Di0

As a student, I don't think trying maneuvers under canopy is wrong, as long as it's done using your head and not other anatomical parts of your body. When I was under canopy during my first jump, I was doing very shy turns and the first thing the instructor of the radio said was: "Brother, when I tell you to turn, I need you to turn. Please don't be afraid to use those toggles". I have been trying some spirals and some half brake turns starting with my jump #2, I used them a couple of times when I knew the guy above me was doing his first jump and wanted to give him vertical separation since nobody was below me at that point: look above, look below, look left, look right, and spiral down 500 ft, stop, check alti, look again, blow another 500 ft spiraling in the other direction. It worked great. I always try to spiral only to the point where I feel tension in the lines, when I start to feel that lines are not in a good tension, I correct with the opposite handle and slowly go back into straight flight. Then try again. As a student I don't like the feeling of "dropping" when under canopy, I'm not ready to handle what could come out of that type of flight envelope. Plenty of time to try go out of that "comfortable" envelope later on. No need to yank your handles on your first flights, that's my theory. Better if you get to know how this thing works progressively and smoothly, since I have no idea how it could react to a snap command. Pretty much same thing I did when I learned to drive. Nothing new here. I think at jump #5 I asked not to get help with the flare, instructors agreed that I could handle it. Nailed a couple of perfect landings in a row. After landing, one of them asked me if my plan was to make all of them look bad or what, honestly I never felt so proud in my life. :) As for stalls, I have been trying to stall that thing since day one as well, but haven't managed it yet. I have a feeling that with an exit weight of 155 lbs geared up, and a student 220, I would need to really pull those toggles all the way to my knees to stall it. Mentioned it to the instructor when he asked me if I tried to find the stall point, he gave me a big smile and told me that's about right and not to try it too hard if it doesn't happen in the normal range of the toggles with student canopies. I think that as long as you try things that are not blatantly crazy, you discuss the right way to do them with your instructors, you're in open space and you stop "trying things" between 2500-2000 ft, it should be fine. But please, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Student with 7-8 jumps here. For some reason, I would freak out much more than I already do if I knew my family or friends are watching from the plane. Also, if you get to know the airplanes that we use to jump from, you'll soon realize that you don't want any of your loved ones on those planes WITHOUT a parachute. LOL! Considering the way the seat belts are mounted on jump planes, they can pretty much only be used on the parachute harness, I would assume a regular passenger would NOT be safe where the jumpers are, the only place where a person would be allowed to seat without jumping is the copilot seat. Some DZs let customers sign up for copilot rides, so that might be the best thing to do if you really want a friend of yours or your mom/dad to seat on the plane while you jump. But then again, as they say, wait until you know what you're doing and don't put extra pressure on you, during your first jumps you'll have plenty already. I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

Well, there you go, good choice! If I may add, my first AFF jump was a completely different experience from my Tandem jump. I think a fair comparison would be how I felt the first time I drove a car VS any time my dad would drive me around as a kid. There is simply no match! Let us know what you think of it. And as they say around here, Blue Skies and Big Smiles! I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.

My 2c as an AFF student about halfway done with AFF, so with very very very little if no experience at all. Try another Tandem jump, tell the instructor you're thinking about taking AFF so he'll give you a better briefing, he'll explain you in more detail what's going on, they usually let you do stuff like pulling the chord to open the main chute yourself, they let you do some canopy control maneuvers, they give a much better idea of the whole experience. At least, that's what happened to me when I said I was thinking about AFF. Then decide without pressure. :) Most people do a couple of tandems before getting into AFF and they describe their second jump as much much different from the first because they know what to expect. Skydiving is quite a commitment, and I would never take it if I'm 50-50. At the same time, it is the best thing I've ever done so I would also never let go if I were 50-50. :) I'm standing on the edge With a vision in my head My body screams release me My dreams they must be fed... You're in flight.