dthames

I am constantly seeing people that are doing stuff that is more fun than the stuff that I am doing. I want to do the high end, above average fun stuff. But the truth if the matter is that there is and must be a lot of Average people and Average jumpers doing Average stuff. If I can keep the need to be SuperDan in check, then I feel like my safety is much improved. I am not sure how to weave that into Safety Day. People do need to be reminded that pushing up to the ragged edge normally increases risk. How bad do I need to do that...really? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

There are several young people that I know are working as packers for spending money and college money. Some of them jump as well. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Remembering this thread, last Saturday I as on a jump and about ready to deploy, so as I pitched, I pulled up into a very head high posture. I can't explain what I did, exactly. I just sort of stood it up, like I was a big drag brake. I certainly departed from flight. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

"This hatred for people based purely on ideology" Not good. But when the ideology wants to kill those it doesn't agree with (Stalin or whoever) there comes a time that enough is enough. If they don't want to live in peace, they need some help. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Something to consider: Your flare height (and indeed the rest of it) is always exactly the same, no matter what the wind is doing. You need to develop a sense of flare timing that is independent of your forward speed... as the Flight One instructor will have taught you, unless it's turbulent, the ground winds are not relevant to your landing procedure. You are flying through the air, whether or not that air is itself moving across the ground does not affect how you fly. The ground is just the ground, it doesn't really affect your flare - just the way you put your feet down. I only really absorbed this a couple of weeks ago, and it's radically changed my landing experience. On Monday I was jumping in zero winds; on Sunday in 20kts, and both were good. And I flared the same. I would agree on the flare height (decent rate is the same), but the rate of flare and the depth of the stroke vary a lot for me between no wind days and days when the wind is 80% of my forward airspeed. I am lightly loaded and if I fully flare on a windy day, it will lift me right back up into the air. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

By "outside", I mean that I folded and rolled the PC, and then zigzag folded the bridle along the length of the rolled PC. By "inside", I mean that I folded the PC, zigzag folded the bridle (on top of the PC) along the length of the folded PC, and then rolled the PC with the bridle inside the roll. About half inside and about half outside is my current method. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I know someone that is currently recovering from their third tunnel injury. Maybe it can hurt. :) Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I had no problem with my Rbird, 28" PC and 6' bridle. But when I started jumping a larger suit once in a while, I got a longer bridle (about 11' long). Not long after that on a specific trip, out of 41 jumps I had my bridle tied in a knot on 4 different jumps, once of which choked off the PC. All 4 of those knotted bridles were with my Rbird. Something was wrong. A lazy pitch might have been a factor, but this started with the longer bridle, so that is where I put the blame. I had been folding the entire bridle up inside the PC. With some helpful advice, I started folding about half of the bridle inside the PC and about half of the bridle outside the PC. No more knots. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Static Line or Instructor Activated Deployment are great to take the load off and to all you to do canopy practice. But you could easily be afraid to do a SL jump as well if you allow yourself to focus on the things that bother you, like the noise. I will say that I have very sensitive and previously damaged hearing so I am careful with loud noise. Earplugs helped me a lot but you will need to work with your instructors regarding earplugs to make sure you can hear them when you need to and under canopy if they use radios. I am very accustom to listening through the plugs, even before skydiving, so they were not a problem for me, but approach the idea with some testing and instructor involvement. Your pattern of allowing the fear to win more and more, now won't even let you do a tandem. You might consider waiting a while. The real truth is that you will jump when your desire to do so exceeds your desire to stay in the plane. Having time off may allow your desire to increase, or maybe your fear to increase, it just depends on you. I had two major problems as a student. They were motion sickness and poor stability due to a poor/weak arch. Time off helped me become more determined, be more flexible, and to be more mentally prepared to overcome my challenges. I got calmed down, regrouped, and better prepared to manage the training. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I guess you have been told to look at a point on the horizon?. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Thats the problem here..I dono if I love it or not...my fear is coming in between... I know if I cross 2 or 3 levels of AFF course..I will be fine.. Actually it is pretty common for some people to do well for the first few jumps and then fear starts bothering them as they learn what all can go wrong and that it is not just a fun ride over and over. To jump you really have to trust in the gear, yourself, and the instruction. Be if you do trust, then fear should not be in the picture. Cautious concern, yes, lots of that. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

"Let me do ground school, the dirt dive 5 times, ride the plane up, and then let me decide if I want to jump out or not" Is that the plan? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Just some data view, with no specific point. This is the jump that I mentioned (last Saturday) when my horz speed was fairly good, and the vertical was pretty low. I just pitched mostly while in flight and it was pretty mushy. The 3D speed was 85-90 range, more horz than vert. [inline horz-vert.jpg] [inline vert-3d.jpg] [inline horz-3d.jpg] Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

