Cayce

Congrats Emel, it just keeps getting better!

Thanks Wrong Way, I agree, backtracking without a reference may not be getting me where I think I'm going. I started off on a flat track, then rolled about half way through the estimated 15 seconds. The really cool thing was that once I rolled I saw the plane again and could keep an even heading using the plane as a reference and pressure on the arms to steer while playing with arch/de-arch for fall rate. That's why I liked the idea of tracking off immediately upon exit.

This last weekend I decided to start moving in the direction of freeflying as a focus as RW really doesn’t turn me on at all. So I put together a quick little set of maneuvers so I could start feeling some of the positions before I start coaching jumps. Just to forestall a flaming, I know I will need personal coaching, and I have access so some of the best, but I want to get a head start with at least some body awareness before I start paying for the coaching so I can maximize the time spent with a coach. So my routine that I made up was to flat track under the plane at 90 degrees to make sure I’m out of anyone’s way, roll to a back track keeping the same heading. I really love tracking dives and I want to develop the back track as I go, and I want to incorporate a back track roll before I pull at some point, so that’s why I incorporated this set. When I felt I was sufficiently off of the flightline (about 15 seconds) I went to back flying and practiced turns and carving left and right. Then I tried to transition to a sit to no avail. Just kind of spun or didn’t quite get up but hey I tried… Anyway, I did this routine for four jumps and it really felt good (flat track, roll to back track, back fly with turns and carve, try to sit) So my question, is this a good start on a freefly training routine? It felt safe as I got out of the flight line and left lots of separation, even being the last out a few times I tracked with the plane, so I felt safe. I have an audible and I stayed alti aware throughout and turned to decelerate with plenty of time to spare. I know I have to start prepping for my B license soon and continue to develop my belly fly skills, so trust me, I haven’t forsaken other skill sets. I just find it gratifying to take a day and do 4 or 5 jumps and run the same routine to train the skills that I aspire to continue with. Any thoughts on the routine or suggestions? And finally, is there any thoughts on the next routine I can work on as I progress? Thanks in advance, and trust me, I’ll check with my coaches, etc…

I had a situation last week where I believe I should have landed out instead of trying to get back into the DZ. After I pulled I realized I was very far out and turned to get back without anything other than a control check. I got back to the starting point of the first leg of the landing pattern around 600ft (400ft lower than is optimum). At that point I had intended to just do a downwind landing as it was a light wind day and I didn't feel I had enough alti to set up in the normal landing pattern. Then two canopies started their final leg and were coming in at me, I didn't want to go head on or mess with their landing pattern so I attempted a flat turn to set up a very short first leg on my pattern. I turned and kept out of their way, got back into the wind, but lost alti and speed/lift because of the 180 flat turn. I ended up loosing vertical much faster than I anticipated and had a hard landing on the runway of all places. Granted, it was the unused far end of the runway, but it was a hard landing none the less. I got some road rash on the knees and a bit of a bone bruise on my heal. I had boots on so no ankle or knee issues, and I did an okay plf, though not really great. Anyway, the gist of my post is that first, knowing that I was the last out on the drop run, I should have pulled just a little higher so I had more time to make it back. Because I knew it was going to be difficult given the long spot. Second, I should have done a better job of scoping out my out landing, and should have anticipated that the other canopies would have been a traffic hazard which would complicate my fall back plan of a down wind landing against traffic at the LZ. Had I thought that far ahead I would have set up on a known out landing spot that I passed over at 1000ft. And finally I under estimated the effects of a flat turn on speed and lift. I had done them high up and felt I understood the principals. Yet I didn't know how it might affect my landing on a low wind day with an increased vertical decent. (If I misconstrued any of the lessons I invite re-direct so I can better learn from the situation) So, not to highjack the thread, I would definitely say in retrospect that an out landing would have been a better choice.

Yeah, I feel like I cruised through it in just about 3 months to an A. I guess that's one of the bennefits of living in SoCal as we jump full loads all year round. I forget that most of the country freezing right now. Congrats Emel!

