Bokdrol

There's a lady by the name of Fleur Jones who coaches. FB group Fly With Fleur.

I'm just guessing here that you are going to be (a) a tandem student/passenger rather than (b) a solo/AFF level 1 skydiver. There is a difference between the landing routines on (a) and (b). If you are attached to an instructor who takes you for the jump/ride on a tandem (a) the former type of jump, the instructor controls that landing with certain input from you, the student/passenger, and you are going to have to lift your legs up high for the landing. Tandem landings are typically, although not always, slid in on your butt. If you can't lift your legs with ease as you will be instructed, you might want to have a second think about attempting the ride. Although 99% of tandem landings work out ideally, I've seen some that don't. If you are doing the latter (b) solo/AFF jump you'll be landing on your own, controlling the landing/flare via radio comms. from your instructor. Solo AFF student canopies are big and forgiving and you 'should' have a relatively soft landing given that AFF students only jump in pretty clement conditions and you are also talked down by your main instructor. There is likely to be some leg shock on landing whatever the situation and if you can't PLF (that's a sort of landing roll like you see the paratroopers do in the movies) or are bothered about doing one in an emergency, you should also have a second think about it. Although I don't have the inside line on joint dislocations of any type, my understanding is that, although they may seem repaired, another one is always just waiting for the wrong conditions. If you have any doubts, don't jump. Disclaimer: As with all skydiving/medical situations, the only people to advise you whether or not to jump are your instructors and a medically qualified Doctor. Don't take what I have said as gospel. I am neither a tandem instructor nor a Doctor nor do I have experience of dislocations.

Would be interesting to find out how this all washes out. Seems to me from the list that suicide/potential suicide/skydiver error/ (I'm guessing possibly an unsecured chest strap in more than one instance) health issues and simple bad luck could be the main contributing factors. I don't know the DZ or it's owner. If what I've posted could be legally misinterpreted in any way please would admin delete the post. Thank you. They're just my observations from a non-instructor/DZO fun jumper's perspective.

There seems to be one called 'Blue Sky Adventures' aka Skydive Stuttgart. Looks like they may be a weekends only operation. e-mail [email protected].

Depends how far you are prepared to travel. Empuriabrava and Seville in Spain are the only ones I've jumped at and they are open all year round. There'll be a rigger at or attached to most DZ's - I've only used Empuriabrava for repack though. The loft is on site.

The last time few times I was at Empuria ( last visit Sept 22) the old bunkhouses were still there but didn't looked occupied - they were behind a gated fence. Check with the DZ if you ever plan to go there.

I'll add my 6p worth because, like you, I started as an 'older' jumper who'd done some jumps/tandems and decided to get into the sport. I decided after 100 jumps or so to purchase my own equipment from new having had enough of hiring, often jumping a different rig most times I jumped at various DZ's in UK/Europe. I went back to my AFF instructor and asked for advice. We decided that, at my age and skill levels, I probably wasn't ever going to downsize. On his advice, I purchased a good Javelin container with a nice big Spectre ( although somewhat smaller than the student stuff and some of my previous hire kit) PD reserve and Cypres2. Back then the whole shebang cost me £4650.00 (Sterling) and lead times were minimal. I'm still jumping the same kit, although the AAD has expired and been replaced with new. Given the hire cost of £10-15 per jump plus packing depending where you jump, it 'paid for itself' some years ago. The Spectre has nice soft openings and is easy to handle. I'm not really qualified to comment on the technical in's and outs'. Suffice it to say, I'm still very happy with my original purchase.

I've been reading excerpts from the memoirs of General Keith Coster who was in command of the Rhodesian Army during the Second Chimurenga, or War of Independence, in the 1970's. Prior to his service in Rhodesia, Coster was an allied fighter pilot who was shot down and imprisoned in Stalag Luft III in Sagan, from which the Great Escape was launched. One of his fellow POW's was Paul Brickhill, an Australian, who wrote the book about the escape. However, my question concerns an anecdote in the memoirs. Quote '' We had a USAF lieutenant-colonel in our room called Jamie Murray. He had bailed out of his Flying Fortress [B-17] at 30,000 feet, and decided to free-fall most of the way. He became so intrigued with the free-fall, that he only just got the parachute open in time'' Unquote So this question is probably more for the HALO experts out there, preferably if they are WW11 Flying Fortress buffs. Would this have been possible? My simple mind tells me that Coster's recollection might have been muddied over the 50-60 years that passed between WW11 and his penning his memoirs. Oxygen deprivation (unless there was a bail-out bottle in those days) and therefore hypoxia must surely have come into play at 30k and the opening shock at terminal from a WW11 bail-out rig would have been immense. I don't believe that sliders had been invented back then. Probably didn't have an alti either but then the USAF did fly their missions in daylight which would have helped a bit. As an aside, another of Gen Coster's fellow POW's was an RAF Sergeant Alkemade, who was blown out of a Lancaster bomber without a parachute. He fell from about 16,000 feet and landed in a very deep snowdrift. He sprained his ankle and lived to tell the tale...

Depends where you jump I guess. In the UK, BPA (now BS..) sends freeflyers out before flat. The DZ's I've jumped at in Spain do the reverse. And just to be different, at Empuriabrava, tandems can often be despatched between fun jumpers, depending on the jump run and wind conditions. It's coastal and there's a big town just off the DZ, between DZ and ocean.

LOL - many years ago when I was serving in Africa, long before I ever jumped out of a plane, our equivalent of a weather hold recreation game was when we were on Ops but back at base camp. If we were lucky base was near a Police post with a swimming pool. The game was called 'the dance of the flaming assholes'. Strip naked, put a rolled up newspaper (yes, it was that long ago) between the cheeks, prime it with a bit of accelerant, and set it alight. The winner was the person who achieved the most distance around the pool before diving in for relief. Makes some of today's drinking games seem tame by comparison. It's not fun being sent out a day or so later with a burnt ringpiece.

