dontbounce

I did my Level one jump. I screwed up on my first try (brain freeze) and my Instructors had to pull for me @4500. After my main deployed, I had twisted lines. Three turns, so I spread my risers and kicked and it untwisted. Canopy control was good. Landing was a little rough, mainly because I forgot to PLF. Low speed "faceplant" in the dirt, 10 ft. from the grass target. (yay! my 1st flare) After reading all the jokes about "have you thought about bowling" posted here, I had to make the decision to try again, or just hang it up. I decided to give it one more shot. After a long wait (eloy is busy on the weekends) I got suited up with a new 280. On the second L1, My exit was clean, my arch was good. I did my practice pulls, and I was able to track for 5 seconds. I was all done with my moves at about 9000 ft, so I enjoyed the scenery for a second or two. Horizon, Alti, Horizon, Alti, and at 6500 I locked on to my alti. 5500 I arched and pulled. After what seems like an eternity, my main yanks me up and my instructors vanished below me. Checked my alti, checked slider, canopy, everything was good. Did controllability check (left 180, right 180, flare). I did a few turns and moved to the holding area. Maintained the area, avioding other divers, and started my approach at about 1500. Slow, easy landing. Came sliding in nice and easy on my ass, but what the heck, I was so pumped from not screwing up that I didn't mind. For those of you out there who are going to do AFF level 1, here is what I learned: 1. Never take advice from somebody on the internet that has scarcely more experience than you. Read my experience, learn from it, but listen to your instructors more. They have thousands of jumps. I have 3 (one of which would have killed me if it wasnt for my instructors). with that said... 2. The most important thing you will do on your dive is pull. That is your job. Don't forget that. Bonuses for pulling at the correct altitude, and double bonus if you are stable when you pull at the correct altitude. 3. MAINTAIN ALTITUDE AWARENESS. You old times can harass me if you want, but I can't stress this enough. Don't look at your alti like it is some sort of decoration. Look at it, read the numbers and make sure you actually read out loud to yourself what it says. Actually mouthing the alitiude out loud really helped me keep track of where I was. otherwise it didnt register. That was they key for me. Check it early, and check it often. I was told to lock onto my alti at 6500 feet and at 5500 wave off and pull. By actually calling out the altitude, it will register in your brain that it is time to lock on and it will be a lot easier to know when to pull if you have some idea of your altitude. 4. Take control of the situation. Your are responsible for your ride. Dont rely on your instructor to tell you what to do. They are just there to make sure you don't screw it up (like I did). If they do tell you to do something, listen, but if not, then just do your moves and do the routine they teach you on the ground. Remember, times a'wastin... 5. Don't let adreneline shut your brain off. That is what happened to me my first jump. I was ok until we were in free fall and I was so amped/scared/whatever that I couldn't even remember what the hand signals they were giving me meant. I couldnt remember my sequence, and after my "good" three practice pulls, my instructor gave me the sideways "peace sign" (legs out 6 inches) and I was like "what the fuck?" after that, I was totally lost. I looked at my alti, but it didnt sink in. I had no idea what my altitude was. That is a very very bad thing. Finally they looked at me like I was a dumbass, and pulled for me. (Note to self: I owe Phil at SkydiveAZ a case of beer. thanks Phil! I appreciate that!) 6. Be prepared to deal with problems I had some pretty good line twists when my main opened. It was twisted so tight, I had to fight to squeeze my head under the twisted part. They are right, it is just like a swingset, where you get swisted, the sensation is the same and you will know if it happens. I got myself untwisted long before I reached my decision altitude, but I could not have controlled it in the condition it was in. I (like to think that i) would have chopped it at 2500. (I decided my main was a "keeper" at 3300 or so) line twists are fairly common from what I hear (especially if you are not stable when you pull). 7. Know what to expect. You are going to be amped more than you have ever been in your life! I was calm and ok the whole ride up, but when the door opens, expect about a gallon of adrenline to hit your bloodstream. try to relax, Stay as calm as possible, say to yourself that everything is going to be OK! They do this all the time. Don't be surprised when the door opens and you get blasted with freezing wind. Don't be surprised when somebody jumps out of the plane. That what you are there for. Don't be surprised if you have a hard time remembering the sequence. practice on the ground on a creeper (like I should have). And if you only remember one thing from this long winded post, dont forget to PULL. Cheers, On to level 2. P.S. Second jump (L-1 do-over) was nearly perfect. Just minor issue with my legs pulled in too far. (70-80deg instead of 45deg) And I executed my entire sequence a little too fast. (I was done by 9000 feet, so I had a lot of waiting around to pull)

