Flounder

When I jump at Spaceland, and Chuck is organizing, he reminds, well, maybe not reminds, more like instructs, everyone in the loading area to gear check each other. Whether we are in his group or not. Makes it easier to get gear checks since usually two or three people will just walk up and start checking for me. I do the same. At other DZ's I've been to, it seems to be a personal choice kinda thing. I wish they would be mandatory everywhere. I'm new, and I get them at least once at the loading area, but the eye rolls you sometimes get when you ask for one from the awesome people really gets annoying sometimes. And then there are the people who just give a cursory glance and say you're good. I've learned to say thanks and go ask someone else. At one DZ, a coach did just that to a student and another staff member was standing right there and called him out on it. "You ever do that again and you won't work here anymore." I'll always respect the staff member for calling him out. Just a thought or two... “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Try to get Eva as your instructor. She's freakin' awesome... “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Sounds like the old saying if you can swim in 6' you can swim in 1000'. :-) “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

The canopy stuff feels fine up high. Problem is I don't have the ground to reference so it is much different down low for me. I'm not worried about it too much. Not bad enough to have hurt myself so far so as long as I keep getting better and not worse, ill figure it out. Maybe I'm just slow... Lol I'm sure there will be something at safety day on Saturday which will help too. At least I hope so. “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Thanks fellas... Learned something else that doesn't work. Watching your shadow. Oops. Haven't tried the stepped flare yet. Haven't even asked about it as of yet. Trying to tone the questions down a notch right now although not doing such a good job so far. And now it's off to SDU. Someone new to harass! :) More fun with each new experience. “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

My float float and dive out exit I've been told are pretty stable. Or getting there anyway. The starter exit (not sure what its called) is kinda tough and always will be. It's difficult for me to get my weight over my knees like that for more than a second or two and I almost collapse out the door. Poor muscle tone in my quads I guess. I graduated AFF yesterday on the last load of the day. Didn't get to solo. Today either. Mother Nature and her winds are a pain in the rear. Oh well. There is always next weekend. :))) “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Thanks. Don't congratulate me yet. Mother nature may not cooperate... “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

