Zennie 0 #1 December 29, 2001 One of the long term goals that I've set for myself is to get my AD. So obviously I have some work to do before even thinking about taking the test.Still I was kinda curious. Skyballs are verboten at both of the DZs I frequent, so how does one train for the "AD" without a skyball? I suppose one way would be to jump with someone else and use an empty plastic soda bottle as the "ball". Partner holds "ball", you grab it, swap hands, place "ball" back into partners' hand, do 360 (or whatever)... repeat.Other than that, how do people practice for the test?"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airann 1 #2 December 29, 2001 Damn... uh ok...FAA cops wont let you jump with a skyball, not the DZs.Levin and Ramon did Atmosphere Dolphin jumps in Chicago this year. Levin ran outta time. I forgot what Ramons thing was. I was just talking about this the other day... and somebody listed the things you could use. Talk to Espen and mention my name. He will remember all the deatils. I think it was a piece of plastic -like a knotted sandwich bag. But that is not going to fly properly without weight. Then you get into the FAA thing again. Both DZ's let you out over populated areas, so you are stuck.I would NOT suggest this.. at all.. for anyone. http://www.AirAnn.comUgly Girl #6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #3 December 31, 2001 Come to SD Atlanta....If you have the SKILLZ to stay with the ball and do some manuevers around it all you need is BM. We usually have one or two people around that qualify to be a BM. Just ask some questions before you come out......PS...Wait did I just use the terms "Ball Master" and come out in the same post?????? "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rogue108 0 #4 December 31, 2001 I have been told its about being able to stay with your subject like glue. So I would worry more about being able to stay relative with an other individual before worrying about the actual spaceball. I have seen individuals train buy using a freefly instructor as the ball. The student would have to stay close to the instructor like a spaceball. They would also have to transition around the instructor and dock on him/her like a spaceball. When you get that good travel to a DZ that allows spaceballs and has ballmasters. HTH. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airann 1 #5 January 1, 2002 its about proxcimity - even really good people fail this oneScary part is if you dont jump with a ball master, that thing can kill someone really dead. The likely hood - is deminished by the population of where you jump... but its still very frowned upon. A friend of mine did a drink jump once. Busted his lip on the bottle too. And when he lost it, (plastic) the contents spewed out, LOL -looked good on the video, I doubt that it could have hurt anyone. The visual- ~a Guy on a tractor looks up, sees a flying Pepsi bottle coming from the sky, it lands right in front of him and comes to rest on a clod of dirt... The guy takes off his John Deere hat and scratches his head.... http://www.AirAnn.comUgly Girl #6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aviatrr 0 #6 January 2, 2002 Quote Still I was kinda curious. Skyballs are verboten at both of the DZs I frequent, so how does one train for the "AD" without a skyball? I suppose one way would be to jump with someone else and use an empty plastic soda bottle as the "ball". Get together with a freeflyer that can fly perfectly stable and straight down the pipe head down.. Have said freeflyer fly stable with an arm out in front of them, and make a fist.. Use the fist as a skyball.. When you can fly all around that person, dock, do transitions and dock again......THEN consider a skyball..Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
friendlyguy 0 #7 January 2, 2002 don t take licenses too serious :-) and never forget the word "Free" which you can find in "Freeflying". af Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #8 January 2, 2002 "and never forget the word "Free" which you can find in "Freeflying"."No shit!!!!!!!!!!! "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramon 0 #9 January 2, 2002 Your not supposed to practice.You are supposed to be so good when you take the test that you can adjust to some ball you have never jumped before (from Mike Swanson).Bottom line, just keep freeflying, don't worry about the test by the time you think you can pass you probably have the skill (Steve Utter quote) the end result is the same, the things you need to do to pass the test are pretty juch waht you do when you jump with other freefliers and do a lot of close in maneuvers.Don't worry about it worry about being able to do the maneuvers you see on Chronicle 3 and freefly millenium II.Oh, Sean Simon or Thomas Mcdow (Orbit Punks) can jump a ball with you at SDH (they are the only ones good enough to BM and they have AD numbers).They guy Brian Moffet from the gravity rats (San Marcos) will jump one with you also (he has an AD number). Sonic Tom has one also, but he is big time rusty .RamonPS the really good guys in Sebastian would be glad to answer this question by saying, come down to Sebastian and bring $5,000. At the end of the coach jump money, you might be good enough to take the test . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #10 January 2, 2002 "$5,000"Well....that's either 263 jumps with your friends or probably 50 with those guys.....Hmmm......Which one would I pick? "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMarshMan1 0 #11 January 2, 2002 "...probably 50 with those guys..."lol...actually I think its less....I think I heard its 30...-Marshall Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #12 January 2, 2002 "I think I heard its 30"OUCH!!!! "I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMarshMan1 0 #13 January 2, 2002 Either way, 30 or 50- I'll take the 263 jumps with my friends any day Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites freeflir29 0 #14 January 2, 2002 Those guys must all have boat payments or something......."I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheMarshMan1 0 #15 January 2, 2002 Yeah....must be awesome to be good enough to skydive for a living. Wait, I'm only 19- maybe if I win the lottery or get a reaaallllllly good job, or maybe just get reallllly lucky, I can jump a ton and do it for a living when I grow up ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites ramon 0 #16 January 2, 2002 Some/most of these guys live in campers (not even fullsize trailers).have no insurance (broken ankle away from the poor house).have expensive recreational drug habits don't own a thing except gear, stickers and cute little rig like back packs.can't afford to do anything like take a ski vacation of scuba vacation unless they have well off parents.typically move from DZ to DZ because of political or money problems.Can't afford any other hobbies or nice cars.many of them starve during long periods of bad weather if they don't save their summer money.Sorry... I like going home to a "non-camper" to do laundry.Very few are well enough off to afford luxuries.ramonP.S. get a college degree and you can aford to go to all the boogies AND buy a home theater system and medical insurance.peace Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheMarshMan1 0 #17 January 2, 2002 lol- jeez....sounds like my life already, minus the jumping everyday. Guess I better hurry up and finish up that degree.