vonSanta

300 meters here IIRC. That's the alt from which yer allowed to leave the plane in case of an emergency. Only had seatbelts/restrainers in a Nomad though. Nothing on the C-182s/C-205 or Caravanm I've jumped from. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

The old veterans are the worst. Have one in my club that rips really foul ones, so nasty that people start retching. And he just sits there with a big grin on his face. Of course the other old timers respond in kind. Once I've built up enough experience, I shall with pleasure join this exclusive club. Until then, I'll do the 'ew' face and point when my own expanding gas finds a way out Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

"Asshat" is a word particularly liked by Farkers (http://www.fark.com) Asshat. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Won't the ladies object? Seriously, good advice. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

So what kind of rigs are free fly friendly? My sister is a lot more experienced than me and got a Teardrop with a Safire 149. Next summer she's buying a new rig and I'm set to get it from her for a fair price. She's competition minded and mostly RW interested, whereas I am more of a goofball who want to fly around in odd positions once I get a rig that can handle it. No one told me not to sitfly in student rigs. Did it on jump 18, stable all the way down and someone noticed the cover for the reserve was loose, so future exploits in that area have to wait. Just want to be sure that the gear I eventually buy can handle free flying. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Thanks for the response guys (and girls :)). Definitely a 'learning experience', this skydiving thing. First I had to learn not to kill myself doing elementary stuff while an instructor or two watched. Then the same on my own. Not to mention packing chutes. And now that I am soloing questions come up so quickly I even have my scuba notepad placed right at the shower :). Education and answers help a lot. It seems there is so much I am not aware of that is potentially dangerous and I don't want to be surprised and not have an idea of how to react should something happen. Went through the same thing with scuba diving and I'm happy I did. Stuck valve on a dry suit can really ruin a perfectly good dive if you don't react properly :D Really appreciate the answers, thanks. Will bother my instructor anyway, but now I can say 'if this happens, I go for my reserve after trying to pull twice, right?' and not look like a total dumb guy Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Yah, but it is sorta scary the way the old friends are put in the background. I feel almost guilty, but I'm almost a little bored hanging out with them and I am sure they're tired of hearing me go on and on about skydiving. And feel a little bad about wanting to be somewhere else when I am with them. They've gone through it before 8the old friends) with scuba diving, but now there's an extra time consumer. When it rains I go scuba diving, when it's good weather - sky diving. Haven't spent a weekend with friends for three months. Job, career - uninteresting a means to an end. Status/intellectual pursuit - the latter used to be a biggie with me, I'm a raptuous reader - well, status don't mean a thing and I read now to pass time not 'edumacate' myself. A bit weird, the change in priorities. But music sounds better now, so it must be good.

