nadominhoca

Hey man! Better to get in contact with the DZs in CPT and Johannesburg.. I'm not so sure about the regulations in South Africa, but in some countries you can't do your AFF jumps in different DZs!

I dont agree with the new rule and Chuck's post is why. Seems silly to allow 16 year olds to drive on the highway at 90 mph or fly planes but not skydive. Seems silly to allow 16 year olds to drive on the highway at 90 mph or fly planes!!!!

Mine took a good 3-4 months!!! Busy DZ in Dubai... lots of students!! And by some reason I used to bring the bad weather to the DZ... can't count how many days I couldn't jump due to strong winds and how many plane rides I had during my AFF progression... Not familiar how does it work across US but here, students can't jump with low altitude winds higher than 15-16 knots.. Yeah It would be better if I had completed my AFF in a shorter period of time, but that doesn't necessarily means that your progression or even skills will be better or not.. you just need to figure it out by yourself! Having more time also means that you can study more, maybe have some tunnel sessions between jumps, etc.. again, it really depends on you..

I may be one of "the quiet people" you speak of. I am usually quiet because I'm focused on the jump and getting mentally prepared. I've also invested tens of thousands of dollars into tunnel time to have better jumps. I'm not against anyone having fun, but when someone is loud and obnoxious the entire way up, I can't focus on what I want to do. Since you already acknowledge getting dirty looks, I doubt you care, but you should consider that people are in different situations than you. I usually know who I'm jumping with, and of course I take that in consideration before goofing around.. sometimes I just sit down trying to visualize my jump, or I take a quick nap.. But being honest, personally I think skydiving is a fun thing to do.. something to enjoy with your friends and people that you are jumping with... so goofing around kind of makes the whole experience more fun to me.. you know what I mean?!

I don't know what is worse, sleep on you way up or keep messing around with everyone in the plane the whole time.. I kind of prefer the second option, although some times I get some angry looks, by the quiet guys.. Honestly I don't think it's a big issue.. relaxation comes with experience..

God bless America!!

Agree with most of the points listed by Yoink in this and his previous posts.. Nothing really good can come up with minors jumping from planes. Despite the fact that age not necessarily reflects the real ability of someone to deal with a certain issue/situation, I believe that 18 should be the legal age to allow people to jump by their own. I believe that these 2 additional years from the 16 to 18, provides a lot of life experience to young teenagers.. driving, final exams at school, working, etc... all of this, together, helps to create a sense of maturity and responsibility, which definitely will help them in skydiving (for example).. And I have to disagree with lyosha.. I believe that in Skydiving you have a high risk of damaging other people.. you just need to check some of the recent incidents related with canopy collisions, for instance..

This is an excellent topic! Despite the fact that we have some general guidelines and recommendations about the theme, every situation is different!! I had a similar experience playing soccer.. when someone got hurt and I was just near to the guy (not even touching or anything), and I got shit from his friend.. I work in the Oil Industry, more specifically in Drilling Rigs, and I've seen a lot of nasty stuff happening.. guys having their hands smashed, etc.. people getting hit by heavy equipment, and even people dying.. I really believe that if you can handle the situation, just being there, talking to the injured person to keep them awake, calm them, calm other people, carry equipment, bring water, shading, etc... can be a big help at the end of the day!! Everything depends on how you react to the situation.. if you are not comfortable enough, leave the scene! If you can handle it, be there just in case!! Don't touch, don't move, don't do anything.. just be there! I know that reactions varies based on each person, but having someone giving you shit for trying to help, is definitely not right! I would expect at least that after the whole thing, when things got more calm, to get the apology from this guys that gave you shit!

Hey TheMan, you just realized that one of the main reasons for the hard opening is the fact that the Dubai Desert DZ is very crowed!!! Specially now that the summer is over, and the temperatures are getting really nice to jump.. It's unbelievable the number of parachutes that the packers there have to pack on the weekends.. they look like machines.. so it's just a matter of time, for one of them make a simple mistake and cause a hard opening.. I know that you just started, and eventually you will do your packing course.. after that try to keep packing your parachute man!! Its gonna save you a lot of money, and you will know what you are doing!!

Like everyone said, do a couple of more jumps, so you will have a better way to compare it.. From a stable belly to earth position, a hard opening is pretty much caused by a bad packing job.. or an act of god!! It will allways be there!! So, when you get your license.. learn how to pack, at least you won't blame anyone, except yourself.. By the way, this is Dubai DZ, right?! I miss my jumps there!!!

Fazza (Nickname) is the Crown Prince of Dubai-UAE. It has nothing to do with Saudi, or even Oil.. Dubai has no Oil anymore.. This guy is passionate by Skydiving!!! Quite impressive what he did in Dubai, with two dropzones + largest wind tunnel in the world (18 people simultanesly!!). High quality equipment, DZs very well maintained, really good staff, and some of the best jumpers in the world.. Hope he is doing well for Empuria also!! As someone said.. with improvements, comes the cost... fair enough to me...

Chuck, I respect your opinions, but not necessarily agree with them... altough I believe I need more training and experience, like all of the other jumpers out there.. this is a sport where you learn things everyday, in every single jump! In any case, you are not insulting me, not at all.. I just think it's funny that you don't agree with a single topic that I wrote it.. it's difficult to argue with someone who simply believes that knows everything! I could go on and on again about every answer that you gave me, but I don;t wanna create a big discussion here.. my whole point, is that, we have people with different skills and different capabilities.. taking EPs for example.. there are a lot of reccommendations for sure, and common pratices... but each one deals with it, the way they are able to! Everybody wants to learn.. no one wants to get hurt and hurt the others.. but what I am saying is that you can't say this is right, or this is worng in every situation our there.. that's why I mentioned that it's your instincts, training and capabilities that will dictate how you react.. by the way, I don;t agree that instinct are purely result of training.. And just one more comment, regarding my last point: "Now, regarding the other jumpers around.. Dude, that's mainly THEIR responsibilities to check traffic and get away from jumpers with malfunctions". Yeap, I agree with you, that the lower jump has the preference, you can't avoid what you can;t see, etc.. but it's everybody's jobs to monitor the traffic 100% of the time!!! Knows where you are, knows who jumped before you at the jump run... In any case, I think it's a good post, altough I don;t agree the way you describe and judge the person..

Guys, let's face it... it's very easy to point it out a lot of mistakes when is not your ass out there... I totally understand the purpose of this topic, the name explains by itself... but when you are there, facing a situation like this.. it's your instincts, your training, your capabilities that will dictate how you will deal with that situation.. We don't know for example, how many cuts this guys have.. maybe this was his first one... which makes totally understandable the 30 secs that it took from him to realise that he need it to chop it.. Again, we don't know... Withme is simple.. I keep looking up and monitoring my canopy openning every jump that I make.. all the times I'm with my hands at my cutway chute... if something is not good, I don't think twice.. I cut it! That's my technique and works pretty well for me! Now, regarding the other jumpers around.. Dude, that's mainly THEIR responsibilities to check traffic and get away from jumpers with malfunctions...

This is a common misunderstanding about this sport... most of the people thinks that skydiving is all about the adrenaline, and having crazy jumps, having your heart beating at 200, etc etc... For me, skydiving is more relaxing than anything else.. aff course, I really enjoy doing my exits, freefall, belly formations, etc etc.. all of this are really fun and 100% of the time I'm very excited, but that adrenaline feeling, is not there everytime.. instead, my mind and body are just free, and it's 50secs of my life that I'm feeling really good with myself!!

It will be good to check if other students or jumpers are having problems with had openings as well..