Andy9o8

Perhaps you were bitten by a vampire bat. Wear garlic cloves around your neck to bed.

Oh that was YOU? Sorry.

Being back in the 7th grade and walking into school in my underwear. You know, like in the dreams. (You all have that dream, too, right?)

Hopefully you've developed some judgment by 100 jumps. You may not be "experienced" yet, but you're hardly a rank beginner, either. Even with 2 years off, you should be able to do your own gut check on whether you need that student canopy for 1 or 2 recurrency jumps, or can jump your own canopy right away, starting off conservatively of course.

It's a matter of perspective. If you pack your own main & it mals, it's your packing. If a packer packs your main & it mals, it's your body position. All joking aside, I echo the other replies: packers bust their asses in the heat; they take their responsibility very seriously, and feel shitty when a canopy they've packed mals. Nobody forces you to use a packer. Students should learn how to pack ASAP. If you do use packers, tip them well.

By coincidence, there's an active thread on landing in corn in Safety & Training: Clicky

Aw, that's easy. The corn is as high as an elephant's eye. Flare around ear level.

So what the hell are you still doing in the plane? My first 5 S/L's (in 1975) were "maybe" 2,500. My first jump, looking out an OPEN airplane door for the first time in my life, 2,500 feet of nothing but air between me and the ground did not seem low at all. 1st freefall, a hop 'n pop was 3,500. 5 second delays, 4,000. 10 second delays, 4,500. When I went to 20 second delays from 5,500, it was so cool to be up that high! From there, the average jump altitude, even for RW, was 30 seconds from 7,500. Great story, man, terrific narrative! Welcome to the new millennium!

I couldn't agree more. And I find that that positive attitude can be very difficult to get newer students in particular to accept and internalize; they often consider any AFF level jump that has to be repeated as a "failure". Some just refuse to accept the idea that there is no such thing as a "failed" training jump. They may then take that attitude with them as self-supervising newbies and get very frustrated with progressing slower than they think they should. I'm not an instructor; but IMHO what makes a good coach (or instructor)? One who not only passes on good skills, but also the right attitude. Seems like you're doing just that!

Commercial airline pilots wouldn't be allowed to do this for obvious reasons of safety. Same goes for long disctance commercial tractor-trailer drivers. Why should this logic not apply to tandem instructors? This is a good example of how we need to regulate ourselves before "someone" steps in to regulate us. I'm not a TI, but it seems logical to me that if a TI jumps a passenger while exhausted, the safety level is less than optimal.

Thanks for your post! Please help us learn from this incident by posting some of the details.

Your pics gave me vertigo and I almost barfed. Thanx alot.

I’m not going to argue semantics. This isn’t about semantics, it’s about attitude. I can’t force you to have a positive attitude, any more than I can force you to listen to someone else’s experience; you have to want it. I can tell you that attitude often defines the playing field, and negativity is very infectious.

....if you're within driving distance of a tunnel. If you're not, better factor in the cost of airfare and a motel.

OINK! ------------------ Seriously, guy, if you're asking us the question, you already know the answer. 5 days? Get your ass to the doctor already. The worst that can happen is he removes your appendix by mistake. You didn't need it anyway.

My concern with this and several similar threads is this constant fixation I see here with students thinking they “failed” an AFF level. I wish to hell students would stop thinking in terms of “success” or “failure” on their training jumps. Training is just that – training, a learning process. With the possible exception of a license check dive (and maybe even not there, either), there is no “failure” in a student jump, unless you femur or bounce or hurt or endanger someone else. “I was devastated...”; “I was mortified...”; “I failed AFF-4!!!”. Sorry, but that’s not the right mentality. You don’t “fail” a student training jump, you simply did not achieve all the goals you had set for that jump. But you’re still jumping; you’re still learning; you’re still getting experience being in that new medium – the sky. Different people take different amounts of time to train for anything new. This is the greatest time of your life. Enjoy it!

Tunnel time is a great teaching tool at all levels, but there are only a few in all of North America. Closest ones to you would probably be Pigeon Forge, TN or Orlando, FL. There's talk of building one near you, in New Jersey, but so far that's just talk. You might want to do a Google search for "Skyventure".

That is so true. In 30 years the "new kids" will be referring to ram-air canopies as "those old death rigs", while the "old-timers" (the ones born way back in the 1980's) will be saying, “Yeah, the landable wing suits and retro-rocket skyboards changed this damned sport forever. Why, when I was your age, you needed a PARACHUTE to survive a skydive...”

Somebody with 5 or 10 fewer jumps than me Seriously? I know this - the longer I'm in the sport, the more I realize how much I still have to learn.

If you store it in your fridge that will keep it nice & fresh. Resist the urge to pack it in olive oil.

The peer pressure at DZ’s is often huge, and tolerance of other peoples’ differences can be lacking. But your personal beliefs are just as valid on the DZ as off it, and they should be respected. This isn’t about how you phrased your question (which I took as just being your joking way of saying “everyone put your thinking caps on”.) If you have a personal belief against buying alcohol for other people, that’s just fine. Anyone who, knowing your personal feelings on the subject, persists on being offended by your preference to not buy alcohol for them is being pretty closed-minded. Fortunately, you’ll find most people to be understanding and welcoming.

You're a new jumper; what color is the cutaway pillow on the student gear you've been using? Red? If so, and you're in a cutaway situation soon, your first muscle-memory instinct might be to look for the red handle. It's no accident that a lot of rigs have red cutaway handles; it's sort of a generic "emergency" color. That being said, a contrasting color that stands out from all of the others is very important. You have grey in your rig, so I wouldn't use grey for the cutaway handle. Also consider the color of your jumpsuit.. Think "stands out brightly" and "contrast".

You probably can't - if they're inclined to freak that bad. Some people simply cannot, will not deal rationally with their kids' or spouses' skydiving. I never told my mom when I started jumping Way Back When at age 18. She was (and is) far too hysterical a person to have dealt with it. "Time"? "Education"? Ha! Wouldn't have worked with her. So, I just kept it a secret from her. (I did tell my dad & sister. Waste of time; totally unsupportive.) You're a 32-year old CEO now? Live your own life, do what makes you happy, and maybe the best thing is for you and them is to simply not discuss it any more. And if they ask you anything else about your life, just tell them that you're happy and....well, happy.

Actually, it's "they're" - the contraction of "they are". And I learned that in public schools. (Psst - You also misspelled the word "misspelled". ) Do I care? Nah. The question is whether you care...

You mean, "becoming intrigued"? Nyeah, nyeah.