started chatting him up, I asked my WX student a question to hint to the other guy "be quiet, we're working here," and when the other guy didn't stop, my student told him "please let me concentrate on what I'm doing, OK?" The person I was teaching is an AFFI/E, and it was nice to see this attitude.

[stratostar 5]

TYPO's!

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Pretty much what JP said, it all depends on the student and the other person, there are some jumpers I would want to say anything to any of my students, then there are those jumper who I would want to be trying to train, suit up, seat next too in the AC ANY female students and or students in general, next to them, some people just don't act right ever.

Should have been "wouldn't"

you can't pay for kids schoolin' with love of skydiving! ~ Airtwardo

[kmills0705 0]

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Hypothetical:
You've got a student who is an attractive young single woman. She is on her Cat D jump. A young guy across the aisle begins to chat her up, asking questions about her jumps, asking her why she chose to start skydiving, and telling her his story. Then he tries to teach her the secret handshakes before exit.

How would you manage it? Is there anything to manage at all?

Myself, I don't want anyone speaking to my student after 4000 feet, as I need to be pointing out altitude and landscape to them, eventually reviewing portions of the dive.

DSE, I agree. I want my students to be focused and visualizing at any point in time that we are not reviewing critical altitudes, the dive flow, and hand signals.

I would politely remind the other jumper that the student needs to focus on his or her objectives of the skydive. They can chat on the ground later.

Kim Mills
USPA D21696
Tandem I, AFF I and Static Line I

[peregrinerose 0]

Above 4000 feet, that student's attention better be all mine (maybe with the exception of a quick 'good luck' or 'have fun' from other jumpers). It's my job as AFFI to know what's appropriate for that student... on a cat A, they need to be completely focused on the skydive as well as be relaxed. By cat D, even I'll do a little more joking with the student on the ride up to help with relaxation, but that will depend on the student and their needs, attitude, and previous skydives. Another fun jumper in the plane, or even another instructor that is not working with that student, doesn't need to be butting in at that moment.

In your situation, I'd start with a stern look and slight head shake to the flirty fun jumper and go from there if he didn't take the hint. Fortunately, I jump at a small DZ, so this has never been an issue in the plane.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[SStewart 13]

To be honest certain people should not talk to students at all.

Some of them even have instructor ratings.

Onward and Upward!

[DBCOOPER 1]

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Fortunately, I jump at a small DZ, so this has never been an issue in the plane.

Except when you have the pilot telling them how much more they will learn with the extra altitude...

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[ZigZagMarquis 8]

My problem is some of the DZs I go to have some really hot female AFF Instructors that I like to chat-up during the ride to altitude...

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In all seriousness, I've seen DSEs scenario play out badly a time or two a couple of different ways...

One instance where, by the time the female student was nearing the end of her student progression she was so under the infulence of another "experienced jumper's" advice, she wasn't really listening to her jumpmasters anymore... ultimately, she graduated, but was eventually asked to find some other place to be if she couldn't follow the rules if she was going to be jumping rental gear at that DZ.

Another instance where it was two tandem masters that got into a disagreement over how one was handling the other's student. In my opinion, the disagreement stemed from one of the tandem masters being a "minimalist" where he only went over what he felt was necessary for his passenger to know and do to experiece a tandem jump and the other was of the type that damn near taught first jump course to his tandem passengers. Unfortunately, the arguement between them that started in the airplane flared up again after jumping was done for the day and the beer was flowing... ended up in a fist-fight... cops... arrests...

[DSE 3]

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To be honest certain people should not talk to students at all.

Some of them even have instructor ratings.

I couldn't agree more. Some of them have a lot of years and thousands of jumps, too.

[Ron 7]

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Myself, I don't want anyone speaking to my student after 4000 feet, as I need to be pointing out altitude and landscape to them, eventually reviewing portions of the dive.

Depends on how much time and how much energy the student is using to converse with them... AND that depends on the student.

I watch my student and the second I think it is getting out of hand, I either start talking to the student about what we are doing to get them back into thinking about THIS jump... Or I ask the guy to let my student think about the jump...

Only a few times have I ever had to go any further. Most people respect that we have a job to do. Only ONCE have I ever had to land after a jump and flat out tell someone to NEVER talk to my student on the plane... To her credit, she never did again.

4k might be a bit high, IMO. But hey, that's YOUR call and it is YOUR student.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[denete 2]

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To be honest certain people should not talk to students at all.

Some of them even have instructor ratings.

I couldn't agree more. Some of them have a lot of years and thousands of jumps, too.

So, here's an idea: Why not teach students, at some point before they move out from under your wing, about why it might be important in their future as up-jumpers to not talk to skydivers who are students?

Basically, you could get the idea into their heads before they become "that guy". A potential secondary benefit is that it would be a good time to talk about how in the future they should respond to new jumpers' questions with "have you talked with your instructor, and what did your instructor say"?



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For what it is worth, I'm a beginner and not an instructor, etc., etc.

SCR #14809

"our attitude is the thing most capable of keeping us safe"
(look, grab, look, grab, peel, punch, punch, arch)

[MarkM 0]

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So, here's an idea: Why not teach students, at some point before they move out from under your wing, about why it might be important in their future as up-jumpers to not talk to skydivers who are students?

Probably because they A> probably wouldn't remember that after a few months of fun jumping and B> AFF students are already overwhelmed with information to learn.

Someone off AFF really only knows the bare basics and it's about all you can manage to learn. I feel really lucky I had good instructors looking out and mentoring me off student status and beyond.

[Ron 7]

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So, here's an idea: Why not teach students, at some point before they move out from under your wing, about why it might be important in their future as up-jumpers to not talk to skydivers who are students?

1. They will not remember. They have enough stuff on their plates.

2. Some people ignore advice they don't like anyway. If people actually listened, the number of people that hook in would be much less.

3. Some of the people who chat up our students are either:

a) Just trying to help.
b) Just trying to get laid.

In both cases the chatter does not see any harm. I bet most people are not so stupid as to do something that they think might cause a problem.

Most cases they don't realize they are a hindrance.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334