Chubba 0 #51 August 29, 2008 QuoteHad my first skydiving dream. I was practicing sit fly in a barn, it was kind of tough, kept running into the roof and having to bail to my back. Weird enough I know but I don't sit fly, I started learning in the tunnel but only did like two rotations. In my dream, the barn had good air flow & lots of hay but it wasn't moving.I get weird stuff like that too. I was flying a Velocity that couldn't have been more then 30ft around my house! On the backrisers! Gliding around through the hallways, when I would get near the floor I would flare and pop back up and soar around some more. Made no sense at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #52 August 30, 2008 Does a dream about banging a hot guy at the DZ count? Just kidding..... Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fpritchett64 0 #53 August 30, 2008 Most of my skydiving dreams have been about some strange tracking around buildings low to the ground. In almost off of those, I run into the buildings, then, unhurt, jump off the building and start tracking again...Usually I wake up before any thought of deploying. My most recent was probably the weirdest, I dreamt that I was in freefall and didn't realize that I needed to deploy until about 100 feet off the ground, so I pitch the pilot chute, which just hangs there, I hit the ground, and start reaching behind to snatch the main out of the container..then start running to try to inflate the main before I realize that I've already landed unhurt. Guess I was determined to get that main out!! Edit to add: I've also had several dreams where I start flapping my arms on the ground until I reach about 13000 ft, then bring my arms in and start freefalling...I even had one where I rode a bicycle down the runway, took off and got up to about 25,000 feet...that was awesome!!...and the bicycle had no wings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pylades 0 #54 August 30, 2008 I always have dreams that I borrow someone's gear and it ends up going bad. The last time was pretty funny though, everything was going well, until I had a hard pull...could not get the hacky out...I'm trying and trying and the ground is coming up fast...so I put my left hand out in front of me and held myself up off the ground until I was able to deply my main...which, just kinda came out and landed on the grass, because I was already on the ground. Then I was going to yell at the guy who lent me the gear.This is no dress rehearsal, we are professionals & this is the big time... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickDG 23 #55 August 30, 2008 In addition to that other dream I mentioned upboard I occasionally have this other one . . . It's a beautiful day at the DZ but I'm in a classroom full of AFF first jump students. The perspective changes to outside with me at the window looking out. And the window has bars on it like a jail. Behind me all the students are hideous looking zombies and they're all grabbing and clawing at me. My girlfriend says I sometimes wake up screaming after that one. SkyBytch will start having this dream soon . . . NickD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #56 August 30, 2008 Quote And the window has bars on it like a jail. Behind me all the students are hideous looking zombies and they're all grabbing and clawing at me. NickD We all aren't that bad, right?? Right?? Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickDG 23 #57 August 30, 2008 No, you're not all that bad, and you know how our dreams accentuate the bad stuff . . . Ninety nine percent of all students are fine and just have the usual problems you see across the board. But there is that other one percent . . . At most DZs I've worked at I usually get a rep for being a trouble shooter. And when my head's down packing I cringe just a bit when I hear some Instructor finishing a debrief with, "Go get with Nick." It's not that I'm any better than anyone else, but I do have unending patience, might know a few more tricks, and as long as a student is trying I'll never throw in the towel. I had a woman student once who was seriously stuck in the early part of AFF. I think she had eight or nine dives already when I met her, and she'd only done one release, and it was horrible. And nobody wanted to jump with her anymore. When I looked at her logbook she had almost every issue there was. She freaked out on the ride up, she'd refuse a lot on jump run, she couldn't do any kind of smooth exit, she kicked and flailed going down the hill, and she couldn't remember the dive flow. Her altitude awareness was slowly getting better but her pulls were always panicky. Canopy control was her only stellar trait but she got goosy again while flaring. But she was game and kept coming back. Her, and her husband (a non-jumper) always hung around with us after sunset, she was always brining in food, and she wanted it badly. But even so, "She's her again," became a weekend morning refrain on the DZ. I first sat her down and started going over things almost from scratch. But it soon became apparent that wasn't her problem. She knew it, she just couldn’t do it. So then since no student can afford endless AFF jump prices we put her on the "Frequent Flyer Plan" to make it a bit easier on her. The first few jumps with me where as bad as any. And I even started wearing a hard helmet (which I hate) because she walloped me a couple of times. Her problem, plain and simple, was fear. Fear of the freefall and fear of even flying in the plane. And not that garden variety performance anxiety most students have, this was paralyzing mind numbing beads of sweat on the forehead terror. I decided to try a new tack with her and asked her to come to DZ during the week when things were a little more subdued. I then taught her to pack mains, which she picked up on quickly. And I showed her how to hang and inspect some reserves and also let her assist me in repacking a few tandem mains and reserves. I even got her to the point she could