PixieUK

Love it when a search brings up an old post which still answers my question :-) Guess I'm not driving 2+ hours to the dz that is still open tomorrow (winds 10-12 mph, gusts up to double that!). Didn't sound like good jumping weather for me, but was looking for an explanation of what actually happens with strong gusts. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

If it's anything like the UK system, you need to complete the 8 AFF levels (which may mean more than 8 jumps if you don't pass each level on the first attempt), and then 10 solo consolidation jumps before you will gain your A licence. 18 jumps would be the minimum to get your A licence under the UKPA system. You may also need to check what the A licence from a specific country permits you to do if you wish to travel and jump in other countries. A UKPA A licence does not allow you to jump with other people (apart from instructors and coaches, or perhaps another experienced jumper at the Chief Instructors discretion) until you also pass your Formation Skydiving qualification (FS1). The A licence in the USA is slightly different in that it is a minimum of 25 jumps but includes some coached jumps and you may then jump with other people once you have passed all the requirements. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Very helpful video - does anyone else think the elastic bands (bungees) on the D-bag are very loose? It is as much as I can do to prise my elastic bands open at all, my rigger put small ones on all except the first closing one and that's where I really struggle. I have lost skin from my fingers several times just getting the lines neatly stowed. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

We have these pull release shackles on the end of straps, so the shackle is pushed through your leg strap and then clipped back onto its own strap. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

This came from a discussion in the Incidents forum. Who always insists on everyone on the flight wearing a seatbelt? I have frequently been in jump planes where there were people not wearing seatbelts (towards the back of the plane or seated on the floor between benches). Often other jumpers who are clipped in will hold the shoulder straps of the rigs of those who haven't got a seat belt. I had always thought the seat belts were to stop people from sliding back towards the tail of the plane but the comments in the other thread have made me reconsider. I also have often clipped around my chest strap as the straps are often long, and are fiddly to get through leg loops. Again, after the comments on the other thread, I won't be doing this any more. I have only ever used seat belts that were elasticated straps with a pull-release shackle attached (see attached), not like commercial airline belts. These are like loose restraints, rather than tight belts. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Hmm, possibly. No foreplay, can make it last longer if you want but still a very abrupt ending, with no floating down afterwards A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

I think maybe your parameters aren't going to give you the results that you / Jaffa are looking for. I didn't answer the survey because I don't even have 100 jumps, never mind 500, but of all the people I know personally who have broken themselves since I started skydiving just over a year ago, the vast majority had less than 300 jumps. Several broken legs, a broken ankle, a broken wrist, never mind all the near misses I've had with people cutting me up under canopy. I did 2 canopy courses (one for demo jumping to practice accuracy and Flight 101) so I am a lot more confident with my own landings but that didn't stop me witnessing a lot of crash landings last weekend when we had nil wind conditions from people with way higher jump numbers than me. To skew the figures slightly, the only one who I knew personally who actually died had over 2000 jumps (low turn). Possibly canopy size may still come into play at relatively low jump numbers as here in the UK, many CCI's are strict about when people can downsize so bigger, more docile canopies may be saving more people from more serious injuries. A late flare or low turn under a square 210 or 190 may lead to bruises and dented ego more often than broken bones, though that's impossible to quantify. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Lol - I thought that at this time last year and went out to Seville for a long weekend to jump. I already had my A licence but the girls i went with were on consols and one of them finished and got her A while we were out there. Was determined to get my FS1 before Christmas this year if I could so am still jumping (albeit in several layers of Merino wool thermals!!) and was awarded my FS1 on Sunday. But it's getting close to the time when only a solid runway will do as the grass ones are getting waterlogged. I quickly got bored of doing solos so ended up doing quite a few hop 'n' pops to improve my canopy skills. I had a lot of issues with my landings when I started so I did a canopy course as well as my CH2. It's definitely much more fun doing 2-ways and now I've got my FS1, I'll be able to jump with more people so hopefully that's going to be a lot of fun. Assuming there are some UK flat flyers around who aren't in hibernation, lol. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Ah, yes, I remember that bit very well, lol. I was fine on my tandem, trusted the instructor and on the video I look very relaxed and happy. On my first AFF jump, I was concentrating on my freefall exercises all the way up so didn't really have time to think about what I was going to do.... then screamed my head off as we jumped out, rofl. I found the best way to deal with it was to take slow deep breaths on the way up in the plane whilst running through all the exercises for that jump in my head. Then a big deep breath as the door is opened, and again as you get to the door. And a big smile

