MrFreefall383

Jumping on Saturday for the 100th, huh? I might have to come up there to watch it. Any idea what time you'll be doing that jump? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I'm just kidding of course, I know you'd never wish any harm to Pete, I just figured I'd poke you about it for a little while. I'm fun like that. As for not saying hello to me, that's no problem, I'm used to that. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Oh don't lie, you know you wanted to knock him off. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Thanks for the positive reinforcement. Gives me the drive to keep on pluggin' away at it. And to Ginger, now I know you're ticklish, and after Pete told me about that little "incident," I'm pretty convinced you really were trying to kill him. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Haha, yeah, thanks. As for the shirt, I haven't seen it. I have heard a story about how another former student almost killed him a little while back though. And yes, he is still good about saying, "Don't fuck up." But more than that, it's stuff like, "Always check your anti-splatter gauge, it'll keep you from becoming stiff." "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Finally got to do my IAF 6 after almost a month of crappy weather and other shitty circumstances. Couldn't have asked for a better jump day. Very little cloud cover, almost no wind, nice and warm. Got a smaller canopy for the jump today. Was jumping a Navigator 280, the talk was of dropping me to a 240, but good ol' Pete decided I'd enjoy a 220 more, so up I went with a Navi 220 strapped to my ass. Jumped out, had some minor instability in freefall but was able to compensate and do some arm turns and forward movement. It seems now that my two biggest problems in freefall are that my legs aren't nearly bent enough, and largely because of that, I can't arch fully. Now I know where I need tweaking. Opening was awesome, though a little rougher than I was used to on the 280. Since I had compensated for a solid heading, no linetwists like the last two openings, and I flew myself down to the DZ comfortably. Landing pattern was excellent, ended up slightly short of the intended target, but stood it up. A little more lift than I thought there'd be, largely because of the high temperature, so I was in full flare floating down the DZ at 5 ft, then dropped a little hard on my left foot and ran it out till the canopy collapsed. All-in-all, a pretty successful jump, feelin' pretty good about it. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I agree, far easier to practice under canopy than on the ground. Especially when "on the ground" is over a bed of sharp garden pebbles covered loosely by a canvas sheet. Did you read the post? "...they should immediately go back to their instructors and discuss PLF techniques and practices...." Ok... Like he said above...practice on the ground even if the only thing you have to work with is over sharp pebbles or whatever. You can't count on having a nice, soft, grassy picnic area to land on when you have an off landing... "canopy has always kept my arms up..." UP? Doing a PLF with your arms UP? No flare? No tuck to protect? Please go back to your instructors and re-do PLF training. Let us know how it went. OK? I guess you're right on the ground vs. air issue, better to practice it under safe circumstances. As for the proper technique, there are a few things I was taught, and it would certainly be good to clarify them now while I'm early in training. The first thing I was taught is always to put arms vertically in front of my face and chest for protection. As for the collapsing, the idea is always to limit the force of the impact as much as humanly possible, no matter who teaches you the PLF or where. Technically your arms might be up, but not "up." "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Meaning...? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I agree, far easier to practice under canopy than on the ground. Especially when "on the ground" is over a bed of sharp garden pebbles covered loosely by a canvas sheet. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

What happens when your foot finds a hole in the landing area? I had that happen on my last tandem jump. I landed on my ass, and of course the ground was still a little wet from a shower a couple hours earlier. Tried to brace the landing with my heel, the right caught a rut and twisted my right knee. As for PLF, I really do think it's useful, especially in high-wind situations where you've got canopy lift, but the damn thing won't move forward. It's good practice for a more urgent situation. I had that on my last jump. Landed at the alternate field, faced straight into the wind with a couple hundred feet to go. Right when I was dead center over my target, the wind picked up, and I went straight down, still under lift, in the center of the field for a PLF. It's lucky I'd practiced it, or it would've been painful. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

First, they were considering keeping students grounded, and Big Jim said I might be the only student jumping that day. The winds kept fluctuating, but the average was about 12 kt. w/ up to 21 kt. gusts. It was marginal at best, and the cloud cover was pretty heavy. Luckily, when we were just past the DZ at altitude, the clouds opened up, and I was only in one of them for about 500 ft. As for landing, yes, I got to know the dead center of 6-stripe field. And no, it still hasn't been cut. Worse yet, nobody told me the best way to collapse and carry the canopy, so I was pretty worn out by the time I reached the bus. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

OK, so I did my IAF 5, and had a few minor problems. Nothing too serious, but I figure I might as well see what some more experienced jumpers have to say about it. The jump was OK, I was slightly more stable than my last jump, even considering high winds, but still not quite "straight and level." That can be worked on. The real problems came after my deployment. Minor linetwist was the first one, but it's the second I've had, so I cleared it easily. The wind was pretty high for a student jump, and the canopy was jumping around like crazy. I never really got to an upwind holding area, I was faced toward the field the whole time. As for the landing, I never really entered a pattern either, as it was an off-field landing with a serious headwind. No other jumpers in the area, so no problems aiming straight for the field. Landed almost dead center in the field, but forward motion was almost zero by the time I was at 500 ft. dead over the field. Had to PLF, no choice. Wasn't exactly prepared for it, but did it reasonably well. My knees hurt a little bit, but they'll be fine by tomorrow. If anyone has any input, feel free to add it, I'm open to any suggestions for making things better. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Been browsing the classifieds, and noticed a used (good condition) Tony Suit selling for $120, perfect size and everything, just don't have the money to afford it for another month or two. So the question here is, based on price, should I contact the seller and hope for the best, or should I just let it go? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Thanks, much appreciated. I will stick with it, I'm going to make this work, I'm too far now not to. And to bigway, yes, that's exactly what my JM said. What I'm going to try for practice is laying back-down on the Ottoman in my living room, and just letting my back and pelvis arch as much as possible. That was actually a suggestion that my jump course instructor brought up when I asked my JM about it. I guess we'll see what happens. Otherwise, the jump felt pretty good, and after my linetwist was clear, I made a halfway decent approach to the field and a decent landing. Felt pretty positive overall except for the wobble. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

