AFFI

There is more to skydiving than the freefall - after dancing around in a tunnel; children do not need to land a parachute - And all that that implies. -

Unless they wear the altimeter on their ankle...

Been talking to my wife's father?

Good point about the litigation stuff... When I still had a "real" job there is no way I would accept money for coaching - hell just get some beer for the fridge... When I still had a "real" job there was no way I would take a paying jump if a fulltime skydiver was available, give it to the one that makes his living at it.

Ahhhhh, I get it... A lil old Cessna. Feels like being in a Volkswagen Bug driving through Colorado smokin'... Getting a Cessna jump at my DZ is a novelty. I have bumped off a Cessna load that turned into an Otterload.

Airplanes are inanimate objects – they do not have souls… Do they?

BOING

Not if it's league night...

[url] Take it. The courses I have seen the past few years can be passed by those with minimal qualifications. Nice and easy lemon squeasy..

Great post. I agree it needs to be better, especially your comments about training the canidates and test. 3 weeks is a long time for most people to take time off work though. I remember when I took my course I was flying video for tandems at a very busy DZ. The course was in the summer so I lost out on one of the best paychecks of the year. A full week of training if diligent enough would not be enough to get the canidates on track? How do we make it better? Sign me up to do all I can. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

why is it nuts? It takes what it takes. Can you imagine how well that person must know EPs by now? Hell, this 60 jump AFF student might make a really good instructor one day! Talk about preserverance! - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Yeah, we are on the same page. Don placed a lot of emphasis on ground training. He was really good all the way around. I even liked hime before he died - Don was in individual...

How about before you begin to make changes to your dive plan that you discuss any additions or changes with your instructors? Your instructors are the ones teaching you at the DZ in person, dont take any advice and add it to your instructional jumps without talking to them first - please... You are going to have plenty of time to check these things out in the future, right now you need to concentrate on your training. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

It's not fine and dandy - the ground prep skills is as more important than making the saves in the air. In my experience, great ground prep reduces the need for saves... - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Me too, Don turned out to be not just a course director but a me but a long term mentor and friend. The course now? Too easy, hell, Don's course was too easy as far as I am concerned. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Why do packers charge to pack? Because that is their job. Ever seen a massage therapist at a DZ? Are they giving massages for free? Of course not, it is their job. Does manifest put you on a load for free? No, that is their job. Does the loader load for free or the airplane mechanic maintain the jump plane for free just because they are jumpers? Hell no. Why do I charge to teach someone how to skydive? Because that is my job, it is my livelihood, how I help to provide for my family. It is what I have dedicated years of my life to become. My job is to instruct students to the A license and beyond. After they get the A, they can pay my slot for coaching - call it charity because I cannot afford to sport jump hardly ever or call it a skydiver really being appreciative of what they are getting in return for the measly cost of a jump ticket. Or if you want, call it just some asshole that is bleeding the sport/hobbyist skydiver for every penny they can. I have done a helluva lot of coaching and ground training for FREE - all the time – in freefall, coaching consists mostly of setting a base for the person learning, then to make in air evaluations and debrief the video. That sounds like my job description to me; of course I am not going to pay for my slot – that takes food out of my families mouths. I am not at the DZ for 70+ hours a week as a fun jumper - it is my vocation... To the person reading this: What do you do for a living? How do you put food on your families table? What is your livelihood? How much of that do you do and take a loss because you are giving you’re the skills of your livelihood away – taking bread out of your families food pantry? I suspect that most people do not go to their workplace and give their employer their time for free - that is just my guess. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Is it the evaluators or the system?

NYC at night - how perfect that must have been. You made good landings anyway eh? Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much - how many people in life get to experience that? Not many... - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

When I was at the 150ish jump area, a night jump was much more intimidating then a night jump tonight. Night jumps are not for everyone, but for me they quickly became my preferred conditions to jump in. So much beauty, they might grow on you. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

"I know what that statement is going to bring" But I don't

specially since they seem to be handing them out lately

I have been reading this thread with silent interest - What a great fucking post!

Don't know if you are going far enough South to get the really good year round skydiving weather...

Certainly - avoid – my favorite... Tackling the high performance landing learning curve can be tricky sometimes. I think what is being asked is when one is learning to crank out dem kool landingz and they screw the pooch and hit it too low - then what is the best thing to do? I know I have had my share of having to dig so hard it nearly put me into an early grave. What saved me was reacting to it quickly sure, but more likely that I downsized and learned on canopies that recover quickly. First time I saw someone really pound it left a scar in my memory, it was very violent. If anything, I learned to look away at the last second. I was once watching this Canadian about to end up in a 6 foot deep divot and just as I was about to look away he cranks a single toggle and somehow turned it into a graceful landing. I taped some of his crazy ass landings, will try to find some footage to post. Canadians, good at everything AND they get to use grass medicinally? Fucking Canadians... Sounded like that moderator person has some good ideas about diggin’m out... - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I do not understand this statement. If there were no aspect of skydiving as a business, how would the sport progress? If people didn't try to make money in the skydiving industry how would improvements ever happen? If there were ZERO dollars in skydiving, we would still be jumping rounds and belly reserves. There wouldn’t be a Cypress or Velocity (modern parachutes) or Wings (modern) containers or PAC's or large DZ's or articulated harnesses or nearly nekkid chicks washing the airplane and frolicking in the hot tub in Chronicles, think of every step forward this sport has taken since its infancy. If there were no money involved the sport would have never progressed, we would still be at the Pecos Parachute Center taking a $30 course jumping old army surplus equipment. So to me, this statement is self contradictory and makes about as much sense as a circumcised dog. The instructors are the grunts, the instructors are the backbone – they are the gatekeepers who help those who don’t think they can achieve what it is they are after, to become skydivers. Overworked and grossly underpaid for the level of responsibility and effort required to turn ground dwellers into skydivers. Anyone who thinks that a skydiver becomes an instructor for the money they will make is out of their mind! I cannot explain why I am personally drawn to do it. It is a calling. - Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…