SecondRound

How about one to teach landing pattern and flare? Or does one already exist? I'm tired of landing the Space Shuttle.

Just saw this thread after a search. It looks like a brilliant way to take advantage of the strengths of the various methods of teaching. I would definitely opt for this and travel farther. I have done S/L and now that I am getting back to the sport I would not mind starting with a tandem then learning exits and canopy control under a Static line. At the same time, AFF looks like the fastest way to learn body flying skills. What is the best way to research this? Phone calls? Visits?

For what its worth, I know for a fact that at least one member of the USA Crashed Ice Team has made a tandem jump.

Thank you all. Now to hope winter ends soon up here on the tundra. My mission now is to find a DZ that trains with Racer rigs. They were recommended to me back in the day and I feel I can trust them. And yes I realize that I lack the experience to have an educated opinion, but please humor an old man who has his quirks.

Thanks for the welcome. I have not decided what will be the best way to make my second first jump. Even though I have done static line, I am a little leery of making a solo first jump. This time around I am not 25 with no children to worry about , instead I am 60 with kids and grand kids. Also my sense is that while squares are more reliable, when things go bad they can go bad quickly and have some pretty hairy gyrations. I remember bicycling out of line twists under a round chute and it was no big deal. I have seen Brian Germain's video of his protracted line twist and I think it might be a little too much workload to deal with in addition to the first jump jitters. I guess thats my long way of saying that for me my choices have come down to 1. AFF 2. Tandem as first step in AFP 3. Tandem with little ground training. Then there is the whole jump plane issue, I know 182 and Beech 18, yet I have easy access to 2 different turbine drop zones here in MN. I am going to do some phone calling and go with my gut feeling now that I have analyzed things to death. Maybe I am getting old, my first jump was a WTF moment.

I am in Minnesota, just East of the twin cities on the Mississippi. Looking back, I actually was proud of my PLFs and my mastery of Capewell cutaways. I am pretty sure I won't miss the extra weight and the belly mount reserve. Thanks for making me feel welcome, it looks like there are some things that haven't changed. Skydivers are still a great big family.

Hello to all. After reading this forum for a few months I have stepped up and registered. I would describe myself as someone who tried skydiving, wandered away from the sport, and never quite lost the bug. My short jump history consists of 6 static line jumps made at the Spearfish SD drop zone in the fall of 1977. I still have my very ratty jump record passing me for freefall signed by Tony Frost. I also have hung onto my USPA patch. I wish I has hung onto my copy of Poynter's Parachute manual. For various reasons I now am interested in returning to the sport which has held my attention for so long. The only bad thing is the sheer amount of change in the sport which has me confused since things like tandems and AFF were still in the future and Square chutes were for experts while us novices jumped 28' LLs and T10 7TUs. Although I do remember watching Greg Behrens doing a cutaway from a Delta chute. Its already been educational following some of the threads, and I hope I will find ways to contribute to the discourse. It feels good to be back.