AFFI

It was after my separation from my first wife; I was not thinking clearly and blamed myself for not being a better partner to her. I searched for relief from all manner of exterior means, drugs, alcohol, food, sex but nothing would fill the void. Somehow I felt that I would be better off dead, next thing ya know I was sitting in the back of a field with the business end of a shotgun in my mouth, toe on the trigger, sweat pouring – and I thought of my dad, how much it would hurt him if I died that way. I just collapsed to the ground and cried. I had to make it look like an accident and decided that I would skydive, not deploy the parachute and bada bing bada boom! Of course I did not know anything about skydiving, did not know I would have 2 instructors with me that would ensure I deployed my main and knew nothing of RSLs or AADs. After the first jump course I was mentally prepared to end it all and on the plane I was determined to follow through. When the door opened and I took my place in it the terror overcame me, my fear of heights, fear of falling – I chickened out in the door. Luckily one of my instructors signaled the pilot to make a go round and he got militaristic on me, put his nose against mine and yelled “are you here to skydive or not”? I yelled back – yes, I am – he commanded me to take my place in the door and just like in boot camp when a DS told me to do something I did it without thinking. Check left, check right – and the moment my feet left the door I was overcome with the most wonderful sensation. My personal problems instantly faded away and there were no worries, no fear, nothing on my mind but that moment – it was the most beautiful experience, one I not only had been searching for all of my life but one I desperately needed then and there. I landed right in the landing area near the target and the first words out of my mouth to my instructor were “I want your job”. Within a few weeks I was off the depression medication my doctor had me on, the panic attacks I was suffering from stopped, I lost weight – dedicated myself towards the goal of being a skydiving instructor, I finally found what I was born to do – teach… I left a very good paying career, a nice home and all the bills that go along with the rat race, 20+ hours a week in traffic, all that good stuff – moved into a 22 foot camper parked on the edge of a field where I have been for nearly 8 years living as a full time skydiver and even though money is tight at times, even though I am battling spinal cancer and have had a lot of back surgeries to remove tumors and implant metal – I would not trade my life as a fulltime skydiver for anything – I have never been more content than when I am teaching or never felt more gratified when a skydiver I trained earns a rating or a medal in competition or especially when I get to witness first hand a flailing student transform into a safe and confident skydiver. The only other thing that compares is spending time with my loved ones. So skydiving is not just a hobby or activity for me, skydiving literally saved my life. To this day, no matter how huge my worries, no matter how insurmountable my problems seems to be, when I am in freefall I experience the same sensation as my first jump – the world and all it’s worries just fade away and there is only the moment. I have trained a lot of others who came to me afterward telling me how skydiving helped them to overcome personal problems, overcome depression and fears just like it did for me. There are times when my issues have me down, when I am not coping well and just want to wallow in it and feel as though I cannot focus enough to jump and there have even been times where I have had to force myself to get on the plane and out the door and 100% of the time the result is the same – everything just fades away and only the moment is there for me to focus on and I feel much better afterwards. So at what point is someone “considered” a skydiver? Perhaps for each person there is a different answer, I believe for me – I was a skydiver before I made my first jump. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

How can the way you "feel" affect the opening reliability of your parachuting gear? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

There, fixed it for ya... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Keep in mind that there can be additional factors to consider. At 30 feet holding deep brakes can stall some canopies that students are jumping these days. The best advice that keeps ringing through is what da rigger man said, talk to the instructors that are training you personally. Bring back the big Mantas Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

It's probably less then 4500 eh? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I agree wholeheartedly. Second... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Here is a place that may jump you, I have known them to take people your size. www.skydivespaceland.com Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

If we look at stats, I would suspect that many more incidents were created by an out of sequence EP versus a reserve being deployed prematurely in freefall. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Here is some reading for ya - Your search for reserve handle returned 6000 results : http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=all&search_string=reserve%20handle&sb=score&mh=25 Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Double pillows were around long before freeflyers. Ed Comon, you know there was nothing before freefliers... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Bravo! At you experience level the benefits of having a metal handle far outweighs a snag point. Having a metal reserve handle ties into your EP’s mentally and physically reducing the possibility of an out of sequence EP, the D ring also provides you a handle you can get a better grip on. If we look at stats, I would suspect that many more incidents were created by an out of sequence EP versus a reserve being deployed prematurely in freefall. Stay as safe as you can right now, you still have a lot going on just getting the hang of skydiving with others, stay with a D-Ring and you can switch to a pillow when you are ready. How do we know when we are “READY”? When you reach a point where you are absolutely positively certain beyond the shadow of a doubt you are ready for that change, then go out and make 100 more jumps, then re-evaluate. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

You expect women to figure that out?

I just got back from there - it was not too bad at all... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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

The "BEST" in what way??? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I am opposite - camera work was sub-par, but the students rocked! Great jump on the students part... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

What is it exactly that makes this one stand out? Is it the student’s performance? The video work or camera flying? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Yup, just someone working fer a living. Not a particularly "great" production, just another bit of hay in the stack... There is nothing extraordinary about this video, if anything it is too long and boring… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

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

I was only kidding, I really don't have my nose too far up my ass to see my monitor. If I am looking for a skydiving video, I will tend to go to SDM first. I have not looked at this particular vid in this thread because a student with 4 jumps having an opinion about something skydiving related is ummmm, what’s the word I am looking for? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I dont like it either. Maybe I have my nose too far up my arse to get a good look... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Not at the expense of the customers’ video, looks like you and the videot are wasting altitude playing your games rather than placing the focus on the star of the show. Now someone may have to explain to a 4 year old that the squirrel is having fun skydiving and not the frozen corpse of an incident. Just my opinion, but what a lousy thing to do to a paying customer and their skydive video. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Can't add anything that has not been said - good thing you decided to check your alti first and base your priorities on that vital piece of information – everything else, looks like you survived a great learning experience, thanks for sharing… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

or maybe the space station? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=all&search_string=Gear%20check&sb=score&mh=25 Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…