As the title states, I finished my first IAF jump today. Jump four in the sequence of my training, jump five is in a couple weeks now that I'm cleared for it. Unfortunately, I underestimated the difference in feel between tandem and solo freefall, and was a bit wobbly on the way down. Regardless, I attempted my maneuvers to at least show that I could still retain my plan and make an attempt to do something with my freefall. The maneuvers were shakey as hell, but at least I didn't just stop cold and freeze up until 5,500 ft. I pulled my main at a little under 5,500 ft. unfortunately, because I was still a little frazzled by the wobble, but I pulled it properly. Of course because of the instability, I experienced my first linetwist. Not too serious, just enough to kick me into alert mode, and I cleared the twist and landed it safely but slightly long on the DZ. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yuck. Well, we'll definitely have to keep in touch, and start doing jumps together once I pass my IAF 13. I could use jumps with other more experienced jumpers to get closer to my A license. Let me know. :) "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Hey there Ginger. So you're a recent student graduate at the Ranch. That's good, now I know someone there. I jumped with Linetwist at dead noon, he just got back a few days ago from some kind of trip. I actually don't know who will be running my FJC, they never said anything. So I'll be there bright and early Saturday morning at 8, hopefully we run into each other. I'll be wearing my standard workout gear, a pair of black nylon mesh pants and a green and black fitness shirt. Dave "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Well, my jump on the 23rd turned out to be a jump on the 30th. Rain sucks. As for the jump, I had some stability problems in freefall, and missed the ripcord on the first attempt, but otherwise it went alright. My TI passed me on to IAF Level 4 after I take my ground course on Saturday. No more 180 lb. monkey strapped to my ass. LOL "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it. Truth is, I'm not that worried about the fact that I was unstable, because I've basically told myself that I was simply fighting physics too much. I've always been a student of airborne physics, essentially since I was 3 years old, I just never thought I'd find myself disobeying physics and finding myself in an unstable freefall. I'm just going to practice arching properly using whatever means I can before Saturday, at which point I'll go through the "Jump Course", which is where all the solo gear jump knowledge will come into play, and I'll jump after that bearing in mind all that I learned from the last time. As for AFF and S/L, I've already surpassed the "tandem" part of Tandem Progression, I might as well just stick with what I'm doing. It's working so far. I'm just going to keep making it work. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

My mom is still scared shitless of the idea of me skydiving for the fun of it. But yesterday after I told her I had a crappy jump and was unstable in freefall, she loosened up. Why? Because I told her, "Damnit, I wish that didn't happen. I have to find a way to fix it though, because I don't want to be unsafe like that again." My guess is you won't be able to make them relax until they know you're really about safety when jumping, and that this is something you intend to get very good at doing. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

I definitely see your point. I will consider video if I continue to have this problem, but right now it looks as though this was just a fluke. I'll be doing my ground school for 6 hours starting Saturday morning, then if the weather's holding out, I'll do my IAF 4. At that point, we'll see what happens. If I'm still having stability issues, I'll consider video. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

That's part of the problem too. This is not a "chronic" problem. I had no problems in either of my first two jumps with stability, and didn't have any other major problems outside of the stability factor. There is one possibility I haven't really considered, especially since I've considered this an almost random occurrence. I worked out heavily yesterday, which does tend to make my muscles a little stiffer than normal. Could something of that nature lead to an inability to arch properly? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

As for video, no, I don't get video. Too fucking expensive for me, no matter how good it might be for me. What I do know is that my TI wrote, "arch more at the pelvis", and that was his sole recommendation, just to relax and let my body arch naturally. As for the second reply, I do see your point. The detail that I think needs to be addressed here is that I did end up finding the ripcord, just not in time to pull myself. The TI pulled half a second after he realized I hadn't pulled it myself, so we were at about 5.3k when the chute fully deployed. If he had left it alone, I would've had it deployed most likely by 5k, it just took me a second to find it. Again, not as if I wouldn't have pulled it, I just would've pulled it late. My only assumption here is that when I jump my own gear, the ripcord will always be in the same place, unlike and unstable tandem freefall where the ripcord is bouncing around with the instability. That could also be the reason my TI cleared me for IAF 4, and didn't make anything of it. When I asked him he said, "Your hand was there, I just didn't want to wait any longer." "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

To start out with, my instructor cleared me for my IAF 4, which means these problems weren't bad enough that I needed to repeat Tandem jumping to fix them. The first problem I had was in arching. For whatever reason, I'm still not arching enough on exit with tandem gear. PRTs went fine, then freefall became unstable. Again, I wasn't arching enough. I kept seeing a finger pointed down from my instructor after every maneuver, and I kept trying to arch, but it constantly felt like I was fighting to arch more. Arm turns were kind of crappy since I wasn't stable to begin with, forward motion really didn't work all that well either, and then I had trouble finding the ripcord for the main, and my instructor had to pull. At that point I'm thinking to myself, "What more can go wrong?" Luckily, nothing did, canopy control and landing were fine, but it was a slightly hair-raising freefall. Any suggestions on how to improve these areas? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

That seems pretty insane. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche