AFFI

Bill, remember this thread? http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2007095#2007095 Maybe this is a simple way to get newcomers to sit in the door and think, make mental calculations creating separation and later on they will learn another way, a more correct way - who knows? This might be the same as having them count to 7, or 5, just get them to understand the importance of separation, teach em the importance or checking for traffic and the spot, then it all comes together for them one day as they gain more knowledge and experience. In my original posting in this thread, I tried to make the point about climbing the learning curve, having "forgotten" things about skydiving as we go along. We cannot learn it all at once, or in a matter of 100, 1,000 or even 10,000 jumps - point is we learn as we go and the learning has to start somewhere which leads to the next plateau of understanding which leads to the next and so on. Is there a "best" way? We all seem to believe that ours is the best, including me, hell, especially me… But is there more than one path that leads to the Promised Land? Can any of us claim that at 25 skydives we knew everything there was to know about exit separation? About canopy piloting? About dealing with 2 out or the intricate details of the various types of Horseshoes? If we are honest with ourselves, with few exceptions the truthful answer would invariably be, what? But we did seem to learn enough at the time to get us to the next plateau, and even if that 45 degree thing was not written in stone by the hand of God, at least it kept us alive until we progressed in our own personal body of understanding and I think that well intentioned skydivers are not going to give a piece of advice to intentionally harm another. I was taught the 45 degree rule by a skydiver that I respect a lot, and he taught me a lot of other things, some of the things he taught me I still hang onto and some go into the list of forgotten - point is he gave me information that kept me alive long enough to be writing this right here, right now... Personally, I am reflecting on the many moments or self righteous indignation I have displayed inwardly and outwardly at the incompetent teaching methods of another, and I am discovering that I could choose to take on an attitude that looks for the good, looks for the similarities and the opportunity to add to the learning of myself and to the teaching of others not as an ideal of better or worse but more of the idea that we are all on the path of discovery – learning better methods as we progress, helping one another along the way hoping that we all make it to the end of our individual paths skydiving safely, having not been seriously injured of killed while participating in this wonderful activity. We are all on this journey together and it is possible to make the journey in harmony, united and not divided. I find myself being humbled further with a little help from my friends. Thanks everyone… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Congrats on jump 100! What comes next? Ummmm, jump 101? And oh yeah, beer… Here is what comes next in my humble opinion. 1) Practice emergency procedures to the maximum! Think you know your EPs very well? Than increase your knowledge and mechanical skills like your life depends on it! Then increase it some more! Every conceivable scenario. 2) Learn how to fly your canopy, increase your odds of landing safely when the chips are down. Imagine power lines everywhere, dogs barking and distractions galore with no so friendly winds and the only safe landing area you have requires a low turn (braked turn, flat turn) and that landing area is only 10 square meters! It is not a matter of when you have to land in a less than desirable situation but rather it is a matter of WHEN. You learn how not to die or injured in this sport, then you will be able to get on the next load and practice whichever discipline you find interesting. Some think it wise to become a well rounded skydiver and partake in multiple disciplines. Have fun with it… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2299204#2299204

There is often times a barrier of misunderstanding when it comes to comments concerning jump numbers and people sometimes have a tendency to get offended or self righteous, depending which side of the fence they are on... Personally I have a lot of respect for skydivers with any jump numbers and I am quite certain I am not alone. 100 skydives is a lot, 10,000 is a lot, hell 1 is a lot but to put things into an easier to understand perspective. At 100 jumps think back to when you had 5 and were still on student status just trying to relax for a solo exit or the challenge of performing fundamental freefall maneuvers and consider all that has been learned in the last 95 jumps. Think of all the new things that have been learned and even all the methods of doing things that have been replaced by more advanced or different methods that are second nature now not but were a struggle 95 jumps ago. This line of thinking applies as jump numbers increase, more is learned, different methods replace older methods and as an individual continues to practice in freefall, performing maneuvers in freefall become second nature and effortless when at one time the same maneuvers were a struggle. Older ways of doing things are forgotten during the evolution of learning and replaced by different, in other words a skydiver with 5,000 has likely forgotten more about skydiving than they had yet learned when they had 100 jumps. A student with 2 tandems taking the FJC might ask me how many jumps I have and when hearing a number in the thousands they are astonished but in reality it is not as big a deal as they believe it to be, it only seems that way because they have only just begun to climb the learning curves associated with skydiving. In turn, as they progress they will learn more and forget more as newer information replaces the old. This example applies to anything all aspects of skydiving, not just freefall; in fact it applies to life. So when a comment is made about someone with 100 by someone with 1000+, I do not believe that it is meant to be condescending as much as it is an illustration of the fact that there has been less time in which to go through the evolution of the learning curve. We should all try to respect one another, respect the fact that there is a likelihood that someone with many more jumps might have knowledge their less experienced counterparts have yet acquired and those with thousands of skydives might want to keep in mind that they once had low jumps numbers and back then they deserved and desired respect and acknowledgement that they was skydivers too. And keep in mind that jump numbers do not mean that someone’s opinion or knowledge is less valuable or not of good quality. We should all try to be united together, and be part of the same family rather than bickering egomaniacs that do not respect and get along with each other. I do not know if I said all this right, but I have a dream that we can all get along together in harmony and be nicer and more respectful towards one another… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