Hey, thanks for the encouragement. It really does feel like the journey begins now. I have so much to work on from packing to landing and everything in between, there is so much to learn and become proficient with that I'll be busy for a long time to come. Right now I just want to be safe and start to build some skills so others will feel comfortable jumping with me and I can continue to learn. Thanks again.

Got my A license this weekend…Whoohooo! It’s been an interesting ride. I jumped first with my wife on AFF having never done a tandem and it was her idea to do it for our birthdays. I did AFF 1 at Perris and then finished up my AFF at San Diego. I had a line-over on AFF 2 and cut away successfully, kept my handles and stood my reserve landing. I had to re-do AFF-4 because of a consistent unintentional spin. I did some time in the Perris wind tunnel to work out my body position. Then came back and banged out 4,5,6 on the same day. I finished off my AFF and then jumped in Perris and Ellsinore because of weather holds at San Diego. I got my own rig at jump 20 and took a packing class with an essentially brand new Saber2-230. Hell of a day that was…trying to cram that slippery ball of snot into the D-bag. I took my A-license check out dive at 27 and got fruit-looped by one of the instructors who I’ve jumped with the most. That really made my day as it was a strange feeling of acceptance (call me strange…) and then I paid my beer debts at the DZ. So far, with reserve rides and graduations I’m averaging 1 beer day in ten jumps. Just when I thought the costs were going to drop, oh well, it’s all in good company. On Sunday I got the sundown load over San Diego, jumped at 14.5k and had one of the most beautiful free fall tracking dives, while watching the sun slide into the ocean. Magical doesn’t even come close to describing the sensation. Anyway, I just felt like sharing and wanted to say thanks for helping me to feel welcome. I look forward to seeing you at the DZ’s. Blue Skys!

That's my routine, legs, chest, 3 & 3... With the addition of one mor 3, helmet, gogles, alti. the easier the math for me the better so I like the 3s.

Oh come on! No fair leaving it at a junior high inuendo of "I know something you don't know..." Elaborate, what else are you concerned with and what is the sequence of evaluation that you use!

Hey Bill and others, it's great to see that people (DZ AFF programs) are utilizing the video depiction of Mals for AFF and training purposes. I kind of wish my AFF had done that but hey, there's no use worrying about it. I just wanted to point out that it is such a great tool to help people recognize the situation they may find themselves in and describes some of the variables so much better than a 1982 picture of a folded end cell. When you see the videos you really get a sense of the time frame, the visual POV and how definitively people have handled these situations. Honestly, for my line-over, I'm so glad we pulled at 4.5 because it gave me plenty of time (15 sec) to evaluate before my hard deck. Yet as jumpers get out of AFF and find them selves in the lineup on a jump run they will have to pull in the order of people around them or move to the back of the bus and pull with the students. Maybe that's a topic for another thread? Anyway, the point being that the videos helped me in future evaluation of canopy shape/function/malfunction evaluation and I feel better for the viewing them. And, since then, when I find myself in the line-up of people who are pulling at 3k, and I know I have a 500 foot snivel, I realize that I will have to take action fast if there is a problem. That’s fine, I’m ready for that eventuality if it happens, yet I’m glad I saw the videos to help me recognize the myriad of malfunctions that I may experience.

Okay, having recently gone through AFF, and actually having experienced parts of it at two different DZ’s I have a thought. Not wanting to highjack another thread I wanted to voice this opinion as a stand alone thread. I really didn’t get much from the series of malfunction photos that were shown at each DZ (same photos, 2 DZs, BTW) during the AFF program. I had a lineover on AFF-2 which resulted in a cutaway, and I didn’t really recognize it as it was a very dynamic situation which didn’t exactly resemble the picture. So since then I ordered the set of videos from Deland. One of which showed many malfunctions in video format from many angles. I VERY much responded to this and said “Hey, that’s what I had”. I know this can be struck up to how different people process information. Typically people process in an; audio (spoken word), visual (picture) or kinesthetic (feel it, experience it) point of view. Regardless of my predisposition (which BTW is visual with a heavy minor in kinesthetic), the video really helped me understand the Mal much more than the lame ass picture that was shown to me twice in AFF. So, the question/proposition to the community is this: do you think that video malfunctions may be more explanatory than those pictures they show? Do you think that may scare an AFF student? It kind of scared me after the fact but in the long run, and having experienced it, I believe it was beneficial to see a moving picture of a Mal rather than a static shot… Any feedback?

