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lopullterri

How long was your first jump course?

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FJC No. 1. 1977 lasted 3 week ends with a couple of evenings every week. Jumping was on the last week end. During the course we had to get our packing certificate (rounds) and pack 5 reserves. I cant remember but I am pretty sure we jumped with the reserves we packed.
40 jumps

FJC No.2 was in 1981 in Florida (cant remember where, small DZ) Took 8 hours. Very good course, very professional. Ruined for me when an experienced English jumper bounced in front of me.
0 jumps

FJC No3. was in 1982 at Sibson UK. The course went on on Saturday jumping on Sunday. OK course but it was a bit like a factory. Not much fun.
1 jump

FJC No.4. was in 1983. was with the british military in Cyprus. Very nice course but the instructors were a bit bossy. I took this course to get myself current so I would qualify for a free conversion course to square parachutes back in Norway.
4 jumps

FJC No5. was in 1984. This was a conversion course from rounds to squares. By this time I had more experience than the instructors.
20 jumps

FJC No6. was in 1985. AFF. At about 65 jumps I realised I was not going to make it as a S/L student. Jack Gregory was my instructor. Great course and I did not have any major problems. Goes to show you should never give up.
1200 jumps

FJC No.7. After quitting in 2005 I started again in 2007. FJC in Sebastian Fl. Very competant people there. Approx 500 jumps and counting.
B|

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I average a class size of around three at about five hours. Had a couple of really well-prepared students that each did it in just over trwo hours, but then I've also had someone who I spent two whole weekends working with.

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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Way back when when men were still men we did every kind of PLF practice for most of the first jump course.Now,it seems they do a few PLF's to check technique and that's good enough?I credit my first instructor for the soreness the next day because he probably keep me out of the hospital all these years.

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Roughly 4 hours for the whole class, which involved a bunch of PLFs into the pea pit and an honest to god handing harness. It would have been shorter, but the six of us had partied really hard the night before and we had to keep running to the head.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I paid $40 for a 10 hour FJC course in 1982 at North Island naval air base in San Diego. The base had an off duty recreational jump club, and they had somehow managed to make a trade with a National Guard unit to provide the first jump course in exchange for them flying a Huey for the weekend.

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Back in 1962, my training for my first jump was watching a few other guys doing their thing. I didnt seee anything I couldnt do, or that I might have had a problem with, so I ask Dennis ( My jumpmaster later) if I could make a jump..

He gave me a pair of mechaincs coveralls, and a helmet, and aftera quick picture for posterity, I was on my way into the blue.

Lots of leeway back in those days.




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Way back when when men were still men we did every kind of PLF practice for most of the first jump course.Now,it seems they do a few PLF's to check technique and that's good enough?I credit my first instructor for the soreness the next day because he probably keep me out of the hospital all these years.


+1..

Jumpmaster was my brother.
2.5 hours PLF - 8 ft platform, forwards, backwards AND sideways. He kept making me do 'em over and over. I hated that bastard.
:D:D

20 minutes jump related - here's how you hook up, here's how you step off, here's how you fly the canopy (T10, riiiiiight) and here's how you throw out a reserve. Got it? Good, let's go.
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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Yes, i belive you must have a door on the plane today :P



I don't think a door is necessary. I have recently jumped a 182 that didn't have a right door at all.


Not meaning to sidetrack the discussion, but just because a DZ is doing something a particular way doesn't mean it's being done right. In this day, we see way too many DZs ignoring various FAA & USPA rules on a daily basis. Doesn't mean they're doing it right, or safe. I'm pretty sure the FAA requires a door to be on a 182, but could be wrong.

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I'm pretty sure the FAA requires a door to be on a 182, but could be wrong.



You are wrong.



Between the chicken-shit student sitting next to it (me) and the discussion of what if a pilot-chute gets loose, I can say that I was VERY happy all my Cessna jump aircraft had closable doors for the flight up...
JW
Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

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All day jumping off the end of a picnic table practicing PLFs. It became apparent that the real purpose of the repeated PLFs was to loosen you up for the pounding you were gonna get from the T10.