That's the plan. 7:30 comes early!!! I've got all weekend to hang around and wait. Lookin forward to it. “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Thanks all. I appreciate it. Sounds like... 1. Get in the plane 2. Get out of the plane 3. Relax 4. Pull 5. Land I should be able to handle that... :-) “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Thanks all for the feedback. Let me just note that I am not trying to learn how to skydive on the internet. My instructors are fantastic. I'm really trying to develop intelligent questions from the internet, I'll get my final answers from someone I can look in the eye. :-) The height at flare is just something I have to figure out. I'm only dropping a foot or two so I don't have that far to go. I'm gonna sign up for a canopy control course in March I think it is. Ill just do my best until then. :-) “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Good Evening, So I am thinking about my first of 2 solo's next weekend. When I ask, "What should I do on my first solo, I have consistently received the response of, "Whatever you want, have fun". My response to that was, "You mean within the confines of what I have been taught". The final response response was with a heck of a grin, "Nope, the sky is yours for 60 seconds"... Some would call me consertative. I call myself chicken. Bok Bok... Does anyone else have any suggestions for some diveflows for me? I have been enjoying spinning in freefall. Im getting ok at stopping it within a few degrees although not pretty yet. I want to learn more about referencing the horizon rather then someone next to me. Texas is flat. Our reference points are old Tommy's pond over there. Or my name on that tree wth some random girls name right over there. I also want to experiment more with canapy and the handling characteristics(sp?) as such. Yellow/Red toggle turns, light to extreme front and rear riser input. I want to start experimenting with harness input so I need to figure out how to get my leg straps lower on my legs once under canopoy to be able to try it. Id like to figure out how to deliberately generate a line twist or two on opening so as to train myself to respond to it when expected rather than react to it when unexpected. I want to nail my pattern. I usually fly perfect approaches during VFR and IFR cycles behind a prop at known airports most days. I expect a lot from myself in this field. This translates to, I want to experiment with different ways to enter and work the pattern. Practice looking at different points along the way over my shoulder at 45 and 90 degrees. Maybe I want to enter a short upwind to enter the pattern. I don't know. It just feels like I am not performing to my immediate potential and feel confined to the guy on the radio saying start your base leg. My response to what was a gradual 180 degree turn rather then two 90's. Why? Because the caravan was on short final on an opposite course from me at the start of my base turn and abreast of me midway thru my final with me parallel to the runway. I choose to hook my base and final legs together to reduce the risk of overshooting my base to final turn and stay the heck away from an active runway. One suggestion I got today was to extend my base to the opposite side of the runway where there are plenty of cones to aim for and plenty of area to land on. At the time I decided the right choice was to pretty much transistion from downwind to final in one contiuous arc. Seemed to work out for me. But what am I missing? I landed about 100 feet from another jumper who landed a moment before me completing her final SDU jump. If I landed in that proximity to her, would you call that a win? Im assuming she landed where she wanted to here. Anyway, long post short. Who can hit me with a sample dive flow that is meaningful but not too much. Im assuming I should not plummet to earth head down at 200mph on my first solo dive. But if I should, by all means, say so., Thanks all! “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Thank you for the warm welcome. Mentioning my amount of training was to emphasize my ability to recognize bad training, from adequate training, from superb training and I completely get the intent of your response. It's a good reminder. I completed Level 5 and 6 yesterday. Not scared of back to earth anymore. Spent plenty of time on it... :-) Next up is 7 and 2 solos. Oh geez... 5 was very easy and fun. Wish it would have lasted longer. I fall fast I'm told... 6 was a mental battle. I won with my instructors help and confidence in me. I was actually stable out the door this time. First time I remembered to look up at the plane and read the undercarraige. They have previously told me on each jump "chin up" during debrief. Seems if I truly put my chin up I don't do any super awesome flippity dippities out the door. What did I learn from jump 6? Stop reading the book and just do what the instructor says! That's right sports fans, I've been reminded that knowledge is important, but wisdom trumps knowledge and is only obtained by experience. My instructors are not teaching a course, they are imparting wisdom they have obtained over a ton of years. I think there is over 100 years of experience walking around this school within the instructor cadre. Maybe I should just listen for a change... I think I have just hit a personal development milestone believe it or not. Forget the jumping out of airplanes part, I have been reminded how to LISTEN. In my life I do not do a lot of listening, I'm the boss at work and at home. Generally pretty alpha, I've forgotten how to be the low dog. For this, I'm grateful... Now if I can only learn proper flare height I'd be good. I did have my first standup yesterday, but I just got lucky. Best landing tip so far? "Flare on the third Oh Sh*t" Prepared for PLF and just did it. It worked! Someone needs to put that in the manual... Ya'll have a good night... “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs

Greetings Ya'll, New student here. I've been reading for a while and thought I would make a first post. I am on AFF 5 at Skydive Dallas. Your own GlideAngle has been with me from Jump 1. I'm a Private Pilot (SEL) with approximately 1400 hours over the last 17 years. In other words, I have had a ton of training in my life. Professional student I guess you could say. My skydiving training experience has been fantastic so far. I've never met a group of people in a "hobby/sport" who are more dedicated or accepting of anyone who walks in the door. I have been made to feel very respectful of the risks yet safe and confident during my instruction and recognizing my limits in what I can expect to accomplish. I ask a million questions since that's who I am. But I have only been told to shut up once and that was a different instructor, haha... I'm enjoying the AFF program. The next lesson builds upon the previous one. That's how my brain works anyway. I'm a little nervous about winding up on my back in the next couple of jumps, but drill, drill, drill on the ground should help with that. Wish me luck... Anyway, Just wanted to say hello and wave off. Take it easy... Joe P.S. If my shoe is untied above 6000 I go to EP's right? :-D Couldn't resist... “Work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” -Steve Jobs