dress other AFF students and gear check them, all of course, with me standing right there. I took her onto the LZ when it was my turn to talk down the students on the radio. After a bit of asking her, "So what should this guy do now?" I let her talk a few students down herself. Mainly, I wanted her out there to see happy and ecstatic students right after they landed. As so far she's always very down on herself after her own touchdowns. In trying to get her over fear of the aircraft I got our pilot on board and whenever it was feasible we stuck a pilot's rig on her and put her in the plane just for the ride up and down. The pilot got so into helping her out he'd let her steer on the way down. And he'd explain how everything worked. At night when we put the aircraft away I'd most often taxi it over for fuel and then to the hangar. And I always took her with me. Eventually she started to come alive. Her skydives began smoothing out, she stopped refusing to jump at the last moment (I must have come down in the plane with her a dozen times) and I could let her go and watch her really skydive. She'd pull gracefully on the tick, and landed softly letting out a big, "Ya-Hoo!" We have one of those goofy bells hanging on the wall in the hangar. And an Instructor would ring it every time a student completes the AFF program. But this time I let her ring the bell for herself. She deserved it. All in all she did over 40 AFF jumps. When she reached up for that bell, I don’t mind saying I had tears in my eyes. I would have been very happy and content to have seen her become a weekend fun jumper. But she didn't. She became a very competent woman's big way participant, a FAA Parachute Rigger, and she runs her own AFF Instructor Certification Courses. And sometimes that's what we foul smelling dirt bag bums who live in trailers can accomplish . . . NickD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
virgin-burner 1 #58 August 31, 2008 nick, i hate to say it, but that story almost put a tear in my eye..! “Some may never live, but the crazy never die.” -Hunter S. Thompson "No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try." -Yoda Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #59 August 31, 2008 Quote Ninety nine percent of all students are fine and just have the usual problems you see across the board. But there is that other one percent . . . ..........And sometimes that's what we foul smelling dirt bag bums who live in trailers can accomplish . . . NickD Wow. That's amazing! That has to be one of the best stories of dedication, pride in your love of skydiving and definitely paying it forward! I bet you had a big influence on the woman's life!!! I think today I'm going to look at my instructors a little bit differently!! You know, I'm also a big fan of 'pay it forward'. I bought my first helmet yesterday. The one I really wanted, they didn't have in my size, so I bought the XBrand student helmet with the attitude of "when I complete getting my A license I'll pass this helmet along to someone new". Yeah, it was only *cough* $32 *cough* but I'm quickly learning how expensive this additiction can be. Every penny can count sometimes! Blue Skies - Karen PS - Thanks for the comment on my video. :-)Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickDG 23 #60 August 31, 2008 >>"when I complete getting my A license I'll pass this helmet along to someone new".Now that's what I'm talking about . . . Way to be a jumper! NickD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LuckyMcSwervy 0 #61 September 1, 2008 Quote >>"when I complete getting my A license I'll pass this helmet along to someone new".Now that's what I'm talking about . . . Way to be a jumper! NickD Always be kinder than you feel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peanutgallery 0 #62 September 1, 2008 I have malfunction dreams all the time and they usually end up with some crazy reserve saving my life. One was a pink round and another was an orange paraglider canopy. Crazy stuff I used to have a handle on life, but it broke Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matthias 0 #63 September 2, 2008 Its been a while since I've had any skydiving dreams. I've had alot of dreams lately of being at the dropzone, that never had to do with jumping lol. I had a bounce dream while spending the night at skydive houston, woke up sunday morning and made a jump, went back to sleep after I got back down. No more bad dreams *shrug* :)_________________________________________ trance/house mixes for download: www.djmattm.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tuna-Salad 0 #64 September 3, 2008 In comparison to some... mine doesn't seem so bad Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
squarecanopy 0 #65 September 3, 2008 [ I would have been very happy and content to have seen her become a weekend fun jumper. But she didn't. She became a very competent woman's big way participant, a FAA Parachute Rigger, and she runs her own AFF Instructor Certification Courses. And sometimes that's what we foul smelling dirt bag bums who live in trailers can accomplish . . . NickD You trailer trash skydiving dz bum never give up lunatic kick ass instructors warm my heart. That is one great story. Good on you for helping 'til she didn't need you anymore Just burning a hole in the sky..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mminolli 0 #66 September 4, 2008 Interesting. I usually have these amazing skydiving dreams.... landing on beaches, drinking beer while skydiving, skydiving with four naked women while drinking beer..??? Then for the first time last night, I had a skydive nightmare. I struggled to get the pilot chute out. I managed to throw it out at 10 feet above the ground into a bag lock. Hit the ground, noticed it didn't hurt, then walked away... Way to weird. I had been practicing emergency procedures earlier that day... why I didn't follow them in the dream scares me a little. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
