nite97m

Congrats! I'll be getting some jumps in at SD Snohomish next week.

One other thing to keep in mind too - sometimes the learning objectives are simply a way to verify other skills. I didn't do so great on my first batch of flips either, but my instructor did let me know that the real purpose was achieved - in this case, demonstrating the ability to get stable from an unusual attitude quickly. It can take a lot of jumps to really nail certain skills. As long as you have the basics down, you get to keep jumping to develop those skills. The critical freefall skills: * Altitude awareness ** Pull on time * Stability (especially at pull time) * Emergency procedure - Quickly assess & do the right thing in an emergency. The rest - even tracking - is less important. (Edit: Thats not to say tracking is unimportant, by any means. Creating separation at deployment time is certainly important, however, it is something that you get to practice regularly as long as you pay attention to the critical freefall skills.) Student programs, whether AFF, Static line, or anything else, are primarily there to teach survival skills and to prepare you to continue learning as a skydiver. Everyone has to learn at some point: http://www.starcrestawards.com/humor/humor_the_skydiver_that_was_too_good.html

Both of those just take practice. For turns in particular, stay relaxed and fully stop the first turn - pause - take a breath - then start the other turn. You don't need to get really aggressive with them during the training process, and its easier to learn how to start & stop them if you take it slow. Good luck & happy flying!

If you enjoy it, then keep at it. Relax, have fun, and the skills will come. If you an instructor won't pass you on an AFF level because of a couple skills and you are having a hard time learning those skills from that instructor, it may be worth making a jump or two with a different instructor. Different teaching styles frequently makes a difference.

I don't make any claims of expertise, however, here's what was taught to me during the initial student training here: In a 2-out situation, if the canopies stabilize in either a biplane or side-by-side configuration, you fly it to the ground by very gently steering the dominate canopy (typically the main) and aiming for the largest open area you can find. From a stable bi-plane, it would likely take pretty large inputs to destabilize the bi-plane and separate the canopies. If the canopies are situated side by side, you still steer with the dominate canopy, again very gently, and steer against the other canopy. If they pull apart and start to develop into a downplane, cutaway the main immediately, regardless of altitude. Even if they develop into a downplane at 200 ft, you still cut - otherwise you won't have a canopy over your head when you are reintroduced to the earth. You already have an inflated reserve, so the only concern is recovery arc. Keep in mind though - the reserve's recovery arc from a downplane isn't going to start until the main goes away. More experienced jumpers, please correct any errors. Hope this helps.

*hugs* I had to watch my cat die recently. No words can fix things - just cherish the memories.

The ever famous Cessna Diamond forehead. Among the first few things taught when I was flight training with cessna's is paying close attention to the wing while moving around the aircraft.

I'm not looking specifically for "cheap", however, spending a ton of money on a top end system before I know how I'd be using it doesn't particularly make sense. Given that there is a cutaway option for the hells halo, are there any other comments on it? I'm operating under the assumption that its would be a stable camera platform, but I don't know enough by far to be able to tell just by looking at it. Any other suggestions on a good "starter" platform?

With a bit more digging, I did find a cutaway option that can be setup with that helmet. Cookie helmets do look nice, but they also appear to me to have a pretty price tag to them as well - though with the options, and stuff, the bonehead helmet isn't much less...

Howdy, I'm looking to get into flying camera's before too long. I'm working with a couple local jumpers on a plan to use with some portion of my jumps to prepare for my first jumps with camera & wings. Initially I'm looking to fly FS video, starting with 4-way. I'm looking for a setup that will have flexibility for other disciplines in the future as well, but also something that is relatively simple to start with. I already picked up a CX150 for primary video so that I can start getting a feel for it and start learning how to use it. With all that as background, I could use some pointers on what to look for in helmets. I'm told that side vs. top is mostly a matter of personal preference. Around my DZ, there seems to be a fairly even mix between top & side for the 4-way video setups. I am leaning towards a side-mount setup and preserving top-mount space for taking a stills camera or second video camera on an as-needed basis. I'm leaning towards the Bonehead "Hells Halo" right now, as what appears to be a good feature to price balance. There does not appear to be a cutaway option on it, however, with just the chinstrap clip, I don't think it would be difficult to get rid of, even under load. Any thoughts? Thank's in advance for any help!

Make sure to do a couple jumps with one bootie off (or do some flips till one gets blown off). Strange things happen and sometimes you're left at the beginning of a jump with only one bootie. Better to find out what it feels like and how to compensate early than be surprised by it in competition or something. Enjoy RW! I learned a *ton* this season jumping 4-way. Looking forward to another season of learning another aspect next year flying video.