Sky15

Yes it's a MB handle from what he said, and he made the rig. I haven't seen one for a long time either. If the harness is that small it may not fit anyway, we'll see. I suppose if I really like the rig and it fits I may be tempted, just hate to be the only one around with one, silly as that may seem. I was just hoping others were out there. Thanks for the replies.

Have you seen any very small harnesses where the manufacturer used a Martin Baker reserve handle in recent years? The manufacturer made used it in order to make the harness very small. Not sure if it will fit yet, but just wondering if I decide to get this rig if I'll be the only person in the world with a MB handle. My rigger husband insists they are being used on xsmall harnesses now, but I haven't really noticed one or looked to see.

I know of someone (my husband jumped with her) that had gloves on and still lost her finger when it caught where the ring was, so even gloves don't make it 100% safe. I always leave my ring and all jewelry at home.

Mine was a small girl on I think a Level 2. She had a slightly harder pull on a ripcord, came straight out to the side and broke my goggles when she hit me. Funny thing we really hadn't ever had hard pulls on that equipment, and she had just asked about a hard pull situation before the jump. Of course we discussed it but I also told her "we never have hard pulls on this equipment". Guess never say never, maybe I jinxed myself. Because I have short arms I do fly tight and at times tend to get bumped a bit on occasion during practice touches but nothing bad. Edited to add: The only other time I've ever been hit hard was on a ride through and reserve side. Well into opening after a PC hesitiation (again r/c, and big guy with a big burble). He got funny with his feet and as he was being pulled away I got his foot directly under my face. Thankfully I was already sitting up some so it was more of a glancing blow, but it knocked me back several feet and my husband (main side) started to come after me til he knew I was ok. Got it on video, and it was my 1,000th jump. Well I guess it's memorable! My husband told me to always keep an eye on their feet as well during ride through.

I am a short female, and used to have an A-14 OJ Javelin rig and have a small harness Dolphin now that I think is even a tad smaller than 14. Looking at a reflex, R450 with "small harness, 14.5". Would that fit me or be too big? I can buy it and return if it doesn't work but I'd be out shipping both ways, might be worth the gamble but was hoping someone here could offer an opinion on the harness size, or the the reflex 450 fits compared to a Dolphin or Javelin?

You already know my thoughts to you..but to add them here I'm so sorry for your situation. And I hope they can do something to alleviate your pain. Please update after your appointment. More healing thoughts coming your way..

Wow! I had a friend that probably weighed 190ish with gear that had terminal opening on his 120 reserve, think he did have bit of landing issue if I remember right, but not hurt seriously.

Yes we've all been there, I know it's frustrating. But do go and complete your ground school. Besides, the weather forecasters are often wrong, and since you planned to be there several days, you might get a window of good weather to jump. If you don't go, there is 100% chance you will NOT jump. If you are at the dz, there is always a chance.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I was given the option to keep teaching the FJCs, but I know I would end up doing some jumps. I am still physically able, it's just painful and difficult. Also considered coaching but would have to do floating and that's something I do try to avoid. But thanks for the thoughts! Edited to add: I will still do a 2 way with a low timer anytime, that hasn't changed of course. But it's not the same as AFF.

I still have my rating and I guess I'll never say never, but I decided in the past 2 months to retire from taking students due to pain issues with my wrists. Basically I have severe tendonitis that surgery didn't totally fix, steriod shots no longer help, and strong antiinflammatories keep to managable pain. I'm a small framed woman and have to dig my small hands down into the big student leg straps to get a grip, and just doing that prior to climbout recently had me wincing in pain. So I figured it was time to retire. My entire career has been about taking students, I wanted to teach from day one. I started in 1991, got my static line rating in 1992, and got my AFF rating in 1994, been teaching ever since, though not as much with having 2 babies along the way. But my wrists can't take doing AFF for even one day, just a few jumps is painful, especially if they kick/flail or don't give an exit count. When I fun jump I avoid floating or launching if I can, and present wrist grips when possible instead of taking them if there might be much tension. God I miss it so much already, I don't know how I'll ever adjust to only doing occasional fun jumps. I can't afford to compete or do anything else either. I loved AFF so much I was one that needed it to help pay for my fun jumps but would have done it for free if I was rich. I hope to have more surgery in the future but obviously can't count on it doing enough. The tendonitis happened from lifting two kids too much, but 12 years of AFF probably hasn't helped either. If anyone else has had to retire from teaching, I'd like to hear about it. How did you adjust, how long did it take you?