What size is the container? Looking for a good deal...

Boobie... Wazongas... Drink Paw Tucket Beer and hot women will have sex in your backyard! But what does this have to do with skydiving?

I remember myself saying some sort of crap like that when I had 100-ish jumps. Me too... Oh my god, I have become an old-timer...

I remember the exact thing happened to me when I had around 100 jumps at a very large DZ when I was going there for the first time, sure I was disappointed but skydiving as a fulltime vocation has developed my understanding of what it is like for the working skydiver. I am sorry you couldn’t make a jump but try to think of what it is like for the fulltime instructors. It is not easy to skydive for a living; just the finical burden alone is enough to make a skydiver be careful about spending what little money we make on sport jumps and after being in the sport for many years and nursing bodies that have weathered the storm many of us really have to save ourselves for working jumps where we have to be capable of taking care of our students safely. So even though some of us would like to skydive sun up to sun down everyday, for many of us our pocket books and bodies do not leave us the resources we need to hold the course for the entire season unless we are smart about it and pace ourselves. I sincerely feel bad that you couldn’t get into the air, but I am just trying to illustrate what it is like on our side of the fence. There have been many times when I got on a load just to make it fly when it was a sacrifice for me to do so in terms of my available resources but we cannot always do that. And that DZ I was talking about when I started this volley of dialogue, I work there now and whenever there is a situation like this and I just don’t have what it takes in terms of money and a healthy body I really do feel bad that I cannot always get on a weekday load to help it fly, but it simply is not always possible. Gravity will be working tomorrow; there will be many opportunities to make skydives in the future so hang in there and try to take disappointments in life with a perspective that things will not always go your way. I think it is called acceptance. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Nope ... ? Here is a link about Bob... http://www.scr-awards.com/buquor/index.html Back in the day when Men were real Men, Women were real Women, Small Furry Creatures from Alpha Centauri were real Small Furry Creatures from Alpha Centauri and it was not big deal if a couple thousand soldiers died taking down the walls of communism! Check out that bad ass rig he is jumping!

Agree 100 billion zillion quadrizagillion percent! First off, when I work with a student I make sure they know that I am the instructor and they are the student (we don’t have time for control issues). Say we are prepping for a dive and during our training session they make a comment like "but the person online said" - then I kindly ask them to push any information they may have received elsewhere (be it online, the packing room floor or at the fire) to the side, that there are many ways to accomplish varying tasks in skydiving and we are learning the fundamentals as is laid out in our training syllabus. I have never had issues with someone as a result. Here in the forums I am always very quick to remind students who ask training method specific questions to talk to their instructors as a friendly reminder – not because they are asking a question but rather because they may (and often do) get advice that might be off the mark given by individuals who are not currently rated instructors. A student receiving training method specific advice from well intentioned skydivers is usually not beneficial in the student’s progress toward having a clear and concise understanding of what we (rated AFF Instructors) are being commissioned to teach them in the course syllabus at the DZ we all respectively work at. Back in my days of being a sport jumper whenever a student would make inquires concerning their training, or even skydiving in general I would ALWAYS tell them to talk to their instructor out of respect for the instructor and the student - even if I knew the correct answer. Today I still pay the same respect to instructors working with students that are not at my DZ as their are variations in training philosophies from DZ to DZ. That being said, the first step in the roll to recover technique is ____ ___ ________... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Maybe a trip to see the doc is in order? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Wear my belt under my SKIN in the form of fat but my wife wears one and I was just about to ask this very question, if the belt every caused a problem such as this or ar deployment time, curious to know how common problems deploying or EP's are when wearing a belt. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

My poop won't come out...