Hi

As others have said, diet is vitally important. You need all the nutrients you can get - if you don't eat lots of fresh food, could you try making one fresh fruit/veg juice a day? As for exercise, just get out in the fresh air. Tell yourself you will just do 5 minutes. Walk out of your front door and just go down the road for a couple of minutes. Don't just walk, observe absolutely everything in tiny detail. A crack in a paving slab, an insect on a flower, the colour of the sky, are there clouds, is it warm / cool, is there a breeze? Breathe deeply and slowly, then assess how your body feels. Do you feel energised / lethargic / tired / calm? How does your body react when you breathe in a deep breath? Good luck. I have suffered with depression and it took time to overcome it, in baby steps. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

He clearly has his own ideas about what jumping is about and his own definition of 'a jumper' but he's definitely missing a few facts, lol. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Thanks for the responses so far - it sounds like maybe I need to pull higher to have a bit more time to 'play' and start getting used to a different type of canopy. Just to clarify for the person who queried my turns on final - they were trim turns, minor adjustments of a few degrees just to keep the canopy flying directly into wind. I have been taught to 'fly my canopy all the way to the ground' as I did have one incident early on where I stopped trimming (due to the fixation of "no low turns") and ended up with my canopy veering so far from 'nearly into wind' that I ended up with an almost downwind landing. Because the reactions of the Spectre were relatively aggressive compared with the Nav and I didn't want to risk a bad mistake, I was keeping the canopy flat for trimming, rather than keeping both hands high and only pulling on one control line at a time. I have spent a lot of time working on my landings and opted to get my CH2 qualification before my FS1 so have worked with several different instructors on canopy handling techniques - I am in no rush to downsize. This is the first canopy I have flown that had significant penetration into wind under those conditions. Even under the Nav 220 I would have expected to be dropping almost vertically until the last couple of hundred feet. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

I need to discuss this more with the instructors at the dz but was curious about general opinions. I went to a new DZ today and as I don't have my own kit, I need to hire it. Up until now I have only jumped student kit, mainly Navigators and have downsized to a 220. Last jump a couple of weeks ago was on a Nav 240. I explained my jump history (A licence last year, 39 jumps total, current including hop 'n' pops and winter jumping) and that I was nervous about jumping at the new DZ as it was only the second new place I've ever been and on Google maps, I couldn't see any distinguishing features to point me to the correct green field, lol. The CCI suggested I rent a 210 canopy as the next size up available was a 260 and the one below that was a 190. Since I only weigh about 145lbs, the wing loading of a 190 wasn't an issue but I didn't want to downsize so far, especially as I haven't jumped a 220 since early Feb. So I agreed with the 210. What they didn't tell me (until afterwards!) was that the Spectre 210 is a 7 cell canopy and that doing my CATTS checks (ie including 3 x full flare practices on opening) could actually have stalled the canopy. I also descended a lot more rapidly than I was expecting, considering my previous jumps on Navigators. During my checks, I found it a lot harder to do a full flare than I'm used to (and I have significant upper body strength, can do chin ups etc), and the turns were WAY more aggressive than I'm used to. I ended up landing a bit of a distance away from the spot to avoid everyone else because I wasn't entirely sure how the damn thing was going to react to my inputs close to the ground (I was doing flat trim turns on my final approach and only let up the toggles for final drive and flare). I ended up flaring a little high so did a 2 stage flare and landed on my feet without any problems. On discussion with instructors when I got back, they told me more about the Spectre, and then told me that the alternative would be a 9 cell PD190. I was only able to go on one lift today (v. small dz that mainly caters for tandems) and that was the last load so everyone was packing up and didn't have a huge amount of time to chat. I'll be back next weekend and will have more in-depth discussions before jumping again, but wondered what people's thoughts were on taking the PD190 instead of the Spectre 210. I coped with it despite the unexpected reactions, but wouldn't say I felt overly comfortable with it. Would the PD be more like the Navigators to handle or would that be downsizing too fast? Anything else I should be considering? We had quite brisk winds today and my landing directly into wind was a LOT faster than I'm used to under those conditions. I never did a downwind leg, as soon as I turned crosswind, the canopy took off so I turned back as I was losing altitude much faster than I'm used to as well. I'm assuming that will still be the case on the 9 cell but that the turns and flares won't feel quite so drastic. I definitely wouldn't jump the Spectre in very light - no wind conditions until I was a lot more confident in handling it. Thanks A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