AFF-1, my first jump, the fun jumper accross from me leans in just before exiting and yells, "Dont Fuck UP!"

Totally! I felt so bad for all the Britts and Germans at Perris these last few weeks. They come all the way over here for the infamous Calli sun and they get the biggest storm that we've had since the '97 El Nino.

We can't surf in the rain. In SoCal the run off from the land caries all kinds of toxins into the sea. During a big rainfall like this there's all kinds of stuff just floating around in the shore break. There's no way I would go out there for a week or so after this kind of rain. Otherwise you literally get sick from all the CRAP that's in the water. Looks like tunnel time!

Yeah, okay, I moved to SoCal 8 years ago from Seattle. Didn’t know what I was missing (the sun) since I grew up in Seattle. But after a few years here I will never go back except in summer and spring and only to visit... So this last two weeks have really been bumming me out. I've kind of gone catatonic and I'm flashing back to six months of drizzle like in the NW. AHHHH!!!! MMMAAAKKKEE IITTT STTTOOOOPPPPP!!!! I hope it gets better soon. I've got jumps to make, surf to catch, streets to jog, and all kinds of other outdoor activities that have been hampered by this crud...

We've got it here in Laguna Hills also. My wife had one the other day. I sipped it, VERY intense! You must be a chocolate lover to actually drink this stuff. I kind of wanted to poor it over icecream but heck, what do I know? My wife liked it, I guess that counts for something.

I landed there in '89. You could actually look straight out the planes window and see people hanging their laundry on the balcony of their apartment buildings as we passed by. VERY unnerving.

I wasn’t going to reply to this originally but this kind of goes along the lines of what I was thinking just recently. I don’t know the first thing about PRK so I have no reference in that department. Yet I did have Lasik and about a year later I had a touch up. When I had the touch up the doctor actually was able to dislodge and pull up the cornea flap with a small plastic ‘spatula’. He didn’t make an additional cut, he just pulled up the original cut. Granted, he had to work at it and I doubt it would have come loose by it self. But it really un-nerved me that I had a physical defect that could be dislodged so easily. So flash forward another year and I’m feeling fine in the eye department and not even thinking about it when I start skydiving. Somewhere around my 15th jump when I’m cleared for solo my goggles come loose and I have around 3000 feet of fall with full wind on my eyes as I’m trying to focus on the alti. Everything worked out fine, no problems with my eyes, and I figured out how to make sure my goggles don’t dislodge like that any more. But afterwards I was actually a bit unnerved in that I thought I still might have that ‘physical defect’ and maybe my cornea could have folded up with all of that pressure. Now maybe that’s unfounded and not even a concern but it did flash in to my mind for a while. Having said that, I have never regretted the Lasik. I can serf, swim, work on computers, read, shoot, dive, skydive, and ski with much less concern than I ever did with contacts or blurry vision. It’s just that the slipped goggles reminded me of that plastic spatula…It was probably just psychosomatic, I could probably be fine if I did a dive without goggles, but I’m not going to try it.

It was my wifes idea! She wanted to do it for our 34th birthdays. Tandem seemed lame so we did AFF. She continued up to AFF-4 I kept going am about to get my A. Funny, because it was never on my list of things to do. I catually get scared on roler costers but this it one of the best things I've ever done. Hard to quantify, but it really does give a new perspective on life.

