matthias

I admit I talked about it with friends, family and co-workers during my first few weeks but after a while I quit as I got the standard whuffo attitude that comes from ignorance and fear of the unknown. Any anyone comes to me with any questions I feel qualified to answer I'll do my best to either answer them or direct them to websites or the DZ's phone number to point them in the right direction.

It'd be great if I could talk a few family members and friends into trying a tandem or enrolling in AFF but I know full well its only a decision they can make for themselves as it was for me.

I'm new to the sport but so far, many of the jumpers and instructors I have met at my local dz have a hell of alot more integrity and trustworthiness than the rest of society.

With me, trust and respect still have to be earned regardless of occupation, experience, and rank.

I've been having a hell of a time as I'm in the broke-ass AFF student catagory that's lucky to get to jump around the 1st and the 15th, and I have this issue with adrenaline management (getting all wired up before exits). Anyways so here it is:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1251888045&n=2

Shot at Skydive Houston on Oct 1, 2006 also starring JMs Phil Myers and Larry. Instructors review of the dive can be viewed in the live journal link below. Main thing is the relaxing part and not being too tense in freefall, other than that I'm not certain what was inducing the left turn. Any feedback, criticsm, completely welcome.

Go easy :) Still getting used to this.

thanks in advance,
Matt

Only myself I guess...unless the voices in my head are other people.

Shit man, at least you got an A license. I'm having a hell of a time affording AFF and getting the bills paid.

Quote

Do you remeber that jump when it all clicked????

Even after 12 jumps....I'm still waiting for that one to occur.

Welcome bro. I'm current doing AFF at SDH and more than likely your see me there on the weekends surrounding the 1st and the 15.

As Im on student status, the only guys I;ll be jumping with are gonna be jumpasters, and until I can somehow go limp in freefall, level 3's gonna be a milestone to get past.

As far as tips go, I'd say pretty much any of the instructors and coaches at SDH can answer anything you need to know. Conragts on getting licensed

This is my 0.02, I plan to be in the sport in a while so I'm preapred for the fact something 'may' happen out of my control.

-The only two things in life we are completely certain about, is that there was a day we were born, and will be a day that we die. No one lives forever. If such a tragedy would ever to occur, I could only hope others who knew me would understand this is the way I woulda have preferred to go out. If my destiny is to go out at 80-90+ years old deteriorating in a nursing home, y that point I would only be content knowing that I made the most of out life, maybe be remembered for it, and know that never let anything pass me by.

I apologize for any negativity in the above. Just my personal feelings over the subject.

My condolences to friends and family.

Read these so far, pretty good:

-Dan Poynter & Dan Turoff - The Skydiver's Handbook
-Tom Buchanon - JUMP!
-John Derosalia - Mental Training for Skydiving and Life

The third one I would recommend everyone read even if they weren't skydivers. Very motivational as well as informative.

Quote

flared too high

I did this on AFF L1. The radio malfunctioned and I had to rely on what I remembered from the AFF course (a week prior) and my instincts from playing microsoft flight simulator growing up. There was too much wind so I thought to setup the final approach running alongside the runway (no obsticals). I was looking at the ground and flared 10-15 feet higher than I should have...then suddenly the radio worked again "NO NOT YET!!!!!!!!" My 'oh fuck' reaction had me dropping both toggles (was still in overload from the freefall Im guessing) the canopy stalled, dived and making a landing similar if I did a running jump from a garage roof on a grassy area. It if werent for the grass, I probably would broken something.

Needless to say it scared the shit out of me and my instructor "Matt raise your hand if you are concious, stand up if you are able to." I stood up...dazed... "He's fine."

Quote

Most of Russian DZ's are pretty poor. Lots of skydivers are still jumping rounds.

Goddamn...and I thought I had it bad.

Being new to the suppose I fortunately haven't seen anyone burn-in. I hope..such an incident never occurs. I have, however seen buddies of mine get waxed right in front of me.

Quote

However, the image and sound of that incident is burned in my mind.

This is a good way to describe it. I know the feeling all to well.

Quote

Do you somehow forget?

Depending on the circumstance and your relation to the person, probably not. In my case..I'd rather not discuss it.

Quote

how did you cope?

