dthames

As already stated, it's very much a personal choice with a lot of different concerns that are involved. Educate yourself and decide what you want. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Turbulence is pretty short lived, so just keep flying as normal is what I do. I am lightly loaded and hot weather thermals (not what I call turbulence) have both bounded me around and kept my decent rate very low. When jumping at a DZ that you are familiar with, it is not hard to learn where the thermals tend to be. It is also useful to know that if you need to get back from a long spot. I fly with a Flysight and also listen to my vertical speed under canopy. It is interesting to see how the type of ground you are flying over often changes your decent rate. Plus or minus 5 MPH in the vertical is not uncommon. My average vertical is about 12-13 MPH. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I didn't start skydiving to learn to fly my body. I started skydiving to fly a wingsuit. If I jump without a wingsuit, I largely go toward the earth, more like a stone than a bird....not really flying in my book. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

John, One of my jump buddied has jumped two or three different sizes of the Pilot7, so is a repeat customer. That says a lot. I have been jumping a Pilot 9 ZPX since I was a student. I don't have any issues with ZPX. I don't know about that newer lower volume fabric. Dan Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Sort of a funny story that I can share (I was a bit of a slow learner so stopped AFF and went to SL). Learning static line I was told to do a 10 second delay and if I was on heading at 10 seconds, then I could go to 15 seconds. On exit I started a slow turn. I felt like I was in control but if I tried to reverse the turn and get back on heading, I figured I would screw it up. So I allow the turn to continue and got the feel of the steering a bit. I had picked out a lake on the horizon before exit as my heading marker. I just watched for it and when I was pointed to it, I stopped the turn. I was on count 9 or 10 by then, and took my delay on to 15 seconds. That was one of the jumps that I really felt like I was starting to “get it” on. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I fold my foot under my butt, with the top of my foot holding the slider end of the cocooned part of the canopy. Most of my weight is on my knees, with just light pressure holding the canopy with my foot. I made the first S fold from the crown end and trap the folded part between my knees while I get the bag on it. Then I pivot around, tidy up the slider end of the cocoon, fold it over and shove it between what is in the bag, to get it all in the bag. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Adding to what riggerrob said, I have had motion sickness issues all of my life, including acrobatic airplane rides, and skydiving. An acrobatic aircraft pilot suggested always have some protein on your stomach. Don't eat too much but don't fail to eat something. In skydiving I have noticed some aircraft tend to be harder for me to ride in without getting a bit sick feeling. Caravans seem to bother me more than a C182 or an Otter does. I have known several people that have motion sickness problems and have still managed to learn to skydive. If you feel sick, it is best to not jump. Knowing when you are better off to just come back at a later date is wise. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I recall reading of a C-130 shot down in Vietnam. One of the aircrew was laying on the cargo ramp watching for missiles. They were flying about 6000 feet (as I recall) which should have been safe from shoulder fired missiles, but they flew by a mountain and they got hit. The guy saw it coming and managed to get himself inside the cargo area before it hit one of the engines. He grabbed a parachute. I think he had a harness on and only had to buckle the parachute on. While he was doing this he was blown out of the aircraft into the night, with it partially connected. He managed to get it connected and deployed. As I recall, he had some jump experience and was the only survivor of that aircraft. Not the same as the OP's question, but pretty remarkable. I can't find the story right now (sorry). Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I think its the whole jumping out of the plane bit. It certainly got me for the fist 50 + jumps......

