AFFI

My biggest fear is taking myself out since I should know better. My biggest fear is screwing up and taking someone else out. My biggest fear is trying to figgure out how to pay for all this shit...

Have you contacted them and let tham know that there were issues in the quality of thier product when compared to others you have seen? Perhaps they would be willing to make it right?

I think she didn't get the touchy-feely post-sales service she was expecting. Ahhhhhh... Maybe this sales person has short term memory loss - Maybe this person was treated rudely by a previous customer and is now under the impression that most customers would like to not be bothered – Maybe they were having a bad day, wife left and the dog died - Maybe it was a fake suit made by kids in a sweat shop in some third world country and they are trying to lay low... Maybe this person is just someone who is not the brightest, most educated and people friendly person in the world and is only trying to sell these suits because they cannot find anything better to help pay the rent and put food on the family’s table and they sure could use someone who is more in tune with sales to pull them aside and give them a few friendly pointers to help them go further in life, you know, someone to influence them to do "better"… Maybe… If I had to choose I would rather have a well constructed suit that delivers what it promises rather than a second rate suit – that is where my referral would come from, not whether or not my ass was kissed to my liking. I would rather have a doctor who is the best in his field rather a second rate on who just has good bed side manner and a nicer office with a prettier receptionist...

Can you please describe the steps used in the "flat turn"? What do you do with your toggles, are you altering the canopy's angle of attack or is the turn executed from full flight?

Skydiving without a parachute seems to the the most dangerous of all. Okay, who is first?

I have been where you are, frustrated just after loosing a friend to something stupid, emotions swelling up inside and on a 20 minute call with a student where I had to put my best foot forward and do my job the best I can possibly do with this student – hard to keep my composure. I picked up my cellular and called a friend who has 40 years in the sport. He said: “Put the corpse down, and slowly back away”. He urged me to just push the whole affair out of my mind and focus on what really mattered, setting a good example of training and adherence to sensible skydiving practices and to train others to the best of my ability to better ensure that they won’t end up in the same situation as the dead guy. Sometimes I might seem a little hardcore in my training practices, sometimes I might seem like an asshole or the high and mighty safety police but it stems from the same emotions you are expressing – I am tired of seeing acts of stupidly and apathy take the lives of good people and sometimes it gets aggravating to say the least, but we can either let it get to us, or we can find someone to vent it to get it off our chest and do the most positive thing we can do – Lead By Example. • If you don’t get pin checks before exit, start getting them. • If you like the rush of a high performance landing, do them as safe as possible, hell, unless you are a competitor there is no reason to push it to the limit every time – I have discovered that I can have a lot of fun on a smooth 90 carve. • Whether you are on the delivery or receiving end of a heated debate, if you have an opportunity to exercise a little humility and restraint when dealing with someone – then exercise it. Another words, all we can to is keep out side of the street clean and lead by example. It is infectious… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I love jumping through storms, it is beautiful. Many years ago on jump number 113 I think. I was in a thick bit of the soupy stuff and at 4K I just started to be able to make out the visibility beneath the cloud I was punching, it was exciting then what came into view? An open canopy directly below me. Imideatly I threw my pilot chute, the intensity level was so incredibly high, I cannot recall what I was thinking at the moment but it was probably something like “oh shit”. My body slammed into the canopy and it was hard, felt like hitting concrete and just at the micro-moment of impact my inflating canopy pulled me out of certain death. Bruised my ribcage and cracked a few, it happened so fast. Me and the other jumper landed near one another and ran to one another and hugged, he said something like “dude, we would have burned in”! I packed and got on the next load because, well I am just like that. I love the feeling when death is only fractions away, it is exhilarating and I like the rush. So my closest call with death skydiving was in them silly clouds they warn us about, guess there is a reason for it after all, and it is just more than low visibility whilst in the soup. But hey, it’s a big sky, go for it (if you want to decrease your odds of survival). Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

I dont understand what you are talking about...

The way we teach it, and it is what I would do... 3) Two Canopies Out 3a) Bi-Plane: Check Altitude, Disconnect the RSL, Using the toggles, gently steer with the dominant parachute towards a large clear area. Do NOT Flare, be prepared to do a PLF. 3b) Side-By-Side: Check Altitude, Disconnect the RSL, Using the toggles, gently steer with the more dominant parachute towards a large clear area. Do NOT Flare, be prepared to do a PLF. 3c) Down-Plane: Under normal circumstances, when you flare at landing, the canopy is above your head. In a down-plane you do not have a canopy above your head. The canopies have separated and are flying straight toward the ground at a high rate of speed. Disconnect the RSL (if time and altitude permits). Cut away the main, steer and land the reserve. Be prepared to do a PLF. Note: Disconnecting the RSL is the first step in any 2 Canopy out situation. The purpose of the RSL, to pull the reserve pin when the main is cutaway. If the Reserve is out; the RSL no longer serves a purpose and is a potential hazard. In the event a Down-plane develops be prepared to handle the situation by having your RSL disconnected and remember to release your toggles and anything else that might be in your hands before you cutaway the main.

