FlyinseivLP2

I have only seen them done at the WFFC and I saw a post that they were being done at one other event(can't recall where.) The jumps were something like $750.

There are several people now that are trying to break this record. The problem is funding mostly. An attempt like this costs millions of dollars. Kittenger had the govt paying the bills. I met him once and while talking about this record he told us it was only his 13th jump! As for slowing down, as you decend the air gets more dense and you slow down gradualy.BTW, he only reached 600mph or so because he was using a drouge. If he was in freefall it would have been much faster.

I'm with you on this. We used to take a 4way out from 3,500. Now I think if if we couldn't get altitude and the pilot made a pass at 3K half the load or more would land with the plane.

Yep, a tandem passenger puked all over me. I can't handle that kind of thing very well, so I returned the favor and puked on him.

The biggest problem is that you increase your chances of dying or being severely hurt. YOur instructor is right listen to them. By the way if you are interested in reading more about why the do a search for "wingloading" i'm sure you will find more than enough info.

I had abrisk opening on a stiletto 120 when the slider was left stowed. No damage to me or the canopy.

I know alot of people that work as packers and do odd jobs around the DZ to in exchange for AFF or just jumps in general. Go out to the DZ and talk to the DZO or manager. Good luck.

I don't have one but had a friend who had to lemon law theirs.

Have you evaluated the safety of the DZ? Most of the things that happened to you possibly could have been prevented by instuctors and or staff members.

Ask if your DZ does a tandem progression. If so you can do the tandem that you want and get one of your training jumps out of the way too.

Get used to it. Better yet, add you own special flavor!

As has been said, AFF is NOT obsolete. AFF is one of the training methods that can be used within the ISP. Any DZ saying AFF is obselete probably doesn't have a staff qualified to do it.

I used to not mind doing the big ones so much. Then I had a guy 265 lbs pass out on me. For me It takes everyhing I've got to flare an EZ 384 with that much weight. Combine that with him being limp in the harness made for an unsafe situation. I pulled out the landing pretty well and there were no injuries. I don't like to risk injuring my passengers like that so my max is 230 now.

It sounds like you are just trying to be safe and there is nothing wrong with that. If you don't feel comfortable with the jump don't go. I have rode the plane down when others got out and I have also gotten out when others wouldn't. As the saying goes "it is better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground." If you jump DO NOT track to avoid clouds, you are only putting yourself and others in danger. Dive your plan, if you run into a cloud just hang out until you punch though it. If you have to open in a cloud do a slow sprial until you come out, this way you are not flying into other groups. Also when you are climbing to altitude watch where the clouds are and how thick they are. A 500 foot layer at 10000 feet is less to deal with than a 3000 ft layer that extends down below your pull altitude. Of course try to avoid jumping into clouds in the first place. I said all this assuming that your fear was not of the clouds, but what was beneath it and not being able to see where you are. If you fear is actually of the cloud itself in that it might swallow you or something, then yes that is unusual!

Now you get it

QuoteI think the "smaller" mals are the more dangerous. People have gone in thinking "I can fix this" like stuck brakes, linetwists etc. I think Dragon is right on here. The hardest ones to deal with are the smaller problems that MAYBE you can fix or MAYBE you can land. The reason being you have to make a decision. If you open with a hard spinning line over there isn't much choice to make, you just go ahead and chop it. The indecision is what gets people in trouble. Then you also have to monitor altitude while you are tring to fix the problem and some people seem to forget about that.

Bring it to a rigger and have them fingertrap it for you. It is easy to do, you can do it yourself but someone should show you how. The excess is inserted into the line above the knot. I never fingertrap mine until I jump it make sure the brake setting is where I want it.

Yea, 3 people who don't know what their doing is fine. 2 can be dangerous but with the 3rd you should have enough sense between you to make it safe. And if you are just planning on holding the 3 way what could go wrong, right? Listen to beowulf, do some solos or get some coaching. Really with your jump numbers you probably need to work on your head up some more before you you tackle head down. All it takes is one good cork and there is a couple of more fatalities for the year.

For USPA it would be a C or D, it doesn't matter where you exit as long as you throw out at 2K. You don't see to many people opening at 2000' these days due to the fast canopies and slow openings that we have now, but 10 years ago it was the norm. What do you mean by emegency? If I have a line over I'm gonna cutaway, if I have a hard pull i'm going for my reserve but then again that's what I'd do on any skydive.

No matter what type of aircraft or what type of exit you need to present you chest to the relative wind. If you are exiting an airplane the relative wind is coming from the front of the aircraft. I'll assume you are atlking about doing a diving exit from a side door aircraft(otter, king air, ect.) The easiest way is to dive straight out the door(toward the wingtip) at the same time twist your chest toward the front of the aircraft, putting your chest into the relative wind. If you do this right you will turn 90 degrees toward the tail of aircraft in a head low position.

Just because you have done some jumps with tandems that were sucessfull does not make it a good idea. I was shooting tandem video at 150 jumps back in the day but now after 1000 tandems I can see how dumb it was. Yes you may have above average skills and be able to fly with a normal tandem with no promblems. It's the not so normal tandem that can cause a problem. Do you have enough knowledge of tandems to make the right decision in a split second if something goes wrong. Sorry if this sounds harsh but the fact the you are giving (bad) advice on the subject with half the jumps then what is required, says to me that you you do not.

Talk to your instructors about your concerns, but in the meantime. Your feet should be about shoulder width apart, just as if you were standing normally. As fot the toggles, if you are trying to pull down with your hands out in front of you ar out to the side, it will make it more difficult and give you less control. Pull them down close to your body. Have your instuctors demonstrate.

Yes, if you had a bad body position it might take the TI a couple seconds longer to get stable. This is why your TI tells you to arch during your jump, cause if you are in the correct position it make his job a bit easier.

The 1 in 750 statistic is close enough, but it's not a good idea to look at it like that. Go into your AFF ready to have a malfunction on your first jump. Don't jump until you feel that you are ready to handle it. You never know when a malfunction is coming. I didn't have my first until jump 1001 but then had 3 in less than 70 jumps. I also have seen an AFF student have a malfuntion on level III and then again on level IV. So make sure you are ready before your first jump.

Keep jumping the 210 without weights. Get to work doing everything on Billvons downsizing check list. This will get you ready for the downsize before you purchase. Then before you purchase gear, demo or borrow a few different canopies in the size that you think you might buy, then decide. Also you did not include your weight in the original post. If your weight is much more than 170 lbs than moving down to a 190 might not be a good idea right now anyways.