silly question

[skygal3 0]

I have always wondered about this but never sought an answer...have you ever seen a student or a tandem chicken out and change their mind about jumping in the plane? I mean, what happens if someone starts wigging out at 8k ft? do they land with the plane?

[CrazyIvan 0]

Having second thoughts huh?

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[skygal3 0]

Oh, not at all...but ever since my first jump I have wondered...never seen it happen, never heard of it happening...just curious

[AggieDave 6]

Generally, the instructor will talk to them, see if they will calm down and go ahead with the jump. They also remind them that at this point, they can not get a refund of their money. If they still don't want to jump, then they will land with the plane.

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

[CrazyIvan 0]

I heard something like that only once at my home DZ, but it was BEFORE getting on the plane and getting geared up, if you are already geared up and in the plane, you'll land, but NO REFUND.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[tigra 0]

I know one tandem master whose passenger tried to say "no, I don't want to go" while he was on the plane. Guess he was already hooked up and the TM took him anyway. The passenger punched him out when they landed! Well deserved, and I told the TM as much when he came around looking for sympathy!

The correct answer is, if they have second thoughts on the plane, they ride the plane down. But, if its a static line and he's already out on the step, its a little too dangerous to have the guy climb back in. In that instance you have to get him to jump or let go. I'm sure some static line jumpmasters have some good stories!

[bwilling 0]

a little over a million years ago, I was a static line jumpmaster... I jumpmastered lots and lots of students, on and off over a 5 year span, and only had one student refuse to jump. She wouldn't get near the door, or I could have... you know... helped her out onto the step.

She and I rode down with the plane, and she came back several weeks later, went up with a different JM, and did the same thing!

We never saw her again after that.

I have an old friend that has video of one of the jumps he made as a tandem master, and on the video, you can clearly hear the student saying "No No No", and you can clearly hear the videographer tell the tandem master, "she says Go Go Go"... they went.

"If all you ever do is all you ever did, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got."

[skybytch 273]

I never had or saw a tandem refuse to go; course I was always way too busy getting us into the door and had that silly leather hat covering my ears so I couldn't hear them anyway... Where I jumped, tandems were told if they got on the airplane, they'd be getting out of the airplane at altitude - no refusals in the a/c allowed.

Had one s/l student refuse to climb out. Took her around again, she tried but couldn't do it the second time either so we landed with the plane. Had a couple s/l students try to refuse once they were already out there... gotta love a good jump pilot, dropped 'em right off the strut with just a little shake of the yoke.

[skygal3 0]

that is so funny...


my first jump video is hilarious. I sat through my 8 hour course with this guy, maybe 22 and his girlfriend. His girlfriend decided to go tandem after seeing all of the malfunctions that could happen, but the guy still decided to go AFF...so there is the guy in my video going out ahead of me, propped in the door, check in check out...out...in...nothing...check in check out...out..in...nothing...so the next thing you hear is everyone shouting "dude go! dude! jump"...the primary is butting him under the arm with his helmet...finally he went, but it was so funny. And caught on video.

[Lolie 0]

Hee hee... go here and click on "Let's Go!" Soooo funny!

-Miranda
you shall above all things be glad and young / For if you're young,whatever life you wear
it will become you;and if you are glad / whatever's living will yourself become.

[wlie 0]

Damn you beat me to it!

My other ride is the relative wind.

[bobsled92 0]

I've seen 3 people ride the plane down. (One lady went up 2x's and down 2x's)
Honestly, I think if my buddies were NOT with me on my 2nd jump, I would have taken the plane down too. That was 11 years ago and I remember it like it happen an hour ago. (Male ego has caused many men their lives).
-Grant

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[Jib 0]

There was a husband and wife this summer... On the ground, the husband joking in a condescending way, said, "what if she chickens out up there?" He got in the door and chickened out. She jumped and he got in the door again... and rode the plane down with his tail between his legs.

