PeregrineFalcon

Extremely religious people don't piss me off...but when they push religion in my face or act all holy, then I get pissed. My parents did a sudden "born again" thing a couple of years ago. I don't mind it until they start trying to save me. Then it gets annoying as hell.

Threads like these are very helpful to a newbie like me. Thank you.

This gives me hope that one day I too can be a United States congressman. God bless America!

Seriously? No...not seriously. Did it come off that I was being serious? I have to correct that.

The presidency and vice-presidency have been known to age people CONSIDERABLY!! Both Clinton and Bush looked to have aged more than 8 years during their tenures. Maybe it's better not to vote McCain/Palin just to keep her milf status. Also, why is the spell checker not accepting the word, "milf?"

That's true, but here's the thing. I'm told I have a very fast fall rate. I'll learn to slow it down soon. That brings me to a question. If a belly flyer had a big arch and fall rate, how many seconds would they shave off a free fall of say...8,000 feet? I know the answer is "it depends" but what's the fastest a body can go in belly flying and freflying?

Just this weekend, I had my AFF level 5 and 6 jumps. While gaining alt on the first jump, I noticed the needle not moving. My JM gave me his altimeter. He said he had a back up in his camera. He then showed me how to test it while still on the ground. For the second jump, I grabbed another altimeter and strapped it to my wrist. I then decided to take it off and test it. It wasn't a real altimeter. It was the practice one they use in training. Push the button and the needle moves. It was a timer!! I'm sure that would have been helpful.

I was told a first anything once you graduate AFF, so my "first multiple jump in one day" on AFF levels 3 and 4 did not require a beer. However, once you graduate, there can be A LOT of firsts. First time riding the plane with someone less experienced...first staged flairing...first hop and pop...first time without a jumpsuit...first time jumping on a Wednesday after calling in sick for work while wearing mismatched socks and listening to a Madonna song on his Ipod and in need of a haircut...hell, just tell him to bring a case each time for quite a while.

Yikes, what a story. It's a good thing he wasn't pulling both toggles pulled down for 4000 feet? LOL.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Ah, they did fail you at level three. Why'd you go back up that same day instead of taking some time to watch your video a few times and reflect on what you were doing wrong?

You only had one instructor during your first two jumps? Not only did have one instructor on his first jump, but I SWEAR there was a point where he was released on that second jump. It was hard to see your exits though, since the cameraman jumped so much earlier than you did. This is all very interesting. I think it's funny that both your landings were behind that tall grass. I'm off to watch the other three videos.

Whoa. 22 replies on this thread already. I came back to refute what I said here before and I'll bet that once I read the thread, I'll find someone else has already done it for me. When I made this statement, I was assuming they didn't fail you. Did you fail one or two times and kept insisting that you go up that same day?

I think it's perfectly ok for an inexperienced jumper to give his opinion on this. I'm going to do it! Six plus hours of ground instruction followed by your first jump is a LOT for one person to handle. For them to say, "Yeah, come up for four more jumps today," is them being too distanced from the time when they were new to the sport. It helps to take a few days off, look at the video, see your mistakes, contemplate what you're going to do better, hell, just experiencing the buzz you had from that first jump! That was from a newbie's position. This next thing I'm about to say I will admit I'm unqualified to give as a definite. I'm going to say it anyway. Or rather...put it as a question for other instructors to answer. Wouldn't most DZ's fail him at level 2 or something and make him repeat it another day?

Yeah, I get what you mean. When I went this weekend, I asked if it was possible to graduate a level early (because I obviously wanted to exchange the last lesson for nine free jump tickets). He said it was impossible at this point because of my "exits" saying that he needed to see two solo exits and then a diving exit. Later, I found out that he had just become the new owner of the DZ. LOL! So, I did the solo exit and then he had me do a diving exit right after that. I guess he forgot about "having to see two solo exits before the diving exit." It's all good, though. I'm not mad. He must be strapped for cash after buying the place. A couple of weeks ago, he didn't have any headlights on his car. Plus, he's a hell of a nice guy and I'm learning a lot from him. So, I'm happy to give him the business. Another thing, a line broke on one of my dives and he didn't make me pay for it (whatever that would have cost, I'm sure it would have been nominal, but I can see some asshole owner jacking up the price on it since a newbie like me wouldn't know any better). All-in-all, he's a nice enough guy that I'll be going back for coach jumps.