I'm too new to offer advice on how to teach students but I can offer the perspective of the student and tell how I interpreted the teachings when it counted. I had a line over on AFF-2 with a spinning mal that I fought for maybe 1200 feet. I pulled whatever I could get my hands on but it still kept spinning. I watched my altitude get close to my hard deck and then I remembered the criteria for a cut away. “Can I control and land this chute?” As soon as I flashed to the answer I realized I had to cut. So I did and all worked out okay. From the student’s point of view, that single question was a moment of clarity. I didn’t know why the chute was smaller and pinched looking, I didn’t know why I was spinning, but I knew I couldn’t continue with the chute that I had so I went to EP. From the student’s point of view I appreciated the easy equation of deciding to chop or not. As you get more advanced in jump numbers and see more things you may be able to quantify and evaluate a mal at a higher level, yet as a student I just had to ask one question to see if I was going to cut or not. Once asked, and obviously answered, I had no hesitation and I believe that it served me well with the outcome. Just my perspective…

Well, I’ll be packing here pretty soon and I have to say I’m not really looking forward to it. I just took my packing class yesterday at Perris, learned the basics, and managed to do a decent pack job. At least it opened, actually better than any of the student rigs I’ve jumped to date, so I’m happy. This was the first time packing my new/used rig. Okay, it’s used, but it only has 25 jumps on it. So I actually took the packing class with an essentially brand new Sabre2-230. I knew conceptually what I was getting into, but it was even worse than I thought. It was the hardest thing to keep it contained and cram that slippery wad into the bag. So, going forward, I know I have to keep practicing and refining my skills so I can pack and jump this thing. I may do one pack job and pay for four in one day just to get some jumps on this chute and break it in so it’s easier to pack. I will probably continue packing in the student area for a while so they can keep an eye on me and maybe have mercy on me after the fifth failed attempt at bagging the chute. Prep and closing are fine, it’s just getting the damn thing in the bag that sucks right now. Ultimately I plan to pack all the time, I may miss some loads, but at the busier DZ’s there is always another load going up so it’s no big deal. I look at it as an incentive to learn to pack faster, and maybe a cost savings since I won’t get as many jumps in and I won’t be paying a packer. If you see me land in the dirt, it’s on purpose, I’m trying to get my chute dirty…

Hey, thanks to everyone for the positive and supportive feedback. I can see that I’ll probably stop talking about it to my non jumping friends and co-workers at least I’ll just gloss over the specifics and say I jumped and had a good time when asked. Otherwise it just brings up all kinds of questions and concerns that they can’t relate to and they really don’t see why I’m so jazzed about some of the stuff that happens. Like today, it was the ultimate day in jumping so far. My first post AFF solo, followed by four more jumps. On one load I was the last one in the plane being a belly flyer and pulling at 4.5k. So I did a running dive out of the door. How f---ing cool is that to have ran and dived out of an air plane door! I just don’t see explaining that one to the co-workers… I don’t think I’ll be going for the ‘danger guy’ thing at work. I happen to work with my wife, who has done four jumps with me, so I don’t think it would go over well with her, LOL. I think you’re all just right that I need new friends… See you at the DZ.

Okay, here goes. I'm a new student, just out of AFF and about to start my solo and coach jumps on the way to an A license. I started jumping with my wife, actually it was her idea, she decided it wasn’t for her so she stopped around AFF 4, yet I’ve continued and plan to keep doing it, all with her understanding and approval. Yet I’m finding it hard to explain to my whuffo friends. They seriously think I’m nuts for all the reasons you’ve heard before. Three of my co-workers have sent me Christian oriented links on e-mail after I expressed some of my feelings and excitement about jumping. It’s almost like they think I have a death with or no faith or somehow it offends them. I’ve only experienced this in terms of surfing where most people think that a surfer is just doing a self indulgence by surfing and that some how offends the rest of the world. The difference being that the whuffos don’t think surfers are trying to kill them selves… So what’s the deal? Do I just have to stop talking about my weekend activities with my co-workers and non-jumping friends? Is this a separation phase that others have gone through? It’s just a little un-nerving that the thing that turns me on the most is something that none of my friends/co-workers can relate to. Anyone else gone through this and have some advise for me?

Hi Lori, I think you and I were watching the instructor training together at Perris last weekend. I'm the AFF-4 that went in-between the instructor rounds. That sure was crazy how how the real instructors made it so difficult for those in training. Kind of reminded me of the rodeo and watching them wrestle a calf to the ground. Cheers

You can see my jump numbers so take this for what it's worth