Blackjack

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Posts posted by Blackjack

  1. Spoiler

    Heya. I had a Traumatic Brain Injury after a motorcycle accident back when I was an A licenced skydiver with only around 25 jumps.

    I had a pretty bad motorbike crash and a TBI along with road rash all across my back and the loss of my little finger on the right hand and the other 2 fingers next to that being fused too so a pretty useless hand there now. I was in hospital and placed in an induced coma for the first 2 or 3 days and didn't leave hospital at all for the next 2 months! I had lost a lot of my balance and my short term memory was completely gone and these took a long time to recover fully. I spent a lot of time sleeping and completely lost my sleep pattern so would be up at random hours for an hour or so all day and night long. Don't get me wrong here and it wasn't like I couldn't walk or talk ever, but my short term memory was gone and I would often loose track of events and suggest going to another room in the hospital only to sit down and be bored there 2 min later and want to go back to the same room I have just come from completely forgetting that I was there only 2 minutes ago! My balance meant I often fell over in the first few months especially when walking down stairs.

    I left hospital after 2 months and left after that, but I was still noticing improvements in my balance and memory over 2 years later! I obviously had to redo a few jumps with an instructor as it took over a year from my last jump before my back was healed and I could get back into the air.

    Since then though I am C licenced in skydiving, wingsuit, speedfly, paraglide, BASE jump, cave, rock climb and practically every other outdoor sport you can imagine so there is no reason to worry about getting back into this. TBI is just a severe injury that can take a while to recover from. Do everything you can to help yourself though and whatever the doctors recommend but you will be fine.

    Oh I should also mention that I also managed to break my back speedflying 2 years after my TBI and that didn't stop me either. My gear is all obviously left hand pull now with a modified cutaway handle to make life easier there xD

    Good luck with it all and let me know how you get on :D

     

  2. Posted

    I am just wondering if anyone knows anything about getting a skydiving licence in Poland.

    I am a C licenced UK skydiver, but my girlfriend is Polish and looking at doing it there. She tells me that there it is only 8 jumps with instructors to get you licence, but then that you have to do 50 jumps with an instructor nearby to get you B licence.

    Obviously this is close to the British system of 8 jumps with instructors plus 10 consolidation jumps to get your A licence... with a further 50 plus CH1 & JM1 to get your B licence.

    I am just wondering if anyone knows if it is actually different in Poland for an A licence, or just a mis-translation or misunderstanding?

    Cheers :)

  5. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any BPA qualified instructors at Lillo as I was hoping to do a few more levels for my B licence at the end of this month? :)
    Thanks for any help anyone can give with this. :)

  6. Posted

    I was just wondering if anyone knew of any BPA qualified instructors at Lillo as I was hoping to do a few more levels for my B licence at the end of this month? :)
    Thanks for any help anyone can give with this. :)

  8. Hi guys :)
    Me and my brother are thinking of coming across from the UK in the summer to jump as much as possible and had a few questions if anyone can help out as we've never been there before.

    - What is the closest international airport and easiest way to fly there. Is Sacramento the closest?

    - What's the best month for jumping weather or is all summer good? (unlike the UK ;) )

    - Is there accommodation at the DZ or is there a close town with cheap accommodation in it?

    Thanks for any help and advice guys :)

  10. Hey guys :)
    I have just got a standard Phoenix Fly track suit. It fits very well but I was wondering how tight it should be about the neck?

    It is really loose there currently (just like any casual normal jacket) so I imagine won't hold much pressure in the jacket, but then there are no measurements on the order form that you give for your neck. On the other hand maybe it is supposed to be like that to aid the jackets inflation or it just doesn't matter?

    Thanks for any advice guys :)

  11. I am going jumping this summer :)
    Lillo - looks nice, no mountains or sea next to it (so hopefully nice weather and not too windy) has 2 planes (porter and caravan?) and a town nearby so plenty of accommodation.

    Seville - looks like it only has 1 plane and no town nearby to stay in without hiring a car to drive somewhere?

    Dubai - looks very cheap but I am confused as there seems to be a desert campus and one jumping over the palm?

    Thanks for and advice people have :)

  12. I am fairly new to camera jumping and I have a Cannon 600d and a helmet already. I am looking to get some kind of indicator light for it so that I know when it is actually recording video and after searching around all the forums I am just more confused than when I started looking...

    I was wondering if you can offer any advice about anything suitable that would just be some kind of a red indicator light suitable for this camera on my helmet to show when it's recording?

    Thanks :)