FFAddict

Like i said in the last thread, the deal if you have that sort of money is pritty good. It does work out at a lot per jump (around $50) but you do get a lot of coaching, use of equipment... that you would not usually get. The problem that most people have with the course is that you can get most of the 'extras' for free at your local DZ. If you want to learn to pack and maintain gear most DZ will teach you for free. IF you want to learn to learn work manifest im sure that no DZ is going to turn you away if you just offer to work for free. In my opinion if you want to work in the industry and you have the money this is probably a good way to start. But if your prepared to take a bit more time learning you will beable to learn just as much and get in more jumps by volunteering at a DZ without spending a fortune, which you can instead use to invest in gear. And one thing to remember is that even after you do the course (if you do it) your still not going to be employable as a coach... so you will probably end up doing a bit of packing and the rest of time fueling panes and sweeping up until you get your numbers up

Mine was pritty simple actually. I sent my forms off got my card back in three days, although my name was spelt wrong! I called them and was told i could jump with the poor spelling but they would send out anotherone which i had in two days. When you concider that it had to go through the post so many times 5 days to get my membership is pritty impressive i thought. Although i did do it befor easter so i missed the rush

I have to agree that doing AFF at your local DZ is a must. I did AFF in Sebastian and i totally fell in love with it. The DZ is fantastic and i met people who i know would be happy to see me (or my group) come back. And i would definately advise anybody to go there whether its for AFF if you can already jump. But since getting back to the UK i definately feel like i have missed out on really getting to know people at my now home DZ (Hinton). Dont get me wrong everybody i have met there is really nice but it is much harder to make friends as a qualified jumper than it is when everyjump is a beer jump. In my experience qualifed jumpers (from just off AFF to 'skygods') love talking to excited newbies because it reminds them of when they started and all that newbie excitment definately rubbs of on all those around you. If i could do it all again i would do AFF at my home DZ then travel, but saying that i dont think i would want to change my experience in sebastian because it was so amazing... i guess its a hard decion

Welcome back! Personally i would just do AFF, you have not gone far enough down your original AFF course for the wind tunnel to be that beneficial in my opinion. If you have the money for the tunnel as well as AFF and you want to do it then i would wait until jump 5/6 when your doing turns... and then get tunnel time in to practice your moves

I know that the site says that they take you from first jump to qualified to work but befor you decide that this is going to be your career i would at last get in a jump or two, after all you might hate it. (i am assuming you empty profile means you have no jumps) My personal oppinion is that the course looks good, if expensive. Infact if i can find the money i am seriously concidering doing it myself. But there are a lot of differing opinions on this course. If you do a search of the forums (which everybody will tell you to do, as this has been talked about befor) you will find threads from people who have done this course befor. Some of them loved it and would advise you to do it, others will tell you not to waste your money and to spend it getting your jump numbers up and just learn all you can from you local DZ and then apply for jobs. In the end you will have to read all the info on here, the NZ school site and if possible talk to people at your DZ and decide for yourself Good luck what ever you decide to do Edit: As far as i know age is not a factor in doing the course, and it definately isnt a factor in getting work!

You will have to pay tax regardles of price if it is being sent over to the uk (post, courier...) it think you have to pay 20%, but that may have changed. On second hand stuff the amount of tax you have to pay is calculated from the price you pay for the goods (as you would expect!). But in practice they only know how much you have paid because the seller will have to fill out the amount when they send it. So if you know them (as in its not a shop) you can get them to fill out a lesser value and as such you pay less tax. But you must remember that this amountr is also used for insurance purposes so if anything goes wrong in transit you wont get all your money back Edit: just to add if you get sombody to bring it over with them they can just say its there and they are going to be jumping and you pay no tax. Im sure you realise this already but i thought i would state the obvious to be sure

yep that sounds like my gear! Was it you laughing at me with Matt for posting pics on here?

My name is stephen, ive just ordered an Icon with a pilot main

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welcome to DZ.com and congratulations on passing AFF Weston is just down the road from my DZ so im sure ill see you around enjoying the lovely british jumping weather

I live in North west london (Ruislip) wondered if there are many other jumpers near me. I have been jumping at Hinton since i passed AFF in sebastian and would like to get to know who, if anybody, from Hinton lives close

Just a couple of questions for all you current or past tunnel instructors (skyventure,bodyflight....any really) How did you get into being an instructor, did you apply for advertised jobs, become a tunnel bum and just get offered a job... and at what tunnel How much experience, if any, did you have in both skydiving and tunnel time when you started?

Welcome to to DZ.com and Hinton (my home DZ too) Your profile says your a student in cheltenham, are you going to glouster uni? im not just being nosey my best friend is there at the moment

drop in some time! Sounds like a road trip to peterlee for a weekend will have to be put in the diary for the summer

To start with i dunno about twice the price of the US but it is going to be expensive without a doubt. I have only had the opportunity of one tunnel session (im kind of noob too) but i am totally convinced it is worth every penny. Whether your a 'sky god' with thousands of jumps or a noob like me it is a safe, warm (helpfull in the UK) environment in which you can practice every little movement on a comparatively short period of time. I for one cant wait for it to open, so i can spend some more money i dont have in the tunnel as well as in the sky

He is right that being a brit will make you very popular in the states and being a girl will make you popular at DZ's worldwide (we dont see many skydive chiks). All around gd for you really :-) But seriously how small do americans think the UK is talking about the london underground, your from newcastle ffs!!

Is that just personal experience or are you actually part of the tunnel world?

This post put a smile on my face. Skydiving, especially boogies, involves camping and sometime sleeping in cars so showers come in handy! But you do get the odd person who lands in a ditch and needs to clean up aswell!

Why for example can you not use a RW suit for FF?

i just wanna say im really likin the [N] think for noob questions

My weight is 210, my exit weight is more like 240! so the wingloading 1.3:1 was correct. I began jumping nav 230 then downsized to a fury 210 and have now done a number of jumps on a pilot 188 and i was very comfortable with it. The instructors at my DZ seem happy for me to be jumping it and by the time my gear arrives (8-12 weeks) i will be on closer to 100 jumps anyway.

Do you think that a wing loading of 1.3:1 will be a problem? Ive done a few demo jumps on this set up and i was fine

I think you must have crystal balls or something i am looking at the i6 and pilot 188! I way about 15 stone, 95KG or 210 pounds dependig on how you look at it, i know how people seem to get very confused if you dont spell it out for them

freekflyguy please dont think i dont appreciate that you are only trying to give advice to an obviously less experienced skydiver because i do. But i have spoken to many skydivers, instructors and, although they wanna make money, people in my DZ shop and i have decided that with the container and canopy size i am getting i will not only get my moneys worth but i also have the option of downsizing canopy at a later stage without changing my container. This may be a bit of a noob decision but its what i have decided to do. Anyway back to the threads subject, what do you guys think of the green in this container? i think it looks quite cool but im not sure what it would be like on the real thing

I am seriously thinking about it. I am too inexperienced to work as an instructor as i would like to do, but i think if i get working there even just on sales then in time then when positions come up ill be in witha better chance. Well at least ill live in hope