When I first got my AFF Rating there were two seasoned instructors that I was lucky enough to get to mentor me, both with over 10,000+ skydives, all kind of awards and history with about 50 years of experience between them and they gave me some advice I want to share. Both of them advised me to strike the term “Hard Arch” from my vocabulary and replace it with “Relaxed Arch” and to have a relaxed attitude when working with students, making sure they know the gear and how to use it will likely produce a more relaxed student in the air. Relaxed Arch… Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

You did some things "RIGHT" for sure, you never gave up, you fought and survived - that says a lot about the killer instinct needed to survive. Furthermore you went public with it and learned from it to better yourself, that is a lot more than a lot of people would have done. Applause to you from me, great recovery from a great recovery...

Dont know if this will help but this is what we teach, havent had any problems of significance in the past 5 years... Main Deployment: 1. Establish belly-to-wind (arched) body position. 2. Maintain the arch and locate the hackey handle. 3. Students using equipment with the hackey handle mounted on the bottom of the container should keep chin up look towards the horizon while reaching for the handle with their right hand. 4. The jumper must accentuate the arch while reaching for the hackey. 5. For equal deflection of air (balance), stretch the left hand overhead and across as the right hand reaches for the hackey handle. 6. Throw the hackey handle vigorously, returning to the original position. 7. Verbalize each action, e.g., “Arch! Reach! Throw! Arch!”

Yep, that thought killed one of the best skydivers ever. Goes to show that no one is above the laws of common sense.

Brain Cells? We are talking about skydivers right? Mom says anyone who jumps from airplanes must not have too many brain cells left...

Lots of people have talked about concentrating on safety and accuracy will improve with time - good course of action unless there is an obstacle beyond. Climb the learning curve slowly... Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

What, I have to take the canopies out of the container? It's just a few stitches...

And you will feel much better in your own gear, that you take care of and it is not passed around like a bong at a hippie party.

And one thing that she did to counter those mistakes was to keep thinking, and dealing with the situtation that she had, and not the situation that she wanted to have, or "should" have had. That's huge. Wendy W. Hear Hear... And, ummmm, beer?

Remember a few post's earlier I said "a skydiver still on student status perform a properly executed Flat Turn (low to the ground) in order to avoid a power line, remaining calm and keeping the canopy overhead the entire time, then intersect the ground in mid-turn, perform a PLF and walk away. The student had very limited experience performing this maneuver but the combination of study, limited practice and remaining calm made the difference for this individual”. Let me expand on this in just a little more detail and we will have our case in point. This was the girls FIRST solo after 2 Tandems, she had just finished taking the FJC a couple days prior. The individual Walt is referencing had 10 years, well over 1000 skydives and current – a really super duper nice person and missed for sure. A rigger, conservative in mannerism, canopy choice and WL. Being taught “old school” AFF he was taught the don’t turn low philosophy and never really advanced past the hands up hands down approach low to the ground, no one really to blame for this but himself but after all, he had confidence that given his conservative nature and piloting there was little that would go wrong, but when it did and he lowered a single toggle to his shoulder at around 100 feet he was no longer beneath his canopy and instantly decreased his odds of survival. In my limited experience I sense that teaching AFF students “Don’t turn low to the ground” breeds two distinct categories of canopy pilot - the hook turner (continues to learn) and the conservative who never learns evasive maneuvers low to the ground and incident reports seem to support this by having healthy numbers of fatalities in the “High Performance” and the “Evasive Maneuver” categories. In the student program where I work it is an 18 jump course with defined dive flows meticulously spelled for each level where freefall TLO’s are concerned as well as a detailed canopy control course. For every level of student skydive there are canopy skills the students must learn, must be trained on and must practice. Personally I learned in AFF and was taught very little in terms of canopy piloting, and when I first looked at the canopy training portion of this program I was aghast when I saw that Slow Flight, Flat Turns (Braked approach and Landing Practice) are taught on every level of the training program starting with the first solo, I thought it was too much too fast but what do I know? I was a newly rated instructor fresh off the Yharling and it is a good thing too because I may not have been so receptive to it otherwise. It did not take me long to believe in this system after seeing a first solo student have a properly executed flat turn executed after just practicing them for the first time on her own (I say on her own because the tandem instructor she had introduced Flat Turns to her on her second tandem) to save her ass from the power lines/poles. Granted, avoidance would have saved me a few grey hairs that day, and she went through the standard, through canopy training that our DZO insists his students be taught but shit happens, mistakes can be made and when the chips were down she was able to save her ass with beautiful execution. That being said, I am still not the most experienced instructor around with only 500 student jumps and teaching as much canopy control as our DZO has built into the training program takes a little more time but it is worth it because we are providing skills to young skydivers that become part of the foundation of survival skills that give those that are eager to learn a better start and those that are apathetic something they can draw on for years to come. Graduates of our training program are more advanced than I was at 100+ skydives. One of our recent graduates just a couple weeks ago with only 40 jumps had to execute a flat turn very low to prevent a collision with another canopy and she saved her ass (and his) with perfect execution, kept the canopy overhead the entire time. It felt good to see the program working... I have immense respect for the knowledge and experience both Walt and Tim possess and it goes to show that brilliant minds can have different philosophies that work equally as well and neither will work if the student does not apply themselves - there is more than one way to skin a hundred jump wonder. More later, Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Cuz Hart Hats are designed to protect the noggin. Guess we could just call'em "overpriced'.

