Whamie

Lighten up a little, it's a not a 'sorry' situation. Very soon you'll be jumping on your own, and when that happens you'll have to ask around to get answers to your questions (and there will be questions). Right now, however, you have a team of instructors at Perris who are there for the purpose of teaching you, which includes answering your questions. The trick is that even if you know other people you can ask (like on DZ.com) your instructors are also following a progression and in order to make sure you have the right answers for that progression, you need to stick to asking them for the time being. Keep in mind that they work for you. You're in charge and can ask as many questions as you want, and take as much time as you need with anything. They have a standard way of doing things, and will follow that unless they have a reason to do otherwise. If you have quesitons or needs beyond what they're offering at the outset, just bring it up and they can adapt to make sure your needs are met. You can go so far as to jot questions down as you think of them away from the DZ, and then bring that with you for your next jump. I was just busting your balls about being an engineer. I am serious, however, about not tyring to 'solve' problems on your own. I know that engineers are typically turned to for problem solving, but in this case you need to drop that part of your personality and turn to an expert. Bad things can happen when you come to your own conclusions about things in skydiving, and then proceed un-checked to test them out. Yes, think, analyze and problem solve all you want on the ground, but never ever take anything into the air without having it verified by an instructor or senior jumper. You're right, though. I should be able to separate myself from my work with this awesome weekend sport. And I will bring up question to my instructors on the next jump day. Would it surprise you if I already have a logbook for my jumps and tunnel time?

Ok. Will stop over analyzing things. Sorry for asking.

First off, thanks again to the staff of Perris Skydiving School! Had a great AFF2 jump! Special thanks to Kenneth and Mikey who accompanied me on the jump and to Rob for the video and pics! I'm from an engineering background so i guess i like to analyze things and get feedback from my peers. With that being said. On my AFF1 jump, I jumped out rather unstable, legs were kicking, but i got into a belly down position and went through the dive flow. Even opened my own chute. However, on AFF1 I felt unstable and a bit confined since the instructors were holding on to me. So before I took AFF2, I did 4 tunnel runs the day before just to work on body position. The tunnel runs were awesome since the instructor was very hands off during most of my flight. That allowed me to "feel" the air and get a feel of how my body should be position. I got a chance to practice small 90 degree turns and even did fall rate adjustments (going as high as the glass and falling back down to the wire but without touching the ground). The next day was my AFF2 jump and the first thing i told myself was "do not kick, do not kick, do not kick". When I exited the plane, i arched, didn't kick, and I knew I nailed the exit. It just felt right. On this jump I feel really stable and achieved forward tracking for 6 seconds (the prescribed dive flow for the jump). My question is was I stable because of the tunnel time or because the instructors keeping a hold of me ? or is it a combination of the two. All i do know is that my AFF2 jump was more stable and felt more stable than AFF1. Comparing the video of AFF1 and AFF2, it looks like AFF2 was more stable...but could it mean of the extra practice in the tunnel the previous day or cuz of the instructors. Thanks again for everyone's feedback.

Speaking of the patch I too tend to get motion sick. In fact, I also scuba dive and whenever I do a boat dive I have to use the patch to offset the motion sickness or my day will be wasted on the deck sleeping or throwing up. The patch I use is the Transderm which is prescribed by my doc. But it looks like scuba diving will be on hold this summer as i focus on sky diving instead :D I'm also looking to get some tunnel practice first before I do AFF2. However, the closest tunnel is at the iFly at Citiwalk in Los Angeles. I've heard the iFly is "scaled down" as a tourist kinda place. Any thoughts on that. It looks legit but seeing skying is an expensive hobby i need to make the most out of my time and money.

Good morning everyone. Decide to finally do the AFF1 course last Sunday at Perris. I must first stay thank you to the staff at Perris! Special thank you to Robert (Main), James (Reserve), and Nicole (Videographer) for their time, instructions, and encouragement! Now my experience! I was the only AFF1 that day so I was excited to get the opportunity to work 1 on 1 with Robert and just ask as many questions as needed...which was cool. There's a few things that I was wondering about that hopefully the community can please address. First, throughout the course I didn't feel nervous or anxious. Suiting up, entering the plane, and going up I didn't feel as anxious as I thought I would be. Then when the doors finally opened and it was go time, I started to feel anxious and nervous. My question is, is it typical for someone to feel calm throughout the AFF1 ground course then finally feel a sense of anxiety right at the edge of the door? Next, the exit. Oh man, the exit. I arched as hard as i can, looked at the plane leaving to keep my head up, but noticed i was falling toward my left side first). In that instance, my legs began to kick up and down yet trying to hold the arch. My question is, is it typical for AFF1 students to kick on their first jump? Is that just a primal human response that happens to new students? As soon as i was belly down I believe i had a stable flight...though i can't be too sure because there was always 2 instructions on either side of me. Went through the dive flow and at 5000ft, opened my parachute (of course i was thinking, I hope to God this things works as advertised and sure enough it did). I visually checked the 'chute for shape, float, and no spin and did the ccc..ok. My question is, when under canopy flight, I felt kinda motion sick, is it typical to feel a little bit of motion sickness? Finally, I want to continue on with the AFF course. I guess it's the engineer in me, but I would like to stick with Robert as my instructor. I know there are good instructors at Perris but being an engineer I tend to keep things consistent and would like to consistently keep the same instructor throughout the course. Any thoughts on that? Does anyone know how i can contact Robert? Thanks again to Perris and those that made my first jump safe, enjoyable, and memorable!