You beat me to it but that was what I was going to suggest, minus the practice pull. Not reason not to but I was not thinking about that. I remember so many of my early jumps were so busy that it was not something that I could just purely enjoy. A few months after I got my license I was on my first sunrise jump. I was solo, faced the sun, and just took in the view during freefall. That was great. +1 My instructors recommended I just enjoy the jump, not try anything new. It just happened to be my first reserve ride so I was even more glad I hadn't tried anything fancy!! A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

I'm a new jumper as well and a few things in your post surprise me. Firstly, your wave off altitude seems very low. I pull at 4000 as I have to have a canopy over my head by 3000 (UK BPA rules for A & B licence jumpers - I could technically pull at 3500 but I'm comfortable with 4000, especially as I've already had a reserve ride). As a student I was waving off at 5500 and pulling at 5000 to allow plenty of time to deal with 'nuisance factors' such as line twists, high slider or end closures. Secondly, were you not taught to check your canopy as soon as it is out? Is it big, is it rectangular, is it free from damage? How would you know if you had damage to your canopy or broken lines if you don't look at it? Do you know if you were facing into the wind /downwind /crosswind when you did your flares? And how strong the winds were at different altitudes? How were you judging whether the canopy slowed down or not? The flare can feel different even though the canopy will react the same way, especially on a big student canopy that is very docile. Maybe try it on your next jump - do a flare facing into wind, then a flare facing downwind and see which one appears to slow you down more. As for rear riser landings, I would suggest you talk to your instructors in great depth before considering that as a sensible alternative to cutting away. 2400ft: Tested the rear risers, (Turns out I'm not confident landing with rear risers.) Maybe I should cutaway. Personally, I would have cut before then. I was taught that if I was not happy I could land the parachute safely then that was a good enough reason to cut away. The fact that even after your third practice flare (having been instructed to do two, then cut if not happy), you were still not happy and were testing rear risers and considering a landing other than using a flare, sets off all kinds of warning bells for me. I'm glad you landed safely but I really do think you should discuss the whole incident in great detail with your instructors. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

In the UK, FS1 is needed if you want to jump out of the plane with other people at the same time to do formations or if you want to jump with a friend who doesn't have at least a C licence. You would need to check with dropzones in other countries what they require. You can jump solo once you have your A licence without needing FS1. Also, in the UK, you cannot jump with a GoPro or other camera until you have at least a C licence (200 jumps, FS1 plus all the other qualifications required for a B licence) and even then, it is at the Chief Instructor's discretion at each dropzone. Again, you would need to check at the specific dropzone where you plan to jump. I doubt you'd be allowed to jump with that helmet, certainly not before qualifying. I know what you mean about a helmet for each sport - I have one for cycling, one for rock-climbing, one for skydiving.... The way I view it, my skull is incredibly important to me and keeping my brains inside it, is a very high priority If that means another £50-100 on a helmet specific to the sport, then so be it. In the overall cost of skydiving, that is going to be one of your cheaper purchases, lol. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

