lintern

One piece of advice that helped me on dummy pulls was that instead of going straight for the handle, slap your buttock (the one just below where the handle is located) and then move your hand up until you find the bottom of the container and hence the handle. The fact that when doing a dummy pull the main container has opened is a very important point. I found it more useful practicing with a rig that had already been jumped as this is the state of the container when you go for the dummy handle. After doing a jump try placing the DRP back in the container and you'll notice that the bottom of the container housing the DRP can move around alot more.

The plane is a small Cessna 206, right hand exit. I dont know the name for the type of exit other than a student exit. The left hand goes in front on the sill of the door. The right hand goes behind on the vertical edge of the door. The left buttock sits on the edge of the door sill. The left leg is bent but with the foot pushed back and toes pointed. The right leg is straight with the foot pushed back and toes pointed.

Ive asked about wind tunnels and get different answers, all of which make sense though. People have told me that it wont help with my exits as its purely for when you are actually in freefall. On 3 sec delays its my exits that need work on. But then again other people think it may help me experience how solo freefall feels and how to remain stable. There's suppose to be a new SkyVenture wind tunnel opening at Milton Keynes (UK) but it wont be until mid 2004 and some people even seem doubtful about it opening at all. Failing that the only other alternative is the wind tunnel in Paris. I am going to Michigan Grand Rapids mid November for a week but I dont think there are any wind tunnels around that part of the US? But as I say some people think it wont be of any help with my exits what so ever.

*** I need a little more info here. 1. Are you practicing "arch-look-reach-pull?" If so, it may be that you are distorting your body when you look for the ripcord so I . 2. Are you using a ripcord or a pilot chute? The techniques are slightly different for the two of them. *** I am using BOC ripcord (this does mean bottom of container doesnt it?) with a spring loaded pilot chute. If its any help the container is a Javelin and the canopy is a Skymaster. Obviously a student rig with a cypress and 290 sq. ft. canopy. So I am not looking for the ripcord but feeling for it instead. But I still end up de-arching on the pull and sometimes I never even arch at all.

I've been jumping for 18 months now and I am struggling to progress onto freefall. This is highlighted by the fact that I've done 60 jumps now and the furthest I've got is 3 sec delays, although I've been put back onto the static line for the second time because on my last 3 sec delay my foot got entangled in the canopy lines. I did around 30-40 DRP's before being cleared for freefall. My first problem with DRP's was fumbling for the handle but I seem to have got that sorted now. Then my arms were sometimes too high and I de-arched on the pull. As well as this I sometimes failed to put my left arm above my head to stay stable on the pull. Because of this, every 3 sec jump I have done has always resulted in me rolling on my back when I go for the pull. Some of my jumps have been even worse because not only do I de-arch, I leave my legs in the same position as they are when I am in the door, so when I go out my legs are all over the place and I end up with my head towards the earth and my feet towards the sky. This has happened 3 times and the last time it happened is when I became entangled. As the pilot chute deployed the lines wrapped around my left foot. I managed to untangle myself but I must have flipped the wrong way through the risers because they were twisted, so I kept my manoeuvres to a minimum as I was unsure how big a problem this was. I know how I am suppose to exit and understand the theory behind it, but as soon as I get in the door I start to feel overwhelmed and just want to get out and get a safe canopy above my head, I find this the most intense part of the jump. For those few intense seconds as I leave the aircraft my mind goes blank which I've been told is due to sensory overload, but I always get the handle. I've practiced time and time again on the ground using the mock up which is simple enough, but it's nothing at all like the real thing so it doesn't seem to be helping. When practicing exits on the mock up you land on the ground so your legs are instantly symmetrical and you don't even think about controlling them, but when doing it for real in the air this is not the case. And the fact that you're not a 4000ft doing 70mph makes it completely different still! I know to look up into the plane on exit to help keep the arch but when it comes to the exit I freak out. Everything I've learnt and practiced goes out the window and I just end up letting fate take its course. I've even tried the visualisation technique and tried focusing on what I want to happen rather than what I don't want to happen, but there's always that nagging thought reminding me that if I don't get my exit right then I'll be unstable and even worse I could get entangled. Things were made more difficult earlier on in the year due to a few incidents which I don't think has helped my confidence much. After having a break from jumping because of winter and my regular parachute centre (Tilstock) was closed, when I started to get back into jumping again I found myself having a line over mal on my 26th jump (a DRP) at my first visit to Hinton. I was unaware I had a mal at first as I had twists so I just tried kicking them out, but the canopy began spiralling out of control and after approximately 18 secs I cut away. From that point on I did ok but I was shocked by the whole event. I was told that the mal was caused by packing as my exit was alright. On returning to Tilstock the following weekend I found out that one of my instructors had died from a bad landing on a skydiving trip in Portugal - another negative thought to deal with which came as a great shock. Even though I've had a mal and dealt with it early on in my skydiving, it should make me more confident knowing that I dealt with it successfully. But instead it has had more of a negative effect as I worry about it happening again and maybe not being able to deal with it the next time. For example, if I am entangled or if it's a high speed mal which requires a quick response under stressful conditions. I did a tandem jump a few months ago in the hope it would help my confidence and give me the experience of freefall. I really enjoyed it and even did some turns with little or no assistance from my tandem instructor (or so he told me and this is how it appears on the video!). But I now feel like I have to make the decision of whether to give up jumping because I am struggling so much. Though if I do give up I will be gutted because I've got the bug and want to be able to freefall solo. Then I also think to myself am I the right sort of person to be doing this sport? When I was a child I was terrified of heights and wouldn't even go on theme park rides and couldn't get halfway up a lighthouse because of vertigo! I read one article on your page when someone said they get very nervous when doing a jump and if they hear the wind is too high they are silently relieved. I can relate to this in a way, but at the same time if I hear the weather is going to be bad when I hope to jump at the weekend then I am gutted and annoyed because I want to jump! AFF isn't an option as I am skint and shouldn't even be doing these RAPS jumps at £35 a time, but its my hobby. So £1200 or so for AFF is completely out of the question. Plus I'm now also doubting my ability if I could handle AFF as its a quick learning curve under intense conditions. If I could afford to do AFF I would probably have to repeat many levels, just like the fact I've had to do so many DRP's on the RAPS system. Please help as I don't want to quit but at the same time its getting to that stage