awagnon

It would probably be a good idea to wear hearing protection. However, hearing loss due to noise is a function of the intensity of the noise and the duration. The duration of the ride up is over soon enough that not much harm will occur. However, multiple rides up, like a tandem instructor, results in enough exposure to do real damage. Like riding a motorcycle.

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this is about the same as me saying well I've had surgery done on me, I'm not a surgeon so please don't flame me but in my opinion the surgeon that worked on you should have done xyz, if this was posted on a medical forum every surgeon would be thinking - this guy is an *&!$#*

Using your analogy, it's more like a patient with two or more surgical options and having to decide which option offers him/her the best odds of a favorable outcome. You listen to the advice of those with the most knowledge of your situation and make a decision based on your trust of their experience and recommendation. You don't post the question on a medical forum and take the advice of well qualified surgeons, but who have never seen you before and who don't know the details of your situation.

In this case, were you there? Do you know the situation as well as the four instructors on the plane? ( 2 AFFI's and two tandem instructors. ) I would follow the advice of my instructor, just like I would the advice of my surgeon. Before surgery, you can always get a second opinion. You don't have that luxury in an emergency. Except in this case, I would hope the students had the collective experience of the four instructors on the plane to decide what provided them with the best odds of a favorable outcome. Which it did.

Thank you for your reply to my post.

Ok, I don't have the experience of most, if not all of the posters on this forum. However, I can still think like a student and how I would react in this situation. I've jumped most of my jumps from this airplane and I know these AFF-I's are well trained and conscientious. Plus, the DZO's reputation of putting safety first is why I chose this DZ to complete my AFF.

In this situation, with two students who have never landed without assistance, I believe the odds of them getting injured or worse was greater if they had jumped. I was not on this load, but from what I've been told, the emergency exit was essentially over the community of Grantsville. The chance of a student, with no solo landing experience, landing on an obstacle, a power line, a tree, or in Grantsville Lake makes the ODDS of his not getting hurt better to ride down with the plane. Even if the other engine failed, they were probably close enough for a dead stick landing ( if that's possible with a King Air ). It would be interesting to hear from the students, but if it were me, I would have stayed with the plane if I was in this situation at that point in my training and over a town.

Whether one or both of the AFF-I's should have stayed with the students is debatable and I'm not qualified to say. However, if I was one of the two students that day, I would just as soon have my instructor jump to lighten the plane once I had made the decision to go with the plane. Again, it's all about odds, and getting the extra weight out would improve MY odds if I stayed.

Hence, I think the right decision was made. But again, I wasn't there and have limited experience, so don't flame me. I'm just giving an opinion as a student if I were in this situation.

I always potato chipped severly when I was on a coached jump, but not when solo, because I would tense up with the coach there. I started practicing each coach level by myself, solo, until I was relaxed with it, then ask a coach to come along. The only down side to this, is I could be learning the level wrong before the coach jump. So far, it hasn't been a problem and I'm much more relaxed after a little practice. It's going to take me more than 25 jumps to get my A license, but who cares if I'm having fun in the process.

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Tracking towards is would mean that you were tracking straight up the jump run... Really bad news.

Thanks for the advice about not tracking up the jump run and opening higher in order fly the canopy longer to the DZ. I felt pretty sure the wing suiters and tandems would stay above me while I was tracking. And I did open 500' above my planned opening altitude. I was afraid of opening higher and really being in the way. But in the future, I'll track away from the jump run and open even higher if it looks like I'm short. Lesson learned.

By the way, I did pull up my feet to cut wind resistance and tried rear risers, but pulling down on the rear risers of the student chute was like pulling down the ceiling. I think all I did was a chin up.

Sometimes sinus pressure can feel like an upper tooth ache. Most likely it's the tooth and change in pressure, but consider a decongestant like Sudafed if it's an upper tooth and you aren't sure it's tooth pain.

On my very first solo jump after AFF I was on a load of nothing but wing suiters and tandems. Even though I said I planned to pull at 4,500', I still had to be the first one out. Not wanting to hold anyone up, I got the the hell out as soon as the jump light came on. I immediately saw I was going to be short of of the DZ. I tracked for it the best I could at my skill level and opened at 5,000'. I still barely made it to the landing area because of beating into the wind. All things considered, I think I'd rather be later in the load and jump a little long, and not be first in the future.

Thanks, Brian. I love your talks and videos. In fact, they've kept me going during AFF. I find I get more out of them if I don't watch the video, but instead concentrate on the narrative. I guess at my age, I can't multitask like I used to. But the videos are great, too.

One thing you mentioned about fear that I hadn't realized, but is really true. You tend to procrastinate when afraid. I found myself making all kinds of excuses not to jump. "I'd better not jump until tomorrow. I see a cloud on the horizon."

