InfiniteSky

If you're jumping at 12,500 you're looking at around 55 seconds on your belly without a wingsuit. Less if you're freeflying. You should get out to a DZ and make a jump. If you like it keep jumping and you can eventually try a wingsuit out for yourself.

Depends on what suit I'm wearing and how I feel like flying. There is no set flight time. It depends on body type, suit, pilot skill, ect. Going over 2 minutes isn't too hard though, even in smaller suits.

It's not that hard really. You only need to make five jumps a weekend on 40 of 78 weekends. That's hardly living at the airport and jumping every spare minute. You still have lots of time for whatever else you want to do. Or jump more and knock it out a lot faster. At $25 a jump you'll be spending $125 on jumps every weekend. $5000 total isn't bad at all spread out over 18 months. I easily got over 200 jumps in 18 months with a 3 month break. I usually make around 10 jumps a weekend.

I find that focusing on nice deep breaths helps alot. Deep breaths naturally bleed alot of tension from your body, and focusing on the breathing helps take your mind off other things. It'll also help you learn to breathe in a relaxed way in freefall which is a huge help to flying well.

I was lucky to have two evaluators who weren't out to try and "get" you. Instead they just acted like a less than ideal students. So just focus on doing everything as if you were taking up a student who had just gotten signed off on solo status. Give them a very thorough gear check and monitor them on the ground and up to altitude. Pay attention in the air, because if you can't give them a good accurate debrief you'll probably fail the eval. Anyone with decent skills can fly with a student. Being able to accurately debrief and come up with a plan for things to work on for said student is what makes you a coach. A couple big things from my course were in the air. Letting the student hit you (I'm talking about uncontrolled hits not docks) is an automatic fail, and they did try to hit me. Make sure your student actually tracks away and if they don't you better get out fast. And don't break the assigned hard deck. The "hard deck" on those jumps is usually higher than your personal one and it's easy to get sucked down to it with an unruly "student" and fail a jump. But like I said, just imagine your evaluator really is a student and go about your business and you should be fine.

There are regular balloon jumps out at Perris.

Count me in! That's a sweet patch.

I got a digital alti early on. I can read a digital display much faster than an analog display. And to me being able to read my altitude as fast as possible is pretty important. However, batteries do die and I've had a couple jumps where it didn't work (faulty battery, replaced it and haven't had problems since). Analog altimeters can stop working on jumps as well. Which display do you find easier to read? I'd say keep using the student altimeters until you have your A, then buy your own alti. You'll have time to save up some extra cash and get one that'll log as well as tell altitude. And you'll (hopefully) be jumping with other people and can look at their altimeters if yours dies on you. FWIW I prefer the fact that if my digital alti stops working I know it as soon as I look at it, unlike an analog where I'm likely to burn through some altitude before I realize the needle is stuck.

I'm healing up from a broken arm and haven't jumped in nearly two months but I still spend most of my weekends at the DZ (Elsinore). Plenty of people just hang out even if they don't jump. It's a chance to meet people and make friends and learn. It's a social sport, and making friends early on makes the transition from student to licensed jumper alot easier as well as just making the DZ a more pleasant place to be. Spending your time at the DZ helps keep you connected to the sport and is way better than sitting in front of your TV, depressed because you can't jump.

Just throw up the shaka.

Loved the videos, Spot.

I actually did just this ordering my suit the other day.

It's legal and tons of fun when it goes right. But when it goes wrong it's not so fun. I've done them successfully, but the last one I did wound up snapping my arm, and landing with a broken arm really sucks. I'm stuck on the ground with a cast up to my shoulder right now. If you do it plan carefully with advice from people who know what they're talking about. Be ready to abort if anything feels less than perfect. And know that despite all precautions things can easily go wrong and you can get broken.

Congrats Jim! Looking forward to jumping with you when I get all healed up.

+1 Best seat on the plane!

Broke my left radius and ulna two weeks ago on a Mr. Bill gone bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvOlGq2waog

: 15 : 0 It was freezing cold up top, but the jumps were great.

I just at Elsinore and mostly do 4way. I was there for excel that day too, so I'm sure we met (maybe even jumped together). Look me up this weekend (Joel, black and green jumpsuit) and I'll be happy to go over more specific 4way stuff with you.

Be careful with loosening the chest strap. If you have to cut away after you loosened it your handles can shift dramatically and you can have problems. If you do do it at least do a good control check first so that you know you have a good landable canopy before you mess with that chest strap. Loosening my chest strap is the last thing on my post-opening procedures.

I did my AFF at Elsinore and I think it's a great place to do it, but I'm biased. Perris is a great dropzone too. But they both have very different vibes. I personally love Elsinore's style, so that's where I call home. Drop by and visit us and see how you like it, then make up your mind.

Dude, that's quite the thread resurection. By the way, I hope by no dive flow you don't mean no plan. A track dive should be planned out like any other. What line/side to fly, docks allowed or not, low or high on the flock, breakoff, ect. I love tracking dives, but they have alot more potential for injury than your average RW jump and need to be planned out. And sunset track dives are amazing. Many of my most enjoyable jumps have been tracking dives.

I don't know if I could pick one as the number one skydive of my life, but a few that stand out are. A two way belly jump with Mel Curtis where we turned 30 odd points on a challenging (for me) dive plan. Everything just flowed and it was amazing. My first (and so far only) Mr. Bill. It went off perfectly and was incredibly fun. A two way track where we flew relative and were docking, hopping up and over, and docking again. That's the closest I've come to feeling like a bird. All the jumps from my first 4-way comp. Especially the first as it was my first jump after two and a half months of not jumping. Luckily I shook the rust off and we took first in rookie class.

Keep the jumps small and you should be fine. And if you want to help new jumpers think about getting your coach rating. You'll learn alot that'll help you help them progress.

I just earned my coach rating yesterday. The biggest thing I'd say is to relax and not get nervous. You have to be focused, but don't worry during evals. They teach you what you need to know and if you pay attention and learn you'll do fine. It's challenging, but the instructors aren't trying to make you fail, they just want to see you show that you know what to do. I learned tons in the USPA Coach course. I'm sure you'll learn lots too.