In my case, we have a few support groups at the VA for those really served in Aghanistan and Iraq. Just being able to have someone you can talk to who can relate is helpful, because most who haven't been in such a situation will never understand. In regards to your subject, all you can do is remember one for how they lived rather than how they went out, be there for there family and friends, and if it was my loss, hope my family and friends would do the same for me. Otherwise, coping is just a day by day process. Life moves on, some things you never get over but remaining positive not getting too down over it is the main thing.

Just my 0.02, hope I said something that was of help.

Matt


Being new to the suppose I fortunately haven't seen anyone burn-in. However, I have wit

I would agree.

Quote

I bet if was a nice canopy ride though!

More like a LONG canopy ride. Incredible view though. Being under canopy with the clouds still about a mile below me was something else...

Quote

Hey, Matthias, I was wondering why you've not answered the comments about your instructor pulling for you for your own interest/safety. Two of the above comments make it uber clear about why they pulled; and yet, you haven't changed your position about asking for him to wait with you until 6k to pull.

Seems to me you're missing something if you don't really, truly understand why you were pulled for at 11k. Trust me, it wasn't for the spectacular view...

Hi Michele,

I fully believe that the instructor acted in both his and mine interests. To retract my former reply:

Quote

I was thinking the same thing and the next time I attempt it I was going to request (if its a reasonable one in the interests of safety) that if I were to go unstable to NOT pull unless nearing 6K.

I understand now..no, it is not a reasonable request in the interests of safety, I'll concede to that. I would have liked to have seen if I was able to stabilize myself, but with the risk of either going unconcious from the violent tumble or inadvertantly striking the instructor, I believe he did the right thing.

I wish to underscore that never once in my AFF training have I questioned the judgment of any instructors.

Quote

Moving on...
What sort of exit are you doing? I know that I blew exits until I was very clear as to where to put my legs on a particular exit. It would help to know what sort of exit so those who have experience can sort it out.

I am not sure how AFF exits from a twin otter differ. But its right foot forward, toes of right foot pointed slightly out the door, left foot back. hands on door, back straight, head outside of the door. Hotel check. "Prop" (head up) "up, down, ARCH." Step out with left, right stays in place, arch to relative wind.
Best I can describe it.

Quote

But I'm mostly curious as to why you think it's appropriate to wait while out of control until a certain altitude.

My reasoning wasn't necessarily 'waiting while out of control'. I more or les smeant more time to attempt to regain stability by arching...mainly to see if I COULD regain stability.

As a student I'm new to this. I've never tumbled out of control like that. I've flipped on earlier jumps on exit, always recovered and was stable for the rest of the skydive. I couldn't regain stability after 5 seconds which is why he pulled; also because of the way I was tumbling. Fair enough. :)

Again..I'm only a student, and I've never questioned the judgment of my instructors. I do wish to again thank everyone who replied regarding the 'kicking on exit' issue.I will keep the insights in mind this weekend and hopefully we'll see better exits.

Quote

What has your instructor told you?

This was the logbook entries for saturday:

AFF 3:

-OK count, kicking on exit
-COA
-2 PRCPs
-COA
-gave arch signal and nice response
-jumpasters released - nice hover, had ver slow drift left
-wave off and pull at 6K
-good canopy control and standup landing
-cleared to AFF IV


AFF 4:

-OK count, kicking on exit
-dropped knees and tumbled
-jumpmaster pulled @ 11K
-great canopy control, standup landing

Phil Myers D-16533

Quote

Not sure what aircraft you are jumping from

Twin Otter.

Quote

Think about trying to hold a quarter in your ass while you try to F the earth really deep. Then click your heels because your not in Kansas any more and never give up until your goggles fill up with blood or your head pops off.
Black death

Haha, nice way of putting that. Sounds like a plan.

Quote

Have you thought about booking yourself in for some extra tuition in a wind tunnel??

I know heaps of ppl that have told me it helped them loads and saved them from having to repeat levels!

I've been seriously considering it. I just have to figure out which one is the cheapest for booking a flight to and take some time off work. I have no doubt that I would greatly benefit from 10-15 minutes in one.

I've only made 10 jumps, so take the following with a grain of salt.

Quote

First off, I'm not a huge fan of heights or roller coasters but for some reason sky diving is something I want to do in my lifetime.

From what others have said and my own personal experience thus far...skydiving and rollercoasters have nothing in common with the exception of them being an adrenaline rush. Your freefall at 120mph but do not feel like it because once you reach terminal velocity (120mph) you are no longer accelerating. What you feel on rollercoasters is that 'forced' acceleration, for lack of a better term.

