awdordie

Thank you for taking the time to respond. The next time out I will do just that and spend the whole time practising my pull. I also have been trying to get my basic floating exit down for my hop n pops so ill just exit clear practise pull a few times on the hill and then the rest of the dove as well. We were suppose to work on adjusted fall rate docking this dive as well but didnt have alttitude, so I havent tried adjusting falling speed but I do fall super fast. I weigh around 220 w/o gear. As for the jumpsuit its not mine tha I own. The dz provides them so thats why its loose in some areas. Its thenonly size that fits without being super uncomfortable in the chest. I did do one dive with no jumpsuit and did not like it at all. I believe it was my tenth time out. I felt like I had no control at all and couldnt keep from potato chipping and was really unstable at pull time so I went back to the jumpsuit especially after learning of some of thensimple safety issues that can arrise such as your shirt flipping up over your handles.

Here at my home DZ in Tullahoma TN we have quite a bit of air traffic that are gliders that regularly share our skies. My coach on this dive immediately went to the manager and spoke with them on the issue in the video. The pilot flew down center field at around 2500ish after they called jumpers away and my coach was not happy at all for obvious reasons. After my canopy opened he was fairly close to me as well but of course right now im still wanting to be as far away from anyone or anything while im under canopy. That leads me to another question.... does every jumper have the responsibility of spotting or does the first jumpers spot for the load?

https://youtu.be/1YdWgxdbJR8 Can I get some advice on body positioning on and through deployment. Through aff I had rock solid positioning when it was pull time. Instructors actually said that once I locked on I was more stable than people with 100s of jumps. Now on student status im developing a slight turn to the right and a head down pitch that is not problematic now but I dont want a bad habit to develop. Also are there any key things to do while the canopy is still snivelling and opening to help with the initial snatch? In this video after review it kind of scares me just how far out and up my legs are coming since I have read you can essentially fall out of the rig through the bottom. Am I just being paranoid or is there something I should be doing better? This was my 14th dive in which was a coached jump practising docking. I wasted a lot of altitude trying to figure out how much leg input was needed and didnt have time to turn and track at the end. Any tips, pointers, or critiqueing would be awesome. I will also discuss this with my coaches next time to the dz, just thought I would get some more feedback. Thanks.

Surprised not many people mentioned this, but the best advice one of my coaches gave me was not to relax, but to breathe. He said he wanted me to try and remember a point during the dive I was breathing. I couldnt and then he said on the next dive he wanted me to focus on breathing on the exit and dive and at that point is when I was relaxed on exit and during freefall. I only failed my cat b due to forgetting my practise touches. My cat c was my first cutaway which was definitely tense and made my e1 very nerve racking but the breathing is what helped the most. You will get it eventually just try to breathe and relax.

Mine happened on my Cat C. I believe I jinxed myself on mine as just before boarding I asked my instructor how rare cutaways were.he told me about every 1k jumps you should expect one. I learnt 10 minutes later that you should ALWAYS be prepared for one and not leave it on the back of your mind. I opened at 5k that day and had line twist, parachute was slowly turning left. When I kicked out the parachute started a downward spiral very hard to the left and I had to counterwith right inputs to get it to fly straight. Still unsure of what it was but the slider was hung up about halfway up at a 45* angle and the brake on that side was frozen and very hard to pull (looked like it was looped around the slider).I chopped at 4k with my right hand in the toggle trying to make the parachute fly straight to be more stable... DONT DO THAT. When I cutaway it about broke my hand since it was stilk through the toggle when I cutaway. Reserve came out with line twists as well and at that point I chucked both handles panicking to get them untwisted. After that flew down without Iincident.

Great article. I can honestly say there is no better truth to the saying its not if, but when... most jumpers get hundreds to thousands of jumps before a reserve ride. I got 4 and had a low speed malfunction on my cat c. From what I have read and been trained skydivers like 3's... so always practise sequence of handles and emergency procedures in 3's as well... once before boarding plane, once as soon as seatbelts are removed, or at 3k feet, and once at 2 min warning. I see way to many fun jumpers at my dz who never touch a handle until they are at pulling altitude.