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites marcin 0 #18 January 3, 2002 Did jump with a ball once (first mistake). The area around DZ was agricultural land, no people, so seemed safe. I said to myself that I wont release the ball if I am above houses etc. Jumped out and realised that I am above house. Tracked like hell for 20 seconds (according to video) and commited the second mistake i.e. released the ball when felt safe. By then had very little working time. Staying very close to the ball was easy, even though I realised it was too heavy for my jumpsuit (I wore a "slow" one, with big, heavy sleeves). To stay on level with the ball I had to keep my arms close to the body. Well, I tried to reach for it but it required an extra effort at that speed, and everything was just a struggle to remain fast enough. Whatever, when I touched the ball it just slipped away, like it was some bloody fish. Repeated the manouver again with the same result. Then the Dytter remainded me of the altitude. One last desperate effort to fly under the ball and catch it with both hands against my stomach... the ball just slipped away.Open, watch the ball fall to the ground and impact against the sand, looking like some small bomb. Realising that somebody could actually be walking down there, even if very unlikely.Few lessons learned: ball should be weighted within your flying speed limits (also the lenght of the tail matters a lot); the difficult part is catching the unsuspended ball with zero horizontal friction against the air - not staying with it; it is not enough to just think you can make it. Wont't jump ball again unless above a see or with a BM (have to find one in Europe)After this I came with an idea how to practice catching the ball. Just get a tennis ball, attach a pull up cord to it, have a friend sit or stand up fly with it, holding it by the end of a longer cord and practice catching the floating ball.m. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites ramon 0 #19 January 3, 2002 burbling it is good also.cup above the ball and it will fall into your hands.good luckramon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Aviatrr 0 #20 January 3, 2002 Quote "...probably 50 with those guys..."lol...actually I think its less....I think I heard its 30... Actually, it would be more like 80-90......but still not much for the cost.. On the bright side, those guys are damn good, and from what I hear they can teach well too.. I've jumped with 2 of the guys that teach there on fun jumps, and they were both damn impressive...Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheMarshMan1 0 #21 January 3, 2002 Ah...I must have been thinking of a different camp... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. 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freeflir29 0 #14 January 2, 2002 Those guys must all have boat payments or something......."I got some beers....Let's Drink em!!!"Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMarshMan1 0 #15 January 2, 2002 Yeah....must be awesome to be good enough to skydive for a living. Wait, I'm only 19- maybe if I win the lottery or get a reaaallllllly good job, or maybe just get reallllly lucky, I can jump a ton and do it for a living when I grow up ... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramon 0 #16 January 2, 2002 Some/most of these guys live in campers (not even fullsize trailers).have no insurance (broken ankle away from the poor house).have expensive recreational drug habits don't own a thing except gear, stickers and cute little rig like back packs.can't afford to do anything like take a ski vacation of scuba vacation unless they have well off parents.typically move from DZ to DZ because of political or money problems.Can't afford any other hobbies or nice cars.many of them starve during long periods of bad weather if they don't save their summer money.Sorry... I like going home to a "non-camper" to do laundry.Very few are well enough off to afford luxuries.ramonP.S. get a college degree and you can aford to go to all the boogies AND buy a home theater system and medical insurance.peace Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMarshMan1 0 #17 January 2, 2002 lol- jeez....sounds like my life already, minus the jumping everyday. Guess I better hurry up and finish up that degree.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marcin 0 #18 January 3, 2002 Did jump with a ball once (first mistake). The area around DZ was agricultural land, no people, so seemed safe. I said to myself that I wont release the ball if I am above houses etc. Jumped out and realised that I am above house. Tracked like hell for 20 seconds (according to video) and commited the second mistake i.e. released the ball when felt safe. By then had very little working time. Staying very close to the ball was easy, even though I realised it was too heavy for my jumpsuit (I wore a "slow" one, with big, heavy sleeves). To stay on level with the ball I had to keep my arms close to the body. Well, I tried to reach for it but it required an extra effort at that speed, and everything was just a struggle to remain fast enough. Whatever, when I touched the ball it just slipped away, like it was some bloody fish. Repeated the manouver again with the same result. Then the Dytter remainded me of the altitude. One last desperate effort to fly under the ball and catch it with both hands against my stomach... the ball just slipped away.Open, watch the ball fall to the ground and impact against the sand, looking like some small bomb. Realising that somebody could actually be walking down there, even if very unlikely.Few lessons learned: ball should be weighted within your flying speed limits (also the lenght of the tail matters a lot); the difficult part is catching the unsuspended ball with zero horizontal friction against the air - not staying with it; it is not enough to just think you can make it. Wont't jump ball again unless above a see or with a BM (have to find one in Europe)After this I came with an idea how to practice catching the ball. Just get a tennis ball, attach a pull up cord to it, have a friend sit or stand up fly with it, holding it by the end of a longer cord and practice catching the floating ball.m. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramon 0 #19 January 3, 2002 burbling it is good also.cup above the ball and it will fall into your hands.good luckramon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aviatrr 0 #20 January 3, 2002 Quote "...probably 50 with those guys..."lol...actually I think its less....I think I heard its 30... Actually, it would be more like 80-90......but still not much for the cost.. On the bright side, those guys are damn good, and from what I hear they can teach well too.. I've jumped with 2 of the guys that teach there on fun jumps, and they were both damn impressive...Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMarshMan1 0 #21 January 3, 2002 Ah...I must have been thinking of a different camp... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
