dthames

My first jump (AFF) was pretty good. At 8,000 I had completed the planned diveflow and I started thinking....what have I missed? Relax, I am suppose to relax. My hands looked like a cat trying to dig it's claws into the air to stop slipping. I relaxed and wow, what a difference. Then I got motion sick under canopy. The second jump was worse with motion sickness, which started during freefall, I guess, as I threw up right after the canopy opened. I worked through that and other problems and finally got my license. Happy for you that you got a great start. There might be some bumps along the way, but just keep working for your goal. Dan Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Jarno, I work in the electric motor industry. I am curious what the input power requirement for the tunnel is. With it running, what is the power consumption (if you don't mind me asking)? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

It would be nice if someone could record and post the talk. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Understand the atmosphere on Mars (and being simulated here) is -very- thin. What that means is, even though the inflation rate is rapid by Earth standards, it's not particularly jerky (yes, a change in velocity is called jerk). 35,000 pounds of drag force would likely cause a bit of a jerk on anything we could send to Mars at this point in time. I think that is what they said the parachute generated under the test conditions. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I was raised in Indiana. I know the cold here is not comparable, but i think when we moved here my body decided that it didnt wanna be that cold again, therefore making me a cold natured person, hell idk. 30 degrees at altitude isnt something that interests me but when you find something you love..... I signed up for level one on Saturday and im so mad at the weather! It didnt look like this yesterday and Im hoping that by Sat, it changes. All week its supposed to be sunny and in the 50s. Saturday its partly cloudy with rain and thunder, but its gonna be 65 and only have 10 mile an hour winds! ugh. I dont think naked skydiving is my thing, hell i didnt even know it was a thing lol. I hope its a joke. I recall seeing an interview with Roberta Mancino and she stated that skydiving naked in the cold was painful. So maybe wait until warm weather for the naked jumps. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

From a student standpoint, the worst problem is jumping less times in a week or a month, makes the learning a bit slower. You need to be able to jump more than once a month to be a jumper that is "current". If you are not current, you have to have extra training to be current again. If you live close enough to the DZ to go there on days when you might not jump because of weather, you can take time to learn from your instructors when no one is jumping and everyone is less busy than in the busy season. I worked on my student program during the winter (in Arkansas). I see no reason to wait. We have windy springtime, so waiting for Spring is not always good. There were days when we had to wait for the temp to get warm enough the instructors would feel it was okay. Talk to the instruction staff about it, before you commit. See what they think about it, including their rule for temperature and use of gloves. Some instructors don't want you wearing gloves while a student, so it needs to be warm enough that your hands can still function well. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

A good question to ask yourself is, "Will this choice increase my chances of walking off the field, so I can pack and jump again?" I have heard some say that leg injuries are just part of the sport. I am an older jumper and listened to older jumpers in their views about downsizing. So far I have managed to walk off the field on every jump. Carefully consider what your primary goal is. Not just regarding downsizing but every jump....does this decision support my primary goal? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Assume the plane is flying with an airspeed of 100 MPH. Assume your terminal speed falling is 120 MPH. On exit, you start slowing your forward speed and start gaining vertical speed. This is all normal. If you fly it well (present into the relative wind) then you hardly notice any feeling of "dropping". The reason is that the 100 MPH is pretty close to your terminal speed (where you will feel 1G). However if you don't present well into the 100 MPH relative wind, you don't feel that near 1G from the forward drag and tend to notice the feeling of falling a bit more. So pay close attention to your instruction about "presenting into the relative wind". This must be learned. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I bought a used rig with a 210 ZPX that I was told had about 150 jumps on it. It did look very close to brand new. I put over 700 jumps on it and it was still in good shape when I sold it. I have no way of knowing if it was worn more than a ZP would have worn under the same conditions. I did purchase a 190 ZPX to replace it, showing I am not worried about the ZPX wear. My 2 cents. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Wendy, I never downsized (being not young), don't like to spiral down, and I don't like to be landing with the tandems. So I don't like to pull high either. I had worked down to under 3000 when the BSR was changed to 2500, so that is my "low". Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Be prepared for the next 4 months to be the longest in your life. Waiting to make your next skydive is often difficult. Welcome to the sport. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I am guessing you mean, "pressure in your head". I can't imagine what you are experiencing. What type of plane did you exit from? If you exited from the inside, it might just be the blast of wind that you experienced. Some AFF jump exit from outside the aircraft or partly outside (head and shoulder). Some exit from inside the aircraft. If you are exposed to the outside for several seconds before you actually exit, you might not experience this feeling. If you exit and catch the air blast at the same time, you will most likely have a similar experience. (Just guessing) It is also possible that your exit, caused you to be head into the relative wind. If that happened, you might feel some negative Gs for a few seconds like you were hanging from your feet. Not very likely, but possible. As the new wears off, stuff like that will not be noticed. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

A "D" licensed jumper should be able to plan to deploy at 2500' without it bothering people. So I said 2000' would be an uncomfortable plan, in response to your specific question. Under US rules, anyone planning under 2500' should be questioned. So