I'm really pathetic...don't get out much. In my 15 years of jumping, only 4 states (TX, OK, FL, NC) and about 10 drop zones, 7 in TX, plus a few demos. FL and NC were in the same year for WWR events about 12 years ago and that's the last time I traveled. I pretty much just worked doing students and never had the funds to travel to boogies. With having 2 small kids now, not sure when/if I'll get to travel again, but I'd like to in the next few years, maybe to a big way event.

My husband took one twice (same guy). He also is a rigger, and he did some extra rigging with the man in the harness, so it took a long time before and after (to get him out). All went fine and my husband is the MOST safety concious skydiver I know and I have no doubt this passenger was safe. PM me if you want details from him I can have him email you. I jumped with this man on his first jump and still have video and after their landing it was amazing. This man said after yelling with excitement almost brought us to tears as he said he "felt like he could walk" at that moment. It was truly wonderful. They did plan to just sit down in the peas for landing with two of us there to help support the TI. They ended up easily standing up. This student was incredible and climbed a ladder with his arms and got into the Queen Air with no assisitance. They were a little head low part of the skydive (also he jumped a Vector rig) but it wasn't a factor really but just so know you that could happen, I did decide to dock my husband's ar.m instead of the passenger though due to the position. This guy had just stumps for legs, not much at all. It can be done safely but needs to be done with the right TI and some extra "rigging" on the harness.

Thanks Sqeak. He did it right, it's the new visor that's a problem. You can see it is not the same exactly. I emailed sky systems and they said it can get warped during shipping and be too tight and they are sending me another one. Guess I'll wear the dirty old one a bit longer, no biggie.

I also used Zyban, wonderful stuff. Take it and KEEP smoking until the cigs taste bad, happens within about a week. Then quit. It makes it easier as you know if you smoke one you won't enjoy it, it's like you don't even get anything from it but a bad taste. And keep taking the Zyban for at lest 3 months! That along with some hard candy, etc. for the hand/mouth fixation worked great for me. At the same time, my husband quit with NOTHING for help cold turkey after 30+ years of smoking! The doc will do a blood test before you start to ensure you aren't prone to seizures I think. Another good thing about Zyban, it's not nicotine. Which is good but it also means if you are still struggling you could put on a patch as well. I may have done that the first weekend at the dz, can't remember. Good luck whatever you decide. It's tough but worth it. Can't believe it's been over 6 years now since we quit. I'll be pulling for ya!

My husband put a new visor on my Oxygen (regular, not the A3) and for some reason it will NOT open/flip up. It's obvious it's a tighter fit since I can't even get my finger/thumb in that front opening part as well. Not a huge deal since I never flip it up, but still I like having that option should it ever really fog up on me and I am doing some high altitude jumps next weekend. We are trying to just leave the new one on for a few days and see if it just gets better on it's own somehow like molds to a better shape, if not we'll just put the old dirty one back on I guess. When he put the old one back on to continue to mess around trying to check adjustments that one worked fine. Any idea what the problem is? It is a small Oxygen if that matters. He thinks there is some very slight (like 1/4 inch difference in the two visors, but it's hard to tell for sure I think). Basically if he tries to adjust it a different way it doesn't work (flips up too easily, etc.). This was a sky systems lens that as far as I can tell should work, looks the same. Appreciate any input. Thanks!

Lucky you with that build. I'm opposite, short 5'3" and weigh about 138 pounds. Also tend to fly with an arch and fall fairly fast. I have two types of suits I've always used for 12+ years of AFF. One is a regular RW suit (not a lot of wing, but not a lot of spandex either and has booties - of course I never jumped booties til I had about 1000 jumps) and a crater body sport suit, basically a very baggy suit, no booties. I used the crater suit the most over the years for any release dives unless they were very fast students, or for small and some "medium" sized students. ETA: Even with your build I'd recommend you have a slower suit on hand and jump it some, and have weights. You will get students at opposite ends of the spectrum and although you should have good range with your build and experience, it makes it easier to have more than one suit. AFF's can redefine your definition of "slow" fall rate. Also, if you haven't ever flown a bigger/baggy suit it may seem funny at first, it did to me.

Haven't ever owned an AAD in my 15 years of jumping, so obviously doesn't bother me to not have one. However, this is about YOU and what you feel comfortable doing. But remember that rental gear, depending on the sizes available, may not fit that well, and I assume not as good as your own container. For me, borrowing gear (with or without an AAD) would make me more unsettled since I wear a very small harness. I don't think a Cypress is a bad thing..but I do think people should not feel dependent on them to the point they just can't jump comfortably without one, but that's only my opinion. This is about you and your jumps. If not having an AAD is going to bother you that much then you should probably rent the other gear. Have fun this weekend!

