Joellercoaster

OK. My last jump was nearly five months ago, AFF stage 7. Here's the word: Since that's longer than the 90-day student currency window, I have to sit in on a couple of FJC classes (canopy control, malfunctions), then take either stage 6 or 7 (instructor's discretion) again. Fortunately there's a FJC running tomorrow

I thought you guys were spposed to do stuff like that? As part of the training... did I hear wrong? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Snap. I just mailed Don and Louise today about that exact issue (I have a lot fewer jumps though). Don's not back untli tomorrow though; I'll let you know how I get on. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Hell, I'm just a student and all I can think about is freeflying - to think it's probably hundreds of jumps away is a *big* motivating factor! Why? Watch this (warning: the bigger one is a 35mb download; I think there's a lower-bandwidth version from the same page) for things not limited to hanging around looking at each other 'til pull time. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

The video shows (I'm assuming it's) Loic boarding a helicopter at the end... maybe to have another go? Absolutely, wonderfully insane. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Possibly: the ant is only little, which makes it hard to see at a distance, so its velocity is hard to measure with the naked eye. When it hits the ground, its position is measured very precisely (it's on the ground, duh) and it can borrow momentum from the Uncertainty Relation and have the universe decide it didn't hit that hard at all. /me falls off chair as the one actual physicist in the room reads over his shoulder and beats him to death with a whiteboard... -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

On average, I watch Pioneers in Space at least once a day. It helps a lot with being grounded for a while, let's put it that way... -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

"My copilot today is a flask of coffee. The emergency exit is right on my left here. If you see me go through this door then please, follow me quickly." STR -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

These guys

Heh. Thought you might like a fellow-student's perspective - I've only ever jumped out of a Caravan (17 jumpers). It's roomy, and crawling backwards towards the door can feel like quite a long way. Sitting at the front of the plane (door at the rear starboard on this one), watching a dozen other people exit first is pretty cool, though feeling the plane lose so much weight all at once was disconcerting the first time. The door is big, and there's no step, so exits are simple. I haven't quite got the hang of going out headfirst (the wind seems to catch me and spin me around) but the crouching exit is really, really easy. Put your hands on the doorframe facing forward, head out, step sideways... very easy to do stably. So. I've never jumped anything else, but after I get my 'A' I want to head to South Australia to visit my parent, and there are small DZs near where they live. What's it like jumping out of a 182 or 206 for the first time? [edit: speling] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

A mate of mine chose to do his AFF 1 jump when I probably would have stayed in the plane. The weather was OK on the ground, though there were threatening dark clouds overhead... as the Caravan took off, we felt a gentle sprinkling of rain start up. It got heavier as they disappeared, and we thought, "that's not going to be comfortable". Turns out it was hailing for several thousand feet of his jump. Cookies had been involuntarily grounded for a big chunk of the day (after my GF was on the last load before) by the weather, and refused the option of not jumping. He and his AFF/Is were red raw and very pissed-off when they landed (I wish I had a photo of him with pale goggles on a very red face) but he'll be back. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

That's not a washer... it's a nut. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Bastards. That's not fair putting it in there when they *know* we're all reading the waiver like the whuffos we are, freaking out about every little thing. Funnily enough, I nearly did end up in the lake on AFF 7. High winds at altitude took me, another student and my AFF/I a long way off target: I'm headed for my second out (first one was a bad idea) when I realise I'm flying backwards and ooh look, there's the edge of the lake directly underneath me... Fortunately after my initial panic (not worried about the water any more after the "stand up" comment, just about the utter humiliation) I worked it out and ran downwind to the other side. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Mine play the odds - they figure it's better than riding motorcycles and concentrate on that. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