--------------------------------------------------
the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[hookitt 1]

Quote

have you ever seen a student or a tandem chicken out and change their mind about jumping in the plane? ?

Yes. Mostly tandems but a few AFF students.
As for paying for it? That depends. Slots, instructors time, sometimes not at all.

Quote

I mean, what happens if someone starts wigging out at 8k ft? do they land with the plane?

That depends. I've convinced a student to decide on his own that he wasnt ready to even board the aircraft. I wanted him to decide instead of telling him no. That boy was freakin out on the ground. He jumped a day later and now has about 100 jumps.

IN the plane I've had several students"wigging out". This is when it gets tough. You talk with them and do what you can to help them decide whether to go or not. It's totally up to them. Some times you read what the do instead of what they say. So far I've never ridden down with a student.(cept for a sudden wind condition change)

Funniest time: We had to do a go around, the extremely talented but psycho pilot who no longer flies for us, was screaming at us,,, I politely told him "Mr AFF Jumpmaster pilot! ...shut the f*** up.. you can deal with this later. Then the student kept saying..I'm not going ,,, F*** this, somethings wrong I'm not going, No way I'm staying in the plane.....and so on. All the while, She checked her handles got up I placed my hand in her harness, She walked to the door STILL telling me NO, F*** this... I'm not going, then she backed out the door..... "Check in" ..."OK".... "Up down arch thousand..... perfect level 5.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[ladyskydiver 0]

I've gone down with the plane twice.

The first time was my very first jump (AFF 1). I had been at the DZ all day, hadn't eaten anything, was on the last flight of the day and was almost throwing up due to not eating. Got on the plane, rode to altitude all the while trying not to throw up (wishing I'd had something to eat) and decided to ride the plane down. If I couldn't concentrate just on the ride up without fighting getting ill, I didn't feel that I'd do well in the air - especially if I got ill in the air. Came back the next morning (made sure that I ate before going to the DZ) and jumped. (Learned since then to always keep health bars with me.)

The second time I went down with the plane was the first time I tried to get back into jumping while my dad was still ill (jump #13). (At this point, it had been a little over 6 months since my last jump.) I went up to altitude all the while afraid that I'd miss a phone call from my mom saying "Come now." Got to altitude, looked out the door to spot and saw my dad's face. Knew right then and there that my mind wasn't on the jump and rode the plane down. Came back the next day with my mind focused (and having called my mom prior to getting ready to jump) and jumped.

And, on both jumps, I had excellent jumpmasters who made sure of my decision...offered me a go around to see if I'd jump but never pressured me. They wanted me to have a safe jump and love it enough to do it again. I hated going down with the plane as I really wanted to jump. But, I knew both times that I was not 100% there and knew that to get out of the plane would be dangerous.

I've now got 50 jumps. Would I go back down with the plane again? Yes, if I felt that for some reason my mind was not on the jump like it should be, I'd go down with it. I'd much rather pay my slot, go down with the plane, and be safe than risk my safety or anyone else's on the load with me.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[tigra 0]

I had 2 pretty funny "hesitations" as a student. My 3rd tandem, they had us do a student style "poised exit" out of the otter. I climbed out just fine, did my "check in" with the tm, turned back to the prop and just froze! He had to peel us off the side of the plane! Once I was in freefall, I was fine. Just something about standing outside an airplane at 13K staring at a spinning prop, I guess! I got a pretty good lecture on the ground for that one, but was still cleared for AFP training.

And on one of my AFP jumps, level 6 or 7 I think, it was my first diving exit. I did a "ready set go" and stayed in the plane! I don't know exactly what I was afraid of, maybe hitting the door or something? Then I tried it again and actually left that time! I think my JM might have left ahead of me on that one, but another jm got it on video and they showed at the weekly staff meeting where all the jms got together and reviewed the student jumps! I had an instructor I didn't even know walk up to me and give me shit about it! (In a good natured way!)

