Going on my first jump on Friday.

[daniel52587 0]

Well Friday is the start of my lifetime skydive/base experience. I am so excited. I am 19 by the way. I am doing my AFF level 1 jump and level 2 if there is time in the day at Skydive Dallas. I feel pretty confident about the landing and such. Is landing a breeze? My teacher said its not hard. What are some quality parachute brands? This is going to be my hobby for the rest of my life and I wanna know everything.

[AggieDave 6]

All of the questions you ask here need to be asked to Ernie or Mandy. Everything you read here need to be run by them as well.

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What are some quality parachute brands?

You'll figure that out later.

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This is going to be my hobby for the rest of my life and I wanna know everything.

I understand, but there's a LOT of information to learn and there are things you need to learn first. Those things come from jumping, listening to your instructors, asking questions to your instructors and hanging out after sunset load to listen, ask and learn.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[daniel52587 0]

You know Ernie? From Skydive Dallas? He is a really cool guy. Im glad he is my teacher. He has lots of experience in the sport. Man I am so excited. I ask him everything, but I dont get to go out there until Friday so I just thought I would get to talk to experienced divers on the forums. But could you please tell me if landing is as easy as it looks. Ernie said it isnt hard. I just want to know how you or someone else did on your first few landings. And is steering the canopy easy too.

[icevideot 0]

Congrats and I hope you have a great jump. Now let me caution you on soliciting too much advice. A lot of preconceived notions will just make it harder on you and your instructors. At first try to limit it to advice from instructors that you can look in the eye and be certain you understand what they are saying.
Make a note of anything you don't understand during the class and if it isn't answered during class be sure to bring it back up. In the middle of a jump is a lousy time to remember what you forgot to ask. Most things become clear during the ground work though.

Enjoy the skies

"... this ain't a Nerf world."

[jarrodh 0]

I can tell you that FOR ME landing was and still is not an easy task.

FOR YOU it could and probably will be quite easy and will take only a few jumps to really get a hang of. The environment where I learned compared to where you will learn will be very different and you will have access to different equipment as welll so just because I didnt master it doesnt mean you wont.

Listen to everything your instructors say and have fun.

Blues

2 BITS....4 BITS....6 BITS....A DOLLAR!....ALL FOR THE GATORS....STAND UP AND HOLLER!!!!

[pfloyd 0]

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But could you please tell me if landing is as easy as it looks. Ernie said it isnt hard. I just want to know how you or someone else did on your first few landings. And is steering the canopy easy too.

I have 15 jumps which isn't a lot, but all of my landings have been smooth stand up landings. I haven't had to PLF yet --knock on wood-- Landings are very easy to me, controlling the canopy is fun and easy as well. But I have seen other students not do as well as myself. I think it depends on how much you actually listen to your instructors, they teach you the skills to survive. You will be on a radio your first few landings, and they will say when to flare. So don't flare until they tell you to. LISTEN TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS!!!! And remember to have fun Daniel.

My drinking team has a skydiving problem

[AggieDave 6]

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You know Ernie? From Skydive Dallas? He is a really cool guy. Im glad he is my teacher.

You have a really good instructor. When you get some more experience and time in the sport you'll realize that fully.

Skydiving is a very small world. Skydiving in TX is an even smaller world. Even though there are a LOT of jumpers in TX, quite a few come and go. After you've been around for a few years and if you travel even a little around the state, you'll meet a lot of really neat people.

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so I just thought I would get to talk to experienced divers on the forums.

That's fine, but don't screw up your learning and make Ernie's job a LOT harder by "learning" a lot of stuff on DZ.com. If you must read and learn, go to http://www.uspa.org and read the SIM (Skydiver's Information Manual).

Good luck!

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[skybytch 273]

Listen to your instructors. Ask questions of your instructors. Ignore what anybody else says for right now - and other than the oh-so-helpful advice below, I include myself in that anybody else. Although well-meant, many "experienced" jumpers give terrible advice. The time to start listening to people other than your instructors talk about how to skydive is after you are done with your student jumps.

There is a lot of good information here. Take whatever questions you may have after reading any of that info to your instructors.

There are a couple good books out there - "Parachuting, The Skydivers Handbook" and "Jump!" Both are available through Amazon, or your dz may have copies of one or both. Either is worth the $20. Also, download (or buy) a copy of the Skydiver's Information Manual (SIM) on USPA's website.

Landing isn't hard. Landing well takes some practice.

Don't forget to have fun.

[Taikoen 0]

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You know Ernie? From Skydive Dallas?

I live in Dallas, and I occasionally run into people who have done a tandem jump at Skydive Dallas. They all did their tandems with Ernie and talk about him like he's their best friends :P Without Ernie, I'd be falling like an idiot. Now I can spin in circles while I fall like an idiot.

[jheadley 0]

First, good luck on your jump, it'll be a life changing experience. Please write back on how it went, I love to hear first jump stories.

2nd, like others have said, be very very cautious with who you take advice from. While something an experienced jumper says may be factually true, it may not be true FOR YOU. Students have different rules from experienced jumpers, and every student is a little different also. The instructors will tell you exactly what you need to know, when you need to know it. Being overloaded by too much information can be just as bad as not having enough.

If you want to read something in the mean time, I suggest you buy a SIM, or download it from www.uspa.org and read through Section 4 (the student program), before reading anything else.

Good luck, and remember to

[NickDG 23]

>>I suggest you buy a SIM, or download it from www.uspa.org<<

Wrong. (Respectfully) . . .

Students need all the space in their heads just to effectively retain the info thrown at them in the FJC. And a student with a clean slate, so to speak, is best.

So no way is a pre-FJC student ready for the "big blue sleeping pill." You especially don’t want the Instructor spending time explaining the things he may read there that have little to do with the task at hand.

NickD BASE 194

[chrismgtis 0]

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Well Friday is the start of my lifetime skydive/base experience. I am so excited. I am 19 by the way. I am doing my AFF level 1 jump and level 2 if there is time in the day at Skydive Dallas. I feel pretty confident about the landing and such. Is landing a breeze? My teacher said its not hard. What are some quality parachute brands? This is going to be my hobby for the rest of my life and I wanna know everything.

Wait wait. Slow down. Have you made any jumps yet?

If you wanna know everything that's cool, but learn the important things first. Worry about parachutes later on. Right now you need to concentrate on what your instructors are going to be teaching you.

For example, I would love to fly a wingsuit some day, but that's a long ways down the road. I'll learn about that when the time comes.

Rodriguez Brother #1614, Muff Brother #4033
Jumped: Twin Otter, Cessna 182, CASA, Helicopter, Caravan

[icevideot 0]

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Wait wait. Slow down.

You should listen to this. It comes from a guy who knew everything and was unhappy about it a short while ago. Now I hear he is on the path to becoming a fine skydiver. It is possible to clutter your mind and become very difficult to teach.

"... this ain't a Nerf world."

[jheadley 0]

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>>I suggest you buy a SIM, or download it from www.uspa.org<<

Wrong. (Respectfully) . . .

Why'd you pick on me? Two other people mentioned it before me.

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Students need all the space in their heads just to effectively retain the info thrown at them in the FJC. And a student with a clean slate, so to speak, is best.

NickD BASE 194

Notice that I only suggested reading section 4. Maybe I should have been more clear, only saying to read Cat A. I definitely agree that to a first jump student 90% of the SIM would just bore and overload them. But I remember I breezed though my first jump course because I looked over the FJC outline in the SIM previously, and several students I've taught the FJC to have done the same. It's a lot to take in in just one session.