One reason hop n pops are soft is because they keep you head high (relative to the ground) if you deploy on the hill. One thing most people overlook is that an opening feels "hard" or "soft" not just due to overall airspeed, but also orientation. Acceleration is a change in linear velocity or angular velocity. The hardest opening I've had in my life was a subterminal reserve opening. But the reserve opened toward my feet, and pulled my head toward my feet with it when it opened. This resulted in a very quick angular acceleration, i.e. whiplash. With cameras on my head soft is my number one priority, and I don't do a huge flare, I simply: 1) slow forward speed if I have a lot, using legs/arms/chest 2) close legwing completely (if the suit allows it) to put my head high and my body's angle as close to vertical as possible (thus less rotational change will occur during deployment) 3) focus on horizon and keep my eyes there or higher during snatch/snivel Steps 1 & 2 can be combined and replaced with a flare, but it's a bit harder to get right and timing becomes critical. This when done right results in openings that feel softer than hop n pops, IMO. The key is having my head above my cg before the deployment starts, and keeping it there through the whole deployment. Even without cameras on your head, the same is true. In normal freefall your max rotational change during deployment is 90 degrees, from flat on belly to vertical under canopy. Most wingsuit deployment styles produce more rotational change than this. But if you do it right you can end up with less. Matt, I recall geeking the camera on a deployment and my goal was to stay close to the camera but to go back more than down, relative to the camera, to stay safely away. After I pitched, I basically tried to stand up, waiting on the deployment. I had never done that, but it worked fairly well. This reduced that angular velocity a lot. https://youtu.be/KnY60XkwT7U Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I don't understand this response in regards to my post. Some miscommunication I guess. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Your reason to do this might be something that I don't know or understand. But I am a keep it simple type of person regarding WS deployment. My "opinion" is that a person should not get into the habit of using time and altitude to set up for deployment. Make sure you are flying well and deploy without a lot of time has, advantages when something has not went well. You don't want to have a missed pull or some other issue and think, "Wait, I need to get flying again and set up for deployment again but I am already at 2500 feet"! As Matt mentions some actions might be counterproductive if you want to deploy at slow airspeed. You total airspeed being low is what you suggest that you want. You have a fixed amount of energy in your "flare", depending on speed. If you flare to slow vertical speed, you are trying to fight inertia and gravity. If you flare to slow horizontal speed, you are fighting inertia and not gravity. So, the braking energy will have a greater impact on your horz speed than on your vertical speed. Last Saturday I was on a 2 way and we broke at 5,000. I punched it hard to fly as long as possible after breakoff. My vertical speed got very low (listening to Flysight). While going about 70 MPH in the horz direction, I pitched and flared a bit at the same time. The deployment was totally mushy. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Good for you! Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Even for normal everyday flying, the feedback from the Flysight can help you learn a lot. You can "see" in real time what different body tweaks can do or not do for you. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Different people use different methods, but lately the new Flysight firmware supports altitude alarms which is a third option. I will say that the Paralog setup procedure for the competition does a rename on the Flysight config file and creates a new one with very few parameters. So it is best to have your own Flysight for the alarms use because you may or may not be allowed to alter the competition Flysight for your alarm settings. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I know you have other issues but.... I do better with earplugs. My hearing is sensitive and easily damaged. The noise of most student type helmets is so loud it almost is painful and very difficult for me to concentrate. I noticed this on my first jump, I need earplugs. I wear earplugs for many things outside of skydiving and I am accustom to listening with my ears plugged. But be aware if you jump with earplugs to be sure you can easily remove them if they impact your ability to hear a radio used for canopy instructions. I had a chest mount radio and could hear just fine with my ears plugged, but that might not be the case for everyone or all radio situations. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

To the OP, in one of your recent replies you mentioned almost turning wrong. Students don't get a lot of time to practice canopy work until they are in the air. The jump is dirt dived but how often is the canopy flight? As a student I did a few jumps at a DZ that was like walking back in time. The fellow that ran the place had been doing the same thing for many years. He had a process that worked well for him and first time jumpers. He had movable landmarks on the landing area for turning points and would move them according to the wind. Then had had models of the markers that he would lay out one the ground by the hanger. Students would hold their hands over their heads, as if holding the toggles, and walk the pattern. They would pull their hands down, simulating turns as they walked the pattern. This type of practice builds muscle memory. This training could include the flare also. Talking, walking, and pulling down according to your training and what you are seeing. Practicing in this manner might be of great benefit to you if you hesitate to know the right thing to do, while flying. It is not uncommon that someone might say, "I knew what to do, but somehow I didn't carry it out in a timely manner". If you know exactly what to do and you know you are correct, you can even walk it out by yourself and tell someone watching you what you are doing and why. Explaining to others is also a reinforcement tool for what you know. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

You might consider and ask your instructors about some IAD jumps. You would be under canopy right after exit, 4,000-5,000 feet and the entire skydive would be dedicated to canopy flight. No reason to do other jumpers until you get the canopy flight and landing to not be a worry. Also, seek out ways to learn more about canopy flight and landings (good sources) so that when you jump again you will have increased confidence rather than the "oh no, here we go crashing again". Mind over splatter is a critical element. "Know" you will have success, don't just hope for it....by being well prepared. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

A friend downsized (I think maybe a 150) at about 90 jumps. Did 3 jumps, was off 10 weeks because of winter, went on a trip and got busted because of a late or weak flare, the first jump of the trip. Not long after I started jumping a bunch of old guys on DZ.com were talking about upsizing or not downsizing. I joined their club, being that I am not a young man and continued active jumping is way high on my fun list. At times I would like to have something that would penetrate the wind better. At times I am glad I have a larger than average (lightly loaded) canopy. It is all a choice. Choose wisely cause "you" have to deal with your choice. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Just ignore the taunting. :) Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I have a little feedback for this thread. This weekend one of my bird buddies had his hand slip off the handle when the pull was harder than expected. He went to try for a second time and created some instability. Most likely this was because he started rushing a bit. Because of the altitude, working to become stable didn't make sense so he went to his reserve. He said he really wanted to try one more time for the main. I am glad he didn't. I couldn't tell what the problem was but I knew he was a lot lower than normal for him and I just watched helplessly until he got something out. I don't think he was using an all folded up deployment posture. I have never had a missed pull like that and even folded up, I don't know if I would stay stable under the exact same conditions. I know he had a "brisk" opening of the reserve. All is well but just more food for thought. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”