First S/L Jump

[davisreatti 0]

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to say that I made my first static line jump today with my girlfriend. It was our second attempt; we couldn't jump due to weather on our training day. Other than a few linetwists, it was awesome!! I can't wait to jump again! I read a lot of useful info on this site, so I knew what I was in for. One question though: my dropzone doesn't provide altimeters or goggles to first-timers, is this unusual? I asked them about it, and they provided me with satisfactory answers. But, I still think that an altimeter could come in handy in an unusual situation. Thoughts?

[skymama 37]

Welcome to the forums!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Eule 0]

Quote

One question though: my dropzone doesn't provide altimeters or goggles to first-timers, is this unusual?

At the DZ where I'm a student, all of the student rigs have a chest-strap altimeter - the kind that's
mounted on a wedge-shaped "pillow" so you can easily see it under canopy if you look straight down.
AFF students also get a wrist altimeter to use during free fall, but static line students don't. Everybody
gets goggles and an open-face helmet. I haven't seen the student setups at the few other DZs I have
visited.

The instructors have mentioned that if there is some problem with your goggles after the canopy opens,
it's OK to take them off at that point, so I gather goggles aren't 100% necessary. I like using the altimeter,
especially to know how far away I am from the altitude to start into the landing pattern, so I can get to
the right spot in time. Your DZ may prefer that you learn to judge the altitudes by eye, which can be handy
if your altimeter quits working or falls off. Also, if you have a radio, the ground can always call out relevant
altitudes to you.

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[Peej 0]

Hey bro, welcome to the forums!

The SL students at our DZ aren't provided with altis or goggles either, unless of course they jump with eye glasse, then we give them goggles.

I'm busy with a JM rating at the moment and i actually asked the same question the other day. I was told that they are taught to look at the ground at certain heights and learn to identify them from the air. Plus they're brought in on bats for their first three jumps.

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[Orange1 0]

I started off on SL. Got goggles, but only cos I wear contact lenses - those who didn't have contacts didn't need. I think altis got provided after 10-second delays, till then the count was considered sufficient, and I believe it is also thought that visual altitude awareness gets engendered that way.
For under canopy - while AFF students are taught to fix problems by a certain altitude, SL students were given a different rule (other than the malfunctions where you do reserve drill immediately, pull reserve if either 2 tries don't fix problem or if no improvement after 5 seconds) - I'm sure you would have been taught something like this on your FJC? Jumping without an alti did teach when to enter a landing pattern via visual awareness rather than checking alti, and i now just use my alti as a kind of doublecheck for that.

Oh, and welcome to the sport

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[davisreatti 0]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I believe my instructor told us that we are provided altimeters after 5 or 10-second delays as well. It makes sense, since it's hard to lose awareness of time and hence altitude with very short delays. I was just wondering what other DZs did.