dthames

I have flown close to clouds. About 28 months ago I was where you are, in that I had the goal to pilot a wingsuit. I was jumping before I understood the 200 jump rule existed and it seemed like something so far away. I recall the day I had my 66th jump and asked a friend, "Do you know what is special about that jump"......1/3 of the way there!" I think that very day an instructor sort of laughed at me and said that with 60 something jumps talking about a wingsuit was sort of misplaced. However, being a seasoned adult, I didn't let that deter me one bit. I didn't lose sight of my goal. Now I "fly". The 200 jump rule seemed a little extreme to me and I understood that I didn't fully appreciated the reasons for it. Somewhere about wingsuit jump 20 or so, I had a little problem that I fixed without even being able to describe what I did to fix it. It was just sort of a natural reaction to the situation. Then I thought, "Oh, THAT is what the 200 jumps are for". As others have said, enjoy the journey. There is a lot of fun just getting to the 200. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

There is no harm in doing more practice up high if you don't feel up to the task. No reason at all to do it if you don't feel like you have the control you desire. I did SL training and never had to face that situation but I was also not a very stable student. I had to really learn how to get stable, as it was not natural to me, not being able to arch worth a flip. In this clip you can see what I learned to be a good way to exit. Arms nearly straight out to the side and really watching the plane for the first 2 or 3 seconds. Never mind what happened later in the video. Look closely at the exit. The wind is your friend. If you don't have the feel for it, you might want to practice a bit more up high. http://youtu.be/s61DBgD3JG4 Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

What type aircraft are you exiting from? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

While not a full “report”, I can share what I observed and heard. Pilot 1 had about 30-40 flights, had been flying a Phantom 3 and found the Swift “twitchy” flying in a flock. Pilot 2 had 5 flights in an intro suit, flew the Swift, had some control issues, went back to the intro suit for a couple of flights, went back to the Swift (inserted for foam dildos in the arms) and had better results Pilot 3 did first two flights with the I-bird, two flights with the T-Bird, followed by the pilot's first Swift flight. Comments on the Swift were very positive, way better than the T-Bird. The pilot then had to leave without any other flights. Pilot 4 had a parachute landing accident/injury and I was not able to visit with him about flying the Swift. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

With about 60 Rbird flights I borrowed an S-bird and did two flights with it. My desire for a larger suit would be for solo flights and performance. On those two flights, i flew it pretty hard to see what speed, glide ratio, and time I would get. The suit didn't seem a lot different from the Rbird in the way it felt in flight. On the second exit I bumped my leg on the frame of the doorway, as I did a hop out exit. I could tell the suit wanted to spin WAY more than the Rbird does but I quickly got head down and recovered it before it got going. My flight times and glide ratios were about the same as my best Rbird flights. Lurch told me that each suit has it's own set if tricks to learn, so I should not expect a sudden jump in performance until I was able to exploit the tricks of the suit. My primary goal is to be good at flocking, so I just went back to my Rbird and plan to bang out a lot if flights on it, focusing on getting good in a flock. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I am 6'1", 170 lb. With my limited experience the R-bird fits me very well for flocking. I am often first out and must work my way up and in. I feel like I am a little light-weight in the suit at times, but I can deal with that. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