Tell me about it. Everyone at the dz says they are common but im getting them every jump except my second cat b. The resrve line twist would be expected i would think as when I cutaway i was in a spin already. The rest im sure is my horrible body positioning. I really need to work on getting my left hand out in front more on pull and then remembering that deployment is not an instantanious deal and that I need to hold good body position until deployment since its arch reach pull arch and not arch reach pull and forget about it. Ill get it eventually I hope.

Might be due to having a different two instructors with the altitude? I have been going over the dive before and on the ride up. It helps a ton. Update update update: Made it out today for my cat c jump. Once again sat around on weather holds. Finally got my jump in. Nerves are gone now on the ride up. Focused on the exit and dive. There was a few tandem masters getting instructor ratings I believe so they went out first acting like they didnt know what they were doing and the other was suppose to act like the aff instructor. Acting was horrible so I took what they did right on their exit and used it. Perfect exit. Got stable, coa, practise pull, coa, next thing I know I see an instructor backslide away, then the other slides around quartered to me. Started a slow unintentional right spin, applied some counter input and stafted to spin in the opposite direction... it wasnt violent just a really slow spin, so slow in fact instructors didnt come in. At 7 locked on and stopped spinning was very stable in fact, waved and pulled at 6. Canopy deploys has two line twists with a slow left hand turn. Clear the twist and canopy goes into a left hand spin hard and fast. Grabbed toggles and flared twice while looking to see the problem. I was focused on the canopy and thought why is it doing this when its square and no line broke or over, and then I notice the slider halfway down and at an angle. Applied opposite input to make the canopy fly straight to better asses the situation and I was constantly checking altitude. By 4500 I realized I wasnt coming down under that canopy and chopped it. Before doing so I kept the right toggle pulled down a bit to keep somewhat stable position for cutaway so I wasnt in a downward spiral but let go of the toggle before cutting away. Reserve came out nice and easy few line twist nothing major. Thing flew like crap compared to what is a normal main, but it flew and thats all that matters. Training kicked in and ill be back next weekend. Im bringing beer and from what I was told I owe a bottle of liquor to the guy who saved my life. Jump number 4 and my first cutaway is under my belt. Hopefully no more for a while.

Keeping you all updated, I skipped a week to take care of some business but got back up for my cat b jump the following. I had two different instructors and im not sure why but they changed my lock wave and pull altitudes by 1k ft. They raised them to 7, 6.5, 6 from the cat a jump of 6, 5.5, 5. Is this normal? Any ways we briefed and I had another cat b in briefing with me which always puts me at ease a little more, and gives me a sense of competition to do better ha. So on to the jump. Door opens and im focused on everything I did wrong on my cat a jump. Gave a count and went out. Soon as we left the plane things went skewed. As soon as we came out I was thinking of having my legs straighter. Doing so caused me to feel the wind on my feet as you should. At this point the radio somehow flew out of the helmet and came zipping by my face. With the increased wind on my feet my brain I guess associated the black object as one of my shoes. Now for some reason im like "dang my shoe my shoe what do I do now" it wasnt until halfway through the freefall I realized nothing I can do. Forgot the coa and practice touches. When I went to pull we all became very unstable, I pulled and started the count, and the pc stayed in tow in my burble for a good 6 seconds, so much so one instructor had to assist it. With us all being very unstable I was slammed in the head by a part of the instructors body. Needless to say I failed even though I pulled for myself I did literally nothing else and even my practise turns the instructors didnt realize what I was doing and I did not extend legs fully to track either. When we reviewed the video the instructor was actually struck in the face by the radio. I knew what had flown out once under canopy because I had no instructions lol but I did perfect once under canopy. Now for the good news and funny part. After my jump I was beating myself up pretty good. I just wanted to go home. This is when the experienced guys came together and motivated me to get back up do it again. One guy also was like lets do it im going with you we are gonna be the same load. As im waiting the other aff student goes. I dont like to make fun of his misfortune but he freaked out the door and pulled at 12.5 and almost entangled an instructor so everyone was saying see you didnt do so bad lets go again... second time up and I nail it. I had the confidence I needed and felt like one of the other guys who has been doing it for yrs. I again had a new instructor and he gave some very good advice for relaxing. He said once we get out on this jump 3 touches turn right turn left track and have fun its your jump. He didnt make it into a super complex procedure. Tracking was definitely the funnest part of the jump. Once I locked my legs it pitched me dow. Way more than I anticipated and I could immediately hear and feel myself gain forward momentum and speed. My bpdy position was excellent when pulling, no line twist at all this time. Canopy flight was awesome had a bit of fun really pulling one toggle down and spiralling. Took another week off because of a family emergency and got back to the dz today. Couldnt jump due to winds unfortunately. And once again having that feeling of wtf am I doing here. Im hoping this feeling goes away soon. Should I start tryng to get to the dz more than once a week like maybe on a friday and saturday?