As my eldest daughter would say, when she realises she's farting against thunder and want's to exit the discussion holding the moral high ground - whateverrrrrrrr

Actually ' the troops' are the only people in this sorry witch-hunt for which I have any respect. Certainly not the 'investigative journalists' (won't call them woke left wing for fear of reprisals lolll) or the faux morally outraged.

So true - we must have met!

I think 'substantially true' were the beak's exact words. That was on 4 of 6 allegations and the other 2 were found to not be even substantially true. That creates some reasonable doubt. I've no doubt that the woke left media will get their day in court to parade more heroes' heads on the parapet of investigative journalism. As for me. well, my head is still stuck firmly under the sand, as you put it. And there, on this and on other similar situations, it will stay planted.

As a person with a particularly low 'body count' I find this type of thread a bit weird, to put it one way. To make a comparison, when I served I always found that the guys with the tallest tales and war stories in the pubs off base were the guys who exaggerated or simply had fertile imaginations and a need to be seen as heroes. As the old saying goes, what happens on tour, should stay on tour.

So, I've started watching this TV series called Yellowstone. Standard cowboy fare, lots of mumbling, brawling, the odd loose woman, the obligatory family tragedy which haunts everyone, the fall-guy/eedjit and the occasional trip to the 'train station' - it's sort of like Clarkson's Farm on speed and steroids. I'm a bit late to the show because I don't watch too much TV except in winter. It took most of the first series to get into it because I really thought it was overacted, exaggerated, Dallas-type BS. Then, blow me down, I read about this chap named Murdaugh from one of those powerful rich American family-type dynasties. He's on trial over there alleged to being at least complicit in offing the better part of his family, was addicted to drugs, and embezzled the equivalent of the GDP of a medium sized European country to fund his habit (again, allegedly). Maybe, Yellowstone might be not too far off the mark. We live a very simple life here in the UK and I look forward to continuing series 2 with less scepticism.

No, but why don't you just hire a rig for alternate jumps instead of purchasing a second rig which, sure as eggs, you'll want to get rid of in short order? Just a thought, but with me being a max 3 jumps per diem man it's never been an issue for me, even with my sluggish packing!

Sure, there are many older current jumpers to be found - I'm older than the bloke on the cover, as are you and the jumpers you have mentioned. They didn't look us up though! Their loss. However, to the general public who read N.G., doing an extreme sport like skydiving at the age of 69+ will seem unreal.

The magazine article is about keeping younger and firing on all cylinders at old/er age rather than just subsiding into terminal bed shitters. It's a 69 year old Dutch skydiver by the name of Arnold Camfferman - according to Nat Geo mag website he does about 500-700 jumps p.a. They go into a spiel about getting the photo, as if it was something unique (putting a camera on to the helmet of another skydiver....wow) so we can maybe take some of it with a pinch of salt. However, I wonder how many of us would turn down the opportunity to appear on the front cover of a worldwide publication? I'd be happy with being on page 3 of The Sun....lol

To touch on the original topic/question i.r.o. death penalty, there's an interesting, if sad, story on the BBC webpage about a young lady, Edith Thompson, who was hanged at HMP Holloway exactly 100 years ago yesterday. She was found guilty, along with her lover, of the murder of her husband. Draw your own conclusions if you are inclined to read it. If not, suffice to say that it illustrates perfectly why capital punishment should never again be on the UK's statute books.

I'd be interested to read other comments but a fear of heights, for me at least (as a child who couldn't even climb a tree out of that fear) didn't necessarily translate into a fear of jumping out of a plane. Nervous/anxious during AFF, yes, of course, but no fear. And if you are a bit scared on AFF, console yourself with the knowledge that you are leaving that plane with extremely competent instructors who have seen it and handled it all before, that you will be flying a large and very forgiving canopy that will look after you too and that, before you know it, you'll be safely back on terra firma. Blue skies.

69 y.o. skydiver pictured

Tom Cruise was at Skydive Jeffrys Bay in South Africa very recently filming a promo for Mission Impossible 8. Some of his film stuntwork has been done in the UK at RAF Weston and nearby DZ's. He allegedly has to be persuaded not to perform the more dangerous e.g. pyrotechnic type, stunts himself. Whether or not this extends to mc base jumps, I couldn't say. He is reportedly a more than competent skydiver.

I haven't jumped in the USA for about 5 years so the rules may have changed somewhat (e.g. If you are jumping your own gear I believe that you now need USPA rigger sign-off on your reserve repack which wasn't required previously) and may vary per State/DZ, but when I have jumped at Elsinore I had to show USPA membership, which I got online prior to leaving the UK, current log-book, BPA licence, and then go through the video rigmarole where you confirm that you are jumping of your own free will blah blah, California apparently being the litigation capital of the world. The vid. is done by the DZ staff at reception. It's all (or was) quite straightforward. E&OE.

Try Skydive Spain in Seville - they have good weather all year round, can probably sort out accommodation and transport etc at a reasonable price. You won't get 'cheap' jumps but the overall price should level out. Alternatively, you could contact Skydive Atmosphera (sp) also based in Seville, who can probably offer some type of all-in deal. Or contact Scotty Milne at Active Skydiving. He runs monthly AFF trips down to Seville, except during high summer, and is always happy to have licenced jumpers along with his group. That way you get to share transport/accomocdation etc which all helps with the overall price and thereby brings your price per jump down. Seville have good aircraft, altitude 15k every jump, good gear if you want to hire and so on. I get what you mean by 'cheap' jumps - maybe you could have worded it better!! 'Cheap' and 'skydiving' don't always fit well in the same sentence. Blue Skies.