dthames

I agree, that was a fantastic explanation. I am wondering if anyone else out there has tried the head down dive-out-of-it recovery method? While I am new to skydiving and very new to wingsuits I can comment at bit on my experience in a general way. I am not an aircraft pilot but I do know that spin recover is very often nose down, or starts that way. For whatever reason I have practice head down recovery in normal skydiving when I get flipped or spun around and don’t know which end is up. I am not a free flyer either. There is just something natural for putting your head down. Once you are vertical you can rotate around your normal roll axis very easily. This gives you a feeling of being in control of your flight and you can “pull out” or go back to belly when your get your orientation back. I mean you feel for your orientation. So you rotate to your heading and pull out. Last week I flipped to my back in an R-bird and went into a head down dive. The flipping onto my back was not planned. I know I can’t yet fly on my back, so I just went head down into this notch on the side of this cloud (which I was looking at when I flipped over). As I did I flew without thinking and flew a rolling maneuver as I got to a spot where I wanted to pull out in a different direction. It was very natural and easy to do that roll. Yesterday flying in normal flight, I tried to “fly” the same type roll. It was not possible because I was fighting all of that air hitting my belly and tail. It showed me how much more authority you have over your flight when head down because the normal vertical travel element is not 90 degrees to your flying surfaces. Yes, I spotted some months ago that Lurch has a great ability to explain things. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

"Things got bad, and things got worse, I guess you will know the tune......" Sorry Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Nautical miles would be... Sorry. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

10 nanometers is not "that" far out. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Maybe the jumper was for the other team? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I struggled with stability. The wind tunnel didn't seem to help me much. I quit AFF and went to SL so I could slow things down and work at a pace needed for a slower student. That all worked out very well for me. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Relax. Finish all your AFF and your question will answer itself. Most people enjoy paying less for the jump and doing whatever they feel like doing.

1+ Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Think about what you are saying. Want to skydive? You better be ready to take full responsibility for yourself. Sorry to be blunt but that is just the way it is. I trusted my instructors, but never felt like I was jumping out of the plane and it was someone else job to take care of me. But that is just me. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

+1 Most line twists are from less than good deployment form. Review that with your instuctors and watch for where you are having issues. You should know now that simple line twists should not get you excited. They will soon disappear as you get better. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

It seems like this topic has come up on DZ.com 2 or 3 times in the 21 months I have been jumping. As a low time jumper, I would not want to spend my time looking up, when the real threat to me screwing up would be missing someone below me. I can easily avoid what is below me if I see it. I can't see it unless I am looking at it. On a belly jump I track really hard, then flare real big and wave clearly. Anyone that is above me and does not see that, is most likely looking somewhere else, which is only encouraged by the barrel roll. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I would say "good choice" to not jump with the smaller reserve. The chances of landing off can be expected to be higher with many reserve rides. Landing off under an unfamilar and smaller canopy would not be my choice. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Nice can of worms you are opening. I didn't open the can! I just want to know what to expect. 10 way, 10 wingsuit jumps? 20 way, 20 wingsuit jumps? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

In the announcement for next year’s Flock N Dock, it was mentioned that there would be an experience verses formation size rule. No reply was given to my question about the details of the rule. But in general, has anyone presented a suggestion on experience verses formation size? Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

