FlyLikeARaven

When I was in AFF we had to descend at 7000' due to visibility. My D1 got grounded and a tandem instructor yelled to the pilot that we had AADs on the plane and to go slow. It didn't occur to me that it might fire on the plane, and I had no idea until this thread that student AADs were more sensitive than non-student ones. My AFFI mentioned that when it happens, it sounds like a bomb going off. Didn't happen on that flight though. Question: I am off AFF but still jumping rental rigs. I know this is a better question for my gear shop, but I'm curious: if I am on a flight that gets grounded due to wind or vis, should I tell the pilot I have an AAD even though it's not student gear? Presumably everyone on the plane will have one but I'm not sure if rental rigs are set differently than personal rigs. I guess it's always a good idea to tell the pilot if there's an AAD on board, but I'm just wondering if I should take the responsibility myself to do so. I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.

I did my tandems at Lodi. Had I known then what I do now, I would have done them at SkyDance (where I'm doing my A license, also open year-round). None of these are close to the OP, but if s/he travels out west anytime soon, SkyDance is a fantastic option. I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.

I was prepared to be intimidated by the super-experienced divers at SkyDance, too, but they were all super nice and helpful. It sounds like we're right about the same spot in our training, so we can trade off DZs when we both get our As. I'm hoping to have mine done by early December, depending on weather, but I'm okay with stretching it out a bit. There are pros and cons to every DZ, I think, but I love the closeness at SkyDance. Regardless of your experience level, anyone will help you and give you tips, or comfort you if you're feeling freaked out. We have a lot of students--AFF is constantly happening--and not a ton of tandems, although they do show up on the weekends. I still love watching tandems, they just have SO much fun. The only confrontation we really get at SkyDance is the S&TA takes safety VERY seriously, so you won't be getting away with anything dangerous. The drawbacks at SkyDance is that there's basically nothing for miles around--just farmland. This is great if you need an alternate field, but if you want to grab a beer or something you're going to have to drive. You should also bring your own food. And there are sometimes mosquitos. I'm really happy there. I'm excited to check out other DZs in the future, but for now, I'm comfortable learning at my home DZ. That said, once we both get some experience behind us, let's get together and visit each other's DZs! I'll friend you and stay in touch.

Hey there! I'm in the SF area too...once I get my A license and my rig sorted I may head out to Byron to see what that's like and you can show me around. I finished AFF a couple of weeks ago but I'm taking my time with my A. Let me know when you want to head out to Skydance, it's a pretty cool DZ. How do you like Byron so far? I considered it but the weather in Davis is a little more predictable. I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.

The breathing issue is one thing that keeps my boyfriend grounded too, I think. I asked him once what he thought was the scariest part of diving and he said not being able to breathe (for me, it's the plane ride up--I'm claustrophobic and it's pretty close quarters. Surprisingly I felt better my first time being second out and sitting on the floor of the plane; I don't think that's common for new divers). I'm new to the sport--just passed AFF--and I still gasp when the door comes up. At that point I'm already doing deep breathing to keep myself calm and present, and it helps to keep doing it when the wind rushes in. After a few more jumps, you'll learn that you can indeed catch your breath; you just have to remember to breathe. Sensory overload is really common, and it can cause you to forget to breathe, but it eases the more jumps you do. At this point, 13 jumps total (10 solo/AFF, 3 tandem), I have no trouble breathing in the air. I think it stopped being an issue on my first AFF jump, or first non-tandem. So just keep it up! :) I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.

