climbon

Thanks for the replies, I will be there on Sat 18 Dec. Will try to share ride with someone to Mesquite and will be more than happy to share the fuel cost.

Looking for a DZ near Vegas for some fun dives. I went through some old threads and Binged web to find DZ in Vegas, pretty soon I realized many of the DZ's are for Tandoms only. I found three that do seemto welcome fun jumpers but not sure how sincerely (except Mesquite). Mesquite - Little far away and would have to rent a car. Sin City - The DZ locator have some positive reviews but their web site hardly has any information for fun jumpers. It seemed like they want to expand to fun jumpers but only get tandoms. Vegas Extreme - the web site says that all fun jumpers must be current (recent jump within 30 days) and must have own gear. USPA current requirement for A jumpers is 2 months and three months for B/C so I am not sure what's up. Any recommendation on a fun jumper friendly DZ in Vegas that also rents gear?

As far as injuries are concerned I can't help wonder how does skydiving compares with other sports like skiing, rock/alpine climbing, surfing or even activities like driving a motorcycle. I have only 19 jumps and maybe I visited DZ about 8 times, but I have already seen a few injuries. I saw two bad landings both resulting in 911 and trip to ER. I myself got a hairline after my JM tackled me mid-air to stop a spin. My injury or what I saw so far did not deter me from jumping (so far) but it does seem that this sport has more odd of getting injured compared to other activities i mentioned. During my AFF class i got nervous after going through various pictures of tangled chutes and when to go for reserve. To be honest the concept of reserve chute as a last resort freaked me out a little and to expect students to all figure it out and take appropriate action seemed like too much to me - especially during these very initial jumps. With all the sensory overload there is very little time to react. Chutes malfunction generally result in bad outcomes but it is the landings where folks are getting hurt more often - is that accurate assessment? I somehow don't find comfort in the argument if one is prepared with the worst possible outcome then continue jumping. It sounds right in principal but I wonder if most of the folks are in the "it won't happen to me" category and playing with the odds.

I did 6 dives over the weekend, two on one day and 4 on the other. The first dive did not go well as far as the controlling the turns/spins are concerned. It was like oh no here i go again. It was L6 jump. For the next jump my only goal was to control the flight, fall stable with everything else being bonus. On this jump I managed to get a 360 and a couple of flips as a bonus. The next two jumps also went fine with the tendency of uncontrolled spin decreasing considerably with each one and so I got through my AFF. The next two dives were solo dives and this is truly where i felt the pressure being lifted off me, I actually started enjoying the jumps, did multiple tricks and maintained control throughout. The main thing that worked for me was to relax and arch - as predicted. With each jump I was getting more comfortable with the concept of diving from the plane. This helped a lot. The dropzone and all the wonderful instructors helped tremendously and so did the folks who responded to this thread. Now I just hope I can carry the form to my next set of dives in the coming week or two.

@FinallyTracking: I appreciate the detailed reply. Yes it is hard to relax in air at the moment for me. In the last jump legs were everywhere once i started spinning and my torso was was curved to the side. Your DZ was nice to give you free videos to help you out. I am here in WA state and I preferred LA for the tunnel as I have relatives there. @AFFI: I talked to the instructor and we went over the video. The instructor is really nice and trying to help me sort it out. @Tuna-salad: What i meant by fight the spin was to not just let it happen but try to control and counter it. The overall feedback is more towards relaxing and getting into the arch . Toe taps is a good suggestion I will try that next time. I will let you fine folks know how i do this weekend. Looking forward to it!!

@Andy: Thanks. This advice is applicable outside AFF too.

@Gary - AFF L5 was perfect so that one is done (at-least officially). I guess the diference is that JM releases the student in a stable position and then I can do the rest. There is no tunnel in DZ so will have to again go to LA to get more tunnel time and/or combine with the jump. Last time it helped to clear 4 and 5 so I am sold that tunnel time helps. Thanks for the support folks... will try to relax more and keep at it.

Oh.. and I thought I had to drink to relax in the air...

Had trouble in level 4 due to spins. Hitched a plan ride for some tunnel time and L5 was perfect but started spinning again in L6 after solo exit. Seems like body is arched to the sides to control the spin and ofcourse does not work. Need to keep my torso straight with legs behind them but easier said then done (for me at the moment) when the spinning starts. I guess the answer is arch more and fight the spin?

I failed on my level 6 too. Went into spin after exiting and never could correct without help from JM. Flunked on AFF 4 several times. sounds like you did better.