My ears are sensitive to loud noise and I have some hearing damage. I want to save what hearing I have. Foam earplugs helped with the noise and did not keep me from hearing a chest mounted radio as a student. If you were in pain, it was most likely from the increase in outside pressure as you decended. You need to learn manage that to avoid the pain. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Replace "smart" and "quick" with "trained" and "sure". ...whether you’re trained enough and sure enough to handle a bad situation? Most of the time the correct decision before things go totally to pot, is much better than some "quick draw" solution. A properly trained jumper that will adhere to their training does not need to be quick. They need to be sure, and carry out the EPs as trained. You might reflect on your personal history of how you do in time critical problem situations. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I started skydiving the last weekend of Oct 2011 with the primary goal to fly a wingsuit. I was 54 years old. In Jan 2013 my 201th skydive was my first wingsuit flight. I did my 28-32th wingsuit flights last Saturday. I was not an exceptional student. I think I was average or below average. I was off 11 weeks that first winter with zero jumps. It took me 35 jumps to get my A license. If you have your heart set on doing this my advice would be to start out slow and work your way up. By slow I mean in the early months there may be a LOT more to learn on the ground than in the air. So, trying to bust out X number of jumps per day might not be the best approach. For a very long time 2 jumps a day was about all i could handle, then it was 3, then 4, then 7. But I would have not been doing myself a favor to push for 5+ jumps a day in the early months. By the end of 2012 I had built up to the point I could jump and pack all day long and get 7 or 8 jumps a day. A vacation to a DZ with good weather then allowed me to get the last few dozen jumps I needed to get to the point where I could start on the WS. Any advice I might give would be to not rush it, but to focus on each step along the way and get it right. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogm5aeQp6N0 Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I passed up an offer for a free one because I didn't think I would like it. Zero tandems so far. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

One of my best friends in high school drove his car like a crazy person. He was in control but drove it right on the ragged edge. I was with him most every day and always very tense in the car. One day I decided that if I didn't trust him not to wreck, I was a fool for getting in the car with him. At that point I just relaxed and accepted the fact that if we crashed, we crashed, but I was not going to sit there and dig my fingernails into the interior all of the time. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

Karen, It is real simple. You should quit when you no longer want to jump. I was very much ready to quit after 12 jumps and laid off for 11 weeks or so during the winter. I came back with a new determination and a plan. I would do 2 SL jumps per good weekend. If I progressed, great. If I did not progress, that was fine. I had just spent some money and had some fun. Dan Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I had not cut away prior to yesterday. I also was wearing my GPS recorder and can see I was slowed back down in about 330 feet.....that time. [inline before.jpg][inline after.jpg] Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

The idea of not being able to fix a stable line twist under a fully inflated and flying canopy would have been laughable to me. But that was before yesterday. There was a huge temptation to continue to work to fix it. But as a recent thread reminded us, “Know your decision altitude or your hard deck and stick to it”. I very much wanted to stay with it and fix the twists. But I had made little or no progress and I was at 2,000 feet. My mind went back and forth a couple of times, should I stay or should I go. I will admit the temptation to stay and fix it…..just a little longer was there. I went ahead and did what I was trained to do. I stopped doing what I wanted to do. I did what I needed to do. That was one lesson I tried to drill into my kids before they were grown. Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

I got to meet one of the local farmers yesterday. I had a cut away over a large pasture. There was corn in one of the fields close by but (thankfully) my stuff landed in the pasture and I landed near my freebag. I then headed toward my main which was in the field just north of the one I landed in. At the fence was the farmer on his 4 wheeler. I asked him if he was the owner and told him I was sorry but I had a problem. As I got my gear off to get over the fence we chatted a bit. It was a very well made barbed wire fence with lots of stay posts. No way to get through it. He suggested I climb over. I really didn’t want to do that because I don’t’ climb over my own fences. He helped me find a spot that was a little wider between the wires and I wiggled my way through. He then took me on his 4 wheeler to his gate. I explained I needed to find my main. After dropping all my gear (including wingsuit) at the gate, he suggested I take his 4 wheeler to look for my main. I got the main in short order. I shook his hand and told him I was very grateful for the help. I didn’t have any money with me but after I got back to the DZ and got my stuff all put away, I went back to him with $20. He wouldn’t take it but I told him I would feel bad if he didn’t and finally it took the money. His wife said someone lost a helmet told them if they ever see it they would like to have it back. The woman told me she spent about one and a half days looking for it, found it, returned it to the DZ, but no one ever came back and thanked her. But still they were willing to help me like they did. The couple made an impression on me. I hope I made one on them as well. I love the "south". Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2009/08/safety-third-huh/ Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”