pamrussell

Static line instruction at a Cessna dz

In a perfect world ... We had a student refuse on the strut. JM tried various things. Eventually told pilot to add power, and reached out a hand so she would let go with one of hers. Student managed to lunge past him to the handle inside the aircraft. At ath point he surrendered and helped her in while an experienced jumper in the back handled the static line.

Graham is correct. You have to do the whole license at one DZ. The comment about 10000ft is incorrect for Robertson. We are a Cessna DZ and our AFF is done from 11000 AGL.

The wait to get into a course at skydive Cape Town can be quite long. On the other hand skydive Robertson operates weekends only. Neither is ideal but it should not be a problem if you plan ahead and are staying a few months. Contact both clubs and see how we can fit in with your plans. Cape Town often refer inquiries to us (Robertson) but not always. Once you've completed the progression, wherever it is, Robertson is more geared to fun jumps and ISPs, etc.

How about when a US TV station interviewed Nelson Mandela, and referred to him as "African American"! Politically correct? Maybe. Geographically, not so much.

Not that it had anything to do with the cause of your problem, but surely you shouldn't adjust the alti IN the plane?

The categories are really just readily assessible skills levels to quantify when you are ready to be unleashed on an unsuspecting sky. Cat II and Cat III progressions are available in each discipline. It's entirely a South African rating and means nothing anywhere else in the world. Cat I and A license are not the same. A license comes after your first dive exit (assuming SL progression) and has an oral test attached, whereas Cat I happens after you pass your spin test. For formation skydiving (to use an example), Cat II progression requires you to be able to exit unlinked and dock on your instructor, perform certain turns and re-dock, perform height compensation, move forward to him on the same level, etc. You are also required to show you can wave off and track adequately away from your partner. And that you can do all this without losing altitude awareness (useful if you are coming off SL and are totally distracted by the presence of another person in your piece of sky). Once you have Cat II, you can participate in multi-ways in that discipline, so long as there is no more than one other Cat II on the dive. Cat III requires you to dock fourth on a formation, after exiting unlinked from it and to perform certain tasks. Once you have that, you can jump with anyone in that discipline except a pre-cat II student. Cat III in any one discipline is a prerequisite for the B license in South Africa. I think I have that all correct.

I have astygmatism, and while contacts worked for me, I couldn't have, say, gone headdown wearing them as the lenses would have inverted and the world would have gone all fuzzy. So I bought new glasses - the ones with the springy frames that attach directly to the lenses. They're ideal. They fit under standard goggles and just press in closer without any discomfort if I tighten the goggles. Only difficulty would be if you took them off to clean after putting your helmet on. They tend to flex too much to get them on while wearing a helmet. Also, I remove my goggles for the landing, so the glasses are the right distance from my eyes - you need to do that carefully so as not to pull the glasses off too. Someone mentioned prescription goggles - there are some motorcycle ones around that look ideal - just make sure they have holes for pressurise equalisation, I'm told. But depending on your vision you might have to wear these goggles in the 'plane which can be hot and unpleasant, or can result in them fogging up.

Yup. In contrast, a local boys' school here in Cape Town sends about 20 boys each December to do a static line course at our DZ. The boys get to choose between that and a variety of other outings. So far, no lawsuits Sadly, so far no girls' schools either. But my daughter just started attending senior school, so maybe she and I can work on that one for the future.

I've done all my jumping in South Africa where, as has been clear, we have never had seatbelts in our jump planes. This whole thread has been very enlightening. But I did one jump in the US from a Grand Caravan, and I got quite a good briefing, I thought. They told me all about the area, the beer line, where the farmer will have you arrested if you land, the whole toot. But not once, even though they knew I was a foreign jumper, were seatbelts mentioned. So US jumpers take note - that's something extra to add to your briefings of visitors. Oh, and I didn't see anybody else strap in on that load either. Pam