LOL - the things we come up with in FJC... and I thought my paranoia about not knowing how to activate the flotation device properly was weird after the fact (the instructor's advice? If you land in the lake... stand up and wade out). [edit: tag closure ] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Yeah. Apart from the fact that arguing with your opponent would never happen even in training (love all that respectful behaviour before the screaming starts), in competition, if the judges don't think you really would have split the guy's head like a melon *and* looked cool doing it *and* were ready to fillet him afterwards if necessary... you don't get the point. Which is why kendo matches often end 1-0 after double extra time, both fighters covered in bruises and near collapse Ah yes. I miss kendo. Training six times a week was a bitch, but hey - I was in school, I had no need for a life. [edit: speling] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Huh. Since this thread started, mine has been hurting like hell. I put a soft plastic bar in it, and it's not happy... back to the steel it is. It's not infected or anything, just really sore. Go figure. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Eight years of kendo or so, but it's pretty unforgiving of injuries you sustain in other sports (even though it's pretty hart to get hurt beyond bruises and the odd fractured finger). I started having to take too much time off every time I pulled a shoulder or whatever playing other sports, and wasn't willing to just do kendo exclusively any more. A fair amount of karate too, but always as a sort of lefthanded thing to keep my kendo balanced out. Just as I found the best kendo students were ones who had done intensive training in something physical (ballet comes to mind as a good indicator of a student's likely progress rate), the converse is true. Martial arts have helped me get good at other sports pretty quickly, and it's making skydiving come pretty easily too (FWIW, this is eight jumps to date, but it *seems* easy heh). -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

This was on our fileserver at work for weeks... the engineers loved it. A couple of bits look a tiny bit fake, but who cares? Time to buy a Honda so they make more ads like this, obviously. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Yup. I've had mine for about four years, never even considered having it taken out. Had to get re-pierced once, which hurt like hell (first time was fine, what's up with that?) and made me paranoid about taking it out for a long time. My girlfriend has hers done, as have a couple before. Kissing when you've both got them is definitely fun (*clink*). As for, uh, other stuff... an old girlfriend did the scientific thing and experimented both ways. My stud was back in about twenty seconds into the second phase... Around here (Melbourne, Australia) it's a raver thing even more than with other groups. My entire netball team "Scattered", recruited from the dancefloors around town, at one point had pierced tongues. Made for some pretty funny moments on court as other teams realised just what they were dealing with... [edit: clarity] -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

I feel your pain, brother. Being still a student (you have four more jumps than I do), it's somehow even worse. You still have the full-throttle joy of discovering something new and wild to do with your life, but when the break comes, you don't have the hundreds of jumps' worth of memories to tide you over until the time you can jump again. The dreams are maybe the worst. Some of mine are freefall or canopy, but the majority seem to be shuffling backwards on my knees to the door of the Caravan, smelling the cold air coming through the door and that sudden drop in the stomach when the four-way behind me exits and the plane is suddenly lighter... that feeling of uncontrollable anticipation knowing that there are no more jumpers and I'm next out. Arrr... Still. At least you know you're motivated now and it's not some flash-in-the-pan thing. The break has given your imagination time to go to work, and skydiving to really sink its hooks (sorry) into you. We'll get there mate. Just probably not tomorrow. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Yeah, do that. I had a way off-DZ landing on AFF 7 and was quite pleased with my choice of out... until I got a little closer and noticed the power lines (I'm a little shortsighted, apparently) on two sides. Had to flee across the lake and land with some sheep. Next time, I'm taking a drive around the whole area and working out where all the power lines are. Of course, I seem to have found the best ones for myself already... -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Lay it down first, otherwise it could get hurty. -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

Ours is pretty much the same, except level 8 is one jump (like 7, but with fall-rate variation and S-tracking), and there's a two-jump stage 9 (hop-n-pops from 3500). After that, I don't think there's a set number of jumps for the license, but you have to hit 10 landings within 25m of the "x" (AFF stages count, as long as you didn't have a TA) and be cleared to pack your own main. *shrug* I'm not in that much of a hurry to get licensed. I just want to make sure I have everything I need by the end of it. If that means passing stages multiple times, that's OK. Of course, getting jump cost down is a factor too... curse my busy weekends! -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

This is very true. It doesn't sound fair at first glance, but then, it doesn't have to. I'll plan around having to repeat stage 7 (cool, more backloops ), and budget for the last four jumps including that one over a weekend. This will get me off AFF, and hopefully time and money will be at less of a premium after that. Just out of interest, if I don't jump for another month after that - is there any practical difference between a currency jump (if I had to do one) and the jumps I'd be doing between AFF and A-license qualification? -- "I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan "You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?