The few trusted friends I have are used to not seeing a lot of me. Got scuba diving and climbing going as well, so most friends who cannot accept seeing me randomly and occassionally are basically gone already, with a few (female) exceptions. Those are not very happy with the time I spend at DZs and with more male skydivers than female skydivers (and thus; harder competition for poor single guys), I think that in the future I could probably live in a monastery in celibacy and then just go skydiving. Oh well. If that is one of sacrifices one has to make, so be it, heh. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Got a question for a possible scenario. Time to pull. You go for ripcord/pilot chute. Pull, it's stuck. Pull with both hands - still stuck. You're stressed and scared, and you fumble and struggle to find the cutaway. You've done the emergency drill lots of time but you simply cannot find that handle and you're tumbling around knowing that you're getting lower and lower at great speed. What to do? Keep trying to locate it? Or go for reserve handle which is easier to locate/differentiate from the fabric of whatever you're wearing? Am a newbie and it is as if every time I go to the DZ, a new question pops into my mind. Usually I talk to my instructors about it but I am beginning to think they're getting fed up with my far fetched sometimes silly questions. This is probably not the case and they're probably more than happy to answer my questions, but it is as if I don't want to push it too far. Haven't had an opportunity to ask an instructor about the scenario above. What is the correct response in that scenario? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Was thinking about this. My younger sister always was an overachiever. Very silent type, but doggedly determined. Not very social, quite intellectual. Med student with great grades and a bright future career. She started skydiving in 2000. Today I hardly recognize her. She's much more laid back, social and has a crooked grin on her face. Very popular at her DZ, always helping students etc. But the assertiveness she's gained is amazing. She's still a good student, almost done with the med thing but the career is now a means to an end. She works, finds a DZ that's open and goes skydiving. Everything else is secondary. So she convinced me to start as well a few months ago. I was so scared shitless, thinking 'this is my last day alive, possibly, probably aagh' when I awoke the day I was going to jump. That was 18 jumps ago - went through AFF. And am now beginning to understand how she must feel. Yesterday I spent my last food-money on skydiving. Had a great jump where I transitioned from box to sitfly to stand to box repeatedly. Another on my back trying (unsuccesfully) to back track. What fun. Sis di an exit where she turned around in the air, big grin, two victory signs to my face. Am thinking this shared interest will get us even closer to each other. Now I think I am beginning (if I am not already) to get hooked. I'm still a little nervous in the plane but as soon as the door opens I am thinking "GO GO GO, MY TURN SOON!". Wearing a shit eating grin from the time I exit the plane til the day after. My priorities seem to shift. Getting cash for a rig and jumping is now top priority. My clothes are worn, my puter is growing old and my friends are sick of never seeing me. 21st to 24th there's a boogie with an Antonov 28. If you asked me two months ago whether I looked forward to it I'd say 'nope, that stuff is dangerous/scary'. Today those days are more important than job interviews and my own birthday. Wonder where I'll be in a year? Maybe my sis is right when she says 'I've always corrupted you, this ain't new. You're just too dumb to notice'. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

'Supersonic' by Bad Religion is on my cd 'Skyriders' by Roxette is sort aksydivingish 'Beautiful day' - The Levellers is good too. 'Same in the end' - Sublime 'White wedding' - Billy Idol has lyrics that easily can be adopted to skydiving. A dude I know had 'My Baby's Gone' (The Pogues version(?)) playing to a video that was a collection of cutaways . For the Swedes out there, 'Vingar' by Michael Rickfors definitely applies to skydiving. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Heheh, that's a good response, I'll see if I can hard code it into my mind somehow. My beer tab is ridiculously high - and I dinnae even get that drunk! Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

We got 10 levels here - level 8 is hop n pop, 9 is stability test and 10 is tracking test. Still got to do Level 8, but did 1-7 and 9-10 in 8 jumps. Some take longer, but everyone gets there in the end if they have the will for it. Keep at it - it'll all fall into place I'm sure

