kpcarroll

On Saturday and Sunday we'll have the CASA and a King Air, so there should be no waiting to get on loads. And I've heard that the travelling bar, BAR FORCE, will be making an appearance....should be a great party that night!

We did get a PAC about a month ago. It's FAST, and the door kicks ass compared to the King Air. Plus we can fly really light loads, and that wasn't possible with the KA (you know, DZO not making any $$)! We've really been able to pump out the loads, especially with all of the work we've had. It's great being able to do a work load, fun load, work load, fun load, etc!

There's a lot of really good advice out here! I went for my AFF-I after spending hundreds of jumps shooting video, and besides that mostly 10-12 ways. While I agree that camera flying can very easily equal lazy flying (shooting tandems!), if you shoot enough AFF students it can really help you to identify correct vs. incorrect body positions. Because shooting video was almost second nature, I found myself anticipating the signals that the instructors would give the students. Also, I had memorized the dive flows, so remembering what was supposed to happen at certain altitudes was never an issue. Those sorts of things can be a big advantage in the stressful environment of the course. And I can't agree more that the course is just a big game. Don't let the evaluators get to you, fly like you know how and most importantly PLAY BY THE COURSE DIRECTOR'S RULES! Each course director is different and you should know their expectations at the start of the course. Funny AFF Eval story: First eval dive, we were in our Cessna 206 (we usually fly a King Air) and b/c my partner and I are so amped, at 8K we have our "student", Glenn Bangs, up and on his knees and gear checks done. Our DZO was flying, and faked a stall in the Cessna (unbeknowst to me and my partner). Now we're just about 9K and the DZO is screaming GET OUT, GET OUT! My partner was reserve side, so he goes to climb out, and must have thought we were in the King Air b/c he starts to back out!! Luckily, he caught himself on the door frame, but unluckily he put his elbow through the window, but managed to climb, spiderman-like, back onto the strut. So now we have glass flying everywhere inside the plane, and my student looking at me for instructions. The DZO is just shaking his head, so I tell my student to climb out. Believe it or not, my partner and I fixed the exit, released, gave all the right signals and "pulled" for our student. When we landed we were sure we had failed, but Glenn was pleased with us and we passed. The beer that night tasted mighty good!!

I met my husband skydiving. One of the best experiences I've had is taking my stepson, Eddie, for his AFF level 1 with his dad and I as his JM's. I'm not sure who was the most nervous, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Eddie!! Eddie now has over 300 jumps and continually amazes me! Now if I can just get him to quit using my rig......

This is my first post to the forum, but I've lurked for quite some time. I'm not new to skydiving....been jumping for about 5 1/2 years. I shoot lots of video and got my AFF rating about 2 years ago. But now for the big step.....nah, not tandems! I'm marrying a skydiver next month! Now I just have to explain to the best man (and DZO) why we're doing it on a Saturday and "ruining" a perfectly good jump day!! KC