borisattva

is there some political, or regulatory reason that tri state area doesn't have a wind tunnel near by? i know there are a lot of skydivers in NYC. and a lot more would want to work on their freeflying techniques if it didnt involve the cost and travel. so what are the biggest hurdles?

arch breath relax, try to counter steer. not that many items in my bag of tricks. once i realized that none of those were accomplishiong anything and i was only spinning faster, the 25-30 seconds youre talking about would not be to try and stop my self. instead that would be 25-30 seconds to gain the rate of spin and further endager my instructors. IN FACT, my jm told me that he was about to approach me and pull FOR ME - at THAT ALTITUDE, but stopped when he saw me reaching myself. the consern for instructors was the next reason, after knowing that i wasnt able to stop my spin, for my pull. as far as i am consered and have been told (not only people with merely hight # of jumps, but also instructor licenses), i did right by pulling when i did.

'minimal' would be an overstatement for the amount of training and review i got before this jump. this jump was after a 3-4 week absence form practice. i could say more on this but i wont; it was late in the day and i guess this jm was just too tired. we exited at 12k would you have rather have a student keep accellerating the spin to pull at the approrpiate altitude? wave off, i did not. its a mistake i admit. but in this case my spin (watch the real time) should have been a warning enough, and it should also be obvious that when i started recahing with my right, i wasnt merely doing a PC check. as for filming, making sure i deployed ok. i was surprised but didnt say anything to them. what surprised me even more was the aparent skeptisism of my line twist (sinece neither of the guys even glanced at me to see it for them selves. the 1st question i got after landing was 'why did you pull the reserve?' for the handle /repack etc. i'm bringing plenty of beer for my next visit. and i am repeating the level (duh), but next time i wont assume that every instructor gives a damn, and i'm asking for my original ones by name. now that the flaming is done with. can i get some more feedback on preventing/slowing down/stopping a spin?

i was finally able to do a vhs capture. included is the real time video followed by slow motion. the video is available on http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ in section Students. file name is AFF5failed.WMV unfortunatley the jms were unable to capture the line twist or the cutaway. any constructive critisism is much appreciated.

exact same thing happened to me on my reserve ride 2 weeks ago..except to an index finger.. the swelling went away after a couple of days. but kept hurting, and movement felt weird. then after feeling it a little i noticed the joint felt different than on the other hand, and it doenst bend the same exact way in my case i'm going to a doctor though, as soon as my new job sends out the health benefits plan

oh yeah i definietly know its too late now.. jsut said i WISH i had the 1st jump as a tandem, didnt worry about the Circle of awareness, jm signals, stability etc.. and just flew stoked, with a smile ear to ear and tounge flappin in the air... every jump since felt a tiny bit little less exciting.. its still awesome, and will be for a long time i'm certain.. but doenst compare with that 1st jump feeling.

i skipped the tandems and the static... static i dont imagine caring much for, but i did regret not taking the tandem. what i wouldnt give to get back a full 60 seconds of sheer first-time 'whooooaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!' instead i only got to be stoked for about 2-3 seconds, then i had to snap out and follow the flight plan..

re: RSL, yes, i have been taught and i was told off afterwards about it. truth is, i was really startled by the yank and the feeling theharnes pulling me 'up' my thougts were of an entangle ment, whether main with resrev, or lines aroundme and main dragging above me. i kept hanging on to my reserve ring as i looked up expecting to have something to untangle from before opening the reserve, and when i saw a perfectly square chute, pulling the ring just felt 'stupid' so i let it be. but yes, i have been talked to about it, hopefully there wont be anext time but if there is i'll be pulling the ring regardless. re: tracking, i have only done it on my 2nd aff with both jm hanging on to me. i also did it on my 3rd aff starting from a stable decent. but i never though of it as a recovery technique from a spin, and in my case i wonder if i had flown off into either the jm or the camera man had i tried to use it. anyway, as i said i'll talk to my next jm about the pros and cons of this for the future.

good question. i havent thought of tracking as a recovery mechanism for a spin myself, but it makes sense now that youve mentioned it. i'll ask my next jm about it.

