tmarine253

To further describe, and I feel I am not using correct terminology of the parts of the equipment I am describing. The top of the brake handles would not release because there appeared to be a loop of line around the top of the handle (which I presume is supposed to be there to stowe the brakes) and this loop was extremely tight and when I pulled down on the toggles the brake handle would not come out the loop just came down with it. On the second jump with this canopy I gave it like 5 hard pulls before the brakes released. I dont know if this is a problem with the brakes or am I doing something wrong. On my previous 13 jumps over the past month when I started AFF I have never had this problem, the brakes were always really really easy to release.

Thanks for the reply, I will talk to the instructor and have him look at the rig to see if it needs maintenance.

When I pulled the toggles and turned the toggle lines were moving. However they did not come down as far as I had been used too. When I pulled the toggles to my chest, the risers did not come with them, I would have noticed that. I guess this is a situation I cannot explain on a forum. I do not feel I have not retained information that I had learned form my instructors. I perform controlability checks everytime, as I did or atleast thought I did on this jump. The canopy responded as if I did a controlability check. I will go over this with my instructor again as stated above. I do appreciate the comments.

I appreciate you acknowledging the question. I hope that this type of problem wont happen again at such a low altitude. At my DZ I was taught that decision time was at 2500 ft. Either way I will continue to do what I am doing, this is the first problem that I had and corrected it on the next jump. I will talk to my instructor about it some more and see if he has any other suggestions.

It was a canopy I never have flown before and I did the gentle left, gentle right everything was fine. I did the flare, the toggles came to about chest level, and I thought it was just the way that those brakes worked. I did what I felt was a controlability check and therefore thought I was doing everything fine. I jumped the canopy again right after as stated above and corrected my actions. I was just looking for peoples thoughts on EP's in spiral and cutaway altitude.

I did the controlability check and I could control the canopy just fine, the problem was I thought I had released the breaks and I had not. When the one break actually came out is when the problem occurred. I was just wondering what or if there are standard procedures for spirals and whether 1200 ft is too low or unsafe to cutaway at?

In WWII only about 20% of airborne troops were combat effective if they were air dropped. This means they had a casualty rate of 80% if we are referring to the actual definition of casualty.

I am still a student with little experience "only 15 jumps" and I was jumping a new canopy yesterday, a Silhouette 190. I opened, the opening was a little hard but not bad, and I released the breaks, or at least i thought I did. I was steering the canopy fine but it was tough to pull down on each toggles. I opened at about 5000 feet and by the time I got to 1200 feet I pulled the left toggle to turn left to exit my holding area. Well when I did this the left brake then actually released. This caused me to begin spiraling toward the ground. I thought about cutting away but assumed I was too low. (these were the quickest thoughts I have ever had) and then for some reason I pumped the rear risers and then yanked hard on the right toggle which released it. The canopy straightened out and I landed safely. I jumped the canopy again right after this happened and the toggles were still hard to release but since I knew I could get them out I did just by pulling a lot harder. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could have done differently in the spiral because it scared the shit out of me. And was 1200 feet to low to cutaway? Like I said I am still learning and very inexperienced which is why I am seeking some advice on here. Thanks.

I guess I got lucky, I was at DeLand yesterday doing some solos and the skyvan was there. The rear exit is pretty cool to dive out of.

They are flying the otter quite a bit lately, and the Qatarians are still there haha. I jump with them every Tuesday. But yeah, I jumped the otter yesterday, but when his load came around they only had a few people on it. I really want to jump the skyvan and you telling me its in Zhills I guess is the reason I haven't seen it.

Greg was there, I dont know about the others, and yeah I didn't want to be that dickhead guy who was trying to get him to jump with me. He was doing some work with jumpmasters and planning jumps, it appeared he was trying to do some new freeflying stuff. As for getting on the same load with him. I think the dropzone was trying to not get people on loads with him, I was trying. But its kinda odd when they send a twin otter up with 9 heads on it and manifest says its full, he must have worked out something with the dropzone. I just thought it was cool I got to talk to him for a few minutes one on one, I have no idea why people ridicule it.

So I went and did two solos today at DeLand. And as I was walking out of the gear shop, Travis Pastrana was standing there getting ready to get on a load. I went up and introduced myself to him because I have always wanted to meet him and because I grew up about 5 minutes away from where he lives in Maryland. Just pretty interesting, I am sure anyone who was at DeLand today saw him.

I just graduated AFF I am now working on my A license.

Today I graduated AFF and then did 2 more solos after that. I have to say that the solos were pretty cool and enlightening. You really begin to realize the amount of freefall time you have on your first solo.

I do not know what G&H jumps are but my next question is how many coached jumps should one do? I have read in places it is 9 or 10. After that would a skydiver in the process of getting an A license do solos?

Coached jumps are just about double the price though right?

I have found a bunch of information that is close to what I need answered but cannot find anything dead on. After AFF will I be able to solo jump? Or will I need to pay for coached jumps each time until I get my A license? My other question is would I be able to travel to another dropzone to jump. I am currently doing AFF at Deland and plan on finishing on Saturday, it would be amazing if I could finish the rest of my jumps at Palatka due to the drive being cut in half. Anyone with any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated if they responded. Thanks.

Nikki and Pine for AFF1 and Carl and Fraser for AFF 2 and AFF 3.

Just to let everyone know, I drove down to Deland this morning and even though the weather appeared to be bad, I got to jump. I did my AFF 2 and AFF 3 today. On the ride up on my AFF 2 I was extremely nervous and scared but as soon as I got out of the plane and I was in free fall I was having a great time. I did everything I needed too and had a perfect landing, for my AFF 3 there was still a little nervousness but not like I had, my instructors also told me I had a great skydive for AFF 3. I feel like I am now over the initial sense of fear. I know I will still have the butterflies going up but as soon as I'm out the door I will be all good. Oh and on my AFF 2 the one I was really scared for, I had a line twist, it was twisted like three times but that really didn't bother me too much.

Yeah, I will be there tomorrow, I plan on getting there around 9am. The only problem is that I live in Jacksonville and the weather tomorrow is not supposed to be stellar so I will be pretty pissed if there are weather holds all day tomorrow and I can't jump.

I really enjoyed my first jump and am not at all about to give up skydiving. I don't panic under pressure and its not a fear that would drive me to never jump again. My fear is not associated with performance but more associated with the act of actually jumping out of the plane again. I would have to agree with your point on the general consensus of the status quo that skydiving is a dangerous sport and you will most likely die if you do it. I just think that it is the subliminal thought of doing something the body is not used to (free falling from 14000 feet) and my anxiety will probably decrease over time. I appreciate the response.

I know this has probably already been answered but I would like to get some opinions on this. I did my AFF 1 a few days ago and plan on going to do my next two jumps the day after tomorrow. I was nervous for the first jump but my instructor said I did really well. With my second jump coming up I feel like I am more nervous about the second one than I was the first jump. My question is, is it normal to be more nervous for my second jump? I thought the anxiety would have severely decreased after I had gotten my first one out of the way. Any opinions?

My name is Taylor, I jumped for the first time last Tuesday at Skydive Deland. It was an AFF 1 jump and I really enjoyed it. I am trying to complete my AFF within the next two weeks.