hawkbit

Completed my AFF course today !!!! Fun Jumps here I come! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

It sounds like you were doing great right up till the time you pulled. I'm sure that you JM's would much rather you pulled when you did than to stare at the alti for the rest of your life. Time does fly when you are up there so it would have been totally possible for it to have been 3500 (but your JM's would have most likely have pulled for you at that point). All in all sounds like you have the jump down, the main point was to see if you could be stable on your own... so it seems you met that requirement. If you feel comfortable then you may as well continue on to level 4. Its a blast! But your comfort level is the most important. So do what feels right, the JM's wouldn't give you the green for the next level if you weren't capable. Blue skys and soft openings! Patrick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

I feel your pain... but relaxing is the only thing that will calm your flight down. I did levels 3 - 5 on Sunday. Level 3 I felt like (and probably looked like ) a drunk seal on a slip and slide. But I went on to level 4 with great forboding because it seems like that is the one everyone repeats. My JM for that run made me concentrate on looking and him and RELAXING. I managed to do that and felt 100% better about my control. By the time I went up for my level 5 later that day, I was smiling the whole time and the jump was fun! Relaxing makes time seem to slow down and you will find that you have plenty of time to complete the task (including corrective manuevers). 60 seconds doesn't seem like enough time to even think about doing practice touches, but if you are relaxed from the start, you will be in a stable freefall in a matter of seconds and ready to start your tasks. Don't over think it, just relax and do it. If you can do more than one student jump in a day, do it. It seems to make things easier when the experience of the last jump is fresh in your mind. Blue skies and soft openings! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Tandem - Longmont CO - July 14th 2001 AFF level 1 - Longmont CO - July 20th 2002 Fun jump - this Saturday ( I hope !!!! ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Discovery channel (rocks) I got cable and soon discovered that I was actually leaving the dang tv turned to 1 channel 95% of the time (fox) and I could have gotten it without paying... go figure! I'm just waiting for Survivor to come back on with the new location. Until then, the tv is just background noise for websurfing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

I got to jump from a cessna for the pre second time last week... I was really worried about it... until after I was out of the plane. I really liked it. Seemed like a much gentler exit than the King Air. I still like the bigger plane though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Congrats and welcome aboard.... Now JUMP! Great photo by the way! Hope you got video too... nothing like watching your skin flap in the wind . Blue skies and soft openings. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Since this isn't a skydiving question, I can put my 2 cents in. 23 going on 24... So many choices to make and the pressure to make them RIGHT NOW! This IS the time in your life when you can take time and really enjoy yourself. Don't throw that chance away. Your only limitations are the ones you impose upon yourself. Life happens all around you, it's up to you to be a part of it or a bystander. If you haven't put yourself in debt yet, don't! Live as cheap as you can, if you spend all your money trying to impress other people, you will only dig a hole that will cost you most of your 20's getting out of. Responsibility is fine, but remember, this is YOUR life and you only get 1 chance at it. Be spontaneous, its possible to do without being stupid as well. Worried that you owe your friends and family your presence... don't! Your family will be there and true friends will encourage you to pursue happiness where ever it takes you. You will make bad decisions... it a human trait, don't sweat it, learn and move on with your life. Don't live your life based on other peoples expectations of you, they don't live theirs based on your expectations. Want a fresh start... do it! It will be harder to do the older you get. See, the idea is that you use this time, right now, to figure out what you like and don't like. 20 years from now will not be the best time to start choosing career paths. So, if you want to try something, try it. If you don't like it, find something else. Most of all be true to yourself and your happiness, if you are miserable with your life you won't make anyone happy! It's a big world out there and going out in it and trying new things can be as scary as that 1st jump from a plane, but the rewards can be just as big. Hang in there. Relax. Breathe. Smile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Steve (and fellow zoners)! Well... I did level 3... what a trip that was! I felt like a birdie in a badmitten game. After we jumped and were stable... they release... Ron pushed, Scott pushed, and on and on and on it went. At some point they quit pushing...ZOOM to the left. AAAAAAhhhhhh... Scott scooped in and docked and released. I stayed stable till the end of the dive. It was very interesting and very educational. I wasn't completely out of control or anything... Just felt like I was on a slip and slide. Great newsis I PASSED. They wanted a little more control on the spinning... and I knew were the problem was and I was rock solid at pull time. Since the Skygods were smiling on me I decided to push on to level 4 figuring I was never going to have a better chance to get back in the saddle and tame the beast. So I manifested again and got the next load. Ian took me up this time. We went over the dive. No problems. The jump was great! I turned left and stopped (wooo whooo). Turned a little to far the second time, but stopped and got back... I didn't get any forward motion this time. I attempted but didn't really accomplish it. Again, I was rock solid this time at deployment time. Time to push the luck again... not very many people around and I really want to get these turns knocked out. I'm feeling so much better about everything. Manifested again and found Ron (my poor teacher) and asked him to do level 5 with me. Hmmm time for a new exit... the climb out and leg swing thing... very interesting. So we jump... great exit and stable down and off the hill a little off heading from the plane (45 degrees). Ron released and got in front. Big smiles (he and I both) give the nod. Turn left (my apparent natural turn) and stopped straight on to Ron. Nod again and started forward... closer, closer, and I started to reach out towards him (natural reaction) and that slowed me, but a got an elbow down... nice sharp turn to the left 180 degrees... so I thought "he saw me go left so I just need to stop and turn back with a right turn"... and that was exactly what I did. Stopped right on with Ron and checked the alti... probably time for some more trys with turns or forward motion, but not a lot... so I gave the NO nod and locked on to the alti... pulled at 5 and had a good time under canopy. Saving grace to this dive (not that it was bad) was the fact I was THINKING the entire time and Ron was really happy with that during the debriefing ... he might have nailed me for not doing a 360 right turn, but was impressed with the reasoning for making a right turn back to him when I did the unexpected turn during my forward motion. So... I had a great day! Started kinda rough, but I wanted to keep on till I got it right and I wanted to work with the momentum and the fresh experience in my mind. As another great side note. I stood up all 3 landings today! Ahh what a feeling! I'm scheduled to go in early Saturday and if all goes well, I will be a fun jumper by noon . I am sooooooo psyched !!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Thanks Guys! As the night wears on... it doesn't seem so bad. I just want to do it right the 1st time. Funny thing was that last night I was talking to my parents and my Dad said he wanted to set up for my Mom to do a tandem the next time they were out visiting. I didn't sleep too good that night between thinking about my jump and my Mom wanting to do it... totally messed with my mind. I'm surprised I slept at all. (guess I know how they felt when I told them I was doing this). Now to relax and quit thinking about it so much... I need an on/off switch for my brain. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