I was working on an insane project as a contractor and the guy I was seeing at the time had just finished his role and was still living close to the office before he moved across the country to his new job. A complete idiot of a seagull manager was trying to take control without any comprehension of the complexities of the programme or the politics of the consortium and it was really hard work trying to make him see sense. One day, he called a panic meeting at the end of the day and dragged me and another guy over the coals for yet another issue he really didn't understand. It was commonplace for people to text and answer emails on their phones during meetings as we were in total crisis management so I sent a text to my boyfriend basically saying "In a meeting with x, I'm bored, talk dirty to me", thinking he would entertain me until I could escape. The response was so graphic that I set the alarm on my phone for 1 minute, when it rang I pretended it was an incoming call, managed 30 seconds of pretending to answer a panicking subordinate and fled the office on the pretext of sorting the crisis. I was in my boyfriends flat less than 10 minutes later...... A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

I only did 10 minutes tunnel time before my AFF but I'm sure it made a huge difference to my stability on exit and in free-fall. I never had an unstable exit during AFF, I had to do the backflips to demonstrate instability and recovery. Since the cost of the tunnel time was similar to the cost of redoing a level, I definitely think it was money well spent

I log each jump as I do it (or after the debrief if it was a coached jump) and then get my log signed at the end of the day by the jump master from one of my loads or by the instructor who was coaching me. AFF and coached jumps should be signed off by your instructor in any case. Not too much of an issue at the moment as I'm still very new to jumping and the largest number of jumps I've done in a day was 6 and that was very exceptional, usually I'm lucky to get in 2 or 3! And yes, I do get a buzz when someone asks me to sign their logbook though it doesn't happen often as most of the jumpers I know are jumping in groups so they sign each other's log books. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Depends when you start counting, lol. I did my first AFF jump 2 weeks after my ground school due to weather and high winds. I only managed one jump in 2.5 days of being at the dz that weekend. The following weekend I was at the dz 3.5 days - I did 4 AFF levels on one day, then 2 more AFF levels the next day. A week later, I did one solo jump the first day, then a solo jump, AFF level 8 (hence finished my AFF levels), another solo the second day and a couple more solos the day after that. It took me another 2 weekends to finish my consolidation jumps (10 in total) and get my UK A licence. So 6 weeks from ground school, I qualified. My AFF jumps took approx. 2 weeks and finishing my A licence took approx. 2 weeks but I was literally camping at the dz every weekend from Friday night to Sunday night and also took a few days off work to make that happen. If you have better weather conditions, it can happen a lot quicker - whilst I was in Spain, one guy passed all 8 AFF levels in one day. I know several people from the UK who have gone out to Spain to do their AFF / A licence just because the weather conditions are more reliable. Spacing them out isn't necessarily a bad thing - I passed all 8 levels first time - but I would have preferred to have done it a bit quicker. I spent about 18 days at the dz to get those 18 jumps done and was only able to jump on 9 of them. If you can find somewhere that has consistent weather conditions, that might be a better way to qualify