I'm looking at the price of tunnel time and I'm thinking it might be better to join a league. It's 160 bucks to join a league, but i have a couple of questions. 1. Do you get more tunnel time for your money if you join a league? 2. Would a newbie like myself (10 jumps and 1 two-minute session of tunnel time) be a hindrance for whatever team I end up with or is there some sort of beginners league or maybe like bowling where there's a handicap? 3. Apparently, I have a really fast fall rate. Although it helps me be real stable in free fall, it looked stupid in the tunnel as I went down to the floor. I haven't yet learned to slow my rate, but I'm thinking it has to do with less of an arch and more extension of arms and legs. Is that right? 4. When they had the instructor do a demo for us, they obviously had the fan go faster for him, will they speed it up for a league? Thanks for the responses to any or all of these questions.

I hear ya. For me it was my grandfather, who I worshipped as a kid. "Really, Grandpa? You were in a submarine in WW2? You killed a Jap with your bare hands? (That was before political correctness). Really, Grandpa? Your whole submarine sank while you were in the hospital and you went so crazy that you grabbed a gun and started shooting out the lights of the beach and scaring everyone to death forcing them to give you a Section 8? Turns out he was a guard at some port on the mainland and when he faked being crazy before ever getting the orders to be shipped over seas. My father did a similar thing to get out of Vietnam, but at least he admits it. He was a corpsman (SP?) in Pensacola, FL and he knew that people stationed there were soon going to 'Nam. So, he got a buddy in San Diego to find another corpsman who had family in Florida. He was able to switch places with that guy. When you switch places, you switch order numbers or some shit like that. A little while later, that guy got sent to Vietnam and got four bullets in his chest as soon as he walked off the boat. Now that I think about it, my dad's probably bullshitting about that story too. I have no rolemodels.

Two days after you posted this, I googled the same thing and it's already up to 13,500 which is a coincidence because I just jumped from that height earlier today. There's even a Sarah Palin Milf Fan Club!!!

Someone with more hair and better looking than the shmuck in your avatar. Really? Trolls on this site too? They're everywhere.

She did a lot better than I did in the wind tunnel. My five-year-old daughter wants to do it too. She'll probably put me to shame.

You mean King Air... Good luck

I haven't asked. But I do know that since I paid ahead of time, I'm eligible to get nine jump tickets if I graduate one level early. It's not such an incentive that I'm willing to try something I'm not ready for, but if I have the ok from the JM and I feel I can handle it, I'm going to try it. Hell that's nine jumps! I jump tomorrow morning for AFF level 5 (modified). If their Sky King is running again, I'll probably graduate tomorrow. If it's only the Cessna, I'll only be able to do one jump. Holy shit, I can't stop thinking about it!!!

I hope it's not inappropriate for me to post this in this forum. Forgive me if it is. I had 4 jumps 14 years ago and started over again recently. After level 2, the JM said I was ready to jump with only 1 JM, do a release and, if I felt comfortable, do my 90 degree turns on level 3. I did that. At level 4, I did 360 turns. With the exception of needing to extend my legs more, I did pretty well. My question is...does this sort of thing happen often or rarely with JM's? At first I thought the JM was pushing me too hard, but since I was able to do the maneuvers, I'm really glad he's giving me the slack and encouragement to progress faster than others. He says I'm ready and capable and I'm learning to trust him. I am, however, being very aware of my limitations and not going beyond my boundaries. One other question. After the 360 turns, I had the urge and the altitude to do some forward movement. I didn't do it, though, because I thought the JM would be pissed at me doing something unplanned. Would you as a JM be pissed if a student did something like that? Thanks for the replies.

I have 8 jumps without a reserve!!! I'm "chuting" for 8000. Get it? chuting....shooting?

Ok, very cool. Lot's of great responses that help a lot. The DZ is Hollister, CA. It's pretty small compared to the other two I've been to. I had four jumps at Perris Valley about 14 years ago. Then got back into it and did AFF 1 in Byron, but the winds are too much to continue, so I went to Hollister. The JM working with me has been pushing me, saying I'm ahead of the curve. After my level 2 there, they sent me with just one JM for level three where I did my release dive and my 90 degree turns. Then at level 4, I did 360 turns. I'm going to level 5 this weekend. At first I thought he was pushing me to save money (1 less JM on level 3) and I asked him straight out. But he said my positioning was good enough and I'll be damned, I was stable. I didn't even feel him letting go of me. Plus, I saw him NOT pushing another student, being extra careful with him, so I'm learning to trust the JM. I'm hoping when it's time for coaching it doesn't cost too much.