I ask, Exactly what are you afraid of? Canopy flight? Start studying how the canopy works and how to fly it. Depending on the gear to keep you from hitting the ground hard? Study how the gear works, how emergency procedures work, how dependable the reserve opening is, etc. I have done things in life that I am not 100% comfortable with, but it is hard to remember doing anything that I was afraid to do. I also grew up doing things that were a bit daring, so maybe I just learned to ignore how I feel and do it. Consider this....someone puts a 10" wide board on the floor and asks you to walk the length if it. No problem. Can you do it 1000 times in a row without stepping off? Most likely. Are you sure? Sure, I am sure. Raise it up 10 feet off the floor and do it there. Now raise it 30 feet off the floor and do it there. This is indoors without wind being a factor. Are you still sure you can do it? If not, what has changed? Maybe it is just the fact that you have to be sure that you are right, that you can do it every time without fail. Now, which is true, can you really do it every time, or have you convinced yourself by worrying that you might fail, that you will not be able to do it every time? If that be the case, it boils down (in my view) that your management of your own confidence is where the trouble lies. If I have good reason to think I will fail, I will most likely avoid the activity. If I have no good reason to think I will fail, I will most likely do it. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I think the suspended mass is something that should be considered a lot in this question. Any time the ground speed changes caused by any change in the airspeed vector, the suspended mass will lag behind the canopy (2nd law). This lagging of the suspended mass can cause the canopy to dive or zoom, to some extent. The smallest change in the wind direction or strength can start a gentle turn that. I could never get a radio controlled airplane trimmed the stay directly into the wind, if I took my hands off the controls. As soon as it started to turn, the turn rate picked up until it was flying downwind. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

When you land a modern square parachute, you need to pull down on both steering toggles to flare the parachute for a soft landing. Although not too difficult, I've seen people (almost always women) who seemed to lack the upper body strength to do it quickly and efficiently. A bit of weight training helps dramatically. My wife and I have also observed, over the years, that most men seem to brush off hard landings as "that didn't really hurt", whereas many women we've known have quit the sport, not because of a hard landing or two, but because of the fear of having a hard landing someday.. Sorry if this all sounds sexist. It's what I've seen.

I copied and pasted the pages from my temp log book into my new log book. You will change canopies often, only if you want to. Don't be lead to believe it is required. I got a canopy when I had 22 jumps and changed it out at 700+ jumps. It is a personal choice as to what you fly. The book "The Parachute And It's Pilot" is a good book to help you understand canopy flight. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I see you got a good answer already. You can also log onto the USPA web site and see your license status. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I have several skydive friends that are young and have families. It can work. Skydiving takes a lot of money and a lot of time. I think the time and money are bigger concerns than risk. As long as family is put first over skydiving, it can be made to work fairly well. If you really care about your family, make sure you don't allow skydiving to be "first". Student work takes a lot of time when the weather is keeping you from jumping. There is a lot of time spent as a student for several reasons. I was an "empty nester" when I started jumping, not because of any plan, but mostly just because that is when it got interested in jumping. On at least one case, my son came from out of town to see us and I already had plans to go to the DZ (4 hours away) for the day. He was not happy with me. Now I am a new grandparent. So now I will really have to evaluate my priorities in light of family. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