Buy.

Good food for thought there T. Perhaps all the banter about how “safe” skydiving coupled with the rare opportunity to witness first hand the violent accidents that happen from time to time create barriers that build the walls of complacency. I will never forget seeing someone make a huge mistake and slam into the ground after their canopy, the huge divot, the blood seeping out of every orifice, shit and piss in their pants and the sound of gurgling as they choke on their own blood struggling to take one more breath - seeing the hurt family and fatherless children at the funeral, it was all a harsh thing to witness but the positive aspect for me was it certainly gave me reason to learn and practice more, to become more teachable, to strive to be the best instructor I can be and to appreciate how violent and nasty accidents can be in this sport. Still, what a fantastic activity skydiving is, eh? Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Perhaps on of the most frustrating things I see in skydiving are skydivers who do not continue to train EP’s and Canopy Piloting after student status (like I did'nt). It is good to focus on the freefall portion of the experience but wise to stay on top of the important stuff, like surviving. It would be great if we could encourage others to train and review on a more regular basis. What is it that everyone says? “Been there, done that.” I would assume that for many skydivers luck has been on their side after a series of mistakes and scores have been on the receiving end of a talk at one time or another. Sometimes it is not easy when a very experienced instructor says “I have forgotten more about skydiving then you have even learned yet” just to shut up a know-it-all attitude, then I poured piping hot gravy all over myself (but he sure shut me up). Close calls had to humble me enough to listen and to be teachable, but fortunately I had mentors that cared enough to chew my ass often enough between the close calls. Sometimes it is difficult to be the “Safety Patrol” when thinking back on some of the stupid things I did, it is just that skydivers really seem to genuinely care about one another and the desire to keep one another safe is infectious. That is the coolest part about our sub-culture, good people all over the place. The difference between that and “Arm Chair Quarterbacking” is this – How many armchair quarterbacks played in the NFL, or for that matter past JV in high school? I would suspect probably not many but when receiving critique’s in the skydiving arena, sure you have to take it with a grain of salt but the advice usually comes from a source that has had some level of experience in the game and ego’s aside really just want to share their knowledge and experience with others so they don’t end up in the incident report. It’s like a big family of people who probably would not typically mix. All the discussion certainly has helped me, it is just awesome that you decided to share, learn and grow and that we could all do it as a community. Thanks… You are totally correct; there is a fine line between disaster and grace. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

Could a sashay on final possibly cause traffic issues to those around you?

That short guy in the middle is a mentor to me to this very day, as I am able to study material and emails we shared that he left as his legacy. If I ever had a question and wanted the most through, thought out and complete answer imaginable he was a veritable repository of information and experience. Even if it took 3 pots of coffee and 20 cigarettes to get the answer out of him, it was always – no - almost always worth it. The 3 Amigos surrounding are from left to right: Trent, Hoop and Steve. Trent and Steve are heroes/icons/mentors to me because they belong to a successful freefly team (Anomaly) and void of the “Rock Star” attitude. Really nice down to earth skydivers who take their time to make sure newcomers the sport feel welcomed and give advice without being condescending or controlling, just fabulous people skills. All this not to mention they are really good instructors. Hoop has been since I met him, the guy I would ask to instruct if anyone in my family wanted to make a tandem. He is as good as the very best of the tandem instructors I have ever met because he knows the material back and forth and whether it’s a tandem or a solo freefall student, he takes the time to teach properly making certain that the students he works with comprehend fully and be given the finest instruction anywhere. That is 4, now I will have to be fair I will have to pay tribute to, oh say around a million other skydivers that I look up to. Mykel AFF-I10 Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…