In the original post Daniel is simply making an inquiry as indicated by his own words “before starting AFF program and not knowing enough about this sport”. He was just asking a simple question because he does not know how this industry works. Then he later went on to state: “It is not about me wanting to sue. If I die I couldn't care less and If am injured I will use medical insurance that doesn't exclude skydiving. What I disliked about the waiver is the overall message.” Does there really need to be a lynch mob just because someone asked a question because they are new to the sport and they do not understand something? I don’t understand why everyone was so quick to condemn another, simply for asking a question and it is hard for me to believe that so many were so quick to be so slow to understand and educate rather than attack. People have sued over a hard opening, or dropping a kitty carrier on their toe or spilling coffee on their lap, that is the price for living in America where we get to have such freedoms as being able to sue or speak ones mind for or against something. Like we are doing right now. And Micro makes a good point about the waiver being there for a reason other than for DZOs to actually believe that this waiver would hold up in court in a case where blatant, gross negligence is part of the equitation. Shesh... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I would disagree with that statement, I use a mac and can do a tandem video fast. I can get done in the same time frame as when I used a MX-1 and sound mixer, but with a far better video in the end. I have 15 years of DVNLE experience outside the skydiving arena and did around 200 tandem video edits on computer before we got a realtime DVD burner - if someone claims they can do a DVNLE edit on computer as fast as I can on a linear setup then more power to em - I'll believe when I see it...

Can I keep skydiving? Pleeeeaaaassseeee???? Putry Please with sugar and a Cherry on top? Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please - Awwwwww, comon, dont make me beg... PLEASE????????

The feeling of getting a new rig is better than a new car or ________ Ahhh, that new rig smell... Good safety thinking on getting a metal reserve handle RSL and Cypress. What kinda canopies ya got in it? I would say BEER, but that has been covered - Very nice looking - congrats and enjoy.

One of the finest skydiving facilities in the U.S. is in Houston Texas. Fantastic place, 140 acre landing area, 3 well maintained Super Otters, clean bunk room and campground with full hook-ups and nearby hotels. Skyfest is in July if you can bump up your plans, it is going to be a blast with all kinds of different planes and people. Check it out: www.skydivespaceland.com

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Once again, Sparky has a good point. Something to consider, when working out it is very possible to become sore and even have a loss of strength as the muscles heal from the workout so make sure you have the strength to flare and all the other important stuff skydivers need to do. I dont know much about working out but I had a student who came out to make student jumps a day after working out and it left this person unable to flare due to the sorness of the excersize. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Your objection to having someone make a broad generalization is a point well taken that I agree with whole heartedly. It happens in all aspects of life and it could be argued that it is human nature, when an individual might have a certain viewpoint on reality to assume what a person believes must be applicable for all. It is not necessarily your perspective concerning this issue that may stir up contention with others but it is the condescending manner in which you choose to communicate and state your point. Often times, when heated debate is the influence in how we decide to communicate it is best to take a moment to think about how we can better communicate our point to others diplomatically, without coming across as patronizing. Perhaps you could have decided to make your opinion known without belittling another publicly; this might have created an environment where others will be more receptive to the point you are attempting to make rather than taking defensive position. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Well, on the cover anyway... I have become more accustomed to using the PDF file because it is A) Free and B) the search functions makes it easier to find things... This past year I have been lazy about studying, mostly I have been in and out of the hospital so much and my health issues have affected my in air participation and thus my interest has dwindled as I have been taking a lot of time to sit on my "pity pot". But non the less, the current versions of the SIM are much more illustrated and better formatted (didnt think so at first) then the SIM years ago. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

At the DZ I work at the student can certainly request a specific instructor. There are Pro's and Con's, just like anything in life. If you are making your first jump and do not know any of the instructors how can you decide? Same holds true if you have been jumping with a specific instructor and just want to stick with that person because you are being clingy, like I was when I was a student. I remember for my third jump I requested the same instructor and he came to me and told me he would not jump with me that it was important to jump with others so he made me jump with a different instructor, and for me it was a good call. Sometimes there are students with "special issues" they are trying to resolve and it is sometimes best to let one instructor work with that person because they are familiar with what is going on - alternatively making the switch is the best thing because another instructor may use an approach that is more effective. Another thing to consider is the instructor you request might be backed up for an hour or two and you need to get into the air ASAP due to your personal time constraints, by jumping with an instructor that is more readily available you will get into the air faster and wont have to wait. It is your money, you are the customer and the DZ (or any other business) should cater to the “customer is always right” and do their best to make their customers happy and feel good about spending their hard earned money. There is no answer that works for everyone across the board and there are varying opinions on which are best. Personally I have mixed feelings because there is not a single answer that is best for everyone, so bottom line (from my perspective) is to treat on a case by case basis. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

At our DZ we will take someone who started an AFF program elsewhere. No problemo... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

You can hire illegals to mow the runway!