AFFI

[reply Sounds like you and/or your wife and friends have nearly been killed by freefallers that should have given you more separation. Nope... I have had em close enough to “see the whites of their eyes”, but that is just part of the risk we take and I personally do not consider that too close for my comfort. Maybe I spent too many years racing high performance bikes but too close is if they leave some skin on my ring sight! Anything else is just a cool moment. I remember about 6 years ago I was in DeLand and a jumper approached me in the packing tent to apologize, and to thank me for not chewing his ass for blazing past me in freefall. I just chuckled and said it was not close enough to swap spit, no worries - then proceeded to have a talk about stuff, like separation and beer. It was a good time and the video was priceless - whites of his eyes… No need to get worked up, calm is best, at least for me - And it is easier to gain an audience that way... The only big deal is the one that kills ya and you wont even see that one coming unless your lucky! A lot of folks (yes I said folks) say "no worries", but how many actually mean it? I don't fuss about the 45 thing because I am not going to change the minds of thousands of skydivers who use it - all I can do is get lucky every now and then and educate someone willing to consider my point of view. I find it comical that people get their panties in a wad over it - so it is not what is isnt, so what? How many people have been killed by it? That is the question that the ranters do not seem to have an answer for eh? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Elvis the pelvis???

It is amazing what a couple hundred more jumps can teach you eh? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

That is a skydiver with 1600 jumps and over a decade in the sport. What kind of response did you expect by telling this community that you are filming student jumps with 200 jumps and (-)12 months in the sport when you know that may be considered (in general) poor judgment? There is no need to defend yourself, many of us understand how things work and regardless of the particulars in your (outstanding) abilities there are many of us that believe that beginner skydivers (which you are) have no place in the air on student jumps. Period. When I was still a novice, (say in my third year) I would go on any jump the DZ would let me on, so your enthusiasm is fully understood. Just be careful up there, and if you don’t want to get singled out then be cautious what information you divulge. After you get your rating and see some shit go wrong (experience), then you will have a deeper appreciation why some of us have a tendency to air on the side of caution who we allow on student jumps. Sounds like you are headed down that road eh? Have fun... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

You have dry semen in your hair? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Takes me back to an earlier inquire concerning the number of fatalities directly attributable to poor exit separation – how many have there been? Freefall collisions? Canopy collisions? Malfunctions created by close proximity? Would it be impossible to ascertain such a fact? Perhaps the salient point that CrazyL is potentially suggesting is that the utilization of the “45 degree” method of teaching and obtaining separation is here to stay - like it, believe in it or otherwise. It is in use across the board by very experienced individuals in the skydiving arena. Is that such a bad thing? Whether it is correct or not, is there evidence that utilization of such a philosophy has created enough if any fatalities to suggest that we should be so concerned about it? Maybe that is the question we should be asking? Maybe not? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Checking their spot while counting sounds like a good idea... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Why?

Well why didntcha say so? It don't count then! Good beer in that region though! Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Sounds like someone I would like to work for... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Google links A free download Thank goodness for Google, makes life easy... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I will take the role of devils advocate on this one... If young jumpers cannot progress up the ladder, then how can there be so many here on DZ.com whose jump numbers are -100 with -1 year in the sport? I personally see newcomers to the sport climb the ladders and learning curves continuously. Perhaps I do not understand the point you are making... I am not a DZO, but I do know that it cost over 22k to fill the primary fuel tank at the DZ and each student rig cost in excess of 3k – insurance, maintenance and minor repairs on the AC cost many many thousands of dollars as well. Operating a DZ has staggering overhead. My understanding is that "back in the day" of the $30 first jump they were jumping left over military surplus gear, jumping out of ill maintained jump planes (stories I have heard). I have not been in the sport very long, but would rather pay more for current gear, well maintained AC and training methods over what was being used in 1970. Obviously, you are not ex-military. Hardly many "experts" unless you consider 5 jumps being good to go. There is cream in any bucket of milk, and the smallest portion rises to the top, the smallest portion of military is "elite". Where is this requirement on the A License Proficiency card? What is necessary is the ability to regain stability from an unstable body position by demonstrating body control in freefall, deal with malfunctions and pilot a canopy to a safe landing. So we agree there for the most part. The A license requirements are deficient in what way exactly? You used to be able to get a C license with 25 jumps? “Good” is a subjective term, not certain what you mean by "good". Olympic hopefuls dedicate their lives and spend fortunes. The vast majority will not even make it close to the Olympics. 30 years ago, just putting a kid through little league took a lot of commitment. How is repetition in preparing oneself for handling emergencies in a life or death situation "excessive"? I would take current training methods over what was available in 1970 any day of the week. But that is just coming from a “New Age” instructor if you will. If one of my loved ones where being trained by someone with such a lackadaisical attitude I would recommend to them that they obtain an instructor who takes their responsibilities as a USPA Solo Freefall Instructor seriously. We are training individuals how to survive in a sport that is much more dangerous as well as less expensive than “Golf”… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