To answer your question about the A licence and FS1: http://www.bpa.org.uk/training-and-progression/what-next-after-bpa-a-licence/ BPA A-licence requires a minimum of 18 jumps. 8 AFF levels, each of which must be passed, which may take more than one jump per level, then 10 consolidation solo jumps (no instructor jumps with you but an instructor will check your kit in the plane and tell you when to jump). Once you have qualified, you may jump solo, or with a coach, or with one other person who has at least a C licence at the Chief Instructors discretion. In order to jump with other people at A or B licence level, you must also pass the FS1 (Formation Skydiving) course. There are no set number of jumps to do for this - you need to pass a series of skills and will be signed off for each skill by the coach. A specific FS1 course usually covers about 10 jumps, several one-to-one coached jumps then at least one 3-way jump and at least one 4-way jump (with coaches /experienced skydivers). This is different to the US A-licence system where a minimum of 25 jumps are required and several of those are coached jumps which then allows you to jump with other people. Skydive Spain operates the BPA A licence system then adds FS1 coached jumps if you want as a separate course or as individual jumps (I have done 1 FS coached jump with them and am going back out in March to do more - the weather in the UK is still rubbish ). Check out their website for comprehensive details: http://www.skydivespain.com/experienced/formation.htm So your 30 jumps could just about cover A licence and FS1 but you would need to pass every level pretty much first time, which is a lot of pressure to put yourself under. For the time that you are out there, if the weather is good, you should easily be able to fit in 35+ jumps so perhaps consider doing your A licence, then a couple of FS1 coached jumps then some solos to practice those skills, then a couple more coached jumps and do it that way. I chose to do my CH2 (canopy handling) before worrying about FS1 - the way I see it, once you've jumped out of the plane, playing with other people is optional, landing isn't! So I focused on my flying and landing skills first

Your post seems an odd mixture of knowledge and confusion (why would anyone buy a cycle helmet for skydiving? Why would you do a skydiving course, then stop jumping?). I suspect this is a troll post but will answer as though you are genuine. No, you will not be permitted to jump with that helmet at Skydive Spain. As a student all the gear you need including jumpsuit, open face helmet, goggles, altimeter, student rig will be supplied. Tunnel time may help with your body position and your stability, assuming you don't succumb to sensory overload when you actually jump. You will have 2 instructors with you in free fall for at least your first 3 jumps anyway so they will assist with your stability by getting you into the right position. They will only let go of you if they think you are already stable and will give you hand signals to help. The ground school training is extremely thorough - if you can absorb everything they tell you, it is possible to progress very rapidly through the AFF levels. Landing area at Skydive Spain is unusual in that it is only in an East - West direction or West - East direction, regardless of what the wind is doing due to extreme hazards to the North and South of the landing area. The prevailing winds mean that this usually still allows for downwind or only slightly crosswind landings but you must land in the direction of the arrow, regardless of the windsock. All of this will be explained in great detail at your briefings. If you are out in Spain for a week, then it would be possible to get your A licence in that time. That is a UK style A-licence which allows you to jump solo. If you want to jump with other people, you will need to do your FS1 coached jumps as well, which will then get you to the equivalent stage of a US A-licence, where you can jump with others who have at least that minimum standard. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

As a newbie who only started last August, I would say definitely do a tandem. It gave me some idea of what to expect in terms of the climb to altitude, opening the door, getting to the door, that first shock of freefall (it's cold and VERY noisy), what it feels like when the parachute opens, how bloody fast the ground appears to come up to meet you at landing etc etc I was actually one of those people whose tandem didn't get them completely hooked - I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about so was talked into doing my AFF level 1. That turned out to be a whole different level of adrenaline, lol. I would also second the tunnel time. Due to high winds, it took me several days of hanging around the dz between doing my ground school and actually managing to do my first AFF jump. A couple of people recommended I have some tunnel coaching in the meantime and it was definitely a good investment. 10 mins in the tunnel is worth way more time than 10-12 jumps with freefall - a coach can correct you instantly and can easily catch you if you flip / spin / go unstable and then can show you on video what caused it and how to correct it. I never suffered with unstable exit issues like some of the other students I learned with and I would attribute a large amount of that to the early tunnel time. A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

TV (I have never owned a TV and probably never will) Bovril - kind of like the Hershey's question, I don't think I want to know what's in it, it looks like tar and smells revolting, lol Lawn bowls (the sport) - just, WHY???? Retail therapy - like, how the hell is shopping EVER relaxing or therapeutic??? I loathe it! Why does buying stuff make people feel better about anything??? Junk food - I go hungry rather than eat at BK or McD's A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr