Gutterboy

Hi everyone I'm Graeme, the instructor being discussed here, and it looks like it's time for me to join this conversation! Before you all jump to conclusions about our operation being a scam, please allow me to add a couple of additional details about our experience here with this student. Agreed, it's normal for a tandem student to get sick after their first jump, particularly if the instructor is doing excessive spirals. But what was not mentioned is that as well as being thoroughly incapacitated, there was also some BLOOD coming out in his vomit! This is highly irregular and seriously concerned me - hence the request to consult an aviation doctor before continuing. I agree very strongly with Yoink's comments about what might happen if the student encounters a spinning malfunction or similar disorienting experience during AFF? We need to know that the student can perform and save his own ass in this high-pressure situation and in this case I was not convinced that he could do this! What was also not mentioned is that we have some very specific restrictions for students applying for AFF. One of these is that they must be "sporty" and in good health - this student showed up slightly overweight, with a history of migraines, no experience of extreme sports and absolutely terrified. Of course we never get the perfect student, of course everyone is scared, and nobody is ever 100% prepared for AFF, but I felt that in this case he was neither physically nor mentally ready for it and, judging by his reaction from the first jump, I felt a safer option would be to POSTPONE the course. I invited him to come back in 6 months or a year's time after working on improving his health and maybe trying some other slightly less extreme sports (eg diving, flying, climbing) to work on facing his fears and work up towards skydiving, with the idea that he would be slightly less terrified during AFF! As regards the payment, the course fees have not yet been paid and the issue is regarding an advance deposit of $765, which we insist on to keep instructors' schedules free for the duration of the course (we operate a one-on-one training system where each student gets their own "mentor" instructor). As this student did not meet the basic requirements, we were not willing to refund the deposit, but did still allow him to continue with the course, as it was not such a serious breach of the conditions (and obviously very open to discussion!) However I did explain that there would be no need for another deposit when he came back, and that we would discount the course fees to reflect the money un-used. Anyway I'm very happy to report that this story has a happy ending: To our surprise, he has been to see an FAA doctor, he has got a note explaining what happened and why there was blood coming out (to our satisfaction), and he went for another tandem jump yesterday during which he performed much, much better, with no sickness at all and so we are continuing today with a ground school and AFF jumps! Please wish us both luck!

Price should be the very last of your considerations when looking for an AFF course. You are risking your life every time you jump out of a plane so finding a good school that can give you thorough training that will stay with you throughout your career is much more important than saving a few dollars in the short term. Look at forums and dropzone reviews on this website and ask around about the dropzones you are considering. Get in touch with students and jumpers at those dropzones if you can and find out as much as you can about the dropzone - is it a tandem factory where the instructors will have no time to teach you properly? Are the weather conditions suitable for students? What is the landing area (and surrrounds!) like? There is a good jumping scene in Thailand with a few dropzones so you shouldn't need to travel to get licensed, but you will need to look out for yourself in this game and research this very carefully. Don't believe the hype! Good luck to you and welcome to the sky!

Don't buy any gear just yet as you will need to change it so quickly as you progress in the sport, plus it's a lot of extra weight to carry around the world! Every dropzone that does AFF will have student gear for you to use so you really don't need to worry about buying anything until you have a good number of jumps under your belt - I would recommend an A licence at the very least.. Doing a lot of tandems is not a bad idea but it's a very expensive way to learn not very much. Really there's no substitute for AFF and no better way to learn than to start jumping yourself!! Blue Skies

Hi Jarmy, welcome to the world of skydiving! There's not much jumping in Asia except for Thailand where there's a couple of dropzones. Having worked at both of them I can give you some very accurate information! Thai Sky Adventures has been open about a year and is a great dropzone, near to Pattaya and Bangkok, with an excellent plane. However it is not a good place to learn as the landing area is quite tricky and dangerous, the wind can get gusty and the instructors do not have time to commit properly to their students which is extremely important when you're learning. I have seen many students get left behind, some have even given up because they have been ignored and worst of all I've seen dozens of students get injured, some quite seriously. The other dropzone is Bird's Paradise which is a lot quieter and remote but because of this the landing area is huge and much safer, the weather is a lot more mellow and most importantly the instructors are absolutely dedicated to their students and will literally be with you all day to help you out and answer all your questions. It is a much better and safer place to learn to skydive. My advice to you would be to do the beginners course (at least the first 7 jumps if not the whole A licence) at Bird's Paradise to make sure you do it properly, safely and without distraction. Once you have a few jumps under your belt and are confident you can land safely then it's worth checking out some other dropzones and you'll find Thai Sky Adventures a great place to get lots of jumps in and it's also close to cities, expat communities and probably some work as well. Check out Bird's Paradise at www.thaiskydiving.com and on facebook and I hope to meet you out here one day! Good luck with your travels and please feel free to get in touch with me if I can help any more. Blue Skies, Graeme [email protected]

Thai Sky Adventures is a good dropzone with an excellent plane but not a good place for students as the landing area is dangerous and the instructors are too busy to look after their students properly. You'll be much safer and learn a lot more at Bird's Paradise (a.k.a. Sakorn Nakorn) Check them out on www.thaiskydiving.com or get in touch with Danniel at www.skydivesingapore.com as he runs his courses there as well. Good luck!

I have just finished the same course at NZSS and totally agree with this post. The rip-off with the licences is just one of many problems and is typical of the school. The biggest problem I had was that they promised very high levels of supervision and lots of one-to-one coaching, but we arrived to find a chaotic mess, with hardly any coaching given at all - when we got the occasional coached jump it was only because we begged and fought for it. The entire school is extremely badly organised, with directors changing every few months and none of the instructors seem to know what level their students are at. There's even been a couple of close-calls because of such low supervision, in fact it's surprising that nobody has been seriously hurt yet. As for myself I am now at the end of the course and seriously lacking in skills that I should have by now - skills that I was promised and skills that many former students did indeed get taught. All of this is unfortunate, because the school used to be very good and still has the potential to be very good but at the moment you'd be wasting your money... My final answer would be to get in touch with students currently at the school, to monitor whether or not things are improving, but in the meantime I strongly advise that you spend your money elsewhere.

I have the same problem. I understand that this setting resets itself after the camera is turned off for 12 hours or more.. it's a pain but at least you don't have to reset it between jumps. There doesn't seem to be a function on the hypeye to restore this setting either, so I guess it's just one more thing to check in the morning.