Orange1

That wasn't meant to be a flame - sorry if it came across that way. And I didn't realise the first 2 jumps were tandem - down here tandems are generally only for those guys who only ever want to make one jump, so I went through a full day of training before my first jump and just made the (wrong) assumption that this happened everywhere, apologies if I inadvertendly offended anyone Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

you've done 2 jumps... weren't you taught about why low turns are dangerous during training? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

another naive newbie comment no doubt, but wtf is "cool" about not following basic safety procedures in a sport like this? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

i've seen some posts where people seem quite scathing of smaller DZ operations, but the more I read the happier I am that i'm learning at a small DZ with a small plane! I've never once had the experience of asking a pro something and being treated like an idiot, even though some of the questions have probably seemed really dumb to anyone with more than 10 jumps

a newbie question re the chest strap comment ... on my DZ, everyone gets checked out... students by instructors, experienced jumpers by each other ... i've seen the CCI stopping & checking an experienced jumper about to board the plane because he'd seen the guy had not got himself checked out... is this not standard practice everywhere, that everyone has to be checked out BEFORE being allowed to board? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

admittedly... i'ma newbie and haven't seen the videos you mention ... but i have had a couple of awful exits (we jump out of a small cessna and i had one where i got spun 360 degrees by the propwash) but the worst result has always been line twists, easy enough to get out of... what were the factors involved in these 'scary' exits? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

will do - will only be in a few weeks though - about to go on holiday overseas for 2 weeks (am I excited? NO!! All I can think is that's 2 weekends away from the DZ...) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Erik the Viking?

ok boss, done

I'm doing S/L progression at a small DZ... considered switching to AFF to speed things up at one stage but have decided that the slower progression actually works better for me. I'm now at the stage where I'm reasonably comfortable exiting and flying the canopy and feel more able to start concentrating more on freefall skills and tasks, because I don't have too much to deal with all at once. I also like the small DZ because with an uncrowded sky and landing area you have a bit more leeway to make small errors in where you fly/land than with a big one...more confidence for learning without feeling you are stuffing everyone else up. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

lol - when I have a decent profile I'll fill one out - i.e. when I move off student rigs

Having been exposed to paragliding before, I have considered skydiving to be extremely safe. Well, it is - for an extreme sport. I learnt on the weekend that you can follow all the rules, and things can still go wrong. Luckily, there are more rules for when they do! On my 9th jump, everything had been going fine, I saw the wind was a bit turbulent on base leg but didn't think much of it - till I turned for final and got a major end cell collapse which spun me around about 120 degrees before I could react! From setting up for a perfect landing, I found myself now set up for a pretty fast downwind landing, but having already lost height during the incident I decided I was too low to try turn back into the wind... turned slightly to avoid some trees and had a rather hard landing but got away with a couple of bruises... my chief instructor said I made the right decision but I learnt a very important lesson: never, ever get complacent about what you're doing until you are safely on the ground. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

The guys on my DZ say most students get some "block" at first... once they're over it progression goes smoothly... I also had problems with my arch on first few jumps but the last few have been perfect

Hi again - I'm from sunny South Africa and jump at Skydive Citrusdal - a magic location Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Hi all... student skydiver, 10 jumps, planning to do this for the rest of my life! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.