Its totally normal for a student to hesitate, when you think about it, its kind of ABNORMAL not to! There is nothing normal about jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet! A jumpmaster really needs to be able to read the student to see whether he/she just needs a "push" or some encouragement, or if "no" really means no! Sometimes its a pretty fine line!

maura

[akaGQ 0]

My second jump AFF level 2 I had to ride down with the plane because I started wiggin because I wasnt thinkin about my dive I was thinkin bout everything else and all the what if this and what if that hit me at once and it freaked me out so naturally I told my JMs that it wasnt gonna happen and they said cool by them....needless to say it wont happen again cause nothing is scarier than the plane ride down...that in itself made me make sure I was ready without a doubt from then on out but of course now its like clockwork no biggie. But hey it happens to some and doesnt happen to others...but theres something someone once told me better safe than sorry, if your not in the right frame of mind you certainly dont need to be in the air. Just my 2 cents.

- GQ

... it was the love of the air and sky and flying, the lure of adventure, the appreciation of beauty ...
-Charles Lindberg

[hookitt 1]

Quote

....... or some encouragement, or if "no" really means no! Sometimes its a pretty fine line!

maura

nicely put, Fine line it is Nice story Maura

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[Jiggs 0]

I have seen a few student refusal which are a real pain in the arse. A good one that I saw was this student; his name Unstabill (Bill), anyway he had being having a pretty hard time getting himself worked up on a good positive exit. On a latter level S/L jump, an instructor called out "we are on jump run": He took off like a shot and bailed out the door leaving his instructor behind! The look on the instructors face was so comical! It took everyone on the plane about 5 seconds to realise what had happened, no one could believe how quickly it happened. We had to do a go around since we were all laughing so hard.

"Don't blame malice for what stupidity can explain."

"In our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart and in our despair, against our will comes wisdom" - Aeschylus

[yardhippie 0]

Yea I was in a 182 and we had a guy getting out at 6 for some reason or other. There was a JM doing a coach jump with a student that was having a problem. the pilot thought it would be cool to pitch the plane so the student could watch the guy bail off out the open door. It freaked the student out really bad and wouldnt go.
the JM and I endedup having one of the greatest jumps on that one!

Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD
"What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me
"Anything you want." ~ female skydiver
Mohoso Rodriguez #865

[akaGQ 0]

Quote

I have seen a few student refusal which are a real pain in the arse. A good one that I saw was this student; his name Unstabill (Bill), anyway he had being having a pretty hard time getting himself worked up on a good positive exit. On a latter level S/L jump, an instructor called out "we are on jump run": He took off like a shot and bailed out the door leaving his instructor behind! The look on the instructors face was so comical! It took everyone on the plane about 5 seconds to realise what had happened, no one could believe how quickly it happened. We had to do a go around since we were all laughing so hard.

Very funny shtuff

- GQ

... it was the love of the air and sky and flying, the lure of adventure, the appreciation of beauty ...
-Charles Lindberg

[f1freak 0]

I have seen it several times, most of the time if they have a good instructor, they would go through with it, but i have been with quite a few that have ridden the plane down....
Most of them will go right back up, and enjoy as long as they are treated right....

HAVE FUN...
...JUST DONT DIE

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I have never had a tandem passenger so freaked that I could not talk them out the door. I have had one AFF student on level IV that balked one time, but I talked him out on the go-around and he had a perfect skydive. Later in the day, he completely balked when we were moving towards the door on his level V. I actually had to ride the plane down that time. I have had maybe four SL students in the past 15 years who balked and had to ride the plane down.

Chuck

[nacmacfeegle 0]

One of the Mike Mcgowan videos has a really funny sequence of some dude balking on S/L, its well worth it.....

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He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[billvon 3,080]

>have you ever seen a student or a tandem chicken out and
>change their mind about jumping in the plane?

I've had one tandem and 3 AFF students decide not to jump in the plane. I do not try to pressure people into jumping who do not want to jump. You can get killed doing this; if someone's going to do it it has to be all their idea.