My post was not meant to confront you or put a wet blanket on the idea. Design projects are fun regardless of actual utility, does not say the project has low utility, regardless of how it might sound. If I want to increase my horizontal drive I get my tail way out there and have it a bit high, which gives more forward drive but this energy comes from increased vertical speed, to do more "work" against the wind. Increasing the forward and the vertical speed both add to the IAS, but you really don't know how the components break down unless you are linking that information to your vertical speed by GPS or some other tool (mentioned in a previous post). Say I am fixated on increasing my airspeed and just get steeper and steeper. I went 178 MPH in the vertical a few weeks ago, but I can't do that in the horizontal. Sorry if I offended. Experience with my face is about the only experience I have with airspeed indicators. When I first started flying, I was told it works pretty well, so that is the direction that I pursued. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Well, the question on this would be something like: Will it take more time to pull the cutaway, then the reserve, no matter the situation? Or will it take more time to evaluate the situation, decide on a course of action (whether or not to pull the cutaway handle), and execute that action? Generally, in the case of procedures that are not actually executed on a regular basis, and will be needed very quickly, and under very high stress, simple is better. I fly wingsuits and the altitude goes away much slower. I am sure that my perception of this situation would be different if I was going 120 mph down. Early in my WS days I had a PC in tow (bridle tied around PC). I shook it until the pin came out and all was well. If the pin had not came out, I can't say for sure what I would have done when I needed to give up on the main canopy deployment, cutaway or reserve. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I like building things too and know the reward in getting it to work as designed is great, even if the usefulness is not way up there. Your airspeed does not fully describe your horizontal performance. For example, I can fly really steep and fast and that doesn't mean my horz ground speed is good. I fly while listening to GPS produced values and while they might describe your performance, they are less than ideal to tell you how you are flying. For example, if your tailwind changes through as you decend in your run, the numbers make you think you are doing better or doing worse as they change. Actually your flying might be largely constant but the numbers are not. Adding airspeed to the GPS information would be helpful. How to combine that information into something useful while making the run is one of the underlying challenges. Good luck with your project. Note, if you have a PC, the Paint program in Windows has a Resize option that will allow you to make the files smaller. Look at the Crop feature as well. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I am not an instructor but it seems really weird that some people (not specifically this jumper) would insist on a plan that you would pull the cutaway handle 100% of the time before deploying the reserve. This thinking would suggest that some jumpers don't have a good understand of what was the proper course of action during a given situation. That is troubling to me. We all need to be very aware of what is going and what needs to be done under these conditions. If you know the pilot chute is still in the pouch and you have no reason to think the pin is out, then just deploy your reserve when you need to. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Welcome to the sport. Are you jumping at Dallas or at Houston? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I fly wingsuits and do very view RW type jumps now. But there always seems to be the need to properly react to these situations no matter what type of jump. One thing that helps is to be really good, to work at being good at tracking, tracking straight, tracking fast, and being able to slam on the brakes. A better skill set gives you more options. I see these situations today and resolve them without much thought. If I can slam on the brakes and go short of the guy above me, I might do that. If it looks like I have more forward speed than he/she, I might push hard to get further out. It seems to be different each time but the deeper you can dig, reaching for performance, the better equipped you will be. So never think your tracking is okay. Specifically work to sharpen your skills. Learn ways to measure your skills and abilities so you can continually improve. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I think a fair number of these incidents start with initial heading problem. If a person has a pattern of heading problems, that is something that should be addressed before they cause a crash. Also, with hand on handle, there is normally time for one more quick look. I would expect that a fair number of jumpers, once committed to pull, rush it. I have froze/paused on the handle many times because I didn't like what I was seeing. Unless practiced, look, grab, LOOK, and pull,.....I would guess many would never take that final look. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Welcome to the sport. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

In Vietnam my uncle fell or jumped (no parachute) from a helicopter that was “going down”. He landed in a rice paddy, largely unhurt. The helicopter went a bit further, crashed in flames and everyone was presumed dead, so under fire the other helicopters left the seen, my uncle unobserved. He was career airborne, which might have helped him with his “landing”. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

That's actually a great question, but unfortunately it has a lengthy answer. There are so many variables that the best answer is more of a discussion. Might I suggest you take charge on that and ask a leader at your DZ (DZO, Chief instructor, S&TA, old grunt) to hold a seminar on the subject. For new jumpers the answer is most effective when local, real-world examples can be used to teach the fundamentals. I like that you posed the question here. Even better, never be afraid to be the catalyst. Ask around the drop zone. I bet you will find a willing "seasoned" jumper to share some wisdom. Some things that have served me well. 1. Always know the direction the wind is from, where the sun is (compass heading), and how to tell which way is north, south, east, and west where you are jumping today. Know those things when you get on the aircraft, every time. 2. Have a high level of confidence in your abilities flying the canopy and in your assessment of the situation. If it looks like you are landing off, this is not a good time to be second guessing your next decisions. 3. Always have 'plan B' lined up behind your initial plan if you are forced to land off. That area that looked clear from 2000 feet, is suddenly not so pretty after all. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”