Divalent

You are inspiring! Thanks.

Good grief, this place is chock full of information. Sometimes it seems overwhelming. Information about equipment, EPs, landings, canopy flying, techniques and tips, etc. And as NWFlyer said, a lot of it is learning about things I never knew were important. As a student, some stuff is immediately helpful, some I know I can’t deal with now (but I need to, once I get other things down) or don’t yet have the knowledge base to understand right now, some is just helping me understand the importance and/or logic/rationale for things that we are drilled on (or just told to do). Sometimes the discussions threads are better than the canned tutorials on some topics, because the arguments back and forth really lay bare the all the strengths and weaknesses. And some of the best stuff I’ve found in the strangest places: an argument over TI landings led me to a great thread that described the differences between flat turns, brake turns, and flare turns. I can understand that for those that know a lot and have been around a long time that maybe it’s the same old same old, but for someone essentially new to the sport, this place is a gold mine of information.

Be careful there. Us noobs stick together and watch each others back. Remember, I know where you live (at least on weekends)

Excellent point! Hmm, perhaps I should dispose of that stuff now. (Maybe I'll just sneak it in and deposit it in the DZ refrigerator without anyone noticing. Wonder how long it would last.) [Now if you will excuse me, I have to go google "SCR ceremony".]

Well, Kevin, I kind of understand the simplicity sentiment, but nonetheless I don't think it's a completely unimportant decision. I am a little bit concerned about the impression I make with the local denizens of the DZ I jump at. It seems to me that how other people view you will to a large extent determine what sort of activities folks will be willing to engage in with you and the quality of your experiences. So I don’t want to commit a faux pas that will pigeon hole me into I’d a role or reputation that I’d rather not have. I hope to earn a reputation as someone fun to jump with because of my gradually building skills, and that by jumping with me early in my learning I can be more reliable, safer, and valuable as a jump-partner to them in the future. I think the worse thing that can happen is to do something notorious that pigeon holes me into a reputation and/or a role that I’d rather not have. For example, look at the role that the student played in this video during the first 40 sec or so of freefall: Video: Instructors having fun with student. (clicky) If I were this student, I’d be very very VERY concerned that people at my DZ would come to look at me as someone who is perfect for this role: Video: A role I would not want to play (clicky) I, for one, would not want to be looked upon as the DZ’s fly toy. (But that’s just me. Maybe someone else would be happy in that role.

Back more than 35 years ago, when I first tried skydiving (I did a total of 10 jumps/landings), a PLF was THE landing technique; there was no other way until you got off of your round chute. (and you didn't wear sneakers, you wore boots with high ankle support). We practiced PLF over and over by jumping off a 4 ft high platform, initially without a rig (but with a helmet), then with gear. I recall doing at least 30 of them, (starting with 2 ft high, then 3, then 4) and I got good at it. I just went though AFF training, so recognize that everything I say is coming from a student (and so don't listen to me if your instructors or more experenced people here tell you different). But it struck me that the PLF practice in my AFF course was not quite as useful. It wasn't by jumping off something, it was just kind of hopping up on a carpeted floor then falling. I don't think it was as good a training technique, because you really didn't have a chance to get into the position you would be in (because the act of hopping gets all your limbs out of position). Much better (IMO) to be jumping off of an elevated platform of sorts, as that much better simulates the real conditions and the speed and forces. Anyway, it's a technique that you can practice on your own once you got the basic move down (and your ankle heals) so that it becomes instinctive (burn it into muscle memory). Put on a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, hip pads, whatever you got to avoid bruising, lay down some carpet or mats if you want, and just do them over and over. (Ideally when you get good you do want to land on typical grassy land.) One tip: don't look down when you practice, look at the horizon (you want your trigger to be when you feel your feet touching, not when you see them touch). FYI, with the possibility of standup landings now, I get all confused: I know how to do a PLF, but as I approach the ground my mind is doing all sorts of calculations back and forth: "can I stand this? Wait, just be safe. Wait, I can stand this up. Oh no, maybe I can't." So I ended up not doing either! First 7 AFFs were 3 butt slides, two "fall forwards" on my shoulder kind of fast, and two "fall forwards" very slow ("I could have stood that! ARRRRGGGHHH!") Anyway, sorry you have to repeat level 3. I very much admire your persistance, and at the very least you are, through experience, diminishing the "door anxiety", becoming more familiar with the environment of a 120 mph freefall, and are building confidence in your deploy sequence. Hopefully once you figure out what strategies work to allow you to achieve stability, you will fly through the rest of your levels.

It won't help this time, but it is highly recommended that you have at least one alternate brower installed on your computer, as some of these malware things mess up your brower. So when you recover, install Chrome and Firefox.

Thanks for the advice, all. I'll take CSpenceFLY's advice and get a case of what I would normally drink. The Fitz boogie sounds interesting, but I don't think I'll have my A license by then. Would they allow students to jump at it? (and have gear to rent?)

Sort of. A small clear plastic thing (roughly the size of a contact lens case) that folds open and smushes shut. It's made from the type of stiff, thin, clear plastic that consumer products are often packaged in. But the earplug are almost totally soft rubber (except for the tiny plug), so they should survive crushing incidents.

I bought a pair of the SureFire Sonic Defenders EP-3, and had didn't have a problem hearing the instructor over the radio while under canopy. (At least, no worse than normal). They are supposed to better block the most intense noises. OTOH, they cost ~$15 bucks, and based on the comments above, if I ever need to replace them, I think I'll just lay in a supply of the cheap foam ones. (I was worried the foam ones would cause pressure equalization problems, but apparently they don't).