Mine (US) was "War" by Edwin Star (1970 chick here)

As far as canopy control: You also don't need to construct an arrow out of materials. For many years we always made an arrow using our bodies and canopies after we landed. In other words, where my body is in relation to my stretched out canopy, my body is the arrow. Doesnt matter which way I face, if I am standing east of my canopy, student goes East. This has worked for many years without fail, they know both JM's main canopy colors in case one of us has a reserve ride. Plus radios do fail! This plus nice training on canopy control is BETTER than a radio IMO, as the student tends to learn more rather than just following radio commands (they often don't look at the ground enough with a radio). ETA: Using the above method, my husband can get students landing within a few feet of him regularly and still assist with the flare. I can get them in the same field close enough to yell it. Of course they are trained to do that themselves withouth help. So I guess the only possible downside is you need to land out in the student landing area to assist the best.

Congrats on 28 years! I think the old pic of my husband (Bobby) is the youngest looking I've ever seen him, what a hoot. Thanks for sending us the pics. I didn't even recognize Bryce at first in the old one. Cindy

Always stay on your toes. My worst AFF experience was a Level 7 gone bad, something you don't just expect to happen by that level. I think it's gets pretty nongender in the air for the most part. Enjoy yourself!!!

Almost always dated older guys, was mature for my age and didn't care for less mature guys (too much "me me me" usually). Last guy I dated before marrying was 18 years older than me, and my husband is also 18 years older than me. Of course, I feel like the more mature one usually.

I also am shocked to hear of someone with quite a few jumps that does not actually know how to pack. Personally I find that pathetically sad and can't understand how any skydiver would be ok with not knowing how to pack their own rig, even if they chose to rarely do it themselves. I prefer to pack for myself (which is good since I can't ever afford a packer anyway) and actually dislike the fact that when I am doing AFF jumps at a busy dz I basically have to have a packer due to the pace and to help get the next student ready or debrief the last one while we are on a 20 min. call after landing. For fun jumps I always pack my own. In 15 years I've only had a handful of pack jobs done by packers and that was during the working jumps at that busy dz, and once during world record attempts one year so I could take a few quick breaks. I can see how teams use packers for quick turns, but again, everyone should know how to do it themselves and actually do it on occasion IMO. Edited to add: Of course when I started jumping we rarely if ever had packers around, and as instructors we all had to not only pack our rigs but our students rigs as well.

I've had similar phases, especially since after having kids I don't even have the option of doing a team or traveling, etc. One night I went with my stepson on his first night jump and I hadn't done a night jump in 10 years probably, so that was pretty invigorating and fun. I did a couple more night jumps soon after and that did help renew a spark for me. Now I find that I am looking foward to a local annual RW event (semi big RW formations) and that helps motivate me to stay current. I don't have the time or money to jump every weekend, and since I'm a stay at home mom I don't have the weekday commute you have, so I really love driving to the dz with the radio up with no kids in the car. I also do AFF students occasionally. Have you considered getting a rating if you don't have one? Unless you are working all the time (which can lead some to burnout eventually) it keeps things pretty exciting since you never know what a student is going to do in freefall. Also, you've made a lot of jumps in just a few years so another short layoff or just slow pace for a bit won't hurt either.

4 cutaways and reserve rides in 1550 jumps First around jump #200ish - spinning mal Second was a premature deployment while I was sit flying . About 5 or 6K on a solo bag just came up between my legs, lines wrapped around both ankles briefly. Got out of it, but main wasn't going to work..that was the FIRST jump of the day at an all day prepaid boogie bought for me. Third was a spinning mal/slider hangup due to just learning to propack and not asking a question when I was unsure as we were packing to leave the demo..always ask questions! On that cutaway I had opened with a friend at 7K to do some CRW, so I messed with it for a while but no luck. Last one was another spinning mal in the Cayman Islands at sunset. That was was a bad main, it had been having problems with opening since I got it and when I sent it back to the manufacturer they decided to cut the lines off it promptly and I ended up with a different canopy. No RSL's for any of them, but I did have a hard pull on my Reserve after delaying a bit to get stable the last time and got open very low. Didn't want to chop too high near the water, silly me. Edited to add: I also did a few trash bag jumps with a 3rd canopy and cutaway, what a hoot! Once did it with another doing the same, tried to do CRW but too hard, both cutaway simultaneously next to each other, went into freefall, did RW, then tracked and opened our real mains. Big fun.