csbrady 0 #1 January 23, 2007 alright well i went home not to long ago and decided to spend some time in the tunnel with some of my buddies. at that point i had about 115 jumps with about 65 minutes of freefall. the coach that we got had spent about 200 hours in the tunnel but had no skydives. he said that he knew all the hand signals that are used in AFF so i thought i was golden. i get in there and got stable off the bat w/o bumping into the walls and he start putting me through some "drills" that he didnt mention before and used hand signals that ive never seen... so my question is. why would he be the coach in a tunnel full of skydivers if he's never been on a skydive? after my 10 minutes i dont know if i learned anything... thankyou BSBD! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stumpy 256 #2 January 23, 2007 There are a lot of tunnel staff like that. skydiving is not a prerequisite. A lot of them outfly most skydivers as well. You think you didn't learn anything because the guy didn't jump?? Never try to eat more than you can lift Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VegasBrad 0 #3 January 23, 2007 Sounds like you didn't have the best experience because he wasn't a very good coach, not because he doesn't jump. One of our best instructors/coaches has only made two tandems. He has a good knowledge of the sport and is great at teaching jumpers and non jumpers. A problem that we run in to is when a skydiver does not communicate their goals to their instructor before getting in the tunnel, and they understandably don't have the best experience.Brad Hess Manager Vegas Indoor Skydiving Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csbrady 0 #4 January 24, 2007 i went into the tunnel with an open mind about it. ive always heard that skydivers go in with this big ego and they turn out to be nothing but shit in a tunnel. i didnt have any problems from the get go and the coach wasted a lot of the time i had in there trying to show me these drills. I wish he would have explained them to be prior to the door being shut. In the future i know how i can improve with flying and i know that next time i wont run into this problem. thank you for the insight about this. BSBD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tdog 0 #5 January 24, 2007 A lot of handsignals used in the tunnel also are designed to make common sense without needing to be explained... If you did not understand his communication, it had nothing to do with him not jumping out of a plane... Don't take his advice on canopy control or rig choices, but as a tunnel employee with 200 flying hours, he has more flying experience than 99% of the skydivers you will meet... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #6 January 24, 2007 I'd ask for a review of signals the instructor plans on using before getting into the tunnel. On one of my tunnel flights I had an instructor twirling his finger at me. In the air I've seen that signal used a lot of times to signal the student to do a flip. In the tunnel I guess it means that your time is extended and to keep going. This was never briefed to me and resulted in me doing a flip right into the grate. Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csbrady 0 #7 January 24, 2007 QuoteI'd ask for a review of signals the instructor plans on using before getting into the tunnel. On one of my tunnel flights I had an instructor twirling his finger at me. In the air I've seen that signal used a lot of times to signal the student to do a flip. In the tunnel I guess it means that your time is extended and to keep going. This was never briefed to me and resulted in me doing a flip right into the grate. yeah i know that next time i go in a tunnel im gunna ask everything that the coach plans on doing from drills to hand signals. so it wont be a repeat of the last time. _________________________________________________ BSBD! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xenaswampjumper 0 #8 January 28, 2007 Flying your body is flying your body!!!! whether in the air or in the tunnel. There are some differences, but practice is practice!!!! Just don't ask them for canopy advice till later have fun & love each other seeya mb65johnny gates.... In skydiving, the only thing that stops you is the ground.............. PMS# 472 Muff #3863 TPM#95 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riddler 0 #9 February 7, 2007 Tunnel instructors that don't jump can be good for a tunnel - otherwise there would be no one working at the tunnel during boogies or any nice weekend Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerm 0 #10 February 11, 2007 Quote but as a tunnel employee with 200 flying hours, he has more flying experience than 99% of the skydivers you will meet... which makes it a kindof surreal to get down off a bad-ass skydive with a guy who, after flying circles around you comes down on student gear and nearly takes out the hangar Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
csbrady 0 #11 February 20, 2007 QuoteQuote but as a tunnel employee with 200 flying hours, he has more flying experience than 99% of the skydivers you will meet... which makes it a kindof surreal to get down off a bad-ass skydive with a guy who, after flying circles around you comes down on student gear and nearly takes out the hangar haha wouldent that be something Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerm 0 #12 February 20, 2007 Quote haha wouldent that be something that wasn't hypothetical Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maxx 1 #13 February 20, 2007 Quotewhich makes it a kindof surreal to get down off a bad-ass skydive with a guy who, after flying circles around you comes down on student gear and nearly takes out the hangar I don't know if this is true or not.. 2 years ago, Sean McCormack told me a similar story about a tunnel instructor.. He had more than 300 hours in the tunnel and is a pro flyer.. He started skydiving and made his AFF in 5 Jumps and was on a huge flocking dive with all the pros (Olav, Omar, etc..) on his 20th Skydive.. He outflew most of the guys in this dive, but surely still had a huge student rig on his back with a 220 Manta or something.. Imagine that picture!! He ended his skydiving career after a few more jumps because of fear and now is working in the tunnel again.. Does anybody know that guy? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
