Quake120

Only having one tandem makes me a "whuffo" now? How many jumps do I have to have to lose this "whuffo" status? I think if you jump once and retain an interest in the sport (which I have, I just haven't gotten to my second tandem/AFF yet), that should be enough.

Touche! ... I guess they would have deserved an extra special Darwin :)

Watch the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS9O8xK07do http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=3129&string=low%20freefly Your opinions? I think they would have deserved a Darwin Award had they been killed.

What is the song in this skydiving video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJOWZk9FeRM That is my home DZ by the way! ... if I can call it that. Only have one tandem :( Edited by slotperfect to make the link clicky.

Hey, while you are working on a canopy simulator, maybe you could add a multiplayer freefall sim too. All of the members of dropzone.com could do a massive like 12,000 way or something. Keep the canopy sim in there, but also simulate parachute malfunctions and such on opening. Make them as real as possible. Keep up the good work!

Well, this year I'm going to finish AFF (I only have one tandem, almost a year ago... financial issues :( ...I can't wait to jump again!) The only part I am really nervous about in AFF is the first landing. A few people have said that you can REALLY mess up your landing due to wrong flare altitude because of the ground rush, wrong amount of flare, bad PLF, etc. Any advice? Should I try to slide in on my ass or try to stand it up the first time? Any suggestions for freefall on all of the AFF levels? I'm also a little bit nervous about the first time I'm alone in freefall.

I was worried about that too. I've had two way radios before that picked up so many different people (mostly little kids playing with them) when I was on the ground. I can imagine being in the air with no obstructions between you and the source of a signal, it could get pretty noisy. Might have to buy some that have a lot of different frequency choices.

After reading the 'freefall communication' thread, I wondered if throat mics would work well enough for freefall communication. Anybody ever try this?

I think unless you can prove that somebody maliciously and intentionally cut your lines or intentionally just shoved your main and reserve into the container with the intention to kill you, you are pretty much out of luck when it comes to suing anybody for anythin when it comes to skydiving. It is your responsibility to also check your gear for any obvious problems. Even if you could absolutely prove that it was negligence on somebody's part, YOU are the one that threw yourself out of the airplane. That was YOUR choice. Nobody forced you to. Yes, it would suck if you got injured or killed, but... that is part of this sport. Jumping out of airplanes is not safe. If you are walking across the street and somebody who is not paying attention (talking on their cell phone is a likely reason...) slams into you going 40 mph and breaks your legs, you COULD sue them for negligence and have a pretty good chance of winning. It WAS your choice to walk across the street in this case, which carries certain risks too, BUT in this case, you didn't sign a waiver beforehand releasing any drivers from liability. If I am injured skydiving, I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it. Injury and death are very real risks in this sport... Remember, you and everybody else can do everything right and you can still die.

I know Jack Guthrie. He is the DZO of Skydive Utah. My brother just finished his AFF FJC and AFF Level 1 jump, having Jack on the reserve side. Lance, another instructor was on his main side. The AFF 1 went perfectly. Jack is an excellent skydiver (with close to 11,000 jumps), and a great DZO. He will be my instructor on AFF.

Thanks for the advice everybody. There were a lot of good points made here that I'm sure will help me after I finish AFF. Thanks for that advice for sure. I'll practice all of the turns, even if only for emergrency situations. I'm sure I'll almost always be the last one down since I'll just hang around in the air under canopy enjoying the scenery and the cool air.

That's one of the cool things about this sport. To a certain point, you can choose how much risk you're willing to take. That is very true. I definitely have accepted the fact that I could die/be seriously injured skydiving, but I don't think I'm going to do anything that would make that more possible than it already is. Like I said before... I like hanging around in the sky, probably because I'm a huge fan of heights and scenery, and quick turns seem to diminish altitude quickly. Very good point about emergency turns low, and the "I didn't know I was that low" turns.

After looking at the incident forum and various fatality reports, I'm beginning to notice a lot of people are killed because they try high-performance turns too low to the ground and run into something or lose control. It seems like the number of skydiving deaths per year would decrease by 5 or 10 if these turns did not happen. Are these high performance turns that much fun that it is worth the risk? ...Just my personal thought on this, but when I get to the point where I'm alone under canopy, I don't think I'll be trying any high performance turns for the safety reason, plus I just like hanging out in the air admiring the scenery. No rush to get to the ground. Skydiving is expensive and I want to get my moneys worth on each ride.

Ugh... Any songs other than -Freefalling by Tom Petty (THE most cliched skydiving song EVER) -Danger Zone (not sure who this one is by...another cliche skydiving song) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Parallel Universe usually reminds me of skydiving. There is a freefly video on Google with that song in it. I find most RHCP songs go well with skydiving. My friend got a video of his tandem and they used Never Gonna Stop by White Zombie. Not bad.

Well, I did my first tandem over a month ago, and sadly, I barely remember any of it, other than the fact that it was amazing. I had some stuff come up so I haven't had the money to go again. My brother is on his 4th jump doing AFF, so I was hanging out at the dropzone when he was jumping (I wasn't jumping) and was talking to a few of the experienced guys there and I've got a few questions now... What altitude do you typically pull at? (Not talking in general here, but your personal pull altitude) How many reserve rides have you had? When was the first? Was it exceptionally frightening? I would like to get certified. Would you suggest I save up the ~$1300 for certification and go all at once, or save up enough for each jump? If I did have the $1300, would it be possible to get certified in a weekend? Is anybody from Utah? Is your home dropzone Skydive Utah?