pack40

Saturday I had my first freefall jump. Finnaly after 9 static line ones. Is it common that my instructor said that I should jump out look at the jumpmaster -being in the door of the airplane- and pull the ripcord? I was looking everywhere but I have not seen the plane. Finnaly I saw the "container" -I jumped with a round chute so it is not really a container but something similar- between my legs going up he he he. It was great and I was not scared as much as I thought I will be.

When I started "skydiving" -i would have to say parachuting with 8 static-lines now- I made the GREAT mistake telling my parents although i was 23 at that time. Nowadays at Saturday or Sundays when I go to the airport/DZ I usually tell them that 1.) The weather will be bad anyways 2.) We are going to pack the parachutes only :-) 3.) I won't jump I am going to write test/exams only 4.) I am just going to the DZ for only an hour 5.) I won't jump because there won't be such plane I can jump from 6.) I am going to XY (XY- name of the town where the airport is) Good story: We were sitting in by skydiving club celebrating the first jumps -one of the jumpers was my colleague :-)- and a girl just came in she saw some ad. She asked some questions about the sport. We were just wandering what might she think of that everybody is sitting with a bottle of beer...is this an acoholic club or what. Anyways here in Hungary according to the LAWs anybody can jump from the age of 15 with parental bla bla bla. However when I asked an instructor he said that they usually allow from the age of 16 only. So young guys do not be said try to jump or at least save some bucks.

What is the exact name of PPKU/KAPP? I found once a russian homepage where the full names of this device was mentioned. Does somebody know this?

As I know first you step to a little platform after you reach the door crwoling doggy-style. As I am male I do not really enjoy the doggy-style postion, at least when I am the DOG.

Crowd in the plane: When I did my second (?) jump at a different DZ, we were sitting in the plane An-2 (14 person + 2 pilots), before take-off. The jumpmaster started to count 1, 2,3...17 Oops we were a bit overcrowded! However that was a fantastic jump. Usually the jumpmaster -in Hungary- says first 'prepare', than you stand up and wait, than he says 'jump' and you walk to the door and jump. But, sometimes he murmures something, and the result is that I am standing at the door shouting 'Can I jump?, Can I jump?' Finally I have NOT jumped out rather the wind sucked me out. The DZ called Dunakeszi is at the river Danube, it was a fantastic view of the river with the sun glaring on the river. Also the DZ is in the middle of a corn -or what- field no trees, just a motorway beside the airport and the river Danube. While I like Antonov An-2 (biggest biplane in the world) is that it has many advatages: slow speed -when jumping-, and plenty of SPACE vs. C-206. Only one disadvantage when the engine is started it gives such a noise that you can freighten anybody with it, like cracking metal or tearing apart a bicycle :-), but I like them.

Thanks for your advices, I'll try to relax and prepare mentally for my jumps. As I passed my written test for the freefall jumps I'll have a static-line first -800m- than a 3 sec freefall -1000m-. So I'll have much excitement. (HOW CAN SOMETHING HEAVIER THAN AIR FLY?)

Why I am scared of jumping from a plane -C-206- which is slightly bigger -interior- than my '69 VW Beetle? O.K. I am a student, I have only 8 round-chute static line jumps, I understand. At my DZ -Godollo, Hungary, Eastern Europe- now only Cessna C-206 is available. I used to jump from Antonov An-2 which is a nice 14 person plane, with plenty of space. Last week I looked inside of the Cessna and wondered if I put wings on my Beetle it would have more room inside. So help me out what is the difference between BIG and SMALL :-), why i am sooooo scared?

Is there anybody here jumping/jumped with round canopy? I am a skydiving student in Budapest, Hungary and I am curious abour round canopy jumps elsewhere. You might laugh but here -in Hungary- we -average wannabees not full of money- start with jumping good old military chutes, Instead of paying triple for hi-tec gear training, although the clubs have the gears and etc.. I am curious if in US or UK can you even start learning with round canopies? In Hungary unfortunately from the next year or so, only the static-line or AFF with new gears will be available and will have to say bye-bye to round canopies. If you have any comments about round canopies, I would be happy to read them.

Although I am just a skydiving student (in Hungary) and been to DZs a 20 or so times, I have seen many people smoking. As I smoke sometimes it is not bothering me. But I do not understand why you guys in US and elsewhere when talking of smoking only think of cigarettes. A good guy at my DZ smokes pipe -which I do sometimes- and pipe smoke has a wonderfull aroma, not bothering anybody. So not everybody who smokes, smoke cigarettes!!! off-topic Smoking at high altitude, I was in Elbrus (a mountain in Georgia (Former Soviet Union)) my fater and his friend started to smoke at around 3500m and wondered why can't they breathe. It was funny.