AFFI

You have made more jumps than I did my first year, and you have the rest of your life to skydive. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Quote> You are concerned that if you tell someone to cutaway the main, the wrong student will respond and die because of it, right?> Yes, that is a very big risk when there is more than one student in the air. Quote+1 Be leery to say “cutaway” on the radio when multiple students are in the air on a single channel. You may be overlooking a student who is below 1,000 feet and they follow the command of “cutaway” that you have intended for a different student. I have seen this happen and luckily the student had just enough altitude to make it uninjured – just barely. If you have spent any time working on a one frequency set-up you will know that often times when it makes no sense, students will follow commands intended for other students. And besides, if you have preformed a quality service in ground training then you should be confident that the person you trained knows what to do in the event of a malfunction. We never put a student into the air are until they are completely ready to safely make a jump right? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

What if trying to "save a life" utilizing these methods actually costs a life? This is a good example of well intentioned advice from [edited for political correctness]. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Discuss it with your fellow jumpers, and not with the 'we know whats best for you' crowd here at dz.com. Yeah, especially those with less than 100 jumps that tell you to barrel roll I represent that statement! Although I'm a 100 jump wonder, I will present my comments based on my brief experience in the sport and if I'm wrong, I will learn from the comments of those who are more enlightened! If I may borrow a quote form a good friend in a recent email, perhaps you might learn more from those who have forgotten more about skydiving than you have yet learned. There is a wealth of knowledge here in these forums, and a wealth of well intentioned advice from those less knowledgeable, I would trust advice from a poster with thousands of jumps and a decade(s) + of current skydiving experience then from a lesser experienced individual. There is no substitute for experience. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Spaceland has an incredible facility, the bunk room is brand new (and cheap), the facilities are complete with a laundrymats and more, best of all is the airplanes are maintained to the highest extent, and DJ is, lets put it this way, if an instructor were to train my own mother, I would hope that DJ was the trainers trainer. He has my full admiration from a first hand perspective. But Skydive U or an alternate training course is less than your ability to seek the best and to put forth your best to improve yourself above the rest. So which ever path you choose, be the best in every aspect of instructing. Good travels my friend, and make your own luck… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Even if you're not in Texas, its worth the vacation time and travel to go work with DJ to get your ratings! +1 Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

With your background, it will be a breeze, and it is a lot of fun if you like instructing. For me, from my first jump I wanted to be an AFF instructor because I love instructing. I believe the most important aspect is the ground training, preparing students not for only the next student jump, but to build a solid foundation of safe practices that will be with them for years. And of course, when shit goes bad in the air, you gotta be able to take care of business and a good debrief often times includes more ground training. If you are in Texas anytime soon, DJ Marvin is one of the best I have seen in training the trainers, he is a Skydive Spaceland. There is no substitute for experience, so get started – you will love it… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

There is a 2009 USPA Nationals DVD available online at the USPA store. It Rocks! http://www.uspa.org/USPAShop/tabid/353/pid/314/2009-USPA-Nationals-DVD.aspx Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I suspect that is what you meant. +1 Altitude awareness may be considered as something that "goes without saying", but it is not. Altitude awareness should be continually trained and practiced over and over again. When I train students and challenge them with say, a line twist scenario - they must check altitude prior to dealing with the situation and every 5 seconds during. “Roll to Recover” training prior to release dives, before attempting to roll belly to earth, check altitude first. Seems like many jumpers progress in the sport and it is practiced less and less. Becoming an instructor revealed deficiencies in my altitude awareness and it improved only as a byproduct of training specifically for that awareness. I personally lost a friend as a direct result of a lack of altitude awareness after cutting away too low and we read about it in the incident reports all to often, and at times it is an experienced jumper who should have known better, so it can happen to any of us if we overlook it during traiining and during all the excitement of dealing with a situation. As the OP described, altitude awareness was part of the decision making process. Great job! Altitude awareness often times may be a primary factor between living and dying. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

This is a great topic of discussion. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

+1 And, if I had to tell a student with a malfunctioning main on the radio to take action, I did not do my job of training adequately. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Here is a hard opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWj7p8YKnlA Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Wass up-Chuck? I got your back Chuck (you will act as my airbag..) Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

+1 roger that... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Was, us four old salts geared up for a lift, after watching the winds for over an hour 1/2 (dying down) standing there about to get in the 182 when a good gust passed by, one was heard to say "did ya feel that gust?" Yep! Checks wind o meter 10mph just did 27, about that time another old salts says, "too old to get hurt in high winds!" I went home and mowed the lawn. Oh well I'm sitting in my easy chair typing as the skies call, and not the ER or recovery and my gear still looks pretty, call'in for rain tomorrow. Right on! Guns dont kill people... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…