In between we learned how to re-deploy the belly mounted reserve in case it was tangled with the main. We later found out that this was simply an exercise to take your mind off of what was really happening.
Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

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The time it takes to train a static line class varies for me, depending on class size and if I have any problem students. I'd say my FJC for s/l is about 5 hours, and included individual practice of exits, arches, EP's and PLF's, so I feel it's pretty complete. Some former instructors taught faster than I do, but one in particular, I remember, skipped the PLF's.:S

Once I taught my brother-in-law, Vskydiver's brother, the s/l FJC in 90 minutes. He was very athletic and a quick learner. I put him thru the entire class, didn't leave anything out. I was really surprised when I looked at the clock and saw how little time it took. He did great, BTW. :)
I guess I have to say I don't teach to the clock, I teach to the student.



I like this.

When I teach, it takes as long as it takes.

I've done classes of 6 in under 4 hours with great results. I had a class of 2 guys that were just super sharp and had them up for picture perfect Cat A's in about 2-1/2 hours. (and if something had gone wrong, I'm confident they could have handled it fine in accordance with the training given)

I've done much longer classes with fewer students because it just takes that long to get to a point where I think they have the info.

It's a bit annoying when someone says "any class under (xx hours) won't turn out" is a bit to glib for me to take the comment seriously. Even when it's from people I respect quite a bit.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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Hi terri,

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After much experience and seeing other FJC's...do you look back and believe that your training was sufficient?



Yup; in Feb '64 mine was ~ 3-4 hrs and most of that time was doing those @%#@ PLF's. But they did save my keester when that ground starting coming up at me. It seems to come up a lot faster the closer you get. B|

JerryBaumchen


AUG 1972

My PLF training was very abbreviated.. I demonstrated perfect PLF's for the civvie instructor... I had already had a HELL of a lot of practice learning to do them as part of instructor training..PLFS.. drag training behid a pickup...Swing landing trainer.. AND I had just made two water landings the last couple of days before under parasailsthat had been towed up to 700' at the water school that was a culmination of a couple of fun days going downa zip line learning how to do a water landing andthen pulling a C-9 canopy over your head and following a seam from side to side.

The rest of the Course.... well .. lets get the hell on with it that Cessna was awful small... :ph34r:

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Longest, I've ever heard of was 1 month. The first woman to sport jump in Norway, told me they made her learn to pack as part of the course.
The shortest was a buddy of mine's wife. Who after being around the DZ for years decided to give it a shot. I told her to go pick out some gear. On the way to the plane I asked it she wanted me to hook up her static line and spot. She said just check she did it right.
To split the difference. The Falcon watched jump movies all winter. Come spring we gave him a rig. First jump a hop and pop. He looked over his shoulder as his junk left his back. Stable as a rock.
U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

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That guy in "Proof" could teach the whole class in, like, 5 minutes and one piece of chalk. :D



5 minutes? nonsense

"O.K. now you'll be coming out here and you'll be doing a stable fall face
down frog modified. Now out here comes the static line 'cause it goes like
from this to here see, and then the pilot chute will open and it'll pull
the bridle out and then the main canopy will be open see, 'cause they're
all connected, and then you'll be down here and you'll be looking up here
at the WDI indicator and you'll also going to check for Mae West and if
that's not there then you need to check here for 4 panels and a hole. Then
when you come down you're gonna find the piece and you're gonna land over
here and you're going to get in this position - except you don't wanna do
that - because that means you're in trouble, so what you want to do is you
wanna get right here and then you're gonna come round here and you're gonna
fold up and you're gonna do a toggle and jettison and always watch the
horizon O.K?"

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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In between we learned how to re-deploy the belly mounted reserve in case it was tangled with the main. We later found out that this was simply an exercise to take your mind off of what was really happening.



Throw it in the direction of spin.
If that doesn't work, reel it in and throw it the other way.

When my bro' said that, I looked at him like he had a dick growing out of his forehead and said, "You ain't foolin' me, asshole."

:D:D:D:D
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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