I agree. the tandem is a great way to "bust your cherry". I don't think I would have had the nerve as a wuffo to try static line, or any other way of introducing me to it. But now I am hooked too, and I have it bad! I did my first tandem in Eloy, and I am doing AFF lvl1 (and maybe lvl2) tomorrow. (pumped!) Have fun in the tunnel. It was a great experience for me to learn to fall properly and be stable in ff. Be aware they you need a strong lower back to arch for 10 minutes nonstop. Your back gets tired quick and it is hard to stay stable after a while. In a real skydive, 10 minutes of freefall would be jumping from the space shuttle or something... lol

Jump on Southwest Airlines and head to Phoenix! SkydiveAZ is open year round, and isn't even too cold...

Thanks for the info! If anybody in in Eloy on Friday, I plan on buying some beer for my 1st aff. Peace

heh heh. "you survived 0.3 seconds!" After a few tries i got up to 15 sec or so. Thats the upper limit of my attention span...

I do my AFF L1 on Friday. I read somewhere that the odds of going in on any particular jump is something like 1:465,000 (probably much higher for me since I am a total newbie with zero experience and a few over 220lb mark). I skimmed both mine and my wifes insurance policies. Both say something about "if you are stupid enough" and "perfectly good airplanes" and "no money for you!" in the fine print. Are there companies that will insure jumpers for the worst case scenerio? I have $300k on every member of my family, but the prospect of leaving them unprotected scares me much more than the prospect of comitting a fatal screwup Since this is something I plan on doing on a regular basis, it makes sense to check into it. I don't mean to bring on any bad mojo, I am just a firm beleiver in covering all my bases.... Cheers!

2006 Scion tC, Silver, 5 Speed, Spoiler, IPOD Stereo, with "Impeach Bush" and "Skydive AZ" stickers in the back window. FUN! Other Car is a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE. 4 cylinder, auto, a soft squishy "boat" compared to the tC. Jet black with tint. This car has side impact airbags so my wife and son ride in it.

I did the wind tunnel at Eloy a few days ago. For a complete noobie like me it was a great experience. I learned to fly like supa-man... Being all alone is a lot different than going tandem, and it gave me an appreciation for the poor guy that jumped with me (dimi) and how hard he must have been working to keep us stable. It is a much better way to learn than on-the-jump training.

A comedian! I love it!

I have learned that the speed at which you fall is determined by your weight divided by the cross section of your surface area (wind drag). That is why we fall at 120mph in arch, but 180mph head first. My question is, is there a way to increase your surface area to a degree that you are able to slow yourself to a survivable speed? More importantly, what speed is considered "survivable"? I have seen bird-man suits and whatnot, but is it possible that you could enlarge your surface area (like a bird man) to slow your descent enough?

I did my first tandem a week ago. I was right at the limit (229.999 LBS). I am not a lardass, just a strapping lad with a few "soft spots". Since then, I quit smoking, and I am going 10 miles per day on the treadmill. In the last 7 days, I have lost 7 pounds (223.6 this morning). I want to try to get down to about 190 (gaunt for my frame). Before I tried crack (i mean skydiving) I smoked a pack and a half a day, and couldnt even get out of bed without getting winded. Since then, I am on a 900 calorie/day diet, I can run 3 miles non stop, and I quit smoking. I guess the real question here is, which came first, the chicken or the egg? I never imagined that I could even go 10 miles on a treadmill. Since I have set my mind to skydiving, I have pushed myself beyond the limits of my endurance, and the entire time, all I could think of was getting back there, and being in free fall. The adreneline rush of having death rush at me at 120mph was just what I needed to break me out of my cycle. I spent the next few days pondering my experience, and I think now that it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You probably dont need to be overly fit to do this, but I think that since my body and my mind are the only things keeping me alive, I treat them a lot better now.

All, thanks for the info.

I did my first jump at Eloy yesterday. ;) It was amazing. However, my ear suffered some sort of altitude problem, and I was unable to hear my instructor for the majority of the canopy ride down. Once I landed, I suffered the most painful "ear pop" in my life. Anybody have a similar experience with this? Also, what do I need to do to be able to go on my own? Just a single AFF, or do I need to get some sort of license? I saw an ad on a diving site that a "lift ticket" to 13.5 was $26.00. If I had all my own gear, is that all it would cost me to jump? Lastly, I know it is early to talk about this, but has anybody here ever HALO'ed?