My first jump was 26 months ago and my goals were the same as yours. Expect things to be harder than you would guess. Expect setbacks due to things ourside your control, weather, DZ closed, who knows what. Expect to spend more than you would estimate. If you can afford to spend $12,000, you should be able to get your training, get a used rig, and get your 200 jumps. Then you will also need $$$ for a wingsuit or you can rent one. I struggled with some things as a student and spending months, rather then weeks to get your A license is not uncommon. But after 7 months (including a winter) I had my license and the number of jumps per month slowing increased. I slowly worked my way up to 114 jumps and then with a long vacation, got to 200 and did my first flight. Being "current" is important. Having 150 jumps in the past year and 200 total is better than having 200 jumps total and only 50 of them being in the last year, when you are looking at your first wingsuit flight. So, to me the best "fast track" would be to take it easy at first, study like your life depends on your knowledge, remind yourself that no matter how smart you might be, that the experience of others is priceless. If you want to hurry and get there, it would be better to "hurry" after you have 100+ jumps behind you, as those first 100 are very critical for your good basic habits to be formed. Then a compressed timeline in the end will/should get you to a very current state for your first flight. As someone has said already, the journey is part of the fun as well. Learning new things, making new friends, being in the sport long enough to learn things you are not even aware you need today are all things that happen along the way. If asked for one piece of advice about reaching your goal, it would be this......when you add any, and I mean any extra risk to your skydiving, ask yourself this question, "Does doing this jump increase the chances that I will be sidelined and not able to continue learning, or delayed in reaching my goals". Someday you will have to decide on things like "is the wind to much right now?", "should I stay with this larger canopy when others are getting smaller/faster canopies?", "do the night jumps Friday night?" While we all know we might get hurt on the very next jump, getting hurt will almost always delay your jumping, even if you just twist your ankle. If flying the WS is your real goal and objective, keep focused on that and don't be distracted by being the cool guy that does risky stuff. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Thinking Creamora fireballs, does anyone know where a person might purchase black powder in the Zhills area? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I can relate to your excitment. Good that went out and did it. Nothing like making new friends. I am at a large DZ boogie right now. Great fun. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I have no dog in this fight but I am visiting a large DZ that has a lot of visitors this week. I have been here 2 days and have discovered 2 of my friends from this boogie last year have new Swifts. 2 others that I have met have new Swifts. of the 4, 2 of them have 5 previous flights on other suits. The other 2 have a few dozen flights in other suits, is what I recall. I am not in a position that I can say anything good or bad, but it will be interesting to see their progression. I think all 4 took delivery before the expected date and are happy to have their suits at the boogie. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Even if you find an ideal software there are two major things that will be required of you. 1. To gain awareness of what needs correction or attention (needs list) 2. To leverage that awareness by changing your behavior when you jump today or in the future (do list) With awareness you want to record what you want to change, and then seek out that change. If you keep it that simple, you might find a way to do that even if you can’t find the ideal software to do it. An Excel spreadsheet can be tailored to do some pretty interesting things. You could start simple, even with a notepad, have a section for issues/concerns/avoid and write the items down (needs list) that you have desire to change or avoid. Before you go to the DZ, get your list out, review it, go work on your behavior, come back, evaluate, update your “needs list”. I think what you will discover is that when you spend the time recording what your needs are, you will be more likely to remember them when you jump the next time. I agree a normal log book does not pull together what you might need to do as you review your needs and get ready to go take on the Earth. Excel can filter data and change cell colors based on some conditional logic. I can see several ways a person might use Excel to help shine a light on items of a “do list”. Merry Christmas. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

That seems to sum it up very well. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

*** Better? Not hurting anyone and being able to walk to the car and drive home at the end of the day. I vote for the old guy. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I want to fly. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I sure don't know what the coach was thinking or whether his own fall rate was messed up. Bu one bad jump with one AFF-I and they are all useless? But the way you presented the issue, had the coach been curly haired and Jewish, you might have warned us that one should never jump with curly haired Jewish coaches because those people always screw things up... I didn't say "useless" nor did I intend to suggest that. I apologize to all AFF-Is that have not grabbed the student on a coached jump, and hung on like a pitbull. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