Thanks for all the responses! So yesterday was a lot of waiting aroubd and getting more anxious. Instructors finally showed up and had me go through the dive with each of them. Once on the plane the nerves were definitely there until we started reviewing again. One thing that especially set my nerves on edge before my jump was the fact that two fun jumpers nearly collided on a landing, and then another on my load was a littke anxious to get out before a green light until someone stopped him. Once up to the door I checked in, checked out and totally forgot to give a up down prop count. Immediately on exit the instructors were giving me the relax sign and after the initial "drop" feeling I did. I didnt get that signal again the entire dive. Repeated the coa twice and would get told to straighten my legs out a bit. At 6k locked on to my altimeter and forgot to wave at 5500 and started to pull... realized and went back to wave off and pulled. Afterba count of 3 chute deployed and all the adrenaline still going I totally forget to check if its there and if its sqyare and steerable. When I do look up I see about ten twists in the line. Now im panicked but thinking to myself to keep calm. Evaluate which way the twist was and start to pull the risers apart and kicked out. Took maybe 10 seconds to do so. There was no wind at all on my approach and I had forgotten which pattern we were coming in on but luckily the student landing zone is seperate from everyne else and I was the only student that load. Came in extremely fast compared to what I thought my speed would be and flared... feet touched slid for about ten feet and went into a forward dive but caught myself. Didnt get injured or anything just totally forgot I now had legs instead of wings and should have ran it out and stuck my first landing. Instructors said I did exceptionally well in what I needed to do and said my positioning was good until I pulled and my feet needed work on positioning. They said the line twist was a result of not arching reaching and then pulling and that I looked down and tucked a foot in a little. I was still passed even though I knew I made tons of mistakes and need to work on those things.

Ive done a tandem in the past and was hooked instantly. Finally paid for my AFF course this year as a birthday gift to myself. My tandem was over 2 yrs ago, and i have the jitters as bad now if not worse. I think its mainly to do with ill not be strapped to a "pro" this time. Any tips for my level 1 jump to help relax and help with body positioning? My level 1 jump will be this afternoon actually.I finished ground school yesterday and was suppose to jump but wind wouldnt allow. Thanks and I look forward to sharing the sky with you all.

