slotperfect

Welcome to the wonderful world of skydiving (and to these forums)! I suggest you spend all of your funds on training rather than gear for now so you can make as many jumps as possible each weekend. Take one thing at a time. The "dream state" you spoke of is called "sensory overload." We all experienced it to some degree during early stages of our training. It comes from instantly being thrust into a foreign environment accentuated by noise, speed, and the spectacular view. Have fun and keep us posted on your progress! Arrive Safely John

Welcome! The biggest bit of advice I can give you is relax and have fun. I will order you some good weather for you first weekend . . . Arrive Safely John

Welcome to the sport and to DZ.com! Good luck on the completion of your training . . . let us know how it goes!! Arrive Safely John

Welcome, Chrissy! Hey . . . did you hear that . . . wait . . . there it is again . . . it's the skies calling you to come back home! Glad you joined us here . . . I would love to hear about your reunion with the sport . . . keep us posted! Arrive Safely John

Welcome to the sport and to the forums! You are now among a terrific group of people - skydivers and DZ.commers! Enjoy!

Welcome to the forums, Chip! Glad to have you among us here representing NC! Come on down to Raeford for a visit!!! Arrive Safely John

High: Spending the day having great conversations about life with one of my best friends. Low: Learning that my reserve ripcord pin is affected by the service bulletin. I will test it tomorrow. Arrive Safely John

When I was growing up in Vermont, I would see the "Northern lights" often during the Summer. The best time was after my parents and I had returned from an evening out, when we saw them in the sky as we reached the driveway to our house. We stopped and got out of the car only to look up and be surrounded by shards of light coming straight down at us from everywhere. It was really spectacular. Arrive Safely John

As you wish . . . Arrive Safely John

I PM'd you . . . Arrive Safely John

I'm not sure he schedules it that way . . . www.usapr.com Arrive Safely John

I called Chuckie today and learned that there will be tandems lined up out the door, so I will be there at Ken Ates O'Clock. Mere will be with me this weekend! See you there, mate! Arrive Safely John

Whoa! Nice one, Rob! Not only did you get the Daily Double, but Alex has that approving 'he knows his stuff' look on his face! Arrive Safely John

This is actually old news. I went through Sandy's course (which was GREAT, BTW) in January of 2002 and tested successfully through Tony. His dog (AC the Mastiff) loves me 'cause I'm one of the only people there other than he and Greg that will play with him. As far as the loft at Raeford goes, I have no designs on retiring from the Army and taking it over, but I am recruiting all the time. Meanwhile, I'm glad to help out keeping the student and tandem gear up to speed. Arrive Safely John

-I own an Odyssey (pic attached) -The pros: quality, comfort, performance (function), and the customer service is excellent. -The cons: there really are none that I can think of. -I would easily buy another one. I love it. Arrive Safely John

I always wear a wrist altimeter, and on 95% of my jumps I wear an audible. I do have a built-in visual altimeter (ground-rush), but that varies greatly with the terrain below. Free falling and opening over a large body of water (demos on lake Michigan and Lake Erie back in the day) or over the desert changes the appearance of my altitude. I have jumped without altimeters before, when mine have broken or when I needed to give mine up to a student because his broke. Now when I do AFF I wear two for that reason. When I do tandems I always put an altimeter on my passenger as well. Arrive Safely John

Around 1986 here at Ft. Bragg we had a military static line jumper land in the trees at night. He began going through his procedure to get out of his equipment and climb down. Unfortunately, he released his chest strap and leg straps without disconnecting his chest-mounted reserve and hung himself. That was a really sad incident. Arrive Safely John

I have had some interesting moments back when I was doing demos, always involving landings. Actually they were more like "arrivals." Arrive Safely John

2773:5* *Only 2 of these were true parachute malfunctions. The other three were AAD misfires (firing high). It was a military version of the Sentinel AAD. Arrive Safely John

I dropped out of college after 1 1/2 years because I hated what I was doing. After a few months, I decided to join the Army. The recruiter showed me a video of Airborne School at Ft. Benning, GA and I was hooked. I knew I had to do that. I have been jumping ever since. Arrive Safely John

Safe travels and best of luck, Lisa. My experiences in life regarding leaps of faith have been wonderful. I know yours will too. I know you will love Florida . . . after all, it's a LOT closer to Raeford!! Arrive Safely John

I vote for Atlanta. My connecting flight is NEVER in the same terminal, and I always seem to get put on hold going in (traffic) or delayed coming out (maintenance and traffic). Delta sux as an airline, IMHO. Arrive Safely John

Safe travels, Tom . . . hurry home. Arrive Safely John

We primarily jump PD Sigma 370s at Raeford, which have light toggle pressure. My personal rule of thumb is 170 lbs and below, I handle the flare. Above 170 lbs, I have them help me. If they are helping me, right before one of our practice flares I push the toggles (and their Hands) to the guide rings and tell them "that's what full-flight feels like." At the full flight position, I lock my thumbs around the rear risers to prevent the student pulling down the toggles prematurely. My hands are IN the secondary toggles and ON TOP OF the primary toggles. The student has whichever of the two loops is appropriate for their arm length. The one exception to my rule of thumb is when I have a heavy passenger that does not have the strength in their abdominals and hip-flexors to keep their legs up for the landing. In this case, since their hands are busy in the toggles helping me, I have them put their feet on top of mine. I then spread my legs wide and lift up with them, insuring their legs stay raised. I know many Tandem Instructors that never let their students flare with them, and I know many that always have them help. It's really a personal choice, and their are many strong opinions for either side. The key is to be good at doing either one so you are going to safely and successfully bring the student to the ground no matter what. Arrive Safely John

I have had my sinuses "explode" on me twice while ignoring a cold for the sake of making a jump. I was very lucky they didn't get infected. Sinus infections can kill you - I worked with a guy that was put in intensive care because of one. Hang out and watch reruns until you're completely clear, then finish AFF and celebrate!! Arrive Safely John