On vacation, I visited a large DZ when I still had some swoops and docks to get signed off on my A card. Jumping from a C-182 at 9,500 feet (back home) made the Otter at 13,500 look like a great place to work on getting some of those things signed off. I told them I wanted to do a coached jump and the coach they put me with was also an AFF-I. I told the coach that I wanted to get these items signed off. The coach asked me if I had done a specific jump to practice fall rate control. I had not, so we agreed to such a jump. While this would not get my card signed off, it would be good learning. I mentioned I was a bit slow falling. I had my own suit but it was a slow suit. The coach put me in a very tight fast suit. After a couple of fall rate adjustments, I lost stability, flopped around a couple of times, and got back on my belly, waiting for the coach to get back into position. At about 9,000 feet instead of getting to the coaches slot, the "coach" docks on my left ankle. I looked over my shoulder and gave the thumbs up sign to mean I was good and wanted to continue the diveflow. But the coach stayed docked. Breakoff altitude came, I looked again, the coach stayed docked. I finally waved and pulled. What a waste of my money. Advice, find a coach that is not an AFF-I. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I had some early jumps at a large DZ while still a student. Pulling higher than most licensed jumpers and with a larger student canopy, the canopy traffic that I was in was limited to other students and maybe the tandems on the load. It was busier than the small DZ but I was not in the middle of 20 people all wanting to land at the same time. If you were taught proper landing pattern flying, that is one important thing to remember and to review with the new DZ. Know what their normal pattern is. You might benefit from watching at least one load land before you go up. At a new DZ, I like to walk out on the landing field and get a personal feel for the landing area before I fly down to land there. Often it looks different from a distance. I want to see it up close where I can touch it. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

If you are going to do it, consider providing a tote to store it in, take it to the shop and after everyone agrees, seal it in the tote in such a way that when you get it back, it is still sealed......if you get it back inside the agreed time limit. That might help you protect the rig from tampering and poor storage. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I did my first skydive in late Oct 2011 with the goal to fly a wingsuit. The first 6 months were very slow with several problems. After 14 months of spending most of my spare time at the DZ, I had 114 jumps. I reconsidered my goal and the timeline, which caused me to take most of my vacation time and a good chunk of change from the bank. After 15 months (total) I had done my first wingsuit flights. I certainly did not have time for any other hobby. I think it is wise to focus on skydiving (while learning) and not spilt your interest with other hobbies that require similar focus (read....can kill you). Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

The two main DZs I jump at are 1 hour 45 minutes away and 4 hours away. I am very reluctant to drive 4 hours unless it is mostly clear. I am very likely to drive 1 hour 45 minutes if it is partly cloudy. But that changes some if I jumped last weekend or if I have not jumped for 3 weekends. As mentioned the aviation forecast shows the cloud levels, which helps. I try to use more than one source and also practice “calling it”. It is something you have to learn and it is still very much a guess and a roll of the dice. And then there is the wind! Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I went to Zhills with only a few jumps under my belt (but I was current) and did some work in their student program. I contacted the manager ahead of time and had a pretty good idea what to expect. What Ron said about going back to a DZ owned by the same place where your friend started makes a lot of sense to me. It would not hurt for your friend to contact several DZs and see what each one says. Emailing the manager has worked well for me on more than one occasion. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I agree. I would add that when the upper level winds are from different directions with different speeds as the altitude changes, you end up drifting this way, and then that. I collect a lot of GPS data and you can see the drift vary, base on the direction and speed of the uppers. Little acceleration rams this way, and then that way. On a 22,000 foot jump we when through a layer of strong uppers. it was just a layer maybe a few thousand feet thick but we hit 80 MPH "drift" in an odd direction and then went back to drifting in another direction. Odds are we were never "one" with the air on that 80 MPH zone but we were moving pretty fast. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

In a very honest discussion I would say, “I don’t really know”…..about a lot of things. Looking back on several events in my life when I was in trouble and had the clear thought of “Not recoverable, or your doomed”, I continued to work the problem and had successful results. I do know that if I am about to hit something or someone, I am certainly going to focus on not hitting them. I can’t imagine a thought process like, “If I think I don’t want to hit them, then I am more likely to hit them, so I will think about going over there and maybe then I will be in my happy place…..(and not hit them)”. No! It is more like, “Resolve this somehow some way and don’t stop because it looks hopeless”. I think Sargent York had a special "peace" about him. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

TK, thanks for putting on the free Accuracy Seminars. I was visiting Zhills last weekend and heard the announcement on the PA. Open to all jumpers for free. Can't beat a deal like that when on a weather hold. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

If there was anything to this many skydivers would be dead right away. I guess I am too old and too simple to go for such ideas. I live in a world where if you don't want to get electrocuted, you avoid hot lines.....don't want burned, stay out of the fire. If you are serious about not getting hurt/dead, your "monitoring process" needs to work....end of story. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”