Nobody could be any more frightened than I was for my first tandem and then my first AFF. Couldn't sleep the night before, etc., etc. I was absolutely sure I'd die. Yesterday I graduated from the instructor phase of my AFF to solo jumping alone. I then made one "fun jump" alone just because I could. If I can do it at 61, then I'm certain you can. I'm only about 5% as scared now. I credit some fantastic instructors and listening to Brian Germain's talks on "Transcending Fear" on YouTube. Also, learn as much as you can about the sport, because we all fear the unknown.

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Try "The Skydiver's Handbook" by Dan Poynter and Mike Turoff.

I agree with Bry, Poynter's book was very good as was the SIM. Also, there are a number of very good articles in the "Safety" section of dropzone.com. Click just to the right of "Forums". Some good stuff there, and like the SIM, free.

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For some new students, especially on S/L-IAD progression, chest mounts might (might) cause a tendency to slightly de-arch for a moment.

This was my problem. I de-arched which slackened the chest strap. The altimeter then ended up under my neck. Using a wrist mount worked much better, at least for me as a new AFF student.

I've done my AFF training at two different drop zones. Both would loan a wrist altimeter ( analog or digital ) for free during training. Take advantage of this if your DZ does the same.

I'm 61 and just starting. I hope to keep jumping for at least another 10 years. I have motorcycle riding friends who are in their late 70's who ride circles around me and they easily put in 1000 mile days, which I can't do.

Just exercise regularly, get your required checkups for a man over 50 ( colonoscopy, prostate check ), and don't get overweight. I would avoid DHEA and testosterone suppliments, as men rarely need them and they could predispose to prostate and liver cancer. Use them only on the advice of a good doctor.

Just keep jumping. ( Silly advice coming from someone who only has nine jumps. )

The Perris AFF school has eight AFF videos on their website. There is a pull-down menu on the lower right:

http://www.skydiveperris.com/school.html

I love flying, too. However, skydiving gives me almost the same grins as flying at much less expense.

On the other hand, I ride a motorcycle around 15,000 miles a year. For someone in college, I honestly think a motorcycle is more PRACTICAL. But, is practical what you really want? Statistically, the risks of skydiving and riding are close to the same, if not a little safer skydiving. General aviation actually has a higher risk factor, from what I've seen from Dept. of Public Safety data.

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One of the biggest tips I ever got ($40) was by a guy I failed on his last AFF jump, ironically enough.

Just think what your tip would have been if you'd passed him.

I tipped my instructor on my first non-tandem AFF jump even though he didn't pass me. On the other hand, the reason he didn't pass me was I didn't pull and he did for me. I think keeping me alive is worth a tip, even if I didn't pass.

I was told by an instructor, if you tip after each AFF jump, then it looks like you're trying to buy your way to passing. I tipped at the end of the day and gave a tip to each instructor based on how many jumps they did with me. For me, I REALLY appreciated the help they gave me and I wanted to them to know it besides just saying "thanks".

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Stats are great for sports records only. ..... I know the risk,

I disagree. The stats apply to you, too. You say you know the risk. In other words, you know the chance of getting hurt/killed and you have decided the risk (stats) are acceptable. I think we all have. It's just that some of us want to better understand what the actual risk (stats) is so we can make a more informed decision.

Thanks, Andre (Erdnarob), for the followup answer and to Megatron for asking the question. I doubt I will ever have enough jumps at my age (61) to worry about cummulative risk. Still, it's enlightening to know the answer and somewhat comforting to know the cummulative risk isn't as great as expected.

Unilateral, or one sided edema suggests a vascular problem on just that side, rather than a system problem such as cardiac disease or nephrosis. Have you ever had a DVT or blood clot in your right leg or prior injury. Now that you have swelling on both sides, the differential diagnosis changes, somewhat, back to a systemic problem. I agree with the above suggestions to get a full evaluation.

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The seal and thread are not attached to the loop or reserve container, only to the pin. Below the seal it just loops around the pin.

Thanks for the clarification, Brian. From the photos, it looked like the thread actually passed through the reserve closing loop which didn't make much sense to me.

This is slightly off topic and a NOOB question. Looking at the second photo of the original post, it appears the reserve pin could be withdrawn without breaking the sealing thread between the seal and the reserve closing loop. If this were to happen, could the seal interfere with the reserve container opening? Has this ever happened? I start AFF next week. One more thing to worry about or not?

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Sorry to ask, but what does OCD stand for?

Most likely obsessive compulsive disorder.

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I sent the problem to statisticians and we will see their answer.

Happy New Year, Erdnarob. Have you gotten a reply back from the statisticians about cummulative risk in skydiving?

I'm not sure if this is the same canopy simulator that was on Dropzone.com in early November. I tried the demo version of that one, but it wouldn't work on my laptop and it crashed my desktop big time. I'm afraid to try it again if it's the same and hasn't been fixed.