Baksteen

Er.. I was looking at your eyes, honey.. Honest! "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Not an instructor, low jump numbers etc. The problem might be with swicthing back and forth between single and double handled systems. It's just better to stick with the same method as much as possible. At my home DZ students are typically trained on mantas with ripcord opening systems, until they're ready to switch to the more advanced gear with hand deployed BOC pilot. I'm past it now, but sure as hell I had to actually think about my opening the first few jumps because I instinctively reached for my hip instead of the BOC pouch. This was easily compensated for by me doing H&P's at 6k. More then enough time to open the main and incidentally spend some effort in achieving my canopy control requirements. Now apply the loss of a few seconds to an EP. Of course - when you LOOK to GRAB your cutaway and it isn't there, you just pull the other handle. Only a few seconds lost, right? Imagine you have a closed container mal (for instance a hard pull), and are falling at 200 ft per second. You tried to open your main twice, and now you're at 2K. Is this the time to start thinking about where your handles are? Now lets say you've got your own gear after a few SOS jumps. You've got a spinning mal. Having the muscle memory for a SOS system, you accidentally forget to cutaway, and launch your reserve straight into the mess... I'm not saying this will always happen, or that one or the other system is bad per se - just that someone should switch between systems as few times as possible. Maybe it's best to make those three jumps and a few after that at the other DZ until she's ready to buy her own gear. (ETA: I've never jumped a SOS system myself. This post is solely based on my experiences switching between opening systems) "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

No one ever stares at my boobs. Soo.. would you be thanking the guy for staring at your boobs, for holding the door or for both? "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

What choo lookin at pal? "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Bloody crimpers... Join up, they said. See the WORLD they said! "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

The advantage of playing the banjo in a vacuum is that you won't actually have to listen to it. EDIT: Yes, you were "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

(singing) It's squeaky, it's squeaky and the brain, brain, brain, brain... "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Why leprechauns shouldn't sniff glue. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

"He lived his life to the fullest. The rest is just gravey" "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

When I tried to explain skydiving to a whuffo I warned her that none of the terms I could come up with completely covered the experience. Next time she asked about "the magic of skydiving" - I like it! "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

No problem there, I forgot to stress that I'm from a small DZ with a six passenger C-206T as our flagship.

Thanks for the good advice Tom.

This has been discussed with my intructors, I know know what I should have done, but this is a situation i'd not given much thought beforehand. That's why I'm especially interested what other students/upjumpers would do: Scenario: Last Saturday I was going to practice my tracking. We exited at six thousand feet, uppers at approximately ten knots; ground next to zero. I watched the freefly two way exit before me, counted to five and exited. I looked at the aircraft as I fell away from it, then chose a heading 90 degrees from jump run and tried to track. I went nowhere in a hurry, and lost my heading. I decided to stop the exercise as ten seconds had elapsed already and assumed mantis postion. Suddenly I was shocked to see a yellow canopy open 'directly below me'... The mistakes I made so far aside, what would you have done when finding yourself above an opening canopy? I'll give it some posts, then say what I did. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Like mny others have said, who cares? You should concentrate on having fun skydiving. Completing the tasks will follow. I'm a staticline studnet myself; I made my first freefall at jump 11, but wasn't "cleared off student status" until my 91st jump when I obtained my A licence. So I was slow. Not only because I just couldn't figure out that bloody tracking (took me over ten jumps), but also because I was having fun. We all have a bottleneck at some point. Don't worry about it, try your best and concentrate on the stuff that did go right. Made a nice PLF maybe? Flew an excellent pattern? Landed in the peas? Had a textbook exit? And of course, if you want to train some before anext jump get some tunnel time in. It takes some getting used to (or tunnelflying was another bottle neck for me) but you'll learn a lot. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

See this quill? WOuld you like me to carefully explain where you can put it?? "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Excuse me but from my point of view I'm the only normal person in the world. It's the rest of humanity that's bonkers. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

HERE I come to save the DAAAAY.... Superdork is here to staaaaayy... "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Is that BACON I smell, asshole? "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Correctly? Maybe you didn't quite pull the "loop in which you stow the toggle" (cat's eye) through the small metal ring? Did you check your brake setting? This is very easy: Set your brake and stow the excess brake line. Simply grab the steering line somewhere above the riser and yank it sharply. If nothing happens you're good to go. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Arrrgh! Headlights! Must..look..away.. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

It takes 6 mins after a lot of practice. I've never been able to pack at home what with having no private gear yet but sometimes in the beginning I could see why one would like to just stuff their canopy in a gear bag and pack it at home at their leisure sometime during the week.

What do you mean, "obsessed with bubbles"? "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Agreed? Not necessarily; depends on how you use the dytter. Ideallly, what with the level of experience I currently ahve, my dytter sounds off the moment I should already be waving off / reaching for my hackey. I agree though that completely depending on it instead of being altitude aware is potentially dangerous. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Representing the vaqueros of the Rainbow Poncho "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom

Naturally. Bitching pissing and moaning is what makes us skydivers. But if you're lucky, there might be the occasional jumping out of an aircraft stuff too. "That formation-stuff in freefall is just fun and games but with an open parachute it's starting to sound like, you know, an extreme sport." ~mom