Hey Steve! Actully I'm jumping Sunday too! I will probably see ya up there, got a 12 p.m slot... I definately learned from this one... ahhh well. I'm going to do this thing till I do it right . Hope we both have good jump... then to the treacherous level 4 (funny that was the one I was more worried about ). Ahhh the joys of learning ... God help us Patrick ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

How bad could it be... it's Friday and I get to go jump, the boss is even letting me go without taking time off. I have a slot at 11 a.m. and I get there about 5 till ... not the best timing... but the best I could do ( I may be new... but I know that DZ appt's are like Dr. appt's, show up early and leave late)... anyways, check in and find out that I won't get on till 2 loads later... fine by me. I chill and wait while going over the jump (AFF level 2) ... 40 minutes later I check with manifest and find that I've been pushed back 2 loads, oh well. Call the boss (I'm supposed to be done by now)... he's not really happy, but says to hang out and do the jump and don't worry about it (I took this as "take the rest of the day off" since I am off at 3 anyways). In the meantime I go over the dive with my JM (who taught my AFF class)... no memory lapses. Finally the time comes to gear up and go (damn forgot to get goggles... run to manifest and buy a pair). Run back and gear up... Plenty of time to do a few dirt dives with my JM's. On the initial run through I get ahead myself and totally forget the practice pulls (DOH!)... 2nd try... much better (getting tense though)... also this is going to be a Cessena Jump (Tandem and Level 1 were from a King Air), not too thrilled by this, especially when they say we won't get as much altitude on this jump as we would if the King Air was flying. Great! I really want every extra second I can get... but Ron and Julian (great guys!... you rock!) tell me that we will still have plenty of time. On to the Jump---- We just start down the runway and WHUMPH! ... the Pilot turns around and asks "What the fuck was that?" ... Guess he wanted to make sure we didn't deploy inside (who knows)... anyways, it was just a big gust of wind... we continue down the runway and into the sky. It was a great ride up and I found that I really liked the view from this smaller plane better than the other. We did 1 run and let everyone out about 10500 and make another pass for little ol' me (only student on the jump)... we come back around and actually make close to 11500 (now I feel better... but still shaving 10 secs off my ff time). Crawl to the door (pretty relaxed... hmm this isn't so bad), deep breath... arms out, up, down, fall out the door (you can't jump

Get through AFF without having to repeat a level Get through AFF without hurting myself/or someone else Jump as many times as financially possible without losing my job or my car But seriously... Get through AFF, Get my A license, and do enough jumps to be able to buy a rig that doesn't have a 200+ main ... all before the snow flys. Oh yeah... and to get through AFF before my Canadian freind Steve (kidding Steve) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

6 miles to work 6 miles to DZ Gotta love it ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"