Hello forum! Ill start by introducing myself. I'm Curtis Ray from a very small town called Hartsville TN. I have always been an adventure seeker at heart, but my friends would probably say I'm the quiet/shy type that would shy away from things like this. I have an addiction for cars and going fast, and I'm also a guitarist. From a very early age I was fascinated with flight and anything to do with planes or any type of aircraft. I think this naturally led me to being interested in skydiving. I know it is usually shunned and/or talked down upon but i have an obsession with B.A.S.E and proximity wingsuit flying. I have watched thousands of hours of proximity tracking, wingsuit proximity, etc. I would say Jeb corliss would have to be my number one inspiration. I do not know at this moment if i will ever reach the point to where I want to pursue B.A.S.E or wingsuit flying. I do know that i waited 8 yrs too long to start living. This past weekend my girlfriend decided we should get away for the weekend. she wanted to take her son to the aqarium in Chattanooga TN. I agreed to go because i too wanted to see the aqarium and Ruby Falls since i hadn't been in probably 20 yrs. While eating lunch i thought i would pose the question and ask if we had time if i could make my first jump. She said it was fine, and i pulled up the nearest DZ, which was Chattanooga Skydiving Company, and booked my tandem jump for noon the next day on Sunday 27th of July. The morning of the jump i was beside myself. I do not know if it was nervousness, excitement, relief, or a combo of all three. I had been wanting to do this for years and today was the day. We arrive and are greeted by a group of very friendly instructors who wasted no time at all getting me going. Paperwork, then getting harnessed up, then going over exiting the aircraft, then making yourself into a banana or "arch", and finally landing. the tension grew. They were taking everyone up in a 4 passenger cessna, two instructors, and two students/thrill seekers. When the two ladies in front of me landed they were all smiles. it was mine and their male friend John's turn. My instructor, Also named John, and i were going out first so the other John, and his instructor, I think his name was Mike, were in the back. we taxied to the runway and started down the runway. this is where it gets exciting. As soon as the pilot began to lift off we here Mike screaming to stop the plane. At first i thought something was terribly wrong. He actually had simply forgotten sd cards to video the other guys jump. We taxied back grabbed sd cards and we were off. This time we made it into the air. The climb to 10,000 was filled with more instruction, and regular chit chat to calm first time nerves, as well as a few jokes to put us back on edge. At 10,000 when the door opened, i was instructed to put my right foot out beside the instructors, cross my arms and relax. Let me just say, im not afraid of heights, but stepping half way out of a plane at 10,000 ft onto a 1x1 metal step is definitely a gut check. Before i could blink we rolled out of the plane. The view of the mountains in the area, the Tennessee river, and the valley was simply breath taking. As im sure everyone remembers there first jump, its hard for me to really describe the feeling. Life changing maybe? It felt like we only fell for 2 seconds before the chute was opened, and then maybe a 1 minute canopy ride down. Upon going back and reviewing my video we actually fell for around 35 full seconds and had around a 3 minute canopy ride. I was a victim of a serious adrenaline rush. Back on the ground it was high fives and more talk of the jump. The instructor said it was totally normal for me to have felt that we only fell for 3 seconds. He said your brain is trying to figure out what is going on and doesn't have time to process all the information. On the ride home i found myself holding my arm out the window letting the air blow my hand back with my eyes closed trying to remember each detail. Unfortunately I cant remember each detail of the jump. I know that I left the ground and was a dying soul, and when i landed I felt more alive than i ever have and that feeling hasn't stopped since then. I do not believe there is anything on this earth that can put you as close to yourself and clear your mind of anything and everything like sky diving can and did do to me. Now I'm sitting here planning my next jump and looking into AFF courses. The feeling is too good to only experience once. Enjoy the pictures of my first jump. BLUE SKIES!!!! https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t1.0-9/10177951_712975355440293_8277999233276431900_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/10556402_712979868773175_2646996845804510286_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/1238275_712979852106510_7082174587403755533_n.jpg?oh=69ea57ea36641d3947b243134aa06f09&oe=5457CBE2&__gda__=1413646815_27c27a7e92df0f98fcdcd6f0d447204a https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10386755_712979825439846_4014916338523090386_n.jpg?oh=97ab53a774fe7356c372e209b06f9b93&oe=5458892F&__gda__=1414171205_85d713ce1e0cf5532d6e87477171cf5f https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10552569_712979922106503_2415741926837023046_n.jpg?oh=7c396d2e4d082d6fc3e521c619a4973e&oe=54516E5E&__gda__=1412886402_c2f60006004ff3b26faed30198407a2a https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10526105_712979962106499_8736531901519411518_n.jpg https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/10155256_712980052106490_7692847225662383236_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/t1.0-9/10404117_712981042106391_6704547582087592547_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10557175_712981895439639_5983291866470665265_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/10403365_712981878772974_7273208901052931173_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10524376_712983122106183_8133704781277974593_n.jpg?oh=3a189b82bf66cc24e0805a0741095aea&oe=54393607&__gda__=1413313215_b66b6f8ca0cf20fc3dead28ac6f37701

im actually 45 min northeast of nashville. Trousdale county to be exact. and i have been checking out the Tennessee skydiving llc in Tullahoma as it would be the closest. to my home city. ive also looked into a few near savanna GA since that is where i will be on my 24th birthday. My sister is stationed near there and is a combat medic in the united states army. And thanks for the heads up about skyride. I have already read some reviews about them before even joining this forum, and read the sticky so i know to stay away from them.

Hello community. the names Curtis. Im 23 almost 24 and im from Tennessee. I have never jumped before although here recently i have been thinking about doing so more and more often. I have always been into trying new and exciting things and i think skydiving will more than likely become a hobby for me. any first timers adive you want to give or any recommendations on where to go in tennessee would be appreciated. i have talked my girlfriend into allowing me and even paying for my first jump on or around my 24th birthday which is april 4th. thanks!