SethInMI

I see in Sept 2019 Parachutist that USPA has clarified that all jumps are freefall jumps (even static line and IAD), so this change is a moot point.

No idea if the Toronto school is a lot farther for you than the "no seniors" dropzones, but it may be worth going to the places that turned you down, show up, maybe do a tandem and tell the instructor you want to learn to skydive and for him / her to evaluate how you do. Maybe you can convince them to make an exception. (or maybe not, but worth a try)

I am not the one to ask about how it will feel, as I have never done a tandem and never done an AFF jump either. (I learned via static line method) You say the instructors will be watching you, but they will also be holding on to you as well, maybe until they are sure you are falling stable, but I don't know exactly what is planned for your next jump. But I can confidently say your next jump will be more fun than a tandem, because it is new and different. Flying your parachute will be all you of course, and that is cool too. After the first few solo jumps you will start working on maneuvers like turns, moving "up" and "down" and forward and backward. That is where the fun really starts to come in.

Have fun and don't die. or Don't Panic or seriously, don't worry too much. you will be very nervous in the door, but once you leave the plane, it won't feel too different than the tandem ride, so relax and follow the plan for the dive.

IMHO, I don't want to pay for college students to jump. They should be saving their pennies and learning how to make a living. Once they have some $ saved up, they can pay for their own damn jumps. I'd rather fund a museum.

I'll be there. only on thursday though.

it turns out that if you rearrange the letters in "Gearhart" and replace most of them and add a few you end up spelling "nano-thermite". Coincidence? I think the jury is still out on that one.

Why is your title "Feel like a fraud?" 'Cause you are doing a tandem as a passenger, and not jumping on your own? That's a bunch of crap (or as I imagine you brits would say a load of shite ) Jumping is jumping, you still have to have the balls to get out of the plane hooked to someone else or not. And as experienced jumpers know, the best part of jumping is sharing the experience with others.

I had this happen to me when I was 1st learning to pack. I packed a steering line line-over on a 1:1 wingloading canopy. After it deployed, I saw what it was, flared the canopy, and when I let the toggles back up the line-over cleared. We looked it over after I landed for burns, but the canopy was fine.

When I was a new jumper, I thought about this a little more than I do now. I realize now that I would be too busy fighting until the end to decide where to land. Only if I completely came out of my rig would I expect to give up and decide where to land. I'd probably aim for the peas in that case. You would NEVER be forgotten if you hit the peas. In my rig-less scenario, it would be bad because people would assume suicide, which would (I sure hope) not be the case.

I would say IAD you are already in the deployment sequence when you leave the plane as your pilot chute is out. Static line is a little murky.

Automatically means via an AAD, not a static line. I guess it would blur things a bit if you had a really long (500+ft) static line that allowed the jumper to get some "freefall" time, but pratically speaking USPA DZs won't count static line or IAD jumps anymore, so there is no "potential" to count on.

I have gone through several canopy downsizes both on my own and with a rigger to check/help. That involved removing old canopy from risers and toggles and pilot chute, packing it up and sending it off, then hooking up new canopy to risers and toggles and pilot chute, then adjusting toggle positions later to get the right flare/full flight performance. It is a process that requires care and it helps to have someone involved who knows what they are doing. I have also hooked up demo canopies to my rig, which is of course much easier. But I learned how to do both of these when I needed to do them.

Something like that you would plan for. Let the other jumpers on the load know what you are practicing, and figure out a place you can land where you can have some space from everyone else in the pattern. Either land away from everyone else like at the student area or alternate area if they exist, or pull extra high so you land well after the rest of the load, or do a hop-n-pop with your own pass.

Bill Von Novak downsizing checklist was always the recommended thing: Full disclosure: Despite having known about the checklist for many years, I have never attempted some of the things on it and I have downsized several times...