AFFI

And remain ALTITUTE AWARE! Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

What would make the most sense is to follow the advice of those who have lots of experience with canopy piloting and the reccomendations found in the links others have provided. You raise an interesting point though, I am eager to read what the pro's and con's to front riser input is from from others because I dont know what they are. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

100% of the students I have worked with seem to have the same anwser - it starts to click when you start to relax. When you decide to relax is entirely up to you - we (instructors) can train till the cows come home but we cannot make you relax, only you can do that. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Nice pic! Lots of "fog" below the formation eh? Congrats to Bill! Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Good advice given and well received. Wow, dont see that everyday... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Totally agree with your point, but... I have been in the very same position (years back), I was just about to pull my main out of my container on the packing room floor when I was stopped by my rigger and he strongly advised I (made me) jump it like it was - as good as an opening could get! The peace of mind came from jumping the pack job. It helped build trust in my gear, trust in the reliability of the equipment. If it would have malfunctioned, then I would have dealt with it and maybe that would have put a dent in my trust, or perhaps reinforced trust in the gear even more. Roll the dice! Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

No Flare - PLF...

Jump It...

Hindsight is always 20/20 eh? Different approaches might be decided upon by various jumpers with various canopy types and WLs. Point I was trying to make is if you are going to leave brakes stowed, then leave em stowed, if you decide to use them then un-stow them at a safe altitude. My personal plan is if I am in a situation where I only have one arm working is to leave my brakes stowed all the way through the landing, because if a brake malfunction sends me into a spin it might be difficult to preform EPs with one arm, especially under the forces a spiral on the canopy I jump might deliver. You handled your situation in a manner that left you alive to correspond here online, so good job! Now its time to learn from your experience and come up with a more definite plan of action in the event it happens again. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

welllll, what are the pros and the cons? pro - he'd stop staring at us..... At least we know the visine works!

Shit happens... I feel badly about horror stories for students but many of us have them from our student status days. Issues will always be there when dealing with people, mother nature and the expectations of the individual. Skydiving is way cool, it is worth putting up with issues when things dont go our way, at least for me it is...

If that were to be the decided action leave the brakes stowed in the event that one gets stuck. Skydivers have been bitten by unstowing toggles to low to the ground and then had to deal with the consequences of the stuck toggle and nothing to dive into but the ground. Good rule of thumb, dont unstow your toggles beneath an altitude you are not willing to cutaway from. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Then where will it end? They will be banning things left and right - next thing ya know Hydro will be banned, and we just dont want that now do we?

Use em when I need em, which is usually cuz I am a fat ass. I have 3 jumpsuits for student skydives, sometimes making the right choice can be a little hit and miss, still kinda climbing the learning curve - always... A fellow AFF-I at the DZ I work at has the really cool "mini" wings that go from just above the elbow and just below the armpit, thinking about getting one built for me, looks like a great idea... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Agree 100%.

Good point. Falls under the shit happens category but overall the blame is on me cuz it is my responsibility to get clear. Still, I believe that tracking is the best option, be it on the back or backsliding on wings, get separation. I usually watch the tandem opening to ensure a good canopy as much as possible. Don’t know why I screwed the pooch on this one, maybe we were on a really long spot, maybe I was just caught up in a quagmire of complacency - can remember the exact details (years ago) but the memory of the reserve sniveling past me is still quite vivid. The experience got me on my toes though, have been more careful to keep a watchful eye on the tandem opening ever since. Perhaps this one should go under “Stupid Things”. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Hell ya! Better 6 feet to high then 6 inches to low eh?

?

Cuz that is when I will qualify: "When you don't feel the need to be cool or show off. "

So, ummmm, never???

Whats an Oprah???

Ummmmm, Didnt read the list, not nearly that organized when I pack for myself... Remember parachute, log book and USPA card. Ther rest will take care of itself - have a really cool time dude...

What makes an awesome skydiver?

Well, not exactly. Because they have never "experienced" a cutaway. Zipp0 With only 2 only cutaways the actual experience of cutting away can be, at least it was for me on the first chop, intense. The second one was no big deal at all; it occurred 500 jumps after the first. It was no big deal because I was more prepared to deal with the situation as a result of continued training in EPs, not (I believe) due to the fact that I had cut away 500 jumps prior. Now I have not had one in 5 years/2800 skydives. Right now I am more prepared than ever to deal with EPs because I have been training others in them for nearly 5 years. The performance during the event of cutting away and deploying the reserve is going to be a direct result of how thoroughly the pre-preparedness factors in. Take a skydiver with 2 cutaways and 1000 skydives over say, a 3 year period who never - ever trains the survival skills, never practices EPs, concentrating solely on freefall and competing (sure, the medals look nice hanging over the mantle). Then throw into the mix a skydiver with only, say ummmm, 50 skydives who recently got off student status and practices their EPs every day in a training harness religiously. Which one would be more experienced in the actions of performing EPs? My money would be on the skydiver with 50 jumps not fucking up… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Good points Aggie, lots of good stuff in this thread. It got me to thinking about solo freefall students and the varying levels of experience between them. Lets say you have 2 students who are making one jump each Saturday morning and are halfway through the progression and both had exactly the same background in terms of prior exposure to the sport - which of the two is deemed the more experienced? I would say that it is the one who is studying the student manual more, who is hanging our at the DZ more watching landings, learning about the gear and packing as opposed to the student that just makes their jump on Saturday morning and leaves the DZ and does not study the manual. Which of the two upon graduation of the solo freefall program will be the more “experienced”? So in essence, if we translate this type of thinking across the spectrum experience is bred from how much one applies them self to the sport more, who learns more, overall, who is dedicated more. I know lots of up jumpers who are not as capable when making decisions concerning things like canopy patterns or EP’s as some recent graduates. Mediocrity is perhaps the thing which prohibits excelling to the point of “respectable experience”? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…