Feeblemind

Elvis, I am very new to the sport so i will not presume to tell anyone how to utilize skydiving as a fund raiser. However with that said I just held a very large raffle that made approximately $15,000 for a remote control club I belong to. Raffles are difficult at best, first you need to get the donations of items that sky divers would want and would be willing to spend money on for the opportunity of winning, have tickets printed, market the tickets and then actually hold the drawing (having the drawing at a boogie at your home DZ would be best). Good Luck, Phil Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

Well what i am getting from the feedback and privat PM is as follows. 1) in the beginning Listen, learn, ask questions follow directions and double gear checked before boarding the aircraft. 2) Upon exit ARCH!!! relax and do as instructed by your coaches. 3) Relax and deal with any unforeseen event promptly (have plan before you exit, trying to figure it out at velocity is a bad idea) 4 Fly the canopy as coached, don't let the canopy fly you. Follow all instructions from coaches regarding turns for final approach....Low turns can equal pain or worse. Fy the canopy within your ability. 5) Repeat steps 1-4 until qualified for solo student jumps. 6) be Anal when it comes to your gear checks, if you don't it might be your second to last mistake, your last will be the exit with a gear problem. So is that a pretty simple assessment? Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

Gravity, First off thanks for not posting a positive response (it really made sense)!! JP, you most likely took me on my 1st jump.....It was last week and you were visiting your old DZ am I right???? I forgot cash and gave you my last DV tape (I will makethat right BTW) SO I am getting from what you all are saying that if you? 1) Go to class listen and learn... 2) Follow safety guidelines...to the letter 3) Be smart enough to ask (you're a noob, what should you really know) pack, ADD etc.. are proper prior to boarding the plane. 4) (Most mportant.. Mouth closed, ears open and no such thing as a dumb question. 5) jump with safe equipment (i.e. a reputable companies rental gear that is inspected by someone you trust). I should e realitively safe? Feed Back appreciated. Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

....my pal says you're dead when you leave the aircraft,, you have to save your own life along the way..... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- how dramatic...!!!... well your friend is Wrong!! If he believes this then he is either just quoting what he's heard,( quite unoriginal [, unmerciful, unresolved, unrestrained, unreasonably, unregulated, unreasonable] ) ,,,or he is just SCARED!!!! First of all maybe I spoke out of context. What my mate meant is that when you exit the aircraft if you do nothing (absent an ADD) you're gonna splat, if you encouter some type of in-fall incident and do nothing you splat etc... I think he basically meant you have to be aware of your surroundings and be prepared to deal with the unexpected, if not the consequences are quite severe. As far as him being scared?! He is one of the most intelligent, common sense and safety conscious individuals on the planet!! With that said I would never tell or presume that he is scared of anything (I am not in need of an ass whipping). With that said, he has explained to me today that as you progress and become more aggressive in your skills most folks take more severe risks (i.e. Swooping, hook turns etc...) and these optional items can result in pain or a memorial. He was also very specific on listening to instructors and as the other fellar said "open your ears and shut your yap" doing this will result in knowledge. My biggest concern is equipment failure. He took time with me today and removed his chute from the pack explaining all the components in great detail, and when I say great detail i mean almost to the manufacturing specs! He also explained a few of the malfunctions that can occur during deployment (my greatest concern). He explained horse shoes, hook -n- toe and line twists. He also mention the one where you pull and the device that is supposed to deploy the container fails to do so and is directly behind you in the slip stream (I forgot the name). He said that is very rare, but I must admit it's the one that concerns me the most. Due to the fact I am rather stocky with little flex ability I doubt I could reach back and give it a yank. It basically would give me the option of popping the reserve which my understanding is inherently dangerous with this type of malfunction. All I am doing is seeking knowledge to make an educated decision on whether or not to pursue the investment, time, energy and dedication of this sport. Please do not insult my friend (well actually several folks) for my poor choice of explanation on the exit statement. my main concern is the safety of the equipment. I guess I am looking for some type of reassurance that if I am safe (i.e. follow all packing, donning , jumping and deploying procedures that I will have to make the mistake that will result in rapid stop trauma. Sorry if I sound scared, but with one jump I think I should be. Feed back appreciated. Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked

Hey All, I just made my first tandem jump last week and enjoyed the heck out of it after I got over the terror of jumping from a perfectly good aircraft. I have a good friend that jumps frequently and invited me to the DZ where he new he would get me to jump. Well with that said, I am in an odd spot. Being married with two children and a type "A" personality I research stuff carefully. Where as I enjoyed the skydive and am considering getting a license. My friend directed me to this site and told me to check it out. Well of course I went straight to the incidents forum and read about this years fatalities and it has taken away some of my desire to continue. It concerns me on reading the posts of the injuries/fatalities of the new sky divers. I consider my self to have pretty good common sense (which makes me wonder why I want to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft, hehe) but it seems the only thing that can prepare you for most of the incidents I read was experience. More often than not I want to do things in the safest possible manner, is this the sport for me? My pal says your dead when you leave the aircraft and you have to save your own life along the way. Again it seems like experience is the best tool here but getting it is the risky part. The DZ I did my tandem and would train at is VERY safety minded, am I just being a sissy? I guess the number I would really like to see is the number of fatalities in relation to the number of sky dives. Thanks, Fire Safety Tip: Don't fry bacon while naked