FastRodriguez

My fear is me and kap failing to deploy main and aad releasing the reserve, and it tangeling with the drogue. I have a lot of imagination :) G "I don´t stop when I am tired. I stop when I am done"

Thanks a lot! That was really quick :) It just I cant seem to find a lot of information on a drogue parachute for students, and it freaked me out a bit. So far so good as for the levels. I am cleared to do my DP´s tomorrow :) Thanks again! "I don´t stop when I am tired. I stop when I am done"

Hi! I am a new student jumper from Spain.I apologize if my english gets funky at times :) I Live in Slovakia at the moment and its here that I am taking my training. I was considering the AFF till someone mentioned the posibility of doing static line. I read a lot of posts in here and in some other webpages and seeing as both are similarly safe and effective, I went for s/l. The only problem is..... S/l in Slovakia turns out to be a little different, and I cant find any information about it, other than the one I get from my instructors and previous students who hang out in the club. We jump a Mars student rig. It is equiped with a Mpaad aad. A lot of people around here jump those and noone ever complained ( that I know of) I have nothing but good words for my instructors. Everyone seems to be willing to help. Communication gets a bit hard sometime ( My slovak is not all that good) but there is always someone around who can speak some english or some Spanish and so we make it happen. Radio instructor can speak pretty good english though. It is a very small Drop Zone (never been to a diff one so I dont really have a reference) and we students get quite a lot of attention from the older jumpers ( for some reason there is a gap. Everyone is either under 40 or over 60) The problem I have... Its the system of training itself. First: We had 2 days of ground school ( Day 1 - Gear, components of a rig, fabrics used, physics of the wing, physics of free fall, opening sequence, malfunctions / videos, Ep, Harness trainer. Day 2 - Repetition of malfunctions, Ep and Harness trainer. Test.) Second: Jumping 1st level - Grab your sleeves at the heigh of ur biceps and jump (s/l) 2nd level - Jump out of the plane and arch (s/l) 3rd level - Dummy pulls (s/l) 4th level (and here is where it gets REALLY funky) You jump out of an antonov 2. They attach a static line to a DROGUE chute on your container. Attached to the Drogue there is a KAP 3 device ( modern version, they are still making them, for real) that would open your main should you fail to do so. The jump looks like this. You jump - static line opens the drogue - you do a 5 secs delay - pull a ripcord that opens the main. If you dont, the kap will do it for you. You still have a normal reserve with the aad on it. Then you progress to a bigger delay. After you finish with the delays, they remove the Drogue, and you are ready for level 5 5th level - Normal free fall :) .. Another thing. There is not a set number of jumps in between levels. It is all at instructors discretion. You may need to do only 2 jumps on each level till you reach level four, or you may need to do 15 :) I guess my question is. Does this look like a good, SAFE system to you? I understand a lot of people in western Europe or the States might not really know it. I think it came from the russian army training style or something. But, do you see any big flaws anywhere? I must repeat though, that my instructors seem to be very profesional. Its not the School im worried about, Its the system, and that drogue chute thing :) "I don´t stop when I am tired. I stop when I am done"

Thank you for the welcome guys! Im sure eventually theyll get over it. My father is a pilot and have been around planes all his life. It looks like he is having an easier time since he kinda understands the sport a bit. Funily enough his main concern is not the jumping, is the landing. He has seen a few hard landings in the aeroclub but never saw a total mal. He has been a pilot for over 40 years. My mother, poor lady, when she was a younger whitnessed the Tefia skydiving accident happening right in front of her eyes and i guess she got a little traumatized. She is awesome though and promised to come with me to the DZ. I want her to touch the gear, see the people, realize how you guys are not all a bunch of crazy people with a dead wish. Im sure she will accept it once she understands how it works, she is a pretty smart lady :) Have a great day all! "I don´t stop when I am tired. I stop when I am done"

Hi guys! After wanting to try this jumping out of a plane thing for as long as I can remember, a few weeks ago I decided it was about time I stop dreaming and start falling. I did some research and as it turns out there was a skyding school just a few mins away from home :). I went down there and talked to the guys, next thing I know Im heading home with a couple of medical forms to get filled by my doctor and an appoinment to go back next Friday for my Static line ground school. The week went by horribly slow while I completely neglected my studing for finals and I spent my time daydreaming about freefalling in between clouds and picking up super fine skydiving chicks. Friday came, and me and my buddie who joined in as soon as i mentioned without even thinking about it for a secoond ( scary, huh?) drove down there not knowing what to expect. Everyone in the Drop zone was really friendly and the most diverse mixe of people ever. From a super cool 72 year old grandpa who can break your hand with his handshake to a crazy argentinean engineer. Ground school was very throughout. Photos, videos, the training harness thing. Showed us different kinds of rigs, how they work, basics of packing and a few other things. When we though we were ready, they said, come back next week, you still have another afternoon of ground school! ANOTHER week went by and I couldnt wait for Friday. More ground school. More talk about Mals, more hanging harness and emergency procedures. A test. Saturday was windy but Sunday was PERFECT! We got on that antonov,and though I cant really remember all that much about the ride up, judging by the pictures, I was scared shitless. When we got to altitude, I remember my friend standing up, walking to the door and jumping out like a boss. The instructor signaled me, I got there, Got myself ready while looking out and thinking, well, Its not THAT bad. Then a tap and in the shoulder, another tap and I thought fuck it. I jumped. BEST DECISION EVER! Its amazing! I cant really remember all that much from the first few second, As soon as I felt the harness bite though, I came back to myself, I heard my instructor from the helmett radio saying " line twist". I did what I was tought and in a matter of seconds they cleared up. I did my "pumps" or whatever and followed his indications to a very smooth and happy landing. I grabed my chute and ran back with the biggest grin ever on my face. Im so into this stuff now, its unreal. Cant wait for Sunday when we are supposed to do 2 or 3 jumps weather allowing. Im sorry for the huge post but at home they are not exactly thrilled with my newfound passion. They support my decision but rather not hear about it I guess :) I know the grammar and spelling sucks, sorry :( "I don´t stop when I am tired. I stop when I am done"