Rustbucket350

Definitely won't be able to clear my airspace and track with my baby forward movement but the tunnel is much smaller than the sky. Also I feel like I'm going to de arch by fully extending my legs. Funny thing I heard is one tunnel coach say an injury can prevent proper body position (since it'll make you weak on that side). Well. I made my first jump with staples in my left thigh from a stab wound. Turns out, it's my stronger but less dominant side.

Learned knee turns in the tunnel. That was what I needed to give me more confidence in the sky. I figured screw it. Since I have a problem with my legs, let's learn to control them. Felt so much better basically using only my legs.

Note to self. When we do fun jumps as a couple watch her hands. She's going to deploy!

Note to self. When we do fun jumps as a couple watch her hands. She's going to deploy!

My girlrifriend ROCKED her level 3. This is more of a "Holy shit! Moment and the day we all learned she falls fucking fast.

Think I had a twist in my body so I breathed and relaxed since I was like ah another repeat. Oh well that cloud looks cool!

Didn't think this was impressive, honestly I thought I'd do better. Tunnel is one thing but when you fly with some else attached, yeah it can go sideways. Like I said. I passed because I corrected that turn. Wish they had let me loose longer after. Also, it's really hard to correct a spin when you have someone clinging on. Not his fault. He's an awesome instructor.

Hey, thank you. I want to learn. I don't exactly know why but every time I step off the aircraft I love it. I love flying my body and flying the canopy.. I may suck but we all start at the bottom.

Of course! I just wanted to know what I did with the canopy. More for my own knowledge.

When I did come in it was late and I knew I wasn't going to make a perfect pattern. What I did was a nice slow 180 from 190 feet (watching my altimeter for the descent rate). Then landed square in front of him. Beautiful. Slid the landing in but that's whatever.

No I definitely do not want that close to the ground. When I did it it was above 3000. I'd like to keep it above 2500. My instructor on that jump was really cool since aff you're supposed to be getting off the radio. He asked how I felt about the canopy before we got in the plane and I said I feel good. As long as its got its shape, it's stable, and steerable. He said good. I want to let you fly it. So he gave input over radio to do turns and such. He said give me a 90 left. 90 left. More, more, keep doing that right there. Then he said give me a 90 right. Hold. 90 more give it more, more, ok come in

Awesome. I really want to take a canopy course after AFF. Love flying the canopy.

That's what I thought. Last jump I held my practice flare until I felt it deflate and gently released. It went into a forward dive, picked up speed, and recovered.

Rode the plane down for level 4. Gray clouds everywhere, turbulence on the ride up. Had a solid, clear spot at altitude but my gut said to not go which is weird because usually when it's my turn I just exit. Anyway the others said they went through hail on the way down. It sucked riding the plane down but I'd rather not do aff in hail. Side note, I trust the dropzone, definitely trust my instructors, and there's no way they could have known there would be random hail.

Generic question. What's the difference between flaring and stalling? How different does it feel when releasing the toggles to let the canopy recover?

Thank you! This time felt different on the whole jump. Less nerves, more I wanted to succeed. Exit felt really solid when I climbed out the side. Not even nervous. I got to appreciate the view. When I started to spin I said wait a second man... you know how to overcome that and I did. I was actually disappointed on the canopy flight down because I thought they just grabbed on and stablized but no, I stopped spinning on my own.

Finally passed Level 3. Went immediately into that same left turn but this time I countered it, relaxed, breathed, and all was good.

Did another 10 in the tunnel just because it's kind of fun. Still gotta stop fighting the air. This week I'll redo level 3 (weather permitting). Also found I do not like closed faced helmets at all. Good thing I like the wind in my face. Here ya go if you want a laugh Thread should be called "Idiot learns to skydive" or "AFF for people who refuse to give up".

Yeah it's always great to soak up info, especially with (limited) experience because things start making more sense. I liked how one of the instructors said "Don't be afraid of a malfunction, embrace it, and react". Always next time to jump in better conditions.

It was pretty cool to meet people, ask questions that popped into my head, and gain info I hadn't thought of. I did learn a lot in particular about preventing a two out scenario and how to deal with the different ways they could settle.

Winds suck as a student. All day out there today and yesterday. Couldn't wait to get back up. Never did. Guess I'll wait since some of us have to work in the meantime

Holy shit. That extra 10 minutes in the tunnel really sank in to grasp the meaning of a fluid environment. I get it now. Less about perfect body position and more reacting to the airflow with controlled movements. I still suck at flying but at least I can fly. Left 360s are fantastic. Right 360s are slow. Realized my body has a weird twist it wants to do naturally so I'll have to overcome that.

I just reread that DC-3 story. Man that is wild. I'd love to exit one of those since I do like a lot of vintage stuff. Especially planes and vehicles. Supposedly they're bringing a DC-3 back where I'm at. A relatively well known one too. I was at an event where one of the guys working on it (old skydiver) talked about it. It was pretty cool to see the work and passion. Plus, they accept volunteers and I'm a painter (yes with aircraft experience), so if I ever find myself bored maybe I can help get her back online.

Thanks for the advice. I like the bike analogy. Probably a lot like when I learned how to skate half pipes when I used to skateboard. At first it's intimidating and you don't want to commit because you might fall so you do end up falling. I was a lot more relaxed on that last one and more aware in freefall. The rear exit was a lot of fun and that helped. I picked out a cloud way off on the horizon for my heading but it was hard to realize I was turning. I'm pretty sure that turn is what resulted in line twist too since it twisted the same direction. I'll ask about bringing the arms back next time and how to relax my legs while still keeping them extended. I noticed right away when we reviewed the video that my legs looked a lot better but not symmetrical and I just held them in that position. I'll see what they think about toe taps or heel clicks too. I did schedule another 10 minutes of tunnel time. I don't want to overdo it in the tunnel right now but it definitely helped to get a feel of how the wind moved across me. One thing I thought about is there really isn't a lot of focus on leg position and how that affects turns, even in the tunnel as a beginner. Maybe that's on purpose. Plus side, it's getting less nerve racking and turning into determination to succeed.

I almost forgot. On that last ride to altitude I did take that into account regarding the hop n pop. "If we have to exit now, can I do it?". Honestly it's less intimidating actually being on the plane than thinking about it.