If the quoted text describes you, it might be time to reconsider skydiving. When I had 30 jumps on a PD210 F-111 canopy I had a great deal of trepidation jumping in 0 winds. That lasted for a while too! For me, learning how to proficiently pilot a canopy did not come easy, I had to really work at it while trying to avoid getting broken. Glad I did not follow your advice because the last 3170+ jumps have been a blast, as have been the many hundreds of student jumps I have made. There is no shame in taking it slow and struggling while tackling the learning curves involved in skydiving. No shame at all… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

A beginner jumper flying camera (only 215 jumps and only a year in the sport) as well as a lurker on an AFF Cat A dive? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

The voting results here is this poll do not seem to support the BPA assessment. But that is neither here nor there eh? There are a number of training programs available. I have not only been working in a tandem progression program for 7 years but I have been very involved with the curriculum development and know from first hand experience how well it works. We do not make a couple fun tandems then throw students into AFF though, the tandems are structured and involved with detailed dive flows that begin the teaching process from the very first jump even though the vast majority of tandem students will not progress any further than the first tandem. That being said: A program is only as good as the instructors teaching it. You can have the best program in the history or history itself but it is as useless as the paper it is printed on if you do not have quality instructors to implement and teach it to the students. I have seen a lot of effort put into finding quality instructors, but stopping there still falls short without the guidance necessary to get all of the instructors on the same page and train them how the philosophies of a particular training program works to produce an environment where quality learning will occur. I would suspect that with the right staff, just about any training program can be made effective. But of course, that is just my opinion, I could be wrong… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Ler us know if that works... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Often times additional adjustments will be made after the initial gear up. Was this the case or did they board and jump like this? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

If I loosened mine any more than they way I have it when I jump I would have to undo it. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

YEAH!

Surprise Surprise Surprise That ain't my finger neither!

Ever play baseball? I coached little league for years. The way you teach a youngster how to catch a pop fly is to watch the ball and if it is moving and looks like it is going over your head, back peddle while watching the ball until the ball appears as if it is no longer moving, that means the ball is coming straight towards you and you are now in the sweet spot to make the catch – and so forth. In skydiving, you are in the balls position but otherwise it is the same concept. There is a spot on the ground that is moving toward your feet, you will land on the other side of it. A spot that is slowly moving upward and away you will land short of. There is a spot on the ground that does not appear to be moving at all, that is the area you will land in. As you adjust you mode of flight that spot will move as well. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Not all programs require tandems. If you still have your logbook it certainly will count if your preformance on the single tandem is acceptable. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

That is pretty close to stalling the canopy I am flying. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Im a little confused, is there a difference between working on my "A" and student jumps? Skydive instruction programs have a certain amount of jumps then you make coached jumps or solos until you have filled out the A license proficiency card found here: http://uspa.org/publications/form.pdf/A_Lic_Prof_Card_09-06.pdf Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Here is a great program where you can get your license in a weeks time-great program gear airplanes and landing area there is 130 acres! http://www.skydivespaceland.com/license-in-a-week.html Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…