AFF jump 4. the only thing new was the method of exit, unassisted and diving 'downwind' as opposed to stand-up+step-out. after mentally drilling the flight plan several dozen times on the way up, i felt confident and relaxed even when i peeked out of the plane, and spotted the dropzone (i'm afraid of heights). hotel check, countdown, exit - good, until about 2-3 seconds into the stabilization i realize that my jm in front of me was drifting left - i turning right. this happened to me before on AFF3, but with some struggling i was able to stop and do the left turn. this time it was different in that no matter how much i felt i was trying to lean left, i kept turning right. 'arch, breath, relax' was being done, but did not seem to have any helpful effect, plus i wasnt turning flatly, but rather wobbling up and down. after seconds of compleyely fruitless effort, the only thing i was 100% certain about was that my rotation was becoming flatter and right turn was accelerating. my jm and the cameraman were now but a blur. i figured that struggling further was unlikely to produce any positive effect, and continuing at this rate was only going to risk knocking out the jm should he try to approach me to help stop the spin or pull the pilot chute. so i reached and pulled. as i did that, it came together in my mind that with the spinning and the chute opening, i was in for some line twist. 3 seconds into deployment i realized that i was still spinning, somewhat on my back, 4 seconds i looked 'up' and saw a picture-perfect line twist, the 'climbing rope' - slider to harness, just like how they show on the cards during ground school. i had a very mild line twist on my 3rd AFF 4 weeks before, propably because i looked up a little too soon, and that one i was able to resolve quicky and 'by the book.' but that situation was very stable since i was right beneath the canopy and the only threat was that i did not have control WHERE i was going, but the actual descent was as safe as it could be. this time the line twist was end to end, and instead of being right under the canopy in relation to ground, i was spinning much more horizontally, and with my to the ground. i grabbed a hold of the risers and tryed spreading them like a tangled swing, kicking my feet as i did, but it did not seem to work. i was just dangling, and as far as i knew i was still dropping fast. being unclear how much time i spent on the risers, probably somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds, without checking the altimeter even once, and with my back still to the ground, i did a last effort to turn more face downward and pulled the cutaway. here was when i was surprised for the 1st time during the whole experience. with my left still hanging on to the reserve ring, and my right holding the cutaway, i was yanked upward violently and dropped the cutaway handle. my 1st thought was that the reserve chute 'somehow' became deployed too soon and was now entangled with the main manopy. instead, i looked up and saw a perfectly square, beautiful white and blue, albeit - smaller - canopy. startled but relieved, i let go of the reserve release without pulling it and reached for the toggles. (yes i KNOW about the RSL, but somehow in all the ground training the 'locate cutaway handle, grab with right, secure with left, look at reserve ring, pull the cutaway, grab with reserve ring with right, secure with left, pull etc drill gave off an impression of some time passing between the cutaway and the reserve deployment. here it felt like a second at most - the chute yanked me up actually just as i reached the ring with left and before i even had a chance to touch it with my right. after that i had a pretty damn long descent down. it wasnt a total loss since i had a chance to get some practice with the reserve chute controls, which felt quite differently. disappointing that i didnt nail this one on the 1st try? yes, very. but rewarding to me was finding out first hand how i would feel and react in an emergency. this was something that i had been wondering about ever since i became more aware of the possible malfunctions and remedies etc. i did not know if i would get scared or panic, etc. now i know that i wont. thanks to the training this emergency felt almost like its was the flight plan. my next and last surprise of the day was my jm telling me that i should return to complete the jump 'as soon as possible' to maximize the benefits of the experience. losing control so bad, cutting away, losing the cutaway handle, and not responding to the radio communications (all i heard was crackling) i was sure i overstayed my welcome. i guess these guys really like beer that i owe them now. :) let the flaming begin...

thanks for the responce guys. i understand the pro-tandem points of view. but i just know myself too well :D if i go tandem first, no matter how many jumps i do solo afterwards, i will alwasys have it on the back of my head that my FIRST solo jump wasnt actually my first jump etc and so on.i would definitely regret it. plus the additinal responsibility and seriousnes of the first solo jump will boost the personal satisfaction over the accomplishment. well anyways, ive gotten a couple new recommendations which i will be investigating over the next week. if there are more send em my way. thanks again :D

N/A

only 4 something hours away.. getting better :) thanks alot. anything closer, anyone?

hello folks, i have been searching the yellow pages and the internet for a couple of days, and i cant seem to find any skydiving schools around NYC that would offer the AFF non-tandem as the first jump. all the schools try to use the "you dont have to waste a day training for your first jump" as the selling perk. well the thing for me is, i dont care how long i spend in ground school and if there is an army of instructors falling along side me as a safety precaution, i just want me very first jump to be my own accomplishment. i dont want to be a passive piece of luggage 'luggage' attached to someone else doing the work. some nearby schools i found, require atleast one tandem jump prior. one school http://www.frontierskydivers.com/ offers the AFF as the first jump, but its almost 7 hours drive each way. too far. can anyone suggest an closer alternative school/instructor? thanks for your time.