Quote

What were your feelings the first time you went up in the air and they opened the door?

"What the hell did Brittany get me into? .. What the hell did I get myself into??" (jk)

I honestly couldn't recall that plane ride too much. I would assume its the same exact feeling I get every single time they open the door to this day. Between the whoosh of the door opening at altitude and the sound of the plane engine firing up I'm sure sure what gets my heart racing more.

As far as my first door exit? CHeck the below attachment. That would be me going: "Oh shit!!!!" It was great.

Quote

I will be doing tandem jumping I believe and I want to know if this is the right way to go abouts learning this sport.

Doing a tandem jump is the safest way to experience a skydive. The best way (in my opinion) to learn the sport, is to take an AFF first jump course. The 'right way' is all up to what you feel comfortable doing. If you are unsure if skydiving is for you, you might consider doing a tandem first. This is how many get introduced to the sport I may add.

Quote

Is there also a chance I may pass out while in the air because I don't really want to miss out on anything.

There is that chance but I personally have never come close to feeling that way. What you WILL experience is 'sensory overload' While you may not miss out on anything, you may find it hard to remember what the hell just happened ;) This isnt a sales pitch, but I recommend getting the video to go along with it.

Quote

I know this sounds very wimpy and I don't pretend to be one of those "dare devil" thrill seekers...but like I said, I don't mind trying things out.

Dude, its cool. Having alot of questions is a very common thing for someone about to try new things. You might also go to www.skydivingmovies.com and download a few tandem and AFF videos from there to get a better idea. When you get to the dropzone, the instructors will be more than happy to answer anything that's on your mind.

Quote

So any advice on how I can make this trip more amazing than it already sounds would be appreciated. Thanks and take care all!

Relax! Have fun. Look around at the surroundings and check out the view. I hope this helps, let us know how it goes.

blue skies,
Matt

Quote

Did you participate in sports such as football, basketball, baseball, soccer etc?

Chris Welker
AFF I '07

Nah, unfortunately I was one of those indoor types that played computer games. I'd imagine they (sports) would help with being legs aware.

I appreciate the answers and PMs recieved so far, keep em coming. Thanks again.

Before your reply I was thinking the same thing and the next time I attempt it I was going to request (if its a reasonable one in the interests of safety) that if I were to go unstable to NOT pull unless nearing 6K.

If I could speculate, he may have pulled because the violent tumbling was beyond both of our control. He attempted several times to get me belly down to get a good arch executed but nothing was successful. Without video, its hard to say WHY he decided to pull for me at 11K. ALl I remember was that I have never been in a situation like that before and I was surprised the canopy didnt malfunction on opening. Of course..if it did, I had more than enough altitude to implement emergency procedures.

damn...because of tumbling after a shitty exit and the JM pulling for me at 11K...I didn't get a free AFF level 4 retry + video. Woulda been nice...

but hey..canopy rides from 11K get ya one hell of a view and more time to mess around with spiral turns I suppose.

So far I have done 7 AFF jumps, passed level 3 on the 3rd attempt, tried level 4 yesterday (which requires 1 JM)

The jump was a total disaster. Immediately after the exit we tumbled out of control on all axis. Tried to arch but in the confusion couldn't regain control, instructor pulled my pc at 11,500ft. Well...the 11 minute canopy ride was nice...great view, but that's beside the point.

This 'kicking on exit' issue has been a consistent one. For the record I am 6'4". 180lbs, with rather long legs. I am not sure if this is relavent but I do know that the kicking is more of an involuntary reaction shortly after exit which lasts anywhere up to 3 seconds after leaving the step. I had gotten to the point where I could prevent flipping and from the the diveflow seems to be okay. However, I would like to rectify this issue as quickly as I can as I feel at the moment it is my greatest hinderance, as the exit will make or break the skydive.

If anyone has had similar problems and overcame them, or if any AFF instructors have any tips to correct either through mental drills or at-home practice, or anyway to bring about a solution I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Was in the USMC from 99 - 03. Wanted to go to jump school, but didn't happen due to broken feet at the time. Started skydiving/AFF 2 months ago.

Yeah after 8 jumps it's pretty much consumed my soul. Putting AFF on the credit cards wasn't a bright idea, and Im sure the gear purchase will send me into chapter 11. Its all good.