A great achievement, but isn't it kinda cheating to bring real 'stiff' wings? If I say strapped, oh a hangglider, to my harness somehow, would I still be skydiving? :) Am just being an annoying jealous purist here I guess. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Think I paid more in beer fines than I did for jump tickets. Am a newbie and I am still learning not to say 'yes' when someone asks 'first time [insert thing] with a big grin on their face. Paid or gonna pay for 'first time in a Cessna Caravan', 'first time confirmed sitfly' (whatever that is), 'freeflying in non FF gear' and 'first major stinker' (you figure that one out . Yeah, I am gullible, heh. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Wtg! Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Ah, theproblem is in Denmark you need to be RW qualified to do RW. Sure, I can start on that track on the very next jump, but I am on a veery tight budget (as in 'jump or eat?') and doubling/tripling the cost per skydive isn't an option right now. Just got my degree and am job-hunting. But there's lots to learn on my belly. It's jsut kind of hard to judge the effect of what I am doing when there's little to relate to :). I better get a job and quickly, heh. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Ugh, cannot wait to get my certificate. Was out jumping this weekend and got 5 jumps. Am still a newbie (18 jumps right now) and have had some solo jumps since finishing the AFF course. Spent those learning how to sit fly and stand fly. On jump 17 I finally manage to get up into a stable sit and I sit there for a good 20 seconds before going up into a stand, which I hold for about 5 seconds before checking my altimeter and thereby starting to tumble :) Anyhow, I landed feeling very good. Had an instructor who saw me sitfly and he noticed that the flap that closes around the reserve pin was, well, flapping around. Told me 'that rig isn't safe for free fly, you better belly fly til you get certified and have your own rig. Oh nice sitfly btw'. Ugh. Sure, that's fun, but not as much fun as learning to sit up. Had a plan to get confident in sit-fly - I need 40 jumps to get a certificate, so lots of air time. Oh well. Just wanted to whine about it. Already have a rig in sight, but it is sorta sad that I cannot use the air time til i get certified to do the very fun stuff. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Same here. The instructors also pushed/shook us in the harness (one even doing a bad loud wind noise :D) which added to the realism. Here every skydiver needs to sit in the practise harness once a year - it's in the regulations. Is it not so in the US? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Did my Level 5. 6, 7, 9 and 10 in a little over a week. (9-10 in Denmark are stability test and tracking test, did it combined in one jump). Before that I had trouble getting time/available instructors/weather to cooperate. Getting several jumps done in just a couple of days was very benefitial to me. It lowered the stress level, let me get used to the height and my newly acquired skills didn't get rusty. Now I've gone a week without skydiving (going on saturday and sunday, whoo) and I know I'm gonna be more nervous. I'd recommend getting it all done relatively quickly so you stay current. Not TOO quickly though, don't wanna rush it :) Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Had a weird experience on my 12th jump (solo) Checked my newly acquired altimeter and compared readouts with my sis - everything seemed fine. Jumped out and tried to get into a sit-fly. Basically I was tumbling a lot . At any rate I checked altimeter and it read 1500 meters so I went into a box position. Then saw some chutes at what appeared to be level altitude, maybe 300 metres horisontal separationfrom me- altimeter reads 1200. Tapped it once, decided 'fark it, better safe than sorry', waved off and checked over shoulders and pulled. Checked altimeter when under fully inflated canopy - 700 meters. Had a slow opening, but 700 meters is too low for me to be comfortable with at this stage. Thought I was gonna get scolded (seems newbies are often scolded LOL) but no one seemed to have noticed. Brought it up with my instructor and he said 'slow openings happen'. Can the needle get 'stuck' so to speak? Next jump I'm borrowing my sisters dytter AND her altimeter and I'll just be in a box comparing readouts. I suspect that either my eyes were fooling me (sis said something that even though canopies look like level to my own altitude, your eyes can fool you) or I am being anal and the 700 metres reading was a result of a slow opening (Sabre 190). Gonna get me a Pro-Track as soon as I can. Then I got a) my eyes b) my altimeter c) a dytter and d) an AAD to help keep me safe. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Skydived at a local DZ that is commercial and outside the Danish Parachute Association. Got to try a Sabre 190 (i.e non student rig) and liked it a lot more than the 230-280 student rigs. Different landing technique but much more fun, and I managed to land and stay on my feet on all 6 skydives. And I loved not having to close the container with a springloaded pilot chute underneath...' Gonna get my own rig ASAP. Really hate those spring loaded farkers. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

First jump here; static line and was guided in radio. Followed instructions to the letter and landed in a tree. Pretty embarrasing. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Here you need to get a pack cert before you can get your 'C' certificate. Requirements for a pack cert are 20 packs (with 4 line checks each) and then 5 'exam packs'. As soon as I am done with those I'll get myself a rig and never pack those /(%/& spring loaded motherf&/(&'s pilot chute student rigs again! Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Thought it was kinda hard. Then on my last jump on 15/7 (my third or fourth solo jump, I decided to jump out sideways as it seemed fun. Hit right ankle at door. Noticed small impact but thought it was in my mind only, til I saw a bruise this morning :). Jumped from a Nomad. As far as hitting the tail, the physics of a normal exit would pretty much ensure that the risk is very low indeed. Looked good on video though