Rhonda66

22 Rhonda PP ASEL

Seeing as this was a tandem jump you are talking about, I am guessing that it was not something serious. Without seeing the clip, I bet it is something like a stuck slider, especially considering the size of a tandem canopy - but get the clip so we can actually see it. Rhonda PP ASEL

I brought a new Sabre 150 with me to Eloy one year and we had our rigger here inspect it and get it ready for me before we went to Eloy. My husband had bought the canopy used off a guy here in Boston. Well, we made the jump, all was well, until I opened up and realized that I could not reach the toggles for the life of me. I managed to just get one by my fingernail and get it unstowed and one was stuck up still and I could not reach it at all. So I let the other one back up and steered down with my rear risers. I considered chopping the canopy, but could hear my AFF instructor telling me only to chop something I could not land and I was thinking how much it would suck if I cutaway a good canopy and then had a problem with my reserve. We then brought the canopy over to the rigger at Eloy who proceeded to tell us that the risers were for a "gorilla man". Doh! It had never even crossed any of our minds to check the length of the risers! Rhonda PP ASEL

I dislocated mine in a skiing accident in Vermont when I was 17. My Dr. said that once dislocated, there is a good chance it will do it again. However, like the person with the Skyvan injury, it took a major trauma to dislocate it. I'm 32 now and it has never done it again, but it has also never been quite right again either. It is my weak shoulder now and sometimes it hurts, but it hasn't dislocated and I haven't had any trouble with it when skydiving. Hopefully you won't have any long-term trouble with it either. Rhonda PP ASEL

I can so relate to that statement! My life was so topsy turvy and my self esteem was so low when I started jumping. Then, all of a sudden after jumping I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do and my life made a complete 180! Rhonda PP ASEL

I guess I was a closet adrenaline junkie growing up. My Uncle brought me up in a C-172 when I was about 15 and it always stuck with me even though I was scared to death. I tried to take flying lessons when I was around 19 and found out how expensive it was and quit after about 3 lessons. I grew up in a very conservative household where no one would ever have suggested I fly or skydive so skydiving was a foreign word to me still. Fast forward a couple of years to when I met my husband. He comes home one day when we were still boyfriend/girlfriend and says he and some guys from work are going to go to Pepperell to make tandem skydives and asked if I wanted to go. I don't know why, but I immediately said yes. Then I asked my sister and she wanted to go too. My husband said he had always wanted to do it since he saw some skydivers when he was little. I don't know why I wanted to, but I did it. I thought the tandem was ok, but he immediately came down and wanted to sign up for AFF. I watched him jump for almost a year before I made another tandem and then got hooked and started AFF. I did end up getting my pilot's license finally in 2003 after I graduated from college and could finally afford the lessons. Rhonda PP ASEL

A rigger should probably answer this, but it always seemed to happen to me only when I was making jumps under large student F-111 canopies - perhaps it has something to do with a low wing loading. I haven't had it happen at all since jumping a zero-p Sabre. Rhonda PP ASEL

Yahoo! I did the opposite of you - pilot and skydiver first and just got a Ninja that I am totally addicted to! Yup, if you like the bike, you are gonna be totally addicted to skydiving - you should try flying too sometime! I thought it would be boring after skydiving, but it was just as addictive! Rhonda PP ASEL

Fandango Rhonda PP ASEL

My sister and I just started a business together so we've just gotten acquainted with the likes of contracts, Lawyers, starting new entities, FID numbers, taxes, advertising, sales - so many things to think about - it's scary, but so exciting at the same time!!! Rhonda PP ASEL

Our rigs are out of date We need to get up to Jumptown... Rhonda PP ASEL

My husband and I had pockets sewed onto the shoulder harnesses of our rigs by our rigger for our hook knives. They're there just in case, but we've never had to use them. Rhonda PP ASEL

I'm a pilot - there are many times when I must land in the plane Never rode the plane down on a jump tho, but I would if necessary... Rhonda PP ASEL

Yeah, I've heard of many incidents where people made something as small as an unstowed breakline a major problem - you did well... Rhonda PP ASEL

Just when you think you've seen it all... Rhonda PP ASEL

Yeah, the statistics for us little guys are worse. Having gotten my PPL last May, it's so easy to see how a low-timer can screw up bigtime the minute the shit hits the fan - or, even worse, when the big fan up front stops altogether! Rhonda PP ASEL

We said no gifts last year and my husband went and got me something anyway, but I got him nothing and felt like a schmuck. This year, we said no gifts again and I got him something and he didn't get me anything and I could give a rat's ass about it. Last year I got my pilot's license and my husband knew that I wanted a GPS so that's what he got me. This year I got him an R/C skydiver cuz I knew he would really like that. We have too much stuff - if I see something I think he could really use or that he really wants, then I'll get it for him and vice versa - otherwise, I really don't want anymore stuff - the house is already full of too much s%$t. As far as I'm concerned, Christmas gifts are for the kids. Rhonda PP ASEL

That was more like it. He was also jumping some funky older rig at the time that made things more complicated, but I can't remember what it was - this was well over 5 years ago now. Rhonda PP ASEL

Oh, and the pin wasn't pulled on exit - he was sitting on the floor behind the pilot in the Otter when it was dislodged. Thay found the rigger's seal there after we landed. Rhonda PP ASEL

He had no clue what happened so he threw out the PC and both the reserve and main deployed simutaneously... Rhonda PP ASEL

When my AFF Level 7 JM's reserve pin got dislodged in the plane before exit and made for one heck of a scary freefall. I thought I was going to see someone die that day and I felt completely helpless when he ended up in a spinning downplane. Miraculously, he was able to chop the main eventually and landed perfectly under his reserve - whew

I answered "I have considered it" before I read the extent of the question. I never considered doing it for the hell of it, but once I jumped a new canopy and upon deployment found out that the risers were for a person much taller than myself and I couldn't reach the toggles. For a few seconds I thought about cutting it away and decided not to since I did have a perfectly good canopy over my head. I got one line unstowed eventually and used my rear risers - the flare sucked and I fell to the side of the released toggle because I didn't get an even flare, but I didn't have to chop

I think it depends on where you're jumping and how good of a jumper you are known to be. I made my 2nd tandem right after my husband got licensed and the TM would not let him jump with us, which was fine. He jumped out just before us, which was also fine with me. I highly doubt that any responsible TM would let anyone who just got an "A" license jump with them. At about 100 jumps he started jumping a camera and at just over 200 jumps did video for several tandems, all people related to us, or friends. With 200+ jumps, I still wouldn't even ask to jump with a tandem cuz I'm a flailer on occasion Rhonda PP ASEL

I got my PPL last May too (after skydiving for 5 years) - I would do that first, before the ultralight or parachute thingy if given the choice. However (and a BIG HOWEVER it is), the others are correct in that the other ways are cheaper. You have to be extremely committed to getting a PPL cuz it drains your wallet (even worse than skydiving if you can believe that!!!). It probably doesn't really matter though cuz I want to do an ultrlight intro. in the spring too - a guy I worked with owns one and he loves it - though I think for me they're too restrictive (fuel capacity, landing sites, etc.) - I like to be able to jump in the plane and fly over to the DZ - the guy I worked with basically flies in circles and goes back to his ultralight strip...Let us know what it's like if you do it. Rhonda PP ASEL

Just my opinion - you're entitled to your own Maybe if we made it through more than 15 minutes of the film, it would have gotten better, right? Rhonda PP ASEL