simulacra

Suffering a dislocated kneecap and a fractured fibula when trying not to pay for riding the subway :)

And BTW, when lying on your back, arms out from the chest is equal to up, up/down is relative to the earth, not the orientation of my body :)

Yea, I was taught to put my arms out from the chest when doing a plf, but how is that supposed to be done when you still brakeing your chute? Or using a descender? let the chute go completely? I've hurt myself while training PLF's on the ground but never when I've done it for real I NEVER hurt myself! The way I see it, PLF are there to protect the jumper from landing injuries by depleting energy over a larger area of the body, usually by rolling it off from the outside the legs and over the back, keeping my arms up and reaching for the sky helps my body bend and I dont have to slam my shoulder into the ground...

I recemtly twisted my leg bad enough to dislocate my kneecap and fracture the fibula, I was operated some 8 weeks ago and now I'm fully healed apart from having to remove a long screw in my calf. I dont know when I can start jumping again, but I hope I'll be able to start during july, if my leg is strong enough at that point, but at the same time I'm worried that I'll never get the same range of motion in my knee or my ankle...

It seemed like a good idea at the time :p I dont think I've started skydiving yet, right now I'm only training to start. But http://www.skydiving-galleries.com/pages/ViewPhoto.aspx?PhotoID=255 is why I wanna start, dunno if I'll ever see views like that, but I'm willig to find out...

Luckliy it's easier to do PLF's when landing than training them on the ground, the canopy has always kept my arms up so that the rotation from hip to back is alot smoother :)

Would that be all the hot air that spills out of some skydivers mouth when they brag about their latest jumps? :p

I agree

http://www.viosport.com/ I'd say those mini cams offer the best bang for the buck, if i were a camera jumper I'd be using one... Personally I would go for the military SCOUT camera myself.

The first thing that happened at my first jump ever was that my helmet flew off by the draft. Prolly some faulty strap...

For me the fear thing is comlicated, when I did my first tandem jump last aug I felt nothing near fear, not even nervousness. This feeling lingered on when I started my training and now it has gone so far that I'm afraid of not being afraid. That at one point it'll come at all once, and that it's gonna happen when I need it the least, for instance in an emergency. Over time I've started feeling "more" on the ride up, mostly a higher degree of nervosity but not the kind of fear that I "should" be feeling given the circumstances.

I payed SEK 5900 (431.237 GBP) for my S/L training here in sweden, the AFF equiv. would be SEK8900 (650.510 GBP ) for instruction, ground training and 9 coached jumps. But then again, in sweden skydiving is relatively cheap. I made my first tandem in early august 2005, 3 weeks later I was in ground school and now I'm 1/3 through the training, why be in a rush?

I've never even heard about firefly since at the time no-ones was airing it here in sweden, but I heard good things about the movie so I wen't on and saw it. And since Then I'm hooked for life, just ordered the dvds off amazon.co.uk and I'm hoping for a family guy-esque revival of the show...

I'd like a license

You know, protec DOES make ski helmets...

I'm at level 8 in my S/L training and thinking of switching to AFF since it feels like you never get to jump in S/L. All you seem to do is hopping and popping, in AFF you're there, learning to skydive with help when you really need it...

Of course I'll be able to pull, that's the least of my concerns, my problem is still that my instincts take over and I pull TOO early :)

Well, a tandem costs 30% more than a beginner level AFF lesson with 2 instructors, and in that case I rather jump myself since that's what I want to do, if the AFP method was used at my dropzone (or in this country for that matter) I might sign up for that...

No, I'm not technically an S/L student, I'm a IAD student, in sweden they're the same, only that the deployment method varies in the first 6 jumps. Either you're connected to the aircraft or an instructor holds your pilot chute, the end results are the same. If I weren't alone when I jumped I believe it would be easier, but that's not how it's supposed to be done, and with a 5 second delay I don't think it would mkae any difference. That's why I'm thinking about converting to AFF next season even though it would cost me alot extra. Or perhaps I should buy just an AFF lesson justto experience freefall

I guess it depends on the container, at my dropzone we use telesis, which can be equipped with ripcords and BOC's. The rip cord is connected via a plastic "tube" to the loop.

I don't think that we'll ever stop using rip cords and spring loaded pilots during training at my dropzone. It's up to the licensed jumper to choose deployment method when they buy their own rig...

I'm having that problem myself, but we do things differently, I've pulled my own chute twice, both at 1200m and pulling right after exit. The problem I'm having is sensory overload, my cognitive self zones out and the instinct in me takes over, as soon as I leave the aircraft I pull, I barely made it through this far by jumping this way. And now it's time for my first "real" freefalls where I'm supposed to pull at 1000m, which is some 5 seconds of free fall, how the heck am I goïng to control myself enough not to pull too fast again?

But why do everyone think that australia is every other nation in the world? Come on, you CAN NOT have that bad geographical knowledge. Unless you totally flunked out of school and never looked back since. Ok if you're having trouble telling armenia and azerbadjian apart, I know that there's probably some creative editing behind that footage but to me it seems that some people are real airheads...

My .02$ learn how to ride a alpine snowboard, hard boots, thin boards, alot of speed and a ground rush like no other when your face is 2 inches away from the snow, ok I know, it's an european thing, but hey there are some alpineboard gatherings in aspen once a season. Maybe I can get one boarder that's tired of riding a oversized tongue spatula to see the light http://www.pureboarding.com/en/ and http://www.extremecarving.com/index.html for more info

Well, to me packing seems like something very important that should be taught from the beginning. To have your chute packed after every jump sounds like a luxury. The upside is that you spend more time jumping, but the downside is that the student might become uneducated as to how this VERY important aspect of parachuting works. The way we have it set up around here is that the packjob gets checked by a certified packer 3 times during the packing procedure to make sure that the student hasn't done anything especially stupid. And while making those checks they share experiences and ask us why we did what we did, this makes you think and get a overview of the whole procedure. After you completed 20 packjobs you are eligible to take a packing course where you gain alot more insight as to exactly how the chute works and possible consequnces/risk of mistakes etc and become a certifeid packer yourself, after that the checks are no longer required. That means that even a graduated AFF-student has to get checked during his packing and that S/L-students might not have to get checked at all while on student status.