rsmn17

I recently made my 2nd aff jump. I opened with line twists and the really scared me. By the time I kicked out of them I couldn't find the airport and started to panic trying to find it and listen to the radio instead of trying to find a safe out. By the time I realized I definatly wasn't landing at the dz, I was in a place with no good places to land. I was going straight for the woods and too low to do anything about it. So I just went straight in and when my legs hit the top of a tree, I flared half way and protected my face and tryed to do a plf. I couldn't believe I was ok when I landed. Anyway..it scared me pretty bad....i was wondering if anyone has any advice or similar experiences. This was my first jump ever at a new dropzone and I think that had a little bit to do with it. I know I love skydiving so I'm trying to find a way to not let this scare me out of never doing it again.

I feel the same way...scared to death but wouldn't give it up for anything....no matter how many people tell me i'm crazy. Sometimes when I'm driving in my car behind a truck and smell the exhaust fumes, it reminds me of the smell of the plane and I get the urge to jump out the car window!!! I'm definatly hooked!

I have a friend who had a collapsed lung (spontaneous pneumothorax) about 2 years ago. He had surgery to remove 5% of one lung. His doctor has cleared him to fly. I was wondering if anyone knows if skydiving could possibly cause this to happen again.

Hey!! I'm from NY too, but more upstate. I jump at pennridge in PA. I have 5 jumps so far (still in AFF). It's always cool to have other students to jump with and it's a good place to learn. PM me if you want!

I'm an aff student and before I started the course I was reading EVERYTHING on the net that I could find. When I went in for my fjc and thought I knew all the answers....i was WRONG!! If I hadn't asked so many questions I probably would've done something to hurt myself. Now I only listen to my JMs. Even TIs that work at the dz I go to won't answer questions that I ask. They say to only ask my JM...so that's what I do from now on. I do think it is ok to read about these incidents on these forums and ask YOUR jm, but NEVER follow anyone's advice!