I have to buy beer for The Farm: something about passing my AFF course. (Honestly, it can’t possibly be anything more than a rumor, because everyone knows that nothing ever happens at The Farm!). Anyway, I have a few noob questions about this beer thing. - I’ve been told that the DZO mandates green bottles, because apparently he likes Heineken. Which just shows that success in one thing (like running a great DZ) is no guarantee that one won’t be snookered into expressing a preference for piss water by a slick marketing campaign that sells name cachet over substance. Should I cater to this flaw in him, or buy something that actually is good? - I was thinking of getting a 12 pack of something good to be shared among the handful of people who were my AFF instructors, and then a 24-pack of some pop american beer brand for the hoi polloi. I was told that the instructors would instead grab the 24-pack and leave the 12-pack for everyone else, because they end up with more beer. Is it really the case that quantity is much more important than quality when it comes to DZ beer? - I have 2 cases of old crap domestic beer in the basement left over from some old event more than 4 years ago. No one in their right mind would even think of trying to drink it. (The laws against disposal of toxic substances prevent me from just dumping it.) If the answer to the above question is yes, would it be acceptable to just bring those 2 cases and save myself the expense of buying a case and a half of fresh? (I mean, it is more "beer".) Thanks for your advice.

Okay, a noob here. I've been following this thread, and I'm not sure I get it. It seems to me that, all things being equal, you'd want more canopy area in a reserve. I think (am I wrong?) that the additional area would decellerate you faster, meaning that in a low altitude pull, it might make the difference between hitting the ground hard vs very hard, or (slightly higher opening) time to unstow the brakes, and to flare, and to select a landing area, etc. So what is the advantage, if any, for having a smaller one? I mean, its not like you will be upset that you couldn't do your planned swoop of the pond. Can anyone help me here figure out why one would even ponder the option of having a highly loaded reserve?

OT, but man, those are cool videos. (loved the sword fights in the "day 1-3" video, and the raft ride in "day 4-7")

Good luck today! (relax, oooohhmm, oooohhmm)

But would the details/circumstances be useful to help others perhaps avoid "almost hooking it in" (or it's close cousin, "hooking it in")? It seems to me you can learn as much from close calls as you can fatalities. Perhaps even more, because the operator can tell you what they saw/did/felt/thought.

I’ve hesitated to weigh in on this because I am only an AFF-1 (although I did a tandem the day before that jump, and many (many!) years ago had 10 jumps in a static line/hop-n-pop progression), and if your instructors or the other experts here say to ignore this, then ignore this. But this is how I approached my AFF-1 jump, and how I intend to approach my subsequent ones, and maybe it will give you another student’s perspective. Going into my AFF-1, I absolutely did memorize the routine, and tried to remember all the little details / weaknesses/ errors I made in practices for the whole routine (and then all the EPs, and images of scary mals!). And my goal was to do the whole “performance” as flawlessly as I could. But I also had a plan B, which was that if things didn’t go well, then at the very least I would execute a good, hard, heads-up arch. And if that was all I did, I would be happy. Obviously, if I got the arch down early and I felt comfortable and had time, I would try to add one thing at a time (COA, practice touches, self-deploy). I figured (after watching a gagillion “AFF-1 goes wrong” videos on YouTube) that if I could at least do a decent arch and be reasonably stable, at least it would be a safe ride, and I’d get a 1 minute free fall before my instructor pulled me at 5500. Then if I had to do an AFF-1 again, I would at least have the confidence that I can arch well, and so the next plan B would be to build onto that. As it turned out, I did okay on everything. You indicate that stability is a problem (and that you might have particular circumstances that make stability a challenge for you). Perhaps it might help to view the jump not as an attempt to “do an AFF-3 routine”, but as an opportunity for you to practice and demonstrate up to 3 (4?) things, with stability being the first and the most important. So if you have to spend the whole ride working on stability and body position, do that. Don’t even think of the next item on the list if you aren’t comfortable with item 1, instead, keep working on that. IOW, the goal for the jump is not to “do an AFF-3 routine”, it is to do item 1, and if you do that and there is time, then add item 2, and if you do that and there is time, then add item 3. If in the end you actually did an “AFF-3 routine”, then great. But otherwise hopefully at least you have progressed, getting more experience and more confidence. (I hope this makes sense.) Good luck! [edited to add that I just looked at the AFF-3 routine, and stability without the instructors holding on seems to be the only new thing. Which means none of what I said above is really helpful. :( Oh well. (shouldn't listen to noobs anyway) ]

Up above, Hellis linked to this style (which he says he swears by), which seems like it has a narrow tube down the middle that would allow pressure equalization. (it also has a plug that the user could insert for better noise suppression, although that would seem to block the central tube.) http://www.surefire.com/EP3-Sonic-Defenders Maybe Hellis can confirm that the central tube does allow air to pass all the way through.

Is the hearing problem due to excessive noise, or to compression/decompression going up and then (rapidly) down? (You said your ear "popped" suggesting it was a compression thing.) Noise would be easy/cheap to defend against (those inexpensive foam/sponge plugs mentioned by someone above) but the compression due to rapid altitude change is a whole nother ball o wax. AFAIK, an ear plug won't do it, since the compression is your whole body squeezing down on an ear tube from all directions.