Best thing you've ever seen a student do....

[baronn 111]

After briefing the student on where to sit in the plane, he proceeded to sit on the step for the ride to altitude. I suggested he might like to join us inside the plane

[diablopilot 2]

Best thing I've seen a student do? Get right back on the horse after failing a level/having a malfunction.

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

[Pobrause 6]

Boring ;)

First Jump, no tandem prior, no tunnel, relaxed freefall, stable and responding, pulled himself, tension knot, cutaway, kept both handles, landed on target, standup.

40 minutes later second jump.

Another AFF (6. jump) student watched one of his instructors having a malfunction and cutaway. Fairly windy, canopy and freebag ended up somewhere 4 miles away from the lz in a 4 feet high corn field. He landed right next to the main and needed only 4 additional minutes to locate the freebag which he also had followed with his eyes under canopy. As nobody else saw the cutaway due to a long spot the canopy and freebag would have been lost. He was talked to and received additional training because of his intentional off landing. His level 7 jump and all his coaching jumps (5) where on the instructor that had the cutaway.

-------------------------------------------------------

To absent friends

[angryelf 0]

Watched a Cat A and a Cat B (or maybe 2 Cat B's) get pulled out of a Caravan with a blown engine at 5,500' by their instructors. Both had standup landings in cornfield 2 mi from the DZ and made a second jump that day after watching the jump plane overshoot the runway and crash (pilot walked away from the wreck).

"Sometimes you eat the bar,
and well-sometimes the bar eats you..."

[irishrigger 32]

one of the best things i saw in Z-Hills a few years ago was an AFF student at the door looking extremely nervous. then he throw up at the door of the plane and all over the floor. then said " now i am good to go!!!
apparently he did well on the jump and passed

[JohnMitchell 16]

Watched a scared red headed girl, on a static line jump, crawl back in from hanging on the strut. Pretty impressive. I don't know if I could make it back in from there.

[mathrick 2]

We don't let our students get back in once they're out the door. Sitting out is the last moment when they're allowed to change their mind, after that they will jump regardless of any late epiphanies that might visit them. That has occasionally resulted in some very amusing footage, but it's really rare that anyone tries to back out at that stage.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[JohnMitchell 16]

mathrick

We don't let our students get back in once they're out the door.

We try to go by that too. But this was one very determined woman. Shaking the wing a bit didn't dislodge her. Not sure what the next move was. As determined as she was, I figured the best thing was to keep her climb in safe.

[riggerrob 598]

I just peep thier fingers off the strut.

[mathrick 2]

JohnMitchell

Shaking the wing a bit didn't dislodge her. Not sure what the next move was.

We might, or might not, have a video of the JM kicking a student off the step despite her deathgrip...

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[dragon2 0]

A staticline first jump student watched his buddy cutaway and eyed where the main was going. It landed a field or 2 away. Student landed close to me (bus driver) on the DZ, told me where the main came down and that a car had picked it up.

I scolded him for not getting the license plate

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[JohnMitchell 16]

mathrick

***Shaking the wing a bit didn't dislodge her. Not sure what the next move was.

We might, or might not, have a video of the JM kicking a student off the step despite her deathgrip...


Never done that.

Might be a bit serious for this discussion, but isn't that a bit like jumping with a tandem student yelling "NO! NO! NO!" ?

[mathrick 2]

Nah. They're informed they won't be allowed back in several times prior to the jump, and asked twice if they're ready, the last time being when they sit out in the door before crawling out onto the strut. Also, as much as she had a deathgrip, it was awkward and slipping, so the JM was mostly working to get her foot off the step to give her clear falling space.

Out of curiosity, did you C182 have retractable gear? Now that'd be an impressive comeback (and one I especially wouldn't want to see to completion for everyone's safety. Determined or not, they're going down)

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[JohnMitchell 16]

mathrick

Out of curiosity, did you C182 have retractable gear?

Ha, no, never seen a C182 RG for a jump plane. That would be a waste of money.

[mathrick 2]

A couple DZs in DK run them. Adds a little challenge to hanging the students off the strut :) But the loads turn faster, so it isn't pointless.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[JohnMitchell 16]

mathrick

But the loads turn faster, so it isn't pointless.

For the type of flying jump planes do, climbing at best rate-of-climb speed, I thought that the additional weight of the retractable gear mechanism would outweigh the advantages of reduced drag, or be a wash at best. Adding the complication of retractable gear to an up-and-down operation like a jump center does, plus the increase (I would imagine) in insurance rates would further tip the scales in favor of fixed gear.

But I could be wrong.

BTW, do the RG models also have larger engines or more power?

[jimjumper 25]

Years ago, we had a student that asked if he could just step off the step, hang from the strut, and then let go to exit. He was doing 10 sec. delays so we gave the OK. He decided not to go but had slid down the strut too far to get back on the step. The JM kicked him off when he tried to grab the ripcord and have the main pull him off! Got the bowling speech...

[mathrick 2]

JohnMitchell

BTW, do the RG models also have larger engines or more power?

I honestly have no idea. All I know is that OY-SDT turns loads a couple minutes faster than OY-FCJ, even though they look very similar, and both are T models manufactured within a year of each other.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[mathrick 2]

jimjumper

The JM kicked him off when he tried to grab the ripcord and have the main pull him off! Got the bowling speech...

Oh wow, that's some scary shit.

"Skydivers are highly emotional people. They get all excited about their magical black box full of mysterious life saving forces."

[pamrussell 0]

In a perfect world ...

We had a student refuse on the strut. JM tried various things. Eventually told pilot to add power, and reached out a hand so she would let go with one of hers. Student managed to lunge past him to the handle inside the aircraft. At ath point he surrendered and helped her in while an experienced jumper in the back handled the static line.

[sammielu 3]

5-sec delay on a static line progression: flipped into a fast backflip off the strut, completed 1 1/2 rotations before deployment, flipped cleanly through his risers and landed a complete flip through noting that he had a hard opening (because he was upside down) and that the risers were twisted.

Static line hanging exit with practice pull: went into full freak out "there's a bee" waving hands all around and kicking feet when let go of the strut.

The non-awareness of their crazy legs makes me smile, especially when they don't think they can do the splits until they see the video (it's common)... it takes s lot of skill to stay stable while your legs are performing an artistic routine behind you!

The ones that really amaze me are the licensed jumpers who forget how to exit a 182 stable. I've seen plenty dive toward the tail and throw their pc at or through their feet, and then of course they complain about hard openings :) oh well. We all start somewhere!

[Refugio 0]

Quit... and take up bowling... probably saved his life.

[theplummeter 14]

Somewhere I have video of a static line student doing a half backflip through deployment and landing his right foot between lines on the right front riser. He stood up the one foot landing.

[EatSleepFly 0]

I had a cutaway on a coach jump last fall, forcing me to land in a back yard near the DZ. I turn around and see my student with 15ish jumps stand up her landing 50 feet away from me. Said she couldn't find the DZ (it was an unusual spot that day), so she followed me. I was impressed!

[justme12001 0]

I had on older gentleman, (who was test pilot and had three emergency bail outs) start to climb out, and before his feet left the step, he started working his way back in. I thought he was chickening out, so i start pointing out and yelling for him to climb out. He proceeds to ignore me, put his right arm over the strut and holds on with the strut in his arm pit. He then starts to dry his hands off on his pants.....climbs out and releases :/

I was a newer static line instructor at the time and didn't really know what to do while all this was going on. The plane was slowly descending and getting further from the spot. Think the old guy finally released at like 2 grand and barley made over the tree line back onto airport property.