Thanks! One of the instructors told me this weekend that the point was not to execute perfect flips but to get me on my back so they could see if I could get stable, so on that front I'm doing OK. Overall I think I'm improving steadily. I passed AFF yesterday! After that I did two solo jumps. I did have a minor freak-out before E2 yesterday because I was nervous about the solos because no one would be out there with me, and my instructor and another student (who I've become good friends with) talked me out of my own head. After a little while I was able to calm down and focus on the seventh AFF jump, which was docking and tracking. My tracking was, well...it needs work, but the docking went really well. I did a solo immediately, took a break, and did another solo. After my first failed AFF jump, I met a girl who had just finished her B jump and we've become good friends. She has a ton of skilled skydiver friends and they've all been giving me pretty good advice, especially on gear. Smaller rigs are a little hard to come by, so I'm starting to look early. Plus, there's always a wait for the rental gear at Skydance, so I'll be able to do more diving with my own rig. Most importantly, she gets me into the sky when I get tired and make excuses--I'm tired, I'm nervous, the rig I like isn't available, I have a long drive home. It's procrastination and she knows it, and she motivates me to keep up the momentum. I don't mean that to sound that she pushes me to do something I don't want to do, just that she can tell when I'm procrastinating or losing my nerve, and calls me out on my excuses. I can't say it enough--the skydive community is so warm and inclusive. I feel like I have a whole new family in just a few short weeks. Skydiving just gives me a huge mood boost; I'm even happier on Monday mornings at work. Everyone can tell when I've gone diving on the weekend. :) I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.

I'm new to this sport, but I've always wanted to skydive, and after three tandems I knew I had to get my license. I even had a DZ all picked out until I visited this site and got a recommendation for a better fit. I chose SkyDance in Davis, CA and I absolutely love it! The skydive community is so inclusive and welcoming. In just three short weekends at SkyDance, I've made a ton of new friends! I have one more jump to finish AFF! I'm still learning the ins and outs of diving, aside from the basics taught in AFF. The things that make me the most nervous at this point are unfamiliarity with my DZ's exit plan. I know the order we go in, but I'm concerned about timing of the exit. I assume that's something we'll cover in tracking on my last AFF jump, though. I'm also concerned about canopy collision at landing--twice I've been warned about low turns while landing, to the point that I've made instructors "nervous." This wasn't scary at the time because I didn't realize what I was doing but now I'm hyper-aware of it (which I guess is better than the alternative). Also, predictably, the student landing zone is huge and so far there hasn't been more than one other student/instructor pair out there with us. So it hasn't been an issue--YET--but I need to get it together to prevent any potential collisions. I always thought canopy was my favorite part of the dive, but that was before I knew what I know now. Now I'm realizing the skill and awareness it takes to keep a canopy safely overhead and keep everyone in the air safe. The upside is that I am getting a lot more comfortable in freefall and can enjoy it a lot more. My first Category A jump, I failed pretty hard. It started out really well, but then I got the hand signals confused and I think I was waiting for permission to pull. My instructor ended up pulling for me, and I was too busy beating myself up over it to concentrate on landing, so I flubbed the landing. I was OK, but couldn't locate the landing field very well and just made a huge mess out of it. It took a LOT of reminding myself how much I wanted this to be able to get back up and drive out to the DZ the next morning. The fact that I had prepaid for the whole A license course helped motivate me too. All my other jumps went much better. Last Saturday I did D1, D2, and E1, and my instructor for those jumps had been my reserve instructor for my first A jump. He said it was like seeing two different people out there--he didn't even recognize me from my A jump. A lot of that was just being able to relax and keep my head about me. I'll admit I did spend some time in the tunnel to help work on stability, and I think it helped immensely. I think at this point I'm doing about average. I've viewed some other D and E level jumps and my videos look about the same. I know what I need to work on--I tend to get lazy and de-arch a bit, and my legs bend too far, so I slide backward. It also took me a little longer than it should have to get stable after exit on E1. My altitude awareness and overall awareness in the sky are both good--I'm pretty attentive and keep running through my emergency procedures in my head depending on what stage I'm in during the jump. My turns and heading are all okay, but my flips are looking a bit sloppy. I had trouble getting my knees up at the same time so it took a couple of tries for each flip. The instructor said that was fine since I managed to find my heading and get stable after each attempt and had good altitude awareness. I assume it'll get better the more I do it. At this point, I just want to improve steadily while staying as safe as I can in the sky. I have no delusions about being the next great skydiving champion or anything, but I do want to improve my skills. As long as I'm in the sky, that's what I really care about. I'm not a lady, I'm a skydiver.