I jump at Dallas. There are many women jumpers and also some women instructors at Dallas. Come out and pay them a visit sometime. I am sure they will be happy to answer your questions if they are not tied up with students at the moment. I think that if you really don't understand some key things about how the parachute flies and how it can flare for landing, you will have more trouble learning. The book "The Parachute And Its Pilot" https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-parachute-and-its-pilot-brian-germain/1110928061?ean=2940148573821&st=PLA&sid=NOK_DRS_NOOK+EBooks_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP75008&gclid=Cj0KCQjwm9vPBRCQARIsABAIQYcsVtZ-_uMzdHHNr3ZS8_tOfb14oqZc2ZUG-6QC4tSM5-syhaGjWWIaAlSJEALw_wcB will help you learn how the parachute works. Then when learning to fly and land it, the instruction will make more sense. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

By the door there is a heading indicator and a left/right button to adjust the heading value. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

This might have been done already, "The Sky Is The Limit" Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I fly a wingsuit and I carry my smartphone on every jump. Wingsuit flights cover a lot of ground and there is general assumption that wingsuit jumpers land away from the dropzone more often than non wingsuit jumpers. So we tend to carry a phone in case that happens. The Flysight is made to record GPS data at a rate of 5 times per second and is a very good GPS logger. Trying to add value to your product as a GPS logger for skydiving would not be a benefit, in my opinion, not if you are trying to compete with a custom product that does that job. There will be a lot of debate on where you would put a device so that when you cut away, it would stay with the canopy. Smaller is always better, adding to the options of places you might attach it. Many places that you could mount it might be a poor choice if it could in any way interfere with the normal function of the parachute system. Not saying this would be a good idea, but if was small enough, inside the pilot chute might have some advantages. One would be access for charging. I know you have solar, but packed somewhere inside a rig, wireless changing might be something to consider. In any case, the pilot chute is on the outside and easy to remove and repack without opening the main container space. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Just two weeks ago we were doing large formation flocks in Houston (I see you list Houston as your DZ). If you are interested in formation type flying, very few people do well in a suit that is large enough for XRW. Some try, but often struggle with being still in the formation. If you want to do big suit, fast (forward) flocks, then a one suit solution is more doable. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

We had a wingsuit bigway jump Oct 7-9. Many of us used cameras for just to have record of the jumps. More than once, the video was used to discover what happened regarding some safety concern. The camera's objective view and memory are much better than mine. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Learn about and understand the parachute and how it works. You will depend on it, but very important, knowing you can trust it will/should help you not to worry so much. Learn and understand canopy flight so you have no doubt about how to carry out the process of flying and landing it. You might not have experience, but you can have the knowledge, even on the first jump. The book The Parachute And It's Pilot is a good background book. But as said before, learn from your instructors. If you are confident in the equipment and the one flying the parachute, there is much less to be nervous about. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Here are some factors and things that I consider in my flight planning. 1. Know the jump run, direction. You might have to ask or wait until after the first load, but know the jump run to plan your path. 2. Know the upper winds, direction and strength. Just like planning the "spot" for a load, you need to plan for a deployment area. Your deployment should be somewhat upwind but might need to be over to the side because of the non WS jumpers. 3. Know how long you expect to fly. Being new, you might only fly 90-120 seconds, but have some idea what you will do. Using your flying time and the upper winds, determine what you want to do regarding the time you spend on your downwind leg. If the winds are strong, don't set yourself up to overshoot the DZ. Keep in mind this all gets moved and shifted depending on your exact exit point. I always have a plan but look at how long the spot is before I exit. If the spot is short and/or the headwind is strong, I will fly slightly off angle of the aircraft for a bit, or if the spot is already long and the wind is light, I might turn out for my offset right away. If you are good with computer data and like to mess with such stuff, the Flysight GPS record is great to see where you actually flew and did you follow your own plan. I have sent a Flysight with first flight students so we can look at their ground track to see if they followed the flight plan or not. I often round off my two major turns and fly a big arc if there is no other WS out on that side of the aircraft line of flight. You can constantly adjust your distance from the DZ by changing the radius of the arc. Just be sure you can keep track of where the non WS jumper are relative to where you are heading. If I can stay upwind of the DZ and a bit more than 1/2 mile from the DZ, the tandems are normally not further than 1/2 mile out by the time I have flown my 2 minutes. There are of course exceptions, so I never try to get close to the DZ. I just stay upwind and come back under canopy. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Just for fun and to test myself, I exited in my wingsuit at 18K, flew a bit, then looked straight down and tried to pick the spot right under me. Then I when straight into the vertical, aimed at my “spot”, and did a 360 roll while pointed at the spot. If done precisely, my GPS ground track should not move until I departed my vertical flight. Anyway, that is the theory. Here is the result. I was aiming at the little building. The black curtain looking part of the image is my GPS track in 3D view. It ended up as a bit of a barrel roll rather than a perfect roll on my long axis. Anyway, just having some solo fun and sharing the results. [inline Spot.jpg] Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Love it....if you die, that doesn't count as an injury. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Not so much advice but personal experience. I had trouble due to poor/shallow arch. The instructor really couldn't let me go and I couldn't learn (very well) with someone hanging onto me. I quit AFF. I had learned how to ride a bicycle by myself, the hard way...trying over and over and over. I could repeat 2 Static Line jumps for less than the cost of one AFF jump and without putting so much pressure on myself. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I think you have learned that it is about wanting to jump more than the fear of jumping. I mean, when you want to bad enough, you go do it. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”