paulcm

Quite a bit of rehab depends on age and whether you had a "donor" graft or an autograft. As far as age, the younger you are, the faster you will rehab. A donor graft generally results in much less swelling and pain, while an autograft typically results in more swelling and longer pain/rehab due to the trauma from taking a slice out of your patellar tendon. Your doctor should be talking to you about physical therapy. Be sure to do any and all recommended stretching and flexibility exercises. I had full autograft ACL reconstruction (full tear, from playing soccer) on my left knee about 11 years ago, as I turned age 40. One of the PT exercises involved stretching out the calf muscle by putting a towel around the front part of my foot and pulling (while seated). This was done for 30 seconds in 3 sets of 3 reps. Your doctor or PT may suggest something else, but you can lose flexibility in quite a few of the muscles above and below the knee. The towel exercise gets the calf stretched out without putting strain through the knee joint. I had lots of swelling and a slow & painful rehab, on crutches about 6 weeks. Nowadays, special machines for keeping the knee "iced" and for cycling the knee through range of motion have accelerated rehab, and it sounds like you're moving forward a lot faster. Just be sure to check with your doctor or PT so you don't overdo. Rehab from ACL reconstruction is VERY individualized, with substantial variation in the time required. I was out of jumping for just over 1 year. I could have jumped a little earlier, but I waited for the "perfect" day as far as wind, etc. Good luck and speedy recovery to you!

***Oh, here we go again. If you really want to jump a jet, the best bet is to join the Army and go to Airborne School, then you might get to jump a C-141 if you're lucky. I'll believe they'll have a jumpable jet at WFFC when I see video of it on jump run, not a moment sooner. I know that the jet hasn't been to the Convention every year they've tried to bring it, but over the years of attending WFFC I had the great fun of Jumping the Jet 7 or 8 loads, and jumped it at least 1 load each year they had a jet. Even made it on the first load ever (2nd pass). What a fabulous experience, hearing everybody chanting "D.B....D.B" for D.B. Cooper as the cargo hatch started closing up prior to take-off. And the guy dressed up in a suit (with a rig) carrying a briefcase with "money" sticking out the sides! There's no other boogie that has provided this kind of opportunity, and I wish it were more recognized what a job Don Kirlin did in making that happen. But after several disappointments, I seem to recall Don Kirlin saying that he wasn't sure there'd ever be another skydive from a big jet, unless a skydiving operation bought the jet. The insurance companies have backed away from providing coverage. If the Perris jet completes FAA approvals and can make it to WFFC as a JUMP Jet, that would be great! Let's hope it works out, but remember, there's a big family of skydivers, great organizers, and a lot of other aircraft ready to turn out fun jumps whether or not the Jet becomes reality again. Blue skies!

I'm not affiliated with either WFFC or SF, but having attended WFFC every year since 1992 (except 1995), I'd say that in the heydey of WFFC at Quincy, the landing area was sometimes crazy, but I just landed in the open areas away from the main area. BUT.. at Rantoul you find wide-open landing areas from the main LZ all the way over to the spectator fences, probably at least a 10 minute walk from one side all the way to the other, though they've often got golf carts picking up jumpers to shorten the return to the main organizing area. There's been relatively little of the "landing every direction" the past few years, and last year when the winds were calm and variable, there were frequent announcements of designated landing direction. They also put out a big arrow in the main LZ, visible from decent canopy altitude, to point the landing direction.

I had a Skytronic that I bought new, but after about 2 years, even with fresh batteries, it kept turning off on the ride up to altitude. Perhaps I should have called the manufacturer, but I bought a Pro-Track instead.